The photo shows a group at a house warming party in March 1939. The location is probably 76, Morrison Hill Road.
I believe the man on the (photo's) left in the second row is Tommy Waller (Tramways) and that the others are Lane Crawford employees. Next to Tommy Waller is my father, Thomas Edgar. The two men sitting next to him look to me very similar - almost like brothers. Can anyone identify them?
The man seated on the left in the front row is Cecil 'Sammy' Carr, whose house warming party it was. The man next to him looks to me Eurasian or Chinese? Can anyone identify him?
More information at https://jonmarkgreville2.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/cecil-sammy-carr/
Date picture taken
1939
Shows person / people
Comments
House Warming Party
A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Roger Stride and his wife, in Hong Kong, thanks to the good offices of gwulo.com. (Many thanks David)! The purpose of our meeting was for me to take the Strides to Stanley in order for me to show Roger where his father, Roland, had spent the Japanese occupation in internment.
This location was Bungalow A of St. Stephen's College and although Roger had visited HK a few times over the years, he had never seen his father's "home" during internment. You can imagine that the visit to Stanley was therefore very special and poignant to Roger.
What, you may wonder, has all this to do with this photograph? Bear with me gentle reader!
Roland Stride joined Lane, Crawford, Ltd (this is how the company's name appears on a letterhead dated 1960), in Nov 1934 in the Food Department and was promoted to Manager of that Dept. after 3 years service. He later transferred to the Import & Export Department, again as Manager, where he served until 1947. After that date he was promoted twice, first to Store Manager then to Assistant General Manager, before resigning for personal reasons in 1948 and moving with his family to South Africa.
Roland rejoined the company in HK in May 1956 as Manager of a considerably expanded Food Department, before resigning for a 2nd and final time in April 1960.
Prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War, Roland was "seconded" (not sure if that is the correct term) to the Food Control Office, where he served as Deputy Controller, Dry Goods. His immediate "boss," (Controller), was Mr. A. W. Brown, also of Lane, Crawford, Ltd, and the overall Controller was Mr. Eric Himsworth, whose name has appeared many times on this site.
It is of interest to note that Brian has mentioned that some of the people in the group photo are Lane, Crawford personnel. Roger has confirmed the identity of Sammy Carr of the company, who was his godfather, but was unable to identify anybody else in the photo.
He has further stated that he almost did not recognise Sammy without his moustache!
Roger has presented me with, inter alia, a copy of a beautifully illuminated scroll presented to Roland upon the eve of his departure from the Colony in November 1948 by the company. I am in the process of having copies made for Tony Banham and Geoffrey Emerson, and will see if the staff of St.Stephen's College would like a copy for their Heritage Gallery.