Transcript of a message, signed by Vandeleur Grayburn, Chief Manager, whilst he was held under duress in Hong Kong during the Second World War. The message was sent via secret radio broadcast to Oliver Edwards, an employee of the bank in China who had escaped Swatow (Shantou) and reached Chungking (Chongqing) to help set up a new branch. The original handwritten message is catalogued with HSBC Reference Code HQ 1721-0001.
Underneath the transcript is a note which explains the message was sent in response to a communication from Edwards in May 1942, via a Chinese agent. Grayburn's message was passed through British Army Aid Group radio to the British Embassy. It was received by W C Cassels, Adviser to the Board, who withheld it for three weeks for security reasons, before delivering it to an HSBC representative in Chungking, W C Murray. The document is initialled, presumably by Oliver Edwards, sometime when the original message (i.e. HQ 1721-0001) was handed over to the Archives.
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