Today’s story relates to a couple
of headstones which can be found in Section 27.
Getting to this section means walking under the flyover with traffic
roaring overhead and then making a steep climb up to what I refer to as the “lost
sections”. Cemetery staff look after
these sections very well during their seasonal projects aimed at keeping
vegetation under control so the sections are certainly not “lost” as far as
they are concerned. However, visitors to
the cemetery normally only walk around the lower central sections. These are on the flat and easy to
navigate. How many people actually know
that you can take a little path under the flyover? Or
that this leads to another whole different area of tiers? Back in the 1980s when I first started my
project aimed at transcribing and indexing the memorial inscriptions it was the
first area I headed for. To be honest I
felt a little silly kneeling down tracing inscriptions with my fingers so I
wanted to be away from prying eyes.
After a few months, having completed these hidden sections, I was
confident enough to “come out” and start tackling the very public areas.
So without further ado let’s head off to Scotland
where today's story has its roots.
It was in the village
of Dunnet on 26th.
November 1851 that the wife of the local blacksmith gave birth to a son. He was named John Calder Swanston and he was baptised at the parish church the day after
Christmas.
As a teenager John joined the
Edinburgh Police and in 1871 was one of 45 officers recruited for the Hong Kong
Police. The recruiting officer stated
that the HK Police was in a disorganised state “largely composed of Malays, runaway sailors and wandering adventurers”.
The recruits received a bounty of
£15 each. In addition they were provided
with the railway fare to the port of embarkation and 2nd. class
Steamer passage to Hong Kong.
The Crown Agents had made
enquiries with two companies. Mr. Holt
and his Blue Funnel Line were using the newly opened Suez Canal and were charging £28 per man for the voyage. P&O on the other hand were still using
the old route whereby passengers would disembark at Alexandria
and then make their way overland by rail to the Town of Suez before joining another ship to the Far
East. P&O were
charging £50 per man. Needless to say the
Crown Agents chose the cheapest option. The
first batch of 20 recruits – including John - left Liverpool
on 2nd December 1871.
Inspector Grey who was on leave
from Hong Kong had been responsible for the recruitment
exercise in the UK. In a letter to
the Crown Agents he reported:
"The men have a very fair
appearance but as for the qualifications of most of them I cannot speak highly,
they have nearly all been farm labourers and the degree of education attained
by most of them is very imperfect, so much so indeed that but few of them could
ever hope to rise to any other grade than that of constable unless they improve
themselves very much, however, the Procurator Fiscal says that they are as good
as can be obtained in any other police force in Scotland. "
The Suez Canal
reduced travel time considerably and John arrived in Hong Kong
in January 1872 after a seven week voyage.
On arrival the group dressed in their kilts – after all they were proud
Scotsmen and wanted to impress. However,
they were advised that this form of attire was practically unknown in the
Colony and they might want to reconsider their decision. They did.
They changed – that is all except one.
He had no worries about being laughed at and proudly came ashore
flourishing his tartan. How proud would
the whole bunch have been if they had known that the 20th. century
would see the Hong Kong Police Pipers at the Edinburgh Tattoo.
John proved to be a good officer
and gained promotion to Sergeant. He was
also careful with his money and after five years had saved enough to pay the
passage for his bride.
Annie Sanderson arrived in Hong
Kong in October 1876 and the couple were married ten days later.
The following year saw the birth
of the couple’s first child, Maria Jane - and for John his promotion to
Inspector.
But this was Hong Kong
and the climate was far from kind to babies and young children. Maria Jane died before she could reach the
age of two. (Grave number 4426 2nd. July 1879). Another daughter, Margaret Calder Bremner,
died at the age of 3yrs 10mths (Grave 4749 17th. Nov 1884).
A baby, known only by the initials D.M., lived for one hour. Annie Agnes lived for 10 months (Grave 5235 7th.
April 1890) and finally Archibald died before his sixth
birthday (Grave number 5280) The deaths
are all recorded on a headstone in Section 27.
The inscription also shows where
the children died which in turn gives us the police stations that John was
posted to:
1879 Shaukeiwan
1884 No 2 Police Station – Praya East, Wanchai
1886 No 7 West Point – Queens
Road/Pokfulam Rald
1890 No 2 Police Station
1890 No 6 Victoria Gap
1891 No 2 – Praya East, Wanchai
According to the newspapers John dealt with some pretty gruesome murder cases and some run of the mill gambling cases – not to mention the case of the “Stinking Fish” where he spotted - or should I say his nose alerted him to - a couple of hawkers who were trying to get rid of their rotting fish on unsuspecting members of the public.
On two occasions the police stations
where John was serving became the centre of attention because huge pythons had
been seen in the area. The first was
when he was at Shaukeiwan. On that occasion the “beast” was reported as being 12 foot long with a girth of 15 inches. It had apparently just
killed an animal.
The second occasion was when he
was at Wanchai. A slighter smaller python
had been spotted near the cemetery. A
message was sent to No. 2 Police Station for someone to come up with a gun to
shoot the creature. But before that
could happen an enterprising coolie stunned the snake. It was then taken to the Hong Kong Dispensary
where it was pickled and put on display.
In October 1884 Inspector
Swanston played an important part in preserving peace. Riots had broken out when cargo boat coolies
had gone on strike. The unrest spread to Eastern District where more coolies
were intimidated. The Inspector assured
them of police protection and they returned to work. But the next day a mob assembled ready to
attack. However, they had not reckoned
on the Inspector. He armed his men with bamboo poles and they charged the
rioters and drove them off The Praya. John
was given the nickname of “Ironsides” by the locals !
In 1890 John’s health began to
fail and by February 1891 he’d developed pleurisy. In the early hours of Friday 6th.
February he slipped into unconsciousness and passed away.
John was a popular member of the
community and his funeral was attended by police officers and Freemasons. He was also buried high up on the hill in Section
27 and his headstone can be found right next to that of his children.
The newspapers reported that
Annie was left with two young children and the Government awarded her a compassionate allowance of $600. This would have been of some help but she
still needed to secure her future. There
was really only one practical answer – she needed to find another husband. As was often the case she stayed within the
close knit community which she knew.
Her second husband was Police
Inspector William Gauld – a colleague of
her husband’s and another of the men from the Scottish intake. But the climate of Hong Kong
was relentless and she and William lost a child in October 1893. The baby was buried in a neighbouring section
to those of her other children but did not have a headstone. The grave was one of thousands affected by
the Aberdeen Tunnel project in the 1970s and was exhumed.
When William’s health began to
fail he & Annie retired to Huntly in Aberdeenshire. A few years later William died and Annie
moved back to her home city of Edinburgh
where she passed away in 1924 at the respectable age of 74.
Annie’s surviving son from her
first marriage (John George SWANSTON) spent his life in Hong Kong
and died there in 1935. His grave can be
found in Section 12 of the cemetery.
Actually there is a lovely little
story about “wee Jock Swanston”. The
story goes that when he was just 5 years old he saw his father chasing a man in
the street. As the fleeing man passed - “wee Jock” caught hold of his queue and held
on for all he was worth until his father came up to make the arrest.
His father’s colleagues were in
such admiration of the child that they arranged a collection and purchased a
silver cup on which was engraved “Presented
to J. Swanston by members of the Hongkong Police Force in admiration of his
bravery and courage in arresting a thief ...."
If any reader should ever come
across that silver cup I would love to hear from you. Of course I would also love to hear from
anyone who is descended from John and Elizabeth.
