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Pamela in that black dress ...

12/31/2018

The striking studio photographs of Pamela, above and right, were reportedly taken only a few days before her murder. They show, surely, a fashion conscious young woman with a certain confidence in her own image.

The black dress in these shots is of the period - the 1930s. It was an age when young people still aped their elders; there was no "teenage" fashion.

Peking may have been a long way from Europe, but its foreign residents kept right up to date with the day's styles (as did also many wealthy Chinese).

1930s fashion for ladies.

The writer admits that 1930s fashion is not his forte (I think ladies did best in the much earlier Belle Epoque). Nonetheless, pictured here are some pretty smart 1930s outfits of a type that would not have escaped Pamela's notice.

No prizes for spotting two of Bette Davis.

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1937 ... an eventful year

12/23/2018

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The Hindenburg airship explodes over New Jersey

1937. In January, Pamela's body was found beneath the city wall. It was the start of an eventful year across the world, for good and bad.

Right. July, and Peking saw the start of the war between China and the invading Japanese, in which millions were to die.

Pictured are a few other 1937 world events while police in Peking investigated the Werner murder.

Roosevelt begins second term as US President

Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific Ocean

Slaughter continues in the Spanish Civil War

The Windsors marry after the abdication

Neville Chamberlain becomes UK Prime Minister

USSR: a young execution victim of Stalin's great purge

JRR Tolkein publishes The Hobbit

Daffy Duck first appears on the big screen

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Pamela's China ... people and faces of the time

12/17/2018

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A medley of photographs giving a flavour of the people and faces the young Pamela would have been familiar with among the streets and scenes of pre-communist China. Rich and poor, costumes and fashion, eastern and western.

All images from Historical Photographs of China (Bristol Uni), unless stated.

image from Weihsien Paintings website

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Pamela Werner, the Peking orphan

12/9/2018

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Pamela was adopted by the childless Edward and Gladys Werner when she was an infant.
ETC Werner described next to nothing about her adoption, the legal process for which was far less formal than that of today.
If her (given) birthday was correct, Pamela was born in January 1917. There is no trace of the Werners travelling abroad during the immediate years thereafter so the likelihood is that Pamela was adopted locally. It is also likely that she was born to a "White Russian" mother, which may have been another reason for silence on the matter.

White Russian refugees in China

China had long been home to many Russians. After the 1917 revolution it became home to tens of thousands more as White Russian opponents of the Bolsheviks flooded into the country as refugees.
Though some were of aristocratic background, the great majority soon found themselves poor white immigrants in poor country. They were destitute. Adoption for Pamela may have been the best option for her.

Bolshevik troops

White Russian refugees

The Werners

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Pamela in that black dress ...

1937 ... an eventful year

Pamela's China ... people and faces of the time

Pamela Werner, the Peking orphan

Graeme Sheppard

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