History of the hash house harriers

History of the Hash House Harriers
C/O Hunter H3 (who pinched it from elsewhere)
The "Hash House"

The "Hash House" was the mildly derogative 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. "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 organised 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. 
The Hash House Harriers
By 1938, "G" Gispert, "Horse" Thompson,and "Torch" Bennett had all moved to KL 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, KLH3 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 HHH to reassemble. Bennett put in a claim for the lost hash mugs,
 a tin bath and two old bags from Government funds, and 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 H3 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 KLH3 had run No.1500, the HHH was 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
  organisation.
We are unique ! This article was written in 1992 by Mike Lyons from research material prepared by John Duncan.