Jill Doggett, social reporter from the early 1950s until 1974, who died in England in 1999, aged 87 An amazing woman, Jill Doggett covered social welfare issues in Hong Kong when no one else was doing it. Her column, Out and About with Jill Doggett, ran thee times a week in the Post for nearly 15 years.
She was always full of anecdotes about her years in a colony undergoing huge change, such as the time in the 1950s when she was enlisted by the so-called 'white gloves brigade' of expatriate wives to drive three Chinese women from the paddy fields in the New Territories to tea with the governor's wife at Government House.
'It was summer, and cars were not air-conditioned,' she recalled, on a trip to Hong Kong in 1992. 'None of the three had been in a car before, and it was an awfully long trip along the old Tai Po Road - there were no tunnels then - to the car ferry pier in Wang Tau Hom, from there across on the ferry to North Point, and up to Government House.
'The women were dressed in their best black sam fu [tunic and trousers] for the occasion and were very chatty among themselves when we started off.
'As the trip progressed, I noticed that the chatter fell away and then stopped altogether. I turned and asked if they were alright and they all nodded. I should have taken better notice.
'We finally got to Government House and Lady Black was in the drawing room, waiting to greet us. Just as she approached, one of the women whisked her rattan hat off and was sick into it. This was the signal for the others to follow suit. It was a day never to be forgotten.'
