MSc History student from the University of Edinburgh looking for sources regarding the experiences/role of women in Britains Informal Empire in China (to 1950). These sources may have then travelled with women who then moved to Hong Kong!!

Submitted by beccam_279 on Thu, 02/13/2025 - 20:15

MSc History student from the University of Edinburgh looking for sources regarding the experiences/role of women in Britains Informal Empire in China (to 1950). These sources may have then travelled with women who then moved to Hong Kong, hence why I am posting on Gwulo, please delete if not allowed!!

Hello, I wondered if some of you might be able to help me. You may remember my post from a few years ago when I completed my undergraduate dissertation on the Scottish Diaspora in the Shanghai International Settlement 1900-1945. Many of you were very helpful in guiding me towards sources both primary and secondary, alongside some helpful advice.

I am now completing my MSc in History (postgraduate degree) at the University of Edinburgh. I am currently considering carrying out my dissertation on the role, lives and experiences of settler/sojourner women throughout Britain's informal empire in China between approximately 1900-1946. (this would be narrowed down/refined into a better title!!) (and include internment experiences)

I am particularly interested in this topic as my Great Grandmother Helen Dick (nee Leach) and 2 generations before lived in Shanghai (migrating initially from Dundee in 1900), before moving to Hong Kong in 1949. Stories of their experiences have been prominent throughout my life, thus sparking my academic interest.

Anyway! Now to my question, would anyone be willing/able to provide me with primary sources, primarily diaries, memoirs and letters from yourself or women in your family who lived in Britain's informal empire in China at any point in this time frame? I have a few but would be really keen for more. (happy with before 1900 to but information/sources from or regarding before 1950 would be preferable please)

These can be sent as photos to me directly, or if with in a reasonable distance from central Scotland I would be happy to meet and look at them/take pictures in person.

Assuming that most sources would not be transcribed into a digitised written form, I would carry this out on your behalf and then send you a word/doc or PDF of these sources to go alongside your original source. Or post a printed copy if preferable.

I look forward to hearing from you and would be very happy to have a chat/answer any questions if you are unsure of anything. My email address is s1940762@ed.ac.uk and my name is Rebecca Maitland.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Rebecca

In reply to Rebecca, I would like to contribute the fact that my own mother  (Canadian) only told me that I was delivered by a Canadian Obstetrician at Queen Mary Hospital, HK, in 1950  when I was born, after I became an Obstetrician Gynaecologist in 1980. That Obstetrician was Dr Henrietta Banting, the widowed 2nd wife of Dr Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer of Insulin.

I attach a Reference :Canadian Medical Association Journal, 1977, Vol 116, January 8th 1977, p. 85.

Diana Ingram

Hi Rebecca! Fellow uni student studying history here (I study HK during WWII)! :) A few sources from women in HK in this period that may be relevant, and that you may be able to find at your library/online: 

  • Twilight in Hong Kong by Ellen Field
  • Through Japanese Barbed Wire by Gwen Priestwood
  • China to Me and Hong Kong Holiday by Emily Hahn
  • Some of these oral histories may also be relevant: https://www.hongkongheritage.org/nodes/view/23901 

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Best,

YY

Hi Rebecca,

For "sources regarding the experiences/role of women in Britains Informal Empire in China (to 1950)", please can I clarify:

  • are you interested in the experiences of all women, western women, or British women?
  • are you focused on stories from those women in mainland China only, or to include Hong Kong as well?

Regards, David