[Civilian] George Woods Giffen
Description:
Year of birth:
4 March 1911, Dorking, Surrey, England
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
In January 1925, George, son of Constance Giffen and Cecil Charles Woods, won a scholarship to the Ernest Bailey Secondary School at Matlock, Derbyshire, placing first out of 70 candidates. After eight terms he joined the new Matlocks Weekly newspaper but it folded after a year and he temporarily joined the Diss Express, near Norwich, in 1929 before moving in 1930 to the Derbyshire Times (one of best county newspapers). Each reporter had to cover a district and George rode on his motorbike reporting on deaths, weddings, whist drives, accidents, crimes and civic politics. A few years later, George and many of his fellow reporters were let go (in a money-saving drive) just before they became seniors. He moved to London, but it was 1931 and the Depression; he lived in genteel poverty in Euston Square. He got a job selling soft drinks to soccer teams on the field at half time. He tried to join the army but was rejected because of poor dental health.
He then joined the East Ham Mail and did some “stringing” for the Press Association, covering soccer at the West Ham stadium and the Corinthian rugby matches. He was recruited by the South China Morning Post in 1933 after being interviewed by SCMP managing director Ben Wylie in a London hotel. Giffen joined the Hong Kong Telegraph, sister paper to the SCMP, and became assistant editor. “I started off with 100 Mexican dollars a month but doubled it with freelance work as the Hong Kong representative for Exchange Telegraph,” he said. Hong Kong was “a romantic city though the work was humdrum and reporting involved a lot of waiting, drinking, rickshaw riding and boredom.” He joined his Australian colleagues in the ANZAC company of Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. In the sports-mad colony, he played badminton, joined his editor Stewart Gray in cricket matches at the Kowloon Cricket Club and “defended stoutly,” according to a press report, when he and Gray teamed up for a European Press soccer team. On 27 June 1938, Giffen married Erma Evelyn Hadley, a Canadian, at St Andrew’s Church, Kowloon. Because of fears of impending war, Erma was evacuated back to Canada nearly 18 months later.
Wartime:
When war broke out, Giffen, exempted from HKVDC duties because his newspaper job was deemed “essential services,” moved into the SCMP offices, sleeping on a camp bed. He was interned at Stanley camp throughout the war, sharing a billet with his SCMP colleagues, including Wylie. The camp singer and pianist Betty Drown said of him, “George was extremely cynical, but he was very kind-hearted, would help anybody, and go without himself to help.” He was also friends with Louise Mary “Billie” Gill and supported her after the tragic drowning of her son at Tweed Bay. Their friendship developed and, after she became pregnant, Giffen wrote a poem for Billie’s birthday on 14 June 1945 dedicated to the “unborn baby of my unwed wife.”
Post-war:
Shortly after Liberation, Giffen joined Wylie and SCMP editor Harry Ching in negotiating with the Japanese for the return of the SCMP’s offices and printing press. Ching noted in his diary: “Wylie bold, bluffs Japs, inspects office. Building filthy. Staff gape at us and chatter. Japs say awaiting instructions but amicable. Cheeky Giffen wants car and gets it as missed bus.” Giffen, as publisher, helped the SCMP get back on its feet and, when he left Hong Kong in January 1946 to rejoin his wife in Canada, he intended to return. However, he changed his mind, resumed his journalism career in Vancouver and worked as a speech writer for the Canadian Government in Ottawa before retiring. In 1985, he and his family warmly received Ian, his war-time son with Billie Gill. When he passed away in 2006, the SCMP ran his obituary under the headline, Champion of the Press. It included: “On August 30, 1945, the atmosphere in Hong Kong was tense and uncertain.
Two weeks earlier, Emperor Hirohito had announced the surrender of his forces but Hong Kong was still under Japanese military occupation. In the Wyndham Street offices of the South China Morning Post, the Japanese executives who had put out the English-language occupation newspaper, Hong Kong News, refused to accept reality. Three Post staff had bravely gone to the office, demanding space to put out the first edition of their newspaper since the surrender of British forces three years and eight months earlier. They were the editor, Australian-Chinese Henry Ching, who had spent the desperate war years in the city, the general manager Benjamin Wylie, and journalist George Giffen - both recently released from internment at Stanley. Despite the refusal of the Japanese occupants to co-operate, Ching and Giffen set about preparing to publish. Ching was in the office and Giffen went out into the streets to gauge the mood of the public. Then he came running back: “The British fleet is coming in!” Giffen grabbed a chair and a typewriter and pounded out the news, while Ching edited it. Veteran employee Lam Yung-fai got the paper set in type and printed. Soon after, the first post-war edition of the Post was being handed out free on the streets. The issue was a humble single sheet printed on one side, 13cm wide and 28cm deep. “EXTRA,” it was headed, “Fleet entering.” The news was momentous. The British fleet was coming into the harbour, ending not only the grim occupation but also uncertainty about the immediate future.”
Further Reading:
Searching for Billie, Ian Gill, The Hidden Years, John Luff; China to Me, Emily Hahn
Year of birth:
4 March 1911, Dorking, Surrey, England
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
In January 1925, George, son of Constance Giffen and Cecil Charles Woods, won a scholarship to the Ernest Bailey Secondary School at Matlock, Derbyshire, placing first out of 70 candidates. After eight terms he joined the new Matlocks Weekly newspaper but it folded after a year and he temporarily joined the Diss Express, near Norwich, in 1929 before moving in 1930 to the Derbyshire Times (one of best county newspapers). Each reporter had to cover a district and George rode on his motorbike reporting on deaths, weddings, whist drives, accidents, crimes and civic politics. A few years later, George and many of his fellow reporters were let go (in a money-saving drive) just before they became seniors. He moved to London, but it was 1931 and the Depression; he lived in genteel poverty in Euston Square. He got a job selling soft drinks to soccer teams on the field at half time. He tried to join the army but was rejected because of poor dental health.
He then joined the East Ham Mail and did some “stringing” for the Press Association, covering soccer at the West Ham stadium and the Corinthian rugby matches. He was recruited by the South China Morning Post in 1933 after being interviewed by SCMP managing director Ben Wylie in a London hotel. Giffen joined the Hong Kong Telegraph, sister paper to the SCMP, and became assistant editor. “I started off with 100 Mexican dollars a month but doubled it with freelance work as the Hong Kong representative for Exchange Telegraph,” he said. Hong Kong was “a romantic city though the work was humdrum and reporting involved a lot of waiting, drinking, rickshaw riding and boredom.” He joined his Australian colleagues in the ANZAC company of Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. In the sports-mad colony, he played badminton, joined his editor Stewart Gray in cricket matches at the Kowloon Cricket Club and “defended stoutly,” according to a press report, when he and Gray teamed up for a European Press soccer team. On 27 June 1938, Giffen married Erma Evelyn Hadley, a Canadian, at St Andrew’s Church, Kowloon. Because of fears of impending war, Erma was evacuated back to Canada nearly 18 months later.
Wartime:
When war broke out, Giffen, exempted from HKVDC duties because his newspaper job was deemed “essential services,” moved into the SCMP offices, sleeping on a camp bed. He was interned at Stanley camp throughout the war, sharing a billet with his SCMP colleagues, including Wylie. The camp singer and pianist Betty Drown said of him, “George was extremely cynical, but he was very kind-hearted, would help anybody, and go without himself to help.” He was also friends with Louise Mary “Billie” Gill and supported her after the tragic drowning of her son at Tweed Bay. Their friendship developed and, after she became pregnant, Giffen wrote a poem for Billie’s birthday on 14 June 1945 dedicated to the “unborn baby of my unwed wife.”
Post-war:
Shortly after Liberation, Giffen joined Wylie and SCMP editor Harry Ching in negotiating with the Japanese for the return of the SCMP’s offices and printing press. Ching noted in his diary: “Wylie bold, bluffs Japs, inspects office. Building filthy. Staff gape at us and chatter. Japs say awaiting instructions but amicable. Cheeky Giffen wants car and gets it as missed bus.” Giffen, as publisher, helped the SCMP get back on its feet and, when he left Hong Kong in January 1946 to rejoin his wife in Canada, he intended to return. However, he changed his mind, resumed his journalism career in Vancouver and worked as a speech writer for the Canadian Government in Ottawa before retiring. In 1985, he and his family warmly received Ian, his war-time son with Billie Gill. When he passed away in 2006, the SCMP ran his obituary under the headline, Champion of the Press. It included: “On August 30, 1945, the atmosphere in Hong Kong was tense and uncertain.
Two weeks earlier, Emperor Hirohito had announced the surrender of his forces but Hong Kong was still under Japanese military occupation. In the Wyndham Street offices of the South China Morning Post, the Japanese executives who had put out the English-language occupation newspaper, Hong Kong News, refused to accept reality. Three Post staff had bravely gone to the office, demanding space to put out the first edition of their newspaper since the surrender of British forces three years and eight months earlier. They were the editor, Australian-Chinese Henry Ching, who had spent the desperate war years in the city, the general manager Benjamin Wylie, and journalist George Giffen - both recently released from internment at Stanley. Despite the refusal of the Japanese occupants to co-operate, Ching and Giffen set about preparing to publish. Ching was in the office and Giffen went out into the streets to gauge the mood of the public. Then he came running back: “The British fleet is coming in!” Giffen grabbed a chair and a typewriter and pounded out the news, while Ching edited it. Veteran employee Lam Yung-fai got the paper set in type and printed. Soon after, the first post-war edition of the Post was being handed out free on the streets. The issue was a humble single sheet printed on one side, 13cm wide and 28cm deep. “EXTRA,” it was headed, “Fleet entering.” The news was momentous. The British fleet was coming into the harbour, ending not only the grim occupation but also uncertainty about the immediate future.”
Further Reading:
Searching for Billie, Ian Gill, The Hidden Years, John Luff; China to Me, Emily Hahn
Sources: Photo: Tony Banham
