In this video I'll show how to spot the little clues that help pin down a photo’s location, then use them to show a century of changes along Pottinger Street:

(If the video didn’t appear above, please click here to watch it on Youtube).

Gwulo website upgrade

The Gwulo website is back online again after I've finished upgrading the software that runs it. The next job is to fix the problems that inevitably occur after an upgrade like this.

• Details of the upgrade
• How to report any problems you find

London talk on 5th April

[Update: we're now fully booked for this talk. Thank you to everyone who has booked, and I look forward to seeing you on the 5th.]

If you attended the Gwulo's farewell talk I gave in Hong Kong last year, and can think of any friends in the UK who might enjoy it, please could you let them know I will give the talk again in London on 5th April? When I last checked there were only 10 seats still available for the 70-seat venue, so I'm hoping we can make it a full house.

• 5 April talk: details and how to book

Chinese translation of Gwulo's first book

Some exciting news for Gwulo's books: I've signed a contract with a Hong Kong publisher to publish a Chinese-language translation of Volume 1 of Old Hong Kong Photos and The Tales They Tell. That's all I can say at the moment, but I'll share more details when I can.

Missing wartime diaries

The daily Wartime Diaries emails couldn't be sent during the website upgrade. If you'd like to catch up on the missed days, please use the links below:

83 years ago

• 21 Mar 1942
• 22 Mar 1942
• 23 Mar 1942
• 24 Mar 1942

82 years ago

• 21 Mar 1943
• 22 Mar 1943
• 23 Mar 1943
• 24 Mar 1943

81 years ago

• 21 Mar 1944
• 22 Mar 1944
• 23 Mar 1944
• 24 Mar 1944

80 years ago

• 21 Mar 1945
• 22 Mar 1945
• 23 Mar 1945
• 24 Mar 1945

The software used to run the Gwulo website needs to be upgraded. It isn't as big a project as the last major upgrade in 2022, but this upgrade will still take several weeks.

I've created a new forum where I'll post updates on progress, and where you can report any problems: 2025 Gwulo upgrade

During this time I'll focus on getting the upgrade finished ASAP, so I won't be sending out any new newsletters or videos, and my responses to emails and messages on the website will be delayed. From time to time the website will be unavailable as I make updates to the software.

If you're missing the newsletters you can always visit the What's new page, to see what Gwulo's contributors have added lately.

I'll send out the next newsletter once the upgrade is complete.

Regards, David

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

 

Organisations & People

There have been some great stories added these last two weeks:

• The epic is the almost 500-page Mum's diaries by Jon Rollins. As the name suggests, it is based on diary entries written by his mother, Phyllis Lang, in Hong Kong, Macau, and finally England, during the years 1941-46. When it starts she is aged 19, and studying at Hong Kong University, so we get a very different view of life in wartime Hong Kong than we've seen in previous diaries. If you had family members in Hong Kong at that time, you might want to start with the Index of Names to see if they are mentioned.
  
   
• February 1944 saw American pilot Donald Kerr shot down over Kai Tak airfield. His journal of the dogfight, parachuting to the ground, and the long escape to free China makes fascinating reading.
  
   
• Chandru Vaswani writes about his father, Assudamal Hashmatrai VASWANI [1899-1949]. Chandru knows his father was arrested, tortured, and imprisoned by the Japanese during WW2, and is hoping to find out more about why that happened. We've been able to add some details, but any extra information will be gratefully received.
  
   
• Moving post-war, Martin Reynolds has posted his mother Shirley Gillard's impressions of visits to Repulse Bay, Fanling, a Japanese circus, etc., after she came out to HK in 1956 as a young teacher with the Army School at Murray Barracks.
  
   
• Stuart Braga continues his series of biographies of the thirteen Braga siblings with a page for Paul BRAGA [1910-1989], businessman and fine arts collector.

Other people:

• Cornelis KOSTER (aka Cornelius) [1900-1926] - a Dutchman who died young in Hong Kong. What was his story?
  
   
• David LYON [????-1941] worked in Jardines, fought with the HKVDC, was killed on 25 Dec 1941.
  
   
• Internees in Stanley Camp:
  • Selwyn Henry LANGSTON [1889-????], merchant
• Organisations:
  • C. W. Olson & Co. [1925-c.1927]
    
     
  • The Hongkong Butchery Company [????-????]
    
     

General

• We've had a few readers send in payments of £10 for my upcoming talk in London on 5 April. I clarify that the cost of the event is £12 per person unless you are a full time student or a member of the Friends of East Asia. I've updated the Details and booking to make it clearer.

• Photos of Hong Kong's buses through the years.

• The 1890 Jurors List is now online, and ...

• ... we've started typing up the 1889 Jurors List - please join in and type up a page if you can spare 30 minutes.

• Whicker's Orient: Three HK-based episodes, shot in 1971, of Alan Whicker's popular show Whicker's World.

• The re-occupation of Hong Kong by the British in 1945, from Japanese and British viewpoints.

• The cause of those black, wavy lines on last week's photo of the rickshaw and sedan chair on Pottinger Street.

• Readers are looking for ...

  • Diaries, memoirs and letters of British women in China between 1900-1946.

  • Anyone who attended St George's School in Kowloon, 1968-71
    
     

Places & Streets