Hong Kong Volunteers to World War One

Submitted by 1314 on Tue, 10/25/2022 - 01:04

There were a number of drafts of Hong Kong Government volunteers to World War One, similarly from Shanghai.

A draft which left Hong Kong by sea on November 19th 1915 arrived at Devonport,England on the 30th December of that year and were transported to London for attestation into the armed forces. They comprised 21 Policemen,five Prison Warders, five men from the Naval Dockyard Police, one Sanitary Inspector and a Railway Guard. There were apparently some five Scotsmen amongst this group who were given 14 days leave before joining their units. The Police, and most likely the Prisons men enlisted in various Army units, principally the Guards and Royal Rifles Corps, the Dockyard Police went to the Royal Navy but the destination of the Sanitary Inspector and the Railway Guard are yet to be determined.

Page 4 of The China Mail, 1915-11-19, noted there were two send-offs. The larger was for the police, gaolers, sanitary dept., and railway staff:

MORE HONGKONG POLICEMEN FOR THE FRONT.

RESPONDING TO THE "GREAT CALL."

It was a never-to-be-forgotten send off that the members of the Hongkong Police Force "off to the Front" received from their comrades last evening at the Astor House Hotel. A memorable gathering, comprising nearly a hundred policemen, warders, and others, spent a right royal time under the chairmanship of Mr. T. H. King, the Assistant Superintendent of Police.

The post prandial proceedings were brief and to the point. The chairman proposing "Our Comrades for the Front," said that those comrades comprised members of the gaol staff, railway staff, and the Sanitary Department who  were with them that night. [...]

The dockyard police had their own, smaller send-off, and here the reporter listed their names:

R.N.Y. MEN’S FAREWELL.

Concert At Mess.

The six members of the Royal Naval Dockyard Police Mess who leave with the police contingent this week for the Front—Sergeants McKnight and Brewer, and R.N.Y. constables Adair, Kerrison, Heath and Dunlop—were given an enthusiastic and jolly send-off last night by their comrades at the Mess, brightly bedecked with flags. [...]