Hong Kong Cricket Club in the years leading up to WW2

Submitted by jeremy on Fri, 09/30/2011 - 09:44

I am researching a book and am interested in the social side to the Hong Kong Cricket Club in the years leading up to World Ward 2. I am also keen to see any photos of the inside of the old building. Hong Kong is reputed to have been quite racist pre war and I would like to know how this manifested itself at the cricket club. The first eleven after all played against mix raced teams and as far as I know also included players who were not white or British. How did this play out given the morality of the times? Was there any 'apartheid' evident in the club facilities? For  example were those facilities- bar dining room etc- available to all players or only members? Was it the case that anyone could play but only certain people could be members? 

Jeremy

Jeremy,

A memoir of someone living in Hong Kong at the time would be a help. Does anyone remember reading one by a member of the cricket club?

The closest thing I can think of is 'Prisoner of the Turnip heads' by George Wright-Nooth. He played rugby rather than cricket, but it does have a couple of pages about the social setup in 1940-41.

Please let us know if you find anything relevant,

Regards, David

In the late Eighties the Cricket Club produced a book - "A History of the Hong Kong Cricket Club 1851-1989".  I have not seen or read it (and therefore don't know how helpful it may be) but it may give you a bit more historical "colour".  Perhaps try calling the Club (and/ or Nigel Stearns - the GM) to see if there is a copy you could peruse!

hello david

many thanks for your reply and help. i have heard of the turnip head book and may look into that. failing anything explicitly about the cricket club any general memoirs of social life at that time that touch on racism would be good. i have read emily hahn who was usuful but she was very much an observer of empire and american to boot. something from a brit, chinese or portugues/macanese perspective would be better. 

btw the web site is excellent

regards

lawrence

thanks for your post. i do have a copy of a hundred years of hk cricket by peter hall 1999 if this is the text to which you refer. unfortunately there is nothing in it from the racial perspective and little about the social side pre war. it's mostly a playing record of the club and the memoirs are all, not surprisingly, post war. do you know if the club has an archive that i may be able to get access to on my next trip to hk (i live in tokyo)?

regards

jeremy

Hi Jeremy.

The Cricket Club does not have any records or archieves from before 1946. Everything was lost during the war.

However, what the HKCC does have are the General Committee Minutes of the meetings which date to their first post-war meeting, which I think was about April '46. One of the first things the HKCC did was try to get all members to "re-Join"" as the orignal members list was lost. One funny little story was they had to have a committee member specifically for the acusition of light bulbs.

The minutes of the meetings will have informtation such as: The first female "non-dependant" member. I think they might be mention of when they allowed the Wives chit-signing rights ect. But you might be able to find when the first "Local" member was allowed (its worth mentioning that some expats, such as junior clerks or merchants, were not able to join until much later) 

Also there were aparently a number of Japanese fortifiactions within the Club grounds after the war, which made the Lawn bowlers most displeased as it was right on thier green. 

For acsess to the minutes history you will need permission from Nigel Stearns (GM).

A book called "The Fall of Hong Kong" by Philip Snow has lots of worth while information regarding the Racial aspect of HK as the war broke out. If I remember correctly, it explains things such as the bank of china being created due to local merchants not being allowed accounts in HSBC ect.

I'll try and find an extract from the HSBC Manual for new Expat arrivals from about 1880. It is a fantastic read, however by todays standards comletely unaceptable. I'll dig it out.

Good Luck

Interesting to read about the Japanese fortifications within the cricket grounds. I have seen in photos what appears to be a pillbox located at the south-western end of the cricket pitch after the war.

1946 Hong Kong Cricket Club

 

1946 Hong Kong Cricket Club

Gerald Horne's Race War! is also good on the general 'racial' situation.

I've not been able to get hold of a copy of Gillingham's At The Peak - does that have anything?

Hong Kong Surgeon by Li Shu-Fan is sometimes mentioned as a memoir good on pre-war racism, but again I've never read it. (You might want to avoid the Mills and Boon novel of the same name by Margaret Barker as this probably wouldn't be so illuminating!).

hello craig

thanks for this info. i was rather pinning my hopes on an immacutely kept pre war archive so your news comes as a disapointment. i do have the philip snow book which is very useful as you say. there are a few refs to the use of the club and more particularly the grounds. the club was taken over by the japanese and used as a sports club. the grounds were used for all kinds of things from the training of indian troops (chandra bose nats who had gone over to the japanese side) to the collection of motor vehicles prior to shipping them to japan. look forward to reading anything else you have. i may try to get in touch with nigel.

regards

Jeremy, I've received a couple more suggestions. Have you already seen these?

  • HALL Peter.  KOWLOON CRICKET CLUB.  The Club 1980.  First Edition.  Original wrappers.  d/w.  Padwick II 2421.
  • HONG KONG CRICKET CLUB CENTENARY 1851-1951.  The Club 1951.  First Edition.  Original wrappers.  Padwick4305.

Regards, David