Ladies' Recreation Club Historical Archive

 

1905 - Betty - Intercepted Letters

" The ladies tennis club, managed entirely by Us - Secretary, Treasurer, and Committee are all women - and very well managed it is too. To show how much more generous minded and kind hearted we are than the opposite sex, I must tell you that we make no horrid little rules stating that men may only play on our courts on one day in the week. We allow them to be members (provided only that they are duly proposed and seconded by feminine friends) and play whenever they like. "

1884 - Opening Day -

"There were also nearly as many gentlemen present as ladies".

" among the gentlemen we noticed His Excellency Major General Sargent [Major General China, Hong Kong and Straits Settlements], Sir G. Phillips, and Admiral Goltz [commander of the German squadron in the East]".

Membership

Since its first inception, gentlemen have been welcome at the Ladies' Recreation Club. Married ladies and their husbands are required to join together and each are members of the Club.

1905

The L.R.C. - that is the Ladies' Recreation club, or, as some read it, Ladies' Recrimination Club, is managed with great care by ladies. Gentlemen are eligible as subscribers.

"John Chinaman at Home: Sketches of Men, Manners and Things in China", Rev. E.J. Hardy, 1905

Finance

In 1883, once the land had been granted to "the ladies of Hong Kong" for a "Ladies Recreation Ground", there was a difficulty. In Britian, the Married Women's Property Act was passed in 1882, allowing a woman to acquire, hold and dispose of property, and to sue as an individual in her own right. However, the law was not amended to allow that in Hong Kong until 1906, nor could a married woman enter into a valid contract. The solution, therefore, was to issue a lease to a trust, with the following distinguished gentlemen as trustees:

Thomas Jackson
Chief Manager, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank

C.D. Bottomley
Douglas Lapraik and Co.

F.D. Sassoon

elected to LegCo by Bench of Justices, 4 January, 1884

Seven years later, in 1890, the trustees were:

James Johnstone Keswick
LegCo member and founder of Hongkong Land

William Howell Forbes
Russell & Co.

George Edward Noble
Chief Manager, Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank

Sport

Cricket - 1 November 1884

Here are the names of the gentlemen who represented the Ladies Recreation Club in the first recorded match against the Hong Kong Cricket Club: H.G. Rice - C. U. Stuart - G. Stewart - E.J. Coxon - G.S. Coxon - H. St. D. Jarrett - C.P. Chater - H. G. Fincham - W. de St. Croix - W.H.F. Darby - Major W. J. D. Cochrane - A.G. Stokes

Squash - 1961

Five gentlemen of the LRC represented the Hong Kong Squash Rackets league games.

Cricket - 1980's

Jonathan Wattis recalls that he was on an all genetlemen LRC cricket team.

 

Voting

It was only for the first hundered years or so that only one sex was allowed to vote or be on the LRC General Committee. Gentlemen were always welcome on sub-committees.