Forgotten Souls
Forgotten Souls: A Social History of the Hong Kong Cemetery
PATRICIA LIM
Series: Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Studies Series
Copyright Date: 2011
Published by: Hong Kong University Press
Pages: 624
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1xwg6f
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Book Info
Forgotten Souls
Book Description:

This book follows on from the mapping and recording of the about 10,000 graves that make up the Hong Kong Cemetery for a database which will be held in the archives of the Hong Kong Memory Project and the Royal Asiatic Society among other places. The silent tombs and elegantly carved inscriptions dating from 1842 up to the present day aroused curiosity in the author about who these long-buried people were and how they lived their lives. Lim has teased out from many sources the answers to these questions. This small, alien and rather disparate band of adventurers came from a number of far distant countries to live and work in the tiny and insignificant British foothold of Hong Kong on the edge of a huge and little understood empire. The book tries to show their relationships with each other and with their Chinese neighbours on the island. It has attempted to breathe life into the stories behind the gravestones so that the Hong Kong Cemetery can be viewed as a cradle of history as well as a final resting place for the dead.

eISBN: 978-988-8053-74-2
Subjects: History
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. Foreword
    Foreword (pp. ix-x)
    Robert Nield

    The first thing to say about this book is that it is long overdue. That is by no means meant to be a negative reflection on the author. On the contrary, she is to be congratulated for filling so well such a large gap in our historical knowledge of some of the people who contributed to the early success of Hong Kong. So many of those people, leaders of the community as well as the virtually unknown, were laid to rest in the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley that, taken together, they almost amount to a social history of...

  4. Preface
    Preface (pp. xi-xii)
  5. Introduction: The Hong Kong Cemetery, Its Position and History
    Introduction: The Hong Kong Cemetery, Its Position and History (pp. 1-28)

    In the midst of the concrete sky-scrapers that line the noisy bustling streets of Hong Kong lies an unexpected oasis of peace and quiet. This hallowed ground is arranged in a series of terraces cut into the thick, tree-clad undergrowth that scales the slopes of the hill. The Hong Kong Cemetery contains the main source material for this book. The Cemetery overlooks the Happy Valley racecourse to the front and at the back is bounded by the skyscrapers of Stubbs Road. This area contains a small ecosystem that has changed little over 150 years. It is a safe haven for...

  6. Section I: An Introduction to Early Hong Kong
    • Chapter 1 The Early Settlers, the First Opium War and Its Aftermath
      Chapter 1 The Early Settlers, the First Opium War and Its Aftermath (pp. 30-58)

      Death and life, the theme of this book, is a reversal of the usual order because the book begins with death, the tombstone and then looks backwards in order to breathe life back into the faded and forgotten names that are so difficult to decipher on the old grey granite stones. It attempts to shed light on the lives of these men, women and children who people the terraces of the vast Hong Kong Cemetery. It aims to put them back into the surroundings they were familiar with and among the friends they spent time with. It looks further back...

    • Chapter 2 Events Affecting Hong Kong as They Involved the Lives of People Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery
      Chapter 2 Events Affecting Hong Kong as They Involved the Lives of People Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery (pp. 59-72)

      For a short time after the Treaty of Nanking, the colony flourished, but by the late 1840s it looked for a time as if Hong Kong might cease to exist. Its fearsome reputation for ill health had spread and few expatriates were willing to put their lives at risk by settling and investing in the colony. The wave of robberies and piracies had added further worries. The hoped-for higher class of Chinese merchants had not materialized to any substantial degree, probably frightened away by Hong Kong’s reputation for being anti-Chinese and the rough justice meted out to the Chinese by...

    • Chapter 3 How Early Hong Kong Society Arranged Itself
      Chapter 3 How Early Hong Kong Society Arranged Itself (pp. 73-90)

      So as to make sense of the society as it manifests itself in the Hong Kong Cemetery, it is necessary to have a clear idea of how the men and women who made up the early society judged themselves and others and allotted ranks and degrees. The ordering of society in early Hong Kong proceeded on two levels, the formal and informal. The two levels proceeded side by side, categorizing and fixing the inhabitants’ position in ‘That appointed chain, /Which when in cohesion it unites, order to order, rank to rank, /In mutual benefit, /So binding heart to heart’.¹ When...

  7. Section II: The Early Denizens of the Hong Kong Cemetery, 1845–1860
    • Chapter 4 Merchants, Clerks and Bankers
      Chapter 4 Merchants, Clerks and Bankers (pp. 92-112)

      Who were the different groups of people who made up the cliques and coteries of this colony? How did they live and how did the groups differentiate themselves from each other? These are the questions that will be addressed in the following chapters. Table 1 sums up the occupations, of the 332 civilian denizens of the Hong Kong Cemetery from this period whose occupations are known. Table 2 shows how 157 military personnel found in the Cemetery during that period were divided among the services.

      It has been impossible to place another thirty-three civilians in categories since nothing has been...

    • Chapter 5 Servants of the Crown
      Chapter 5 Servants of the Crown (pp. 113-142)

      The civil service in this period (1845–60) has been divided into four rather arbitrary categories which range through the ranks of local society from the governor at the head of the pyramid down to the police constables and gaolers at the bottom, who were so poor that they could not afford a gravestone. The top group includes heads of departments and their deputies and the consular service who considered themselves to be part of Hong Kong’s elite. The second group consists of the clerks who worked under the heads of departments. The third group is made up of the...

    • Chapter 6 Professionals
      Chapter 6 Professionals (pp. 143-157)

      Doctors, lawyers, architects and newspaper editors are included in this group. All four professions while continuing to practise privately at this date, moved into and out of government service as needed. The conflicts of interests that arose from this anomaly underlay some of the scandals that rocked the colony in the later years of this period. For example as mentioned earlier, Dr. W.T. Bridges, a barrister, was in his private capacity representing the Chinese opium farmer in an enquiry into malpractices at the same time that he was acting as colonial secretary. At this period, professionals did not enjoy high...

    • Chapter 7 The Merchant Navy
      Chapter 7 The Merchant Navy (pp. 158-182)

      No less than seventy-two officers of merchant navy vessels and ten of their wives and fifteen of their children who died in this period are buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery, bringing the total to ninety-seven souls. A little under half of the civilians buried in the early period, whose occupations are known, served with the merchant navy. Of the seventy-two officers, twenty worked for the P. & O., thirty-one are described on their headstones as masters or captains of their vessels or as master mariners, fourteen as officers of the ships and seven as engineers. The ninety-seven men, women...

    • Chapter 8 Tradesmen, Artisans and Small-Scale Businessmen
      Chapter 8 Tradesmen, Artisans and Small-Scale Businessmen (pp. 183-210)

      From the very early beginnings of Hong Kong, adventurers and others who stopped off on the island attempted to seize the opportunity to make money and establish businesses. Those who happened to reach such a distant island were on the whole tough and in some cases unscrupulous men. Many had a sea-faring background. Hong Kong was from the start international with a strong element of Scottish and Irish adventurers. Americans, Germans, French, Scandinavians and even a Pole, to say nothing of Parsees, Jews and Arabs, were to be found running businesses with very mixed fortunes. This is the first group...

    • Chapter 9 Beachcombers and Destitutes
      Chapter 9 Beachcombers and Destitutes (pp. 211-213)

      By 1846, some kind of action was felt necessary to provide a minimum of support for this class of underdog, and the Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick was founded:

      Here as is usual elsewhere, there is a portion of the inhabitants who have come to the colony in the hopes of bettering their fortunes. It may be that their own imprudence has been the chief cause of their want of success in the onward struggle of life, but that matters not. It is among this class — destitute, too often dissipated, and sometimes without even the necessaries of...

    • Chapter 10 Missionaries
      Chapter 10 Missionaries (pp. 214-234)

      In this first period one cannot help but wonder at the missionary fervour that led men to bring their wives and children to China, sacrificing their lives on the altar of their missions with a seeming lack of concern which to us appears irresponsible. Three groups of missionaries stand out in the early years of the colony as being of particular significance. They are the London Missionary Society which under Rev. James Legge founded the English Nonconformist Union Church, the American missionaries, and Karl Gutzlaff’s Christian Mission which led to the arrival in Hong Kong of the Basel Mission, the...

    • Chapter 11 The Americans
      Chapter 11 The Americans (pp. 235-241)

      A surprising number of sailors from the U.S. Navy were buried in the Cemetery during these early years, many being members of the largest American fleet ever assembled up to that time. Of the four earliest sailors, who were all from the U.S. Navy steam ship Constellation, three died on the same day, 14 September 1842. The most senior was Lieutenant Lewin Handy [11A/5/10] who was twenty-nine years old. The other two were G.W. York [11A/10/2] of Bangor, Maine and E.J. Hume [11A/8/1]. It would be interesting to know whether these three deaths had some related cause. The fourth...

    • Chapter 12 The Armed Forces
      Chapter 12 The Armed Forces (pp. 242-268)

      In the Hong Kong Cemetery, five monuments to particular regiments date from this early period and fourteen headstones commemorate individual officers or sergeants who died then. Two of the most moving monuments in the whole of the Hong Kong Cemetery bring home the plight of the common soldiers who garrisoned the island. They commemorate the unfortunate men of the 95th and the 59th Regiments. The memorial to the soldiers of the 95th Regiment [20/19/2] is a stark reminder of the high levels of sickness and death. In the four months from June to September 1848, fever (or malaria as it...

    • Chapter 13 Women and Children
      Chapter 13 Women and Children (pp. 269-285)

      The average age of death of the fifty-four women, including the four army wives, found in the Cemetery for this period is just over thirty-one years. Twenty of the fifty-four died in their twenties, four were under forty, and six died between the ages of forty and fifty-seven, the fifty-seven-year-old being Sarah Murphy [9/8/13], the tough wife of a colour sergeant. The pattern of young deaths points to the vulnerability of women living in Hong Kong, whatever their social ranking. This was demonstrated to all in 1852 when Bishop Smith preached the Sunday sermon on the uncertainty of life.¹ Three...

    • Chapter 14 The Chinese and Their Position in Relation to the Europeans
      Chapter 14 The Chinese and Their Position in Relation to the Europeans (pp. 286-296)

      When in 1840, Dr. William Jardine was leaving China, at his farewell dinner he praised the Chinese and their country in the following words:

      Here we find our persons more efficiently protected by laws than in many other parts of the East, or of the world; in China, a foreigner can go to sleep with his windows open without being in dread of either his life or property, which are well-guarded by a most watchful and excellent police; … Business is conducted with unexampled facility and in general with singular good faith; …. Neither would I omit the general courtesy...

  8. Section III: Years of Consolidation, 1861–1875
    • Chapter 15 Victoria City and Its European Inhabitants
      Chapter 15 Victoria City and Its European Inhabitants (pp. 298-320)

      In the previous section, only those who died within the specified dates have been included. In this section, those who lived and made their mark in Hong Kong between the years 1861 to 1875 have been included, even if they died outside the period. Too many headstones exist in the Cemetery from these years for as many of the denizens to be introduced to the reader as was attempted in the first period. Only those names that are well known or useful as evidence in particular cases will be included. The figures for this period of people buried in the...

    • Chapter 16 Hong Kong Society in This Period
      Chapter 16 Hong Kong Society in This Period (pp. 321-348)

      By the 1870s, there had been some attempts to ‘form combinations for the purpose of affording amusement of an intellectual and refined nature’. The Daily Press wrote with enthusiasm about the delightful choral concerts, the amateur theatrical performances, the establishment of a croquet club and the rumoured revival of the Debating Society. The Royal Italian Opera was giving concerts in Macau and Hong Kong around 1866–67 and proving very popular. Madame Bouche, the soprano who played Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, ‘was as usual hailed with rapturous applause when she appeared’. Edward Marsden Martin [38/6/1] from New York, the...

    • Chapter 17 Hong Kong Becomes Cosmopolitan
      Chapter 17 Hong Kong Becomes Cosmopolitan (pp. 349-363)

      The British no longer had the monopoly of influence in China. The French, German, Russian and American nationals were taking advantage of the weakness of the Chinese Empire to set up their own concessionary areas and trading outposts in various treaty ports. Hong Kong no longer occupied the premier position on the China Coast. Other treaty ports were growing in importance with Shanghai rapidly outstripping Hong Kong in wealth and power. With the appointment of Sir Frederick Elgin as consular representative in Peking, the governor of Hong Kong lost his remaining influence over events in the treaty ports. By 1865,...

    • Chapter 18 Government Measures and Their Effect on Society
      Chapter 18 Government Measures and Their Effect on Society (pp. 364-388)

      As a direct result of the difficulties of the previous governors and the perceived quarrelsome nature of the Hong Kong civil servants, it was decided that Hong Kong needed a strong governor with wide powers and the backing of the colonial office. The governor was seen as the strong arm through which colonial office administered the Crown colony. An able, energetic, ambitious governor who was looking for speedy promotion up the ladder of governorships was needed. One such was Sir Hercules Robinson. When Sir Hercules obtained permission from the home authorities to build a mint in Hong Kong while on...

    • Chapter 19 Changes Taking Place outside the Government
      Chapter 19 Changes Taking Place outside the Government (pp. 389-416)

      By this time fewer professionals died in Hong Kong. Lawyers and doctors were well paid and could afford to take a ship to Britain. But by now some professionals also saw Hong Kong as their home and not just a temporary place of residence. Among them particular mention must be made of three lawyers, Francis Innes Hazeland, whose wife, Margaretta [13/3/9], and son, John Innes Hazeland [12/5/9], are to be found in the Hong Kong Cemetery, and John Joseph Francis. These two followed in the footsteps of that indomitable survivor William Gaskell [16Cii/7/14], mentioned earlier, who was one of the...

  9. Section IV: The Turn of the Century, 1876–1918
    • Chapter 20 Age of Empire
      Chapter 20 Age of Empire (pp. 418-441)

      This next section of the book takes the reader by a much less detailed path through the last twenty-four years of the nineteenth century and the first eighteen years of the twentieth century. In this part, the concentration is on the Cemetery rather than the social history. The next chapter gives an idea of the kind of disasters that the people in Hong Kong had to cope with and the one after deals with the lives of those people who are buried in Section 23, the section set aside for residents who survived over twenty-three years in Hong Kong. Subsequent...

    • Chapter 21 The Disasters of These Years
      Chapter 21 The Disasters of These Years (pp. 442-451)

      Three disasters, plague, typhoon and fire, shattered the peace of Hong Kong society during these years and added to the number of graves in the Hong Kong Cemetery. The typhoon of 1906 was one of the fiercest manifestations of the pure force of nature that Hong Kong had yet endured. And it had endured many.

      The plague, or black death as it was called in medieval Europe, arrived in Hong Kong from Canton in 1894. It raged for the three summer months, killing at least 2,500 people and driving out 100,000 others, who fled in terror, spreading the infection wherever...

    • Chapter 22 The Old Residents Section in the Hong Kong Cemetery
      Chapter 22 The Old Residents Section in the Hong Kong Cemetery (pp. 452-474)

      Section 23 of the Cemetery is devoted to the new type of settler, the old-timer. Hong Kong was by reputation a small, unloved and distant island where men came to make money and left as soon as they had gained their competency. Those who stayed were mostly the underdogs who could not afford to go ‘home’, wherever that was. By the 1890s, this was changing and one special section of the Cemetery was kept for those who had passed at least twenty-three years in Hong Kong and then died in their adopted home. In this section there are 138 headstones,...

    • Chapter 23 Industry at the Turn of the Century
      Chapter 23 Industry at the Turn of the Century (pp. 475-482)

      The story of Ernest Deacon [23/4/9] may serve as an introduction to the changes that were taking place in the kind of business transacted by the merchants of the China Coast. It also shows how a family with money earned in the Far East could then climb from relatively humble origins to the heights of squiredom and respectability. Deacon’s grandfather had been a coachman and owner of a line of horse-drawn carriages that ran between Wiltshire and Newcastle stopping at inns en route to drop passengers off, change horses or rest for the night. His son, James, set up as...

    • Chapter 24 The History of the Freemasons in Hong Kong
      Chapter 24 The History of the Freemasons in Hong Kong (pp. 483-494)

      The Freemason symbol of set square and dividers is found throughout the Cemetery from the earliest graves right through to the present century. About eighty headstones in the Cemetery are adorned with the Freemason symbol and furthermore a large number of the men buried in the Cemetery were masons but did not choose to proclaim the fact on their headstones. It therefore seems appropriate to outline the history and influence of the movement in Hong Kong. The first recorded activity of the Freemasons was in April 1845, only three years after the island was formally ceded to Britain. By June...

    • Chapter 25 The Chinese Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery
      Chapter 25 The Chinese Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery (pp. 495-511)

      The Chinese represent a small but especially important minority group in this Cemetery. It is tantalizing and sad that so few could be identified but, among those who were are some significant names. Between the dates of 1891, when the first Chinese as far as can be ascertained was buried in the Cemetery, and 1970, when this study ends, approximately 197 Chinese found their permanent resting place in the grounds. These include 71 men, 96 women and 30 children. Besides these are a small group of eight mysterious marker stones, some of which are painted white and used to mark...

    • Chapter 26 The Eurasians
      Chapter 26 The Eurasians (pp. 512-521)

      During the first three decades of British rule, the Eurasian minority, almost all of whom were born to Chinese mothers and European fathers, fell through the cracks that separated the races. They were for the most part brought up by the mothers’ family and disappeared into the Chinese population. Almost nothing was done for such children, although the need for some kind of action was occasionally recognized. In 1850, Rev. Moncrieff, tutor of St. Paul’s College, called for the education of Eurasian children, while at the same time calling them ‘A much neglected, but promising class, the offspring of sin’.¹...

    • Chapter 27 Other Nationalities: The Japanese and Russians Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery
      Chapter 27 Other Nationalities: The Japanese and Russians Buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery (pp. 522-530)

      It may come as a surprise that the number of Japanese graves in the Hong Kong Cemetery is approximately 465, compared to the Chinese graves which number about 197. The Japanese have a long history in Hong Kong. As early as 1845, Japanese were recorded living there, mostly the survivors of shipwrecks. Japanese sailors were not able to return to Japan due to the Sakoku policy adopted by the Tokugawa shoguns. It was feared that returnees would contaminate Japanese society with un-Japanese ideas and beliefs such as Christianity and foment dissension if allowed back into the country.

      Adonia Rickomartz was...

    • Chapter 28 The Second World War and Its Aftermath
      Chapter 28 The Second World War and Its Aftermath (pp. 531-542)

      This last chapter tells the stories of the Second World War that cannot be left out of a history of the Hong Kong Cemetery. The war ushered in years of turmoil and suffering for Hong Kong and a little of this can be deduced from the Cemetery registers. One hundred and thirteen soldiers, forty-six of whom are entered as unknown, were buried over the weeks of fighting when the Japanese invaded in December 1941. Conditions were such that none of them could be given a funeral service. All these soldiers were exhumed in October 1947 and taken to the Saiwan...

  10. Appendices:
    • 1. Time Line of Hong Kong History
      1. Time Line of Hong Kong History (pp. 543-545)
    • 2. Sources
      2. Sources (pp. 546-547)
    • 3. Glossary
      3. Glossary (pp. 548-550)
  11. Notes
    Notes (pp. 551-576)
  12. Bibliography
    Bibliography (pp. 577-586)
  13. Index
    Index (pp. 587-612)
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