New on Gwulo: 2025, week 24

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

General

• The Hongkong Almanack and Directory, from 1846, 1848, and 1850, is a useful source of information about Hong Kong in its first decade as a British colony.
   
• Quarry Bay School will soon celebrate its centenary, and hopes to hear from any alumni.
   
• 1906 The Duke of Connaught visits Hong Kong.
   
• Old boundary walls in East Point that still survive.
   
• If you've booked a ticket for my talk next week in Cheltenham, I'm looking forward to seeing you there. (This talk is fully booked, but if you'd like to arrange a Gwulo talk nearer to you and later in the year, please get in touch.)
   
• Readers ask:
  • Looking for additional evidence of Dr. Harry Talbot's involvement with the Chinese Red Cross Medical Relief Corp prior to his internment in Stanley Camp.
     
  • Was Cynthia Maureen EAGER (Stanley Camp internee, and Olympics swimmer) born in 1935 or 1936?
     
  • Where on Cheung Chau was the Cheung Chau Assembly Hall [c.1924-????] located?
     
  • Seeking Archival Records or References on Tung Shing Construction Co. (同盛建築公司), active in Early 20th Century Hong Kong.
     
  • What used to be on the site of the present-day The Summit?
     
  • What is the third chimney in this c. 1873 photo of East Point?
     

---

The Chinese version of Gwulo's book

The translation of my first book is finished, and the layout is nearly complete, so we're on track to have the Chinese version available to buy next month, at the Hong Kong Book Fair and in local bookstores. Thank you to Extraordinary Publishing (非凡出版) for making this happen so quickly.

---

Recent anniversaries

• 6 June 1944: D-Day and the Normandy Landings
  It always surprises me how quickly the news of D-Day reached the civilians interned in Stanley Camp. John Charter was one of the internees, and his diary entry for 8 June begins:
  The Anglo–American invasion of the continent has begun! What excitement. When I heard someone in the yard below yell out the news at the top of his voice I thought he was trying to be funny capping yesterday’s news of the fall of Rome! But it is true. The feeling in camp is one of great excitement. “At last”, says everyone. We know that it means hundreds and thousands of our countrymen will be killed and that is a sobering thought; but we also know the invasion had to come sometime or other and the sooner it came the sooner would this ghastly war be ended. And now the great day has arrived. Apparently it was launched on the night of June 5th to 6th. How we should love to hear a BBC news bulletin now instead of having to deduce what we can from the reports from the enemy news agencies which appear in a garbled form in the ‘HK News’. Continue reading ...
   

• 2 June 1953: The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
  We've got Barbara Anslow's written recollections of the celebrations in Hong Kong, and lots of photos of the celebrations too. (And another important anniversary to note on this date - it was the first time that Coronation Chicken was served!)

  

---

Receiving the BEM

The British Empire Medal is presented locally by the King's representative, so on 29 May we drove to County Hall for the ceremony. My thanks to the Lord Lieutenant, the High Sheriff, and all the team at Pembrokeshire County Council for their warm welcome, and to the Cadets for giving up their time to attend and adding a formal touch to the event with their smart appearance. We enjoyed the ceremony very much, and it was a lovely bonus that my mum and members of our Hong Kong family were able to experience it too.

 

 

---

Places

• Hong Kong Island
  • 1 Chatham Path - Former "Chatham English School" [c.1926- ]
     
  • 2 University Drive [????-c.2021]
     
• Kowloon
  • St. Andrew's Church [1905- ]
     
  • August Moon Hotel [c.1961-c.1973]
     
  • Postbox at Junction of Cameron and Carnarvon Roads [????-????]
     
• New Territories
  • Dragonara - 248 Tai Mong Tsai Road [1973- ]
     

---

 

People & Organisations

• Mow Fung CHUNG (aka Chung MOW FUNG) [c.1821-1897] - an early Chinese resident of Australia, who later moved to Hong Kong
   
• Harold Abbott Rand CONANT (aka Hank) [1892-1955], a founding member, in July 1925, of Hong Kong’s American Club
   
• Mohamed HASSUM (aka Chiney / Mahomed Haji Esack Ellias) [1860-1919], a successful businessman who gave a large donation towards the cost of rebuilding the Jamia Mosque
   
• Interned at Stanley Camp:
  • Gladys Gwendoline SIMMONS [1897-????], who had a large quantity of her jewellery stolen while in Stanley Camp
     

---

 

Photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

Click to see all recently added photos.