Everything tagged: Russia

Pre-war:

Mrs Olga Ferrier’s name appears on a list, compiled by “moddsey” and posted on Gwulo on 9-9-2014, of “personnel who have completed 96 hours of hospital training for qualification as an Auxiliary Nursing Service Nurse – Hong Kong Daily Press 3 July 1941.”

ANS Nurse Olga Ferrier was married to W/O Vivian Ferrier of the HKRNVR.

During the hostilities Nurse Olga Ferrier served with the ANS at Queen Mary Hospital.

Following the ceasefire Mrs Olga Ferrier was interned at Stanley.

He appears in these Jurors Lists as "Borinevitch, Valentin Gabriel" ...

1939: Salesman with Millington, Ld., living at Top Floor, 7  Homuntin Street, Ho Mun Tin

1940: Salesman with Office Appliance Co. Ld., living at 2 King's Terrace, Top floor, Kowloon.

1941: Assistant with Reiss, Bradley & Co., Ld., living at 9B Salisbury Avenue, Kowloon.

He was a signalman in the HKVDC, shown at 2a in the photo below

(Updated 28 December 2025)

Married to Robert Rodgers, an exchange broker. He was a Private in the HKVDC who fought in the Battle of Hong Kong. Private Rodgers was killed in action on 19 December 1941.

Elizabeth Rodgers was also in the Auxiliary Nursing Service. She was interned at Stanley Camp and later repatriated to the United States in 1942.

Nadejda Gregory Mossberg - not sure if her maiden name was 'Gregory' but she was of Russian descent.

Her husband, Carl Leland Mossberg was a merchant. They were present in Hong Kong during the Japanese invasion. In 1942, they were interned at Stanley Camp and later repatriated to the United States.

He is mentioned as having first arrived in Hong Kong in 1923 in his brother's application to become a naturalised British Citizen:

That in 1924 through your Memorialist's brother Michael Patrowich Piankoff, he obtained a vise or pass from the Colonial Secretary’s office in Hong Kong and proceeded to Hong Kong. Your Memorialist's said brother is now working at Lane Crawford Ltd and has been in this Colony since 1923.

This is Elizabeth Starchenko - my great grandmother and mother-in-law of AJ Savitsky. She lived outside of Stanley as she remained a 3rd National (Russian). Not sure if I have asked before but would anyone happen to have any accounts about her time outside of Stanley during the war? I thought I'd ask just in case - even though its probably a long shot.

Here's a brief biography about her.

A remarkable woman who experienced much hardship and show much resiliency in her life.

Mother to 3 sons and 3 daughters.

According to the Jewish Historical Society of Hong Kong:

"She had arrived in HK in 1933 and was working as a hairdresser and manicurist at Alexandre Beauty Parlour at the time of her death. She had gone out for dinner with a male friend (Eric Mitford) who picked her up in a borrowed motorcycle with a sidecar, where she was seated. As he was turning a corner, a tire blew and the bike flipped over. He survived."

A former stateless Russian subject who resided in Shanghai pre-WWII, he was later an Assistant in the Yangtze Supply Corporation in Hong Kong 1947 and later became a naturalized British subject. 

Source: Hong Kong Sessional Papers 1947

Notes from 1314: 

• Born  22.8.1908
• Enlisted  3.4.1935 as L/Sgt E 31  ( Aged 27, - previous service in Shanghai ? )
• Immediate Pre War was on Passport Control duties.