Where were the Relief Hospitals in December 1941?

Submitted by David on Mon, 04/10/2017 - 17:31

As part of the preparations for war, certain buildings around Hong Kong were designated as Relief Hospitals, to help cope with the increased number of hospital patients expected during fighting. Where were they located?

Here are mentions of "Relief Hospital" on Gwulo, but please let me know of any mistakes, or of more that I've missed:

KOWLOON

1. La Salle College [ANS]

  • "Jessica was [with the ANS] in the relief hospital in La Salle College in Kowloon" - Henry Ching

2. The Peninsula Hotel

  • "Uttley is organising a relief hospital at the Peninsula Hotel." - Captive Christmas

HONG KONG ISLAND

1. St. Paul's (Causeway Bay and / or Glenealy) [ANS]

  • "Florrie [was with the ANS] at the St. Paul’s relief hospital – this may have been in the St Paul’s Convent and Hospital in Causeway Bay, but I think it was in St.Paul’s College, next to Bishop’s House, in Glenealy but have not been able to verify this." - Henry Ching

I asked Henry why he thought it may have been St Pauls College in Glenealy, rather than the one in Causeway Bay. He replied:

The reason I think Florrie was posted to a relief hospital located in St Paul’s College which was located next to Bishop’s House in Glenealy is that I don’t think she was in Causeway Bay.  This is close to our home in Happy Valley. If she had been in Causeway Bay we would undoubtedly have seen more of her during the battle. Also the hospital in the French Convent complex already existed and was not a relief hospital – it had a permanent staff and many of the nuns worked there, so I don’t think the ANS was involved.  And when the battle ended I would have expected Florrie to come straight to us in Happy Valley, but she did not appear until some time after, with her mother (who had been evacuated to Queen Mary Hospital from the relief hospital in the Jockey Club stands), and brought to the door by Dr Selwyn Clarke. 

2. Hongkong Hotel, Central [VAD]

  • "On the 21st December it was found necessary to open up another relief hospital in the Hongkong Hotel, to deal with the large number of casualties that were pouring in from the lower areas.  This latter hospital did not close down until the 19th January, long after the fighting had finished." - Irene Braudé

3. St. Stephen's College, Stanley [VAD]

  • "On the 18th December 1941 another group was moved out to St Stephen's College, Stanley, which had been turned into a relief hospital for East Brigade." - Irene Braudé

4. Stands at Happy Valley Racecourse [ANS]

  • "In the large Jockey Club grandstand is a relief hospital to which civilian wounded and sick have been removed from other hospitals. My sister Flo is working there as an auxiliary nurse. There are about 150 patients. The building has been under artillery and machine-gun fire all day." - Harry Ching, 24 Dec 1941.

5. Hong Kong University [???]


Irene Braudé also mentions an Auxiliary Hospital at St Albert's Convent / Rosary Hill. I'm not sure what the difference was between an auxiliary hospital and a relief hospital.

British Military Hospital, Bowen Road:

  • The author, Donald Bowie, "took up duty as surgical specialist in the British Military Hospital, Bowen Road [on 1 April 1939] "

Indian Army Hospital, Kowloon, &
Tung Wah East Hospital, Hong Kong

  • "The Indian Army Hospital which was in Kowloon and which accommodated some British patients as well, was on the outbreak of hostilities to close, cross the harbour and reopen on the Island of Hong Kong in the Chinese Hospital, Tung Wah East."

On page 159 is this list and overview:

8-25 DECEMBER, 1941

During hostilities eleven hospitals on the Island received casualties.
These were: —

  • Military Hospital, Bowen Road.
  • Indian Military Hospital, Tung Wah East.
  • St. Albert's Convent
  • Royal Naval Hospital.
  • St. Stephen's College, Stanley.
  • Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam.
  • Stanley Prison Hospital
  • University Hospital, University Buildings.
  • Hongkong Hotel.
  • War Memorial Hospital, The Peak.
  • Matilda Hospital, The Peak.

The Indian Hospital was responsible mainly for Indian casualties,
but like all other hospitals, service and civil alike, admitted
any casualties which occurred nearby. The hospital in Bowen Road
acted as a Casualty Clearing Station during hostilities, a role which
though foreseen was forced upon us very early by shell fire and
aerial bomb hits which caused casualities among the staff, destroyed
the kitchen and damaged the structure to such an extent that it
became unsafe to use the two top floors as wards. After surgical
treatment patients, when fit to move, were transferred to other
hospitals thought to be a little safer, and to emergency accommodation
opened elsewhere such as the Hong Kong Hotel where they
were nursed on mattresses laid on the ballroom floor. The main
approach road to Bowen Road, Borrett Road, was soon damaged
by shell fire and for a time ambulance cars could not reach the
hospital at all. Casualties then had to be carried on stretchers by
our staff over long stretches of slippery wet and steep slopes of mud.

He doesn't name the relief hospital at the Happy Valley Racecourse, but mentions it in passing:

"Soon after our surrender, nurses and other staff and patients
who had survived the outrages of Stanley, Happy Valley, St. Albert's
Convent Hospital and elsewhere rejoined Bowen Road and their
experiences soon became known to all staff and patients."

Other mentions include St Teresa's in Kowloon:

"By 26
February [1942] the only other hospital serving British and allied troops
was the small St. Teresa's Hospital in Kowloon which provided a
few beds for men from the P.O.W. camps there. Eventually on 11
August 1942 St. Teresa's was closed and its few patients who still
needed care were moved to Bowen Road. Thereafter no British or
allied wounded remained in any other service or civil hospital or
building which had been used as a hospital."

The move to the Central British School in Kowloon:

"The hospital closed in Bowen Road on 23 March 1945 and reopened
in the Central British School, Kowloon, on 10 April. "

St Stephen's Girls' School Relief Hospital.

Source: Ride Papers, WO343-1-188, part 1, p. 34.

Two things from memory that I will have to check:

the relief hospital in the Peninsula Hotel never opened;

what was later to become Tweed Bay Hospital in Stanley Camp was equipped to be a relief hospital but was never used.

 

And one general comment: as well as relief hospitals there were first aid posts planned to be close to the likely scenes of battle, and it's probable that to some extent the functions of regular hospitals, relief hospitals, and first aid posts overlapped in the heat of battle.