Eva Leonard
1923-2004
Eva Leonard, a distinguished physiotherapist from a prominent Hong Kong family, has died in Britain. She was 81.
Leonard, who died suddenly at home on July 31, was the daughter of Major Samuel Macomber Churn, a leading businessman who launched Union Trading in the early years of the last century, and was later chairman of several firms including China Provident, North Point Wharves and General Improvements - leading companies in their time.
She was educated at Diocesan Girls' School, but the outbreak of war meant she was unable to continue studying medicine at the University of Hong Kong. She became an auxiliary nurse during the invasion of Hong Kong.
Leonard's father in the meantime had been appointed government rice controller, responsible for ensuring the city's supply, and was in India negotiating shipments when Hong Kong fell.
After spending some time in Hong Kong, Leonard followed members of the medical faculty to the mainland, hoping to renew her studies. But ill health forced her to give up and she left to join her father, then a captain in a British intelligence unit, in Calcutta.