RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g A SHORT HISTORY OF MILITARY VOLUNTEERS IN HONG KONG JAMES HAYES* On the occasion of the disbandment of the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps in May 1866, His Excellency, after expressing his thanks for time, exertions and money spent for objects so essentially Public, went on to express his belief that the spirit which originated the Volunteer movement would be found to exist fresher and stronger than before, if any real and urgent necessity were to arise for defending, by force of arms, the rights of the Crown, or maintaining the supremacy of the Law in this Colony. The Hong Kong Volunteers would doubtless in such emergency come to the front again more numerous and efficient than ever! INTRODUCTION There have been military volunteers in Hong Kong for almost as long as there has been a Colony. Hong Kong was occupied in 1841 and the first volunteers were established thirteen years later, in 1854. However, the existence of a Volunteer force does not make Hong Kong unique. In this respect, as is shown below, it takes its place in the great movement which, in its modern re-incarnation, was created by patriotic fervour in the British Isles * Mr. Hayes is a member of the administrative branch of the Hong Kong Civil Service. He is a reserve officer of the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) and has been Hon. Editor of this Journal since 1966. 1 The Hongkong Government Gazette, 26th May 1866, G.N. No. 81. The footnotes to this article are given at the foot of each page. The following abbreviations are used:- Vol — The Volunteer, the current journal of the Royal Hong Kong Defence Force published annually since 1950. Y.B. = Year Book of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps 1934-40. S.P. = Printed Sessional Papers of the Hong Kong Government, being papers presented to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Han. Hong Kong Hansard, being the published proceedings of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. These were printed in the Government Gazette and the Hong Kong Daily Press. There are bound annual volumes in the library of the Colonial Secretariat, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 136 W. A. REYNOLDS port for the work came from American United China Relief (UCR) funds through the American Friends Service Council (AFSC); there were members from Canada, U.S.A., New Zealand, as well as China itself; and the self-sufficiency required was much greater than that of other FAU groups. The original plan, worked out in late 1940 and early 1941, was for a group of forty men, equipped with 20 trucks, a mobile operating theatre and mobile workshop, to undertake two tasks. The first was the transport of medical supplies into China from Burma and the second provision of medical teams to work with civilian and military hospitals. The proposals had the support of the British Fund for the Relief of Distress in China under Dr. H. Gordon Thompson, the Foreign Office, the U.C.R. and the AFSC. The trucks and equipment were purchased in the US and shipped to Rangoon where they were assembled and driven up to China. Dr. R. B. McClure, a Canadian medical missionary born in China, was appointed to lead the Unit. It will be remembered that in 1941 Japan occupied all the coast of China, transport up the railway to Kunming from Hanoi had ceased and the only land routes into the western provinces still held by the Government of the Republic of China under Marshal Chiang Kai Shek were the Burma Road and the road from the USSR via Sinkiang. When the Sino-Japanese war widened into the Pacific War on December 8, 1941, about half of the FAU group had arrived in Burma and China, the first trucks were being assembled in Rangoon and the rest of the party and equipment were on the high seas. All arrived safely and the Unit undertook a number of interesting tasks during the Burma fighting of 1942.1 Medical Services and Supplies in China Despite the diversion of manpower and loss of trucks and fuel in Burma the work of transporting medical supplies in China got underway in 1942. In 1941 there were four organizations concerned with military and civilian medical services:— 1) the Army Medical Administration (AMA) 2) the Chinese Red Cross (CRC) 3) National Health Administration (NHA) Weishengshu (衛 生 署) with its civilian hospitals and clinics. 4) Over 100 mission hospitals, responsible to their own Mission Boards. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 224 NOTES AND QUERIES ment. Here is also a letter from an army doctor, which is as follows: Dear Sir, my regiment stayed in Pakhoi. The officers and soldiers were not accustomed to this new place, therefore most of them became sick. Fortunately, the doctor has the heart of Jesus and gave us treatment free of charge, so I have the honour to write and thank you. Since Sept. 1938, I have been acting again as Customs Medical officer. I have also been the only doctor for the hospital and Leper Settlement about 3 miles away, and I would like to point out that without the self-sacrificing help of the hospital staff, I could never have been able to fulfil this work. We were most thankful for all the help Bishop Hall gave us through the British Relief Council, and we were also most grateful for all the help and inspiration from Deaconess Vincent, who was with us for 7 months, and are glad to welcome Miss Bradley, who is as eager and successful in the Maternity and Hospital work as Matron and interpreter, as in her pastoral work among the lepers. On March 6th, Bishop Hall paid us a visit on his way to Kunming; we were very glad to see him, and although his visit was short, it proved a great blessing both spiritually & practically. Our hearts are full of gratitude and thanks to God for the help we have received in so many ways through many people, both Chinese and foreigners. Pakhoi, August 19th, 1939. Po Yan Hospital. After nearly 3 months of relative quietness, with only occasional alarms and machine-gun skirmishes with planes on their way or from the scene of real activity, we began to think that we were safe and quiet again. On the 15th of July, some of the hospital's staff went down to the beach for a bathe in the late afternoon. We had not been there long, however, before the alarm signal sounded in the town. Two planes came up over the horizon very quickly, and before we could get ashore, they were flying overhead. Their real object of attack was a group of large fishing junks lying about 200 yards away, but it was unpleasantly near to us, and we were forced to take cover under the wooden frame of the diving board until the worst was over; some of the swimmers had managed to get ashore in time and took refuge in the bathing house. On the 14th of August, we had a Page 240 Page 241 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 59 Serious measures were taken to change the whole social and political structure of the town. NOTES Preliminary note: Although the present paper is to a great extent based on fresh research, the following works have been of considerable use as they contain material about the government of the International Settlement: Feetham, Justice Richard: "Report to the Shanghai Municipal Council" 1931-1932. Johnstone, W.C.: "The Shanghai Problem", 1937. Jones, F.C.: "Shanghai and Tientsin", 1940. Kotenev, A.M.: "Shanghai, its Mixed Court and Council", 1925. Montalto de Jesus, C.A.: "Historic Shanghai", 1909. Port, F.L. Hawks: "A short history of Shanghai", 1928. 1 The International Settlement at Shanghai was formed in 1863 by the amalgamation of the original British Settlement (formed in 1845, but later increased in area) with the so-called American Settlement in the Hongkew area which had grown up without formal establishment in the 1850s, and early 1860s, and which had been formally recognised by the Chinese earlier in 1863. The French Settlement (formed in 1849) always remained separate from the International Settlement. Outside the area of the foreign settlements lay the old Chinese city and suburbs: these remained under Chinese rule, and became subject to the Greater Shanghai Municipality when that was set up by the Chinese authorities in 1927. * Cf also Treaty of the Bogue, article VII, "ground and houses, the rent of which is to be fairly and equitably arranged for, shall be set apart by the local officers in communication with the Consul." 3 Population figures for intermediate years are, 1,666 foreigners and 75,047 Chinese in 1870, and 6,774 foreigners and 345,276 Chinese in 1900. Of the 13,536 foreigners resident in 1910, 4,465 were British, 940 Americans and 3,361 Japanese. Of the 38,940 foreigners resident in 1935 no fewer than 20,242 were Japanese, as against 6,596 British and 2,015 Americans. + * Text of the 1845 Land Regulations (LR) is in Shanghai Almanac 1853. It is not too fanciful to suppose that persons willing to move to as remote a place as Shanghai in the 1840s were likely to be particularly strongly imbued with the contemporary belief in individualism, with its consequent hatred of despotism and paternalism; this almost certainly assisted in the speedy breakdown of the 1845 Land Regulations to something far more individualistic in tone. • North China Herald (NCH) 30.7.1853. * J.H. Haan: "De opkomst van de International Settlement te Shanghai 1845-1865. Een historisch — politicologische analyse" ("The rise of the International Settlement at Shanghai. A historical-political analysis"), unpublished manuscript University of Amsterdam, 1977; chapter II. Cited as Haan "Shanghai". Cf NCH 22.7.1854; text of draft LR in NCH 30.7.1853, 27.8.1853; final version in 8.7.1854. NCH 22.4.1865. 10 NCH 17.3.1866. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 210 e. Recreation Ground J.H. HAAN Originated in 1860 when the ground inside the second racecourse was bought with the purpose of making it a Recreation Ground for other sports. f. Shanghai Library Established in 1849; the existing premises were found to be inadequate and in 1852 it was decided at a meeting of library-members that it was "desirable to erect a Building for an Exchange and Reading Room", to which end a committee was appointed. All plans came to nothing however and the Shanghai Library had at one time, during the 1860s, to rent space at the Shanghai Club. Affairs of the Library were managed by a committee that was annually elected. g. Shanghai Volunteer Corps The S.V.C. came into being during the Taiping troubles in 1853; at first it was a more or less private organisation until in 1870 control was handed over to the Municipal Council. h. Society for the Relief of Distressed Foreigners of All Nationalities Founded on June 6, 1865, in order to provide a temporary solution for the problem of foreigners who had come to China as mercenaries to fight the Taipings and who became unemployed after the ending of that rebellion. Biographical Notes ANTROBUS, Robert Crawfurd 1864-1865 Partner in Lindsay & Co. from May 20, 1852. Member Recreation Ground Committee;2 trustee British Episcopal Church 1863(?);3 trustee Chinese Hospital 1865;4 commanding officer of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps.5 Member Commit- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 216 J.H. HAAN INCE, Henry Alexander 1855-1856 At first lived in Hong Kong, 1850. 107 Partner in Dent, Beale & Co. from July 1, 1854;108 interest ceased June 30, 1858. KAHN, Julius 1864-1865 111 Authorized to sign for Reiss & Co. (a British firm) from October 10, 1859;110 partner May 1, 1860 till April 30, 1865.1 He donated the vases that adorned the entrance of the Shanghai Club. KAY, William 1852-1853, 1854-1855 Partner in Fox, Rawson & Co. in Canton;112 since 1846 in Shanghai as partner of Blackin, Rawson & Co.'113 Member of the Committee to study the erection of a new building for the Shanghai Library 1852.114 KESWICK, William 1865-1866 Possibly was first a resident of Yokohama.115 Partner in Jardine, Matheson & Co. since July 1, 1862.116 Consul for Denmark 1863-?.117 Trustee British Episcopal Church 1866;118 member of the management committee of the Society for Relief of Distressed Foreigners of All Nationalities 1865.'119 Unofficial member of the Legislative Council in Hong Kong 1867-1872, 1875-1886.120 Member of the NCBRAS.121 Member of Committee IX. KING, David O. 1854-1855 Before 1850 he lived in Canton.122 At first partner in J.M. Smith & Co.; later Smith, King & Co.'123 and King & Co.'124 Vice-Consul for Prussia 1853-1854.125 1856-1858 he resided in Bangkok.'126 Author127 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 215 role in this “secularization” process, comparing Legge's leadership in the new Board of Education with the manner of a “born bishop” I believe his motivations must be read in the light of his postmillennial leanings. See n. 55 on postmillennialism. Also see James Legge, "The Colony Of Hong Kong", The Journal Of The Hong Kong Branch of The Royal Asiatic Society, op. cit., p. 188; also E. T. Eitel, Europe In China: The History Of Hong Kong From The Beginning To The Year 1882 (Hong Kong: Kelly & Walsh Ltd, 1895; reprinted in Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 347, 390-394, 466. See Gwenneth and John Stokes, Queen's College: Its History 1862-1987 (Hong Kong: Queen's College, 1987). A number of the details of the origins of the school in relation to Legge are not correct, and should be compared with my article in Ching Feng (1988), op. cit. 51 Prof. Legge's participation in the initial stages of the drafting of the Somerville College rules is not mentioned in some of the more recent texts on Somerville College, but his role as a member of the council (1881-1883) is found in Somerville College Register, 1879-1959 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 272. In the minutes of the Provisional committee which later incorporated the College, Prof. Legge apparently helped to draft and support a college rule which, in its final form, read as follows: "Prayers will be read daily in the house, and on Sundays the students will be expected as a rule to attend a place of worship chosen by themselves or their parents"; an earlier proposal to eliminate family prayers, and a later proposal requiring instruction in the Bible provided by each House, were both voted down. It is also significant that the provisional committee set a rule that the members of the Council should include equal numbers of women and men. See the Notes of the Provisional Committee meetings for the year 1879, dated February 7, 15, and 28, held at Somerville College. * This picture is kept at the Library of the Oriental Institute at Oxford, and was recently used for the cover of T. H. Barrett's Singular Listlessness: A Short History Of Chinese Books And British Scholars, op. cit. His reaction was primarily against the legalistic trends of Scottish Reform theology, particularly as it related to the harsher restrictions enforced on the Sabbath. At one point Legge, writing about his youthful days in Huntly, complained: "The voice of Moses was allowed in our household too often to overpower the voice of Christ". See Notes Of My Life, op. cit., p. 15, and James Legge, John Legge, ed., Lectures On Theology, Science, And Revelation (Papers by the late Rev. George Legge), XXII-XXIV. Still one must point out that the memorization of the Shorter Catechism left its mark in many of the themes discussed in Legge's The Religions of China. He may have rejected its ethics, but he was nursed and matured in its theological worldview. 34 Legge gave his views on the sixty-fifth anniversary of the London Missionary Society, celebrated at Moorfields Tabernacle. See his "The Land of Sinim," (London: John Snow, 1859). +4 — This perspective was technically supported by nineteenth-century "postmillennialism," a view which generally interprets Biblical prophecies regarding the end of human history as one in which there will be no personal return of Christ. Postmillennialism claimed that God will reign on earth indirectly in a kingdom of peace established by his own people, the Church. This view normally involves the corollary that human achievements, particularly the advance of Christian civilization, would bring about the final state in which the Kingdom of God would be achieved. James Legge had been exposed to this position through the theology of his older brother, George Legge, and apparently accepted its arguments. See George Legge, Lectures on Theology, Science, and Revelation, ed. James Legge, et al., op. cit. Belief in a postmillennial view of history explains two important aspects of James Legge's academic work. First, it explains why he was concerned to locate a trace of revelation in the foundations of Chinese ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 FROM THE HON. EDITOR I have been receiving a relatively large amount of material over the last couple of years and Council has therefore authorised me to continue producing Journals which significantly exceed the '200 page' rule, in order that publication of accepted submissions is not overly delayed. At 532 pages, therefore, this Volume, No. 42 is another bumper effort. There are 11 contributions in the ARTICLES section, which must be something of a record. Andrew Abraham has provided a most scholarly paper on the pros and cons of the transfer of the Straits Settlements from the jurisdiction of the Indian Government to the Colonial Office in 1867. Continuing our review of the Battle of Hong Kong during World War II, there are contributions from Chohong Choi and Anne Ozorio. The former rehearses Allied thinking on an invasion of Japanese-occupied Hong Kong and possibly the Chinese hinterland behind it, which area might then have been used as a base from which to bomb Japan. Chohong then discusses, somewhat novelly, the challenges to such an invasion from the weather. Anne Ozorio's paper shows that, contrary to popular belief, the British military were very much prepared for an attack on Hong Kong by the Japanese - in terms of continuing intelligence gathering and covert resistance during the occupation - and that they were very active in China until the end of hostilities. Our man in Bondi, former President, James Hayes, shares with us his experiences of Chinese ceremonial occasions and the considerable etiquette and pomp that go with them. Lawrence Lai et al. reports on a survey of the World War II military installations on Devil's Peak, Hong Kong. I have reproduced a very pleasant piece from Eve Lam of TVB On HKBRAS which centres on the 40th Anniversary Celebration Conference held in December, 2000 at the University of Hong Kong. Lauren Pfister's account of the life of Ch'ëa Kam-kwong (1800- iii ================================================================================