John Charter's wartime journal: View pages | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

John Charter's wartime journal: View pages

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27 Nov 1942, John Charter's wartime journal

((More about the meeting to discuss the distribution of bulk IRC rations.)) The next day I wrote a letter to the Chairman, stating that, in spite of all the motions carried at the meeting, I thought there were a great many people people in these blocks who would welcome the use of a communal store in which to deposit their meat and sugar and asked if such a store could still be made available, as I viewed with alarm the possibility of having to store it in our already crowded room some 160 lbs of sugar and 200 lbs of tinned meat.

Stanley Mason came to see me and asked me if I would take the letter around the blocks and see how many people would append their signatures, as he felt the meeting had not been a representative gathering. This was rather more than I had bargained for, but I set off to do so. I had completed 2 ½ of the 24 flats in these blocks when a new BCC notice was put up. In these flats I had visited, more than 80% of the people signed. However, the new notice rendered unnecessary further efforts on my part, for it was a letter or notice from Gimson saying that the previous recommendation of the BCC had been submitted to the Japanese authorities for their approval.

He stated that, as the representative of the HM Government in HK he felt that he was answerable to the Home Government for the way in which these supplies were dealt with and that he must therefore issue them in the manner that would be most beneficial to the health of this community. He had sought medical advice on this point and this had led to the adoption of the scheme outlined in the previous bulletin. Well, that was that.
28 Nov 1942, John Charter's wartime journal

Permission to transfer the food ((i.e. the bulk IRC rations)) from the godown to our own stores was obtained eventually from the Japanese and the day fixed upon was Tuesday 17th Nov. The weather up till then had been beautiful but Tuesday proved to be a cold and rainy day. I had been allowed a shoe repair by the welfare and had my one pair of leather shoes, which would stand repairing, put again into service by the very hard working but very amateur shoe repairers in camp. The leather they are given wears out very quickly, so, except for special occasions I am saving them for ‘der tag’. So on Tuesday, I just had to put on my leaky sand shoes, without socks and slop about with cold wet feet. Yvonne is in the same predicament except that she hasn’t a pair of leather shoes that can be repaired.

9 o’clock was the hour fixed and at the appointed time, crowds of men from the various blocks were lined up in the rain near the godown. The Japanese as usual were about an hour late, however, they did eventually turn up, and that does not always happen! The organisation for the removal of the goods was very good and we were soon like a swarm of busy ants with the packing cases on our backs, rain quite forgotten. First came 20 lb boxes of dried pears wired together in pairs; then big cardboard boxes containing 28 lbs of cocoa; then 30 lb boxes of dried fruit salad, then cases of sultanas (whopping great currants they are too, like a pair of sized grapes).  All this came from, or was the products of South Africa. Next came 100 lb bags of sugar.
30 Nov 1942, John Charter's wartime journal

((More about moving the bulk IRC rations into camp:)) Though these sacks were twice as heavy as the 50 lb boxes of bully beef that followed, they were soft and much easier to carry (across the back of our neck and shoulders) than the cases. We finished up that day with the cases of bully beef and tins of meat and vegetables. Our block store was filled high to the ceiling that night. There was still the tea and surplus parcels to come. However, that night, news went round that Yamashita was in a great rage and had stormed down to see Gimson. Apparently he had allowed two days for the removal of the stuff and on the first day he had stated the fruit, sugar and cocoa were to be removed. Owing however, to the efficient organization of our coolie labour gangs and the willingness of the coolies, we moved out the tinned meat as well (which amounted to about 33 tons! Some 9 of which, came to our blocks).

This mistake (if mistake it can be called) was made in all innocence – in fact gendarme officers were present the whole time and saw the meat being taken. I suppose Yamashita felt he had not been implicitly obeyed and so was all on his dignity. This fear of ‘losing face’ is sometimes useful and sometimes an awful curse in the East. At all events our block stores had to be sealed up and no more stuff was allowed out from the godowns and we were made to wait for one whole week before we were allowed to collect the remainder of the goods. That is typical of Japanese officialdom.

So on Tuesday 24th we removed the remainder of the stores – tea (Indian tea!) and the balance of all parcels. There is still the clothing to be released – that yet remains in the godowns, though samples of all the articles of clothing have now been in view so that we can see what has been sent! Last Thursday permission was given to issue the stuff! Almost 4 weeks after it arrived in camp! All the raisins and dried fruit salad, all the cocoa, 4 lbs of sugar each, 2 x 12 oz and 2 x 8 oz tins of bully beef and 1 x 16 oz tin of meat and vegetables each. The next day the tea was issued, 2 lbs each. We have had an almighty job finding large and suitable tins for the stuff – 8 lbs sugar, 3 lbs cocoa and 4 lbs tea. The dried pears have not yet been issued. It has been simply marvellous to open a tin of bully beef with a clear conscience and not feel you are robbing your own rations. Also, to have a bowl of rich and sweet cocoa at night, instead of our previous wishy washy stuff. The tea will last us for at least a year I think – we have 14 lbs of tea in our room! We periodically open a tin of bully beef and curry it with the morning mince for a community curry; we contribute the tinned meat in turn. One thing we notice immediately is how tasteless is the food we have been eating all these months. Rice, rice, rice! Well, I suppose it has kept us going.

The Japanese have agreed to 2 lbs of sugar and 6 tins of meat per head per month instead of the 3 lbs sugar and 8 tins meat. The BCC has protested and is hoping to have it revised. (The bully beef came from the Argentine: the sugar and parcels from England and the rest from South Africa. None from Australia! How rumours get about!).

On Nov 21st the Married Quarters gave its long deferred concert. Concerts have never been officially sanctioned since our V for Victory effort, but when our bathing season came to an end on October 31st (having been extended from September 30th) Mr Gimson took the opportunity to ask again for the resumption of concerts as a kind of compensation for the cessation of bathing. This request was evidently viewed with sympathy by the Japanese, for though concerts have not been officially sanctioned again, yet we held them and no one interferes. We are not allowed to advertise them on the notice boards, but the news gets around all right. It is rather like the Sino-Japanese war – not officially recognised – apparently another peculiarity of Japanese officialdom!

Anyway, in spite of the production, our concert was really an extremely good show. George Sewell was our more or less self appointed producer and though I have nothing against him personally I must say I consider his methods of production are somewhat haphazard or happy go lucky. His idea was that the concert should be a series of individually produced and presented items, the production of which he proposed to leave to the individual stars. This was all very well up to a point but when he heard he was not proposing to have a complete run through, rehearsing entrances, exits and curtains etc. the large cast began to put its several feet down. Finally we had a full run through on the Saturday morning; had a matinee performance from 2.30 to 4.15 and an evening performance from 6.00 to 7.45. Quite a hectic day in all, and most enjoyable.

Tim was compere and took part in a very good sketch he had written. Yvonne, Elsie and Isa were three of a chorus of eight ravishing beauties in a very Viennese waltz number that Mrs Corra had produced. They all managed to get hold of evening dresses (every one of the eight borrowed!) and I really think it was the prettiest turn I have seen at a Stanley concert.  During the act, Bridget Armstrong and Dorothy Morley (as a boy) danced a Viennese waltz and Azalia Reynolds (Miss Hogwash!) performed a very good solo dance. Harold was property manager and also appeared in a short motoring sketch during Wilcox’s act – music hall impersonations etc. I had produced and took the part of the hero in ‘A little Spanish Tragedy’ with Sheila Mackinley as the heroine and Harry Fantham as the villain. People seemed to enjoy the mime. Fantham had kindly lent me a pair of (newly soled) black shoes and on the polished platform, I had the greatest difficulty in keeping my feet while careering up and down the stairs – which all added to the fun.

Heasman gave a very fine violin solo; the indefatigable Betty Drown, and Miss Bichino played some catchy duets; there was a harmony quartet; four small boys gave vocal and mouthorgan numbers and Nina Valentine sang, ending with the whole cast singing, “Land of Hope and Glory”. Also Dinnie Dodwell, Sheila Mackinlay, Vivienne Blackburn and Joan Critchet danced an attractive ‘Danse Moderne’ arranged and produced by Carol Bateman. George Sewell gave an impersonation of a Chinese singing girl and then recited Kiplings ‘If’. Both well done, but an incongruous mixture. Anyway, it went down pretty well. Everyone in our room took a part except Marjorie and she, bless her heart, the little Cinderella, having seen the afternoon performance, stayed at home in the evening and produced a wonderful supper for us. She made us salmon pie, pineapple and custard and cocoa and we had quite a green room binge. Isa had had a bottle of ‘Sam Shui’ sent in (rice wine) and we all had a sip!

Last Saturday there was a St Andrews Day concert. It was very Scottish with bagpipes, sword dancing, Scottish songs, and a one act Scottish play and it was most enjoyable. The afternoon performances were given for the benefit of those who have to go to the jail at 6.30 and also because the hall cannot accommodate more than about 600 (about 700 get in!).
01 Dec 1942, John Charter's wartime journal

Another month gone. Thank goodness we never knew in February that we should still be here in December, or I think we should have died straight away!
03 Dec 1942, John Charter's wartime journal

Tonight we have been told the black-out restrictions have been lifted and that the men need no longer sleep in gaol. A Japanese Major General has been here today and we wonder if these latest orders are the result of his visit. The imprisoning of civilians by an enemy power is a contravention of the Geneva Pact, though I believe they are quite within their rights to insist on a total blackout. The camp perimeter lights must have been erected, therefore, to prevent escapes and not in order to comply with the Geneva Convention as we thought. The stipulated 3 weeks of imprisonment should have ended last Friday, Nov 27th.

There is a great deal of speculation roused by this order. The news both in the paper and the ‘bamboo wireless’ has been incredibly good for some time now. We know from the paper that the Russians have affected a great pincer movement somewhere N.W. of Stalingrad and the other pretty reliable sources of news gives the number of Germans thus cut off at some 200,000.

We hear also that the French fleet at Toulon has partly come over to our side and partly scuttled itself. (In fact only one submarine escaped to French North Africa and 77 ships and submarines were scuttled.)

We also hear enormous quantities of American arms, ships and men are already on the way to China. In fact we have a feeling that the Japs will have to watch their steps, and that in any case it is only a matter of time now before even their stubborn military leaders will see they haven’t an earthly chance of winning this war.

(I devoutly hope this diary will not be discovered by any Japanese before the end of this war, as I am sure they would object to some of the things I have said! I notice that in the beginning I omitted many things that I might have said, but as time has passed I have grown bolder, or more reckless!).
31 Dec 1942, John Charter's wartime journal

My pen has lain idle for nearly a month. I had intended during this month to write up the period between Dec 8th 1941 and the day which first started this diary: many war anniversaries have been observed during this month; but I regret that this jogging along, camp life existence does not improve or mend my procrastinating ways. However, I must make this entry tonight, during the remaining 1 ½ hours of ‘1942’, and speed up this never to be forgotten year with a sincere prayer of thanks that so far we have come through with health and undimmed hope for the future, but at the same time a heart-felt,
 “Thank God it’s over!”.

It was difficult to wish people a ‘Merry Christmas’ but it will be by no means difficult to wish them a  “Happy New Year”.  In three weeks from today we shall celebrate the anniversary of our arrival in Stanley. It seems incredible. Well, goodbye 1942; I have loved thee not, but no experience in life is wasted and, who knows I may have learnt more during this year than I imagine. All I hope is that it will prove to be the most uncomfortable year of my life! I have before me, a copy of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ and must e’en read a page or two e’er I retire. So perhaps I shall finish 1942 in a better way than I began it.
01 Jan 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

A Happy New Year everybody!

This morning Yvonne and I went on our rounds and wished numerous friends a much happier year than the last. There has been quite a feeling of optimism about all day, for everyone feels that this year will see the end of this war. Even for those who lost dear ones here during the fighting, 1943 will be a happier year than 1942. It has been a great help, in many ways, for those last mentioned people that we have spent a year here in these unnatural and exceptional conditions, for it would have been far more difficult for them to sustain their loss if life had flowed on in its normal channels than it has here, where things are so abnormal and where the majority of people are separated from their husbands and wives. It has given them a year in which to slowly accustom themselves to the idea.
18 Jan 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

I am much behind with the news!

Christmas was somewhat peculiar. No one, except for a few people with children, felt very much like Christmas jollifications of more than a mild nature. The events of the previous Christmas are still stamped too clearly in our minds, and there are many who observed the first sad anniversary of a lost soldier husband, father or brother. But for all the sad memories that this Xmas brought, we did not let the festive season pass un-noticed, nor did we miss the feeling of hope and good cheer that it brings. And it certainly was better than the previous Christmas!

The ‘United Churches’ had produced a Nativity Play, written and produced by Cyril Brown, and the Roman Catholics also presented a Nativity Play produced by Father Murphy. In addition there was a carol concert which Betty Drown had produced and this had been arranged partly to accompany but chiefly to follow a sweet little nativity mime produced by the Sunday school department of the United Churches. The mime really was enchanting.

Christmas Day fell on Friday and the carol concert and children’s mime was due to take place on the preceding Wednesday with the Nativity Play on the Thursday. Unfortunately a woman in the Indian Quarters was rushed off to the camp hospital with diptheria. This was an awful blow, as all public meetings had to be cancelled for a week in case there was infection about. They injected this woman with the one dose of anti-diptheria serum that this camp possessed. It was arrested in time and I understand she is now alright. There was a good deal of alarm and concern in camp that a fatal epidemic should begin, for as I say, the medical officers here have literally nothing with which to fight such an epidemic, though, I understand requests for the necessary inoculation serums have been made repeatedly to the Japanese.

We hear there was a fairly mild ‘dip’ epidemic at the Sham Shui Po Camp, but that even so there were several deaths. Thank God we have so far escaped any serious epidemic in this camp; disease here would spread like lightening in these overcrowded conditions.

The Japs were considerably worried by this one case; they isolated that whole block from the rest of the Indian Quarters (it housed about 120 people) for a week, taking swabs of everyone in the block; they confined the members of this woman’s family (husband and two small children) to their room, having first disinfected the room by spraying. The unfortunate people in this Block B13 (amongst whom was Winnie Deane) were beside themselves with annoyance and boredom. I went to see Winnie and talked across the rope barrier. She said she and her room mates were so fed up they were hardly on speaking terms! Christmas parties and engagements etc. were all upset. But fortunately their period of isolation was brought to an end on Thursday as there have been no positive swabs.

All the nativity plays had to be postponed, but we gave our carol concert (without the mime) in the evening of Xmas Eve on the bowling green. Quite a lot of people turned up to listen and we had flood lighting (of sorts) on us. It went quite well, though the audience, I believe, noticed the cold more than the singers. There were about 56 altogether in the choir, so we made quite a good noise. We sang a few of the well known carols and a number of the lesser well known old English ones like ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ and the ‘Boars Head Carol’ etc. Yvonne, Elsie and I had joined the female and male sections respectively of this choir sometime ago, when we started off with Canterbury Pilgrims. Betty Drown has now embarked upon ‘The Messiah’ by Easter – pretty ambitious but a good idea. I took the Kings Solo in Good King Wenceslaus with Ronnie Whitfield as the page. Dr Mullet sang the Kings part with me at the bowling green, but left me to do it when we gave our programme again outside the hospital on Xmas morning – my first solo in public! The people in hospital much appreciated it I think. Betty Drown composed one very good carol herself, a very good effort.

We had a small tea party on the afternoon of Xmas Eve. Maudie, Mrs Johnson, Vera and Jack Armstrong, Ann Minns, Mrs Corra and Christine and Ray Hughes were our guests. The other members of our room were not keen on inviting anyone to a communal party, but they kindly left us the room for the afternoon. Yvonne produced a very creditable chocolate cake for the occasion.
21 Jan 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

It is exactly one year today (52 weeks and one day) since we arrived in this internment camp! Almost to the minute, 3.30; and on just such a clear and sunny day. What pandemonium and chaos! But more of that presently.

We had been allowed to send a card each and a parcel to the prisoners of war camps in Argyle St and Sham Shui Po. The cards (besides the address) could contain 10 words which had to be printed in block letters, and the message could contain a Christmas greeting and refer to the sender’s state of health - nothing else. We sent our two cards to Capt. Minn and Bunny Browne (my best man). I had made another ash tray, out of a piece of shell case, for Capt. Minn and had cut around the edge “25-12-1942. FBM ARGYLE STREET CAMP”.  It was a circular ashtray with a lip around the edge. Later I made the other one of the pair which we gave to Maudie for a Xmas present. On hers I inscribed 25-12-1942 MAM STANLEY CAMP”.  They may be interesting souveneirs later (if they are not too hidious to use in a civilised room).  At first we thought Bunny was in the regular camp at Sham Shui Po and we had decided to part with our remaining half of a bath towel and a cake of soap.
25 Jan 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

We had brought in one nice big bath towel which we cut in half, keeping one half for future use and making two small towels from the other half. But when we heard Bunny had been given the rank of 1st Lieutenant at the outbreak of hostilities and was in the Argyle St Camp, we decided that he would be much better off for such things than we were, as they have a canteen and regular pay! It seemed rather stingy to send only a card, but really it is rather silly to rob one’s meagre wardrobe and send a precious article that might not be needed at the other end.

The men at Sham Shui Po needed things more, as their pay is much less and most of it is absorbed by what they have to pay back for their food. The HK Volunteers were well catered for as the wives and friends of most of them were in camp and sent them numerous parcels with such home made articles as :- gloves (of the fingerless motoring variety, made from the kahki jerkins sent in by the Red Cross), scarfs, slippers, (all from these useful jerkins). We were not allowed to send food or printed matter of any description and no Red Cross clothing (such as shorts, shirts etc). But I’m afraid the regulars there must have received no Christmas mail or parcels at all as they were known to few of the civilians in this camp, and their wives and families had evacuated to Australia 2 ½ years ago.

We were thrilled to get a card from Barry Deane. He had sent two to Winnie, one with a most romantic sketch of two little people sitting by a moonlit, palm girt sea shore (Winnie says he couldn’t possibly have drawn it himself!) He also sent two cards to other people, as I don’t know how many they were allowed to send.

We had also another very pleasant surprise; this time in the shape of a beautiful Xmas card from Yvonne Ho for Terrance Feltham and ourselves. It arrived on 23rd Dec. It was kind of her, she has been so good to us. She sends parcels to quite a number of people in camp which is generous, as the cost of living must be terribly high.

A lot of cakes came in from the Gloucester Hotel, beautifully iced and decorated, bearing, on the covers of the cardboard boxes, pasted slips with the names of the senders. These were mostly from the prisoners in Argyle Street Camp. They had evidently been allowed to send in orders with the money, but none of them had been allowed to write any note or sign their names.
26 Jan 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

It was a strange thing too that not a single card arrived in this camp from Argyle St Camp. These cards have been a somewhat mixed blessing, those who received them were delighted, but those who did not were upset, not to say anxious. Many wives did not receive cards because their husbands had been taken away to Formosa. The absence of any card from Sham Shui Po was the first intuition that any of them had had of their husband’s removal.

No list of the casualties on the torpedoed ship Lisbon Maru has ever been sent in by the Japanese, though in many cases they have answered enquiries. However, there are many women here who will not know whether their husbands are still alive.

Joan Walkden had a miserable Christmas, poor thing, because the parcel of things she sent to Podge was returned. It was known there had been cholera in the POW camps and she did not know if Podge were dead of an epidemic, whether he had been on the ill fated Lisbon or whether he was safely in Japan. Later, she received a message somehow from the CO of Podge’s unit, saying that he was all right and that by now he hoped Joan had heard directly from Podge. So that cheered her up immensely. She gathers that Podge must have been sent to Japan.

Another large Maru ship sailed past Stanley a few days ago and the rumour has gone round the camp that another 1,000 of our troops have gone. Capt. Minn is still here – news came in. The rumour has it that all prisoners of war are being taken to Japan (not civilian prisoners) as shipping becomes available. Most wives and families are resigning themselves to this possibility and are only praying for safe transit for them (as we all are). It would be too awful if any more ships are sunk by our own allies. Harold (Bidwell) heard the news a week ago that his cousin had been lost on the Lisbon Maru unless by some lucky chance he had been picked up by a junk.

On Christmas morning we looked after Adrian for an hour while Marjorie and Tim went to the first service. Then Y and I met Maudie and we went to the 9.00 a.m. communion service and stayed on to the 10.00 service. All services had to be held in the open air because of the diptheria scare. The communion services had to be symbolical and non-participating for the same reason. The United Churches services were held on the bowling green. It was a pleasant sunny morning with a nip in the air. Jill Beavis had made a charming little ‘manger’ scene with figures of humans and cattle made in clay and coloured and dressed in scraps of material. The open toy shed was thatched with grass etc., really most attractive.

At 11.15 I rushed down to the hospital to take part in the carol singing on the green-sward outside (brown sward would be a more accurate description as everything is now parched and dried up because of the dry season – we have had very few days of rain since about the middle of August). The other people in our room prepared our Christmas lunch and we all sat down and ate it at noon. It was sumptuous. We had brought in our large table from the hall – there was only just room enough for it – dressed it with a sheet, strips of coloured material and green leaves. Isa and the Bidwells (including Mr Lammert) garnished it with some bowls (empty tins!) of nuts and sweets. The menu was as follows:

  1. Oyster or fruit cocktails
  2. Salmon pie with toasted bread crumbs and cheese (prepared by Marjorie)
  3. Stewed meat and vegetables (Red Cross parcels)
  4. Christmas pudding (made by Isa from our communal stores and Isa’s candy peel etc.)
  5. Coffee
  6. Nuts and sweets (Charters & Bidwells)
  7. Wine Chartreur.

It really was a grand meal with just the eight of us present. We all dressed up in our best clothes – Yvonne in her going away frock and I in my one remaining suit. (Unfortunately my new ‘going away’ suit had been looted with the rest of our belongings.)

Many people in our blocks had contributed toward the block Christmas pudding, each giving about 30 cents plus 30 raisins, ¼ lb flour and some pears cut up (raisins and dried pears from the I.R.C. parcels). Everyone was issued with 1 lb flour at Christmas, those having a slice of pudding getting ¾ lb. The puddings were sewn up in empty flour sacks and boiled and they were really good – not as good as our own of course (!) but very good in the circumstances. Isa and Elaine made the pudding for our mess and it really was fine. Altogether we had enough Xmas pudding to last for 4 or 5 meals (fried up) and we certainly enjoyed it. We even put two 10 cent pieces in our own!

In the evening we had another Christmas dinner with the Corra’s and Anne Muir was there too. Poor Anne, Christmas was a pretty rotten time for her. Gordon had been killed on about the 18th or 20th last year and she had no heart for carol concerts, nativity plays etc. - in fact, somewhat naturally, they rather upset her. But she was glad to go out and see people during Christmas and not be left on her own. So we had a very nice party. The Corra’s are awfully kind people and gave us a lovely meal.

We had made three bottles of raisin wine for special occasions. We had one at lunch and took another to the Corra’s party. It really was excellent and fizzed beautifully. It had quite a tang, but needless to say it was hardly of the intoxicating variety. The third bottle we are keeping for our 2nd wedding anniversary – having resigned ourselves to the prospect of spending it as prisoners of war.

The base for the wine was raw rice and sugar in water with about 30 raisins, some slices of lemon, which someone had given us and also some slices of raw ginger which Father Murphy had given me. I went to his room to borrow his black trousers for a concert sketch and he showed me some wine he had ‘put down’ and told me all about the making of it! The third bottle should be good. I got quite tired of corks popping off the bottles during the month or so in which they matured. It wasted the wine as it fizzed over, and I dared not tie the corks down in case the bottles burst. The Corra’s had been thinking and talking a lot about Mr Corra who is in Sham Shui Po. They had heard recently that he was quite fit and well and had been receiving parcels from town.
04 Feb 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Our Second Wedding Anniversary! And both spent in prison camp! Oh well, it is somewhat unique, though not quite what we would choose. Not so unique, however, as being married in a prisoner of war camp – and people still go on getting themselves engaged and married here. I don’t know if I have recorded the fact that Robert Minute and Peggy Sharpe have become engaged: entirely a camp romance. Also, we have heard (from a letter someone received through the IRC) that John Theobald (one of the ushers at our wedding) has got himself either engaged or married to an Admiral’s daughter. Good old Theo, he would.

This morning Yvonne arose and fried some bacon for breakfast as it was a special occasion.  We now have one tin left. It was very good too. When I got up, I found at the end of my bed a beautiful pair of bedroom slippers that Y had made me, bless her. We have had our kahki IRC cardigans transformed into trousers, and the slippers were made from pieces left over and they are beautifully warm - just the thing for this cold weather. The soles have a piece of old blanket on the bottom, then a waterproof  layer from an old punctured hot water bottle, then 3 layers of this woollen kahki material.  I shall wear them a lot and am ever so pleased with them. Y rather stole a march on me and I had nothing to give her. However, I am in the middle of making an electric hot plate at the moment which will greatly add to our material comfort and convenience if it is a success. Y knows all about that, though.

Last night the Corra’s invited us to a wedding anniversary eve dinner. They are a kind pair – any excuse for a binge! We had some of this raisin wine with olives and gherkins (sent in from town), some lovely black mushroom soup, then a delicious stew made with corned beef, onions, peas, and other things of a spicy nature, and bread with it; followed by a blancmange with condensed milk and broken peanuts, rounded off with coffee and cigarettes. I felt so comfortably full after it. Then we played bridge until 10.00 p.m., at which hour we had to return to our own room – one of the camp regulations. Christine had painted a lovely wedding anniversary card.

This morning many people wished us ‘Many Happier Returns’. Mrs Pentreath came with a very nice anniversary card which shows Y and me in a yacht, Y at the tiller with me up the mast indicating land ahead with a large V sign erected. The past years and months are swirling behind in the sea with Feb 4th just ahead and underneath the caption ‘Land in Sight’. But I will stick it in.

Yvonne had made an excellent cake with a kind of caramel marshmallow icing. It was a cake with an exciting history – nearly ruined several times over, but it turned out a great success. So this morning we boiled some coffee and a few of our friends came along to cake and coffee at 10.00 a.m. They were Maudie, Mrs Johnston, Mrs Corra, Winnie Deane and Anne Muir. We had not asked many people, (Buckie for instance) as it is so difficult to arrange large parties, one simply has not the where with all to give them. Christine was teaching and could not come so we sent her a slice of cake. This evening Maudie has asked us to have dinner with her which is grand. I am taking a special bottle of wine with us.

Mrs Johnson has been most extremely kind to us. Yvonne had made herself a very smart pair of khaki slacks out of her four cardigans, and then completed the suit with a snappy little waist-coat from the fifth cardigan she had drawn in the block ‘lucky draw’ for the remaining 120 or so. She had then intended to embark upon a pair of trousers for me, with my four cardigans. These cardigans are all very wide and are made in one piece, seamed up one side only. Consequently when they are unpicked you can cut from them a rectangular piece measuring from about 20” x 40” to 24” x 48”, according to the size of the cardigan. So from 4 of these one can make excellent trousers. They are beautifully warm too. They have proved one of the most useful articles of clothing that came into the camps. It really is quite extraordinary, when one comes to think of it, how many women are wearing trousers – practically all, save the very fat ones, and even some of them! I suppose there aren’t really many fat ones at all. I should say 90% of the people in camp now wear trousers.

Well, Maudie asked Mrs Johnson, who is excellent at dressmaking, if she would help Yvonne to cut out my trousers and Mrs Johnson promptly said she would make them! Mine was the 9th pair she had made! And up till then she had refused to make any for men with wives in camp, so we felt very honoured. I hear she has now cut out her 18th pair! She said Maudie had been so kind to her that she was glad to do something in return, and as she couldn’t make them for her she would make them for me. So I cash in on this. Mrs Johnson finished them in about 4 days and they are awfully well done.
06 Feb 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Maudie Minn’s party for us was most enjoyable. When we arrived she greeted us with the news that she had, that afternoon received a post card from Capt. Minn. She was so excited about it. Three lines had been blacked out by the censor and so far we have not been able to decipher it! But judging by the context it referred to the disposition of his allowance from the Japanese, or rather the balance of it after sending some to Maudie and some to Sophie for parcels. He said he had been able to send one Red Cross card per month to Peggy (his daughter) in England for the past 6 months. Now POW are being allowed to send one card per month to wives or relatives in this camp and he was going to send on alternate months to Peg and Maudie.

That reminds me of an exciting event which happened about a fortnight ago. A batch of letters marked ‘Prisoners of War Post’ and unstamped arrived in camp and amongst them was one for Yvonne from her friend Pat Sennett. Y was very thrilled and so was I, though I have never met Pat. The letter took about 6 ½ months to reach us, but it was the first bit of outside news of a personal kind we have received so far, apart from Ivy Lamberts letter earlier on from Shanghai. Pat writes,

“At last we have some news of you, we have only heard that you are with the Governor’s party. We also heard that John is with you. Your father has been relieved, but I do not know if he is coming home or not.” 

Then news of her family, of her transfer to the East Coast in pursuit of her WRNS duties, and news of a pleasant holiday. If they had not heard of our safety till the end of June, it was a long wait for families. But I believe news in other peoples’ letters mentions March as the month in which they had heard.

Marjorie Fortesque heard from her sister at the same time, and her sister said their mother was worrying her MP friends about food and medical supplies etc! These letters had, apparently been limited to two pages and they have all been very non committal, so evidently when they were told they could write to POW in Hong Kong they were given pretty explicit instructions as to what they could and could not say. Why we were “with the Governor’s Party” goodness knows. Unless it was assumed that the Governor was interned with all the civilian prisoners.

Actually we gather that the Governor, after being kept in Kowloon for some time, was sent to Japan and thence exchanged with other diplomats etc. and sent back to England. It will be interesting to verify these surmises or scraps of news later on. ((In fact Sir Mark Young continued to be held captive in Manchuria until the end of the war and returned to Hong Kong as Governor in 1946.)) I am glad they know Y and I are together. The news of Y’s father was interesting, for if he has been recalled to England, as is quite possible, Chère and David may by now have left Australia for England to join him. It would be grand if they were all together. ((In fact Pop had been posted from Port Said, to Freemantle, Australia, in mid 1942, where he was Base Supply Officer, and Chère and David were able to join him from Sydney after a separation of over 2 years. They then were posted back to England in mid 1943 travelling across the Pacific to the United States, then by train across the continent and in a convoy across the Atlantic, arriving back in Plymouth in November 1943.))

I wonder if Mother and Father are still in Ceylon. I wish a letter from one of the family would get through. There must have been scores of letters which have been written but never got through for one reason or another. Quite often people have heard from a friend, but never a word from their family; and the maddening part is that the friend assuming or knowing the family has written, often says, “You will have heard all about your family directly from them so I won’t bother to repeat any of it.”  This happened to Dinnie Dodwell.

Today we have all received 15 Military Yen from the British Government.
25 Feb 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

To finish the story of our wedding anniversary with Mrs Minn: Marjorie Begden and Mrs Hyde-Lay, the two ladies who met Y at the church and saw everything about her was in order before she set sail up the aisle, Y and I were the guests. It was a very cold day, too cold to have the party on the verandah, so we had it in the small servants’ kitchen in which ‘C’ bungalow now cooks its rice. We could just squeeze ourselves into the room round a small table and literally had to shut the door before the last person could sit down! Maudie had made a lovely meat and veg tart, followed by a Cross and Blackwell plum pudding and custard, coffee, cigarette and sweets. It was very good fun. We wished Capt. Minn had been with us, not to mention of course, our own families.

Since stating we have received MY15 each from the British Govt, we have each received a further MY5, making a total of MY20 each (pdv £225). This has been an absolute Godsend. We hear incidentally, that we shall not have to repay this after the war, which is cheering! This constitutes our second gift from home – the first being all the food.
26 Feb 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

What a mercy it is that the food arrived, for the daily rations supplied by the Japs have fallen off again and we are receiving very small supplies. Fortunately they have maintained the flour ration and each day we receive about 6 to 8 oz of bread with an occasional meat pasty meal. For about the last month, however, we have had fish instead of meat and so have not had pasties, but the extra flour has been issued to us dry and we are able to make pancakes or cakes etc. on our hot plates. Unfortunately I am not a fish fancier and am very tired of this fish already – but that is my misfortune. We get about 2½ - 3 oz of fish per day, this is only enough to cook for one meal; so for lunch we get rice and a spoonful of turnips or cabbage, or a small piece of sweet potato, and in the evening we have rice again, another small portion of vegetable and the fish ration.

Owing to the bread issue and the fact that many people now receive money and or parcels from town, quite a number of people in these blocks, particularly the women, do not eat all their rice and do not collect it at meal times. Consequently, there is now a liberal supply of rice and those who want it can have extra. I eat as much rice as I possibly can, though I do not think it really does me much good beyond a certain limit, except to stave off the pangs of hunger. It makes me shiver when I think of our condition this time last year and I am devoutly thankful that we are in a better plight now. We think with some trepidation of the interim period that must ensue if Hong Kong is recaptured by our allies, when presumably the Japanese will no longer send us food and, apart from the risky procedure of supplying us with food dropped from planes, our allies will be unable to. Apart from the iron rations that each person has decided to keep, there are no food reserves here. It is impossible to build up such a reserve, as there is no suitable store in which goods can be kept dry, and more important, if we did pull in our belts and build up a reserve, the Japanese would say we did not need so much and cut down the rations, (this happened once) so we dare not do it.

Yvonne and I open one tin of bully beef every three days, so we each have 2 oz of meat per day in addition to the supply from the Japs. A 16 oz tin of meat and veg lasts only 2 days, as there is comparatively little meat in a tin. Last week the canteen managed to get in a large supply of pork dripping, enough for ¾ lb per person at MY2.55 per ¾ lb (pdv £28). So we bought 1 ½ lb (pdv £56) between us and an excellent buy it was, for we lack fats of any description. Tim has just poked his head in at the door to say we are each to have MY20 more next Monday, March 1st! If only we knew this was to be a regular allowance it would be so much easier. We have never known, in this camp, when our next windfall was coming or what it was going to be.

The 50 odd Dutch have been receiving MY80 (pdv £900) each per month for about the last 6 months and are able to buy all sorts of things from town. How we envied them! In addition, their quarters are not nearly so crowded as ours, seldom necessitating more than two people in one of the smaller rooms, which in our blocks hold 4, and never more than 4 in our 6 or 7 person rooms. They make an awful hullaballoo whenever a suggestion is made that they should squash up a bit. Perhaps if we were in their comparatively enviable position we should do the same. I must say that the British Community here does take these relative inequalities with the oft vaunted ‘stoicism in adversity’ that is attributed to our race. Also, true to type, we do like to have a hell of a grouse about it at the same time!
27 Feb 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

I will add that through the kind offices of a friend of ours (who shall be, at present nameless) we have been able to obtain MY100 from town. I am still hardly able to believe our luck, and incidentally it shows the faith that many, at any rate, of the more wealthy Chinese have in the ultimate victory of our allies.

Apparently many Chinese are selling their property in town and converting it into cash. Unfortunately for them this cash is either Japanese Yen or the (by now) inflated and more or less valueless Hong Kong Dollars. Many are trying to invest this in gold or precious stones, for presumably both types of currency will be valueless after the war. Others, who know and trust the good faith of Europeans in camp are prepared to issue MY in exchange for an IOU to be made good at the cessation of hostilities. I may add that their rate of exchange is pretty exorbitant – 1 MY = 1 USD.  In other words, 1 MY = 4/6 sterling. So our MY100 will cost us about Sterling 22.10.0 (pdv £1000) unless we are very unlucky and the rate of the pound drops a lot. However, we hear that the pound has been pegged to the gold $ and in any case, however badly we are stung (within reason) it is worth it, for it is so important to keep healthy in this place.
28 Feb 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Last day of another month thank goodness. February has been a good month as far as the weather goes – bright and sunny and invigorating. Today the clouds gathered and we have had a drizzling rain. Usually the fine weather  breaks up somewhere in the middle of February and the monsoon begins to change, bringing with it the awful damp weather; so we have been given two weeks extra fine weather which is something to be thankful for.

We were saddened yesterday by the very sad news that Anne Muir received by cable, via the IRC to say that her only brother had been killed, aged 22, in an accident in England or Scotland. Poor Anne, we do feel most awfully sorry for her. She had lost her father sometime ago and now, during this war, she has lost her husband and brother. She has only her mother left now and is longing to get out of this place and back to her. She certainly has had more than her fair share of bad luck. She is very plucky about it all. One feels so helpless, in these circumstances, to do anything that may help at all.

There has been talk again, and recently, of the Canadians here being repatriated. A ship is supposed to be on the way once more, and this morning numerous people of Canadian nationality, or with Canadian connections and families, have been asked to report at the C.S.O. and give particulars. I gather they have been divided into groups A, B, C, D, and E, though what the differentiation is between the groups, I do not know. I thought of Aunt Bess and Christine, (John’s aunt and first cousin in Canada) but find I haven’t their address, and in any case I couldn’t put their names forward as guarantors. We also hear that a second ship is on the way to take the British women and children and the Norwegians. Whether this is another camp rumour or not, I do not know. There certainly has been a mention of late, in the Japanese paper, of repatriation discussions in progress between Britain and Japan. Anthony Eden is reported to have stated that the internees in Hong Kong are healthy and are being well looked after. This at least will assure our friends at home. I hope, however, it won’t mean we shall be left here indefinitely!

Last Monday (Feb 22nd), 54 Norwegians were interned here. When we first heard they were coming we were quite excited, as we imagined it must mean the Germans had withdrawn from Norway and that the British and American troops must have occupied that country. However, when they arrived we found the reason for their internment had been that two Norwegian HK Volunteers had escaped from Sham Shui Po Camp. Also, a little while before, three Danes (who had been allowed a fair amount of freedom in HK) had been out for a walk in the New Territories and had been spirited away by the guerillas or Chungking agents to Free China! The Japanese stated that it was for their own good that they are being interned. They certainly looked pale and strained compared with the people in camp.

They say that life in town is an awful strain and many people have fallen ill. They had to queue for their issues of rice and flour etc. and were living a very hand to mouth existence. In fact, apart from losing all vestige of freedom by coming in here, they are probably better off now than in town.

They say the news of the Russian front is simply marvellous and this confirms other scraps of news that have found their way into camp recently. About a week ago the Japanese printed in their paper the report of an amazing speech by Goebbles, the German Propaganda  Minister, which seemed to  amount virtually to an appeal to all European states to combine together to stem the advancing tide of Communism which threatens to engulf Europe. The Norwegians said that this report of the speech had been considerably boiled down and that the full speech, a translation of which had been broadcast at midnight on the short wave length from London, had shown it to be nothing more than a cry for help. They seem to think that Germany will crash before next winter. Pray Heaven that this may be so. But generally the war news seems to be very good for us.

To finish the story about the Norwegians; accommodation had to be made for them in the bottom floor of the Dutch block. Up till their arrival this bottom floor had been occupied by about 55 British, while some 56 Dutch occupied the two similar upper floors. When the order came through we of course, said, “Too easy. Squash the Dutch onto one floor and give the 54 Norwegians the other floor!” Nothing doing! The 50 odd British had to be squeezed some how into the other already overcrowded blocks.

There was an article in the paper yesterday which sounded a grave note about the food situation in HK. It stated that HK Territory was greatly over populated as a result of the chaotic policy of the incompetent British Govt, which allowed uncontrolled infiltration of all classes of people from China to the territories of Hong Kong. Of course they omitted to say that this infiltration was caused by the pillage and destruction by the Japanese army just beyond these borders.They have decided to embark upon a further scheme to transport numbers of Chinese over the border and settle them on the land. Poor things; I hope they will have a fair chance. I hope similar scenes to those we witnessed last year in the junks off the Prep School pier will not be re-enacted. Three lorries full of prisoners arrived at the gaol two days ago – I trust this is not a prelude. The Japs issued an order that everyone in HK must be vaccinated before the end of February; we were all done last week. Now we hear everyone has to be inoculated against Cholera.

The Japs have notified the BCC that from March 1st our flour ration will be halved and our rice ration increased by half! So now each person will get 12 oz rice per day and 3 ½ oz of flour. Alas! If it was only the other way round. We have more rice than we can eat already. On Saturday we were given our last full ration of IRC tinned meat – 6 tins each for March. During April we will get three tins each and that is all. The sugar, at 2 lbs each per month, will last until the end of June, I think. The Japanese have stated that the stocks of flour in HK are now exhausted and it is impossible to obtain further supplies. So altogether things don’t look too bright at present. No wonder there is all this talk of repatriation.
06 Mar 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

I must here record that today is the wedding day of Eileen Bliss and Mr Frederick Hall. All day the occupants of the next room, Eileen, Mrs Glanville and Joan Armstrong, have been working away at their preparations for the wedding and the reception. The bridal party has just now left on its way to the ‘church’ i.e. the BCC office (transformed), some 50 yards distant! As Eileen and her father turned the corner I heard the skirl of bagpipes, so I presume Mr Hall is Scottish. Almost immediately afterwards, 3 large Japanese bombers zoomed overhead in arrowhead formation – a bridal salute? I fear me not. Now, for the next 15 minutes or so everything is quite quiet, and then, I doubt not, things in this section of the camp will brighten up considerably. I heard the words, “Bottle of Champagne,” mentioned! How they have come by that I cannot imagine. Well, all good luck to them.

In many ways I cannot help feeling sorry for couples who have been married in this camp and who have had to be content with all the inevitable makeshift arrangements here. I think of our own lovely wedding and thank God we were married when we were and had 10 months together in our own little home before being pitched into this maelstrom. However, from their point of view it will doubtless be just as happy a day! Now the skirl of the pipes again, they are returning – Mr and Mrs Hall, God bless them.

We had been having some fun during the previous few weeks on account of our over crowded room. Our room measures, 18’ x 15’ and next to it is the dining room of the flat (ours is the living room) measuring 12’ 6” x 15’.  A 9’ verandah runs the full length of these two rooms and of course makes a difference, as in dry weather people can sleep on it.

During the first four months of camp there were 12 of us billeted in this room – Jack and Vera Armstrong with Bridgette and John, Harold and Elsie Bidwell, Isa Watson, Tim and Marjorie Fortescue with baby Adrian, Yvonne and myself. In the room next door were five ladies – Mrs Glanville and Joan, Eileen Bliss, Constance Wood and Dinnie Dodwell; on the balcony (for the first week only) were Dr & Mrs Canaval, Mrs Stevens, Irene Hasler and Judy Graves. The Canavals erected the jib sail of a yacht, which they had brought with them, to protect them from the cold winds. When the Japanese guards etc., billeted at first in block 2, moved out after the first week or so, the verandah contingent managed to get a room for the 5 of them in block 2, where they got to work and organised the first baby clinic. Y and I had in the meantime slept in the hall with the Bidwells. The B’s had a 3’ 6” wide mattress and we had a couple of mintois which we just spread on the floor. Jack Armstrong slept on a camp bed in the small pantry. This was inconvenient for the other people in the flat because if they wished to use the hall lavatory at night they had to stumble over the Bidwells and us. Also it was most disturbing for us. Incidentally there was no electricity in those early days.

To be more correct, our party occupied the dining room to start with, but we changed with the 6 or 7 women in the living room, 2 of them finding accommodation in another flat. Then the Japs sent round an order that no halls or pantries must be used for sleeping purposes. So Harold erected the sail (bequeathed by the Canavals) in the corner of the verandah and he and Elsie slept outside. Isa slept outside on the verandah on a camp bed she had managed to bring into camp with her, and the Armstrongs, Fortescues and Charters slept in the room. There was just a gangway where Isa could put her bed when it rained. Really, when we were all in bed on a wet night we completely covered the floor! It was awful.

Some time in May (I expect I have noted the date earlier in this diary) the Kadoorie family – very wealthy Indian Jews – managed to get passages to Shanghai and the Armstrong family quickly moved into their room and just claimed squatters rights! (They have remained there ever since! 4 of them in a 5 person room in block 2!) The difference it made in this room! Now we were 8 instead of 12. All this time we had eaten our meals around the dining room table which we had placed in the hall – there simply wasn’t room for it in our room. The eight of us continued to eat our meals in the hall and we were joined by Mr Lammert who after much wandering had obtained, for his sleeping space, one of the small pantries on the top floor of this block. Mr Lammert is Elsie and Isa’s father. The other people in the flat did not really like us eating in the hall, but they admitted we were very crowded. We also kept our plates and cooking utensils in an ice chest in the small pantry.

Well, one day, sometime early in January, the billeting officer of these blocks, one Captain Taylor of the Mercantile Marine, brought us a note from the camp billeting committee requesting us to move all our goods and chattels from the pantry as it was to be converted into a living room for Mrs Bruce.

Now, Mrs Bruce, up till then , had shared an Amah’s room in this flat with Mrs Joffe and her baby, Elizabeth (the first baby born in camp) and they were finding it too much of a squash. These Amah’s rooms measure 6’ x 9’ 6” and are small for two adults and a baby, but the Fortescues had applied to the billeting committee months ago for such a room, as it is most difficult both for the parents and for the other people in a big room when there is a baby amongst them. It generally means that the parents have to give way to the baby for the sake of peace and quiet when really they should let him bellow at the top of his lungs without paying attention if he is being naughty. And it is certainly trying for other people to have to put up with all the domestic inconveniences attendant upon the upbringing of a baby, especially when it isn’t their own! (I can’t imagine how everyone survived this all in one room!)  Hence the desirability of giving parents with small children or babies a small room to themselves.

So when we heard that we, already overcrowded (this type of room is officially scheduled to hold 6), had to move our things to make room for Mrs Bruce who was moving out of one of these rooms, we proceeded to protest. We moved out our things but at the same time wrote a letter of protest to the billeting committee. We pointed out that (a) we had been in possession of the pantry originally until ordered out by the Japanese authorities, and that this order had never been officially countermanded;(b) the committee had long ago agreed we were overcrowded but had done nothing about relieving our congestion, though, as we had discovered by enquiring, we had applied long before Mrs Bruce. (Our idea was for Isa Watson to sleep in the pantry as there really wasn’t room for her in the room in wet weather. The Bidwell’s had had to move in when the wet weather came). (c) The Fortescue’s would be only too glad to move into an identical Amah’s room (3 of them) from which Mrs Bruce was moving. We sent this letter to the billeting committee and gave Mrs Bruce a copy. Incidentally, we told Mrs Bruce we had nothing against her personally and that it was just a matter of policy and fair play, and I am glad to say we are still good friends.

The committee turned down our appeal so Tim worded another appeal – which was well written and much to the point – and we sent it to the Camp Tribunal. This Tribunal is the final court of appeal in all matters affecting camp life and is composed of three men: Pennefather-Evans (Chief of Police), M. Blake (a solicitor) ((probably D H Blake)) and someone else. Tim was summoned to appear for us and Capt. Taylor appeared for Mrs Bruce. In the end our appeal was upheld as the tribunal considered that the billeting committee should have made a definite ruling concerning pantries and given former occupiers a chance of resuming their occupation. They decided that the Amah’s rooms were too small for 3 but that Mrs Bruce should be found accommodation elsewhere. Mrs Bruce appealed against the decision and the tribunal decided that she should remain for the time being and that our block committee should decide whether or not pantries were to be used as permanent living quarters. In the meantime the Fortescue’s were put down on the list for an early move into one of the six kitchens in block 3. The sinks and the unused boilers in the kitchens were being moved out (the sinks into the small adjoining pantries). This suited us all – including Mrs Bruce who, incidentally has remained undisturbed – and on about February 10th the Fortescue’s moved house.

The remaining 5 of us moved all the furniture out of the room on to the balcony and set about having a magnificent spring clean. We scrubbed the floor (normally a polished floor), washed the windows, brushed the walls and ceiling, not to mention the picture rail. Then for one marvellous week there were only 5 of us in this room and as it was fine weather and Harold elected to move his camp bed onto the balcony, there were only 4 of us sleeping in this room. We had room to move the dining table into our room, thus propitiating the other members of the flat. However, this idyllic state of affairs (for Stanley) was short lived. First the 6 members in the end room asked us if we would change rooms with them as they were 6 in a 5 person room and we were 5 in a 6 person room. It seemed rather mean not to, but we had been so terribly overcrowded for a whole year that we felt we deserved a little relief. Also it meant we should lose the use of the balcony, so we said we regretted we did not wish to move, but one of them could come in here.  However, they said they did not wish to break up their mess, so that was that. Then the Norwegians came in and we had to have another person. (In passing I might note that I have been requested by the Blocks Committee, to draw a typical floor plan of all these ‘Married Quarters’ blocks, for reference purposes and billeting, and that in doing so I measured the end room in question and found it was 18’ 6” x 15’ whereas ours is 18’ 3” x 15’! It had always been taken for granted that ours, being the living room, was the larger. It would really have been funny if we had exchanged and Mrs Graves and Co had found they had no more than before for their things!)

When Eileen Bliss was married it left a vacancy in the next room. Apparently Mrs Glanville suggested to the billeting committee that Isa should move from our room to theirs and that her brother (Mrs G’s) and his wife should then make up the 6 in our room! At all events, Mr and Mrs Humphreys arrived on our doorstep next morning complete with an order from the billeting committee stating that Isa was to move out and them in. We said very firmly, “Very sorry, nothing doing”. Why should Isa be separated from her sister when she had been here one year? We made a counter suggestion that the odd person next door moved in here and Mr and Mrs Humphreys join their sister and neice next door – knowing that for family reasons this idea would not work!

The next day Mr and Mrs Sutherton–Russ arrived with the same story and again we were polite but firm and during the afternoon yet another couple appeared. Harold and I more or less took it in turns to be in the room in case of emergency. Then Harold went to see Roberts of the billeting committee who explained there were 4 married couples to be moved from the Dutch Block for whom accommodation had to be found without separating married couples – hence the idea of moving Isa. However, Roberts agreed it was their policy to unite members of families rather than separate them and agreed to send only one person. Then we tried frantically to think of some single congenial person. We tried several but found they were already fixed up. In the end we asked Mr Lammert if he would like to come and join us. We had felt that, being an oldish man, he would prefer to remain by himself in his pantry. However, he seemed quite to welcome the idea of a change and so, on Saturday 19th, Mr Lammert moved in here. So now we are finally settled.

When he vacated his pantry, Jack Robinson moved into it and Jean screened off the kitchen next to it. This solved several problems for it meant that these two, hitherto living in two different flats in this block, were at last together; Jean had been in Mrs Greaves’ room so their numbers were reduced to the requisite 5 and they were happy. Jack Howell moved into Jack Robinson’s old place in the bachelor room in the flat above; he had been in a four person room with Mr and Mrs Whitley and Harlow ((probably C M Harloe)). As Harlow ate his meals and spent every day with two friends of his in block 3 and slept in the hall in any case, he was given the ‘linen cupboard’ in which to keep his things and moved out of his room. This meant that Mr and Mrs Sutherton–Russ could be moved into the room with the Whitleys. This happened again and again all over the camp and I know for certain that to re-billet the 55 British from the Dutch block more than 200 people had to change about.
30 Mar 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Another month nearly gone. We have heard that quite definitely we are to be repatriated soon – I wonder! I used eagerly to swallow all these delicious rumours but nowadays I have either grown cynical or have found that to over indulge in wishful thinking is merely to bruise one’s tender shoots of blind hope and bring upon oneself a feeling of depression and frustration. On the other hand, of course, the more cautious of these rumours certainly do help to stimulate you and keep you going in this benighted place – how we all detest it!

I remembered to wish Aunt E. ,“Many happy returns of the day” a week ago.  I wonder how she spent her birthday.

((Aunt Ethelwyne, Agnes Charter’s sister, provided a home for John and his sister Betty whilst they were at school in England whilst their parents remained in Ceylon.))

On Friday, 19th March we had a tremendous thrill: we were resting after our lunch when “Bicky” gently pushed open the door and waved a letter at us. It was from Mother and Father, from Ceylon. We had been longing for news of our families and were so excited to get this letter (although it had taken 8 months to arrive) and hear they were alright. I wonder how Betty first heard the news of our safety. I have heard that the BBC at home announced that relatives and friends of internees could receive news of the internees on application to some authority or other – the Foreign Office or the Red Cross I suppose. They must have been worried to get no news for practically 6 months. Betty got news at the end of May. Father cabled the Crowley’s and received replies. I am glad they are in touch with each other. Mother’s and Father’s letters were very non-committal, so I imagine they have been told to stick entirely to personal news. Mother cheerfully writes,  “Let us know when we are allowed to send you money or a parcel.”!  I wish we could.

A week later a letter from Chère arrived, from Australia, dated 26th June (M & F’s was dated 3rd July). We were considerably surprised and delighted to hear that Pop had gone on leave to Australia and that part of the Crowley family was again re-united. Yvonne had had a letter some months ago from a friend of hers in England, briefly informing us that Pop had been transferred, but where to she could not say. A few days later two more letters from Australia arrived, one from Pop and one from David. Chère heard the news of our safety and of Pop’s leave to Australia on the same day – I should think she went almost ‘cuckoo’! I am so glad they are together. David’s letter was a classic and will have to go into the family museum – his first letter to Yvonne. Y was very thrilled, not to say overcome.
15 Apr 1943, John Charter's wartime journal

Two more letters from Australia have arrived; one a fortnight ago from Chère, dated August 5th (quite recent!) telling us that Pop has been stationed or transferred to Perth. Marvellous! Now they can really be with each other for some time. The second letter from Pop arrived a day or two ago. It has taken a long time to arrive as it was written and dispatched a day after his first one. Now I am hoping to hear from Betty and again from Ceylon. I hope they keep on writing and don’t wait till they get a reply, because we are still not allowed to write.

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