British Military Installations Closed Areas | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

British Military Installations Closed Areas

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Submitted by moddsey on Wed, 2010-03-10 04:20

A 1950s list of British Military Installations Closed Areas in Hong Kong can be viewed here:

Updated: http://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/5d0f73f2262d62780dc4e11f90a736d5...

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Submitted by C on Sat, 2010-03-13 08:31.

Thanks moddsey!  It seems that Stonecutters Island is missing from the list.

By the way, besides "British and Indian Armies on the China Coast, 1785-1985", is there any book on the history of the British military presence in Hong Kong?

Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2010-03-13 09:24.

Well spotted about Stonecutters not being on the list.

Stonecutters Island was coverd by its own Ordinance (1889). One of the regulations that made the Island inaccessible to the general public stipulated that:

"No vessel shall anchor or make fast within 100 yards from the shore at low water mark of Stonecutters' Island unless with the written permission of the officer in command of H. M. Regular Troops in the Colony, except such vessels be employed on Naval, Military, Police duty, or except such vessel be compelled by stress or weather to anchor or make fast within such distance."

A useful book reference list can be viewed here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Forces_Overseas_Hong_Kong

 

Submitted by TK on Tue, 2010-03-16 04:47.

Besides what has been mentioned above, there is another book written on RN by Kathleen Harland called "The Royal Navy in Hong Kong since 1841" published by Maritime Books. It is likely out of print but I've seen it coming up on Ebay from time to time.

Over the years, numerous articles on British garrison in HK were featured in British Army Soldier and Ian Allan Armed Forces magazine. I have the issued dates on some of them.  Here's a link to one such article

http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk/flashback/pages/296.pdf

On the net, I came across some amazing pictures and stories of life as a British soldier, sailor & airman stationed in post war HK. Check these out at:

Army

http://www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk/gallerynew/HongKong/hk.htm

http://www.lancs-fusiliers.co.uk/gallerynew/4RRF/4RRF.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdq3S_GmtfA&feature=related

RN- Hong Kong Squadron

http://www.axfordsabode.org.uk/kirkdet.htm

Army Air Corps & RAF

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25868801@N08/

Enjoy

Submitted by isdl on Wed, 2010-03-17 09:53.

hi there,

Annotated Bibliographies:

Military - An Annotaed Bibliography of Hong Kong History; 2001; 962 04 1649 X
Annotated Bibliography - Not the Slightest Chance; 2003; 962 209 615 8

Most regiments & corps were here:

A Bibliography of Regimental Histories of the British Army; 1992; 1 897632 25 8
Armies of the Crown: The Bibliography of Their Regimental Histories
Great Britain the Empire and the Commonwealth; 0 9506423 3 2

Another book by Alan Harfield:  British and Indian Armies on the East Indies 1685-1935; 1984; 0 902633 95 3

enjoy,

isdl

Submitted by David on Tue, 2010-03-23 22:54.

Does anyone know how to translate a map reference from the 1950s list that Moddsey provided to the current map coordinates?

eg the reference for The Bowen Road Hospital is 553976. On the current Countryside Series map its reference is approximately 077659.

I'm interested to look up the NT locations on the list to see if any of them match the trenches we saw at Ki Lun Shan.

Regards, David

Submitted by tngan on Wed, 2010-03-24 00:46.

Hi there,

I think the best is to have the two versions of maps of the same area side by side for comparison.  I guess our visual sensor is smart enough for this kind of hands-on.

Anyway, I googled a bit and found this:

http://mapanalyst.cartography.ch/download.html

Have fun.

Best Regards,

T

 

Submitted by David on Sat, 2010-04-03 18:12.

Moddsey, The original link above isn't working today - I'm not sure if it's a temporary problem over the Easter holidays, or if the link only works for a short time. Please can you remember which search you used to find it, and I'll try again.

T, agreed, manual matching is probably just as quick. Mapping Hong Kong has a few maps that use the old coordinates, eg plate 2-13 of HK Island and part of Kowloon.

Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2010-04-03 20:30.

Can't help you right now as the link has mysteriously gone. One of the reasons for posting the previous link was to to show gwulo that perhaps not all the military structures on the hills in the NT was not perhaps Japanese after all.

Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2010-04-03 23:14.

Took me awhile to figure this one out.

Here is the link again:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:AEzdpmP_Q2QJ:xml.lib.hku.hk/gs...

Submitted by Mark Huang on Fri, 2010-09-24 18:35.

Wonder if anyone has photos or memories of what was 33rd General Hospital, which was located in the La Salle College school grounds between 1949 to 1959?

We have some photos of the time, contributed by someone who worked in the facility at the time here but any additional photos or recollections of the facility would be very welcome.
http://www.lscoba.com/photo.html?g2_itemId=8449

 

Submitted by moddsey on Sat, 2014-01-04 11:28.

Scenes of life in the British Army in Hong Kong from the 1950s can be viewed here

Submitted by David on Mon, 2016-01-25 15:29.

This list has moved again, and can now be found at:

http://oelawhk.lib.hku.hk/archive/files/5d0f73f2262d62780dc4e11f90a736d5...

If the link doesn't work in future, I found it by visiting HKUL> HKUL Digital Initiatives> Historial Laws of Hong Kong Online and searching for closed areas, and looking for the result dated 1950.

I've posted a text copy of the document to: http://gwulo.com/node/30494

Submitted by Bails on Tue, 2016-02-16 15:29.

On the subject of the old Hospital building - I am intrigued to know what the terms of it's existence and survival are? It has been the home of many schools and organisations as we know - ranging from Island School in the 1960's to Carmel School and the Pre-School's Playgroup. Some of these arrangements are temporary and many are permanent.  I just wondered if anyone can shed light on to whom rent is paid, how are these terms negotiated?

Intriguiing!