[ { "id": 208711, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1979", "page_number": 168, "title": "RAS-1979", "content_text": "THE MARYKNOLL MISSION, HONG KONG 1941-46\n\n141\n\nonly a handful of British representatives, among them the Colonial Secretary who went out into the city from the Internment Camp, until the British Forces arrived to take over.\n\n\"At Stanley a crowd of people were all set to loot the Maryknoll House of doors, windows, floors, sinks and so forth, but Bishop Valtorta came out as soon as the surrender became known and asked the Carmelite Sisters to send someone up to the house and remain there to protect our property. A couple of extern Sisters accordingly went up and took possession of the house. The Japanese had taken the hard wood flooring on the top floor and had carried it to the nearby valley north of the Stanley reservoir, in order to build a last stand field headquarters, which, however, they never did use. After we got to the house I gave some Stanley people work carrying the material back down again and Father Mark Tennien had the flooring relaid when he later on took over as Procurator.\n\n\"Practically all the equipment and furniture that was not fastened down had disappeared, such as sinks and kitchen stove. The hardwood chapel pews apparently could not be used for anything, and were too hard to split, so they were found piled up intact in the sacristy. All the books in our library had either been burned or carried away and the furniture moved out for use elsewhere by the Japanese.\n\n\"Upon arrival I at once wrote to Father George Daly and he sent out a full supply of china, cutlery, kitchenware and linens. Father Tennien had new furniture made after he took over.\n\n\"Shortly after internment I went to live with Bishop Valtorta, while Father Hessler remained at Stanley where he acted as chaplain to the Carmelite Sisters, and also did some work among the Japanese interned at Stanley Fort. It was while in Hong Kong with the Bishop that Father Maestrini and I got some quarters, formerly leased to the Germans, in the King's Building, for the Catholic Center and St. Nicholas Catholic Club. We had to scrounge furniture for the latter and carry it up 5 flights of stairs, as the lifts were not yet in working order. Captain O'Connell of the British Navy and Father Chatterton, Navy Chaplain, arranged all the official details and permissions for the Club. Father Chatterton even went with us to scrounge furniture and the Captain provided a lorry for transportation. They also arranged for us to get from the Navy", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1979.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210430, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 37, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "18\n\nCARL T. SMITH\n\nCemetery in 1889 is June 1841 and the latest date is January 1845.\n\nAfter the new cemetery was opened, the old was allowed to fall into neglect. An article in the China Mail of 23 November 1865 calls public attention to the desecration of the abandoned cemetery. \"Part of it”, the writer says, “has been cut away for building lots, where now stand some tenantless houses, and day after day headstones are stolen by the Chinese to be refaced and sold to some newly-made mourners”.\n\nThe remaining stones were removed in 1889 and the ground was sold for development. Upon a part of it Hong Kong's first electric power plant was built.\n\nThe new cemetery at Happy Valley\n\nA large tract of land on the hill on the west side of Happy Valley was designated in 1845 as cemeteries for Protestants and Roman Catholics. St. Michael Cemetery, administered by the Roman Catholic Church, lies to the north of the Colonial Cemetery.\n\nIn the same year that the cemetery was opened a mortuary chapel was built. The cemetery was placed under the charge of the Colonial Chaplain, who kept a register of burials. Maintenance costs were borne by the Government as a part of the Ecclesiastical Establishment. The first burial record book begins in 1853 with grave number 807. By the end of the century the cemetery was placed under the jurisdiction of the newly created Sanitary Board.\n\nThere were complaints about the state of the cemetery in 1865. An article in the China Mail (23 November 1865) stated that it was nearly full. At the time there had been some 3,100 burials. The writer expressed the hope that \"Happy Valley will ever be sacred to the dead, and that we never again behold in Hong Kong a graveyard desecrated and as filled as was that to the south of Queen's Road East by St. Francis Hospital\". He made some suggestions \"so that the Happy Valley Cemetery be", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210431, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 38, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "19\n\nmade an ornament and not a disfigurement”. He thought it not proper that the Colonial Chaplain had been turning his ponies loose to graze in the cemetery, though he had no complaint about the grounds-keeper, Mr. Donaldson, who kept things in order, reduced \"over luxuriant foliage”, and in bare places planted trees and shrubs. He suggested that for a trifling cost the bare blank walls along the road could be made more ornamental. The south end of the cemetery, however, was unenclosed and, as far as he knew, unconsecrated. He suggested this portion, \"rising in a rapid slope, could be greatly improved if it were grassed and flowering shrubs planted”. Even at the date covetous eyes were cast towards the proceeds from the races. \"Could not the Race Committee spare a few dollars that flew so plentifully into its coffers, for the purpose of improving the appearance of the site of their annual sports. We have more than once suggested that the centre of the race course should be laid out and planted, but we should rather see the cemetery beautified and cared for\".\n\nColonial Cemetery Ordinances the problem of Japanese and Chinese burials\n\nThe Public Health and Buildings Ordinance (No. 1 of 1903) included an article setting aside separate sections of the cemetery for special groups: naval and military commissioned officer, civil servants, residents of more than twenty-one years standing, residents of more than seven years standing, children and destitutes.\n\nSeveral conditions remained that created dissatisfaction in sections of the community. One was the burning of joss sticks and the firing of crackers at graves of non-Christians. The other was the absence of what were considered proper sites for the burial of wealthy Chinese with resulting periodic requests for burial of such in the Colonial Cemetery. These issues came before the Sanitary Board in 1908-1909, and resulted in the Christian Cemetery Ordinance of 1909.\n\nThe joss stick and cracker problem was principally related to Japanese burials. The first Japanese burials were on terraces where their graves were intermingled with Christians. Later a", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210434, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1985", "page_number": 41, "title": "RAS-1985", "content_text": "22 \n\nCARL T. SMITH \n\nChinese Cemeteries\". The senior Chinese representative on the Board, Mr. Lau Chu-pak, was quick to detect any signs of racial discrimination. He asked if bodies from cemeteries other than Chinese could be re-buried in the cemetery. \n\nThe Board sent a letter to the Colonial Secretary in April requesting that Government should allot a piece of ground for burial of Buddhists. This could be done immediately, so it was proposed by the Governor in Council that a new ordinance be drafted to set aside the major part of the Colonial Cemetery for the burial of Christians only. In transmitting this decision to the Sanitary Board, the Colonial Secretary reminded the Board that the proclamation to the Chinese in 1841 by Captain Elliott had guaranteed the free practice of religion to all nations and creeds, and as the Buddhists — meaning the Japanese — had no place other than the Colonial Cemetery to bury their dead, he suggested that the Board suspend, for the time being, the enforcement of the bye-law regarding joss sticks and crackers. \n\nThe two Chinese representatives of the Board expressed their dissatisfaction with recent proposals by some members of the Board which they considered would make the cemetery exclusively European and Christian. Mr. Lau Chu-pak reminded the meeting that the cemetery was open to every resident of the Colony, irrespective of nationality and religion, though, he admitted it was probably originally intended for persons of the Protestant faith as there had been special cemeteries provided for Chinese, Muslims and Roman Catholics — he did not mention the Jews and Parsees, which had their own cemeteries also. He looked back in history, saying that, “In the early days, when there was a Colonial Chaplain, what was more natural than that he should describe the cemetery at which he officiated as the Colonial Cemetery, meaning thereby the cemetery of the Colonial Church”, and he also acknowledged that the official Government Gazette had been referring to it as the Protestant Cemetery. In spite of the use of those names, Mr. Lau contended that the cemetery was a public one, as it was public property and maintained at public cost. He acknowledged that the general Chinese community did not use the cemetery. The Chinese who did, he said, were largely British born, British naturalized,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1985.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210684, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 35, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "18 \n\nWALTER GREENWOOD \n\nTeresa Agnes Redmond. His father died in 1847, as did two of his four younger brothers. He was fortunate to attend, from 1852 to 57, Jesuit boarding schools in Ireland and he then went to the Jesuit Novitiate at Beaumont Lodge, Windsor. It appears that he intended to train for the priesthood but towards the end of the 1850s he joined the army giving Francis as his surname. His brother Alfred suggested that his reason for this was a scandal which contributed to their maternal grandmother's death, but Alfred's reliability seems suspect. Whatever the reason, the tradition, as expressed in newspaper obituaries, is that Francis was in the Royal Artillery and came to China in 1859, saw service there, was then stationed in Hong Kong and after a time bought himself out of the army and settled down as a civilian.\n\nThe first record I have found of Francis in Hong Kong relates to his marriage in July 1864 to Anne Shirley, who was born in England in 1824. She was a Protestant and there were two ceremonies, one at St. John's Anglican Cathedral performed by the Rev. J.J. Irwin the colonial chaplain, and one in the sacristry of the Roman Catholic Church performed by Father Raimondi (later the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong) who detected no impediment save disparity of religion for which he gave a dispensation. I have found little reference to Anne Shirley. She died at Bournemouth in March 1890. The next record I have found of Francis is in the Government Gazette for 1865. He was included in the list of jurors, his occupation being given as clerk and his address as 2 Mosque Street. He does not appear in the jury list for 1886 and the reason may be that he had become a solicitor's clerk.\n\nAt some time Francis became articled to William Gaskell who was admitted to practise as an attorney and solicitor before the Supreme Court of Hong Kong in 1846, being seventh on the Roll. In 1867 Gaskell had his office at 2 Club Chambers, D'Aguilar Street. Francis said that Gaskell used to leave the office most mornings for the Hong Kong Club saying “you catch 'em and I'll skin 'em\". Gaskell died in December 1868. It appears that Francis had not completed his articles and he transferred for a short time to Edmund Sharp who had been admitted in 1863 and who served as Crown Solicitor from 1871 to 1883. Francis was admitted, after examination, as a Proctor, Attorney and Solicitor in January 1869.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210849, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1986", "page_number": 200, "title": "RAS-1986", "content_text": "183\n\nTong A-chick continued his studies at the Church of England Anglo-Chinese School under the supervision of the Colonial Chaplain of Hongkong, the Rev. Mr. Vincent Stanton.\n\nUpon the arrival of the first Bishop of Victoria in March 1850, the school was placed under his charge and was renamed St Paul's College. The bishop took a special interest in Tong A-chick as he was one of his first converts.\n\nA-CHICK: IN AND OUT OF TROUBLE\n\nWhen the first Bishop of Victoria, the Right Rev. George Smith, arrived in Hongkong in March 1850, the Church of England Anglo-Chinese School was reorganised as St. Paul's College.\n\nAmong its senior pupils was Tong A-chick, known in later life as Tong Mow-chee, who only attended part time as he was also interpreter in the Chief Magistrate's office.\n\nIn the autumn of 1847 the Hongkong Government faced a crisis over the post of interpreter. Daniel Richard Caldwell, who had held the office for several years, found himself in financial difficulties and was declared bankrupt. In consequence he resigned his office with the Government.\n\nAn appeal was made to the Morrison Education Society School for a replacement. A-chick took over Caldwell's position at a salary of £125, a handsome one for so young a man. This sudden rise to affluence may account for some of his later troubles.\n\nNot everyone was pleased with the appointment. In reporting a court case, the China Mail noted that the foreman of the jury objected to having A-chick serve as interpreter. He refused, however, to state the grounds of his objection and the judge compromised by ordering someone to check on A-chick's interpretation.\n\nThe suspicions of the jury foreman appear to have had some foundation, for in the summer of 1851 A-chick was charged with being in league with pirates.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1986.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211910, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 325, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "300\n\ntroubles herself about me. Yet she cheered me up wonderfully, and I felt quite another person after reading them. I am sorry that she stayed no longer at Hythe, but I am glad she is back to her former place in one sense. What would I not give to see her.\n\nI was glad to hear all at home continue well. I am very anxious about Siss and Charley, and wonder father did not even mention their names in his letter. I hope, however, to get a letter from each of them soon. I hope the shop where you are going will answer well. I am afraid, however, for mother; that she will work herself to death. Let her take things easy, as I do, and she will do far better. She need not fear coming to the workhouse, as she anticipates, now I can get bread and cheese enough for two. Only let her keep her \"pecker\" up, and she will get on all the better. Poor old George I hope is better. Time is up or I would write him. Mail closes in less than three hours, and I have a great deal to do in the way of college business with the Bp as well as to write to Anna. Will write a great bundle of letters for next mail, to all parties. I have been very busy looking over all my accounts to begin with, and inquiring about everything and putting everything as it should be.\n\nTonight I go to pay my respects to the Colonial Chaplain, Mr. Irwin and family. I have a good harmonium to play upon. Thank Jabey for his kind letter and tell him to write again and I will send him two in one to make up.\n\nI was sorry to hear of Johnny's having the measles. I hope he is all right. Every time I slept I could not help remembering Aunt Maria, in the comfort I found in the pillow. I will write her soon. Stir all the Hythe folks up, and get them to send a cargo of news from home. Shall be glad to hear from any of them and will answer every letter I get. I wish Siss would write a long yarn. My best love to everybody. To all at Hythe, Bridge, Dover and elsewhere, I will send full description soon.\n\nHoping this finds you all well and that I shall hear nothing but good news from every body,\n\nI remain, 's\n\nYours &c\n\nJohn Fryer [sig.]", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212232, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 174, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "151\n\na mark or two on my hand one morning, but they proved mere pimples arising from the heat.\n\nAs regards the vegetation, I must say that although taken altogether the island is not so well supplied with vegetation as some parts of England, yet what there is, has been so judiciously taken care of, and propagated, that in a few years it will become well wooded, in all the habitable parts. No pains are spared in planting and rearing trees, and nature assists the efforts of man, by a rapid and luxuriant growth. But even now, all parts that are inhabited are surrounded by trees, the quantity and size depending only upon the time since the houses were built. There is the Asiatic pine, found through Central Asia to the Himalehs. The rocks and table lands in Hong Kong are well planted with it, making it look very like the Scotch pine or fir in England. The bamboo looks well, and its luxuriant and rapid growth, together with the graceful appearance of its foliage, has caused its prevalent use. The apple, pommaloc, laichis (Chinese plum), willow, oak, mulberry, appear the chief. There are several fine trees of which I can only get the Chinese name in our shrubbery. Nearly all the vegetable food comes from the mainland. It is tolerably reasonable in price. A fine pine-apple costs about —/4o. Plantains 1\" to 2a a pound. In a few weeks fruit will be plentiful. Potatoes about 2a a pound. Rice ditto. Bread 5o per pound. Ginger grows fine here; and the green ginger preserved is delicious. There is a nice fruit, just out of season, called Wong-pay, and another whose name means “dragon's eyes\" is not pleasant to my palate. Fish is very dear; a little fish for breakfast costs 5 or more.\n\nThe town of Victoria is a long street running nearly parallel with the shore of the bay. Branching off from this street are the many hills, covered with English villas for a good way up. The eastern end of the town is mostly occupied by large merchants' offices, warehouses, etc....... and beyond are many fine English houses. The Chinese streets are very curious to a stranger. The Chinese shops are likewise interesting. Some however are in English style. An English shop is a different thing here to what it is in England, and more resembles a warehouse. There are, however, a few fine milliner's shops, hotels, dispensary, and club room. At the Eastern extremity are the Barracks, the parade ground, and market; and about a mile on, is a beautifully wooded hill, where the Colonial Chaplain, the Rev. J. Irwin, resides. Then passing through a ravine you open upon Happy Valley. A Chinese villa is quite a curiosity. Here and there you see one perched upon some eminence; but it does", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212248, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 190, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "NOTES\n\n167\n\nFrom manuscripts in the John Fryer Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.\n\nThe title on the holograph was added in pencil at the top of the page and underlined; a pencil was used to cross out the salutation, probably at the time when the title was added prior to typing many years later. In transcribing this material I have followed the holograph document. Minor changes have been made to bring punctuation and use of numbers into conformity with modern usage and to improve readability. Editorial additions are in square brackets. Fryer tended to write run-on paragraphs; a caret indicates where long paragraphs have been broken up. Colons and semicolons are not easily distinguished in the holograph; Fryer was inconsistent in his use of the apostrophe.\n\n1\n\nFryer mentions below that it has been a fortnight since his arrival. This would place the date for this letter around August 13, 1861.\n\n4\n\nA sketch of the general plan of St. Paul's College, drawn in ink and tinted with watercolors by Fryer, accompanies the holograph document. See Plans in text, redrawn from Fryer's sketch plan.\n\n4 Fryer generally wrote \"&\" in his handwritten letters, but converted these to \"etc.\" and \"and\" in his typewritten transcriptions.\n\nFryer became engaged to Anna Roleston of Chudleigh, Devon, before embarking for Hong Kong,\n\nThe Second Anglo-Chinese War, 1858-1860, which led to a stoppage of much of the trade of Hong Kong with China to 1861.\n\n# This is one of the rare examples of Fryer's use of hyperbole; other examples can be detected below.\n\nHI\n\nThe Reverend George Smith, Bishop of Victoria.\n\nRev. William Roberts Beach arrived in Canton in 1853 sponsored by the Wesleyan Missionary Society. He joined the Church of England in 1855. In 1857 he became Warden of St. Paul's College and Chaplain to the Bishop of Victoria. His other appointments included a period in Macao as Missionary Chaplain in 1857, and service as Chaplain to the Forces under Sir Hope Grant in 1861. He was appointed Colonial Chaplain and Canon of St. John's Cathedral by the Rev. Alford, who in 1867 became \"Lord Bishop of the see of Victoria, and Warden (for the Church Missionary Society) of St. Paul's College'. (see E. J Bitel, Europe in China, Hong Kong: Kelley and Walsh, 1895. p. 466.) Alford was Principal of Highbury Training College, London, at the time when John Fryer was enlisted for work at St. Paul's College.\n\n|| This was the College in Staunton Street, later renamed St. Saviour's (1863), and then (1875) St. Joseph's.\n\nזן\n\nFryer travelled to Hong Kong on the sailing ship Prince Alfred.\n\nPublished in Volume 29 (1989) of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.\n\n14\n\nSee Plans in Text.\n\n15\n\nSee Plates 2-4.\n\n16. Charles R. Alford; see note 10.\n\nדן\n\n* \"animals\" standard English school master-speech for \"schoolboys\".\n\nश्र\n\nPossibly the British Museum.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213805, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 157, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "JOHN FRYER'S EARLY YEARS IN CHINA: III. ACCOUNT OF THREE DAYS EXCURSION ON THE MAINLAND OF CHINA\n\nFRED DAGENAIS*\n\n129\n\nThis is the third in a series of letters by John Fryer (1838-1928) to appear in this Journal. In the first letter Fryer described the tedious and sometimes difficult voyage from London to Hong Kong in 1861 on a sailing ship via the Cape of Good Hope with a brief stop at Batavia. In the first letter Fryer presented himself as a very young man just out of Highbury Training College coming into contact with the larger world, homesick, critical of the master of the ship and of the passengers, confirmed in his personal faith, bent on self-improvement, and interacting for the first time with missionaries in the colonial world of Batavia and Hong Kong.\n\nThe second letter, written shortly after his arrival, described Hong Kong and its environs and the European and Chinese people encountered; in it he provided us with a detailed tour of the building housing St. Paul's College, where he had been assigned to superintend by the Church Missionary Society, and of its operations. St Paul's College had its origins in a school founded in the mid-1840s by then Colonial Chaplain Rev. Vincent Stanton; the College was given a boost by the arrival in 1850 of the Rev George Smith, Bishop of Victoria (1849-64). In that letter Fryer seemed in awe of his new authority and responsibility and quite proud of the commodious school building and its library; he began to socialize with the Colonial Chaplain and his family, and revealed an appreciation of the wider perspective offered by the interaction with the Chinese population of the island and its culture.\n\nThe first and second letters were clearly identified as letters written for home consumption, for family and friends in Hythe and Chudleigh. The letters were extracted from his diary and designed to describe his adventures in an exotic land. The first letter had a salutation and a signature; the second letter had a salutation, but ended abruptly, the last page or pages with conclusion and signature having perhaps been lost or purposely destroyed.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213806, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 158, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "130\n\nThis third letter is to be found in manuscript form among the Fryer papers in The Bancroft Library, papers which Fryer deposited prior to his death in 1928, papers which he was selective about preserving. It is an essay no doubt written for \"home\" consumption, but in its holograph form is without salutation or signature. Creases in the holograph suggest that it was mailed; perhaps it was accompanied by a \"covering\" letter which has not survived. The manuscript consists of six large pages with two columns per page, tightly penned, each page completely and neatly filled with writing and numbered, clearly the product of much reflection, control and effort. The manuscript has the title \"Account of Three days excursion on the Mainland of China.\" Many years later, perhaps after the typewriter became available, Fryer added the date “1862” in pencil. Other manuscripts in the collection have been annotated with a similar blunt pencil, probably prior to typing. The date was in error as the excursion could not have taken place before 1863, as will be described in a footnote that accompanies the \"letter\" below.\n\nFryer's origin was quite humble; his father was a Dissident itinerant Methodist preacher who appears to have had trouble finding his place in the society of Kent, his mother was a sometime school teacher and proprietress of a shop. Fryer was ambitious and was what we now call \"upwardly mobile.” In this letter we find Fryer at age 23 and well on his way to becoming an accepted China hand. He is invited by the already prominent German missionary Rudolf Lechler, who had arrived in China in 1847 to represent the Basel Mission, to join a party which includes three other substantial Englishmen. Lechler had worked in Kwangtung (Guangdong) among the Hakka peoples, had established a reputation for having \"gone native,” living in a Chinese house, wearing Chinese attire and probably a queue. The party included the Rev. Thomas Stringer of the Church Missionary Society and who had only recently arrived in Hong Kong, the Rev. John Irwin the Colonial Chaplain since 1855, and one \"Captn Drummond of the 99th”. During the excursion, Fryer, the youngest of the party, is at ease in this company and appears to be well on his way to becoming accepted by the establishment. He apparently has no trouble socializing, sharing meals, rooms, yarns and jokes, and doing a bit of pheasant shooting with his fellow excursionists.\n\nLittle is known of Fryer's two years at St. Paul's College other", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213809, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 161, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "133\n\nACCOUNT OF THREE DAYS EXCURSION ON THE\n\nMAINLAND OF CHINA.*\n\n*I\n\nHaving for some time desired to take a trip on the mainland, and having been invited to the German Mission stations at Li-long, and Ho-how, I had waited several months for an opportunity. Mr Lechler, a German missionary had arranged an excursion, and kindly came and invited me to be one of the party. So I went to headquarters, and got leave. Unfortunately, the time was immediately before the New Year's Examination, and at the utmost I could not be back till the day before: and as the Governor's prizes of two watches and two telescopes were to be distributed at the Examination, and it was to be a very grand affair, it was rather an awkward time to go away. However, I knew that I might not get another chance, so I determined to go at any sacrifice. The party was to consist of five, viz. the Colonial Chaplain, the Rev T Stringer, the missionary; the Rev R Lechler; Capt Drummond of the 99th, and myself.\n\nI made little or no preparation for the journey till the morning we were going to start. Then I hired a man to act as servant, cook, and coolie and [to] carry my luggage: and got a Chinese travelling basket, which held all my bedding, clothes, and all that was necessary for the journey. Then at half past ten on Wednesday morning, January 28th, I began the journey, equipped in my oldest clothes, and a white umbrella. Our place of Rendezvous was on the Bonham Strand. After waiting at the place appointed, for several minutes, the party slowly arrived one by one, and when we had mustered all hands, we proceeded to the Chinese passage boats. I had some fun among the Chinamen on the wharf by buying about twenty oranges. A whole crowd gathered round, and as I spoke Chinese to them, it was fine fun. The fellow tried to cheat me right and left: so I said to him and those round: \"he sees I am a foreigner, and so he wants to get the advantage over me,\" then I took up his ticket from the basket, and read \"All these oranges 6 cash each (without the peel).\" So I said \"now you all see his ticketed price\" and yet he wants me to pay more than double, because he thinks I cannot read Chinese. \"Now what shall I do to him?\" The poor fellow looked very sheepish, and the crowd began to jeer him, so he said I might have as many as I liked for 5 cash each. So I bought a stock for the\n\n1", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213820, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 172, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "144\n\nto enter: another was knocked down: and after one or two had smelt the powder, and tasted some small shot, they all took to their heels and ran. They afterwards found the wounded man, and instead of giving him up, they extracted the ball, and he is now recovered and gone to another place: although some of the people say he is dead. They have not the least fear, although a stronger attack is rumoured. They are brave, noble men, who sacrifice all for Christ. They have done great good, but keep it quiet. A man whom they admit to baptism must be well known to be a changed character. Consequently their Christian professors are an armament1a to them. Their discipline is strict, yet salutary. They win the respect of the Chinese, even those who will not embrace Christianity. When I contrast the noble boldness of their character with that of those around me - and above all with my own, I see vast room for improvement. And here my story has found an end.\n\nNOTES\n\n* From the John Fryer Papers The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley\n\n\"1862\" added to the manuscript in pencil Fryer made similar notes in pencil on other manuscripts in this collection many years later when transcriptions were made by typewriter. Miss W Haas Archive Assistant at the Evangelical Missionary Society in Basel, Switzerland, has determined that the date must be 1863, because a letter by Philip Winnes dated February 5, 1863, mentions a visit by Rudolf Lechler \"with four Englishmen\". In addition, E.J. Eitel (b. 1838) arrived in Hong Kong on October 24, 1862. Thus this excursion began on January 28, 1863, after Fryer (b. 1839) had been in Hong Kong almost 18 months. Eitel and Fryer were thus about the same age. See note 11.\n\nRudolf Lechler (1824-1908) was a Basel Mission pioneer, he spent 52 years (1847-99) in China and worked in Kwangtung with Hakkas.\n\nThe Rev. John James Irwin was Colonial Chaplain at Hong Kong during 1855-67.\n\nThomas Stringer, M.A. (Oxford), worked for the Church Missionary Society.\n\n1 As of this writing, Captain Drummond has not been identified.\n\n? Perhaps it was good only to eat.\n\n7 \"Nets\" in the sense of \"Catches\".\n\nPerhaps a pun on his name.\n\n\"That is, Buddhist.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213822, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1996", "page_number": 174, "title": "RAS-1996", "content_text": "146\n\nFigure 1. The Basel Mission Station at Lilong was visited in January 1863 by John Fryer, Rev. Rudolf Lechler, Rev. John Irwin, the Colonial Chaplain, and Rev. Thomas Stringer. Courtesy of the Evangelical Missionary Society, Basel, Switzerland, by permission. copyright, Basel Mission Archive.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1996.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641", "rank": 0 } ]