Newton, Issac (1926-1952)

updated  October 15, 2013

FRCS (Edin.); MRCS (Eng.); LRCP (Lond.). Hong Kong nlt.1926-52, retired. Publications: Five Years' Progress in the Hong Kong Health Services, British Medical Journal October 27, 1951. Honor: The British Realm of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, Officer June 23, 1950.

HONG KONG nlt.1926. Government doctor. Medical Officer, Kowloon and New Territories March 16, 1926. Medical Officer In-Charge, Kowloon Hospital 1927 - February 28, 1929. Medical Officer In-Charge, Government Civil Hospital 1930 - September 1932, April 3, 1935 - February 14, 1936 and October 14, 1936 - April 13, 1937. Surgical Specialist April 1, 1941. JP (official) 1927-EOP. Hong Kong Defense Reserve February 21, 1940. Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-42, Argyle Street Camp, interned 1942-45 Stanley Camp. Director of Medical Services 1946-50. Director of Medical and Health Services 1950-51. Member (official), Legislative Council January 25, 1950-51. Retired from civil service July 1951.

[Newton kept a 148-pages diary covering the dates he was kept as a POW, and later as an internee during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. The original diary is being kept in the British National Archives.]

[Newton was Hong Kong's first post WWII medical chief. I'm almost certain that he was reappointed JP and Legislator during his tenure as medical chief, although I haven't found the confirmation records.]

Selected bibliography: Hong Kong Government, Medical Report for the Year 1926; 1927. Hong Kong Government, Medical & Sanitary Report for the Year 1929. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 6, 1927, Appt. #268; February 23, 1940, Notice #220; April 4, 1941, Appt. #370. Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences Society, Plague, Sars, and the Story of Medicine in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2006, p.338. The London Gazette, February 3, 1950, p.594; June 23, 1950, p.3259.

[Proactive research ended October 15, 2013.]

Swyer, James (1941)

updated September 4, 2013

Radiologist.

Hog Kong nlt.1941. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45; British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital) 1942-45. Postwar whereabouts unknown.

Selected bibliography: Bowie, Donald C., Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. #15, 1975.

Petrovsky, Constantine Constantinovich (1933-1941)

updated March 24, 2014.

Constantine Constantinovich Petrovsky (1952 photo, 2nd from right) pictured with other staff of the Launceston General Hospital, from left: Drs. J.F. Clemente, J.K. O'Reilly and T.G.H. Hog. Petrovsky was to succeed Hog as the hospital's General-Superintendent. Credit: Examiner (Launceston, Tasmania)

b. [n.d.], Sakhalin, Russia. Escape the Revolution to Hong Kong via China. MBBS (HK) December 20, 1938. RAMC (#211623) 1941, promotions: Lieutenant September 30, 1941; Captain September 30, 1942; retired with a gratuity September 1949, final rank: Honorary Major. service: joined in Hong Kong, on the way to Europe, stopped in Singapore; British Field Ambulance Unit; Malaya Section September 30, 1941. Japanese occupation of Singapore, PoW, Changi 1942, transferred to Burma-Thailand Railway Camp "Death Railway" 1942-44; transferred to Hiroshima^[1] August 22, 1944. Port Medical Officer, Italy, Germany, International Refugee Organization, United Nations December 1949 - November 1951. Australia December 1951. Registered to practice Sydney February 1952.  Tasmania. General-Superintendent, Launceston General Hospital 1952-72^[2]. Honor: MBE June 6, 1946.

HONG KONG nlt.1933. HKU 1933-38. Registered to practice Hong Kong January 26, 1939 through EOP. Private practice 1939-41, address: 1/F, #226 Nathan Road, Kowloon 1941. Naturalized British subject (Certificate #O2517) August 5, 1939 (previous nationality: No Nationality). Hong Kong Defense Reserved, Essential Group September 14, 1939; General Group March 7, 1940; discharged with permission from Governor September 2, 1940 (for purpose to join RAMC). Inspector of Schools, October 1, 1940.

Petrovsky's sister [s.n.] and husband Leonard John Benuch, 1953 photo. Credit: Examiner (Launceston, Tasmania).

Siblings: [s.n.] m. Leonard John Benuch (Russian, naturized British subject, Hong Kong manager of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation). [Petrovsky's parents, two sisters and a brother lived in Sydney nlt.1951].

Kathleen Petrovsky, 1969 photo. Credit: The Straits Times.

m. Kathleen Violet Kathleen Maxwell, medical practitioner. Had issues: 1. Alex Petrovsky (attorney at law; principal, Petrovsky Partners, Barristers & Solicitors, Launceston, Tasmania); 2. Nikolai Petrovsky (BMedSc 1979, MBBS 1982 (Tasmania), FAICD 1990, FRACP 1994, PhD (Melbourne) 1998; Professor of Medicine; Director of Endocrinology Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia); 3. Irina Petrovsky (of Evendale).

[1] Petrovsky was sent to undertake slave labor in a coal mine known as "Sanyo POW Camp, Hiroshima #6 Branch Omine-Machi" situated more than 50 kilometers away from Hiroshima. He was mining coal, as usual, on August 6, 1945, when he other inmates while immediately after having been shocked by blast wave saw a column of black smoke coming up like mushroom. They were told by the Japanese guards the next day that everyone in Hiroshima was dead.

[2] Petrovsky was asked to resign in 1959 after a no-confidence vote by the medical staff, with whom he had had long period of disagreement. He was given a second option in lieu of resignation of that to accept either a demotion or dismissal at six months' notice. Petrovsky rallied the support of Professor Roy Douglas Wright (b.1907-d.1990) of University of Melbourne, an eminent scholar in medical science in Australia, and lodged an appeal which was upheld by a magistrate. The ruling that silenced the no-confidence vote did little to resolve the deep-rooted disagreement and it continued to haunt Petrovsky's tenure in the General Hospital. In 1971 allegations of mismanagement of the hospital led to public inquiry that took place in Hobat and Launceston. The inquiry ended on August 6, 1971 when promises were made by all members of the board of management of the hospital, Petrovsky, and A.B. Abbott, the lady superintendent, to submit their resignations. In the month that next followed, Petrovsky was made Assistant Director of Hospital and Medical Services [s.l.].

Selected bibliography: The British Imperial War Museum [internet]. Examiner (Launceston, Tasmania) April 12, 1952, p.3; May 3, 1952, p.3; June 24, 1954, p.4; August 7, 1971, p.3. Flinders University [internet]. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, January 27, 1939, #87; September 15, 1939, #801; March 8, 1940, #286; September 5, 1941, #1062; October 18, 1940, #1146; May 9, 1941, #558. Harper, Tim; Bayly, Christopher, Forgotten Wars: The End of Britain's Asian Empire, Penguin Group, 2007. The (British) National Archives › Naturalisation Certificate: Constantine Constantinovich Petrovsky [internet]. Pierpont, Trevor Sykes, The Petrovsky Feud: Stranger than Fiction, Financial Review, July 5, 1996 [internet]. The Straits Times, June 18, 1969, p.5. Supplement to the London Gazette, Novvember 25, 1941, p.6765; June 6, 1946, p.2736; June 18, 1946, p.3058; September 27, 1949, p.4602. Ube Branch POW Camp (Honshu Japan) By Phillip West [internet]. The University of Melbourne Archives › Sir Roy Douglas Wright Collection [internet].

Fraser, Norman (1941)

updated September 4, 2013

Dentist.

Hong Kong nlt.1941. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45; British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital) 1942-45. Post-war whereabouts unknown.

Selected bibliography: Bowie, Donald C., Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. #15, 1975.

Fraser, Jack (1941)

updated September 4, 2013

Ophthalmologist.

Hong Kong nlt.1941. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45; British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital) 1942-45. Post-war whereabouts unknown.

Selected bibliography: Bowie, Donald C., Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. #15, 1975..

Durran, John (1926-EOP)

updated on September 4, 2013

Physician and Ophthalmologist.

MBBS (Edin.) 1924. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 28, 1926 through EOP. Private practitioner, 1926-EOP, address: Alexandra Building 1926, 1941. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45; British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital) 1942-45. Post-war whereabouts unknown.

Selected bibliography: Bowie, Donald C., Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. #15, 1975. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 28, 1926, Notice #299; May 9, 1941, Notice #558.

Cleave, Hugh Latimer (1940-EOP)

updated

b. February 11, 1910, Exeter, Devon – d. November 18, 2010, Cotswolds, Wiltshire. MRCS (Eng.), LRCP (Lond.) May 6, 1931; FRCS (Eng.) 1935; FASGBI. RMO, Putey Hospital. Casualty Officer, Bristol General Hospital. RN, Surgeon Lieutenant January 17, 1933; HMS Resolution April 3, 1933; HMS Maine December 7, 1935; Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth October 30, 1936; Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander January 17, 1938; HMS Nelson January 2, 1939; Acting Surgeon Commander April 27, 1940; Hong Kong 1940, Medical Officer In-Charge, Royal Naval Hospital (HMS Tamar) April 27, 1940; registered to practice Hong Kong October 18, 1941; POW, Shinagawa Camp (near Tokyo) 1941-44; Surgeon-In-Charge, Allied POW Hospital, Tokyo 1944-45; Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth May 15, 1946; HMS Vanguard August 13, 1948; Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham January 20, 1950; Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar September 30, 1952; Surgeon Captain June 30, 1955; Naval Medical Officer of Health, Mediterranean Station January 28, 1957; Admiralty July 1961; Royal Naval Hospital, Plymouth October 9, 1961; retired February 11, 1967. Honor: MID April 24, 1940; OBE July 16, 1946; QHS October 17, 1961; CBE June 10, 1967.

m. Peggy Elizabeth W. Hill, Gloucestershire 1933; d.1990.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, October 24, 1941, Notice #1268. Royal Navy Officers 1939-1945 [internet].

Anderson, James William (1924-1946+)

updated September 4, 2013

MBBS (Edin.) 1922. Registered to practice Hong Kong April 16, 1924 through EOP. Private practitioner, 1924-EOP,  Drs. Jordan, Forsyth, Grove & Aubrey 1924. JP (unofficial) 1941. RAMC, Surgeon, Temporary Major; Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45; Surgeon, British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital) 1942-45. Post-war whereabouts unknown.

Selected bibliography: Bowie, Donald C., Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. #15, 1975. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, April 16, 1924, Notice #211. Hong Kong's War Crimes Trials Collection [internet]. Welcome Library › Nutrition [internet].

Bowie, Donald Cameron (1939-1945)

updated March 20, 2014.

b. January 31, 1897, Old Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland - d. September 7, 1983, London. MB, ChB (Glas.) 1914; FRCS (Edin.); FRCGP. RAMC, promotions: Lieutenant August 29, 1918; Temporary Captain October 1, 1919; Captain February 28, 1922; Major August 28, 1930; Lieutenant-Colonel [n.d.]; Colonel 1948; service: the Great War, France and Belgium 1914-21; employed with the Egyptian Army July 23, 1923 - January 16, 1925; attached to the Sudan Defense Force January 17, 1925 - August 28, 1925; Adjutant, Territorial Army February 1, 1925 - January 5, 1930; Hong Kong 1939-45. Regional Postgraduate Dean, the British Postgraduate Medical Federation, London Univ. Honor: OBE June 6 1946; Sir Arthur Keith Medal, Royal College of Surgeons, England March 1969.

HONG KONG April 1, 1939. British Military Hospital (Bowen Road Hospital), Surgeon 1939-EOP; Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, POW 1941-45; British Military Hospital, Surgeon 1941- July 1942, Medical Office In-Charge August 1942-45; repatriation, England 1945.

Publications: Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Hong Kong: Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, 1977; Traumatic False Aneurysm Simulating Bone Sarcoma, British Medical Journal, Vol. #36, Issue #143, January 1949, co-author: A.W. Kay, Major, RAMC.

Selected bibliography: Banham, Tony, We Shall Suffer There: Hong Kong's Defenders Imprisoned, 1942-45, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009. Bowie, Donald C., Captive Surgeon in Hong Kong: The Story of the British Military Hospital, Hong Kong 1942-1945, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch, Vol. #15, 1975. The British Medical Journal, October 31, 1914, p.775. The half-yearly Army List for the Period Ending 31st December 1938, Gradation List of Officers of the British Army, p.399. Supplement to the British Medical Journal, August 21, 1948, p.92. Supplement to the London Gazette, September 19, 1919, p.11742; June 6, 1946, p.2735. The Official Website of  the University of Glasgow [internet]. Wellcome Library › Papers of Sir Matthew Fell (1872-1959).

Balean, Geoffrey Terrell (1938-1945+)

updated March 19, 2014.

Geoffrey T. Balean (back row, right)[1]. Credit: Long Night's Journey into Day.

b.1910, Shanghai - d.1972. MRCS (Eng.) 1935; LRCP (Lond.) 1935; DTMH (Eng.) 1936. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 6, 1938 through EOP. Private practitioner 1938-EOP,  Drs. Black, Balean, Skinn & Talbot, address: Union Building 1938-EOP. HKVDC, Captain, Field Ambulance. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong: PoW 1941-45, Sham Shui Po Camp.

s/o Herman Balean and Isabel Terrell.
m. Viola Dorothy Fenton-Raven, St. Mark's Church of England, Sydney July 20, 1946 (d/o A.R. Fenton-Raven, of Edgecliff)

[1] 1944 photo of POWs kept at the Sham Shui Po Camp, taken by Japanese interpreter Itsuo Tsutada. Back row, left to right: Solomon Bard, Alberto Marie Rodrigues, Geoffrey Terrell Balean. Front row, left to right: Leo Silva, "Nobby" Clark, Carlos Basto.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 6, 1938, Notice #368; May 9, 1941, Notice #558. The Hong Kong War Diary [internet]. The Sydney Morning Herald, July 23, 1946, p.14.