source : IWM
description of original film :
"General Festing, General Officer Commanding Hong Kong, walks across the football pitch at King's Park with two officers of the Royal Marines and a Chinese civilian. He meets the teams. The captains call the toss. Commandos watching from the sidelines; one has an improvised '44' flag. Chinese spectators on their feet with excitement. Footage from the goal line; Chinese spectators applaud a near miss. Seated Chinese spectators. Wide shot showing spectators on a hillside overlooking the pitch and the game in progress. A sergeant of No. 5 (Army) Commando watching the game. Wide shots of the game in progress with commando spectators in the foreground. Game in progress. Spectators. View from next to the Chinese goal. Chinese player drinks a mug of lemonade at half time."
author : Tulloch, John Reay of EAC Film Unit
original medium : 35mm (B&W)
Above image is displayed for research purpose only. Please refer to the original film on the IWM site for study.
The place is Club de Recreio, King's Park. Seasoned readers may be able to name something distinct in the distant background.
Comments
background
great image. I assume you mean what appears to be the Tiger Pagoda in the distance?
a wide view of the harbour, then and there
Hi PhilK, thanks for your kind input.
The ridge behind the distant 'tower' matches the location of Tai Hang, also verified with help of Google Earth. Could not imagine from same place today
that Tiger Palm Gardens is so prominent from Kowloon even post-WWII. But the other way round, I think today Lai Tak Tsuen estate still overlooks Tsimshatsui clearly.
The one big house nearby, on middle left, with chimneys and triangular roof also looks interesting, but may have no remains within next few decades.
Big House
It's an interesting property that coincides with today's Princess Margaret Road Garden. I wonder what it was? On the 1954/6 maps on hkmaps.hk it is marked as #2,#4,#6 (I assume Gascoigne Road?).
On the 1959 map the building is marked as "Railway Staff Quarters", but whether it was always this it's not clear. By 1963 they had been demolished.
Link to watch the film
https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/19769
Club de Recreio - clarification
I was struggling to match this interesting scene with the Club de Recreio's ground (marked L on the map below), as it doesn't have the sloped hillside beyond it, or the raised vantage point to give this view.
But the map also shows that Club de Recreio had an additional sports field at the northern part of King's Park (marked A on the map), and that matches the shape of the land in the photo. I've made a new Place for it, Club de Recreio sports field, King's Park [????-????].
@hkspace_wl, if you agree with the location, please could you update the Shows places to use the new place.
some more details and confirmed
Hi David,
Thank you for your thoughtful review and taking efforts to illustrate.
I take for granted simple place name matching is ok and missed out the terrain before.
I view the film* again and this alternative place matches more the rocky hillside in the background of the film (east side of the pitch).
One 'peak' of the hill is at about mid-field location, as seen in the short film. This looks compatible with the maps also. [1]
Possibly, the cameraman climbed to some opposite side slope to shoot part of the film (some shots only showed the grass/ground).
I have updated 'Shows place(s)' to the new one you added.
Best regards.
* IWM catalog no : JFU 431
remark
1. one other reference, the "1945 HK+Kln" map on gwulo
the big house in the background
This photo from 1920s is likely showing the closer look of the same house.
There is a detailed article which talks of The Story of Gun Club Hill Barracks in the Journal of RASHK 1998, by R.G. Horsnell (here).
For interested readers, several photos of the buildings there are shown (from image 305 of the online viewer tool), which are not commonly seen from outside. Also a timeline in the appendix.
*update : as philk's remarks, agree that the Gun Club Hill is orientated on the right side of the main photo.
Details of Football Match
A charity football match in aid of "Relief of Distress in Hong Kong" between 44 R.M. Commando and a Combined Chinese XI of the Eastern Athletic Association was played on 1 November 1945 at the Club de Recreio, King's Park.
More than 6,000 spectators attended the match. The final score was a flattering 6-0 win to the Commandos. Five thousand dollars was collected and an additional $600 for the auctioned football were donated to charity.
Source: China Mail 28 October and 2 November 1945 refers.
Building
As mentioned earlier, the building is on the north side of Gascoigne Road. The Gun Club Hill barracks can be seen on the far right in the original image.
Railway Staff Quarters related
Hi philk, I get your point now and clarify with the orientation. Thanks for correcting me.
Yes there are two big buildings marked 'Railway Staff Quarters' (2, 4, 6 & 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on the survey maps from 1930s up to 1959 on hkmapservice. The 'big house' is likely one of the two. There was a nullah to the north of these buildings. On the 1967 map, the area already became part of Princess Margaret Road.