The Canon Wittenbach
On sunday, I visited St Andrew's Anglican church in Kowloon [Note: this church is on Nathan Road, near the tourist district]. According to a church leaflet:
"During the Japanese occupation of World War 2, St Andrew's was put to a different use. The Vicar, the Rev (now Canon) Wittenbach, was interned during the war.
This is all I've been able to discover so far about Canon Wittenbach. I'd like to know more.
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OK With the Internet now in 2009 we have a bit more information about Canon Wittenbach.
For instance at http://www.ttc.edu.sg/csca/rart_doc/ang/sing/wittenbach1953.htm
we find
Harry August Wittenbach was Church Missionary Society's East Asia Secretary from 1947 to 1957, and their Asia Secretary from 1957 to 1961. His East Asia tour to Nippon SKK (Anglican Church in Japan), the newly reconstituted Diocese of Hong Kong and Macao, and finally to the Diocese of Singapore from 1953 to 1954 sought to assess how the churches fared in the new socio-political situation following the Communist take-over in China. Wittenbach formerly worked as a CMS missionary in South China, and was interned in the prisoner-of-war camp, Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation. In 1947 he succeeded Gurney Barclay to become CMS's East Asia Secretary.
Also, I found out that the St Andrew's building was made into a Japanese Buddhist temple during the war.
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