30 Jan 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Submitted by brian edgar on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 21:43

There are ninety-six new arrivals in Camp, probably from St. Paul's Hospital in Causeway Bay.

Source:

G. B. Endacott and Alan Birch, Hong Kong Eclipse, 1978, 199

Note:

The source cited says from 'St Paul's College' - for the change, see discussion below.

 

Book / Document
Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
Date(s) of events described

Comments

Notes from Henry Ching:

In December, 1941 the college was at the top of Wyndham Street next to Bishop’s House. The building in Bonham Road next to the University was St John’s Hall, a residence for University students. 

This item caught my eye because I believe that in December, 1941 there was a relief hospital in St Paul’s College. I think my cousin was an auxiliary nurse there. But I have not been able to verify this, and have not come across any reference to a relief hospital located there.

Places for St Paul's College:

Thanks for the correction.

Interesting that you think there might have been a relief hospital at St. Paul's College but haven't yet been able to verify this. I was wondering about these 96 people, as Endacott gives no primary source and I've never come across any other references to them. There were about 200 civilians at the North Point Refugee Camp (better known for the POWs kept there) and there was some crossover with St. Paul's (French Hospital) where the patients were moved into the adjacent school because of shelling, and I have wondered if Endacott's reference was in fact to part of this group. But that's pure speculation of course and it seems more plausible that there was an emergency hospital, which perhaps also acted as a concentration point after December 25, at Wyndham Street.

A document in the Hong Kong Public Records Office gives some support to Henry Ching's belief that there was a medical facility at St Paul's College during the 1941 hostilities.

The 'Provisional Lists' (HKRS 112-1-1) drawn up in early 1942 give 11 names of people treated at the St Paul's Casualty Clearing Hospital and I suspect, also bearing in mind Henry's belief about his cousin's service, that this was at St Paul's College. Most of these eleven seem to be Indian soldiers, but Jorgen Jorgensen a Norwegian ship's captain, died there on 16.12.41. Unfortunately no staff names are given.

Of course, it could be that the St Paul's Casualty Clearing Hospital was attached to this large St. Paul's Hospital (see below) and treated separately in the records, so it will be interesting to see if further evidence emerges to settle the question.

In any case, the record suggests that patients were quickly moved elsewhere, and this was obviously a small facility. Endacott's source for the claim, currently in the Chronology, that 96 patients were sent to Stanley from here on January 30, is John Stericker's Captive Colony. I strongly suspect that this was a slip of Stericker's pen: a quick count of staff and refugees liable to internment listed in the same document as at St. Paul's Hospital (i.e. the French Hospital in Causeway Bay) comes to about 90, and my guess is that's where these 96 were sent in from.