Francis Woodley KENDALL (aka Mike) [1907-1973]

Ancestry Tree

Francis Woodley Kendall born 4 August 1907 Vancouver Canada

1911 Census 1629 Connor Street Vancouver B.C. Canada

Francis Woodley Kendall age 3 living with widowed mother age 32, a brother age 7 and a twin sister age 3. The family was still there in 1921. In passenger lists his occupation is shown as engineer.

(He had an older brother and not a younger one as mentioned in the hongkongescape link)

Post war Kendall remained in Hong Kong and became the Far East Manager for Philippine Airlines and later was involved in the motor car insurance business. He died in Hong Kong in 1973.

Sources: Articles in the China Mail and "Escape from Hong Kong" by Tim Luard.

A search in the government reports shows the following for Kendall:

Notice 823, 19 July 1940: 

It is hereby notified that FRANCIS WOODLEY KENDALL has been re-assigned from the General Group for Essential Services to the Key-Posts Group in the Hong Kong Defence Reserve under the provisions of the Compulsory Service Ordinance, 1939.

R. A. C. NORTH,

Colonial Secretary.

Can anyone explain what it means to be re-assigned from the General Group for Essential Services to the Key-Posts Group in the Hong Kong Defence Reserve?

For anyone researching Kendall, I have a copy of his SOE personnel file, as well as a personal report he wrote about his wartime activities.



Also, please note that his SOE personnel file and the 1937 publication,  The Kendall Family in America, state his date of birth as 22 August 1907. I would expect those sources to be authoritative.

In his personal report signed by Kendall and dated 17 September 1968, he wrote, "I am a Canadian, born and raised in Vancouver, and have lived in Hong Kong and South China for the past 35 years." That would place his arrival in Hong Kong sometime in 1933.

Finally, regarding Kendall's death, it was stated in the comments on his wife's Gwulo entry, "Carl Smith Card 115065 recording the death of Francis Woodley Kendall 17 May 1973 refers to his wife as Beatrice and children as  Harry and Vivienne."

Thanks for the extra information - I've corrected the dates of birth and death.

Yvr-foodie, is it file "HS 9/828/9" you have retrieved for F.W. (Mike) Kendall? I am interested in looking into his past, given how little my family knows of it (I'm a grandchild), as it would have been covered by the Official Secrets Act during his lifetime. 

Francis Woodley KENDALL - born 22.08.1907 | The National Archives

Yes, I do have HS 9/828/9. Happy to share with you what I have concerning your grandfather. You may contact me at YVR.foodie[at]gmail[dot]com.

You may also be interested to know that last month I made a presentation on the WW2TV YouTube channel in which he was one of the main protagonists: From Oblivion to Triumph - How Two Vancouverites Meeting in Free China Changed Canadian History.

Really excellent presentation, you went into painstaking detail.

I'll reach out via email, thank you.

For those with an interest in Mike Kendall, Allan Bartley has written a biography about him that provides much detail on his Operation Oblivion. I have written a book review on Reddit.

Beyond Operation Oblivion: A Canadian Spy Before, During, and After the Fall of Hong Kong, 1941
by Allan Bartley
Heritage House Publishing
September 1, 2026
Paperback
288 pages
Price: CAD$29.95
ISBN: 978-1772035841

I was amazed to learn that my godfather, Mike Kendall, was a Canadian spy, he was a great man and was very influential in my upbringing. When I was about 9 years old he brought me a flying model of a Mustang P51D from Japan which I fell in love with, and I went on in my life designing several important experimental aircraft. I'm 88 years old now.

Hello Fred, Mike Kendall is a fascinating character whom I have been gathering details on for some time now. Bartley's book has been quite helpful in filling in many details, but the personal, family side of Mike's life is very thin.

I would very much like to hear more about your recollections of your godfather and if you have any of his wife. If you are open to having a chat, please contact me at YVR.foodie[at]gmail[dot]com.

I would like to post some photos taken of Mike Kendall and my family, which will show some of his personal life details. How do I do that  on Gwulo?

Thank you for uploading the photos. The next steps are to:

• Link them to this Person page (I've just done that, so they now appear under 'Photos that show this Person' at the top of this page.)
• And optionally embed them in a comment here if you'd like to talk about the photos some more.

If you have other old photos of Hong Kong you can share, we'd love to see them!