I'm looking for photos / sketches / portraits of him for the CPS project's history book, as he served as first Police Magistrate for several years:
Walter Schofield (1888-1968) was a cadet officer in the Hong Kong civil service from 1911 to 1938.
After serving in various posts, including that of district officer, South, he was first police magistrate in 1931-33, and again in 1934-37, it being customary for such posts to be filled by cadets up to 1941.
Extract from book: Southern District Officer Reports: Islands and Villages in Rural Hong Kong, 1910-60
There aren't any relevant results for schofield in the photo search at HKPRO.
He didin't serve in Legco.
No relevant results for schofield hong kong in the UKNA.
I haven't found any matches in Family Trees.
References:
Comments
Schofield, a passionate archaeologist
It may be an interesting footnote to add under his name, as one of the persons listed in the CPS project, even though this is not related to this project directly.
In fact, literature about Mr Schofield may be much more as an archaeologist and his related pioneer work in Hong Kong more than ninety years ago. More well-known studies of him include : Tung Kwu Island (aka Lung Koo Chau), Sung Wong Toi, Shek Pik (1937). [1]
There are some EIA report, when considering heritage impact mentions Schofield had had several field investigations in Chek Lap Kok also, but it seems not traceable if as the references listed there.
Tai Po trip photo
This photo shown is attributed to him dated 1956. Assume information of this collection is accurate, the young man of 25 who took the photo of the Blake Pier during the 1913 typhoon had retired quite some time. No matter whose handwriting it is for the word ‘flagstaff’ [2], this view of Tai Po may be reminiscent to him of anecdotes and history in the past and as one administrator of this land in the East, over the decades. If I have not misread geography of this area, a wider view picture he took in this similar direction (link, c. 1932) could be found in the same collection.
His place of residence when back in UK was Hayling Island, as wikipedia.
Unlike some other cadet officers, no photographs or sketches of him could be found, except one most sources used, which depicted him on field trip in Tung Kwu (1931). His notebooks and field trip photos were brought back to Hong Kong via James Hayes and handed on to the then Hong Kong Archaeological Society. A parcel was sent by Schofield in 1963 from England to the Fung Ping Shan Museum of HKU (now UMAG). It was re-discovered as part of a larger orphaned archaeological collection by UMAG only in 2018. This preserved part includes sherds marked ‘宋 vallum’ (Song [dynasty] vallum) or ‘SWT’ (Sung Wong Toi), with an attached note. [3]
I leave above short notes with a group photo of him found on the Stockholm museum website. (photo : Lunch break during the excavation at Shek Pik 1937) He is third from the right and archaeologist J.G. Andersson is on his right side.
Well, that may take a bit long to talk about its story. So may be better to save it for another timing, if it arises. And google translate may help a bit to translate Swedish text, in case you need.
References
1. Southern District Officer Reports: Islands and Villages in Rural Hong Kong, 1910-60 p. 326-327.
2. on another photo of Cloudy Hill (九龍坑山) in this collection (c. 1930s), there is also a handwritten 1450’ against the top of the hill (which matches its height in feet).
3. Connected fragments an early Hong Kong archaeological collection
article on Journal of the History of Collections, published: 6 May 2024
https://academic.oup.com/jhc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jhc/fhae025/7665670
4. Schofield, W., 1968, ‘Further Notes on Sung Wong Toi’, in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. 8: 67-73.
p.s. I have read this gwulo page also : Temporary Government Buildings at Tai Po [1899-1908]
photo link
There is a photo in the link below.
https://hkjo.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/70019622407bde6b4b2f9f2ad5e49164…