New on Gwulo: 2023, week 20

What's on

• FULLY BOOKED Sun 28 May: Next Sunday I'll give a free talk at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum - In, On Under, and Around Hong Kong's Harbour. I'll show a selection of photos from my third book, projecting high resolution copies on the big screen so we can zoom in to see their details, and uncover their hidden stories. Click for details and registration. (Two thirds of the seats had already been reserved when I checked last week, so register soon if you're planning to join.)
   
• Sun 4 Jun: Howard Elias will lead a guided tour of the Jewish Cemetery in Happy Valley, telling stories of the people who are buried there, and discussing the religious laws and customs regarding burial. I joined one of Howard's previous tours of the cemetery and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I can happily recommend it. The event is organised by the OMRS HK Branch - please contact their Hon. Secretary Martin Heyes for details and booking: martin.heyes@gmail.com
   

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What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:
 

General

• Descriptions of a couple of road construction techniques from early 20th-century Hong Kong:
  • Macadam had been used since the 19th century and was still in use
     
  • Granite setts (blocks) were used to pave busier roads in the 1910s & 1920s
     
• Ann Hudson (then Ann Hardy) remembers completing the cross-harbour swim aged nine:
  

  

• Readers ask:
  • After the old Butterfield & Swire building was demolished, why did it take over 10 years before the Furama Hotel was built on that site?
     
  • Have any traces of Victorian era public toilets in Hong Kong survived?
     
  • Do any copies of the 1960 episode of the BBC's This Is Your Life featuring Ellen Field still exist? She worked with Medical Officer Selwyn Selwyn-Clarke and Japanese interpreter Kiyoshi Watanabe to provide humanitarian aid to the POWs in Shamshuipo Camp.
     
  • Where were The Bungalow, Dock Bay and El Nido? They were both buildings in Kowloon in the 1880s/1890s.
     
  • Looking for photos of:
    • The original building at 24 Repulse Bay Road
       
    • Swire exec house at 53 Stubbs Road [????-c.2006]

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Places
 

• Hong Kong Island
  • Bonham Strand Flush Latrine [c.1941-c.1980]
     
  • Buddhist Chinese School / TWGHs Tsui Tsin Tong School (Wah Fu Estate) [1970- ]
     
  • Cavendish Heights (First Generation) [????-????]
     
  • China Night Bar, Wanchai [????-????]
     
  • Godowns, 204-206 & 208-210 Wan Chai Road [????-????]
     
  • Old Toby Bar, Restaurant & Night Club, Wanchai [????-????]
     
  • 29-31 South Bay Road [1960- ]
     
  • Taipingshan (Tai Ping Shan) Market, Sheung Wan [????-1895]
     
• Kowloon
  • Charcoal Kiln below Kowloon Pass [????- ]
     
  • Emmanuel Primary School, To Kwa Wan [1962- ]
     
  • Kowloon City Bus Terminus [????-1960]
     
  • Unusual boundary marker stone in former King's Park
     
• New Territories & Islands
  • Emmanuel Primary School, Sham Tseng [1955- ]
     
  • RAF Sek Kong / Shek Kong Airfield [????- ]
     
  • Tin Shui Path Inflatable dam [????- ]
     
  • Tung Chung Wooden Pier / Bridge at Ma Wan Chung Village [????- ]
     

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People

Patrick introduced an excellent book for anyone researching Portuguese family members in Hong Kong: The Portuguese Community in Hong Kong.

• Interned in Stanley Camp
  • Harold John ARMSTRONG (aka Jack) [1900-1984], solicitor
     
  • Ronald George FULLER [c.1911-????], engineer
     
  • George GOSLING [1880-1950], Chinese Maritime Customs, and his son-in-law F S ELLIOTT [c.1900-????] who was a Dockyard Policeman
     
  • Ian Campbell HIGHET [????-????], banker
     
  • Elizabeth Margaret NANCE (née KENNINGTON, aka Beth) [1917-2013] and husband Ancil B W NANCE [c.1903-1999], missionaries
     
  • Wendy Bernadette PETERSEN (née BARTON) [1928- ]
     
  • Dawn Mary ROSE [1931- ] and brother Gerald Hembdon Seymour ROSE [1935-2023]
     
  • John Richard Morris Burney WALL [1910-1998], policeman, and his wife Joyce Lavinia WALL (née WILKINSON) [1927-2008]
     
  • Beatrice Lenola WHITHAM / HUMPHRIES (née BROUWER) [1916-????]
     
• POWs
  • Henrique Alberto de Barros BOTELHO (aka Colonel Botelho) [1906-1999], lawyer, HKVDC
     
  • Arthur BROWN [1899-1975], HKRNVR
     
  • Ferdinand Maria CASTRO (aka Sonny Castro) [1919-1985], HKVDC, famous during the POW years for his imitations of actresses like Carmen Miranda
    

    

     

  • Kenneth William FORROW [1916-2004], Volunteer Air Arm, active member of the HK Football Club
     
  • Ralph James HARDY [1917-1971], sergeant in the RAF, imprisoned by the Japanese, awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal
    

    

• Other
  • Eugenia KOEPPEN [????-????], a German refugee who was not interned by the Japanese in WW2
     
  • John Browne OST [1848-????], missionary
     
  • Alexandra PIO-ULSKI (aka Lindy PARKS) [1939-2023]
     
  • George Frederick RHODES (aka Dusty) [1906-????], policeman in Shanghai and Hong Kong, then worked for the Kowloon Wharf Police
     
  • Alice WALKEN [1852-1884], the "Alice" who the Alice Memorial Hospital was named after
     

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Photos
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Click to see all recently added photos.