A
Brief History of the Hash House Harriers (courtesy of Harrier.Net)
Hash House Harrier roots extend back to the old English schoolboy
game of "Hares and Hounds," in which some players,
called "hounds," chase others, called "hares,"
who have left a trail of paper scraps along their route across
fields, hedges, streams, bogs, and hills. One of the earliest
Hares and Hounds events on record was the "Crick Run"
at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, first held in 1837.
Goals
of the Hash (Harrier.Net)
From the 1938 charter of the Kuala Lumpur Hash House
Harriers:
* To promote physical fitness among our members
* To get rid of weekend hangovers
* To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
* To persuade the older members that they are not as
old as they feel
|
| History
of the Hash Disorganization |
The Hash House
The "Hash House" was the mildly derogatory nickname
given (for its unimaginative, monotonous food) to the Royal
Selangor Club Chambers in Kuala Lumpur by the British civil
servants and businessmen who lived and dined there between the
two World Wars, when it had become something of a social center
of the times. Situated close to and behind the present Selangor
Club, its function changed after independence and it became
an office for the Water Board. Sadly, the "Hash House"
was demolished around 1964 to make way for a new highway, Jalan
Kuching, although the buildings housing the original stables
and servants quarters are still in existence.
The
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. Note: the early harrier groups
in Malaya were based on English public school "paper chase"
or "hare & hound" runs, which date back as far
as the 18th Century (Flying Booger). "Horse" Thomson
(one of the Kuala Lumpur Hash House Harriers' 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 1930s
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.
By 1938, "G" Gispert, "Horse" Thompson,
and "Torch" Bennett had all moved to Kuala Lumpur
and, joined by Cecil Lee, Eric Galvin and H. M. Doig, they founded
their own club, following the rules they had learnt elsewhere.
Gispert is credited with proposing the name "Hash House
Harriers" when the Registrar of Societies required the
gathering to be legally registered. Other early members included
Frank Woodward, Philip Wickens, Lew Davidson, John Wyatt-Smith
and M. C. Hay. After 117 runs, KLHHH was forced into temporary
hibernation by the arrival of the Japanese. Sadly, Gispert did
not live to see his extraordinary creation revive, being killed
in the fighting on Singapore Island on February 11th, 1942.
Postwar
Rebirth
It took nearly 12 months after the war for the survivors of
the Kuala Lumpur HHH to reassemble. Bennett put in a claim for
the lost hash mugs, a tin bath and two old bags from Government
funds, and post-war Run No. 1 was a trot around the racecourse
in August 1946.
The
Hash Spreads Out
Strangely,
it took another 16 years for the second HHH chapter to be founded,
in Singapore in 1962, followed by Kuching in 1963, Brunei, Kota
Kinabalu, and Ipoh in 1964, Penang and Malacca in 1965. Perth,
Australia* was the first "overseas" Chapter, formed
in 1967. Even in 1974, when KLHHH had Run No. 1500, the HHH
had only 35 chapters worldwide. Now the Hash world has over
1200 active chapters, in some 160 countries, and this despite
the total absence of any central organization. We are unique!
*According
to the World HHH Directory, Sydney HHH was the first Australian
hash, founded in 1967 (Perth HHH was founded in 1970) - Flying
Booger
| This
article was written in 1992 by Mike Lyons, Kuala Lumpur
HHH, from research material prepared by John Duncan. |
