Edward Harold SMYTH [c.1881-1955]

Submitted by moddsey on
Names
Given
Edward Harold
Family
Smyth
Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Born
Date
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)
Died
Date
Died in (country)
B.C.C.Hong Kong

Edward Harold Smyth, retired merchant was better known as Harold Smyth. He was born in 1881 (John Black's List). Place of birth not known. He died in Hong Kong on 29 November 1955. His gravestone is in the Hong Kong Cemetery.

Extracted from Carl Smith Archives with additional notes:

SCMP, 1 December 1955: died Mr. Edward Harold Smyth, genial bachelor, great friend of late Rev. J. H. Ogilvie (Vicar of St. Andrew's Church, Kowloon), died Nov. 29. To China in 1902 to join Messrs. Deacon & Co. Ltd. in Canton. Retired to England in 1923. Returned to China in 1932 because of fondness for China and resided on Cheung Chau. In 1941, interned at Stanley. After liberation, went to live in St. Andrew's Vicarage, Kowloon. When Rev. Ogilvie died earlier in the year, Mr. Smyth felt the loss keenly. Aged 75.

Prior to the Japanese Occupation, he resided on Cheung Chau in European House #12 and participated in meetings of the Cheung Chau Residents' Association under the name of Harold Smyth.

Sources: 

  1. Hong Kong War Diary: 

    http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/nonuniformedcivilians.html#_Toc43367495

  2. China Families: https://www.chinafamilies.net/internees/9729-smyth-edward-harold/

 

3. Gravestone: https://www.hkmemory.hk/en/collection_details.html?catalogueRecordId=69707&f=classinfo&cp=%E7%B4%85%E6%AF%9B%E5%A2%B3%E5%A0%B4%E5%85%A7%E5%AE%B9%E5%88%86%E9%A1%9E&ep=Hong%20Kong%20Cemetery%20Topics&path=/MHK/collections/hong_kong_cemetery/All_Items/9332/index_314.html

4. Carl Smith Archive: https://search.grs.gov.hk/en/searchcarl.xhtml?q=smyth&rpp=10&page=2

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Comments

As Rev. Carl Smith's cards, below info is also recorded :

   Returned to China 1932 because of fondness for China, opened house on Cheung Chau. ... 
   After liberation, went to live in St. Andrew's Vicarage, Kowloon. [^]

Some words from Bishop Hall on the memorial ceremony for Mr. E.H. Smyth, 1 Dec. 1955 :

   No one but God knew how many people H. Symth had been a brother, an uncle, and a guardian angel to in his quiet, unassuming way for 22 years ...
   His talent as a host was well known. His bungalow in Cheung Chau was in pre-war days a centre
   of happy gatherings and good fellowship.

The 'House No. 12' was seldom seen on newspapers, unlike other houses. 
Only we read House 12A mentioned once as one with considerable damages, amongst others, in the 1937 typhoon.

[^] notice of Repatriation Office published on China Mail, 1946-3-5 says :
      The S.S. "Strathmore" is expected to leave for the United Kindom on or about the 1st
      April 1946, and will probably have accommodation for all persons named on the list.
      . . .
      It is possible that this ship may be the last available for those on the General Waiting List ..

    a Mr. E. H. Smyth is on this list.

    After retired, Mr. Smyth's initial return to England was in Nov. 1925, as China Mail 1925-11-14.
    His father was a clergyman in Lincolnshire. His brothers and sisters were in England.  
    A room in St John's Cathedral was named in memory of him in their new building, which expected to use by young people of all ages, Sunday School children ...
     Memorial of H. Smyth in the form of choir stalls was dedicated in St Andrew's Cathedral, possibly with inscription on them. [*]  

sources
Carl Smith's cards
China Mail
SCMP, Dec. 1955

[*] refer SCMP : 1956-7-9, 1958-6-27, 1958-3-17, 1956-3-10

 

In Bill Ream's account of the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, Harold Smyth is mentioned and identified as the Cheung Chau country dancing master. 
During the early days of internment at Stanley Camp in January 1942, he shared rough sleeping conditions with Bill Ream, bedding down on the stone floor of St Stephen’s Prep School. 
This brief reference places Smyth among the civilians caught up in the hardships of wartime Hong Kong.

I've put this together from the various bits that people have contributed above and elsewhere.

Edward Harold Smyth — known simply as Harold Smyth — was born in 1881, the son of a Lincolnshire clergyman.  His brothers and sisters remained in England; Harold, however, charted a different course.

In 1902, at the age of twenty‑one, he sailed for China to join Messrs Deacon & Co Ltd, export shipping agents in Canton. It was the beginning of a lifelong attachment to South China.

By temperament, he was remembered as a genial bachelor, sociable and gifted with the rare ability to make others feel at ease. When he returned to England in 1923, the Cheung Chau community marked his departure with genuine regret. A contemporary tribute captured the affection he inspired: “We are about to lose the genial presence of one of the householders and frequent visitors to the Island in the person of Mr. E. H. Smyth.” 

However, England did not hold him for long. In 1932, drawn by his fondness for China, Smyth returned and settled once more on Cheung Chau, taking up residence in House No. 12. He became an active member of the Cheung Chau Residents’ Association, but his real influence lay in the social life of the island.

Bill Ream remembered him as Cheung Chau’s country dancing master. He recalled him vividly:  “One of the social events on the island was country dancing in the house of retired businessman Harold Smyth… generous and patient in the extreme, but a martinet as a master of ceremonies. I can still hear his voice ringing out, ‘Reel, Ream, reel!’”

For Cheung Chau’s residents, these evenings were more than entertainment. In an isolated community, culturally dislocated, and often under strain, Smyth’s gatherings offered support, camaraderie, and a sense of belonging. His bungalow became a refuge where people could enjoy laughter, regain normalcy, and share in the comfort of communal activities.

The Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in December 1941 swept Smyth into the same ordeal faced by thousands of civilians. He was interned at Stanley Camp, and in the early days of confinement he shared the stone floor of St Stephen’s Prep School with Bill Ream and others. He was aged 60 by this time.

He spent three and a half years in Stanley Camp enduring chronic hunger, overcrowding, illness, and the grinding monotony of confinement.

After liberation, Harold Smyth, his house on Cheung Chau no doubt destroyed by the Japanese, as were the others, lived at St Andrew’s Vicarage, Kowloon, as a friend of the Rev. J. H. Ogilvie, Vicar of St Andrew’s Church, Kowloon. Their friendship was close; when Ogilvie died in early 1955, Smyth, then seventy‑five, felt the loss profoundly.

Harold Smyth himself died later that year, on 29 November 1955.

The tributes that followed his death reveal the quiet breadth of his influence.  Bishop Hall, speaking at his memorial service on 1 December 1955, said: “No one but God knows how many people H. Smyth has been a brother, an uncle, and a guardian angel to in his quiet, unassuming way for 22 years. . . His talent as a host is well known. His bungalow in Cheung Chau was in pre‑war days a centre of happy gatherings and good fellowship.”

In his memory, a room in St John’s Cathedral was named in his honour, intended for the use of young people and Sunday School children, and in St Andrew’s Church, choir stalls were dedicated to him, possibly with an inscription honouring his contribution and friendship.

He was buried in the Hong Kong Cemetery, his gravestone bearing a line from James Leigh Hunt’s Abou Ben Adhem: 

“Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.”

It's hard to imagine a more fitting epitaph.