joseph MACDONALD (aka joe) [1893-1948]

Joseph Macdonald, the brother of Jessie Holland (nee Macdonald), moved to China in the footsteps of his married sister in the late-1930's.

He was a marine engineer who secured employement with Asiatic Petroleum in Canton. He married at the age of 43 in Scotland to Elizabeth Smith, both lived in Canton, Shanghai and Hong Kong for varying periods prior to the Japanese invasion from which they had a narrow escape.

With the Japanese having arrived in Canton and having declared martial law the Macdonalds found that all berths on boats to flee the situation were fully booked.

However, thanks to the enterprise of the office manager of Asiatic Petroleum in Canton, Edward Gammell, they were booked on a small steamer which made it to Hong Kong. There they stayed for some time with the Hollands in Kowloon before managing to sail on to Melbourne via Singapore.

They spoke of the ship twice coming under Japanese fire during its passage to safety. They spent the war years in Adelaide before returning to the UK in November 1946. During their years in Australia Joe was unsure of the fate of his sister Jessie and his brother-in-law Adam Holland; they also may have been unsure of the whereabouts of the young Hollands, Isobel. Alistair and Joan. Alistair was certainly in Kowloon in 1940 on the jurors' list.

Sadly less than 2 years after returning to the UK Joe died following complications after abdominal surgery for ulcers, he was my father's cousin. Joe and Lizzie had no children. Lizzie lived out the rest of her life in Scotland and died in 1980.