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to 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.
Passenger List Southampton to Hong Kong departing 4 March 1947:
Ruth Cook - age 26 - UK address - Baginton Fields Hostel, Coventry
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.
Comments
Baginton
I grew up next to Baginton and have never heard of this place. I wonder if it was next to the airport?
re: Baginton
Yes, it was very close to the airport. I've changed this page to a Place so you can see where the hostel was located: https://gwulo.com/node/61519?a=1#12~52.3937~-1.5017~Map_by_OSM-Markers~…
Re: Baginton
"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
The layout of the hostel is…
The layout of the hostel is shown on this 1950s map of the area: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.4&lat=52.38029&lon=-1.47620&la…
Baginton
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.