Everything tagged: HKVDC

John Hubert Bottomley (Jack) was born in Baildon, West Yorkshire in 1899, the oldest of four children of Fred Bottomley and Elizabeth Tyson.   As a young man Jack served in World War I and was gassed as well as receiving serious shrapnel wounds in Flanders. He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

After the Great War he studied engineering at Bradford Technical College (now Bradford University).  He passed the Oxbridge exams but the family could not afford to send him to Oxford or Cambridge.

He was added to the list of authorised architect in Hong Kong in 1930. See item 692 in the Government Gazette, Nov 21, 1930.

Here's his entry in the 1941 Jurors List:

Buried in Stanley Cemetery;

THOMSON, Private, JAMES MILNE, Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. 24th December 1941. Age 20. Son of James Downie Thomson and Georgina Milne Thomson, of Aberdeen. 5. E. Coll. grave 3-7.

From: http://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Cemeteries/Stanley_Military_Cemetery/h…

Michael Yatskin

Born in Siberia Russia around 1910 . Escaped due to revolution via Harbin Shanghai then Hong Kong. Prisoner of war at Sham Shui PO prison camp for over 3 years? I have a book of sketches by Lieut  A.V. Skvorzov of life in the prison camp . I believe there is one in the museum in Hong Kong.

He was an engineer in the PWD in Hong Kong when he was head of works at Sham Shui Po in 1955 when the Li Cheng Uk tomb was discovered. His subsequent actions saved the tomb.

http://www.macaneselibrary.org has a copy of his memoir:

Experiences at Shamshuipo & Sendai Camps

Gordon Dewar was Captain Commanding No. 7 Company in the HK Volunteer Defence force. He had had  a long connection with Shanghai, from 1922 with first the Shanghai Dock and Eng. Co and then the Kiangnan Dock and Eng. Works, and then in Hong Kong with Taikoo Dockyard from 1937.

Robert was interned as a HK defence volunteer in Shamshuipo POW camp, and later was shipped off to Amoy, Shanghai, and Peking for forced labour. He assumed he had been headed for Japan when the war ended. 

In camp he worked in the kitchens as often as possible, so as to get the more nutritious scrapings and rice husks from the bottom of the pans.

He also became adept at catching flies in his fist to relieve the boredom, after studying their habits when disturbed. A good party trick in later years.

Philip has just added an article about JJ Paterson to his blog. He notes that JJ was Managing Director of Jardine Matheson in the 1930s, and served in the HKVDC. He commanded the group defending the North Point power station. Click to read the full article.