19 Sep 1943, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp

Rudolf Zindel visits Stanley, interviews 22 internees and discusses matters with Franklin Gimson. The two main topics are the setting up of Rosary Hill Red Cross Home, which the internees welcome, and the September 24 repatriation of 60 Canadians and 2 Americans from Stanley. Zindel also notes that in September he paid 2,391 British internees M.Y. 25 - but that the recipients are agitating for an increase in this 'pocket allowance' that is not possible given his present funding, even if the Japanese agree.

The London Sunday Express carries (page 7) news of the death of Sir Vandeleur Grayburn, 'who worked all his life in the Far East, who refused to come to wealth and comfort when the Japanese entered the war, and who finally gave his life for his country in a Japanese internment camp'. Much of the article is based on an interview with Arthur Morse, a former Hong Kong banker who'd been sent back to London and acted as the HSBC head during the war.

Grayburn's refusal to leave Hong Kong came earlier - as far as I know he wasn't considering or offered passage on one of the CNAC flights out of Hong Kong after the Japanese attack - and he died in Stanley Prison not the Internment Camp, but the tribute is more deserved than probably even Arthur Morse knew, because, as well as leading a major illegal operation to raise funds for relief and medical work in the camps, Grayburn was an agent of the resistance organisation the British Army Aid Group (code name; Night).

According to Morse, Grayburn refused to retire, sending him to London while 'remaining to face the Japanese' with the Bank's 162 British staff and 'hundreds' of other nationalities.

Morse notes Grayburn was a man of 'great vitality' and the article gives the official cause of death as 'avitaminosis'.

Source:

Zindel: General Letter No. 89/43, 21 October, 1943, Red Cross Archives (Geneva)