Vera Murrell - Olympic Games Swimmer and Prisoner of War

On Sunday 7 December 1941,  Captain Peter Belton who was on the staff of Brigadier Cedric Wallis, commanding officer of the Mainland Infantry Brigade, packed his bags and moved into the Brigadier's flat in Argyle Street to be close at hand to his boss and the other members of the brigade staff. During that weekend there had been an increase in tension and a heightened alert. A state of emergency was declared that Sunday because Japanese forces were observed in strength just across the border. The Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corp (HKVDC) had been mobilized earlier that day. The Mainland Infantry consisting primarily of 2nd Battalion Royal Scots, 5th Battalion of the 7th Rajput Regiment and 2nd Battalion of the 14th Punjab Regiment had been at their battle stations on the Gin Drinkers Line (GDL) since the middle of November. This line of pillboxes, trenches, barbed wire entanglements and minefields ran east-west across the Kowloon peninsula, from Port Shelter and Tidal Cove in the east to the rather strangely named Gin Drinkers Bay in the west. The Royal Scots were deployed in the malarial effected area on the left flank and were below strength because of the number of malaria cases affecting the men. The Rajputs controlled the right flank and the Punjab Regiment held the centre. The defensive line followed the line of hills, keeping where possible to the high ground. Across the border, the 38th Division of the Imperial Japanese Army who had brutalized their way through China were now preparing to invade this outpost of empire and to bring down a reign of terror that would last for nearly three and half years.

In Captain Belton's handwritten war diary for Sunday 7 December, he writes:

Decided to stay that night at the Brigadier's flat in Argyle Street. Put all my personal belongings in the hot-room and completed my own kit down to details such as hip flask of rum. Had quick dinner. James came in with Ned Curran and Vera Murrell, had a drink with them. Vera amused by my preparations - Ned laid a wager that this time it was 'the real McCoy'.  (1)

Ned Curran won that wager. At 0545 hours the next morning, the Brigadier was informed by telephone from China Command Headquarters that war with Japan was imminent. A short while later the General Officer in Command (GOC), Major-General Christopher Michael Maltby, known as Mike, phoned with the message that 'we are at war with Japan'. The brigade staff moved to their temporary Battle HQ at Jubilee Buildings, Sham Shui Po Barracks.

   Just before 0800 hours a message came in from 2nd Bn. Royal Scots that twenty-seven enemy aircraft had passed overhead flying towards Hong Kong. A short while later Kai Tak airport and Sham Shui Po Barracks were subjected to a massive air raid. Jubilee Buildings received several direct hits with other bombs falling on the barracks but casualties were light as most troops including the two Canadian battalions had already moved to their battle stations.

   Let us return once more to that hurried dinner on Sunday night on the eve of battle. Without a surname I can not identify James, but what about Ned Curran and Vera Murrell. A quick search of the garrison list (2) showed that Ned was Major Edward J. Curran of the Royal Army Medical Corp (RAMC). He was a Hygiene Specialist and was Officer in Command Hong Kong Field Hygiene Section, RAMC. He was specialized in malaria and malaria prevention which at that time was a serious problem affecting troops manning the GDL. I found a reference to him in Lt Colonel Cedric Shackleton's war diary. Lt Col. Shackleton, RAMC, was Commanding Officer of the Bowen Road Military Hospital

Major E J Curran  and two Staff Sgts of RAMC  together with 14 Chinese ORs of the Hong Kong Field Hygiene Section  reported at the hospital and were accommodated. The Chinese personnel were more of an encumbrance  than anything else, spending most of their time in the air raid shelters, until their final desertion on 24 December." (3) 

On 28 Dec 1941 after capitulation - Medical Officers were detailed as follows to take charge  of troops collected at the places shown:  Captain Reid, RCAMC,  to Victoria Barracks -  Captain Coombes, RAMC, to Battle HQ and vicinity -  Major Curran, RAMC, to Murray Barracks  -  Lt Lancaster, RAMC to Wellington Barracks. (4)

Who I wondered was Vera.  A search of the list of internees at Stanley Internment Camp, held at the Imperial War Museum in London,  revealed that she was Mrs Vera Murrell. She had been allocated Camp No. 2223. She was born 20 November 1906  making her 35 years old at the time she was incarcerated in a Japanese concentration camp. Her occupation was described as a Teacher and her billet was Block 10 room T5. This block was situated near St Stephens College and away from the Prison Wardens Quarters where many of the other internees were billeted. She shared a room with Miss Elma Kelly an Australian journalist and Mrs Maud Minhinnick the wife of a Naval Officer.

   She avoided compulsory evacuation of women and children in 1940 because she had enrolled as a nurse in the  Auxiliary Nursing Service (ANS). After the capitulation on 25 December 1941 and before incarceration at Stanley Internment Camp she was held at the HK University Relief Hospital (5). We can assume that she was working in the University Relief Hospital from the outset of hostilities on Monday 8 December, which was the day after that dinner with Captain Belton and Major Ned Curran.

   I had seen a reference to Vera in Barbara Anslow's (nee Redwood's) diary of her experiences in Stanley Camp for 24 Dec 1943.

Draw for two 10 lb iced cakes made by Father B. Meyer. Won by Mrs. V. Murrell and Mrs. B. Doering. Air raid during proceedings. (6)

A further reference to Vera was found in the Colonial Secretary's (Franklin Gimson's) diary.

I saw Mrs Murrell and asked her to take responsibility for life saving on Tweed Bay Beach. (7)

Another reference was to the effect that she had signed off on a life-saving certificate issued to Herbert William Johnston in July 1943 at Tweed Bay Beach. Tweed Bay Beach was once a popular swimming beach, now deserted and difficult to access, but during internment the Japanese allowed internees to swim there during the summer months.  

   The photograph below shows Tweed Bay beach as it looks today.  It was here that one of the internees was killed by a shark only days after liberation in September 1945. It was here that Vera a strong swimmer gave lessons in swimming and lifesaving to other internees. It was here that three-year-old Brian Gill drowned in a freshwater pool near the beach in May 1944, and I assume it was in response to this that Franklin Gimson officially asked Vera to take responsibility for lifesaving on the beach.

Tweed Bay Beach used by the internees

 The prison walls dominate the beach.

The Prison walls behind the beach

A search of Ancestry.com led me to Marianne Sanderson a family member who has been researching her family history and from whom I learnt much more about Vera's life. She was born Iris Vera Tanner and became quite famous in her twenties as an Olympic swimmer. She represented Great Britain at the Olympic games in Paris (1924) and again in Amsterdam (1928) winning the silver medal at both Olympic Games. In the photograph below Vera is third from the left in the front row.

Vera Olympic Games Swimmer (Courtesy Marianne Sanderson)

Vera met her first husband George Dupre Crozier Murrell at the 1928 Olympic Games. He had accompanied the South African swimming team. They married two years later in April 1930. They had one daughter Julia. George Murrell had served as a soldier with distinction in the Great War. (8) He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in July 1916 in no-mans land between the British and German lines. His hip was shattered, but he managed to crawl back to British lines a feat which took him three days and accomplished at night under the cover of darkness. (8)

Vera lived in South Africa from 1929 until 1939. Kobus Scheepers who is researching swimming history in South Africa informed me that she was employed as the swimming teacher at St Andrew's Prep School in Grahamstown during this period (1929-1939) and was remembered as such in the school newsletter  (Old Preppies) in April 2013. George Dupre Murrell was a master at St Andrews School. He had been a competitive swimmer before WW1 and had taught at St Andrew's since the end of WW1. The marriage was not to last, they separated and later divorced. Vera travelled out alone to Hong Kong where she was employed as a teacher with the Hong Kong Government Education Dept. (8) I subsequently learnt from Hong Kong historian Tony Banham that she had been a School Mistress at King's College, established in 1926, teaching English. She was appointed to this role in 1939. 

Kings College (Source: Wikipedia)

The building was badly damaged during the war mainly as a result of looting. For a time it was occupied by the Japanese Army who kept mules there. It was rebuilt after the war. The Principal in 1941 was Harold Wallington who with his wife Constance was incacerated together with Vera at Stanley Camp. Harold and Constance Wallington were in Block 2 Room 4.  Two other colleagues of Vera who had joined the HKVDC were incarcerated in Shamshuipo Camp, these were Gordon Patrick Ferguson who after the war taught at Central British School (CBS) and James Johnson Ferguson who returned to King's College after the war. Another colleague Geoffrey Coxhead had taught at King's College but had left to join the teaching staff at CBS. He was incarcerated in Shamshuipo POW Camp. There were two other school mistresses at Kings College who were incarcerated at Stanley these were Margaret McGuffog (Block 2 Room 17) and Eleanor Beavis (Block 4 Room 19). They were both nurses with the Nursing Detachment (ND) of the HKVDC.

   Clearly, Vera must have fallen in love with Ned Curran, the dashing Army Officer, with whom she had dinner on that last night before war erupted. They were not, however, to see each other again for more than three-and-half years. The following day war broke out and they went to their respective war stations. After the capitulation, Ned Curran was interned in military POW Camps in Hong Kong until shipped to Japan in April 1944 as part of the 6th draft of prisoners of war despatched to Japan. He sailed on the Nauru Maru arriving in May 1944. Most of this draft were sent to Sendai Camp where they worked in the Yoshima Coal Mine (9).  The conditions in the military POW camps were appalling. Men were on starvation diets, weak and emaciated. Medicine was scarce and many died from illness and malnutrition. It was hard just staying alive.

   For Vera, the Civilian Internment Camp at Stanley was not much easier. The food rations were woefully inadequate and there were many cases of malnutrition and early deaths. Some POWs and internees who had friends outside benefited from receiving food parcels. Those with money or things to sell could purchase food on the black market, but for many who did not receive parcels and had little money they had to rely on the standard rations - two meals a day, very often just a small bowl of rice and watery vegetables. The photograph below shows emaciated internees at Stanley Internment Camp standing outside Tweed Bay Hospital.

Emaciated internees at Tweed Bay Hospital Stanley Camp

Liberation came in August 1945. On the 30 August, the British Fleet sailed into Hong Kong harbour proceeded by minesweepers. There is a story that Vera together with a Police Sergeant swam out to one of the warships - probably an Australian minesweeper in Taitam Bay, and they were hauled on board. This was reported in the Dundee Evening Post.

Dundee Evening Post courtesy William Long

The photograph below depicts the flag raising ceremony at Stanley Camp shortly after liberation. Vera would have been somewhere in the crowd of internees watching the flag raising, and soon she would be on her way home to England.

Liberation - hoisting the flag

Vera and Ned married on 29 March 1946. They had two children, Philippa and Bruce. Philippa tragically died in 1987 as a result of a brain tumour. Bruce a writer, sailor, traveller and adventurer lives in the Philippines and has helped me with photographs and information about his parents.  After the war, Vera continued with her teaching career teaching at Farnborough Convent School. She died aged sixty-four in February 1971 at Alfriston in East Sussex. Ned passed away in 1989. Ned had a very tough time in the incredibly harsh and brutal conditions in POW Camps in Hong Kong and Japan. His son Bruce remembers his father telling him that on work parties from their camp in Japan - Japanese civilians mostly women would sometimes sidle up to the emaciated prisoners and surreptitiously pass them bits of food. Bruce has a vivid memory of watching the film - The Great Escape where Steve MacQueen well fed and fit escapes capture at least for a while on a motorbike.

My Dad got out of the chair behind me  and said 'what a lot of piffle ! We did not even have enough energy  to stand up to urinate when we were in prison with the Japs'.

Ned remained in the Army after the war. He retired after 35 years with the RAMC and was awarded the CBE, DSO and OBE for distinguished service.

Brigadier Ned Curran presenting his son Bruce to Montgomery of Alamein in 1959 (Source: Bruce Curran)

Bruce has a photo (below) of Vera's swimming medals. Her proud husband had written on the back that these were Mum's medals taken by the Japanese when she was interned in Stanley Camp.
   I wonder where they are now.

Vera's swimming medals lost to the Japanese or other looters during WW2 in Hong Kong (Bruce Curran)

An Olympic Games athlete - she went to Hong Kong looking for adventure and a new life - instead she found herself caught up in a brutal war - she found love again in a wartime romance -  she survived the privations of a Japanese concentration camp - and finally, she made it home.

………………….

Acknowledgements

I was greatly helped in putting this story together by members of the family, in particular, Vera's daughter from her first marriage Julia Stevens who lives in South Africa and Julia's daughter in law Marianne Sanderson who I made contact with via Ancestry.com and who is researching her family history. I also received great help from Vera and Ned's son Bruce Curran who lives in the Philipines.  After publication, I was contacted by William Long who was researching swimming history in Sussex and by Kobe's Scheepers who is researching swimming history in South Africa.

Sources:

1.   Private Papers including War Diary of Capt. Peter Belton held at IWM

2.   Tony Banham's Web Site  www.hongkongwardiary.com

3.   Shackleton's Diary for 19/12

4.   Shackleton's Diary 28/12. 

5.   Tony Banham's Web Site  www.hongkongwardiary.com

6.   Barbara Redwood's Diary held at IWM

7.   Franklin Gimson's Diary May 1944 (Held at HK University Special Collections) 

8.   Courtesy Marianne Sanderson & the Murrell family

9.   Source: Tony Banham  - "We Shall Suffer There" (2009)

10. Photographs of Emaciated Internees & Liberation courtesy Harold Thomas Matches Collection (HKU Special Collections)
11.  Courtesy Bruce Curran 

Addendum:

Message from Historian & Author Geoff Emerson to Marianne Sanderson:

Philip mentioned that Vera was in the same room as Elma Kelly.  That rang a bell with me.  I interviewed Elma twice way back in 1970!  I searched my files and found the transcripts, and I think you'll enjoy reading what Elma said about Vera.  Sadly, way back then I didn't take photos of the people I interviewed, but I recall that Elma was a very outspoken, opinionated business-woman, great fun to talk with. 

Interview 26 June 1970 - Elma said that Vera was an Englishwoman married to a man in South Africa.  She'd fallen out of love with him and came here (HK) for a holiday.  One man said she came looking for romance.  She got it, with an officer in the army medical corps, who fell for her.  They married after the war.  
There was insufficient water to run lavatories in St Stephen's Block 10, so a trench was dug outside...bad because everyone could see.  Vera and Elma got up at 5 a.m. to "spend a large penny in this trench".
Vera was friendly with Gimson (Colonial Secretary) and played bridge with Elma and Gimson.

Interview 28 May 1970 - According to Elma, Vera Murrell used to sit on a little camp wooden box, very uncomfortable without a cushion, so she put Elma's cushion on it.  Vera felt lumps and put her hand in the cushion and discovered money.  Elma said "shhhh" and told her how she'd got this money from selling jewellery.  They used the money (Japanese yen) for buying food."



Message from Marianne Sanderson to Geoff Emerson & Philip Cracknell

Hi Geoff and Philip,

Again, you have both added so much to the story of Vera - it really is coming together slowly but surely. Thank you both very, very much!

To add more information - Vera was employed as a teacher at Farnborough Convent (now called Farnborough Hill - address: Farnborough Hill, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 8AT) until 1969 (I am unsure when she started there as a teacher). She lived at Fairway Cottage, Brighton Lane, Seale, Surrey which is 13 miles away. So these facts correspond with what Elma told you way back in 1970. It sounds as if Vera and Elma may have kept in touch well after the war ended or heard about each other through the grapevine. In 1951 Vera and Ned Curran moved to Singapore from Scotland with their two young children. I only found this information yesterday on a ship's passenger list. 

Vera's daughter, Julia, has told me the story of Vera selling her own jewellery for peanuts which Vera told her kept her alive. This may have been related to the jewellery that Elma sold. 

The following information came from Vera's son, Bruce:

Vera apparently had a date with with Johnny Wiessmuller (Tarzan) during the 1924 Olympics, who himself got one world record there in Paris and two Olympic records also in swimming. Vera may have also gotten a Bronze medal in the freestyle individual event in 1924. Vera may have been 1 of 3 pacers in the first swim across the English Channel in 1926 by an American swimmer (referring to Gertrude Ederle who just two years later, at the 1924 Paris Olympics, won a gold medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay and a bronze in the 100- and 400-meter freestyle races so she likely knew of Vera). I believe she had a world record for a woman swimming 1 kilometre and 1 mile but have never been able to authenticate these. At aged 3 she swam a quarter of a mile in the sea in Eastbourne and won a big box of chocolates - while running home she ran round a corner into a fat man and the chocolates were scattered all over the road.

While in Stanley Camp the Americans bombed the camp unwittingly and 3 of her friends were killed by an American bomb. She is also in the HK history books, as you probably know, as she and a Police  Sergeant swam out to meet the first warship that entered HK after the 2nd WW to relieve it from the Japanese occupation. The warship stopped and picked them up out of the shark infested waters.

My husband remembers that Vera came to South Africa (once alone and then again with Ned) around 1967 and then 1970".

.......................

   

The Battle of Waterloo (1815) and the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots in Hong Kong (1941)

The 2nd Bn Royal Scots arrived in Hong Kong from India on 27 January 1938 under the command of Lt-Col Hall. Later that year Hall was posted to a new command in UK and the battalion came under the command of Lt-Col D.J. McDougall, MC. He had fought in WW1 and had been wounded at Ypres, and won the Military Cross whilst serving with the 1st Battalion in Macedonia. In 1941 he was posted as Commandant of the Officer Cadet Training School at Maymyo, Burma and Lt-Col Simon White became the commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion in Hong Kong on the eve of battle. He too had won the Military Cross in WW1.

   The Royal Scots have a long history established in 1633 they were known as the Royal Regiment, or as the First of Foot. They were the oldest infantry regiment in the British Army.  They have a host of Battle Honours that are listed on their Regimental Colours. The 3rd Battalion Royal Scots had fought under Arthur Wellesley, later to become the Duke of Wellington, in the Peninsular War, and they had the distinction of being the first British Army unit to cross the border from Spain into France in pursuit of Napoleon's retreating army. They also fought at Waterloo in 1815.

The charge of the Royal Scots Greys at Waterloo -  Scotland forever

The famous painting by Lady Butler will always be associated in my mind's eye with that battle. Reputed to have yelled "Scotland Forever" as they rode down on the French ranks. When reading about the Battle Waterloo, one is minded of those formidable red squares where men stood firm, and faced the onslaught of cavalry - but yet held their ranks and their ground and saved the day.

The thin red line holding firm - deployed in squares to fend off the charge of the French Cuirassiers

I  have always liked that poem by Lord George Byron entitled "The Eve of Waterloo".

There was a sound of revelry by night,

And Belgium's capital had gathered then

Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright

The Lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.

A thousand hearts beat happily, and when

Music arose with its voluptuous swell,

Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,

And all went well as a marriage bell;

But hush! Hark! A deep sound strikes like a rising knell!

………Arm! Arm! it is -- it is -- the cannon's opening roar!

It was the eve of battle, and the officers took their leave from their hostess at the  Duchess of Richmond's ball and went off to their battle positions, but what you may ask is all this to do with the Royal Scots. The Royal Scots Greys, of course, had no connection to the Royal Scots,  the former being cavalry and the latter being infantry. However, the 3rd Battalion Royal Scots fought at the Battle of Quatre Bras (literally meaning Four Arms or Cross Roads) and at Waterloo.  The bravery of one young officer of the 3rd Bn by the name of Ensign James Grant Kennedy who died carrying the Colours is depicted in the Royal Scots Regimental Museum in Edinburgh.

A Sergeant picks up the wounded young officer still holding the Colours

Ensign Kennedy was carrying the Colours in advance of the battalion, he was shot in the arm but carried on until he was shot again and this time fatally wounded. A sergeant went forward to retrieve the Colours, but the  Ensign was holding the Colours so tightly that he could not break his grip. The Sergeant then picked up the young Royal Scots Ensign, carrying him over his shoulder whilst the young officer was still holding the Colours. The French on seeing this withheld their fire. It was a moment of gallantry on the field of honour. Ensign James Kennedy died while carrying the Colours aged only 16, he was the third son of Doctor William Kennedy of Inverness.

   The battle commenced around Noon as Napoleon waited for the ground to dry. Wellington's Army held firm despite repeated attacks by the French. In the late afternoon, Napoleon deployed his famous Imperial Guard made up of hardened veterans who never gave ground. As they approached the low ridge they came across the massed ranks of British and Allied infantry. Disciplined musketry and flank fire halted the attack and then the extraordinary happened the Guard broke ranks and retreated mostly in a disorderly withdrawal.

Up Guards and at 'em again 

At about the same time the Imperial Guard retreated, Field Marshal Von Blucher arrived with the Prussian army and attacked the French on their right flank. The French Army was being pushed back,  and Wellington, with a toff of his hat, ordered a general advance on all fronts.

General advance! 

After the battle, thousands of men lay dead or dying, and the Duke of Wellington is attributed to have said that "nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won". The Duke of Wellington lived to a ripe old age and served twice as Prime Minister. His London home Apsley House had that most exceptional of addresses: "No 1, London".

No 1 London - the London home of the Duke of Wellington

The Iron Duke

The epithet of Iron Duke has been reflected in Royal Navy ships carrying the name HMS Iron Duke over the years, although the name is said to have been given in a disparaging manner following the erection of iron shutters at Apsley House to prevent rioters from breaking the windows with stones during popular unrest in London in 1832. Whatever the origins like Margaret Thatcher's "Iron Lady" - the "Iron Duke" was taken as a compliment if not originally intended.

I was recently wondering around the Kent coast and stopped to visit Walmer Castle near Deal.

Walmer Castle - one time home of the Duke of Wellington

The Duke had been given the post of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1828 and with this came the official residence of Walmer Castle. He spent a good deal of time in this old castle on the Kent Coast enjoying the walks along the seafront. I had not realised that the Iron Duke had died here in September 1852 aged 83 years. On the day I went there, there was nobody around, I had the castle to myself. I entered the room where he had died and could almost feel his presence. The room had been left pretty much as it was in 1852 - his campaign bed and the armchair in which he died.

The Duke of Wellington's bedroom at Walmer Castle - he died in the armchair

 I then walked into the next room where his uniform was on display

Also on display was a bronze death mask - an old soldier who had fought well and found solace by the sea.

The Battle of Quatre Bras in which Ensign Kennedy laid down his life while carrying the Colours, was fought two days before the Battle of Waterloo.  The Colours were used as a rallying point when a soldier carrying the Colours fell another would pick them up. Some units would have colour guards of handpicked men to defend the Colours. During the action at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, the Royal Scots lost four officers and one Sergeant Major whilst carrying the Colours.  The men would follow the Colours, and held high they could be clearly seen on the battlefield. The present-day ceremony of Trooping the Colour on the Queen's Birthday Parade has a long history, the Colours escorted by the Colour Guard, were carried through the ranks at the slow march so that each soldier would know and recognise his regimental Colours.

The Battle of Quatre Bras - defending the Colours 

The Regimental Colours of the 2nd Battalion the Royal Scots in Hong Kong had been presented to the Battalion by King George V in 1911. In 1939 on the outbreak of war the Colours were sent to Singapore for safekeeping.  Hong Kong fell in December 1941 and Singapore in February 1942. However, after the Japanese surrender, they were spotted in a street market and bought for a dollar and returned to the Royal Scots. The Colours show the battles fought (which can be those lost as well as those won) these are known as battle honours. Oliver Lindsay in his book "The Battle for Hong Kong 1941 - 1945" questions why only the Middlesex Regiment and not the Royal Scots should be awarded  the battle honour  for "Hong Kong."

   In my opinion the Middlesex probably fought better than any other unit in Hong Kong in 1941 - they seldom withdrew, and then only when they had to, for example in their tenacious defence of Leighton Hill.  They were well led, well disciplined and well trained. Like the Royal Scots, they had a long history and had earned the epithet "the Die Hards" in the Peninsular War. Admired by other units in Hong Kong the "Middies" thoroughly deserved the battle honour.

   What about the Royal Scots - well I think they deserve it too - although their record was more mixed as I will endeavour to show. They certainly fought hard and well on the Island and 'D' Coy led by Captain Pinkerton fought outstandingly both on the Mainland and on the Island. A large number of Royal Scots gave up their lives in the battle for Hong Kong and in subsequent captivity.

   I suppose the reason why they did not get the battle honour was because the General Officer in Command  Christopher Maltby and the Brigadier  in charge of the Mainland Brigade Cedric Wallis blamed them for weakness in 'A' Coy positions around the Shing Mun Redoubt and for the hasty withdrawal on their left flank especially on Castle Peak Road forward of the Pencil Factory (situated at the junction of Castle Peak Road and Tai Po Road).

   Major General Maltby was critical of 'A' Coy who were commanded by Capt Cyril "Potato" Jones whose company was responsible for the Shingmun Redoubt a series of Pill Boxes and linked fixed defences on the left flank of the Gin Drinkers Line. This critical position was taken by surprise,  although it must be said that it was inadequately defended by just one platoon. It needed at least a company to properly garrison the redoubt and conduct adequate patrolling. The GOC felt that there had been a lack of adequate patrolling.

   In Major General Maltby's Report on Operations published in January 1948 after some modifications he writes:

"It was unfortunate that the enemy captured by surprise the most important Shingmun Redoubt and occupied the Golden Hill position. These two incidents were the direct cause of the rather hasty withdrawal to the (Island).  The gallant action  of their 'D' Coy (Captain Pinkerton)  on the extreme right flank of the Golden Hill position, the later gallant efforts of the whole battalion to recapture  the Wong Nei Chung Gap, and their stubborn fighting in the Mount Nicholson and Mount Cameron areas accomplished much to retrieve their prestige."

On the left flank of the Royal Scots, Major Stanford Burn, 2 i/c of the Battalion, was struggling to lead his men and properly deploy his men. Col Newnham General Staff Officer 1  (GSO-1) from China Command ended up deploying Major Burns troops. In his report on events in Castle Peak Road on the morning of 11th December he writes:

"At about 1000 hours 11 Dec I visited Kowloon Infantry Brigade HQ in Waterloo Road. Here a very bleak situation was painted to me i.e.  that the Japanese had broken through on the Castle Peak Road and would arrive in Kowloon at any minute.
I telephoned to Kai Tak  for the Bren Carriers which were attached to No 1 Coy HKVDC  and left orders for Capt Penn to send all carriers and men he could get to the junction of Prince Edward and  Waterloo Roads. I then proceeded to the R.V. and after some 20 minutes three carriers arrived  I organised the column including the small car I had with me and set off.

When passing Rear Bn HQ  2/RS at the junction of Taipo and Castle Peak Roads I was surprised to see some men of 2/RS  standing about,  but being in a hurry proceeded direct up to the World Pencil Factory. Here I found some more 2/RS but was unable to get a clear picture of the situation from them but all stated none of their  own troops were in front of them.
I saw an armoured car which I approached and from Sgt Walker HKVDC could obtain no information. I ordered him forward on recce up Castle Peak Road and then returned to the World Pencil Factory where I met Major Burn.  Major Burn was very excited so I took him aside and tried to calm him down. I emphasized the present danger and also the very urgent necessity of holding  present positions in our neighbourhood.
Major Burn had the greatest difficulty in getting any man to obey him and I had again to speak to him and warn him that unless he could give calm orders the men could not possibly work for him. I then went with Major Burn up a path and helped him to start off the occupation of the spur. I put another Sgt of 2/RS with field glasses in the shadow of a hut close by with orders to watch hill 149  very carefully and to report at once if any Japanese arrived there. I saw the platoon move off slowly  up to the spur  and then I returned to World Pencil Factory and gave orders to the carriers.
I again spoke to Major Burn who was a little quieter and again stressed the urgency of the situation saying “now I put you in command here……... there must be no going back  from this locality under any circumstances”.  I repeated these orders to the Volunteers.
I next visited the Armoured Car which I could see had returned to its former place. Sgt Walker reported that he had patrolled as far as Lai Chi Kok Prison where there was a road block and about 8 men of 2/RS in a field. I told him that was not much of a recce, that he must go back, get the men to remove the road block so as to allow the armoured car to pass through  and to go towards Castle Peak Road for at least one mile definitely to draw the enemy’s fire  and to get information. He was to report results to Major Burn.
I then came back to the Pencil Factory stopped to say I was on my way to the right flank and I would guarantee its security from the high ground and would ensure the position of the Canadians for this special purpose. I went to just short of the Canadians position and at about 1145 hrs shouted up the hillside for a Canadian Officer, Captain Bowman came and I explained the situation on the whole front to him and the important part he was now called upon to play. His first platoon came tumbling down the hill before I left. He seemed to have no tactical idea at all so I recommended to him to push one platoon forward to the reservoir and one platoon down the spur towards Hill 149  and his third platoon to hold the road bend covering the filter beds.
I returned to Mainland  Brigade HQ at Waterloo Road. Then I found the situation better because information was to hand and the line, in general, was stabilized. I reported personally by telephone to the GOC and recommended withdrawal that night in view of the precarious situation on the left flank and the consequent risk of losing guns, and the very disquieting state of 2/RS".

A couple of days later Major Burn took his own life by shooting himself with his service revolver. A rather sad end for an officer who I suppose in some way failed to live up to the expectations of a commander on the battlefield. He had difficulty rallying the troops from 'B' and 'C' Coy on the left flank, both of which had withdrawn except one platoon from 'B' Coy which maintained their forward position astride Castle Peak Road. These two depleted companies, both of which had lost their company commanders, had to face the Japanese onslaught which came in overwhelming numbers accompanied by heavy and very accurate mortar fire.  

 Oliver Lindsay  writes in The Battle for Hong Kong 1941-1945:

"Finally, we come to the controversy that only the Middlesex Regiment should have the Battle Honour 'Hong Kong', which was denied to the Royal Scots. It is invidious  to compare the fighting ability of each Battalion, but I believe  a grave injustice was done to the Royal Scots. The best part of a Japanese brigade swept down upon their new, malarial, three-mile front. No unit could have held such an enemy on such unfavourable ground for long. On the Island , the counter attacks  fought by the decimated Royal Scots  against two Japanese battalions at the Wong Nei Chung Gap  are what legends are made of. Twenty seven of their 35 officers became casualties, 12 being killed: there was no lack of determined leadership………….a campaign  should be launched in Scotland to get them the Battle Honour they so definitely deserve".

Sources:

Events on Castle Peak Road  - Morning 11th December 1941 by Col L.A. Newnham  Appendix C Hong Kong Despatches.  National Archives

The Battle for Hong Kong 1941-1945   (2005)  Oliver Lindsay

General Maltby's War Diary/Report published in The London Gazette January 1948 

Royal Scots Regimental Museum - Web Site.

Walmer Castle & Gardens - English Heritage Guidebook

Mount Davis Hong Kong - RSM Ford who fought there in WW2 and Leontine Ellis who passed away whilst incarcerated in Stanley Camp Hong Kong.

In the serene and peaceful Military Cemetery at Stanley lies the graves of the many internees who died  whilst incarcerated at Stanley Internment Camp during WW2. Most of these graves still have the roughly hewn granite blocks that were placed there as tombstones back in those dark days. The three granite blocks in the photograph below mark the spot where fourteen civilian internees were buried who died in a US air raid when a bomb tragically and accidentally landed near a bungalow in which civilians had been interned.

Fourteen internees died in an air raid - January 16th 1945

 Just as tragically is the death of Sgt HW Jackson of the Hong Kong Police, who having survived three and half years in a Japanese concentration camp where food was barely sufficient to sustain life and where medicine was practically non existent, was to die just weeks after the war had ended, whilst waiting repatriation back to home and family in UK. He died whilst swimming at Tweed Bay Beach after having been attacked and badly mauled by a shark. He had been dragged up on to the beach by other internees on that hitherto peaceful and sunny afternoon,  only to die from shock and loss of blood.

Died following a shark attack at Tweed Bay Beach 

Amongst these graves is that of another internee from a prominent Jewish family in Hong Kong. The granite block has been replaced by a modern style grave made of marble - probably in the years immediately following the war.

Leontine Ellis who died whilst incarcerated at Stanley Camp

Miss Leontine Ellis died of cancer in August 1942 only 6 months after the Camp opened.  A look at the Stanley Camp Log held by the Imperial War Museum in London shows the following Ellis surnames :

Name                                 Occupation               Date of Birth            Billet
Charles Oswald Ellis          Cable Censor              15 July 1893          Block 3, Rm 11
Frederick Ellis                    Retired Broker
                                           (Ellis & Edgar)          29 Aug 1885         Block 10, Rm 19
Grace Ellis  (Miss)             Cafe Owner,
                                          (Sister of Fred Ellis)   12 Dec  1895         Block 10, Rm 19
Sophie Ellis (Miss)             Cafe Owner,
                                          (Sister of Fred Ellis)    28 Oct. 1897        Block 10, Rm 19

Leontine Ellis (Miss)          Hotel Proprietress             Age 49
                                                                             (Died 17/8/42)     Block 10, Rm 19

Maud L Ellis (Mrs)            Wife of F. M. Ellis
                                          (HKVDC POW)               unclear              Block  5, Rm 5
Robert Rudolf Ellis           Police Sgt (A149)           18 June 1902        Block 12, Rm 34


From this we can surmise that Frederick Ellis had three unmarried sisters being Grace, Sophie and Leontine all of whom were in business. Fred Ellis a retired stock broker shared a room with his three sisters in Stanley Camp. A search of billeting information shows that no other internees were in that room.

I can not be sure if any family relationship exists between Charles Oswald  Ellis, Maude Ellis who was married to Felix Morris Ellis a soldier in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC) and Rober Rudolf Ellis who served in the Hong Kong Police.

We know that all three Ellis sisters were members of the Nursing Detachment (N.D.) of the HKVDC.  Many women joined the volunteer nursing services to avoid compulsory evacuation of women and children in 1940. The evacuation was a sore point for many wives and husbands who wanted to stay together despite the prospect of hostilities with Japan. Those women employed in essential services and nursing were able to avoid the evacuation to Australia that took place in June 1940.

It was reading the war diary of Regimental Sergeant Major Enos Charles Ford that I came across a reference to Miss Leontine Ellis as being the proprietress of the Cathay Hotel where he was staying. I was able to make contact with the family of RSM Ford who told me that he was always known as "Henry" I guess an army nick name for somebody with the surname Ford after the famous Henry Ford.

RSM Ford was with 12th Coast Regiment, 24th Coast Battery of the Royal Artillery. He was stationed at Mount Davis also known as Fort Davis with its powerful 9.2 inch guns. It was a principal target for Japanese warships, artillery and aircraft and was probably the most bombarded place in Hong Kong.

9.2 inch guns

RSM Ford was born on 15th April 1909 at Strattan St Margaret in Wiltshire. He married Edith Rose Dando (1909-1971) in January 1934.  She was always known as Rose. Not long after that they moved to Hong Kong and in June 1940 Rose and her daughter Dorothy were evacuated to Australia in view of impending hostilities with Japan.

The photograph below shows RSM Ford in military attire (seated) celebrating with Rose their silver wedding anniversary.

RSM Ford in uniform seated with Rose

He looks immaculate in his uniform every inch the professional soldier and an uninhibited laugh  and this from man who had come through a war and three and half years in a Japanese concentration camp  where large numbers died from sickness and malnutrition and where brutality was the order of the day.

These are edited extracts from his diary as his words speak better than mine.

Monday 8th December:
"Alexander dashes in to waken me at 8:15 am and to say they are bombing the hell out of Kowloon. The Davis AA (Anti Aircraft guns) section completes the awakening and in pyjamas  I watch Kai Tak Aerodrome being bombed and machine gunned from low altitude".

Tuesday 9th December:

 " In the morning watched shelling and bombing of Stonecutters (Island) and the first ranging rounds on Mt Davis. Seven of us in the shelter and between whistles of shells, smutty stories and general laughter  we count the duds and dispatch Sgt Wright to rescue  bottles of beer for our refreshment before the mess is hit. During a quiet moment  and when the beer is gone we emerge into the sunshine to find Tiffy Way’s car burning merrily from a direct hit. Ironically it had been put in the safest place of all by 0.2 Magazine. Water tanks are punctured and water everywhere. No casualties".

Wednesday 10th December:

"Left the fort during an air-raid to go to Cathay Hotel to pick up some kit. Miss Ellis the proprietress, just out of hospital"  and very worried about the outcome of the war and her hotel and livelihood."Have a meal, tell her to keep cheerful and depart with such kit as I can carry.

 Mt Davis guns did deadly work in Shingmun Redoubt area. Infantry praise our gunnery during this night".

Although the Mount Davis Guns as indeed the Stanley  Guns were facing to seaward which at the time of their construction was the most likely source of attack, they could in fact swivel round to some extent to engage landward targets.

Saturday 13th December: 
"Now that Stonecutters is evacuated Mt Davis seems the principle target on the Island. All day planes  and shells have increased the havoc in the fort. Everybody amazingly cheerful and morale is high".

"F.C. (Fire Command)  post got blown out today with three direct hits  from 240mm. No one killed but Major Merthyr  and Capt Camp  shaken up. Am lucky for should have been on duty  at the time but had to do an earlier turn  because Mr Camp joining us from Stonecutters and Gould taking over battery".

"Vast numbers of invasion craft assembling but no action taken by our gunners. Why ?  Davis and Stanley still continue to pound the New Territories".

Sunday 14th December:

"Unlucky day this .  A direct hit on a magazine at the AA’s position  has put one gun out of action, and killed nine Indians (gunners)".

"No 3 Gun, the pet of the Battery  is out of action from a direct hit on the piece from a 9.65” shell which fell on to the shell pit shield, blew off its base and fizzed like a firework without exploding".

Tuesday 16th December:
"Today  the  Mount has received its bitterest  and most intense bombardment. The plotting rooms and barrack rooms have been blown in and at about 5 o’clock we had to evacuate  under shell fire in parties of five. BSM Barlow and myself established order  in the BPR (Battery Plotting Room) amid smoke and fumes . Our lights are out  and blower plant disabled  and daylight is visible through the roof. This roof was once of a thickness of 15ft of earth and concrete. A shell had penetrated right through this, through a steel door, ripped all the bricks from one wall ploughed through another wall and finished up in the telephone exchange without exploding . Truly a miracle. All our troops are intact  except one Sgt shell shocked  and one gunner wounded.

We evacuate the Mt and repair to Felix  Villas where we are given a days rest and man the guns again  from the next night onwards".

Friday 19th December:

"I am awakened at 6am with the news that the Japs have landed and have reached Mount Butler".

"Eventually I get my breakfast. I manage to scrounge a cup of tea from Lt Wedderburn of the A.A.s  who incidentally is the finest officer on the Mount".

Tuesday 23rd December:

"To town again this afternoon. Having visited Battle HQ  where the panic shows signs of increasing, I decide, in a moment of generosity  to take my escort and driver  to a meal in the Hong Kong Hotel. As soon as this meal is over  we get roped in to arrest armed deserters  from the Rajputs who are sheltering in Air Raid Shelters……...  hand them over to the Military Police".

Wednesday 24th December:

"During the afternoon a force of 50 Gunners from Mt Davis and Jubilee , under D. Clayton and BSM Barlow are sent to Happy Valley for “mopping up” operations. I volunteer for the next party but am indignantly informed by Capt Hammett that I shall be of more value in Counter Battery work than as an infantry leader".

Thursday 25th December:

"Xmas day and I imagine the most memorable one of all time. I begin the day by wishing my family in Australia very heartfelt compliments of the season. The sun is brilliant and a truce is declared until Noon. I set my course for Aberdeen but as soon as I get near Waterfall Bay  a couple of  bombs  and the answering crack of our 4.5’s tells the world that the truce is no longer in operation".

"I locate the Battery ration party  and proceed to the fort where-in I have spent many busy days and happy hours".  I assume this is Aberdeen Island.

"At 2:30 I take my farewell and am rowed back to Hong Kong Island. I walk to Waterfall Bay  and am picked up by a police car. At 3:35 I hear we are going to surrender. This is confirmed at 4pm by Battle HQ.

This is a bitter moment for none ever expected HK  to surrender, and men are crying  as they break their arms  whilst a couple of heavy  detonations  tell us that Charlie Brooks (Master Gunner)  has rendered the two remaining guns of Fort Davis  unserviceable. I can hear  and will hear each Xmas Day, L/Bdr Hooper’s words – “ I cant stand it, I cant stand it, my old man fought all through the last war and he didn’t have to surrender why should I”.

Many of the men are all for fighting on, but where organized resistance has failed, indiscriminate bands cannot succeed in an island so small as this. A message from BHQ  praises the work of the gunners  in general and 24th Bty in particular.

This is ironic as this morning’s message from both the Governor and the GOC gave us an order of  the day to “hold on”.

Major Merthyr  as FC West  and the CRA would not allow Fort Davis  to open up at two minesweepers  at 16,000 yards because they were waiting for bigger stuff. Such dammed nonsense as this within four hours of the surrender".

Friday 26th December:

"We are all of us more than lucky to be alive….. even the people in town have beheld us almost in awe when we have told them we are from the Mount and the Mount itself is the most battered fort in all Hong Kong".

Saturday 27th December:

"The Japs have taken over our old Fort  and inspected our accommodation at Felix Villas. They seem friendly enough  and offer us cigarettes  and pinch our watches and rings if they can.

My box at the Hotel Cathay I know is buried beneath the burnt out ruins of he hotel. The hotel collected 15 shells all to itself one afternoon and was set on fire". 

I tied to find out more about the Hotel Cathay or Cathay Hotel  but have found nothing on it apart from a reference in the diary of S/Sgt O'Toole  of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps who writes in his diary that after being captured  "we were marched  right over Mt Parker......down to Quary Bay near the Taikoo Sugar Factory and along the road to the Ritz in the ball room of which we were stabled. The Ritz is right opposite the Cathay Hotel where Chris  (his wife) and I stayed  for our first week in the colony".

This would put the Cathay Hotel on the North Shore which was heavily shelled before the Japanese landed on this very stretch of waterfront.

From the diary I can see that RSM Ford was a man who called things as they were.  My impression from reading his thoughts is that he was a mans man - a professional soldier who would not suffer fools gladly. I also get the impression he was a brave man - volunteering to fight as infantry and coming through a short and bloody war and a long and difficult captivity.

He was critical of a number of things for example the poor communications and circulation of information. He points out that the Japanese landed on the island  at 10:30pm at night but it was not until the next day that Fort Davis was informed, and that went for many other units too. 

The staff officers fought the battle from the "Battle-box" deep underground. RSM Ford points out that "more could have been achieved if the general staff had fought among its troops" instead of from a deep underground bunker. Brigadier Wallis although a Brigade Commander was often in the front line and therefore had a clear appreciation of the position on the ground in a battle situation which was very fluid, fast moving and changing all the time.

Ford points to the incompetence of some officers, the lack of training of some units, the lack of naval and air units  and the extent of 5th columnist activity. He strongly condemns the misinformation put out about a Chinese Army coming to the rescue. "No power on earth", he writes, "can forgive the general staff for knowingly spreading false reports  of the close proximity of Chinese soldiers. It is the first time in history that British Empire forces  have had to be sustained on lies". I think some of that blame may be due to the HK Government communiques rather than the general staff,  but I know similar feelings were expressed by civilians after the capitulation who felt let down by the  Colonial Government and appalled by the use of misinformation to maintain morale.

I don't know much more about the Ellis Family and hopefully I may learn more from readers of this blog. I understand that Leontina's sisters and brother were repatriated to England in 1945 and that Grace and Sophie returned to Hong Kong in 1947.

A plaque in the Jewish synagogue in Hong Kong lists her name amongst other from that community who wore the King's uniform and died in the battle for Hong Kong

In 1945 RSM Ford returned to England and continued his army career. The initials I.G. after his rank denoting Instructor in Gunnery - he was commissioned as an officer and retired with the rank of Major. He passed away in 1986 aged 77 in Cambridge, England.

This story has been a tribute to a civilian and volunteer nurse in the HKVDC who passed away in internment camp and to a professional soldier whose paths crossed. A soldier who fought in the most heavily bombarded fort in Hong Kong and who came through the horrors of Japanese POW Camps and made it home.

Sources:

Diary of RSM Ford:              "Memos of the Battle of Hong Kong" by RSM E.C. Ford taken from
                                                HKLB 940.547252 E58 Hong Kong University - Special Collections

Photograph of RSM Ford
and additional information:     Courtesy of the RSM Ford's family (Barbara Durbin)

Photograph of plaque:             Taken from Jewish Synagogue Hong Kong Web Site

List of internees:                      Camp Log held at Imperial War Museum, London.