Ang Mo Kio means “Red Hair Bridge” in Hokkien. It actually
refers to a disused bridge that links the western part of the
current Ang Mo Kio estate to the Thomson Estate.
The Red Hair referred by the locals was a British Lady called
Lady Jennifer Windsor. Lady Windsor was the wife of Lord Windsor, a
wealthy merchant who had a huge estate in the Upper Thomson Area in
the 1920s till after World War II.
It was a tragic incident that linked Lady Windsor to a unnamed
crossing that bridged a stream running off the Pierce
Reservoir.
The incident happened in 1923 when Lady Windsor lost 3 of her
children; Harry, Paul and Angela. The 3 children were supposed to
have visited a family friend staying in the Upper Thomson area, and
were lost in the woods. It was later found that the 2 boys were
playing by the wooden crossing when a sudden gush swept them away.
Their bodies were found about 2 miles from the bridge. However, the
body of Angela was never found.
Since that eventful day, locals started hearing cries of a
little girl and that prompted Lady Windsor to stay by the bridge
for the rest of her life. She told her close friends that she had
heard her daughter voices by the bridge and she wanted to accompany
her soul. Lady Windsor would spend the whole day by the bridge,
reading or knitting. People soon gotten used to her perpetual
presence by the bridge that they soon refered the bridge as the
“Red Hair Bridge”; which in its right sense should have been called
“Lady Windsor Bridge”.
Lady Windsor passed away in 1963 and it was only thereafter that
locals no longer hear the voices of the little girl. Today, one
could still see the disused bridge near the intersection of Ang Mo
Kio Avenue 1 and Upper Thomson Road.
Unlikely to be true. Windsor is the Royal Family name of the
United Kingdom. It is hard to imagine why a member of the Royal
family would be residing in Singapore. Even if indeed a royalty
decides for some strange obscure to reason to be in Singapore, they
should be well looked after by hordes of bodyguards and hence
little reasons for them to be lost in woods.
