Military History

Military history has a minor role in historical narratives about Hong Kong during the Colonial Period (1840–1997). Such treatment is somewhat surprising, as Hong Kong had been an important British military and naval post until the 1960s. During the early days of the British rule, British (and Indian) soldiers and sailors outnumbered the European settlers, although the Chinese population remained predominant in terms of numbers. From 1865 to 1941, Hong Kong was the headquarters of the China Station, the Royal Navy unit responsible for the British naval presence in the Western Pacific. Hong Kong’s status as an important naval base is illustrated by the fact that it had more large dry docks than all other British colonies in Asia until the Sembawang Base of Singapore was completed in the late 1930s. Between 1948 and 1950, it even housed a full division, a commando brigade, two squadrons of fighters, and a sizable fleet of several cruisers.