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Chapter 2
"Established 1883"
1883 - 1890
Detail from a photo of the Harbour c.1886
(purchased from Gwulo)
And so it was that on 5 January, 1883, with this particular piece of property in mind, Mrs. Louisa Coxon along with 18 other people wrote a letter to Government on behalf of the "Ladies of Hong Kong" for a "Ladies Recreation Ground". In March, tentative approval was given, final approval came in April, trustees were appointed and the lease officially began on Christmas Day, 25 December, 1883.
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Governor: Marsh No. 57 (Subject) (Minutes)
Mr. Marsh, The ladies should certainly be I approve. 28/4 Edward Henry Stanley
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Opening Day
On 1st February 1884, the first four tennis courts were ready, and the club's Opening Day was held. It was cold and blustery, but tennis was played nonetheless.
Two more tennis courts were built shortly after, and a one storey Pavilion. (the roof can be seen in the photo above, in the trees between the two upper concrete courts, and the two lower concrete courts).
The Women's Pavilion was built about April 1885 and was promptly burgled!
Detail from a photo of the Peak c.1885
courtesy Hong Kong Public Records Office
"Larceny at the LRC"
China Mail - 20 July, 1885
"... on the 26th [of June] the Pavilion of the Ladies' Recreation Club had been entered, and a telescope, some knives, tea spoons, table Cloths, &c., stolen."
Ladies of the Club
And who were some the ladies who started the LRC?
Louisa (Mrs. Atwell) Coxon
Louisa was a good friend of Constance Gordon Cummings, who painted the picture shown is Chapter 1. Constance was staying with Louisa in 1879 while she was visiting Hong Kong. Louisa was definitely athletic, in that she drove her own pony cart to the yearly races in Happy Valley instead of being carried in a sedan chair. Atwell Coxon enjoyed performing on stage with the Amateur Dramatic Club,. In a daring move Louisa and two other women joined the cast in 1880 that had previous been all male. Louisa's nephew, Stanley Coxon recalled in 1915 " ... of another good story which was told me by my aunt, Mrs. Atwell Coxon, who had lived in Hong Kong for many years. Two midshipmen of the Fleet coming to call upon her one day, were announced by her Chinese butler in the following manner: "Madam have got bottomsides (downstairs) two piecee man-of-war chilo (children)." The Coxons lived at 1 Seymour Terrace.
Mrs. William Marsh
The first lady of the colony in 1883 when her husband, William March, was “administering the Government” until a new Governor arrived, (often month or years later), Mrs. Marsh entertained at the Governor’s summer residence at the top of the Peak, “Mountain Lodge” as part of her duties.
At the grand opening of the LRC the newspapers made special mention of her. “Among the ladies present was Mrs. Marsh who has been a most prominent and energetic promoter of the scheme”
Mrs. Marsh, together with her husband, pushed along the granting of the land for a “Ladies Recreation Ground” to the ‘ladies of Hong Kong’, subsequently leased to the Ladies Recreation Club under trusteeship.
Amelia Lydia Dare (Mrs. Thomas) Jackson
Amelia Jackson, (Minnie), was a keen supporter of the Club. She was 33 years old when the LRC opened and the 6th of her 9 children was born in 1883. The Jackson's lived on Garden Road, at St. John's Place.
Twelve years earlier, when she was about 20, she had married a banker named Thomas Jackson when they were both living in Yokohama, Japan. Thomas was to become the Chief Manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. Minne had roots in the area that had been put down long before Jackson arrived on the scene. Her father was a well-known “character” in Singapore, and you can link to a tale of her mother The Pirates and Mrs. Dare of Singapore 1841
Her sister, Florence, who was six years younger, married Dr. Hartigan and they were both LRC members. More on them later
Mabel Barclay Browne (Mrs. James) Cantlie
Mabel Barclay Browne Cantlie, was 29 in 1887 when she first arrived in Hong Kong. She remained for nine years until 1896 and was a keen tennis player.
In one of her letters she writes of the LRC "Mrs. Palmer played [at the Ladies' Recreation Club] 1st round of championship against Mrs. Coxon." "I played my round at tennis against Mrs. Bottomley and won 3 to 6, 4 to 6. I am rather off play just now so did not as well as I should."
Three years earlier, in 1884, she had married Dr. James Cantlie.
Thirty years later, for her work during WWI, she was granted an O.B.E. Sun Yat Sen - the father of modern China - once wrote "This work is affectionately dedicated to Sir James and Lady Cantlie, my revered teacher and devoted friends to whom I once owed my life."
Tennis
Speaking of Tennis, the first known LRC trophy was a Chinese export silver bowl decorated in repousse with eight different panels depicting birds and flowers, dragons and clouds, figures and houses, inscribed:
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L.R.C. Marked: 'WH90' WANG HING. Availability:: sold
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Henrietta Isabella Thurburn (Mrs. Patrick) Manson
Henrietta was 30 years old when she won this trophy. In 1885, the Mansons lived at the Albany, just down the hill from the LRC. In 1888 they were living in Cronest, The Peak. They had four children.
The Manson's in Amoy, 1881
At age 18, at the home of her uncle in England, Henrietta met the 31 year old Dr. Manson. They married six months later and moved to Amoy. When they moved to Hong Kong, Dr. Manson was appalled at the unsanitary conditions, and started a proper, hygienic dairy for milk for children. It was called Dairy Farm. The Manson’s returned to England in 1889.
Mr. George Hutton Potts
When C. H. Potts landed in Hong Kong in 1885 he was a 21 year old toughened on the pitch at Harrow playing that school’s unique football code. He put on his boots for the last rugby match staged three days before the Hong Kong Football Club was formed in February 1886, then again for the first Club match a few days later. Mr. Potts won this tennis trophy with Mrs. Manson when he was 23 years old. He married and he and his wife bought one of the Mountain View houses on the Peak. Later, they bought Clovelley Court.
Cricket
Cricket was one sport where the LRC fielded a team. The first match was on October 31st and November 1st 1884 at Chater Road, and the representatives of the ladies went first to the wicket. Mr. E.J. Coxon [nephew of Lousia Coxon] was the hero of the first innings with 54, which was nearly half the score. However, the L.R.C. did not do so well in the second innings, and eventually the [Hong Kong Cricket Club] H.K.C.C. won the match. .
Trustees
As was usual, the land for the Club was granted to trustees who were
Mr. Thomas Jackson
Mr. C.D. Bottomley and
Mr. F.D. Sassoon
Good introduction
Embrassingly I'm still not able to identify from the photo which building was the one storey clubhouse....
HF
The roof can be seen at the
The roof can be seen at the end of one of the grass courts, toward the bottom, and nothing but trees next to it.
Opening date for the pavilion
Sharon Oddie Brown has narrowed down the date the pavilion opened to late March / early April 1885, based on a letter written by Amelia Jackson:
In one of them she talked about the opening of the Women’s Pavilion at the Ladies Club in Hong Kong.
I write a line to tell you that the Pavilion at the Ladies Club will be ready for use on or after Thursday next.
The date of the opening of the Pavilion has always been uncertain – see a post on Gwulo ((ie this page!)) - and even though the letter where Amelia mentions its opening is undated, she also mentions in the same letter the loss of Sir Harry Parkes. He had died of malarial fever on March 21, 1885, so this means that her letter was likely sent sometime late in March of 1885, hence we now have a likely date for the Pavilion opening as well as a sense for how central her fund-raising efforts had been – since this was a letter of thanks.
You can read the full post at:
http://sharonoddiebrown.blogspot.hk/2014/06/stint-at-soas-library.html
Regards, David