Stanley Military Cantonment 1853 | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Stanley Military Cantonment 1853

Stanley Military Cantonment 1853
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Original held at the UK National Archive, their reference: WO 55/2962

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Saturday, August 20, 1853
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When did the military move from this cantonment up to the present fort? Do we know why?

The cantonment was cleared by the 1880s, see https://gwulo.com/comment/49894#comment-49894

We don't have a date for the Fort itself, but many of the items in the area have dates and they're all in the range 1930-1940: https://gwulo.com/map-of-places#16/22.1992/114.2173/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/100

So it wasn't a relocation from one place to another, instead the first site was built in the 1840s as a barracks but soon fell out of use. Then the army returned in the 1930s when they found the Stanley Peninsula was an ideal site for coastal artillery.

By chance, have just found an article in the RAS Journal: "The Story of Stanley Fort", by R. Horsnell (Vol 38) 1998. The current fort was built in 1936-1937, the same year as Stanley Prison, though I think from my research that that is coincidence. Designs were issued by the Directorate of Fortifications and Works in the War Office, and could then be modified in situ.

The road to Stanley Fort was constructed in the 1930s.