2-798-919 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Victoria Barracks, Hong Kong - from a sketch by a correspondent, 1845. British military buildings in China. 'The climate produces the most weakening effects on the European constitution, and few Englishmen can expect to live many years after residing there for some time. Its diseases are endemic fever, diarrhoea, and dysentery. Each European soldier is calculated to pass four times through the hospital in the course of the year...The British commander, General d'Aguilar, has declared, that to retain Hong Kong will require the loss of a whole regiment every three years, and that to have 700 effective men, it is necessary to maintain 1400. The graveyard was soon filled, and another was required from the Surveyor-General, who found it difficult to point out a proper spot'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.