Belfast Screening of "The Sinking of The Lisbon Maru"

5th September 2025

My wife Gillian and I were invited to attend a screening of Fang Li's Documentary film in Belfast on 5 September. This had been arranged by the Chinese Consul General in Belfast, Li Nan.

Also invited was the family of the late John Allison. John had been the Sick Berth Chief Petty Officer in HMS Tamar when Hong Kong was invaded in 1941. He was amongst the 1,816 POWs on the Lisbon Maru. He was one of the last to leave the sinking ship and was seriously injured during his escape. After many hours in the water he was eventually picked up but sadly died on his way to hospital the day he reached Japan.

John came from Ballymena but his name did not appear on the local war memorial amongst the list of those who died in the Second World War. In recent years this was brought to the attention of the local council, who discovered through further research that there were others whose names had been overlooked. This was later corrected and their names are now included. The image shows one of two plaques with the names of the missing heroes, including that of John Allison

On the evening of 4 September, Consul General Li hosted a reception at the prestigious Culloden Hotel in Holywood marking the 80th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War, or as the Chinese describe it, Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the Global Anti-Fascist War. This was attended by a large gathering, perhaps 100 or so, including two MPs and a number of other dignitaries. The event included a short trailer of Fang Li's film and I was given the opportunity to speak briefly about the film.

On 5 September, we attended the first of three screenings held that day. Each had an audience of around 100 people and the film was well received in all cases. For the first showing I was able to introduce the film and afterwards describe other developments including the memorials at the National Memorial Arboretum and on Dongji Island, the growing friendship between Chinese and British people initially channelled through the Chinese Embassy in London and the amazing case of "Goldie" the Chinese aunt to Lindsey Archer and Jean Cassidy, whose daughter by a later marriage has been found in Amoy (Xiamen) in China.

Consul General Li was the perfect host. He explained that he had been asked by the London Embassy to look after us, which he did extremely well. He invited Gillian and me and the Allison family to dinner at the Consulate General that evening. The Allison family were unable to make it so we enjoyed a quiet informal and friendly evening with just the Consul General and one of his colleagues.

This will have gone some way to spread awareness of the Lisbon Maru into another part of the British Isles.

Major (retired) Brian Finch