From 1924 until 1928, my mother and her sister were sent to boarding school in Bournemouth, England. They made the passage to England by ship, accompanied by their parents. After settling in and doing some sightseeing as a family, their parents returned home to Shanghai. The girls would never see their mother again, but I’ll elaborate on that later.

My mother was 13 and her sister was 12 so it was their first time away from home and “away” it really was; about 12,000 miles. It took six weeks aboard ship, sailing down the China coast, through Indonesia, across the Indian Ocean into the Red Sea. They transited the Suez Canal and crossed the Mediterranean Sea, past Gibraltar and into the Atlantic. The last leg was northward along the coasts of Spain, Portugal and France and finally, to London.

I know almost nothing of their first three years at school, other than the few stories I’d heard of their escapades while staying with schoolmates during vacations. Fortunately, at the start of their final year, 1928, they purchased a journal and over the Christmas holidays and New Year, they made their first entries. It was a joint venture, with both girls taking turns writing in the book. Reading this diary gave me a window into their lives that I’d never have known had they not kept it.

Just a quick note before returning to the subject of the “Gomersall Connection” and that is to say, that throughout the year, both girls appear to have been firmly ensconced in the Anglican or Church of England religion and often mentioned attending church, sometimes more than once in a day. They seemed to have taken confirmation classes at school, passed, and took part in the rituals at completion. The occasion is noted in the diary entry of March 21st, 1928. They were confirmed by the Bishop of Winchester, at Saint Michael’s Church. The Bishop joined them for tea after the service. I might also mention that their father was married at and Anglican Church in Hong Kong so if any religion can be associated with our family at this point, Anglican would be my guess. This was about to change.

About this time, my grandfather was on his way, overland by train from Shanghai, via Berlin. He intended to spend time in England and tour Europe with the girls at the end of the school year, before they all returned home to China.

In the interest of brevity I’ll skip forward to September 8th when they all boarded the NDL “SS Saarbrucken” at Rotterdam, on their homebound passage. Also aboard the ship was a “Mrs Gomersall” who according to journal entries, joined them at many dinners aboard ship as well as on shore excursions in several ports along the way.

On the 27th of October, they arrived back in Shanghai. This is the last entry about the passage.

Got up early and went on deck. Last morning on board.
Had got into the river already. Water yellow and muddy.
Had breakfast, then packed.
Watched entrance to Shanghai from top deck. Band playing.
River Whangpoo like Thames. Busy etc.

Came aside wharf at 12 p.m. Saw Mr Letton-Samson waiting for us.
Said goodbye to stewardess, Captain, Purser etc. Went to customs.
Left in own car for Gomersall’s in Hankow Road. Nice flat. Good food.
After dinner went for dance with Mr Wolf and Schreeck to Majestic Hotel.
Car broke down. Walked. Dancing fine.
Returned 1:30 a.m. Fog.
Dead tired.

N.H.

Since my previous post on the subject, I’ve done more research and by chance received some information from some fellow Facebook Group members. One of my original questions involved how and when my family became involved in “Christian Science” While I have not considered myself a “follower” of the CS ideology, I have on many occasions defended it based on my own family’s beliefs in it. Christian Science is often mistaken for like-named religious orders such as Scientology, Science of Mind and even Jehovah Witnesses. I was quick to label these as whacky, crack-pot cults, nothing like the religion that my own family followed. At best, I was viewing CS through rose colored glasses! At worst, I’ve come to understand how much of it took root in my psyche as a child and the damage its caused.

I’ve hesitated to broach the subject of religion in any of my on-line posting as I don’t wish to cast aspersions on anyone’s beliefs. That’s not my intent. I simply want to know more about CS and mostly, how and why my family became involved. At this point I’m leaning towards Shanghai in the late 1920s. The “why” is still a mystery. More on this to follow…..

Below is one of my favorite mystery photos. Of the four people pictured, I know just one. The man on the left is my grandfather, Tobias Hunter. I’ve posted this picture many times before, on Facebook pages and any website I can find that might take a crack at it. 

I originally posted it on Facebook Groups; “Hong Kong Past-The Early Years” and “Family and Friends from Shanghai and Hong Kong” and probably a couple of others. I began this particular search in 2018 in the hopes of identifying the people besides my grandfather who is on the far left in the picture.

We established the year and make of the car as a 1933 Austin A10 Touring Sedan and and that the location was likely Hong Kong. This we derived from the terrain shown as well as the Hong Kong Auto Club badge on the front bumper bar of the car. The next quest was to find the building, but it seemed to no longer exist. Many members guessed and I checked out every possibility, all to no avail, until about a week ago. A group member Donald Gudgin posted a couple of photos that were taken when he was serving in the Royal Engineers, #56 Field Squadron, Tai Lam back in 1956. This base was located near Ting Kau Beach along Castle Peak Road, New Territories. He sent me a crop from a Google Earth screen shot and amazingly, the location matched one that I had “pinned” several years ago, marking two properties associated with my grandfather. They were located at 333 and 335 Castle Peak Road.

This is what he wrote:

When I saw your photo I thought that looks like our camp building. I was there in 1956 Tai Lam Camp 56 Field Squadron RE Castle Peak Rd. The first photo is from inside the second floor. The second photo taken from the other direction. The third taken the same way as yours. ( Sorry they are not very clear ) All I know about the building was taken over by the Japanese in 1941 and then by the British army in 1945. We moved out in 1957. It was then demolished. I may be wrong but the building looks very similar.

The photo below shows the view from the upper floor balcony with the distinctive “X” patterned railings

This is my capture from Google Earth showing where the two properties that my grandfather had an interest in, were located.

So, a connection is there and now my search for the identity of the other people becomes more centered. I will attempt to delve into the property records next to see if anything shows up.

Below is a Lot map from the Hong Kong Land Registry that shows the location and present parcel numbers for the property in question on Castle Peak Road. The overall section is DD399 and the piece numbered 333 is now represented by DD399 177. The piece that was at one point #335 is now DD399 437. The plot map is pictured below.

I’ve done a search under these numbers and neither produces a connection to my grandfather however there’s a possibility that there were multiple subsections of these lots. The letter below is one of several between my grandfather and B J Wong of P C Woo & Co in 1949 that establishes his relationship to the property.

A coincidence I just noticed is the pattern of the railing is three bars then three Xs and then three bars again ( III-XXX-III ) 3-30-3 The address of the house was “333” Castle Peak Road! I realize that the true Roman numerals would be CCCXXXIII but that wouldn’t look as good.

When my family moved to Shanghai after WW1, and my grandfather became a partner in Geddes Trading, the accountant for the firm was Fred Artindale. His family roots were Eurasian, having a European grandfather and an Asian grandmother. It’s possible our families knew each other during their time in Hong Kong. As far as I know Fred was born in Shanghai but his roots may have been in Hong Kong or even Macau. He and his wife Bertha, along with their daughters were all interned in Shanghai during WW2 as were Fred’s parents.

A few years ago I made the acquaintance of Desmond Power who was a Tientsin boy and wrote several books on his life and times in China. “Little Foreign Devil” was one of them. He was in his early 90s then and sadly has passed away since but on the few occasions where we were able to get together, he was very helpful. As he had been interned in Shanghai, I was eager to learn if he might have known any of my family, so I enlarged and printed some old photos to show him. The first photo I showed him was a group with my family and the Artindales, taken in the 1950s in California. Right away he said “I know him! That’s Fred Artindale. We played in a band together at Lunghwa Camp!” Desmond was fluent in Chinese and consulted on Greg Leck’s book, “Captives of Empire” which must be the definitive “Historical record” of the Japanese prisoner camps in China. Desmond also left me many books, and the most useful, “Desk Hong for Shanghai, 1937” This book is a treasure!

Fred and his family also ended up in California after the war. He was a maker and repairer of violins and other stringed instruments. He had his business in downtown Los Angeles and I remember as a child riding the streetcar and going to his shop. It was upstairs in one of the older buildings and the door had frosted glass with his name on it, like in the TV detective shows. In the mid 1950s Fred moved his family up to San Luis Obispo, where he continued his craft as well as performing with the local orchestras.

Since my previous post on the subject, I’ve done more research and by chance received some information from a fellow poster from another site. One of my original questions involved “how and when my family became involved in “Christian Science” My initial thinking was that it took place in Hong Kong about the time my mother was born ( 1911 ) as the church had established itself there around that date. One thought was that my grandparents had turned away from whatever religion they adhered to ( if any ) because they had lost their first born daughter ( Phoebe Mildred, 1910 ) at just a week old, and that possibly the church they belonged to didn’t show ample support during what must have been a very difficult period. Well, it seem this was not the case.

My grandfather married at St Andrew’s Church, at Kowloon in 1909 and his brother George also married at an Anglican Church, in Leeds England the same year. Their sister May Hunter, married at St John’s Cathedral, Hong Kong, in 1903. My mother, Iris Maud ( bn 1911 ) and her sister Nora Eileen ( bn 1912 ) were both born in Kowloon and baptised at St Andrew’s Church. My grandfather moved his family to Shanghai about 1919 to partner in Geddes Trading with his brother in law Thomas Cock ( his sister’s husband ) So, up until the Shanghai move, I’m assuming CS was not the religious affiliation of any of them.

My mother and her sister were sent to school in Bournemouth England in 1924 and remained there until 1928. Their aunt May and their four cousins, Edna, Alwyn, Inez, and Eunice were already in England. The younger two girls also attended Bournemouth School for Girls and Alwyn went to the boys school there. As to religion, I recalled the following entry in their diary which was made in their final year:

March 28, 1928 Wednesday (88-278) First Quarter 11.54 a.m. This morning Iris made a Dundee cake for daddy. We hope it will not be stale by Tuesday. Auntie May and Uncle Tom said goodbye to us at about 2 o’clock and brought us a parcel from Auntie Joe. There were two lovely and embroidered petticoats for us. We then went to our last confirmation class and Mr. Moore gave us each a book called “Communion and Offering”

So it seems reasonable to assume that CS has not taken hold of our family at this juncture. School ended, and in early September, they set said aboard the SS Saarbrucken from Rotterdam to Shanghai, arriving at noon on October 27th, 1928.

Almost exactly three years later, on October 10th, 1931, my mother married Tom Beesley at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Shanghai. There is no sign of CS on either side at this point.

By the time I was born in 1945, we were CS so the window of opportunity opened prior to that. One possibility is during the war years and my grandfather’s internment in Shanghai, but my mother and her sister were in the USA from 1941 on, so the window opening gets narrower yet….1931-1941? I must now go back through old letters to see if there is any mention of CS among local family members in the US or UK.

*As a side note to all this, Alwyn Leland Jr, the grandson of May and Tom Cock, is quite a devout Catholic.

https://thejadewall.blogspot.com/

https://thejadewall.blogspot.com/

Thanks, B

About five years ago I got a message through Ancestry.com from a member known as “Heatherbelle” who was working on the family trees of some of the prominent Hong Kong families of the 19th century. She asked if I had any relationship to the Endicott family from Danvers, Massachusetts. At the time I had no knowledge of any such connections and I replied as such.

We did however exchange invitations to our respective family trees so we both had access and I spent quite some time looking at her Hong Kong Families tree. It’s large and covers quite a number of families including Ho, and Li, as well as many Eurasian off-shoots. As I was looking for my own family, I didn’t spend much time looking at the Endicott side. While there were quite a few living and doing business in Hong Kong and Shanghai, the family seemed to mainly from the USA and their roots were there.

About this time I’d come across a letter that mentioned an inheritance that was due to be paid to my mother and her sister back in 1939. The money was from the sale of a property in Hong Kong, that had been owned by a “Kot Choy” The address was 4 Moreton Terrace, Hong Kong. I mentioned this to Heatherbelle and she told me I could check with the Hong Kong Land Registry and they would likely still have the file. As this semed well above my pay grade, I asked if she could walk me through the process. So, one evening we connected through Skype and she showed me how to access the records. There was a fee to be paid to the HK Registry which I paid with my card on-line. The file came up and I was able to view and download it. Her help was instrumental in my learning the identity of “Kot Choy” but I’ll leave that for the moment.

So, back to the Endicotts. As is my habit, I often go back over documents that I’ve studied many times before, in hope of finding something I’d missed. I happened to be looking at old ship’s passenger lists and I found on showing my mother’s uncle, Tom Cock, on a passage from China to the UK via the USA in 1920. He planned a stop to visit his sister as shown on line 1, row 19, “Mary Endicott” The passenger list is pictured below. The visit looks like it may have been scrubbed, but the intent and name is recorded.

Then in May of 1936, a similar passage was made by Thomas Cock’s son Alwyn Leyland ( he had changed his name by then ) from Shanghai to the UK aboard the SS President Hoover via the USA. On the passenger manifest, he shows a planned stopover in Philadelphia to visit his cousin, H.B. Endicott ( Henry Bridges Endicott ) see Line 1, Row 23. This is the same address as listed on his father’s visit 16 years earlier. As can be seen, the addresses are the same.

It turns out this is only the tip of the Endicott iceberg. I’m uncovering ever more interesting links between this family and not only the Cocks, but possibly my own Hunter side as well. I will elaborate on this in future posts as new information is coming in almost every day now.

Below is a link to a one of my friend Katya Knyazeva’s posts. The marriages are listed about 3/4s of the way down the page but there are many other useful items along the way. Anyone who has an interest in Art Deco architecture and the historical aspects of many of Shanghai’s iconic old buildings, Katya is a real expert. She has helped me countless times, often uncovering the tiniest details that one would never know to look for. She’s also fluent with the Russian emigres history and gives talks on line as well as conducting historical walking tours in Shanghai ( Covid not withstanding! ) I posted this link to marriages as my mother and her bother-in-law are both listed ( Beesley )

https://avezink.livejournal.com/tag/1920s

On April 26th I posted about the properties held by Kot Choy in the mid-levels of Hong Kong in the area known as SoHo ( south of Hollywood Road ) The map shows the area with two Kot Choy property sections highlighted in yellow. One was IL 116 which was at Hollywood Road and the other and the other IL 119 on Shelley Street near Staunton. At this point I had mistakenly figured that the family address of 11 Shelley Street was close to Hollywood Road and I assumed it was in IL 114. I’ve now discovered that 11 Shelley was actually just south of Staunton so would have been in the IL 119 section and therefore a Kot Choy property as shown on the HK Land Registry.

The photo below is from a posting today on Facebook that shows Staunton’s Bar with the view looking south up the hill on Shelley Street. The Peak Cafe is at 11 Shelley. When my family lived at 11 Shelley Street I believe it was quite different, probably some sort of terraced houses or boarding house/commercial buildings. What exists there today was probably built after WW2, probably in the mid 1950s.

I’ve added a Google map of the area as it is today which clearly shows the locations of these two establishments as well as the street numbering.

Most everyone who searches on-line has used FamilySearch.org. It’s free and has lots of information but most of us never use some of the lesser known features, like the Card File. Yesterday while poking around I came across a section and a film with a little over 6000 pages. I never expected to find anything but I thought I’d have a look. I began at page 1 and clicked forward about 50 pages. Patience is really not my strongest trait. so I added entered 150, then 400 etc. I started to see alphabetical pattern but nothing so I skipped ahead to “H” looking for my Hunter family. Nothing! Moving on I jumped to the 1000s then 2000s, and noticed street names and I was at “Stanley St” so, I backed up looking for my “Shelley Street” and bingo! There were cards for even numbers and cards for odd numbered addresses. The years were a bit too early for me ( I need 1899 on ) but in the upper right corner of each card was a lot number. Using these I could cross-reference the addresses to a map I had from Gwulo.

My family had leases in sections of IL 116 and IL 119 and they also maintained a residence at 11 Shelley Street, which during this period was apparently home the Parsee Church and Clubhouse. Some of the lot numbers did not exist yet and came into use later as larger lots were sectioned into smaller ones. The Club Lusitano was on IL 125 from what I can tell although the lot number isn’t shown on the map I have.

So, the point of this post is this. When you come across these large and impossible looking databases, do give it a try as there’s often information there that’s really quite easy to find. One I noticed that there was an order to it all, either by number of alphabetical it was not difficult to navigate back and forth to find the exact spot. As can be seen in the picture below, there are other databases o that same film, will and the st Michael’s Cemetery ( there’s a separate catalog file for China Cemeteries that is searchable by name and it’s also on Family Search ) I hope this will eventually be of use to some readers