1914 Oct 16. At 8.30 on the morning, an estimated 7,000 strong crowd thronged the Bund at Shanghai, and all possible river-side vantage points to wave off British men who were heading out to board the Japanese mail steamer, the SS Suwa Maru. The men were on the first leg of their journey to Britain, and to the various front lines of what we now know as the First World War.The Shanghai contingent had a number of men that later joined the ADRIC WF Martinson , HJ Beach, H S Robertson, EW Trotman
The Shanghai contingent did not waste any time on the journey, for they all underwent military training on board ship right through the voyage. The journey occupied ten weeks and was of an adventurous character, the Emden being at large when they set off.
SS Suwa Maru
1914 Dec 15. Arrives in London on SS Suwa Maru from Shanghai, part of a group of young men who comprised the "Shanghai contingent " in the manifest. There is a book about them. I contacted the writer of the book, got an auto response saying he would get back to me, but he never bother - he is an academic!. They appear to be recruits for the British Army, and they marched as a column to the Central Recruiting Office in London when they arrived, and most of them joined one of two regiments: the 10th Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, or King Edwards Horse.
The list from the ship's manifest