by Jo Hodgkin | Jul 7, 2023 | A Good(ish) Man in Burma
Not many people can claim to have one grandfather who was gaoler to the other. Harold Fielding Hall had that distinction, though understandably he didn’t trumpet this widely. In 1828 Hilkiah Hall, was imprisoned for debt in Durham Gaol. Harold’s other...
by Jo Hodgkin | Mar 30, 2023 | A Good(ish) Man in Burma
Advice for invaders: when planning to take over a sovereign state, it’s a good idea to frame it as a ‘rescue mission’. At the height of the imperial era, the British knew this well. By 1885, when they were getting ready to take over Upper Burma, a...
by Jo Hodgkin | Mar 14, 2023 | A Good(ish) Man in Burma
The day Harold Fielding Hall died was not short on drama. Just hours before drawing his final breath, he wrote, or dictated, a new will which left everything to the four year old daughter of his cousin. His wife and children were to receive nothing. It’s a bit of a...
by Jo Hodgkin | Mar 10, 2023 | A Good(ish) Man in Burma
In July 1905 a remarkable short story appeared in Temple Bar Magazine. Its author, Harold Fielding Hall, was well known for his book on Burmese society and religion, The Soul of a People, which was on the way to achieving almost cult status among Edwardian readers....
