Left: The much-changed site of the former entrance to the French Club in Peking's Legation Quarter. As detailed in A Death in Peking, press reports of the time describe a temporary ice rink at the location, one covered by a matshed (a large wood and canvas structure). Pamela was last seen alive leaving this location at about 7.30 pm on January 7th, 1937. The bicycle appearing in the photograph is purely a coincidence. |
Right: Opposite the above is the entrance to the former French Barracks (now a trade union building). The stone entrance may be the original. The ice rink was arranged for the benefit of the French soldiers. The guard commander, however, permitted its use by the public. Two hundred people used it on the evening Pamela was murdered. |
The area as shown in the most detailed map of the period (Guide to Peking, 1935). It clearly shows the barrack gate with the club opposite. From the club, Pamela's cycle route home would have taken her south into Legation Street, before heading east, out of the Legation Quarter and toward the wall road, where her body was later found. |