Myles, Charles Duncan (1930-1933)

updated April 12, 2014.

d. November 1, 1957. MB (Dubl.) 1900. RAMC 1900^[1]-1934. Promotions: retired 1934, final rank: Colonel; ceased to be Reserve Officer May 9, 1937. Service: Aldershot 1900; Dublin 1901; The Great War, Geneva, Switzerland, Commander of #2 Ambulance Train;  Hong Kong nlt.1930. Royal Society of Promotion of Health, Member 1913, Fellow 1932. Honor: OBE (for services with the British Expeditionary Force in France) 1918. Address: Frimley Green, Surrey 1941.

HONG KONG nlt.1930. Sanitary Board (vice Douglas Gordon Cheyne) February 28, 1930 - May 22, 1930, resigned. President, St. Patrick's Society 1932.

m. Letitia Francis [s.n.]. Had issues: Thomas Picton Myles (b.1912; RAMC (#72898), KIA Bangalore, Mysore, India November 3, 1942, bur. Madras Was Cemetery, Chennai).

Publications: Suicide in a Fit of Temporary Insanity, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Vol. 13, 1092, p.437. Peregrinations and Passports, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Vol. 59, 1932, p.452.

[1] Myles scored a mark of 2,040 at his RAMC entry examination held in London in 1900. He ranked #6 in a total of nine successful candidates.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, September 1, 1900, p.608; March 16, 1901, p.683. The Edinburgh Gazette, June 10, 1918, p.2016Hong Kong Government, Report of the Head of the Sanitary Department for the Year 1930. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 30, 1930, #326. Journal of the Royal Society of Promotion of Health, January 1, 1958. The London Gazette, May 14, 1937, p.3186. St. Patrick's Society Hong Kong [internet]. The War Graves [internet].

Cheyne, Douglas Gordon (1929-1930)

updated April 11, 2014.

Douglas Gordon Cheyne. Credit: The Cheyne Family Website.

b. October 30, 1889, Aberdeenshire, Scotland - d. June 24, 1966. MB, ChB 1910, MD 1914 (Aberd.); DPH 1914. RAMC (#14491) 1914, promotions: Lieutenant October 9, 1914, Captain April 9, 1918, Major, Lieutenant-Colonel October 30, 1938, Colonel October 4, 1944, Brigadier, ceased to be Reserve of Officers 1950; service: The Great War, Belgium, Italy 1915-19, India 1919, Royal Army Medical College, Shanghai, Deputy Assistant Director Hygiene (DADH), China Command (Shanghai Defense Force) February 12, 1927, Hong Kong nlt.1929, WWII, North Africa. Honor: MC November 1918; OBE; CBE August 5, 1943; MID August 4, 1945; Legion of Merit (USA) March 20, 1947.

HONG KONG nlt.1929-1930. Sanitary Board (vice John Southhey Bostock) December 2, 1929 - February 28, 1930, resigned.

Walter Smith Cheyne. Credit: The Cheyne Family Website.

s/o Walter Smith Cheyne (MBChM 1876, MD 1887 (Aberd.); private practitioner) and Fanny Fern Middleton. Siblings: 1. Louisa Ann Cheyne (b.1883-d.1966); 2. Edith Cheyne (b.1885-d.ca.976); 3. Grace Mary Cheyne (b.1886-d.1979); 4. subject person.
m. Helen Mary Lawrence, Shanghai 1927^[1] (b.1895, Dorset, England - d.1981, Dorset; d/o Reginald Frank Lawrence and Minnie Jackson)

Publications: Some Factors Influencing the Load of the Soldier, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Vol. 46, 1926, p.346. Notes on Typhus in Naples, [s.n.], December 5, 1943.

[1] Lawrence served in the Voluntary Aid Department during the Great War. She became a nursing Sister in 1927 in Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service after having completed training at the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel. She was then posted to Shanghai with the Shanghai Defense Force. It must have been quite a busy year for Lawrence as she qualified as a nursing sister, got sent to half the world away, met Cheyne and got married with him.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, February 12, 1927, p.316; August 4, 1945, p.168. The Cheyne Family Website [internet]. Hong Kong Government, Report of the Head of the Sanitary Department for the Year 1930. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, December 6, 1929, #633. The London Gazette, April 26, 1918; November 1, 1938, p.6816. The National Archives [internet]. Supplement to the British Medical Journal, September 23, 1950, p.138. Supplement to the London Gazette, September 29, 1944, p.4521. The University of Aberdeen › Roll of Honor [internet]. WW2.com [internet].

Smith, Samuel Boylan (1925-1927)

updated April 11, 2014.

b. December 12, 1872, Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow, Ireland - d. December 13, 1944, Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. MD (Dubl.)1898. RAMC 1900-27, promotions: Lieutenant November 1900, Captain November 1903, Major August 1912, Acting Lieutenant-Colonel April-May 1918, Lieutenant-Colonel October 1918, retired December 12, 1927; service: West Africa 1901-02, India 1903-08, the Great War, France 1918-19, Ceylon 1919-22, Hong Kong nlt.1925. Honor: DSO June 4, 1917; MID May 1917 and July 1919; OBE.

HONG KONG nlt.1925. Sanitary Board (vice Fitzgerald Gabbett Fitzgerald) December 14, 1925 - November 10, 1927.

Selected bibliography: Dix Noonan Webb [internet]. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, December 18, 1925, #723; November 10, 1927, #657. The London Gazette, June 1, 1917, p.5474.

Watson, John James Curl (1896)

updated November 2, 2013.

BA 1882; MB 1884; MD 1885 (Dubl.). AMD, Surgeon; Surgeon-Captain July 1886; Boyle; Dublin 1887; Aldershot; India 1892; Dublin; Hong Kong 1896. RAMC 1898, Surgeon-Major July 1898; China 1900, Boxer Rebellion, Relief of Tientsin (Tianjin) and Relief of Peking (Beijing); placed on retired pay October 1910. Honor: MID (London Gazette November 6, 1900); Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) July 22, 1901.

HONG KONG nlt.1896.

b. October 5, 1861, Woolwich – d. April 12, 1913, Swanwick, Hampshire.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, October 22, 1887, p.914; July 18. 1896, p.168; December 24, 1892, p.1410; May 1, 1897, p.1125. Dix Noonan Webb [internet].

Brown, Henry Herbert (1900)

updated November 3, 2013.

RAMC, Major; Hong Kong nlt.1900, Acting Principal Medical Officer, Hong Kong and China. Publications: A Method of Fly-proofing in Indian Latrines, Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, Volume 54, 1930, Clinical and Other Notes, p.207.

HONG KONG nlt.1900. Sanitary Board September 11, 1900.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, September 15, 1900, #465.

[Proactive research ended October 28, 2013.]

Hughes, George Arthur (1901)

updated November 3, 2013

b. May 18, 1851, Clonmel, Ireland – d. April 13, 1926. BA, MBCM (Dubl.) 1875. RAMC, Surgeon February 4, 1877; Afghan War 1878-80; Candahar 1898;  Bechuanaland 1884-85; Major February 4, 1889; Ashanti Campaign 1895-96; Lieutenant-Colonel; February 4, 1897; Sudan 1898; Hong Kong nlt.1901, Principal Medical Officer, Hong Kong and China; Colonel March 25, 1904; retired August 26, 1905. Honor: DSO November 15, 1898.

HONG KONG nlt.1901. Sanitary Board (vice Henry Herbert Brown, resigned) January 12, 1901

5th s/o James Hughes, of Curragh Priven, Rathcormac, County Cork, Ireland.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, November 19, 1898, p.1593, Naval and Military Medical Services. The Hong Kong government Gazette, January 12, 1901, #12. Staff Medical Officers of the Malta Garrison [internet].

[Proactive research ended October 28, 2013.]

Sparkes, C.S. (1904)

updated November 3, 2013.

RAMC, Major; Anglo Boer War; Hong Kong nlt.1904-net.1906; Lieutenant-Colonel.

HONG KONG nlt.1904. Sanitary Board, Acting Member (Vice William Edward Webb) August 4, 1904; appointed but replaced by Charles Langford Josling on 19 instant; Member (vice C.L. Josling, resigned) April 12, 1906. Last record found ex Hong Kong 1906.

[I've not found the relevant record, but I'm quite convinced that Sparkes was at one time Principal Medical Office, Hong Kong and China.]

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, 1904, August 5, #540, August 19, #577; April 12, 1906, #327

[Proactive research ended November 3, 2013.]

Josling, Charles Langford (1904-1906)

updated November 2, 2013.

b. January 7, 1862, London – d. March 12, 1924, Hastings. Trained at Charing-Cross Hospital; MRCS, LSA 1883; LRCP (Lond.) 1885. Military doctor. AMD, Surgeon 1885; Surgeon Captain. RAMC, Surgeon Captain May 30, 1885; Major May 30, 1897; Hong Kong ntl.1904-net.1906, Acting Principal Medical Officer, Hong Kong and China 1904;  Lieutenant Colonel May 30, 1905; retired May 4, 1910; the Great War, recalled to active service August 1914, Medical Officer In-Charge of Abancourt Hospital 1918. Associated with Junior United Service Club, Charles Street, St. Jame's, London.

HONG KONG nlt.1904. Acting Member, Sanitary Board (vice William Edward Webb) August 16, 1904, and April 15, 1905; (vice C.S. Sparkes) July 30, 1906. Last record found ex Hong Kong 1906.

s/o John James Stephen Josling, Royal Navy Captain, and Louisa Ellen Langford, d/o Edward Langford; m. St. Pancras, Middlesex July 28, 1857. Siblings: 1. Edward Henry Matson Josling, b. November 20, 1860.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, April 12, 1924, p.694. Daniel Morgan's Genealogy Pages › Stanbridge and Related Families [internet]. Gen Forum email posted by Clinton Mann November 19, 2010 [internet]. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, August 19, 1904, #577; April 20, 1905, #226; 1906, August 3, `1906#646). The London Gazette, May 16, 1924, p.3997.

[Proactive research ended November 2, 2013.]

Webb, William Edward (1902)

updated November 2, 2013.

MB; MD. Military doctor. RAMC, Surgeon Captain, Army Medical School, Netley 1894; Colonel May 23, 1902; Assistant Professor, Army Medical School, Netley 1902; Hong Kong 1902, Principal Medical Officer, Hong Kong and China November 1902-05.

HONG KONG 1902. Sanitary Board (vice George Arthur Hughes, resigned) December 27, 1902 – August 1904. President, HKBMA 1904, 1905. Last record found ex Hong Kong 1905.

[There was a Surgeon Major-General Marshall Webb, RAMC, b.1833-d.1899, who was also an Assistant Professor of the Army Medical School in Netley. I wonder how, if, the two Webb(s) were related.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, September 27, 1902, p.1004; June 15, 1904, p.1488; April 1, 1905, p.131. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, January 2, 1903, #3. The London Gazette, July 22, 1902, p.4673.

[Proactive research ended October 28, 2013.]

Fehily, Joseph Patrick (1924-1942, 1945-1951)

updated March 6, 2014.

b.1892, Ballineen, Cork, Ireland. MBChB; BAO, National University of Ireland; FACS; DPH (Belf.). Military doctor. RNMS, Temporary Surgeon December 31, 1915; Hastar Hospital, January 1916. RAMC, Temporary Lieutenant December 4, 1916; Temporary Captain December 4, 1917; The Great War 1917-18; Major 1918. Hong Kong 1924-42, government doctor. England 1943-45, Malayan Planning Unit 1943 [1]. Hong Kong Planning Unit 1944 [2]. Hong Kong 1945-51, government doctor. Retired to Ballineen, Cork, Ireland 1951, address: The Arcade, Ballineen. Honor: King's Silver Jubilee Medal 1935; OBE 1947 [3]; Justice of the Peace, Ballineen [n.d.].

HONG KONG September 4, 1924. Government doctor 1924-42, 1945-51. Medical Officer August 1, 1924. Acting Health Officer of the Port and Inspector of Emigrants (vice Bagenal Harvey Mellon, absence on leave) March 16, 1926 - [n.d.], and January 20, 1931 - [n.d.]. Port Health Officer and Inspector of Emigrants December 19, 1931-EOP. Senior Health Officer, Medical Department January 1, 1940. JP (official) 1927-EOP. Defense Reserve, Key Posts Group January 25, 1940. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, interned with wife Lydia Fehily, Kowloon Hotel 1941-42, released because of his Irish nationality (and since Ireland had declared itself neutral). Escaped to Chungking (Chongqing) 重慶 November 1942, and arrived England 1943. Hong Kong 1945. Acting Director of Medical Services 1945-46. RAMC, Lieutenant-Colonel; Colonel June 24, 1946. Medical Degree Emergency Committee, HKU 1946. Urban Council Acting Chairman, August 1, 1946; Chairman December 3, 1947. Member (official), Legislative Council May 16 - July 25, 1946; August 1, 1946 - January 16, 1947; December 3, 1947 - January 3, 1951. President, St. Patrick's Society of Hong Kong 1947. Retired to Ireland 1951.

s/o Patrick Fehily and Margaret Dineen. Siblings: 1. Thomas Joseph Fehily, b.1885-d. April 13, 1918, bur. Ploegsheert Memorial, Belgium; LMRCPS, DPH; RAMC, Temporary Captain, 2nd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, killed in action in Merville, France. 2. Margaret Fehily, baptized, Enniskeane Parish, Cork and Ross July 6, 1876 (huge age difference between Margaret and Joseph Patrick).
m. Lydia Nicolaivna [possibly Nikolaevna] Pechterewa [possibly Pechtereva] February 9, 1934, St. Joseph's Church, Hong Kong.

[1][2]I'll write some more about the Malayan Planning Unit and its Hong Kong counterpart, soon.
[3] These were the exact words Mark Young 楊慕琦, Governor of Hong Kong, said to Fehily at the presentation of the medal at the Government House on April 5, 1947:

I have it in command from His Majesty the King to present to you the Insignia of an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.
Your long and valuable services as Medical Officer and as Health Officer in this Colony together with the most useful work which you performed as a member of the Hong Kong Planning Unit in London have earned you this distinction on which I cordially congraduate you.

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, January 12, 1946, p.61. The China Mail, April 6, 1947, p.2. The Great War Forum [internet]. Hong Kong Government, Medical Report for the Year 1924. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, March 19, 1926, #148; January 23, 1931, #43; 1932, July 29, 1932, #499; May 6, 1935, #362; July 21, 1936, #641; 1940, January 26, 1940, #105, April 26, 1940, #462; May 2, 1941, #521.
Irish Genealogy [internet]. The London Gazette, January 4, 1916, p.181; December 22, 1916, p.12482. RAMC in the Great War [internet]. Supplement to the London Gazette, February 4, 1918, p.1626; January 23, 1919, p.1179; September 14, 1945, p.4567; August 30, 1946, p.4355. Supplement to the British Medical Journal, January 15, 1916, p.11, Naval and Military Appointments.

[Proactive research ended October 20, 2013.]

Ware, Thomas Walter (1927-1942, 1945-1947)

updated October 30, 2013.

d. August 8, 1890, London - d. February 24, 1956, Sydney. RAMC, Corporal 1910-1913; the Great War. Martyn Memorial Scholarship in clinical pathology 1924, MBChB (Bristol) 1925; DPH (Lond.) 1932. Private practitioner, Trowbridge, Wiltshire 1925. Honorary anesthetist, Royal United Hospitals, Bath ca.1926. Colonial Medical Service 1927. Hong Kong 1927-42, government doctor. England 1943-45, Colonial Office, Hong Kong Planning Unit 1943. Hong Kong 1945-47, government doctor. Retired, 1947. Australia [n.d.].

HONG KONG 1927. Government doctor 1927-40. Medical Office In-Charge, Government Civil Hospital 1929. Acting Port Health Officer and Inspector of Emigrants September 21, 1932, March 24, 1933, (vice Joseph Patrick Fehily, absence on leave) October 4, 1934 - [n.d.] and June 29, 1936 - [n.d.], August 6, 1937 - [n.d.]. Acting Medical Office of Health February 1934, July 11, 1934. Second Port Health Officer and Inspector of Emigrants March 12, 1934. Visiting Health Officer Chinese Hospital and Dispensaries 1936. Shanghai Refugees Committee 1937. Health Officer, East January 21 - October 13, 1939. Acting Member, Town Planning Board (pending the arrival of the Deputy Director of Health Services) July 19, 1939. Acting Deputy Director of Health Services August 1, 1939. Honorary Secretary, HKBMA 1928-30. JP (official) 1932 - EOP; Defense Reserve, Key Post Group January 25, 1940. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, interned 1941-1942; escaped 1942, arrived Calcutta via Macau, Kweilin (Guilin) 桂林, Kungming (Kunming) 昆明, and Chungking (Chongqing) 重慶. England October 1943. Hong Kong August 30, 1945, Lieutenant-Colonel, Civil Affairs Service. Health Officer May 1946. Retired 1947.

m. Muriel Irene Fursdon, 1927, Bristol; b. January 1, 1900, Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset - d.1981; d/o John Angell James Fursdon, b.1859, and Ellen (Nellie) Hall, b.1869. Had issue 1. Anthony G. Ware (Rev.), b.Hong Kong; Bristol Univ.; Methodist Lay Preacher; read theology London Univ.; Canada 1957; England 1961; Head of Science Department, Methodist School; Canada 1975; retired 1999; m. Jacqueline; had issues: five children [s.n.].

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, April 14, 1956, p.868, Obituary. The Heard Family Name Index [internet]. Hong Kong Government, Medical and Sanitary Report for the Year 1936. Hong Kong Government, Report by the Chairman (Mr. W.J. Carie) of the Shanghai Refugees Committee 1937. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, 1932, October 7 (#632); 1933, March 24 (#188); 1934, March 2 (#144), March 16 (#200), July 13 (#532), October 5 (#743); 1936, January 26 (#576); 1937, August 6 (#543); 1939, January 20 (#64), July 21 (#582), August 4 (#628); 1940, January 26 (#105); 1941, May 2 (#521). RTHK › History › Classics Channel [internet]. Supplement to the London Gazette, October 12, 1945, p.5015. The United Church of Canada Maritime Conference 2013, Retirees and Jubilarians of 2013. Ure, Gavin, Governors, Politics and the Colonial Office: Public Policy in Hong Kong 1918-58, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012.

[Proactive research ended October 30, 2013.]

Simson, J.J. (1940)

updated September 27, 2013.

RAMC, Colonel. Hong Kong nlt.1940. Medical Board 1940.

Yarr, Michael Thomas (1887)

Michael Thomas Yarr, by Walter Stoneman, 1919 / Credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

updated August 22, 2013

Ophthalmologist; Major-General, RAMC.

b. October 17, 1862, Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary – d. April 24, 1937, London. French College, Blackrock, Ireland. LRCP, Ireland 1882. LM, Ireland 1882. FRCS, Ireland 1894. AMD, Surgeon Captain January 1886; Surgeon Major January 1898. Hong Kong 1887. Hong Kong Government (seconded from AMD), Acting Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital May 14, 1887 (vice Charles John Wharry, retired) - November 1, 1887 (succeeded by another AMD surgeon, Henry Neville Thompson). Member, Commission to Inquire into the Causes of the Fever Prevailing in the Western District, Hong Kong December 17, 1887. RAMC, African War 1900-1901; Lieutenant-Colonel January 1906; The Great War 1914-1918; Colonel 1915; temporary Surgeon-General 1916; Major-General December 1917; retired 1921. Publications: Manual of Military Ophthalmology, Etc., London: Cassell & Co., 1902. Honor: CB 1915; KCMG 1917; KStJ.

s/o Thomas Yarr, Justice of the Peace, of Rathgar, Dublin.
d.um.

[Yarr was for a time physician to the Crown Prince of Siam, Maha Vajiravudh (later King Rama VI) while seconded for service under the Siamese Government 1895-1900.]

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, November 10, 1900 , p.1376, Hospital Report. The British Journal of Ophthalmology, 1937, pp.333-334, Obituary. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 14, 1887, Notice #196; December 17, 1887, Notice #525. Hong Kong Government, Report of the Colonial Surgeon for the Year 1887. Royal Army Medical Corps Officers of the Malta Garrison › Yarr Michael Thomas [internet].

Vickerman, Philip Sexton (1919)

updated

MBBS (Edin.) 1905; LRC (Lond.) 1908; FRCS (Eng.) 1910. RAMC, Surgeon; Lieutenant-Colonel. Registered to practice Hong Kong December 31, 1919. Honor: OBE. Residence: #12 Humphreys Building, Kowloon 1919.

Selected bibliography: The Hong Kong Government Gazette, December 31, 1919, Notice #599.

Thompson, Henry Neville (1885)

updated August 31, 2013

b. March 15, 1861. Armagh Royal School, Dublin; BA, MB, Bch, Trinity College (Dubl.). Army Medical Department, Surgeon August 1884. Hong Kong 1885. Hong Kong Government, Acting Superintendent, Government Civil Hospital (vice Charles John Wharry, sick leave) 1885, (vice Michael Thomas Yarr, also a AMD surgeon) November 1-17, 1887. RAMC, Major August 2, 1896;  Lieutenant-Colonel August 2, 1904; Colonel November 17, 1913;  Major General December 26, 1917. Surgeon General, 1st Army, British Army in France 21 July 21, 1917. Nile Expedition 1898. African War 1900-1901. The Great War 1914-1918. Honor: Queen's Medal, King's Medal, DSO 1902, Delhi Durbar Medal 1903,  Coronation Medal 1911, CMG 1916, CB 1917, KCMG 1918, Croix de Guerre (France), Distinguished Service Medal (USA), Grande-Oficial Ordem Militar de Avis (Portugal).

s/o Reverend Mungo Neville Thompson,  Rector of Clonmany, Donegal, and Charlotte Blake, of Castlegrove, Co. Galway.

[On his second day working at the Government Civil Hospital, Thompson asked the police to arrest the hospital's ward master, John Roy (32), and his predecessor, Henry Watson (35), for stealing from patients in the hospitals two of whom were in dying conditions. Watson instantaneously fled to Canton where he was later apprehended by a Hong Kong police inspector on November 4. He was charged with four counts of larceny and was sentenced to seven years hard labor. Roy was charged with aiding and abetting Watson, but was discharged by proclamation. It was quite ironic that while Roy was being tried, he himself became the victim of theft. The offenders were Ho Abo, Roy's servant, and Ho Awai, a nurse of the hospital; both were charged with theft.]

Selected bibliography: AngloBoerWar.com [internet]. The China Mail, November 5, 1997, p.3, The Government Civil Hospital Scandal; November 24, 1887, p.3, Two of the Hospital Servants Charged with Theft; December 21, 1887, p.3, The Civil Hospital Case; The Charge against John Roy. Hong Kong Government, Report of the Colonial Surgeon for the Year 1887.

Taylor, Eric Stuart (1920)

updated July 8, 2013

b.1889-d.1977. 2nd Baronet of Kennington July 11, 1917. BS 1913, MD 1919 (Cantab.); MRCS (Eng.); LRCP (Lond.). Captain RAMC, retired. Registered to practice Hong Kong May 7, 1920. Private practitioner, address: Union Building 1921. Honor: OBE 1919. Residence: Hotel Mansions 1920.

s/o Frederick Taylor, 1st Baronet of Kennington, FRCP.
m. Evelyn Therese 1920. Had issue: Richard Laurence Stuart Taylor, b.1925, and Lesley Evelyn Stuart.

Selected bibliography: Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles, Armorial Families : a Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-Armour, Vol. #2, Edinburgh: T.C. &E.C. Jack. / The Hong Kong Government Gazette, May 7, 1920, Notice #266.

Shore, Lewis Rudall (1936-45+)

updated October 10, 2013.

b. February 16, 1889 -d.1950. BA 1911, MA, ChB 1918, MB 1919 (Cantab.); MD (Lond.); MRCS, LRCP 1913; MRCP 1921; DPH 1925. RAMC, Lieutenant January 30, 1914; Captain March 30, 1915.. The Great War, twice wounded. Senior Lecturer, Witwaterstrand University 1927-31. Demonstrator in Anatomy, Cambridge University 1933-36. Hong Kong nlt.1936. Professor of Anatomy 1936-45; Dean, Faculty of Medicine 1939, HKU. Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, interned 1942-45. Honor: Military Cross 1916.

Siblings: T.H.Gostwyck Shore, MD; FRCP.
m. Christina, June 29, 1921; d/o Robert Aitken McCallum, of Putney Hill, merchant.

[Shore's uncle, Lewis Erle Shore, was lecturer in physiology at Cambridge 1896-1933.]

Selected bibliography: The British Medical Journal, December 30, 1961, p.1790, Obituary. Dulwich College (London) Register, 1619-1926, p.385. The Edinburgh Gazette, June 5, 1916, p.1003. Evans , Dafydd Emrys, Constancy of Purpose, Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1987. The London Gazette, February 20, 1914, p.1373. The Official Website of the University of Hong Kong..

Robertson, Robert Cecil (1939-d.1942, HK)

updated

Cheated Death Twice But Not Thrice

Soochow Watergate, by R.C. Robertson, oil on canvas

b. December 16, 1889 Kilmarnock - d. August 4, 1942 Hong Kong; son of a glass merchant; M.B., Ch.B., Glasgow University (1914); Captain (temporary commission), R.A.M.C. during WWI and gained a Military Cross; M.R.C.P., D.P.H. (1919), Edinburgh; F.R.F.P.S. (1920); M.D., Glasgow University (1921); Assistant Pathologist, Shanghai Health Department (1925); Henry Lester Research Institute, Shanghai (1929), Head of Division of Pathology; Commissioner, League of Nations anti-epidemic unit No.2 (1930s); President, Shanghai Medical Society;  Professor and head of Pathology Department, professor of bacteriology and pharmacology, University of Hong Kong (1939-1942), succeeding Professor L.J. Davies; held in internment by the Japanese army after the Battle of Hong Kong in the Bacteriological Institute; said to have took his life by jumping from the roof of the Institute on August 4, 1942; member, British Medical Association (1917-1942); gifted painter and photographer.

Dr. Robrtson cheated death twice in Shanghai. The second time was in August 1937, when KMT army attacked the Japanese flagship in Shanghai and bombs fell disastrously in the International Settlement. Dr. Robertson was officially reported among the 2,000 dead, but his families in Scotland later received a cablegram from him bearing the single word "unharmed". The first incident took place three year earlier and was reported in detail in the British Medical Journal dated March 17, 1934:

All in the Day's Work - Details have now reached this country, through the columns of the Shanghai Times, of the kidnapping and escape from death of Dr. R. Cecil Robertson, head of the division of pathology and bacteriology of the Henry Lester Institute of Medical Research, Shanghai, and a member of the British Medical Association. On January 31st Dr. Robertson left his home in his car for the institute with his chauffeur and the 8-year-old son of his Chinese cook, who was to be vaccinated

Dr. Robertson put up a fierce fight, during which he was twice shot at; appeals for help to Chinese police and bystanders were ignored. Dr. Robertson explained who he was, and his captors appeared surprised and disappointed, but the car continued its course. Resuming the struggle, one of the Chinese was wounded in the hand by his own revolver, the speed of the car slackened, and Dr. Robertson forced open the car door and jumped out, holding the boy. His captors made no further attack upon him, but drove off rapidly and escaped. Dr. Robertson, who is president of the Shanghai Medical Society, owed his life to the failure of a revolver to fire when in contact with his head. He ascribes the incident to an error on the part of the gangsters, who had presumably proposed – to carry off a wealthy Chinese, but mistook the car. He was twice wounded in the war in France, and was awarded the M.C. He went out to Shanghai in 1925, and was at first pathologist to the Shanghai Municipal Council, joining the Henry Lester Institute in 1929.

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].

Pearse, Wilfred William (1901-1926)

updated March 9, 2014.

b. September 16, 1870, Plymouth -d.1927. MB 1893, CM, DPH 1894, MD 1906 [1] (Aber.). Assistant Medical Officer, Shoreditch Infirmary, London 1894. Hong Kong June 1901. RAMC, Hong Kong 1914-17; England January - August, 1918, March - September, 1919; Commander January 1918; final rank, Captain.

HONG KONG June 1901. Government doctor, Assistant Medical Officer of Health August 19, 1901-08; Acting Medical Officer of Health, Sanitary Superintendent and Superintendent of Statistics 1903, March 16, 1905, March 9, 1908, April 28, 1915; Medical Officer of Health (vice Francis William Clark, retired) November 29, 1915; Acting Colonial Veterinary Surgeon (vice Adam Gibson) May 18, 1917, July 12, 1920; Acting Secretary, Food Committee (Vice Adam Gibson) August 30, 1917; retired on pension October 29, 1926. HKCMC lecturer in Chemistry and Physics 1903-05, Public Health 1906-12, Physiology 1901-03; transferred from HKCMC to Faculty of Medicine, HKU 1912 [2], Lecturer in Public Health 1912-21. Hong Kong Volunteer Reserve October 1914. JP (Official) 1902-25. Club: Hong Kong.

s/o William H.P. Pearse (MD, Edin. 1851).

Publications: Plague in Hong Kong, Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1905.

[1] Pearse received his MD with Highest Honor; his thesis was "A Contribution to the Study of Plague".

[2] HKCMC teaches transferred to the staff of the Faculty of Medicine, HKU in 1912 were: Francis William Clark, Charles Forsyth, Arthur C. Franklin, Gregory Paul Jordan, Frederick Theobald Keyt, Wilfred Vincent Miller Koch, Harold MacFarlane, Oswald Marriott and Wilfred William Pearse.

Selected bibliography: Anderson, P.J. (Ed.), Roll of Service in the Great War, 1914-1919, University of Aberdeen, Roll of Graduates. The Hong Kong Government Gazette, September 14, 1901, #497; June 3, 1902, #332; March 17, 1905, #173; March 6, 1908, #133; May 7, 1915, #196, May 25, 1917, #236; August 31, 1917, #388; July 16, 1920, #382. Lucas, Edward Verrall, Who's Who in the Far East, 1906-7. The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, November 25, 1927, p.8.