The following letter about the first OS dinner to be held in Hong Kong appeared in the July 1935 issue of The Shirburnian. It reveals the number of Old Shirburnians then working in Hong Kong. Additional biographical information has been added to the original article giving details of the OS named in the letter.
‘Dear Sir,
A letter appearing in your March issue has prompted me to write and encroach upon your space to the extent of recording a festivity which occurred here recently in the form of a small but enthusiastic OS dinner. As far as we know it is the first of such revels to be held in Hong Kong, but it is hoped that it will be possible to repeat the performance annually.
The community here is a scattered and also a somewhat transient one, but by dint of careful sleuthing ten old Shirburnians were run to earth, and on the appointed day all ten turned up in good order.
Those present were Major J.A.A. Griffin, DSO (School House 1905-08), The Lincolnshire Regiment; E.A. Jenkinson (Harper 1907-08), of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd.; Captain R.L.L. Ingpen, RAPC (The Green 1915-18); Captain F.J.C. Rybot, RA (The Green 1915-17); Surgeon-Lieutenant J.G. Vincent-Smith, RN (Abbey 1919-24); J.P. Whitham (Abbeylands 1920-25), of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank; P.W.G. Cameron (The Green 1924-32), a member of the local broking fraternity; L.F.G. Westcott (Harper 1929-32) and the writer [G.A. Stewart], another striver after success in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank.
Though of its kind a somewhat insignificant function, I must crave your indulgence for inflicting this brief account of it upon you in the belief that some of your readers may be interested in knowing what OSS there are at present in this part of the world.
OS news is of particular interest to us who spend most of our time abroad, and in this connection I should like to say how much your action in publishing news of ‘Pilgrim’ activities in the Shirburnian is appreciated.
In conclusion may I express the hope that OSS in other parts of the world may raise sufficient energy to publish some account of themselves from time to time?
Yours sincerely,
G.A. Stewart.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.’
Biographies of those mentioned in the article:
Peter Weatherdon Grant Cameron (1911-1947)
Son of the Rev. Ian Grant Cameron (1874-1958) and Kathleen Grant Cameron (née Mann) (1886-1970), Vicar of Mere, 1927-1936, & Iwerne Courtney (Shroton), Dorset, 1929-1945.
Attended Chafyn Grove School, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
Attended Sherborne School (The Green) September 1924-July 1930; Hodgson Exhibitioner; House Prefect; Class Leader with Badge; First Class Gym; Sergeant in OTC.
Hong Kong Police, 1930-1932.
Working for Carroll Brothers, stockbrokers.
WW2, Major in the 10/19 Hyderabad Regiment.
Lived at 18 Homuntin Hill Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Died on 24 August 1947, aged 36, at On Poe Fanling, Hong Kong, from wounds received in action in Burma.
John Arnold Atkinson Griffin (1891-1972)
Son of Commander John Griffin, RN, Torquay, Devon.
Attended Sherborne Preparatory School.
Attended Sherborne School (School House) 1905-1908; 6th form; shooting viii (1907, 1908).
Joined the RMC; Lincolnshire Regiment 1911.
WW1, Major and acting Lieutenant-Colonel, Royal Berkshire Regiment (DSO, despatches 3).
Lieutenant-Colonel, 1st Bn. Lincolnshire Regiment, 1935.
WW2, Colonel, 1939; Brigadier, 1939; Major-General, 1945. Retired 194.
Colonel, The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, 1948.
1950 address: Harepath, East Boldra, Brockenhurst, Hampshire.
Robert Lyall Leigh Ingpen (1900-1969)
Son of Lieutenant-Colonel P.L. Ingpen, DSO, West Yorkshire Regiment.
Attended Beaudesert Park School, Henley in Arden, Warwickshire.
Attended Sherborne School (The Green) 1915-1918; 1st XI 1918, 1st XV 1917.
Woolwich (Cricket and Hockey XI).
Royal Field Artillery, transferred to Army Pay Corps (RAPC).
WW2, Colonel.
Edward Arnold Jenkinson (1893-?)
Son of George Edwin Jenkinson, Hadley Green, Barnet.
Attended Northaw Place School, Potters Bar.
Attended Sherborne School (Harper House) 1907-1908.
WW1, Lance-Sergeant. Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), 28th BN. (Reserve).
Mercantile Assistant with Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., Ltd., Hong Kong.
Francis John Chancellor Rybot (1899-1979)
Son of F.O. Rybot, Santa Rosa, Pennsylvania, Exeter.
Attended Oakfield School in Rugby, and Rugby and Exeter Schools.
Attended Sherborne School (The Green) 1915-1917; 6th form.
Woolwich RMA.
WW1, 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery; seconded to RAF.
WW2, Brigadier. Retired 1947.
Control Commission for Germany, 1948.
1950 address: Hill Butts, Wimborne, Dorset.
George Anthony Stewart (1905-1979)
Son of Colonel J.A. Stewart, RA, Edenhurst, Cranleigh, Surrey.
Attended Heathmere School, Haywards Heath, West Sussex.
Attended Sherborne School (School House) 1918-1922; 6th form.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Hong Kong; manager, Bombay, 1953-1956; joint manager, London 1957-1962. Retired 1962.
John Garrett Vincent-Smith (1905-1974)
Son of Dr C. Vincent Smith, West Terrace, Budleigh Salterton, Devon.
Attended St Alban’s School in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
Attended Sherborne School (Abbey House) 1919-1924; 6th form; won English Verse prize, 1924.
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
St George’s Hospital (exhibition, silver medal and Brodie Prize), MB, BChir.
Naval Medical Service, 1933; Surgeon-Lieutenant.
WW2, Surgeon Commander.
Fellowship in Child Psychiatry, 1948.
Medical Director, Child Guidance Clinic, Tunbridge Wells, 1949.
1950 address: 29 Hill Top, London, NW11.
1965 address: Windmill Cottage, Argos Hill, Mayfield, Sussex.
Leonard Frank Garland Westcott (1915-1962)
Son of Leonard George Garland Westcott (1887-1953) and Mary May Garland (née Arthur) (1895-1986), c/o. the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 9 Gracechurch Street, London.
Attended R.W. Bennett’s school at Bubbling Well Road, Shanghai, China.
Attended Sherborne School (Harper House) 1929-1932.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank.
Invalided home.
James Percival Whitham (1907-1942)
Son of Robert Percy Whitham (1873-1931) (East Indian Merchant) and Mary Adelaide Whitham (née Birch) (1870-1963) of The Firs, Fulshaw Park, Wilmslow, Cheshire.
Attended the Cathedral School, Shanghai and Beechmont School, Sevenoaks, Kent.
Attended Sherborne School (Abbeylands) May 1920-July 1925; 6th form; School Prefect (1924-25); Head of House; Colts XV rugby team, full-back (1921); 2nd XI cricket team (1924); 1st XV rugby team (1923, 1924, 1925); 1st XI cricket team (1925); School Fives Colours (1924-25); Captain of Fives (1925); School Gym Colours (1923, 1924, 1925); Captain of Gym (1925); Sergeant in the OTC; Drum Major; Senior Class Leader with Badge; School record holder of the 100 yards open (10 1/5 secs School Record 1923); Long Jump (20ft 8in. School Record 1925); Putting the Weight (16lbs) (37ft. 2 ½ in. School Record 1925); part of the team who represented Sherborne School at the Public Schools’ Relays Championships (past & present) organised by the Achilles Club at Queen’s Club on 4 April 1924.
Pembroke College, Cambridge (modern languages); Pembroke College athletics team: in 1927 part of the winning inter-college competition team in the Hundred Yards and Putting the Weight; and in 1928 ran in the 600 yards race; University Athletic Team in 1927 – awarded a half blue for putting the weight; on 17 November 1926 he broke his thigh during the Cambridge v. Dublin University match which prevented him playing in the Oxford v. Cambridge Varsity match at Twickenham on 14 December 1926, thereby missing out on a Rugby blue.
Played for Richmond Rugby Club, 1928/29 season.
Acting Branch Manager in Hong Kong of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. Member of the Hong Kong Club, Hong Kong. Lived at 10, Shek O, Hong Kong.
WW2, Lieutenant (Service no. 221895), served in the 1st Battalion The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge’s Own), D Company, 14 Platoon. Formerly of the Hong Kong VDC.
He was captured by the Japanese on 25 December 1941 after the Fall of Hong Kong and drowned on 2 October 1942 after the Japanese freighter SS Lisbon Maru, which was carrying 1.816 British POWs and 700 Japanese troops from Hong Kong to Japan, was torpedoed by American submarine USS Grouper, 6 miles from Tung Fusham Island.
Rachel Hassall
School Archivist
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