[ { "id": 216246, "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-2003", "page_number": 5, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "regarding a clandestine relationship that he had many years before with a Chinese lady and which produced three children.\n\nRoderick O'Brien addresses a totally different subject. In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, after the defeat of Lon Nol's Khmer Republic forces, and entered Phnom Penh. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge remained in power for nearly four years, pursuing policies which resulted in the death of nearly two million people through execution, starvation, and disease. The question of a tribunal to bring those responsible to justice has been on the drawing board for several years but has yet to materialise. Roderick has lived and worked in Cambodia and provides a factual, objective and unemotional account of the tragedy of Cambodia and what may lie ahead.\n\nThe exploits of H.M.S. Hermes on the China Station in the 1930s occupy Jonathan Parkinson. Hermes was the Royal Navy's first purpose-built aircraft carrier and was, by all accounts, a happy ship. She was ultimately sunk by the Japanese off Batticaloa in 1942; a sad end to a distinguished career spanning nearly 20 years.\n\nWhere would our Journal be without the redoubtable Keith Stevens? Keith has produced another splendid article for this volume. It recounts the Russo-Japanese War fought largely on Chinese soil - and with scant regard for the Chinese people who suffered greatly - almost exactly 100 years ago.\n\nThe Notes and Queries section is an important miscellany of this and that. Each little and not so little piece represents an investment in time and effort by the individual concerned. Included is another piece on the Chinese Labour Corps in Europe during World War I (See The Chinese Labour Corps in France, 1917-1921, Vol. 40, JHKBRAS, pp. 33-111, and various Notes and Queries in Vols. 41 and 42); some interesting photos which I will leave readers to mull over themselves; a further moving piece (which was almost an article) on Samuel Cornell Plant by his nephew Michael Gillam no less (see The Life and Times of Captain Samuel Cornell Plant, Vol. 41, JHKBRAS, pp. 407-416); a note on the Belilios Star (Hong Kong's official life-saving medal); and a piece on what became of the Tyndareus Stone which used to adorn the sitting out area beneath High West (Victoria Peak) before it was plundered - I see no other word for it - by the British Army in 1993.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216256, "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-2003", "page_number": 15, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\nPhotos from the HKBRAS trip to Canton, October, 2003..... 163\n\nHKBRAS visit to Macau on 26th October 2003 to see an exhibition of George Smirnoff's watercolours of Macau 183\n\nMichael Gillam - The making of Cornell Plant the pilot 185\n\nDavid Mahoney - The history of the Belilios Star: Hong Kong's own life-saving medal .... 201\n\nKeith Stevens - Yet another angle on the Chinese Labour Corps in France, 1918\n\nDan Waters - The Middlesex (\"Tyndareus') Stone\n\nBOOK REVIEWS 205\n\n... 207\n\nFull Circle: A Life with Hong Kong and China, Ruth Hayhoe, Introduction by Mark Bray and Ora Kwo, Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2004 (reviewed by Gillian Bickley) 213\n\nThe Silk Road, Art and History, Jonathan Tucker, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2003 (reviewed by Elizabeth Teather)....... 217\n\nOBITUARY\n\nIan Diamond, 1924-2004 XV 225\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216497, "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-2003", "page_number": 256, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "207\n\nTHE MIDDLESEX (“TYNDAREUS”) STONE\n\nDAN WATERS\n\nFor those of you who can picture Hong Kong's Victoria Peak, on the small, flat, grassy, sitting-out area in the saddle between High West and Victoria Peak, there used to lie a Boulder. This sitting out area complete with pavilion is close to where Lugard Road joins Harlech Road. The Boulder used to lie just above where Hatton Road joins Harlech Road. A ring of small stones roughly three metres in diameter, partially overgrown with grass, still marks the position. The Boulder is in its natural state except for one side which was flattened to take the original plaque. As far as can be measured the Stone is 110cms x 130cms x 71cms and it is estimated to weigh a little less than one tonne.\n\nThen suddenly one afternoon I spotted it was missing. While trying to find out what had happened to it, over the next week or so two letters appeared in the South China Morning Post. Both writers expressed concern. One letter, dated 8 April 1994, from the late Martin Booth the well-known author who spent time in Hong Kong as a child - but in later years lived in England - was headed, 'An outrage.' He said the Stone also celebrated, by association, those men of the Middlesex Regiment who so valiantly defended Hong Kong in 1941 against the Japanese. Booth went on to say that the monument was also of interest because it was erected by Lieutenant Colonel John Ward \"whose prompt action, military efficiency and strong sense of humanity saved many during the disastrous Happy Valley Race Course fire. This took place in February 1918 and has been well documented. Booth states the death toll in the fire was 570. 'That [the \"Middlesex Boulder\"] has disappeared is an outrage to local history and an insult to those it commemorates. A patch of newly seeded grass is all that remains.'\n\nThe two letters were followed by another from R I Goodwin, Director of Public Relations HQ British Forces Hong Kong, dated 18 April 1994. He stated he wished to reassure Mr Booth that the Middlesex Stone was in good hands and that it was en route back to the Regiment's safe keeping in the United Kingdom. Goodwin then went on to mix up the whole issue. He took the figure of 570 lives lost in the Hong Kong Racecourse Fire in 1918 (as quoted by Booth) and quotes this as the number of lives lost when the troopship Tyndareus was mined off South", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216498, "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-2003", "page_number": 257, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "208\n\nAfrica in 1917. Apparently, in October 1993, a squad of Queen's Gurkha Engineers went up to the Peak one night with a truck and a crane and purloined the Middlesex Boulder.\n\nNot everyone used the word outrage, as did Booth. Nevertheless, the general reaction among Hong Kong citizens who take an interest in local history was that this fascinating and moving colonial memorial belonged to Hong Kong and to take it away was 'naughty' to say the least. There were others, however, who felt it would be better cared for by the Middlesex Regiment in England.\n\nIn 2001, the Boulder was spotted by Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch members outside the National Army Museum in Chelsea. This is 'formally and legally the Museum of the Middlesex Regiment and stands within the county of Middlesex.' I wrote to the Director of the Museum, the late Ian G. Robertson MA FMA, who was helpful. He pointed out that he did not have a hand in moving the Stone and did not know the underlying circumstances. I, in turn, pointed out that the plaque on the Boulder was difficult to read and needed cleaning. Mr. Robertson responded by saying care needed to be taken not to use destructive techniques. He did, however, say the intention was to move the Boulder inside the Museum at a later date.\n\nIn 2003, I was informed by RAS members that the Boulder had indeed been moved inside and placed in a permanent gallery. It is said to have been donated to the National Army Museum by the Middlesex Regimental Association. I was able to visit the Museum on 3 June 2004. The original plaque, which is still on the Boulder, reads:\n\nThis stone memorial was erected by Lieutenant John Ward, Commanding Officer, in memory of those men of the 25th Battalion The Middlesex Regiment who died when the troopship TYNDAREUS struck a German mine off Cape Agulhas, South Africa, on 6th February 1917. The Battalion had embarked in England and were en route to Hong Kong to carry out garrison duties. There is no doubt that the exemplary conduct of all ranks after the accident contributed in considerable measure to the Master's ability to prevent the ship from sinking with further loss of life.\n\nI am pleased to be able to report that the Stone is now well lit and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216499, "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-2003", "page_number": 258, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "209\n\nthe original plaque, with the words as above, has been cleaned and is easy to read,\n\nA new, interesting information panel now also accompanies the exhibit. It reads as follows:\n\nSteam Ship Tyndareus\n\nIn 1916 the 25th (Garrison) Battalion, the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment) was ordered to proceed to Hong Kong from Aldershot. The Battalion was to be taken as far as Durban by S S Tyndareus, a 7058-tonne vessel with a crew of 108 owned by Alfred Holt and Company of Liverpool which was making her maiden voyage. Having sailed from Glasgow, the Tyndareus embarked the battalion, 1005 strong, and left Devonport on 22 December 1916.\n\nAt 6.55pm on February 1917, off Cape Agulhas, 173 Km south-east of Cape Town, the vessel struck a German mine which exploded creating an 84 square metre hole in the starboard side and bottom of the ship. The Tyndareus heaved over, began to ship water and started to go down by the head. No lives were lost in the explosion or the subsequent evacuation and the vessel managed to reach Simontown two days later.\n\nThe Tyndareus received partial repairs in South Africa, served through the Second World War and was not broken up until 1960. The Battalion had recovered sufficiently from its ordeal to form a guard of honour at the opening of the South African Parliament on 16 February, and after a further stop in Singapore the 25th reached Hong Kong on 1 April 1917. Here the Battalion's commanding Officer commissioned the erection of a memorial, sited on the Peak of Hong Kong Island, to commemorate the exemplary conduct displayed by his men when the ship was mined.\n\nAn inscribed metal plaque was later added to the rock which erroneously stated that it was erected in memory of the men who died in the accident - perhaps a confusion with the wreck of HM Troopship Birkenhead in 1852 which claimed 445 lives.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216500, "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-2003", "page_number": 259, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "210\n\nWith the impending British withdrawal from Hong Kong the stone was brought to England in 1994 and from 1999 to 2003 stood at the entrance to the National Army Museum.\n\nAs can be seen above, information has come to light which surprisingly contradicts what was said on the original plaque. The new information panel states that in fact there was no loss of life when the troopship struck a German mine.\n\nThe Middlesex Boulder is a loss to Hong Kong but it has to be admitted it was rather neglected as are, sadly, some other military relics. We have been promised a World War Two heritage Trail for some years but at the time of writing it has yet to materialise. Conversely, the Tyndareus Stone in the British National Army Museum is without doubt now being well looked after. More research has been done and, with the new information panel, it now provides an interesting, well documented exhibit.\n\nI am grateful to Dr Alan J Guy MA, DPhil, FRHistS, FRAS, FSA, the present Director of the National Army Museum, for providing information to help me write this article.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216501, "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-2003", "page_number": 260, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "塗\n\nThe Tyndareus Stone outside the British Army Museum, London (photo courtesy Dan Waters)\n\nA closer view of the inscription (photo courtesy Dan Waters)\n\n211", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]