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as Recorded by the
Mother Hash
The Original Hash House (Kuala Lumpur) Circa 1938
The Hash House
The 'Hash House' was the mildly derogative nickname
given (for its unimaginative, monotonous food) to the Selangor Club
Chambers, by the British Civil Servants and businessman who lived and dined
there. Originally, the ground floor housed the main Selangor Club dining
room, and between the two World Wars it became a social center of the
times, used regularly for lunch time meals by the members who worked in the
immediate vicinity.
Situated close to and behind the present Selangor
Club, it's function changed after independence and
it became a key office for the local Water Board, as it was the place where
all Kuala Lumpur (K.L.) residents came to pay their water bills. Sadly, it
gave way to the relentless march of time around 1964, being bulldozed to
the ground under the north-bound lane Jalan
Kuching. The buildings housing the original stables and servants quarters
are still in existence.
Ancient Harriers
The idea of Harriers chasing paper was not new to
Malaya in 1938, as there had been such clubs before in Kuala Lumpur and Johore
Bahru, and there were clubs in existence in
Malacca and Ipoh (the Kinta Harriers) at the time. "Horse"
Thomson (one of the KLH3 founding fathers) recalled being invited on a run,
shortly after his arrival in Johore Bahru in
1932, which chased a paper trail and followed basic Hash rules every week
but was so magically organized that it had no name. The club flourished in
the early 1930's but is believed to have died out around 1935.
The other branch of our ancestry comes from Malacca,
where A. S. ('G') Gispert was posted in 1937 and
joined a club called the Springgit Harriers, who
also operated weekly under Hash rules and are believed to have been formed
in 1935. Some months later, 'Torch' Bennett visited him and came as a guest
on a few runs.
Hash House Harriers
By 1938, Thomson, Lee, and Gispert
had all moved to K.L. and founded their own club, following the rules they
had learnt elsewhere. The principal original members were:
- A. S. ('G') Gispert
- Cecil Lee
- 'Horse' Thomson
- Torch' Bennett
- Eric Galvin
- H.M. Doig
Soon joined by others, including:
- Frank Woodward
- Philip Wickens
- Lew Davidson
- John Wyatt-Smith
- M. C. Hay
It is not clear that the club actually had a name at
the very beginning, but Gispert is credited with
proposing the 'Hash House Harriers' when the Registrar of Societies
required the gathering to be legally registered.
'Torch' Bennett technically missed being a founder
member, because he was then on leave, bout on his return he introduced the
first necessary organization - a bank account, a balance sheet and some
system. More importantly, he seems, with Philip Wickens
who joined later in 1939, to have helped to keep things going immediately
after the war.
Sadly, Gispert had only a
short time with his extraordinary creation, being killed in the fighting on
Singapore Island on February 11th, 1942, whilst serving with the Argylls. But with the exception of Philip Wickens who died in 1981, and Lew Davidson who died
very recently, the rest of the hardy band of hashers hare still with us and
the KL hash House Harriers keeps in touch with them all. [Editor's note: Torch died soon
after this was prepared in 1992]
The founding members were all British, although Gispert was actually Spanish in origin, his parents
having migrated to London some time before he was born. Extraordinarily
both he and Bennett were accountants, as were Paul Barnard and Jack Bridewell who made a significant contribution to our
activities of later years. Some Hash psychiatrist should investigate where
this work leads to extreme forms of escapism.
The HHH duly celebrated it
100th run on 15 August 1941, but only 17 runs later was forced into
temporary hibernation by the arrival of the Japanese.
Postwar Rebirth
Post World War II, it was nearly 12 months before the
survivors reassembled. 'Torch' Bennett put in a claim for the lost hash
mugs, a tin bath and two old bags, on the fund set up with the proceeds from
confiscated Japanese property and run No. 1 was a trot around the
race-course in August, 1946. Subsequent to the 1,000th post war run the
celebrations surround it were considered to be such a success that the 117
official pre-war runs were added to the total as we could celebrate the
2,000th run as soon as possible.
With the advent of the Emergency in 1948, the Hash
was automatically in bad official odor, as their activities were generally
illegal in terms of the curfew imposed on most of the areas surround Kuala
Lumpur and in the years 1948-51, they maintained a precarious existence at
best. The turn round came with the famous bandit incident at Cheras.
This has been widely misreported, but what actually
happened was that below where the Lady Templer
Hospital is now, in an area that was then rubber and belukar,
the Hares on a darkening and rainy evening came across some men wrapped in
ground sheets sleeping on the ground. The following pack found the bandits
on their feet but someone, in the general confusion nobody got hurt. One
member ran to Cheras Police Station and raised
the alarm; the army laid ambushes on tracks leading out of the area and
first thing the following morning bagged three bandits trying to break out.
One of them was found to have a substantial price on his head and the
bounty was shared among the non-government employees on the run (government
servants were not allowed to participate in such rewards).
Other colorful incidents related by Cecil Lee,
include how 'Torch' Bennett once nearly drowned in quicksand, and how on
one memorable occasion the erstwhile unathletic
'G' was actually leading the pack: sadly his moment of glory was short
lived as the paper trail turned to be false. Swimming would seem to be an
unofficial prerequisite to all Hashmen too, for
Cecil remembers having had to swim across a mining pool in order to get
home after being lost on one occasion, and on another it is reported that
several Hashmen ran in to a stream where bathed
some unsuspecting Malay maidens. The girls screamed; their menfolk came
hurtling to the rescue with the unsheathed parangs
flashing, and the errant Hashmen broke land speed
records in the eagerness to clear the scene.
The Hash Spreads Out
The second Hash Chapter was founded in Singapore in
1962, [Editor's note:
The Royal Italian Bordighera Hash was begun in
the late '40s but died by the late '50s. It was later resurected
by members of the Milan H3] followed by Kuching in 1963,
Brunei, Kota Kinabalu and Ipoh in 1964, Penang in
1965, and Perth was the first outside Malaysia and
Singapore in 1967. Even by the time of K.L. 1,500th run in 1974 the total was only 35, so the subsequent explosion has been
spectacular indeed. The 1992 international list will total around 1,100
clubs in over 135 countries and all continents (including Antarctica) where
the hash format is often adapted to environments very different from the
near rows of Malaysian rubber trees amongst which it was conceived. Kabul
HHH understandably foundered, but what can it be like to hash in Sinai,
Peking, Addis Ababa or the Falkland Islands? [Editor's note: The aforementioned second hash dating
back to 1962 was founded in Singapore by Ian Cumming who is still actively
hashing with the New York H3. He is also a primary contributor to every
hash songbook].
Interhash
The first attempt at an Interhash
get-together was the K.L. 1,000th post-war run in
1966, and the spectacular 1500th run in 1973 when attendance was something
over 300. Interhash 1978 in Hong Kong broke new
ground with an attendance around 800; Interhashes
1980 and 1982 were credited with 1,200 - 1,300; Interhash
1984 with rather more Interhash 1986 broke the
2,000 barrier with 2,143.
Attendance at Bali for Interhash
1988 was reported to bet between 2,600 and 2,700. Interhash
1990 in Manila was affected by the then current state of emergency in the
country, but nevertheless some 1,600 intrepid Hashers were let loose in
Manila and survived to tell the tale.
Interhash 1992 in Phuket, Thailand does
not seem to be affected by the recent unhappy turmoil in Bangkok and,
judging by reported registrations the numbers are set to pass 3,000. [Editor's note: Interhash 1994 in New Zealand drew nearly 4,000, Interhash 1996 in Cyprus drew 6,000 and Interhash 1998 in Kuala Lumpur had over 7,000
participants]
Written in 1992 by Mike Lyons from the copious
research material prepared by John Duncan. Transcribed in 1994 by Tom
"Self-Executing Officer" Moore, On-Sec, Boston H3, and edited by
Chas. "ZiPpY tC"
Baumerich, On-Sec, Pikes Peak H4.
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