Museum of Coastal Defence Visit - 14th January 2023
The Museum of Coastal Defence (MCD) is Hong Kong’s only museum dedicated to military history. Located in a former British Army fort overlooking the Lei Yue Mun channel in the north-east of HK island, the site now occupied by the museum was chosen by the British military authorities in 1887 for the construction of defences to the eastern approaches to Victoria harbour. The fort was the scene of bitter fighting during the battle for Hong Kong and was practically in the middle of the Japanese invasion point of the island on the night of 18 December 1941. Following the departure of the British military from the facility in 1987, it was decided (in 1993) that the fort would be converted to a museum and it opened as such to the public in July 2000. In 2018 the MCD was closed for renovation and after a hiatus of over four years, reopened late last month. We are honoured to have one of the driving forces behind this renovation, Dr. Kwong Chi Man, as our guide for this visit.
Host: Dr. Kwong Chi Man
Date: Saturday 14 January 2023
Time: 10:00 to 12:30 hrs
Venue: Museum of Coastal Defence, 175 Tung Hei Road, Shau Kei Wan, HK
Admission: $100-HK per person Booking: martin.heyes@gmail.com
The Museum of Coastal Defence (MCD) is Hong Kong’s only museum dedicated to military history. Located in a former British Army fort overlooking the Lei Yue Mun channel in the north-east of HK island, the site now occupied by the museum was chosen by the British military authorities in 1887 for the construction of defences to the eastern approaches to Victoria harbour. The fort was the scene of bitter fighting during the battle for Hong Kong and was practically in the middle of the Japanese invasion point of the island on the night of 18 December 1941. Following the departure of the British military from the facility in 1987, it was decided (in 1993) that the fort would be converted to a museum and it opened as such to the public in July 2000. In 2018 the MCD was closed for renovation and after a hiatus of over four years, reopened late last month. We are honoured to have one of the driving forces behind this renovation, Dr. Kwong Chi Man, as our guide for this visit.
Host: Dr. Kwong Chi Man
Date: Saturday 14 January 2023
Time: 10:00 to 12:30 hrs
Venue: Museum of Coastal Defence, 175 Tung Hei Road, Shau Kei Wan, HK
Admission: $100-HK per person Booking: martin.heyes@gmail.com
Hong Kong’s 500 : Life, Death and Gallantry in the Trenches of World War 1 - Patricia O’Sullivan - 1st February 2023
The rush of enthusiasm to enlist in the Armed Forces by many young men in Britain during the summer of 1914 had its counterpart in Hong Kong, but the demands of business and administration had first to be met. Yet over the course of the conflict, some 10% of the British male population of the Colony did enlist. Of these 500 men, 140 were in Government service; the Police Force sending the largest contingent. In total, about 14% (70 men) lost their lives in the conflict. During her talk, Patricia O’Sullivan will tell the stories of some of these men, a few of whom were born either in Hong Kong or Macau. At least two of the erstwhile Police officers, Charles Wilson and Alfred Hutchins, were awarded gallantry medals; the M.M. and M.C. respectively. One man had been a journalist with the Hong Kong Daily Press and put his reporting skills to good use by providing readers in the Colony with tales of life at the front.
Speaker: Patricia O’Sullivan
Date: Wednesday 1 February 2023
Time: 19:30 hrs
Venue: USRC, Gascoigne Road, Jordan, Kowloon
Admission: $100-HK per person
Registration: martin.heyes@gmail.com
The rush of enthusiasm to enlist in the Armed Forces by many young men in Britain during the summer of 1914 had its counterpart in Hong Kong, but the demands of business and administration had first to be met. Yet over the course of the conflict, some 10% of the British male population of the Colony did enlist. Of these 500 men, 140 were in Government service; the Police Force sending the largest contingent. In total, about 14% (70 men) lost their lives in the conflict. During her talk, Patricia O’Sullivan will tell the stories of some of these men, a few of whom were born either in Hong Kong or Macau. At least two of the erstwhile Police officers, Charles Wilson and Alfred Hutchins, were awarded gallantry medals; the M.M. and M.C. respectively. One man had been a journalist with the Hong Kong Daily Press and put his reporting skills to good use by providing readers in the Colony with tales of life at the front.
Speaker: Patricia O’Sullivan
Date: Wednesday 1 February 2023
Time: 19:30 hrs
Venue: USRC, Gascoigne Road, Jordan, Kowloon
Admission: $100-HK per person
Registration: martin.heyes@gmail.com
