Alistair W. Hay Collection

The collection includes copies of letters written by Hay to family and friends. Three describe his work with the Protectorate, colleagues, travel and leisure and are dated 1923, Canton; 1929, Taiping; and 1933, Kuala Lumpur (17 sheets). A second series of letters dating from 1940-42 narrates Hay's wartime experience (57 sheets).

The collection includes a copy of a photograph showing a memorial plaque honouring Hay and other members of the Chinese Protectorate who lost their lives during the Second World War, and an account of a memorial service at Kuala Lumpur in Nov. 1946. There is also a copy of a letter written by Hay in Sept. 1918 describing his service in the First World War as a wireless operator.

Alistair Hay began his career as a colonial civil servant in Canton during the early 1920s. By 1923 he had joined the Chinese Protectorate of the Malay Civil Service and served with it in Taiping (Perak), Penang, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Singapore. Hay was based in Singapore when the Second World War began, and he fought with its Volunteer Corps as a captain in the artillery during the Japanese invasion. He was captured after the fall of Singapore and died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Donated by Alistair Hay's daughter, Alison Keating, in 2007.

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

good condition

This collection description was entered by MJC.