Notes moved here from the page for his second wife, Wendy:
Submitted by clithering on Sun, 2022-02-20 00:08.
The book Hong Kong Who's Who published in 1960 has an entry for Mr Orchard, in which it mentions that he was born on 18 June 1922. Although the entry does not provide the birthplace, he was probably born in Hong Kong, as a post in Gwulo in the following link indicates that he was baptised in St John's Cathedral in Hong Kong on 13 January 1923.
https://gwulo.com/node/21034
Family notices from SCMP show that his parents were Mr William Edwin Orchard (1890 – 1947) of the Hong Kong Electric Co. and Mrs Bessie Winifred Orchard (1894 – 1954).
He joined the Hong Kong Government in 1940 as a senior clerical and accounting staff member at the Colonial Secretary's Office ("CSO"). He fought in the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941 and was held by the Japanese as a PoW from 1941 to 1945. According to the Hong Kong War Diary database in the following link, he was a private of the 7 Platoon of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. As a PoW, he was interned at the North Point Camp.
http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/hkvdc.html
After the war, Mr Orchard re-joined the Hong Kong Government in 1947. He was initially attached to the CSO, to be further transferred to, firstly, the Development Secretariat and, secondly, the Fisheries Office, in the same year.
After he was appointed to the rank of Executive Officer, Class I, in 1949, he was sent to the UK in the same year for attending the Colonial Fisheries Officers Course. Upon his return to HK, he had a short stint with the Co-operative & Marketing Department, before he was transferred to the Registration of Persons Office in 1951, where he was the acting Commissioner, Registration of Persons, from 1952 to 1954. When he stepped down from the acting appointment in 1954, he was promoted to the rank of Senior Executive Officer, Class II.
In 1955, he attended the Fishery Training Course in the UK and Norway. He completed the Course in the same year and was posted to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Department, where he spent the remainder of his civil service career as a Fisheries Officer. He prematurely retired at the age of 52 in April 1975 as the Departmental Information Officer of his Department (with his substantive rank as a Fisheries Officer).
Mr Orchard's first wife was Mrs Peggy Orchard (1927 – ?), with whom they had two daughters born in Hong Kong, one in 1948 and the other in 1951.
William Derrick Orchard
Submitted by annpake on Sun, 2022-02-20 05:36.
Border Crossing Canada to US 20 June 1933
William Derek (sic) Orchard born 18 June 1922 in Hong Kong China age 11 Father William Mother Winifred
Peggy Orchard nee Jones
Submitted by annpake on Thu, 2022-02-24 05:27.
Passenger List February 1957 London to Hong Kong
Peggy Orchard date of birth 18 March 1927 29 Padnell Road Cowplain Portsmouth, and two daughters born 1948 and 1951
England and Wales Marriage Index
William D Orchard married Peggy Jones in 1946 in Portsmouth
Peggy Orchard married Rayond H T Medley in Ploughley Oxfordshire in 1974
Comments
Cliff Large
My father- Clifton Large- worked with Derrick Orchard in the Agriculture & Fisheries department. They may have known each other since childhood and possibly would have been together in Stanley Camp as they were both in the Volunteers.
After my dad retired in late 1967 Mr. Orchard came to visit us in Orange, NSW. Australia where my parents retired to, that was the last time I ever saw him and probably was the last time dad did either.
Rob Large