In a recent post, The Chinese Labour Corps in Basra? we explored the story of 227 unidentified Chinese buried in Basra, explaining our belief that records had been lost rather than the names of those Chinese having never been recorded. Our belief was based as much on cultural reasons as on anything else. Wherever possible the British paid respect to the dead, and wherever possible were culturally sensitive to the various beliefs of those serving under the British. And that they should have been buried without their names having been recorded by their compatriots is even more unlikely, given the centrality of remembering the dead within Chinese customs.
No matter how strongly one believes something to be true, based on an understanding of cultural practices, one can never be one hundred percent sure, so that post could have backfired with someone producing hard evidence ‘disproving’ our deduced conclusion.
As it happens hard evidence has been presented to us, though we are pleased to say it supports our belief. Gregory James is a valued supporter of the Campaign and has an encyclopaedic knowledge on the Chinese labourers of the First World War – a knowledge which is largely captured in his definitive work, The Chinese Labour Corps 1916-1920. We are grateful to have received the following points concerning the identities of the Chinese buried in Basra from Gregory James:
1. From the records of the CWGC, as well as of military hospitals and Board of Trade records of losses at sea, I have the following preliminary findings.
Chinese Porter Corps, Mesopotamia.
The Hong Kong Memorial lists 55 names. Other records identify three further names. Of the total, 31 are recorded as having died at No. 8 Indian General Hospital, Makina, and five at sea.
Inland Water Transport, Mesopotamia.
The Hong Kong Memorial lists 240 names. Other records identify 22 further fatalities, of whom only three are unnamed. Of the total, thirteen are recorded as having died at No. 8 Indian General Hospital, Makina; and eighty at No 20 Indian General Hospital, Basra; and eight at sea.
Port Administration and River Conservancy Department, Mesopotamia
The Hong Kong Memorial lists 34 names. Of these men, six are recorded as having died at No 20 Indian General Hospital, Basra; and one at sea.
I suggest that the 227 “lost” graves may, in fact, be of men whose names are recorded on the Hong Kong Memorial as missing, or among the few who are identified in the records, but who have no commemoration.