History Ink was recently asked to help trace the lives of an Austrian Jewish family who fled Nazism for Britain, Hong Kong, and China in the 1930s.
Helen’s research took place at The National Archives, UK.
The report was commissioned by Dr Peter Winterton, who lives in Australia and has been looking into his family history for some years. Peter’s father, Dr Walter Winterton, was a medic who courageously worked behind enemy lines in China. Walter met and married Rita Winterton in Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation.
Focusing her efforts on the wider family’s initial arrival in Britain, History Ink’s Helen Swinnerton meticulously researched shipping, naturalisation and electoral records found on genealogical websites as well as the National Archives in Kew and other UK archives. She contacted academics, archivists, and specialist researchers as part of her research. Her detailed report traced the forgotten footsteps of relatives who transited through Britain and went on to escape to unlikely destinations in Hong Kong and China.
