House overlooking Happy Valley

Mon, 09/22/2014 - 21:01

Any information on this house which was built around 1917 -1920 would be gratefully received. It is on what is now Broadwood Road and was known as The Towers. Thanks. Sean

Date picture taken
unknown

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Are you Sean from http://www.thehongkonglegacy.com/ ?

In the 1919 Ladies Directory I found the following two names on Broadwood Rd.

Lambert, Mrs            5    Broadwood Road
Cossart, Mrs. L.      20    Broadwood Road    

Google Book search

Gegg, Richard Conrad "Fareham" Broadwood Road, Hong Kong

  (Calendar - McGill University, 1921 - Google Books, snippet view)

Reifier, Dr. E. 5 Broadwood Rd

   (Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volumes 70-71 - 1939)

 

Do you know what the street number was for this house?  My grandfather Richard Conrad Gegg lived at 14 Broadwood Road with his parents, George William Gegg and Edith Carlotta Johnson-Lee Gegg. Richard came to Canada in 1919 to go to university and stayed here, but his mother continued to live at 14 Broadwood Road with her other son William Stanley Gegg who was born shortly after his father's death in 1920, and then eventually with her second husband Ernest James Ainslie and their son G. (George?) Ainslie until the Japanese occupation during WWII.  She and her two younger sons were taken prisoners of war, and no property was ever returned to her after the war.  

According to the Rate Books, the name of the house at 14 Broadwood Road was "Fareham". Your great-grandfather, G.W. Gegg was the first owner of this house. All the houses on Inland Lot 1947 were built by my grandfather, Charles Warren, who lived at The Towers, 20 Broadwood Road until his death in 1923. Your great-grandfather's immediate neighbours at 13 Broadwood Road were John Olson, my grandmother's half-brother and his wife Annie, grandparents of Sean who started this thread. H.W. and Tomé Walker lived at 15 Broadwood Road. Your great-grandmother, Edith Johnson Gegg is listed as the owner of 14 Broadwood Road in the 1924-25 Rate Book. Various grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the occupants of the original houses in Broadwood Road have posted their recollections and photos on Gwulo.

Hi Jill - thank you for the interesting information about 14 Broadwood Road.  It makes sense that the House was called 'Fareham' because my great grandfather, G.W. Gegg, was born in Fareham, England.  I believe that my great grandmother continued to live in the house after G.W.'s death in 1920, eventually with her second husband Ernest James Ainslie, until the Japanese occupation.  I don't know what became of the house after WWII, but family lore has it that Edith sold all of her jewelry while in Stanley to purchase garlic and onions to supplement her diet and that the only possession she was able to recover after the war was an ornate silver and glass decanter from the house.  

Liz Barker 

Hi Liz. It's sad that Broadwood Road is now given over to high rise flats at the top end and unrecognizable from its early self. As you can't eat jewelry, I think your great-grandmother did the sensible thing. I hope your family still has the old decanter.  My family decided to lug a rather dented pewter cocktail shaker back to England and then Canada - a souvenir of happier days!