Ladies Recreation Club 1890 - 1915

Submitted by annelisec on Fri, 05/13/2011 - 19:44

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Ladies Recreation Club - a history

Chapter 2

 

New generation of ladies and gentlemen
1890 - 1815

LRC - IL 898 Diagram - Hong Kong Public Records Office

A changing of the guard at the LRC was initiated by the Government wanting some LRC land to build a road (later extended and becoming May Road) from [Old] Peak Road to our uphill neighbour, "Macomer" (later called Clovelley).  But the Ladies were less than acquiescent.  A Government memo said "It is evident that the Ladies have an eye to business .." and "The ladies of the Recreation ground cannot of course be expected to part with a portion of their property without getting some return ...".

So the LRC agreed to exchange the steep slope that is now between May Road and Peak Road for a bit more land fronting Peak Road where Hornsey Road is.

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Officers of the Ladies Recreation Club

 
Though the Club's own documents were lost during the Japanese occupation, we have the good fortune, starting in 1890, of knowing the names of many of the LRC's officers from the "The Hongkong directory and Hong list for the Far East"
Year President                 Secretary                      Treasurer         Committee                   
1890 Mrs. Noble Mrs. Hirst Mrs. Vernon  
1891 Mrs. Harman Mrs. Hirst Mrs. Vernon Mrs Hartigan
Dr. William Hartigan
Mrs Tomes
Mrs. W.H.Forbes
Mrs Just
1892 Mrs. Barker Mrs. Hirst Mrs. Vernon Mrs Hartigan
Mrs Tomes
Mrs. Travers
Mrs. Layton
1893 Mrs. Barker Mrs. Hirst Mrs. Bird  
1894 Mrs. Barker Mrs. Hawkins Mrs. Vernon  
1895 Mrs. Barker Mrs. Bird Mrs. Jackson  
1896 Mrs. Bird Mrs. Clement Palmer Mrs. Francis  
1897 Mrs. Bell-irving Mrs. Clement Palmer Mrs. Francis  
1898 Mrs. Bell-Irving Mrs. Clement Palmer Mrs. Saunders  
1899 Lady Carrington Mrs. Saunders Mrs. Francis  
1900 Mrs. Gascoigne Mrs. A. Turner Mrs. Francis  
1901 Mrs. Gascoigne Mrs. A. Turner Mrs. Francis  
1902 Mrs. Gascoigne Mrs. A. Turner Mrs. Francis  
1903 Lady Gascoigne Mrs. A Turner Mrs. Saunders  
1904 no listing      
1905 no microfiche      
1906 Lady Gascoigne Mrs. A Turner Mrs. Saunders  
1907 Lady Gascoigne Mrs. A Turner Mrs. Saunders  
1908   Lucy Moxon    
1909 no microfiche      
1910 no listing      
1911 no listing      

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Trustees

The new gentlemen trustees shows the more diverse citizenship of the members and their husbnads.

1. Mr. George Edward Noble - (English) - Chief Manager of Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank replaced Sir Thomas Jackson 

    Mrs. Frances Marion Bertha (Daisy) Sexton Noble became the Club president.

2. Mr. James Johnstone Keswick - (Scottish) - LegCo member, Jardines, Mathesion & Co, and founder of Hongkong Land  

    Mrs. Marion Plumer Parkes Keswick

3. Mr. William Howell Forbes - (American) - Russell & Co. 

    Mrs. Dora Delano Forbes (American)

 

A bit more about the ladies

Marion (Minnie) Plumer Parkes Keswick married J.J. Keswick of Jardine's in 1884 when she was about 24 years old and he was 38, in Peking, in the same year the LRC tennis courts were opened.  They first moved to Shanghai, and later to Hong Kong.  Her husband became a trustee of the LRC in 1890.

Her father was Sir Harry Parkes, a charming rogue who managed to marry a beautiful wife and make a lifetime career as a British diplomat in Asia despite causing wars and other upsets at every opportunity. Minnie travelled with him extensively, even to attend a royal dinner at Buckingham Palace in 1881, and he was sorry to lose her company when she married Keswick and had to settle for writing letters.  To read a bit about Sir Harry in Gwulo, click here, and Minnie's account of the Legation in Peking click here

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Mrs. Dora Delano Forbes, was American.  Her husband also became a trusteee of the Club in 1890. She was 36 when the LRC was established. At age 16 she was engaged to William Howell Forbes of Russell & Co. and at age 20 - in 1867 - married him in Paris after he received his $100,000 "competence".
The Delano sisters 

The young Misses Delano, ca. 1874, nine years before the LRC: Dora, Sara, Cassie, Annie, and Laura. (NARA, Franklin Roosevelt Library)

Tennis at Rose Hill - Dora Delano Forbes

After a wedding in Paris, the couple returned to Hong Kong and lived in "Rose Hill". on Caine Road.  In this photo we can see a family party at Rose Hill with their tennis rackets.

Dora's nephew, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, became President of the United States.

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Mrs. Frances Marion Bertha (Daisy) Sexton Noble,  eldest daughter of Major JM Sexton Bombay Staff Corps - married George Edward Noble

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Lady Helen Gascoigne,  was married to Major General Sir William Gascoigne, the General Officer Commanding Hong Kong Forces 1899-1902.  She came from a military family, had been widowed once, and this was her second marriage.

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Florence Dare Hartigan, whose older sister had married Thomas Jackson of HSBC, married Dr. William HARTIGAN, a professor at the Chinese School of Medicine, and the physician for HSBC.    Read more