In 1878, a group of local Chinese in Hong Kong presented a petition to the Governor of Hong Kong, John Pope Hennessy, to set up the Po Leung Kuk to rescue the kidnapped victims. The main objective of Po Leung Kuk is to care for the young and protect the innocent.
The Penang Po Leung Kuk was founded in 1889 by Foo Tye Sin, Koh Seang Tat, Khaw Sim Bee, Ong Boon Teik and Ong Beng Teik. The Penang Po Leung Kuk was the first Anglo-Chinese welfare organisation in Penang dedicated to protecting Chinese female immigrants from exploitation and sexploitation.
The Po Leung Kuk homes in Singapore, Malacca and Penang were controlled by committees of Chinese gentlemen, and financed by endowment funds raised from public subscriptions. The Penang Cheshire Home was set up in 1978, in a wing of the former Penang Po Leung Kuk Home.
Rosalind Hoalim, wife of Lim Cheng Ean and a well-known figure in colonial Penang, was sympathetic to the plight of unfortunate servant girls and helped various escapees from cruel households re-establish themselves at the Penang Po Leung Kuk. Later, her daughter, Datuk Lim Phaik Gan better known as P. G. Lim, led the Penang Po Leung Kuk in the 1920s and 1930s, helping to train and rehabilitate Chinese prostitutes.