Louisa Coxon, the author of the original letter asking for land for the Ladies' Recreation Club, was married to Mr. Atwell Coxon, a bill and bullion broker, formerly an accountant). A friend of hers, Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming wrote the follwoing in her book published in 1886 Wanderings in China - p80:

Saturday 15th, 1879 - "Mrs. Coxon, a friend of olden dys, wishes me to stay with her for the races next week, which are the great event of the Hong Kong year, so that it really would be a pity to miss seeing them. They last three days, and the race-horses are all Chinese ponies, ridden by gentlemen."

Wednesday 19th - "Mrs. Coxon, being one of the very few people here who cares for the exertion of driving a pony instead of being carried by men, drove me out cheerily each morning in her little pony-carriage, which, I think, was the only wheeled vehicle in that vast assemblage. Everyone else went in chairs, borne by two, three , or four men. ... Each morning the whole two miles to the race-course was one densely-packed crowd of human beings ..."

In the book Amateur Clubs & Actors - edited by W. G. Elliot and published in 1898, Lieut. Col. Newnham-Davis wrote:

AMATEURS IN FOREIGN PARTS

"Next to Simla, the best organised club that I have found in the uttermost parts of the earth was the Hong-kong Amateur Dramatic Club."

"The first performance of the Hong-kong Amateur Dramatic Club was of "Still Waters Run Deep," with Attwell Coxon whose name is writ large in the libra d'oro of Hong-kong theatricals as Hawksley ...

"Two peculiarities the Hong-kong Amateur Dramatic Club had. One was that all the actors adopted noms de theatre; for there was an idea, an unfounded one I believe, that the typans, the heads of the big Hongs, might object to seeing the names of the gentlemen in their houses in print on a theatrical programme. Therefore Coxon became Hockey on the bill of the play, and so on. The other peculiarity was that no ladies appeared on the Hong-kong stage until 1879, the women's parts being all played by men."

"In 1880 and 1881 the Hong-kong Amateur Dramatic Club had given two performances, which were as good as any amateur performances ever given.The plays were "New Men and Old Acres " and "The School for Scandal." Mrs. Philip Bernard, who subsequently came to London and played as a professional actress, acted the part of the heroine in each play delightfully, and had very strong support in Mrs. Hockey [Louisa Coxon], Mrs. Chervau, and Mrs. Woodbine to give them their noms de theatre. Coxon, Beart, and Young were amongst the men who played with success.

"And that Reminds Me" by Stanley William Coxon - 1915

" ... of another good story which was told me by my aunt, Mrs. Atwell Coxon, who had lived in Hong Kong for many years. Two midshipmen of the Fleet coming to call upon her one day, were announced by her Chinese butler in the following manner:

"Madam have got bottomsides (downstairs) two piecee man-of-war chilo (children)."

 

In Norwich UK National Archives:

1. the appointment of Atwell Coxon as consul at Hong Kong by Leopold II of Belgium and its confirmation by Queen Victoria, 1879

2. letter of free passage for Atwell Coxon and his wife through Hong Kong, 1874

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Amelia Lydia Dare Jackson - 33 years old when the Club opened. She bore her 6th child in 1883. (In 1871, she had married Sir Thomas Jackson, Chief Manager of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank)

Mrs. Charles David Bottomley

(married to Mr. C.D. Bottomly, a trustee of the Club, acting Colonial Treasurer, 1890],

Dora Delano Forbes - age 36 when the LRC was established

• born in 1847
• aunt of Franklin Delano Rosevelt
• age 16 - engaged to William Howell Forbes of Russell & Co.
• age 20 - 1867 - married Will Forbes in Paris after he received his $100,000 competence - returned to Hong Kong and lived in "Rose Hill" on Caine Road, between the Catholic Cathedral and the Mosque, above the Jail.

Population Statistics from "Wanderings in China": by Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming