Dear Rotarians,
A few days ago, I chanced into meeting Dr Robert Lampard of RC Calgary,
Alberta, Canada, who was in Kuala Lumpur after the Bangkok convention.
He is searching and looking for gaps in the early journey of James Wheeler
Davidson of Calgary, also famously known as the Marco Polo of Rotary establishing
Rotary clubs as far as Greece, Egypt, across Asia — Turkey, Israel, Iraq, India, Myanmar,
Thailand, China, Malaya, Indonesia — to Australia & New Zealand in the last 1920s
and early 1930s. I think Davidson’s amazing feat can never be achieved again.
In all, Davidson chartered 7 clubs in Malaya: KL, Seremban, Malacca, Penang, Ipoh, Klang,
Singapore around 1930 in one sweep! In so doing, he proposed to R.I. some changes
that led to a broader interpretation of the classification system. In one particular change,
RI was to accept different ethnic classifications. For instance, besides a white doctor,
a Malayan doctor and Chinese doctor could both belong to the Singapore club.
He also requested that RI literature be written in the new languages.
The wife of James Davidson is Lillian, who travelled with him.
She had written many articles about the journey, and these were published in the Rotarian
magazine. Some of these stories are now compiled into a book, The life and times of
James and Lillian Davidson in Rotary International.
Dr Lampard gave me a copy and in it it has two relevant chapters.
I’ve got written permission to share their wonderful adventures in Malaya & Singapore.
I will share Davidson’s encounter with Malaya in the chapter ‘Rotary in Tanah Melayu‘
and the other story about earliest Rotary in Singapore in ‘Here East where West meet‘.
Dr Lampard asks for help. The two key questions he needs addressed are:
(1) were there are newspaper article(s) in the Singapore newspaper(s) about the
charter meeting of the K.L. Club on Sep. 27th, 1929. He found the article on the
K.L. chartering, in the Malaya Mail of Sep. 28th, 1929 very informative.
(2) was there a reporting in the same newspapers on the chartering of the Singapore
club on June 4, 1930. He very much need a copy of these articles.
(3) He also needs to learn as much as I can about the K.L. Concord Club : its meetings, purpose, number of members, etc.
If any of you by any chance have any letters, photos, Rotary bulletin about these early happenings,
In the meantime, please peruse the attached stories. Happy reading!
Regards
PP Dr Ho
rotary-in-tanah-melayu
east-meet-west-2
