15 Feb 1942, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Today Jean Gittins enters Stanley.

Gittins, the daughter of Sir Robert and Lady Clara Ho Tung, is Eurasian and in a position to claim either British or Chinese nationality. So far she's stayed out of Camp, living alongside Gordon King and Arthur Bentley, in Hong Kong University.

She's coming to feel that she'll be better off with her sister Mabel in Stanley - more secure and more likely to be part of any any exchange of prisoners -  but meets opposition from the Director of Medical Services, Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke, who thinks she'll be more useful outside.

King escapes on February 10 (see that day's entry), asking Gittins to give him a two day start before informing the Japanese. She waits three days and tells some students, who are worried about her safety, and urge her to inform the Japanese immediately.  She goes to Dr. Selwyn-Clarke the next morning, who at first tries to dissuade her from entering Stanley, but when he hears of King's escape, immediately changes his mind.

The next morning Arthur Bentley, University Pharmacy lecturer, brings her a farewell breakfast of porridge, and Selwyn-Clarke gives her a large jar of malt and cod liver oil. The latter has arranged for her to enter Stanley by way of a period as a patient in Tweed Bay Hospital.

Later today Arthur Bentley escapes from Hong Kong.

Sources:

Gittins: Jean Gittins, Stanley: Behind Barbed Wire, 1982, 38-40

Bentley: Tony Banham, We Shall Suffer There, 2009, entry for February 10, 1942 (Banham gives the date of Bentley's escape as Chinese New Year, which was February 15 in 1942).