This photo shows a gathering of family and friends taken in front of the family home at 8 Broadwood Road in the summer of 1936, the year that Amaro John Reed passed away on January 31. I don't know what the occasion was for this get-together that also included my maternal grandmother, Angelina (dos Remedios) D'Almada, and my mother's oldest sister Phyllis (D'Almada) dos Remedios and her son Ricardo. Also at this gathering was Maria Rita (da Silva) Reed's relatives, Alfredo and Nenita da Silva and their daughter Vilma, and family friend Harry Gubbay. Since my mother Belle is not in this group, I am assuming she was taking the photo. Belle and Willie had a long courtship (and possible long engagement) as they did not wed until August, 1939.
Top row, left to right: Margaret ("Maggie") Anne Bond, half sister to Amaro Reed and Lucretia (Reed) Murray, and aunt to the Reed brothers and the Murray siblings. Next to her is Edgar Reed, Alfredo da Silva and Reggie Reed.
Middle row, left to right: Francis Reed, Phyllis (D'Almada) dos Remedios, Bobby Reed, Maria Rita Reed, Angelina (dos Remedios) D'Almada, and Nenita da Silva.
Front row, left to right: Stephen Reed, Willie Reed, Ricardo dos Remedios, Vilma {da Silva} Sequeira, Arthur Reed and his good friend Harry Gubbay.
Comments
Reed family Hong Kong
Hi,
I have been searching for any living members of the Reed family who lived at 8, Broadwood Road during ww2. Following my initial enquiry posting on this site someone has kindly directed me to you. During the battle for Hong Kong my uncle Percy Chittenden of the Middlesex Regiment lost or discarded his diary. It was found in 1942 by a Mrs B.Reed who very kindly posted it to his family in London thinking that he was dead. After being wounded he spent time in a Hong Kong POW camp before being transported to Japan on the Lisbon Muru. He survived the sinking of the Lisbon Maru and was sent to Kobe House POW camp in japan. He returned home in 1945 to find his diary waiting for him. I would very much like to thank the Reed family for sending it. Kenny.
Reed Family, Hong Kong
Hi Kenny,
I was pleasantly surprised to see your post above and to learn the story of your uncle's lost diary. Mrs. B. Reed was my mother, Anna Joaquina, who was known as Belle all her life. She married my father, Willie Reed, in 1939. My father's mother, Maria Rita, and six of his brothers were living at the house, including Arthur's wife Marie and daughter Mary, and Francis and Vera, newlyweds in October 1941, when the war broke out in December. Six of the brothers enlisted, four died and two were POWs at Shamshuipo camp. My father remained behind to care for the women and child in the family, eventually departing for Macau sometime in 1942. I was born in Macau and we returned to Hong Kong when the war ended.
You mentioned that the diary was found in 1942, so that must have been prior to the family's departure to Macau. I am curious as to where the diary was located when my mother found it. I'm sure my mother must have enclosed a note with the diary when she posted it to the family. Your uncle must have been happy to get his diary back, especially after all he went through during the war as a POW in Hong Kong and Japan, and being on that sinking ship.
Thank you for acknowledging my mother's thoughtful gesture which is much appreciated. - Angela
P.S.
Kenny, I am sorry I missed seeing your initial post on 17 January inquiring about my family. It was interesting to read that the diary was found in the garden of the house. That answers my question, but of course also poses the question, how did it end up there...another unsolved mystery to add to my list!
Reed family/ Percy Chittenden
Dear Angela,
I am so pleased to have made contact with you and have been able to convey my thanks to your family for returning my Uncle's diary. My heart goes out to you your family for your sad and unimaginable losses at that time. My uncle never talked about his war time experiences and it was not until after his death in 2004 that his diary and other WW2 related documents were discovered. I guess that he either lost or discarded the diary during the fighting while trying to make his way down from the heights of Leighton Hill where he manned a machine gun post. The last entry in his diary on 17th December (8 days from surrender ) reads " Only one raider today. Japs ask us to surrender. They had it ". Together with the Hong Kong based author of the " The Fight for Hong Kong " and the " Sinking of the Lisbon Maru " we wrote a piece about Uncle Percy for the Honk Kong Baptist University. If you google ' Percy Chittenden Hong Kong Baptist University ' you should be able to see it. There is a photo of him along side it. I will try and post some pictures of the diary showing your mothers message she put in it. It was wonderful to see your family photos taken at 8, Broadwood Road.
Best regards,
Kenny.
Reed Family/Percy Chittenden
Kenny, thank you for your kind words of sympathy regarding my four uncles. It must have been especially hard on my grandmother to lose four sons to the war, and two interned for over three years.
I did read the article written about your uncle that you mentioned, with his photo attached. I was particularly interested to see mention of the lost diary and what my mother had written in her note: "This was found in 1942 (summer) in our garden of No. 8 Broadwood Road, Hong Kong when we went home. Everything lost. We lost four brothers. Very sad. B. Reed."
She also wrote: "Can't locate please return this to his family if possible. Mrs. B. Reed, 244 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong."
My cousin Mary informed me that my mother returned to the Broadwood Road house after the war to see what remained after it was looted and stripped of wood, including the floors. Since the article on your uncle stated that the diary was found post war, I think it seems likely that my mother inadvertently wrote 1942 instead of 1945 as to when she found the diary.
8, Broadwood Road
Hi Angela,
Tony Banham wrote that the diary was returned post war. I think he must have thought the same as you that 1942 was an error.
I will try and upload a couple of pictures of the notes that your mother put in the diary before sending it.
Kenny.
8, Broadwood Road
I have uploaded two pictures. Hope that you can find them. Not very good with computers.
Belle's Notes re Found Diary
Hi again, Kenny!
Thanks so much for the two photos you uploaded of my mother's notes and the envelope with the 244 Nathan Road address where we lived after the war. I'm surprised that she actually wrote across a page of the diary, in addition to the note also enclosed. My mother didn't date her notes, unfortunately. Interesting that she used the Catholic Centre note paper for her message. It makes me wonder if that was a temporary place of contact for some of the folks returning to Hong Kong from Macau.
8, Broadwood Road, Hong Kong
Hi Angela, Pleased that you got the pictures. Realised that I had not uploaded the front of the envelope which I will try and do this morning. Nice if you have all of it. Knowing Percy I would think that he would have written back to your mother to thank her. I expect that if he did it has been lost in time. Regards, Kenny.
Belle's Notes and Envelope
Kenny, thanks for including the photo showing the front of the envelope. It's unfortunate that the stamp and date portion was torn off. It would have been interesting to see when my mother mailed the diary. I'm sure your uncle wrote to thank her. I wish I had come across his note in her box of loose photos and old letters that I still have.
I shared your posts with my cousin Mary who lives in Toronto. She actually lived in that Broadwood Road house and was two when the war broke out. She also appreciates your reaching out to offer your thanks and for your kind words of sympathy on the loss of her father Arthur and his three brothers.
Best regards, Angela
Great story and closing of…
Great story and closing of the loop through the generations!
I think finding the diary in the summer of 1942 was probably correct.
It's unlikely Mrs B. Reed would have muddled up her facts at such an obvious error of 1945 and 1942. If the Reed family decamped to Macau and returned to Hong Kong after the war, it would be post Japanese surrender 30th August 1945 and the arrival of the British in September 1945. That is past summer.
During the uncertainty of war and with inflation, money was tight. Posting a lost diary of an unknown person to the UK was not high priority when there were mouths to be fed. Plus this bulky mail would have had to go through mail censorship which would invite a lot of unnecessary attention and questions, which could prove dangerous. Posting it after the war ended makes much more sense.
Belle's Notes re Found Diary
David, thanks for your feedback. Your logical mind has helped to settle the dispute regarding the dates! The way my mother wrote her message in the diary, and as quoted in the piece on Percy Chittenden, made it seem that the diary was found post war. The added note plus the address on the envelope indicates she mailed the diary on her return to Hong Kong. It's nice to know that my mother held on to that diary so carefully from the summer of 1942 through the years in Macau and back to Hong Kong in 1945.