ARNOLD GRAHAM 1905 - 1996
DAN WATERS
'No Names, No Packdrill, No Hard Words, No Soft Drinks'
305
Before Arnold Graham left Hong Kong for New Zealand in 1994, he donated 515 books to our Branch library. Members of our Society remain grateful to Mr Graham for his generosity.
In late August 1996 his daughter, Mrs Rothay Woodcock, wrote to the Royal Asiatic Society to say her Father was ... just too tired to carry on any longer he literally just went to sleep.' His acute wit
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remained with him to the end. He was born in Carlisle in 1905 and sailed for Shanghai in 1928. Like many Shanghailanders, in order to complete his full and interesting life, he was forced, when the People's Republic Government came to power in China, to move to Hong Kong in the early 1950s. There, he wrote letters to the Editor of the South China Morning Post under the pseudonym of 'Ancient Gwailo' (his own initials were also ‘A. G.').
In Hong Kong, as in Shanghai, he worked for the Gas Company and, later, as office manager for Binnie and Partners, civil engineers, on schemes like the Sek Pik Reservoir.
Although he had spent the greater part of his life in cities, he always maintained the best place to find God is in a garden. As his daughter wrote, 'It is a pity he won't see the new spring leaves coming out on the trees backgrounding his garden or go down to sit by the sea again'
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Later Mrs Woodcock wrote to ask if our Branch would like to have some of her father's photographs, maps and papers.
It is the end of an era. Today, few Shanghailanders (expatriates who lived for many years in Shanghai) are still with us. Sorting out the contents of the cardboard box that his daughter sent to our Branch I am hesitant. It is like intruding into someone's private life. There is a news-
ARNOLD GRAHAM 1905 - 1996
DAN WATERS
'No Names, No Packdrill,
No Hard Words, No Soft Drinks'
305
Before Arnold Graham left Hong Kong for New Zealand in 1994, he donated 515 books to our Branch library. Members of our Society remain grateful to Mr Graham for his generosity.
In late August 1996 his daughter, Mrs Rothay Woodcock, wrote to the Royal Asiatic Society to say her Father was ... just too tired to carry on any longer he literally just went to sleep.' His acute wit
*
remained with him to the end. He was born in Carlisle in 1905 and sailed for Shanghai in 1928. Like many Shanghailanders, in order to complete his full and interesting life, he was forced, when the People's Republic Government came to power in China, to move to Hong Kong in the early 1950s. There, he wrote letters to the Editor of the South China Morning Post under the pseudonym of 'Ancient Gwailo' (his own initials were also ‘A. G.').
In Hong Kong, as in Shanghai, he worked for the Gas Company and, later, as office manager for Binnie and Partners, civil engineers, on schemes like the Sek Pik Reservoir.
Although he had spent the greater part of his life in cities, he al- ways maintained the best place to find God is in a garden. As his daugh- ter wrote, 'It is a pity he won't see the new spring leaves coming out on the trees backgrounding his garden or go down to sit by the sea again
+
Later Mrs Woodcock wrote to ask if our Branch would like to have some of her father's photographs, maps and papers.
It is the end of an era. Today, few Shanghailanders (expatriates who lived for many years in Shanghai) are still with us. Sorting out the contents of the cardboard box that his daughter sent to our Branch I am hesitant. It is like intruding into someone's private life. There is a news-
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