St. Barbara's Garrison Church - Stanley Fort [1930- ]

I cannot give you an exact date for the opening of St. Barbara’s Church, but I reckon 1930 is pretty close to the mark. St. Barbara is the patron saint of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and Stanley Fort was completed at that time as a Gunner Fort.

There used to be a plaque dedicated to all the members of the Royal Artillery who lost their lives during the 1941 battle for Hong Kong, or as POWs during the subsequent occupation, located in the church.

Before the 1997 handover of the Colony it was decided that the P.L.A., as the new occupants of Stanley Fort, would not want the plaque in whatever the church would become, so it was moved to St. Stephen’s College Chapel in the College campus, where it is still located.

One of the names on the plaque is Gunner Flanders, and above his name is the inscription “killed in this church.” The latter, of course, refers to St. Barbara’s Church. What the plaque doesn’t tell you is that at one point during the fighting in Dec 1941, Flanders was in charge of a card school in the church with some of his mates. Presumably the padre was tending his flock manning the guns at the time!

Flanders bent down to pick up his winnings at one stage, whereupon he was decapitated by a Japanese shell which exploded right outside the church at that precise moment.

Those of a religious disposition might be tempted to call that divine retribution!

The British Tommy takes his pleasure where he can - always has, always will! Gunner Flanders and his mates obviously knew that the safest place for a card school when the Padre was busy elsewhere would be the Garrison Church - even Padres cannot be in 2 places at the same time!

The story, incidentally, was recounted to me by a Royal Artillery trumpeter whom I met through Tony Banham. He served throughout the 1941 battle at Stanley Fort in one of the plotting rooms. (The trumpeter, not Tony). He was taken prisoner and survived the famous Lisbon Maru sinking. Some years ago I had the honour and pleasure of taking him back to Stanley and we were able to visit the Fort, including the plotting room where he served, and Stanley Cemetery where Gunner Flanders is buried.

The gentleman, who went on to serve in the British Army until about 1971 before retiring as a Warrant Officer, had never seen his old chum Flanders’s grave before, so that was an emotional moment.

The old soldier died only recently.

Freddie, you asked if the two churches are related. They are certainly connected as they were both British Army churches, but I don't know if they were both in use at the same time, or if one replaced the other.

A google search for st barbara's garrison church shows there are plenty more of them around the world, in different places where the British Army were based.

St Barbara is the patron saint of artillerymen, armourers, military engineers, miners, tunellers etc. Thus the connection with the Royal Garrison Artillery and other artillery regiments.