25 Aug 1945, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

25 Aug 1945, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Date(s) of events described: 
Sat, 25 Aug 1945

Death of Muriel Hassard, the former matron of the Diocesan Boys' School, aged 59.

During the hostilities she had looked after the younger boys with the help of an old boy of the school, P. A. Waller. She and her charges were evacuated from Kowloon on December 11, and some of the  boys were interned with her in Stanley.

 

Readers back home are given re-assuring news of the Japanese Camps as a whole - 'Prison-Camp gates have been thrown open, Tokyo announced last night' - and learn a little about Hong Kong:

In Hongkong the 3,000 British prisoners have been told of the surrender and have agreed to stay put until the Allies arrive. They are allowed to use buses and ferries to go into the city and to nearby Kowloon.

Sources:

Hassard:http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=98-miRI2yAwC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=kan+yuet-keung+hong+kong+war&source=bl&ots=sEOGakAvlC&sig=WmNIBq43ChmoKJ1vQSwj1CIsQ5o&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XdFcU6KpG8rtObjbgcgI&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=kan%20yuet-keung%20hong%20kong%20war&f=false

Report: Daily Express, August 25, 1945, page 1

Notes:

1) The source cited misdates the death to August 26 when Mrs Hassard was buried - see Barbara Anslow's diary for that date.

2) I'm not sure of the source of this report. The general point - prisoners staying put - is accurate, but the estimate of numbers and the claim (which was repeated in a sub-headline) that buses were running should be treated with suspicion.