1 - 12 Jul 1944, Tom Hutchinson's Wartime Diary

Submitted by barbaramerchant on Sun, 09/15/2013 - 17:02

Tom Hutchinson's War Diary - Page 45

Notes:

1st - 2 pces Soap   6.00
2/7/44- Baked bread 7lbs 4 oz. Gave 1lb to Lim 1/2 lb to May ((May Guest?)). Sold "Flowering Flowers" as prints to Kastman for ¥7.50
3/7/44 - 30 bars Soap @2.75    82.50     3 toothbrushes   6.-
30/6 - 2 Bars Soap    6.-
7/7/44 - Took own Shoes to Jok Kee. He wants ¥9.00 for ((?)) Heels + Girlie's shoes  3-00    ¥12.-
12/7/44 - Repair umbrella 3.00    Repair 2 buckets + Enamel Pail    2.-

Supporting information:

Date(s) of events described
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Comments

Mr. and Mrs. Kastmann were a German couple who helped Dorothy Brazier and Doris Lemmon run their Salvation Army orphanage during the occupation.

(Susanna Hoe, The private lIfe of Old Hong Kong, 276)

Evidence from the address on a postcard (which also refers to her as 'German') shows Mrs. Kastmann lived at 3, Belfran Rd, Kowloon. It's hard to make out her first name but in begins with 'K' and ends in 'lice', so something like 'Koralice'??

(David Tett, Prisoners Captives in Cathay, 163)

The writer, Mrs. Franklin, thanks her for a gift.

In the 1906 and 1911 Jurors' Lists there's a Karl Adolf August Kastmann, an assistant at Siemssen & Co.

In 1938 Mr. Kastmann had a house on Cheung Chau:

http://gwulo.com/node/12725

Mr. (presumbaly) Kastmann visited Tom Hutchinson on June 6, 1944.

Putting all this together it seems that the Kastmanns were long established in Hong Kong (or if Karl Adolf was the father of Tom Hutchinson's 'Kastmann', an establised family).