HK Island 16 June '46.jpeg

The pillbox on the western arm of the Vehicular Ferry Pier is not visible. I guess the photo was taken before the war.

If you zoom in to look down the road on the left side of Central Fire Station, the building standing immediately behind it is visable and displays bold, black and white, horizontal stripes. It's Central Market (www.gwulo.com/central-market-third-generation). Its construction was completed in 1938, so the photo must have been taken in or after 1938.

Next zoom in on Blake's Pier (www.gwulo.com/blake-pier-hong-kong), the outer end of which faces you near the left edge of the photo. Originally, that end of the pier was a sloping gable, but following war damage, it was removed in 1948. I don't know if the war damage was caused during the Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941 or during the Allied bombing later in the War. The sloping gable shows up clearly in the photo confirming it was taken pre-1948, and probably before the end of the War in 1945.

Moddsey observed above that Pillbox 63 was absent from the photo. Its "place" page (www.gwulo.com/node/2287) gives an approximate construction date of 1939, but it may have been a bit later judging by Rob's remarks at www.gwulo.com/node/19582 that the construction of coastal pillboxes started after the finalization of the 1938 Defence Plan, but those on the south, east and west coasts were constructed first, with those on the north coast completed later, but still prior to the outbreak of war in December 1941.

Based on all the above, I'd say the photo was taken between 1938 and 1941, probably in 1939 or 40. 

Hi Andrew,

Photo albums from around this time usually have a mix of photos taken by the visitor, and postcards / photos they bought as souvenirs. It can make putting an accurate date on a photo a challenge!

Sometimes you can see which type a photo belongs to by the size of the print - usually the set that are from the visitor's camera are all the same size. The professional photos are often a mix of sizes, and may be sharper than the amateur photos due to them having better camera, using a tripod, etc.

Anyway, it's a very interesting set of photos, thank you very much for posting them. I've made a gallery to group them together, and make it easier to step through all the photos. I've currently called it "1946 SHP's photos", but if you can let me know your grandfather's name I'll update it.

Regards, David