Baginton Fields Hostel, Coventry, UK [????-????]

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Current condition
Demolished / No longer exists

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I've seen this hostel in the UK mentioned by several people who traveled to the UK on one of the repatriation ships after the Japanese surrender in 1945, and didn't have anywhere to stay. I'll post their mentions here, and if you can add any more memories of it then please leave a note in the comments below.

Rosemary Barton, quoted on the FEPOW website:

After spending one year in Baginton Fields Hostel, a refugee camp in Coventry, we returned to Hong Kong to resume the colonial way of life.

Barbara Anslow, writing in Life after internment:

My sister Olive arrived in England in November [1945] on the 'Highland Monarch' and joined Mum and I at Gillingham - she and Mum and I had to share a double bed. Soon after, my young sister Mabel, her husband Clifton and Clifton's parents, arrived on the 'Athlone Castle'; all 4 of them, together with many other ex-internees who had nowhere else to stay, were installed in a hostel at Baginton Fields near Coventry.

Ruth Cook:

Passenger List Southampton to Hong Kong departing 4 March 1947:

Ruth Cook - age 26  - UK address  - Baginton Fields Hostel, Coventry

Bob Tatz:

I also know Aileen Thirlwell, who became married to Vitaly in Stanley Camp. Aileen was a great friend of my sister Julia. I think they first became acquainted in Baginton Fields Hostel just outside of Coventry in the Midlands, and remained friends for many years.

W F Dudman, writing in 1945:

I will be glad to hear from friends if they care to write to me at Baginton Fields Hostel, Coventry.

Photos that show this Place

Baginton Fields hostel, Coventry
1946

Comments

I grew up next to Baginton and have never heard of this place. I wonder if it was next to the airport?

"The authorities had arranged for a large contingent of passengers from the Empress of Australia to travel by train from Southampton to Coventry, then to a place called Baginton Fields Hostel. Here, refugees were to be housed until permanent places of residence could be worked out."

Source: Prisoners of the East by Allana Corbin

I would never have guessed that a little piece of HK-related history had unfolded just down the road from my childhood home.  I grew up in Finham and Styvechale about a mile away but had friends in Baginton.

I have described my experience at this hostel in my published book, Lost in the Battle for Hong Kong 1941, in Chapter 9, pages 138 to 154. The description, comments, and maps brought back a flood of memories for me. The Chace Hotel was the bus stop in the city from where we used to walk to the hostel. We also use this bus route to go to the college in the city during the school year. 

I was billeted  in Block G. The map shows the school building I think was converted into an Assembly Facility housing the Administration Office, dining area, lounge, and kitchen. Dances were also held here. 

It was a marvelous experience. Any photographs available?

Bob Tatz

Hi Bob, The Chace Hotel is still around although the last time I was in Coventry it was called "the Iliffe" and just received a Grade 2 status. I believe it closed recently but I have no idea what its fate is. 

Can you remember the name of the college you went to?

Phil

Hello Phil,

Thanks for your speedy response. In my book on Page 142, the school is named Coventry Technical College, with a photo. In fact, it should have been named the Lanchester College of Technology - Coventry, located on Priory Street in Coventry. It sure brought back memories in looking over my files. 

 

Hi Bob, in that case when I was growing up in Coventry in the 70s and 80s it was the Lanchester Polytechnic on Priory Street and then later became Coventry Polytechnic and subsequently Coventry University. It still has buildings on Priory Street opposite the cathedrals (old and new). I guess at the time you went you could see the bombed out old cathedral on the opposite side of the road.
Phil

Hi Phil,

In my book on Page 147 there is a picture of me in Baginton Fields posing at Farmer Mill's horse paddock. There is also a picture of the school and across the road was a tuck shop, and nearby was a bookseller. I bought my first Oxford Concise dictionary here and still have it.

I well remember the bombed-out site where the cathedral had stood. In my book I also described an event I could never forget. It was a Saturday morning after enjoying a matinée at the nearby hippodrome when Mr. Robert Murray Wilson (an American), also a resident at the hostel,  met me at the nearby Halford  Bicycle Shop. He generously bought me a Hercules bicycle with a 3-speed Sturmey Archer Gear, and also urged me to add a pillion seat and a dynamo headlight.  I was ecstatic with joy and used it well to go to classes and cycling at the weekends. This was how I visited Warwick Castle and the ruins of Kenilworth Castle. I took it back with me when I returned to Hong Kong. 

Thanks for the update on the school and how it grew into Coventry University.

Bob