大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by Pat Mantell from Sidley UK Online Centre and has been added to the website on behalf of Mrs Edna Jessie Grant with her permission.

I was born in Leeds in 1902 but went to convent school near Shepton Mallet in Somerset. I later went to a convent in France at Elbeuf near Rouen and taught while I was there before travelling as a governess with an American family on a Cunard Liner from Liverpool to the USA.

Eventually I went to live in Hong Kong, China, and worked as a teacher to educate difficult children. I remember the great river and the beautiful mountains and I got married in Shanghai. My Husband worked for the Blue Funnel Line and I was the Chief Cashier, so we were able to travel around the world. We moved to Hong Kong, where French was the most used language, and the English men joined the Volunteers set up by a Voluntary Army.

The Japanese invaded Hong Kong on the 8th December 1941 and my husband was killed on Christmas day when the Japanese occupied the town. The British Flags came down all over Hong Kong. I was detained in the prison officer鈥檚 quarters from 1941 to 1945 to live and to teach the children. This was near the sea and sometimes we were allowed out to go into the sea. We had to queue for one bowl of rice at 11.00 a.m. and another at 5.00 p.m. with occasional pieces of vegetable or fish but we grew our own vegetables on a piece of land nearby.

Hong Kong was a very wealthy place where Chinese and Russians lived with many servants. When the war was over I came back to England where winter clothes had to be bought, but later I went back to Hong Kong to work for the company and had a good flat and a good pension.

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