History of the Ladies Recreation Club - Hong Kong

Mrs. Amelia Lydia Dare Jackson
and Mr. Thomas Jackson of Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank (LRC trustee 1883)

and her sister

Mrs. Florence Gertrude DARE Hartigan
and Dr. William Hartigan

Emily Mary Cater married Charles David Bottomley in England on April 11, 1888, when she was 29 years old. Mrs. Charles David Bottomley
and Mr. Charles David Bottomley of Douglas Lapraik and Co.(LRC trustee 1883), acting Colonial Treasurer, 1890

Mrs. Sassoon
Mr. Frederick David Sassoon, age 30 when the Club opened, 1853-1917 (LRC trustee 1883)

Mrs. Dora Delano Forbes
and Mr.William Howell Forbes ( LegCo member - Russell and Co. - LRC trustee 1890)

Mrs. Mabel Barclay Browne Cantlie
and Dr. James Cantlie

Mrs. Frances Noble
and Mr. George Edward Noble (LRC trustee 1890)

Mrs. Marion Parkes Keswick
Mr. James Johnstone Keswick (LRC trustee 1890)

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

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)

Amelia Lydia Dare had roots in the area that had been put down long before [Jackson] arrived on the scene. Her father was a well-known “character” in Singapore, and you can link to a tale of her mother The Pirates and Mrs. Dare of Singapore 1841

Mabel Barclay Browne Cantlie

age 29 in 1887 when she first arrived in Hong Kong. She remained for nine years until 1896.

(in 1884 married Dr. James Cantlie ). Grant of O.B.E. to Mabel Barclay, Lady Cantlie - 1919.

Sun Yat Sen - father of modern China - writes:

"This work is affectionately dedicated to Sir James and Lady Cantlie, my revered teacher and devoted friends to whom I once owed my life."

Private Lives of Old Hong Kong

Susanna Hoe - 1981

Mrs. Cantlie writes:

"Mrs. Palmer played [at the Ladies' Recreation Club] 1st round of championship against Mrs. Coxon."

"I played my round at tennis against Mrs. Bottomley and won 3 to 6, 4 to 6. I am rather off play just now so did not as well as I should."

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

Some early members:

Louisa Coxon was known for her theatricals. She was one of the first three ladies to play women's parts in the Hong Kong Amateur Dramatic Club (formerly taken by men) and also produced her own.

Amelia Lydia Dare Jackson was 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, who became one of the first trustees of the LRC). Amelia Lydia Dare had roots in the area that had been put down long before [Jackson] arrived on the scene. Her father was a well-known “character” in Singapore. To link to a tale of her mother "The Pirates and Mrs. Dare of Singapore" 1841 - click here

Mabel Barclay Browne Cantlie, was 29 in 1887 when she first arrived in Hong Kong. She remained for nine years until 1896. Three years earlier, in 1884, she had married Dr. James Cantlie. Thirty years later, for her work during WWI, an O.B.E. was granted to Mabel Barclay, Lady Cantlie in 1919. Sun Yat Sen - the father of modern China - once wrote "This work is affectionately dedicated to Sir James and Lady Cantlie, my revered teacher and devoted friends to whom I once owed my life."

One letter she writes of the LRC

"Mrs. Palmer played [at the Ladies' Recreation Club] 1st round of championship against Mrs. Coxon."

"I played my round at tennis against Mrs. Bottomley and won 3 to 6, 4 to 6. I am rather off play just now so did not as well as I should."

Private Lives of Old Hong Kong,
Susanna Hoe - 1981

Mrs. J. H. Anderson. 1910-1915

BROADHURST, MARGARET (Margaret Ethel Broadhurst) Great Britain Born 1871 in Manchester, Lancashire, England Died [????] Married (1) Owen Dickins on 16 August 1891 in Salford, Manchester

Married (2) Francis Harold Armstrong in 1896 in Salford, Manchester [Active in 1890s]

Margaret Broadhurst is the Mrs Dickins who won the women's singles event at the Welsh Covered Court Championships in October 1894 (she had been runner-up to Alice Pickering at the first-ever edition of this event in April of the same year).

Margaret's first husband, Owen Dickins, died of heart disease and rheumatic within a few months of their marriage, and she later remarried. One of Margaret's two sisters also took part in the first edition of the Welsh Covered Court Championships in April 1894. Little is known about these sisters beyond their first names: Agnes Mary Broadhurst (b. 1872) and Katharine Dorothy Broadhurst (b. 1877). [Thanks to Newmark for this biography