High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Born in Malacca in 1805, Tan came to Singapore where he made a fortune as a trader. Tan started his firm, Kim Seng and Company, in 1840 and amassed a large fortune in his lifetime. His public acts of charity included endowing a Chinese Free School, supporting the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and improving the public waterworks in nineteenth century Singapore. Tan donated generously to the building and maintenance of a school for boys known as the Chinese Free School or Chui Eng Institute. The school originally taught in Hokkien and was one of the better schools of the time.