No. 2 Battery HKVDC (photo taken in 1941) Courtesy of Steen Ørskov Christensen and as seen on front cover of Frode Z. Olsen's book Fighting for Two Kings
Something that makes this photo extra valuable is that most of the men have been labelled with their names. I've attempted to transcribe the names in the table below. Some people aren't named, and some of the names aren't clear (where a name isn't clear I've written ???, and if it isn't completely illegible I've added my guess at what it might say). If you can identify any of them, or if you spot any mistakes, please let us know in the comments.
(You can click any column heading, e.g. Surname, to sort the table by the values in that column.)
Key:
Position : Position in the group. 1-01 is front row far left, 4-16 is back row far right.
+ : Men marked with a cross died in the war, either in the fighting or during the imprisonment that followed
Label : The name written on the photo
Initials & Surname : The person referred to. I've used two lists of names to identify them:
@h9430500 please do you know which man in the photo is Lieutenant Buxton?
I don't see his name in the list above, though some men are unnamed.
Also it looks as though there are only two officers in the photo, the two men wearing a diagonal leather strap from shoulder to waist. They are identified as Major Garland and Lieutenant Barnett.
This book cover features a photograph of Danish volunteers in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, highlighting their role in the 1941 defence of the colony. • Title: Fighting for Two Kings: Danish Volunteers in the Defence of Hong Kong 1941 by Frode Z. Olsen. • Content: The book details the experiences of Danish residents in Hong Kong who volunteered to fight against Japanese forces despite being forbidden to swear allegiance to the British Crown. • Historical Context: Around eight to nine Danes saw active service, choosing to fight far from their native country. • Publisher: The work is published by Earnshaw Books in 2020
Fighting for Two Kings: Danish Volunteers in the Defence of Hong Kong 1941 by Frode Z. Olsen, by h9430500
The photo in context is HKVDC 2nd Battery, the source was from the "Fighting for Two Kings" book.
Lieutenant Barnett belongs to HKVDC 4th Battery, should not be in this photo, whereas Major Garland belongs to HKVDC 2nd Battery, should be in this photo.
===============
@h9430500 please do you know which man in the photo is Lieutenant Buxton?
I don't see his name in the list above, though some men are unnamed.
Also it looks as though there are only two officers in the photo, the two men wearing a diagonal leather strap from shoulder to waist. They are identified as Major Garland and Lieutenant Barnett.
================
Lieutenant Henry Thomas Buxton (1903–1941) was promoted from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) with effect from May 13, 1941. He served with the HKVDC's 2nd Battery (and later associated with No. 4 Battery) during the defense of Hong Kong in World War II, tragically losing his life on December 18, 1941.
RE: Peaker, A.J., position 2-09 in the HKVDC No.2 Battery Group Photo.
According to: page 3394, SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 13 JUNE, 1957.
Arthur Peaker was appointed: Arthur James PEAKER, Esq., Superintendent of Furniture and Equipment, Stores Department, Hong Kong.
At about the time of his appointment, detailed immediately above, Peaker and his family became the original occupants of the top floor apartment at the newly completed Beach Mansions, 11B Stanley Beach Road, which, perhaps interestingly, would have been considered to be non-standard accommodation for a Hong Kong Government Stores Department employee of the day.
I've removed Buxton and Byrne from the list of people shown, as they aren't clearly identified. We can add them back again if we get other photos of them we can match with some of the unnamed men in this photo.
Comments
Origin of photo
Philip Cracknell has a copy of this photo on his page: No. 2 Battery, HKVDC during the Battle for Hong Kong - December 1941
He captions the photo:
Names
Something that makes this photo extra valuable is that most of the men have been labelled with their names. I've attempted to transcribe the names in the table below. Some people aren't named, and some of the names aren't clear (where a name isn't clear I've written ???, and if it isn't completely illegible I've added my guess at what it might say). If you can identify any of them, or if you spot any mistakes, please let us know in the comments.
(You can click any column heading, e.g. Surname, to sort the table by the values in that column.)
Key:
Buxton?
@h9430500 please do you know which man in the photo is Lieutenant Buxton?
I don't see his name in the list above, though some men are unnamed.
Also it looks as though there are only two officers in the photo, the two men wearing a diagonal leather strap from shoulder to waist. They are identified as Major Garland and Lieutenant Barnett.
Henry Thomas Buxton - Do you have a photo ?
My hypothesis was Buxton should be in the photo, since moving to Battery 4 from 2, only happend just before the Battle of Hong Kong broke out.
CWGC records Buxton as 2nd Bty , shown Henry Thomas Buxton as 2nd Bty
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2815151/henry-thomas-buxton/
I was hoping some expert knew or seem his photo will come up identify him, but so far none......
I also tried looked for his wife's photo, who was killed in Stanley, but failed to find any.
According to Philip Cracknell
"Thirty-eight-year-old Lt Buxton was posted to No 4 Battery, at Pak Sha Wan, on 17 December to relieve Lt Sleap. "
https://battleforhongkong.blogspot.com/2019/08/what-happened-at-no-2-battery-hkvdc.html
I figured Buxton should be in this photo.
2nd Battery name list
http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/hkvdc.html#_ftnref96
Fighting for Two Kings - by Frode Z. Olsen
This book cover features a photograph of Danish volunteers in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, highlighting their role in the 1941 defence of the colony.
• Title: Fighting for Two Kings: Danish Volunteers in the Defence of Hong Kong 1941 by Frode Z. Olsen.
• Content: The book details the experiences of Danish residents in Hong Kong who volunteered to fight against Japanese forces despite being forbidden to swear allegiance to the British Crown.
• Historical Context: Around eight to nine Danes saw active service, choosing to fight far from their native country.
• Publisher: The work is published by Earnshaw Books in 2020
https://www.amazon.com/-/zh_TW/Frode-Z-Olsen-ebook/dp/B09P1F2YLL
Danish volunteers served in the HKVDC 2nd Battery
https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3086924/king-and-country-not-so-danish-volunteer-soldiers-world-war
Buxton?
The photo in context is HKVDC 2nd Battery, the source was from the "Fighting for Two Kings" book.
Lieutenant Barnett belongs to HKVDC 4th Battery, should not be in this photo, whereas Major Garland belongs to HKVDC 2nd Battery, should be in this photo.
===============
@h9430500 please do you know which man in the photo is Lieutenant Buxton?
I don't see his name in the list above, though some men are unnamed.
Also it looks as though there are only two officers in the photo, the two men wearing a diagonal leather strap from shoulder to waist. They are identified as Major Garland and Lieutenant Barnett.
================
Lieutenant Henry Thomas Buxton (1903–1941) was promoted from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) with effect from May 13, 1941. He served with the HKVDC's 2nd Battery (and later associated with No. 4 Battery) during the defense of Hong Kong in World War II, tragically losing his life on December 18, 1941.
Arthur Peaker - post W.W.2
RE: Peaker, A.J., position 2-09 in the HKVDC No.2 Battery Group Photo.
According to: page 3394, SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 13 JUNE, 1957.
Arthur Peaker was appointed: Arthur James PEAKER, Esq., Superintendent of Furniture and Equipment, Stores Department, Hong Kong.
At about the time of his appointment, detailed immediately above, Peaker and his family became the original occupants of the top floor apartment at the newly completed Beach Mansions, 11B Stanley Beach Road, which, perhaps interestingly, would have been considered to be non-standard accommodation for a Hong Kong Government Stores Department employee of the day.
I've removed Buxton and…
I've removed Buxton and Byrne from the list of people shown, as they aren't clearly identified. We can add them back again if we get other photos of them we can match with some of the unnamed men in this photo.
ok
w thx !