Rosemary WOOD [c.1931- ]

Submitted by Admin on Thu, 02/08/2024 - 10:55
Names
Given
Rosemary
Family
Wood
Sex
Female
Status
Unknown
Born
Date
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)

She lived in the French Convent in WW2 with her mother, who was a nurse there, and her sister Sylvia. As far as I can tell they never entered Stanley Camp, so must have spent the whole occupation in the Convent [update: they spent most of the occupation in Rosary Hill, see comments below]. The family are mentioned in Sheridan's account of his escape, where he describes moving to the French Convent in Feb 1942, and the nurses who were there:

The nurses are mostly Chinese, one Philipino and some Eurasians, a few French, and one English, Mrs Wood, wife of Capt. Wood R.A.S.C. who is interned in Sham Shui Po. Her two children, Rosemary and Sylvia are also here.

Photos that show this Person

Comments

The family are mentioned on the Australian Red Cross card, index no. 34343, held in the University of Melbourne Archives (http://hdl.handle.net/11343/137511):

  Surname: Wood
Other names: Rosemary and Sylvia
French Convent, Causeway Bay
 
DATE       INFORMATION
26-7-42 Cable from Warner British Red Cross req.any inf.about a/n - ages 11 & 6 motherless, father POW in Hong Kong - last heard of in Hongkong
28-7-42 Lett.to Maughan req.any inf.
6-8-42 Maughan adv.no inf.but suggests we contact Imperial Army Paymaster for addresses of Mrs.Morris & Mrs.Ford who would have inf.
11-8-42 Lett.to Imperial Army Paymaster req.any inf.
14-8-42 Lett.from Imp.Army Paymaster adv.addresses of Mrs.Ford & Mrs.Morris
17-8-42 Wrote Mrs.Morris & Mrs.Ford req.any inf.
18-8-42 Mrs.Ford adv.nothing known -Mrs.Morris sugg.we contact Mrs.Shepherd thru Mrs.Sims-lett.toMrs.Sims
23-8-42 Mrs.Sims rep.Mrs.Shepherd last heard of them at French Convent Causeway Bay, Hong Kong knows nothing more
22-10-43 Cable B2193 from Geneva adv. "Delegate Hong Kong cables Rosemary and Sylvia Wood well staying with Stepmother.” Adv.B.R.C.S.
29/9/45 UKALS adv. Rosemary, Sylvia, & Mrs. M.J.Wood, (Hospmatron) Recovered Hong Kong, Health good,

Tony Banham's thesis, The Evacuation of British Women and Children from Hong Kong to Australia in 1940, has much more information about the Wood family. Here's a summary:

  • Rosemary and Sylvia Wood were included in the women and children who were evacuated from Hong Kong in July 1940. Their mother and father stayed behind. He was serving in the RASC, and she was a patient in the Queen Mary Hospital, being treated for cancer.
  • The girls got as far as Manila, but were then brought back to Hong Kong instead of continuing to Australia. Their mother was very ill, and died in December 1940.
  • The girls and their new step-mother spent most of the occupation years in Rosary Hill.