ABOUT THIS BOOK

A diary of life at the Stanley Internment Camp in Hong Kong in the 1940s.

More Than 1001 Days and Nights of Hong Kong Internment is the wartime journal of Sir Chaloner Grenville Alabaster, former attorney-general of Hong Kong and one of the three highest-ranking British officials during the Japanese occupation. He was imprisoned by the Japanese at the Stanley Internment Camp from 1941 to 1945. During his internment, he kept a diary of his life in the camp in small notebooks, hiding them until his release in 1945. He wrote his wartime journal on the basis of these notes. The journal records his day-to-day experiences of the fall of Hong Kong, his time at Stanley, and his eventual release. The book is an important primary source for understanding the daily operation of the Stanley Internment Camp and the period immediately after the fall of Hong Kong.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Sir Chaloner Grenville Alabaster, OBE, QC (1880–1958) was a British lawyer who served as Attorney General of Hong Kong in the 1930s. David St Maur Sheil is the great-grandson of Sir Chaloner Grenville Alabaster and has been conducting research into his family’s long history in Hong Kong and China. Kwong Chi Man is associate professor of history at Hong Kong Baptist University. Tony Banham is an independent researcher of the Battle of Hong Kong.

REVIEWS

‘A prominent figure in pre-war Hong Kong, Alabaster was one of the leaders of the British community in Stanley Internment Camp. His recently discovered journal provides a detailed and candid account of the routines, anxieties, and hardships of camp life. It also offers new insights into the complex politics and divisions among internees. With its substantial editorial introduction, this book is an important addition to the growing literature on internment during Japan’s wartime occupation of Hong Kong.’
—Christopher Munn, University of Hong Kong

‘Of the many memoirs of the Stanley civilian internment camp, this is perhaps the most fascinating and engrossing. Written soon after the war and based on a diary, it is not only a day-by-day description of the travails of life in captivity but also, more interestingly, an account of the inner tensions and divisions that were rampant among the British internees from beginning to end.’
—Edward J. M. Rhoads, University of Texas at Austin

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Japanese Invasion of Hong Kong
The Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong
The Stanley Internment
Chaloner Grenville Alabaster: A Biography

1. Book I: The Japanese Invasion
Part I: The Period of Hostilities (8–27 December 1941)
Part II: Internment at Prince’s Building – South-East Corner (27 December 1941–10 January 1942)
Part III: Internment at Prince’s Building – North-West Corner (January–March 1942)

2. Book II: Stanley Internment Camp, 1942
Part I: Preliminary Note
Part II: Stanley Camp in 1942 until American Exodus (March–July 1942)
Part III: Stanley Camp in 1942 after American Exodus

3. Book III: Stanley Camp in 1943
Part I: Early 1943: Evacuation Issues Continued
Part II: July 1943: The Arrests of Internees

4. Book IV: Stanley Camp in 1944
Part I: First Half of 1944: Fighting Boredom and Hunger
Part II: Late 1944: Allied Counterattacks

5. Book V: Stanley Camp in 1945
Part I: Early 1945: Decline of the Japanese Rule in Hong Kong
Part II: August 1945: The War Ends

Epilogue
Appendix I: Timeline (Written by Grenville Alabaster)
Appendix II: Biographies
List of Editors