Ladies' Recreation Club Historical Archive

World War I

At the outbreak of World War I, there was a dramatic shift in the nationalities represented among the ladies and the military in Hong Kong.

Before the war, German navy bands had been welcome at the LRC, and the original approval for the Ladies Recreation Ground, given thiry years earlier specifically stated that there were German members. In fact, at the Club's Opening Day in 1884, the newspapers reported that both His Excellency Major General Sargent [England's Major General China, Hong Kong and Straits Settlements], Sir G. Phillips, and Admiral Goltz [commander of the German squadron in the East] came to the festivities to wish the ladies well. In 1899, we have postcard that was sent to "Liuet. Schwengers, S.N.S. Deutschbadsd" in Amoy to remind him to sign up for the Ladies and Gentlemen Tennis Doubles Handicap.

The L.R.C. was also a musical place on Sundays. Mrs. Gladys White remembers that “They used to have bands from various warships to play in the gardens of the club on Sundays. On one occasion prior to the 1914 war it was the band of a German cruiser.”

However, that changed with the war.

Internment or deportation of the entire German community, a few heads of firms who were over military age being deported under parole. about 100 German merchants and their employees with an equal number of women and children. The internment took place at the end of October 1914 at a camp at Kowloon. ... material for this account was mainly supplied by the Government of Hong Kong. Families were then sent on to Bourke, New South Wales, Australia.

The Empire at war, Volume 5, By Sir Charles Prestwood Lucas, Royal Empire Society (Great Britain)
...

German citizens in Hong Kong were required to move to internment camps, much as British subjects twenty years later were required to do when the Japanese occupied Hong Kong during WWII.

In many ways, the war did not affect Hong Kong very much. In fact, it appears that the Club was able to replace its one story Pavilion with a new two story Clubhouse in 1915.

A new "Clubhouse" replaced the "Pavillion" ... - photo c. 1905

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