哈同喺1851年出世，屋企係巴格達嘅一個貧窮嘅猶太人家庭，原名סאלח חרדון（Sileh Hardoon） 。到1856年佢就跟著父母搬到咗印度孟買，仲加入咗英國籍。佢喺當地入讀咗大衛·沙遜資助嘅慈善學校。到1872年佢一個人去咗香港，第二年轉到去上海入職沙遜洋行，做收租員兼看門口。喺1886年同一位中法混血、篤信佛教嘅煙花女仔羅迦陵拉埋咗天窗。
Hartung was born in 1851 to a poor Jewish family in Baghdad, originally known as סאלחחרדון (Sileh Hardoon). By 1856 he had moved with his parents to Mumbai, India, and became a United Kingdom. He attended a local charity school funded by David · Sassoon. In 1872 he went to Hong Kong alone, and the following year he moved to Shanghai to join Sassoon & Co. as a rent collector and doorman. In 1886, he and Luo Jialing, a fireworks girl of mixed Chinese and French descent and who believed in Buddhism, closed the skylight.