Egbert Charles WATSON [1928-????]

Egbert Charles Watson was the son of Gilbert Charles Watson, an engineer in the British mercantile marine who died in October 1937. His mother was Chinese, and she was left to care for and support three sons, the oldest of whom was Egbert. The family was helped financially by a charity based in Ice House Street and by the Harbour Master G. F. Hole, who arranged for the late Mr. Watson's stamp collection to be sold in London for HK$8,000. Most of this sum was invested in property and land and the family lived comfortably until the outbreak of the war. The youngest son, Albert, died in 1940 aged 4.

During the occupation they lost both their houses - one to the Japanese, who demolished it as part of the enlargement of Kai Tak airport, the other to looters who dismantled it and sold the woodwork and timber for firewood. The family were forced to gradulally sell off their possessions, including the mother's jewellery. When this ran out, Mrs. Watson bought second hand clothing and re-sold it at a higher price in the street. She was sometimes forced to take loans from friends.

Mrs. Watson initially registered the entire family as Chinese. This meant they were not able - because of Japanese regulations - to claim any help from the Red Cross when this became available later on. If she had attempted to change this registration, she would have spent time in prison and the whole family would have experienced corporal punishment for deceiving the Gendarmes.

In July 1945 the Japanese authorities resumed the attempt, begun in early 1943, to clear Hong Kong of as many Chinese people as possible. On July 26, while on the way to borrow money from a friend, Egbert and his mother were arrested and taken straight to the deportee camp at North Point because they had no occupation. They were not allowed to return home to gather personal belongings nor to communicate with friends. In the camp they discovered that the other surviving son, George, had suffered the same fate one day earlier, although Egbert was unable to locate him.

Two days later they were put on two junks with about 2,000 others and towed to Nam Tau in Chinese territory. During the voyage they were robbed of everything including outer garments by a gang of fellow deportees. They managed to reach a distant village where they were given food and shelter by an old friend. Mrs. Watson, overcome by grief and hardships, became ill and died three days later. The friend paid the burial expenses and gave Egbert enough money to smuggle himself back into Hong kong - on foot via Shum Chun.

He'd searched for George in the North Point Camp and at Nam Tau and was continuing to look for him in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, on August 28, 1945 - two days before the arrival of the British fleet - when Egbert applied for help from the Red Cross, his brother was still missing. 

Source: Letter and application statement attached to General Letter No. 54/43, 11 June 1943 (copy) sent to Geneva in 1945 in Archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross