New on Gwulo: 2023, week 52

Submitted by David on Sun, 12/31/2023 - 06:00

What's new and updated on the Gwulo website:

General

This is the last newsletter of 2023, so let me wish you health and happiness in the new year ahead. I'll follow up with a roundup of 2023 and a look at plans for 2024 in future newsletters.
Patricia Lim's excellent database of the inscriptions on gravestones in the Hong Kong Cemetery includes a few where the stone is so worn that the text can no longer be read. Selkirk has done additional research to identify the person buried in each of those graves (scroll to the bottom of the page).
The stone tower in the grounds of the Kowloon Hospital has been identified as a memorial built by the Japanese in WW2 (scroll to the bottom of the page).
Readers ask:
- Was Axel Napoleon OLSSON [1920-1950] Swedish, and what happened to the Swedish community in Hong Kong in WW2?
- Looking for info about Ian McKelvie of Whampoa Docks

Update on the new Gwulo book

On 19 December, the printer delivered all 1,000 copies of the new Volume 5. Hurrah!

That was three days earlier than expected, which meant we could mail out all the pre-orders before Christmas.

All local pre-orders placed before Christmas should have arrived by now - if yours hasn't, please let me know.

I've heard from overseas customers that their pre-orders have also started arriving. If you placed a pre-order from overseas before Christmas, and it hasn't arrived by 10 January, please let me know.

I took a quick look through a copy of the new book before we got busy with mailing, and I'm very happy with how it looks. Next there was the nervous wait, wondering how readers will react. Happily the first feedback was positive - thank you to Bob Bunker:

I ordered a couple of copies for Christmas for our sons... The books arrived just in time for me to sneak a look before gift wrapping - couldn't put it down... David's ability to find these photos, and his in depth analysis of what is going on is amazing, along with the deft way he weaves the stories that lie behind them... Can thoroughly recommend...!

To anyone who has enjoyed Volume 5, please could you take a moment to leave a rating or a review over on Goodreads or Amazon?

As well as trips to the post office, I've also been out delivering to bookstores, so Volume 5 is now in stock at: Bookazine, Hong Kong Book Centre, Hong Kong Reader, Kelly & Walsh, Lion's Ink Bookstore, St John's Cathedral Bookstore, and Vibe.

You can still order Volume 5 online from Gwulo, and I'm also going to keep running the offer of 15% off when you order the full set of volumes 1-5. The five-volume set was a popular choice among the pre-orders.

One last request: if you have had any problems placing an order via the Gwulo website, please could you let me know? Yesterday I noticed that the 'add to cart' button on the page for Volume 5 wasn't working. It's fixed now, but if there are any other problems lurking out there, please let me know.

People

Marjorie Elizabeth BRAY (née BOTTOMLEY) [1929-2022]
George Bertram FOSTER [1898-1944], prison officer, interned in Stanley Camp
Esau LYEN [c.1864-1922] and his wife Martha LYEN [????-c.1941], both born in British Guiana
Mary Lavender St. Leger PATTEN (née THORNTON, aka Lady Patten) [1944- ], wife of the last governor of Hong Kong
Seamen aboard the Admiral Y.S. Williams, an American freighter in dry dock at Hong Kong in December 1941, who were captured after the fall of Hong Kong on December 25, 1941:
- Robert Douglas CASEY [c.1914-????], fireman / water tender in the engine room, escaped to China
- Harold CHRISTENSEN [????-1942], oiler in the engine room, POW, died in Sham Shui Po POW camp
- Paul W. DAVIS [????-1944], oiler in the engine room, POW, died in Sham Shui Po POW camp
- Loren Anthony DISPER [1920-1994], radioman, POW
- Harry GOLDMAN [????-1945], chief engineer, POW, died in Sham Shui Po POW camp
- Thorwald HANSEN (aka Carl) [1897-1945], able-Bodied Seaman, committed suicide while POW in Sham Shui Po camp
- Vasily Charles HATLAN [c.1919-????], oiler in the engine room, escaped to China
- Parkman Scott HUSTON [1896-1972], fireman / water tender in the engine room, POW
- Lycurgus Gordon HUGHES [1899-????], fourth engineer, POW
- William HOWLEY [c.1906-????], seaman, interned at Stanley, then repatriated in August 1942
Japanese officials in WW2 Hong Kong:
- Haruo FUKUCHI (aka 福地春男) [1899-1953], Chief of Staff, Major General, he handled negotiations with the British at the time of the Japanese surrender