WW2 BAAG scheme for HK companies to send money to employee internees
Elizabeth Ride has sent a BAAG letter regarding sending money to HK company employees held as prisoners and internees during the Japanese occupation.
Elizabeth says the background to this scheme was that the BAAG had earlier found that certain HK firms with representatives caught in HK were able to send funds to them via the Red Cross in Macao. For this reason they had sent letters to 17 firms, of which she attaches an example. Identical letters were sent to:
Thorneycroft & Co
Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co
Butterfield and Swire
Lane, Crawford & Co Ltd
Asiatic Petroleum Co Ltd
British American Tobacco Co (China) Ltd
Mercantile Bank of India
West Coast Life Insurance Co Ltd
Caldbeck Macgregor & Co
Standard Vacuum Oil Co
Texas Co (China) Ltd
Manufacturer’s Life Insurance Co
David Sassoon & Co Ltd
Swedish Match Co Ltd
Thomas Cook & Sons
A G Watson & Co Ltd
Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co Ltd
Dodwell & Co Ltd
Emaciated internees at Tweed Bay Hospital, Stanley Camp Courtesy: battleforhongkong.blogspot.com
This article was first posted on 4th January 2015.
Further information:
- For general information about the Elizabeth Ride collection, her father Sir Lindsay Ride, and the British Army Aid group during WW2 a very useful introduction is through http://gwulo.com/node/13968
- The BAAG papers are kept at the Hong Kong Heritage Project
- https://www.hongkongheritage.org/Pages/FindingAids/LibraryCollection/Elizabeth_M_Ride_Collection.aspx
The Index contains many articles using BAAG reports from WW2. And about industry in HK during that time.