Iris Kathleen Critchell was a missionary who served with the BCMSfrom 1937 and went through the war years with great courage.
She was born in 1913 to James and Bessie Critchell. Her father was a dock porter working for the Great Western Railway. In 1921 the Census found her living at 21 Wesley Street, Weymouth, with her parents.
At some point she felt a call to the mission field and so at the age of 21 she underwent missionary training with the BCMS in Bristol, and went out to Hong Kong in September 1937 on the Potsdam from Southampton to work in the BCMS Children’s Home, which at that time was at Taipo NT. Fellow missionary nurse Lucy Baird(49) was on the same ship.
In 1940 the Home was moved to Mirror Lake Villaon Sha Tau Kok Road in Fanling, and she was in charge.
When the Japanese invaded on 8th December 1941, she received a phone call from the police just before 6am advising her of the situation of war and that she was to put into operation the Medical Director Dr Selwyn Clarke’swartime arrangements for the three NT homes, ie hers, The Fanling Babies’ Home, and Madame Chiang Kai Shek's orphanage. They were to transfer to the Jockey Club Stables.
She therefore rang Mildred Dibden at the Fanling Home nearby to alert her and started preparations for the move. A lorry took Miss Critchell and most of her girls off to the Stables. It returned at 9.00 to pick up the rest of the BCMS girls and 35 of the older girls (aged 4-5) from the Fanling Home. The appearance of the first Japanese troops around 11.00am brought this operation to an end, leaving Mildred Dibden and her assistant, Australian nurse Ruth Little, stranded in Fanling, with some 60 infants.
Back at the Stables, Miss Critchell found she was the only European. By the 17th/19th[1] December the Chinese superintendent there had transferred his allegiance to the Japanese and as Miss Critchell was a potential liability to him, he forced her to leave with her amah. It was bitterly cold but they were well wrapped up. They decided to walk back to Fanling and Mildred Dibden’s Babies’ Home.
They wandered for two days and a night, during which they were robbed by opportunist thieves of valuables and most of their clothing. Iris realised as a European that it was dangerous for her to be seen out and about and sent her amah on ahead to Fanling. Mildred then managed to get clearance from the Colonel-in-Charge, Col Kanamaru, and Iris and her amah reached the home. Iris was to spend the rest of the war managing the Home with Mildred Dibden and Ruth Little. Her BCMS Home had become unusable, having been thoroughly looted, down to doors, parquet flooring and window frames, due to the great shortage of fuel for cooking and heating.
Fortunately, with the charitable Col Kanamaru in charge locally, the looting of the Fanling Home was mostly over by this time. He gave permission for the children at the Stables to return in time for Christmas, which the women were determined to celebrate, despite the news of surrender, and they held a service with curious Japanese troops looking on.
Then a downturn; after a month Col Kanamaru moved on and the women found his successor to be less humane, and for the rest of the war the women found themselves subject to the vicious treatment commonly experienced in Hong Kong at that time.
By February 1942, starvation claimed the youngest babies at the Home. The women considered handing over leadership to Chinese nationals, hoping this might bring aid. A letter requesting transfer to Stanley Camp went unanswered, and Japanese troops continued delivering more foundlings.
Relief came when Mildred secured a monthly rice ration, though collecting it meant a grueling 40-mile walk to Victoria. Iris and Ruth helped, but illness struck in July: enteritis, malaria, and exhaustion. The Braga family, being Portuguese and not interned, arranged hospital passes.
Efforts to find Chinese leadership failed. Iris and Ruth resumed duties in September, Mildred in November. In April 1943, Iris sent her older girls to Nanning, easing the burden. She later suffered a serious throat infection.
A cholera outbreak in July hospitalized Mildred and Ruth, leaving Iris alone until their return in September. Mildred noted Iris’s exhaustion. Fears rose that the Japanese might seize the Home, as Fanling was a military hub, but it remained untouched.
Christmas brought villagers to hear the children’s songs and message.
In May 1944, Mildred met with Dr. Arthur Woo, who provided funds, medicine, and rice, and through him, a meeting with philanthropist Aw Boon Haw led to a pig-rearing venture, improving nutrition and morale.
All this enabled them to get to the end of the war, but that brought its own troubles with lawlessness and looting until order was finally established. Mildred (40) and Iris (32), because of the state of their health, were both scheduled for priority repatriation on the Empress of Australia. They sailed on the 11th September 1945, arriving in Liverpool on October 27th. Here they parted and Iris travelled home[2] to 21 Wesley Street,Weymouth in Dorset and Mildred to Tunbridge Wells. Mildred was to return to Hong Kong but of Iris nothing more is said in Jill Doggett’s account.
The BCMS First 25 Years report gives her a starting date of service (1937) but no finishing date when it was published in 1947, which would suggest she was still active with them at that time. Like her colleagues Mildred Dibden and Ruth Little, hers was an outstanding story of courage, dedication and faith. Whether she had lasting health issues after the war is not known.
She died in Dorset in 1999.
See Brian Edgar's post below for info on Iris Critchell's activities post-war.
[1] Different sources give different dates.
[2] The shipping list gives her destination as 21 Wesley Street, Weymouth, her family home and place of birth.
Thank you annpake. I was hoping you might come up with something. With team Gwulo at work, Gwulo website will be (maybe is already) the premier website for all sorts of collated or original information, not to be found anywhere else.
1. Article in the Newcastle Sun dated 31 August 1943 providing the first direct communication (written in January 1943) received from Miss Ruth Little. The well-being of Miss Dibden and Miss Critchell and the continuing work of the Fanling Babies' Home are mentioned.
2. Article in the Daily News (Perth, W.A.) dated 12 September 1945 on the ordeal suffered by three women medical missionaries, Little, Dibden and Critchell during the Japanese Occupation.
Between 1934 and 1936 Iris Critchell undertook missionary training at Dalton House, Bristol. In 1936-7 she trained as a midwife at Clapham before going to Hong Kong.
She returned from the war in 1946 in poor health, but served as a missionary in Nanning (south west China) from 1947 to 1951 when she was expelled.
She was housekeeper at Dalton House between 1953 and 1962, and also conducted a mission and prayer meetings.
Between 1962 and c. 1969 she worked at the Royal Sailors’ Rest, Portsmouth.
In her final years she was back in Weymouth working and looking after her parents.
Source: notes by a friend - letter of April 2, 1999, Iris Critchell archive, Cadbury Research Library, Birmingham
Comments
Iris Critchell Profile
Iris Kathleen Critchell was a missionary who served with the BCMS from 1937 and went through the war years with great courage.
She was born in 1913 to James and Bessie Critchell. Her father was a dock porter working for the Great Western Railway. In 1921 the Census found her living at 21 Wesley Street, Weymouth, with her parents.
At some point she felt a call to the mission field and so at the age of 21 she underwent missionary training with the BCMS in Bristol, and went out to Hong Kong in September 1937 on the Potsdam from Southampton to work in the BCMS Children’s Home, which at that time was at Taipo NT. Fellow missionary nurse Lucy Baird (49) was on the same ship.
In 1940 the Home was moved to Mirror Lake Villa on Sha Tau Kok Road in Fanling, and she was in charge.
When the Japanese invaded on 8th December 1941, she received a phone call from the police just before 6am advising her of the situation of war and that she was to put into operation the Medical Director Dr Selwyn Clarke’s wartime arrangements for the three NT homes, ie hers, The Fanling Babies’ Home, and Madame Chiang Kai Shek's orphanage. They were to transfer to the Jockey Club Stables.
She therefore rang Mildred Dibden at the Fanling Home nearby to alert her and started preparations for the move. A lorry took Miss Critchell and most of her girls off to the Stables. It returned at 9.00 to pick up the rest of the BCMS girls and 35 of the older girls (aged 4-5) from the Fanling Home. The appearance of the first Japanese troops around 11.00am brought this operation to an end, leaving Mildred Dibden and her assistant, Australian nurse Ruth Little, stranded in Fanling, with some 60 infants.
Back at the Stables, Miss Critchell found she was the only European. By the 17th/19th[1] December the Chinese superintendent there had transferred his allegiance to the Japanese and as Miss Critchell was a potential liability to him, he forced her to leave with her amah. It was bitterly cold but they were well wrapped up. They decided to walk back to Fanling and Mildred Dibden’s Babies’ Home.
They wandered for two days and a night, during which they were robbed by opportunist thieves of valuables and most of their clothing. Iris realised as a European that it was dangerous for her to be seen out and about and sent her amah on ahead to Fanling. Mildred then managed to get clearance from the Colonel-in-Charge, Col Kanamaru, and Iris and her amah reached the home. Iris was to spend the rest of the war managing the Home with Mildred Dibden and Ruth Little. Her BCMS Home had become unusable, having been thoroughly looted, down to doors, parquet flooring and window frames, due to the great shortage of fuel for cooking and heating.
Fortunately, with the charitable Col Kanamaru in charge locally, the looting of the Fanling Home was mostly over by this time. He gave permission for the children at the Stables to return in time for Christmas, which the women were determined to celebrate, despite the news of surrender, and they held a service with curious Japanese troops looking on.
Then a downturn; after a month Col Kanamaru moved on and the women found his successor to be less humane, and for the rest of the war the women found themselves subject to the vicious treatment commonly experienced in Hong Kong at that time.
By February 1942, starvation claimed the youngest babies at the Home. The women considered handing over leadership to Chinese nationals, hoping this might bring aid. A letter requesting transfer to Stanley Camp went unanswered, and Japanese troops continued delivering more foundlings.
Relief came when Mildred secured a monthly rice ration, though collecting it meant a grueling 40-mile walk to Victoria. Iris and Ruth helped, but illness struck in July: enteritis, malaria, and exhaustion. The Braga family, being Portuguese and not interned, arranged hospital passes.
Efforts to find Chinese leadership failed. Iris and Ruth resumed duties in September, Mildred in November. In April 1943, Iris sent her older girls to Nanning, easing the burden. She later suffered a serious throat infection.
A cholera outbreak in July hospitalized Mildred and Ruth, leaving Iris alone until their return in September. Mildred noted Iris’s exhaustion. Fears rose that the Japanese might seize the Home, as Fanling was a military hub, but it remained untouched.
Christmas brought villagers to hear the children’s songs and message.
In May 1944, Mildred met with Dr. Arthur Woo, who provided funds, medicine, and rice, and through him, a meeting with philanthropist Aw Boon Haw led to a pig-rearing venture, improving nutrition and morale.
All this enabled them to get to the end of the war, but that brought its own troubles with lawlessness and looting until order was finally established. Mildred (40) and Iris (32), because of the state of their health, were both scheduled for priority repatriation on the Empress of Australia. They sailed on the 11th September 1945, arriving in Liverpool on October 27th. Here they parted and Iris travelled home[2] to 21 Wesley Street, Weymouth in Dorset and Mildred to Tunbridge Wells. Mildred was to return to Hong Kong but of Iris nothing more is said in Jill Doggett’s account.
The BCMS First 25 Years report gives her a starting date of service (1937) but no finishing date when it was published in 1947, which would suggest she was still active with them at that time. Like her colleagues Mildred Dibden and Ruth Little, hers was an outstanding story of courage, dedication and faith. Whether she had lasting health issues after the war is not known.
She died in Dorset in 1999.
See Brian Edgar's post below for info on Iris Critchell's activities post-war.
[1] Different sources give different dates.
[2] The shipping list gives her destination as 21 Wesley Street, Weymouth, her family home and place of birth.
Sources:
The Yip Family of Amah Rock by Jill Doggett
The First 25 Years of the BCMS
Australian Newspapers in the links below, see moddsey's post.
Chinese Wikipedia.
Ancestry
Iris Kathleen Critchell February 1913 - 1999
Ancestry
Iris Kathleen Critchell born February 1913 death registered Quarter 1 1999 in South Dorset.
Iris Kathleen Critchell February 1913 - 23 March 1999
1921 Census Wesley Street Weymouth Iris Kathleen Critchell aged 7 years 3 months living with father a dock porter, mother, brother and sister .
UK Probate Records of Death
Iris Kathleen Critchell death date 23 March 1999
Thank you
Thank you annpake. I was hoping you might come up with something. With team Gwulo at work, Gwulo website will be (maybe is already) the premier website for all sorts of collated or original information, not to be found anywhere else.
Iris Critchell in the Australian Newspapers
1. Article in the Newcastle Sun dated 31 August 1943 providing the first direct communication (written in January 1943) received from Miss Ruth Little. The well-being of Miss Dibden and Miss Critchell and the continuing work of the Fanling Babies' Home are mentioned.
2. Article in the Daily News (Perth, W.A.) dated 12 September 1945 on the ordeal suffered by three women medical missionaries, Little, Dibden and Critchell during the Japanese Occupation.
Iris Critchell dob
According to the programme for her funeral she was born on September 4, 1913.
Between 1934 and 1936 Iris…
Between 1934 and 1936 Iris Critchell undertook missionary training at Dalton House, Bristol. In 1936-7 she trained as a midwife at Clapham before going to Hong Kong.
She returned from the war in 1946 in poor health, but served as a missionary in Nanning (south west China) from 1947 to 1951 when she was expelled.
She was housekeeper at Dalton House between 1953 and 1962, and also conducted a mission and prayer meetings.
Between 1962 and c. 1969 she worked at the Royal Sailors’ Rest, Portsmouth.
In her final years she was back in Weymouth working and looking after her parents.
Source: notes by a friend - letter of April 2, 1999, Iris Critchell archive, Cadbury Research Library, Birmingham