In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

A Hong Kong Doctor in Uizr and Peace Albert Rodrigues Albert Rodrigues received his medical training at the University (~f Hong Kong (MBBS 1935) and in London, specializitlg in Obstetrics and Cynaecology. As a medical cdficer in the Volunteers, he served with distinction in the Field Ambulance during the war and in Sham Shui Po Camp throughout theJapanese occupation. Returning to private practice qfter the war he evetltually became the medical superintendent of St. Paul's Hospital. At the same time he was wellknown for his activity in community 4fairs, serving in the Legislative COHncil (1953-1960) and the Executive Council (1960-1974) o.f Hong Kong. At the university he was a regular member (~f the Court and o.f the Council, finally becominLI!. Pro-Chancellor. An honorary Doctor of Laws degree was cot!ferred in 1962. Other honours awarded over the years if/elude those from Portugal (Qfficer if the Order o.f Christ), France (Legion if Honour), the Vatican (Order if St. Sylvester) and the British Empire (MBE (military), OBE and CBE, culminatit~1!, in a Knighthood itl 1960). B orn in Hong Kong on 5 November 1911 to Luiz Gonzaga Rodrigues and Giovannina Remedios, I was unfortunately orphaned at the age of nine when my father died. My mother had succumbed to puerpural fever a few weeks after my birth. So my subsequent family life was with one of my uncles, who had seven children and lived near the Racecourse in Happy Valley. One of my happy memories as a young boy was swimming in the natural pool nearby from which Blue Pool Road got its name. Another less pleasant recollection was that of seeing the fire at the Racecourse during the First World War when some hundreds of people lost their lives. During the school holidays I went over to Macao to stay with an aunt. Macao in the 1920s and 1930s was very European in flavour, small and parochial and full of gossip. Government cadets from Hong 203 204 Albert Rodrigues Kong and Malaya were sent there to learn Chinese, the idea being that a more pure form of the language was spoken in Macao, with less opportunity for speaking English than in Hong Kong. Also the active social life of the British colony didn't prevail in Macao so there was little distraction from the task at hand. One of these cadets, Alexander Grantham, became Governor of Hong Kong and Chancellor of the University after the war, from 1947 to 1957. My paternal grandfather, Emilio Ernesto Rodriguez, was a ship's captain - I remember well his very fair hair - originally from Belem, the harbour district of Lisbon. I recall boarding his ship once and travelling across to Macao overnight, staying there for a day or so before returning to Hong Kong. His vessel plied the Hong Kong-Macao-Canton route: during one of these voyages the vessel foundered, and although my grandfather was rescued he subsequently developed pneumonia and died in Macao, where he is buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery. Attending St. Joseph's College during my school years, it seems I was a very diligent student, which on reflection I put down to an underlying feeling that as an orphan I had no choice but to succeed, making my way by my own efforts. I passed the matriculation examination with three distinctions at the age of fifteen, but was considered too young to enter the university, and so remained at school for another year. At the age of sixteen I entered the Medical Faculty of the university of Hong Kong on a scholarship. A wealthy Portuguese lady had left provision in her will for the most promising Portuguese student of that year to enter the university with his fees paid. I studied there from 1928 until 1934, qualifying as a medical practitioner at the age of 24 when I was awarded the degree of MBBS in 1935. One of my professors, the Australian Lindsay Ride, I came to know very well in many capacities in the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps and the university before and after the war. Lectures for medical students were held in various locations, biochemistry and physics in the Main Building, anatomy classes in a separate Anatomy Building, and pathology courses in the Pathological Laboratory. There was no shortage of corpses for dissection, and us male students would sometimes torment our female colleagues by hiding a severed finger in one of their pockets; the result can only...

Share