10 Aug 1944, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Submitted by brian edgar on Sat, 01/31/2015 - 23:50

Death of Thomas Pritchard. 

Before being sent to Stanley he was held in the Mee Chow Hotel.

Source:

http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/nonuniformedcivilians.ht…

Note: I can find no record for Mr. Pritchard in the CWGC online lists.

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

Comments

Thomas Pritchard was my paternal grandfather. He is buried in the Stanley Cemetary. My father and I saw his grave when we went out to HK in 1982.

Best regards

 

Huw Pritchard

Conwy, north Wales

In brief, he came from Pwllheli, north Wales and had a long career at sea. He had served for the Hong Koing and Macao Shipping Line for a while through the 1930s at least (I posted a pic of him with Robert Ho Tung in one of your galleries yesterday) and commanded the steamers Kinshan and Taishan.

He was 66 when he died in 1944, whilst my late father was serviing in north Africa. I don't think he had been home to Wales since the 1930s - his wife, my father and his brother had stayed at home. I think his last visit home was in about 1935 when he brought back a load of furtniture and ornaments from HK. We still have what we call the 'Chinese chest' in our hallway in Conwy!

Whilst captive in Stanley, he wrote the story of his life at sea. This was kept hidden by a friend after my grandfather died, and returned to my father after the camp was liberated. The papers are now in Gwynedd Archives in Caernarfon.

Hope this helps