Mary Prichard MOLINE (née MOLINE (NEVER MARRIED)) [1898-1986]

Mary Prichard Moline, missionary in China - was she interned in Hong Kong or Shanghai?

Mary was English, the sister of Robin Moline, Archbishop of Perth. I have no knowledge of her between her arrival in Hong Kong in 1940 and 1946 when she left China via the port of Chinqangtao in northern China.

It is possible she travelled to Shanghai prior to Japanese occupation and practised her missionary work there until she was captured and interned. Following are possibilities of where she was held.

One possibility is that she travelled to Shanghai in 1940 and was later interned the Lincoln Camp, in Shanghai.

From Lincoln Camp information: "On 28 June 1944, the Japanese decreed that all remaining Allied nationals in Shanghai, who had been medically exempt from internment up to that point, report to the Lincoln Avenue Camp. It remained open, housing internees after the war, until February 1946, when the Highland Chieftain carrying repatriates, sailed for Britain." 

Mary arrived back in England on the Highland Chieftain on 12 March 1946. This ship had called at Shanghai, most likely in February although I can find no sailing record for this, nor for Mary as a passenger.

I am trying to find out more information as to whether or when she was interned or managed to stay free from the Japanese. See more details below.

In 1928 she left England, at the age of 30, for Singapore on her way to be a missionary in China.

Extracts below from my WordPress Blog to be found at https://wendymoline.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=889&action=edit

On 5 January 1940, this indomitable woman set off again, even though England was at war and travel by ship was very risky. Her destination was Hong Kong, China. At that time the Japanese had not invaded China, or Hong Kong but they did so later.

There is a total blank in this record of Mary's amazing life between 1940 and 1946. It is possible she was interned by the Japanese although my research could find no record. It is also possible she escaped into the wilds of China and practised her nursing there without being captured.

The next we hear of Mary is when she turns up again in England in March, 1946.

Chinwangtao was a port in Henan in Northern China. If Mary was interned during WWII, or even if she spent it undetected by the Japanese, it is likely the Highland Chieftain was the first ship she could get back to England after the war.