Ancient History

To begin at the beginning, as they say in all the best yarns, one should go back to 1938 in Kuala Lumpur in what is now Malaysia when a group of ex-patriates associated with the rubber plantations started a modified paper chase in order to work up a decent thirst before retiring to the Selangor Club. There the restaurant was known locally as the "Hash House" so naturally the name was adopted by the harriers and in contrast to other groups undertaking similar activities the name stuck. The particular genius of the founding father, A S Gispert, nicknamed "G", was to make the traditional hare & hounds running more fun by making it non-competitive. But you knew all that really, didn't you?

So we will move on quickly to the Second World War and its aftermath which became known as the Malayan Emergency when British and Australian troops joined in the fun and when posted elsewhere began new chapters and the Hash House Harriers spread throughout the world. So, how's this for exponential growth:

Date	Event
1938	Kuala Lumpur H3 (Mother Hash) founded
1962	Singapore H3 founded
1967	Dhekelia H3 (Cyprus) - first hash in Europe
1967	Sydney H3 - first Hash in Australia
1971	Fort Eustis H3 - first Hash in the North America
1971	Westcombe Park H3 founded - oldest Hash in UK
1973	Kuala Lumpur H3 1500th run - 35 other Hashes "known" to exist
1974	Bicester H3 founded
1975	Surrey H3 founded
1976	London H3 founded
1977	90 Hashes known in 35 countries
1984	Harrier International founded
1986	555 Hashes known in 85 countries
1988	Lune H3 founded
1988	700 Hashes known in 125 countries
1989	Lune H3 disolved
1997	1470 Active Hashes known in 184 countries with 100,000 hashers
2000	Lune Valley H3 reborn

Both servicemen and diplomats have been largely responsible for the contagion spreading and indeed the first known recorded hash in the UK was the Commando Forces H3 based at Plymouth founded in 1971/2 by the then Col Ray Thornton (ex-JM of Singapore H3) which flourished in the early seventies but like many military hashes petered out when postings decimated the membership.