Mark the Dairyman

This blog article describes the life of my greatx2 grandfather, Mark Harris. Mark was the son of Daniel and Maria Harris and was born in the Gloucestershire village of Hanham in around 1836. Hanham is located six miles to the east of Bristol and stands on the River Avon. In those days, people in the village were either employed in agriculture or worked in one of the local coal mines. Mark’s father was agricultural labourer. Daniel and Maria had the baby Mark christened at the parish church in the nearby village of Oldland on 26^th February 1837. Later that same year, Queen Victoria ascended to the throne.

By the time of the first comprehensive census, taken on 6^th June 1841, the five-year-old Mark was living with his parents and siblings Mary (11), James (9), George (7), Ann (3) and Eliza (1). Mark’s father was still employed as an agricultural labourer and it must have been a financial struggle bringing up a young growing family.

For most children there was little or no school education and as Mark and the other boys grew up they would have been expected to work to contribute to the family coffers.  Indeed by the time Mark was 15, he was working as a labourer with his Dad. Mark’s older brother George was working next door as a servant at the house of a certain Moses Brain, a yeoman.

Mark must have grown tired of the rural life and dreamed of broadening his horizons. The construction of the Great Western Railway connected Bristol and the rest of the West Country to London. Mark took advantage of the growing railway network and decided to seek his fortune in London. He ended up in Bermondsey which was an overcrowded working class area. It was known as the larder of London thanks to the many food related industries. 

Whilst living in Bermondsey, Mark met a young woman named Elizabeth Walden, who was originally from near Guildford in Surrey. Mark and Elizabeth got married on 25^th December 1857 at St Paul’s parish church. Their first child, a daughter whom they named Ann Elizabeth Harris, was born at their home, 1 Parker’s Buildings in Bermondsey, on 4^th October 1858. They had a son two years later in the autumn whom they named William Harris. The census taken in the spring of 1861 showed the family were living at Guildford Place in Bermondsey. They shared the property with five members of the Nook family so it must have felt rather overcrowded. Mark was working as a dairyman’s labourer at this stage in his life.

In the early 1860s, Mark and his family moved to the nearby area of Horsleydown. At this time the area was a hardworking community whose livelihood depended on the wharves and docks of the Pool of London. At the steps leading down to the Thames there were ferrymen who earned a living rowing people across to the north bank of the river or taking sailors to their vessels. Every summer there was a regatta at Horsleydown. This was quite an event and the streets were decorated with flags and bunting. The watermen competed for a new skiff and prizes varying from 30s to £5 would be given. This would have provided an enjoyable day out for the Harris family.

During the 1860s Mark and Elizabeth had four more children: Louisa (b1862), Alice (b1866), Florence Louisa (b1867) and Henry (b1868). The constant cycle of pregnancy and childbirth must have taken its toll on Elizabeth’s health as in the early months of 1870 she developed cancer of the uterus. As her illness worsened, her sister moved in with the family at 11 Goat Street to help look after her and the children. Mark apparently had to work to support the family and could not care for her. Sadly, Elizabeth died on 28^th August 1870 and she was buried at Nunhead cemetery. She was just 37 years old. The census taken during the spring of the following year shows that Mark and his children were still living at 11 Goat Street in Horsleydown. They shared the address with Mark’s two sisters-in-law; Sarah Walden and Annie Walden; Annie’s two month old baby son, Frederick and a fifteen year old servant by the name of John Rilly. By this time Mark was working as a dairyman.

Mark and his sister-in-law, Sarah, had grown close following his wife’s death and their relationship developed. They had 6 children together:  Marie (b1872), Grace Helena (b1873), Minnie (b1874), Edward (b1875), Emily (b1877), Ethel (b1879) and finally Nellie in 1881. Mark’s eldest daughter, Ann Elizabeth Harris, was married in 1879 to Edward Pettit. At the time of the wedding, the Harris family were living at Blackman Street, Newington.

In the census of spring 1881, Mark described Sarah Walden as his wife, even though they had never actually got married. By this time Mark and Sarah were living at 63 Queen Elizabeth Street with eleven of the children. Mark was still working as a dairyman and his eldest son, William, was apparently working with him. The post office directory of 1882 describes a chandlers shop at 63 Queen Elizabeth Street, so it is reasonable to assume they were living above the shop.

Once again tragedy struck the family. Sarah died of tuberculosis, on 16^th February 1884. Sarah was buried alongside her sister in Nunhead cemetery. She was just 45 years old at the time of her death. Mark had to somehow feed and care for his family on his own. He did not have to wait too long for help to arrive and developed a close friendship with a widow named Rose Anderson. They married on 16^th December 1884, exactly 10 months after Sarah’s death.

In 1886 construction began on a project which would have a profound effect on the future of Horsleydown. There were five major contractors involved: Sir John Jackson (foundations), Baron Armstrong (hydraulics), William Webster, Sir H. H. Bartlett and Sir William Arrol and Co. The construction site employed 432 workers. Two massive piers containing 70,000 tons of concrete were sunk into the bed of the Thames to support the new structure. Over 11,000 tons of steel provided the framework for the towers and walkways. This was then clad with Cornish granite and Portland stone, both to protect the underlying steelwork and to give a pleasing appearance. Tower Bridge was officially opened on 30^th June 1894 by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark, to much fanfare. This would have been quite a spectacle for Mark and his family. A new southern approach road to the bridge was constructed. Tower Bridge Road was 60ft wide and cut a swathe through the middle of Horsleydown. The construction of the road displaced homes and businesses.

 As the bridge was being constructed, Mark continued his work as a dairyman. In 1891 Mark, his wife Rose and 8 of his children were still living at 63 Queen Elizabeth Street. There is some evidence that his chandlery business was doing well, probably due to all the construction workers in the area. His daughter Louisa is listed in the census as working as an assistant in the milk shop. His son Henry was working as a telegraphist and his children Grace, Minnie, Edward and Emily, were all working as assistants in the shop. The two youngest children, Ethel and Nelly were at school.

By 1895, Mark’s business had moved the short distance to 18a and 25 Queen Elizabeth Street, possibly due to the construction of Tower Bridge Road. Four years later and by then in his sixties, Mark had scaled back his business and was trading as a dairyman out of 18 Queen Elizabeth Street. A further two years later and Mark had moved to 19 Marine Street, Bermondsey with his wife and daughter Louisa. Louisa was working as an assistant in the milk shop while he was still heading up the business. T


Three years later Mark was living at 5e Peabody Buildings on East Lane in Bermondsey. The Peabody Buildings were blocks of Improved Model Dwellings for the “respectable working class”, which replaced the slummiest homes with neat, weatherproof, clean, much sought after small flats. The living accommodation was self-contained, though kitchen areas tended to be communal for all but the most basic cooking, and sanitary provision was also in sets. All they lacked were bathrooms (nobody but the extremely rich had them). The tenants were carefully selected, and were generally in steady work and not (therefore) the poorest folk. The Estates were carefully managed and supervised and there were rules about conduct, as well as the use and abuse of the property: no wallpaper [might harbour vermin], no nails on the walls, no drunkenness. There was a resident superintendent at each estate. Rents varied from 2s 6d for a single room to 5s for three, but most families would have had just 2 rooms, with a communal W.C. and sink on the landing, shared with 1/2 other families. The Bermondsey Estate, which had been built in 1875, comprised 6 blocks, A-F and only had 3 floors. In total it accommodated 71 families, plus superintendent's accommodation.  (Lyonsfamily.co.uk, date unknown)

Mark died of pneumonia at his flat in Peabody Buildings on 12^th April 1904. From humble beginnings in the West Country, he had become a dairyman and built up his own business. He was by no means wealthy but managed to earn enough money to support his thirteen children. His personal life had been marked by tragedy, losing two wives to illness. Perhaps it was his work that helped him to overcome the grief caused by their deaths and ultimately his greatest triumph was ensuring that his family avoided the depths of poverty. Mark was buried in the family tomb in Nunhead cemetery on 19^th April 1904 alongside his two earlier wives. The inscription on the headstone reads:

The Memory of Elizabeth Harris who died August 28^th 1870 aged 37 years. We laid her in the hallowed grave with hope in him who died to save. Also of Sarah Walden who died February 16^th 1884 in her 45^th year. Also of Mark Harris who died on April12^th 1904 aged 68 years. Eternal rest grant to his soul oh lord. Also of Louisa Maria daughter of the above who died June 2^nd 1913 aged 50 years. Also of Ann Elizabeth Pettit daughter of the above Mark Harris who died March 28^th 1933 aged 74 years gone but not forgotten.

So, two of his daughters were interred with him as well. As a post-script to this story, probate for Mark’s death was not granted to his widow Rose until 27^th April 1905. The fact it took over a year to sort out his affairs suggests there was some wrangling. After all that, poor Rose only received £5 in the will, which is equivalent to £57 in today’s money. 

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Bill the Clerk

William Pedro Hand was born on 25^th September 1877 at 14 Woollacott Street in Oldham, Lancashire. Though he was born in the North of England he was not a northerner. Indeed, by April 1881 his family comprising his parents and older sister Marian Eliza Jane (known as "Jinnie"), had moved south to East Dulwich and were living 34 Constance Road. During the summer of that year, the family grew with the addition of a baby girl named Alice. This was followed by the arrival of two more sisters - Daisy in the autumn of 1883 and finally Mary in the spring of 1890. The family were catholic, yet his parents saw fit to have young Bill baptised on 12^th November 1882 in St John the Evangelist, East Dulwich, which was Church of England . In the years following his baptism the family moved and by the time of the next census on 5^th April 1891, they were living at 1 Lansdowne Place in Peckham and he was attending a local school. 

If the early years of his life seemed fairly uneventful, the years that followed were difficult and upsetting. It is likely that family life was adversely affected by the deterioration of his father’s mental health. As the only son, the onus would have been on him to earn as much money as possible once he left school in the summer of 1892. His older sister Jinnie was working as a domestic servant and would have also contributed to the family’s income. It is possible that with this money the family could have survived with only a minimum of financial help from the Poor Law authorities, however it would have been impossible for them to work and care for their father, especially as his illness worsened. 

Bill's father was admitted to the workhouse in the spring of 1899. Whilst there it would still have been possible for Bill and the rest of the family to visit him. However, it would not have been so easy once he had been transferred to Banstead Asylum for treatment. It was quite a distance to travel in those days. His father’s death from pneumonia on 31^st May 1899 would have been a terrible shock and at the age of just twenty one Bill became the man of the house.

The following year, the electoral records show the family had moved to 133 Peckham Park Road. They did not remain there for long and by the census on 31^st March 1901, Bill was living with his mother and three younger sisters at 53 Barkworth Road in South Bermondsey. The family were sharing the house with a second family which suggests they were struggling to make ends meet even though Bill, Alice and Daisy were working. At this time Bill was employed as a shorthand clerk, although it isn’t clear what industry he was working in. Both Alice and Daisy were employed as packers at a local baking powder factory which may have been Pearce Duff and Company located in Spa Road. The family had moved again by the following year and were residing at 21 Drummond Road, Bermondsey. They remained at this address until 1904. His youngest sister Mary died in August of that year and was laid to rest in Nunhead Cemetery in south east London.

Meeting Nellie Elizabeth Harris was the next big milestone in Bill’s life. Nellie, a domestic servant, was three years his junior and lived just around the corner from him. Just prior to their wedding, Nellie was living at 369 Rotherhithe New Road whereas Bill was at 42 Ilderton Road. They were married in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Church of Our Lady of Seven Dolours, Lower Park Road, Peckham on 17^th June 1905. At the time of the wedding Bill was still employed as a clerk.

Our Lady of Sorrows formally the Capuchin Franciscan Church of Our Lady of Seven Dolours. Photo taken in 2014.

Two years after they were married their first child was born. Doris Ethel Hand was born on 23rd March 1907. This was followed by the birth of a son three year’s later. William Phillip Hand was born on 13^th June 1910. Having a family of his own would have eased the pain when his mother died at St Thomas's Hospital on 19^th February 1910. She was interred with his sister in Nunhead Cemetery on 24th February.

As 1910 became 1911 it seems that Bill’s career improved and by 2^nd April he was living with his wife and young family in the more prosperous environs of Twickenham. According to the census they were living at 14 Mary’s Terrace close to the railway station. He was still working as a clerk/shorthand typist and the proximity to the station suggests he was commuting to his workplace somewhere in central London. By 1913 the noise of the railway had become too much and they moved to a new address at 11 Prospect Crescent in the nearby village of Whitton. During Bill and Nellie’s time living in Whitton they had more children. Frederick was born during the hot summer of 1914, but sadly died in early 1917 of meningitis. Their youngest child, Charles, was born on 21^st August 1918.

War broke out in August 1914 and the following spring Bill enlisted with the army. His army medical took place in nearby Hounslow on 26th March 1915 and perhaps due to his age (he was 37 years old) and his diminutive stature (he was just over 5 foot tall), he was not given front line duties. Instead, he served in the Army Pay Corps and spent the duration of the war working as a clerk eventually attaining the rank of Lance Corporal. He was discharged shortly after the armistice on medical grounds due to chronic asthma.

Bill was a member of the Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes. Known colloquially as "the Buffs", they are an organisation that raises money for charitable causes including, at this time, to supply ambulances to bring back wounded soldiers from the front. Bill was a Primo at the Whitton lodge and at a meeting held at the South Western Hotel on the evening of Tuesday 14th November 1916, he was awarded the Buffalo Knighthood for his long service with the lodge. The event was covered by the Middlesex Chronicle newspaper which was published the following Saturday.

Several years after the war ended Bill’s career took him north of the border and by 1924 he  and his family were living in Edinburgh at 41a Northfield Broadway close to Portobello and the beach. At the time of his daughter’s wedding to George Highley on 15th June 1932, they had moved the short distance to 9 Northfield Road and by the mid-thirties they had moved on to 35a Mountcastle Crescent on the same estate. He worked in Scotland right up until his retirement in 1937 when the family took the decision to move back down south. 

By 1938 the family were back in Whitton and were living at 38 Evelyn Road. He would have been present at the wedding when William married Constance Upson at St Peter & St Paul church in Ilford on 3^rd June 1939. Sadly, by 29th September 1939 his life had taken a turn for the worse. Bill's wife, Nellie, had been admitted to Springfield Mental Hospital in Wandsworth, perhaps bringing to the surface painful memories of his own father. He moved in with his sister Alice and her husband Jasper at 14 Sheridan Road in Bexleyheath, Kent along with his older sister Jinnie, who would have provided him with much-needed support.

The outbreak of war caused further ramifications for Bill and his family. His son Charles was called up and was posted to the Far East in 1941/42. Bill remained with his sister at at the same address implying that his wife was still undergoing treatment for her mental illness  In February 1942 Bill would have heard of Singapore’s surrender to the Japanese on the wireless and the news must have filled him with concern for his son. In May he received a postcard from him confirming the dreadful news that he had been taken as a prisoner of war.

If that wasn’t bad enough, his other son, who had been suffering from Crohn's disease, died on 10^th November leaving Connie a widow and a single mother of her 2 year old daughter, Maureen. Just 6 weeks later, on 28th December, his sister Alice died. Bill now found himself homeless, and with one son now dead and the other in captivity on the other side of the world, 1942 was a truly dreadful year.

Bill must have felt low. The loss of William was a cruel blow and he could do nothing to help Charles. He didn’t know where he was or even whether he was still alive. His catholic faith must have helped him through those dark days and given him the strength to carry on. He channelled his energies into helping his daughter-in-law and granddaughter and in 1943 Bill moved in with them at 40 Belmont Road, Ilford.

39-45 Belmont Road, Ilford taken in 1973

When his surviving son returned from the Far East in the autumn of 1945 it must have been an enormous relief. Charles’s return to England was to provide a neat solution to Connie and Maureen’s situation. It isn’t clear whether it was Bill’s, Charles’s or Connie’s idea for them to get together or whether Charles and Connie simply fell in love. What is certain is that on 29th March 1947 they were married in St Peter and St Paul church in Ilford and Charles became Maureen’s step father as well as her uncle.

After the wedding he moved in with Charles and Connie at their new address, 57 Benhurst Gardens, Selsden, Surrey. The electoral register shows he remained there for around 2 years. The most likely explanation for this extended stay is that his wife was still in Springfield Mental Hospital. She does not appear in the records again until 1951 when the electoral register shows them living together at 67 Hackford Road in Stockwell. 

By this time Bill was suffering from high blood pressure, which was no surprise given the stress the war years had brought and in early 1951 Bill suffered a brain haemorrhage and was rushed to St Thomas’s Hospital. Sadly he died on 19^th February. Probate was granted a month later and Charles received £327 14s from his late father's estate equating to roughly £10,500 in today's money.

Photo of my mum's baptism in 1948. Bill is second from the right.

 

Grandpop: survival in the Far East

The following biography has been adapted from my 2009 book and updated to include information from Charles’s military service record, oral histories of men who served alongside him and a Far East Prisoners of War questionnaire that he completed on his return from captivity:

Charles Alfred Hand, or grandpop as he was known to me, was born on 21^st August 1918 at 14 Mary’s Terrace, Twickenham, Middlesex. He probably didn’t remember very much about his early years in Twickenham, but the house backed on to the railway station and he would have heard the steam trains going past on their way to London.

Family tree

At a young age he moved to Edinburgh with his parents and his older siblings William and Doris. Little is known about this period of his life, but we know he spent his school years in Scotland and he received a good education. During this time his older sister Doris met and married a soldier named George Highley. At the time of the wedding, the family were living at 9 Northfield Road situated to the east of the city centre. After the wedding his sister and her new husband moved to India. Meanwhile, his brother William moved back to England in the 1930s and became a structural engineer. By the end of the decade, Charles had moved back to England with his parents and according to the 1939 electoral roll they were living at 85 Lyndhurst Avenue, Whitton. Soon afterwards he started working for the civil service.

In April 1939, with the threat of war growing, the government introduced the Military Training Act. The terms of the act meant that all men aged between 20 and 21 had to register for 6 months military training. Charles would have been affected by this legislation. By September 1939, Britain was once again at war and on 19^th October Charles received his conscription papers.

Army Training

Charles enlisted with the 162 Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps on 19^th October 1939, but according to his military record, was posted to the 197 Field Ambulance on 11^th January 1940. Charles and the rest of his unit boarded a train up to Norfolk and arrived at the village of Hillington near Kings Lynn. From here they marched through thick snow to a nearby hall. By May 1940, the unit was put to good use as Germany had invaded France and the Low Countries and the first Luftwaffe raids were seen. At this time, the 197FA was based at Cranwich Camp in Norfolk and in addition to dealing with the wounded from air raids, Charles would have been sent on various training courses. By the end of 1940, they had moved to nearby Lynford Hall which functioned as a training hospital. It was during his time here that Charles was disciplined for serving breakfast to patients on cold plates and on a separate occasion, for not washing up dirty plates. Both times he was fined 2 days’ wages.

As a part of their training, the 197 FA travelled to various locations in England and Scotland during 1941. The unit was then given disembarkation leave at a rate of 30% of the unit a week starting 26^th September 1941. This leave lasted for 7 days. At the end of his leave, on 8^th October 1941, he was posted to the 196 Field Ambulance and reported to a tented camp at Norton Manor near Presteigne on the Anglo Welsh borders. Here he continued training as a part of the 54^th Brigade, 18^th (East Anglia) Division.

At 0830 hours on 27^th October 1941 they marched through the streets of Presteigne to a special troop train that took them to Avonmouth on the Bristol Channel.

Off to war

The men boarded the SS Oransay, which was an Orient Line British ship of 20000 tonnes. On 28^th October 1941 the SS Oransay left Avonmouth and headed up the English coast in stormy weather, with nearly all of the 196 and 3000 other troops. On 30^th October the SS Oransay arrived in Greenock, Scotland were it joined the rest of the fleet for an, unknown at the time, journey across the Atlantic to Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. 

On 2^nd November, in the middle of the Atlantic, the British convoy met up with an escort of US Navy ships who would provide protection during the remainder of the crossing. They arrived in Halifax on 7^th November and Charles would barely have had time to stretch his legs before embarking once again to some unknown destination. The 196 and most of the accompanying division were kitted out for desert fighting, so speculation ran that they were set for Africa or the Middle East. Transport this time was provided by the US Navy and Charles departed with the rest of the 196 on the USS Joseph T Dickman, an American troop ship. The convoy set sail on 10^th November 1941 and had arrived on 22^nd November in Trinidad in the West Indies to refuel. There was no time to disembark and the convoy set sail once again. 

By early December the unit arrived in Cape Town, South Africa and was given four/five days shore leave. This must have been a welcome relief to Charles and the rest of the unit having spent 10 weeks at sea.

The 196 spent Christmas Day 1941 aboard the Joseph T Dickman. The menu was roast turkey, giblet gravy, pickles, sage dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and buttered peas followed by plum pudding, camper down sauce and fruit salad. There was also bread, candy, tea, cookies, butter and cigarettes. The ships food was apparently complemented by many in the unit.

The 27^th December saw the unit arrive in Bombay, India, where they disembarked before getting on a train to Ahmednagar, where they stayed for around two weeks. The next stage of Charles’s epic journey was a train journey back to Bombay followed by another sea journey on board the USS West Point which left port on 19^th January 1942. This leg of the journey saw the first encounters with the Japanese, as an escort vessel fired on a Japanese plane, apparently on a reconnaissance mission. The Japanese had invaded the Malay peninsula on 7^th December 1941 and were moving south in the direction of Singapore.

The USS West Point arrived at Keppel Harbour, Singapore on 29^th January 1942. Charles and the 196 disembarked and were taken by lorries to a tented camp on the Tampines Road. They were to provide medical treatment to the soldiers of the 54^th Brigade who were now deployed in the north-east sector of the island and set up a series of remote dressing stations. The men of the Royal Army Medical Corps were not issued with any weapons and relied on the fighting troops around them for protection. This part of the island faced Malaya across the Johore Straits, where the Japanese had been steadily advancing and were expected to attack from.

On 1^st February 1942, the unit experienced the first enemy activity with artillery fire and aerial bombing. Between 2^nd and 5^th February the unit maintained its position and treated the wounded from the Japanese attacks. The minor sick were treated and held in the dressing stations, with the major casualties evacuated in ambulances, to one of three hospitals in Singapore City.

The Japanese landed on Singapore island late on 8^th February in the north-western sector, which was held by 8^th Australian Division. They quickly established a bridgehead and began to work their way towards Singapore City. By 13^th February the 196 were deployed in the Thompson Road/Bukit Timah Road area of the island just north of Singapore City. The unit was shelled and were almost immediately ordered to move from that location. The unit came under Japanese rifle fire as it prepared to move. The further withdrawal resulted in the main dressing station (MDS) being set up in the City High School at around 1800 hours.

The 14^th February was the busiest day for the unit and they treated large numbers of casualties. The situation was now very difficult and dangerous with men evacuating the wounded from the front line back to the MDS in the face of enemy fire. The morning of Sunday 15^th February saw large numbers of severe casualties received at the MDS with a report of over 200 wounded being treated. By now the City High School building itself was coming under attack from mortar shells and it must have been terrifying. By 4pm the shelling stopped and a final “all clear” siren sounded. By now the Japanese had complete air superiority and had captured the island’s water reservoirs, leaving the commander of the Allied forces in Singapore no choice but to unconditionally surrender the city and the island to the Japanese.

Japanese FEPOW card

Captivity

Charles and the rest of the unit remained at the City High School until 22^nd February when they were ordered to march to Roberts Barracks in Changi, on the east side of the island, around 15 miles from the school. Here the unit continued to treat the sick under very cramped conditions. There were no functioning lavatories and the medical supplies were limited. 

As time went on, conditions and the treatment of the men started to deteriorate. The diet was the main issue with very little food given out and there were very few Red Cross parcels reaching the men, as the Japanese held them back. With virtually the only food available being boiled rice, the men started to contract diseases such as Dysentery and Beri Beri, due to lack of vitamins.

From June 1942, the men were told that they would be sent away to “holiday camps”. Charles’ turn came on 5^th November 1942. He was transported with “Party M” firstly by truck to Singapore Railway station and then north by train in steel cattle wagons. The men were transported 35 to a wagon and by day these wagons became very hot and at night very cold. The doors did not shut properly and the rain would drive in. To sleep in these cramped conditions was near impossible.

The journey up the length of Malaya passed Kuala Lumpur and Prei Station near the beautiful island of Penang. Food was provided in a bucket, one bucket of boiled rice per truck per day, in the heat the rice went off and it wasn’t long before the men’s health suffered. Most of the prisoners suffered from Dysentery and there was only one bucket per truck. Occasionally the Japanese would stop by the train and the men would relieve themselves by the side of the tracks.

Five days after leaving Singapore, the train arrived in Ban Pong, Thailand at the start of what was to be the infamous Burma Railway. Here, they were greeted by more Japanese guards shouting “marchy marchy” and the men were marched to a nearby camp. The camp leader at Ban Pong was Lt Col Malcolm. Charles remained here until Christmas Eve. From here Charles was marched to a camp at the nearby village of Nong Pladuk which was at the southern end of the Burma railway.

Dysentery and flies were rife and the hospital lay at the lowest part of the camp and was often flooded. The hospital was an Atap hut (constructed with a bamboo roof and open sides) and at times the patients were laying only inches above the flood water on their bamboo shelving. It was not uncommon for the doctor to visit the patients in Wellington boots and then climb onto the shelving as the water was too deep to stand in. Mosquitoes took over the area at night and brought more illness to the already sick patients.

Conditions inside an Atap hut

Charles was moved up country on 25^th March 1943 to work on the railway. At the railway camps, there were frequent beatings and sick men were dragged from their beds to work. The medical officers and orderlies working in the camp hospitals would do their best to prevent the seriously ill patients from working and this would often result in a beating from the Japanese guards. The sadism and cruelty of the Japanese guards knew no bounds but it was the Kempetai, the Japanese Gestapo, who were feared the most for their methods of torture. Charles would have dealt with the consequences of this on an almost daily basis and is highly likely to have been on the receiving end of Japanese brutality himself.

Apart from Cholera, diseases like Diarrhoea, Dysentery, Beri Beri and Malaria were universal and kept the medical staff busy. The Japanese had been withholding food and medical supplies but the monsoon made it impossible to transport these goods in any case. Charles and the other medical staff had to do their best to comfort dying men with no drugs. They felt so helpless that they could do little for these poor people, yet their ingenuity still saved many lives. Bed pans were made from large bamboos and cannulas for intravenous saline injections from bamboo tips. There were limb amputations to save patients dying from gangrenous tropical ulcers and artificial limbs made from timber. The biggest factor for saving lives was the courage and compassion of the medical staff that had to work in the most extreme circumstances. There were some dreadful sights on the wards - men who were only parchment and bone. These scenes would have scarred Charles for life.

Treating a patient with tropical ulcers

Hospitalised men were only entitled to 250-300g rice per day with a small quantity of beans. To the Japanese, men who held up the construction of the railway due to lack of health were guilty of a shameful deed. Despite widespread disease, men continued to be dragged from their beds to do heavy physical work.

The records do not name the camps where he was imprisoned but at the time his commanding officer was Lt Col Flowers of the 9^th battalion of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. From his CO’s record it can be assumed that Charles was at Hindato camp, some 200km from Nong Pladuk, on Christmas Day 1943.  By this time, construction work on the railway had been completed and most of the medical staff were subsequently sent back down the line in cattle trucks to work in the camp hospitals at Chungkai and Nong Pladuk. Charles arrived at Nong Pladuk II Hospital in February 1944. Conditions, though still severe, were not as bad as they had been further north. Charles was moved to the newly created Nakom Patom camp in March 1944 where he spent the remainder of the war. His commanding officer was Lt Col. Coates of the Australian Imperial Forces.  Here, he treated patients with nothing but the most basic equipment and under constant threat of beatings from the Japanese guards.

Following the dropping of the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered on 15^th August 1945. With tens of thousands of Allied POWs all over South-East Asia, the task of getting them all home was huge. Firstly leaflets were dropped from aircraft telling them to stay where they were. Shortly afterwards items from clothing and boots to food and medical supplies were dropped. Charles was liberated by allied forces on 21^st September 1945 and was finally transported by train to Bangkok before being put on a plane for a short flight to Rangoon in Burma.

The men who arrived in Rangoon were treated with kindness. They were taken to a room set with tables with white cloths and flower arrangements. They were served white sandwiches of butter and cheese. English girls waited on them. The first white women the men had seen in years.

In late September 1945 Charles would have boarded a ship that sailed to England via Colombo and Port Said. The voyage would have taken about a month and his ship docked at Southampton on 28^th October. Once on British soil, he was taken to a military disembarkation camp before finally being allowed home to be reunited with his family.

Life after war

The Far East POWs (FEPOWs) had one short interview and completed a brief questionaire before they were demobbed and returned to their civilian lives. After a period of leave, Charles returned to work as a civil servant at the newly-formed Ministry for National Insurance even though he was still emaciated from his time in Thailand. It would take him years to put the weight back on.

 Charles’s obvious joy at being back home was tempered by the news that his older brother, Bill, had died during his period in captivity. His widow, Connie had been left to bring up her daughter Maureen by herself during the war years. Charles’s father had helped her through this difficult period but wanted to do more.

The decision was taken that Connie and Charles should get married. It was a practical solution and it isn’t clear whether Charles and Connie actually loved each other at that time, although they certainly did as they grew to know each other over the years. They were married on 29^th March 1947 at Saint Peter and Paul RC Church in Ilford.

Charles and Connie’s first child, Theresa, my mother, was born on 14^th July 1948 in Selsdon, Surrey. Soon after Theresa’s birth, Charles was transferred and the family moved to Nottingham. They lived at 10 Catterley Hill Road until around Christmas 1952. Whilst they were living in Nottingham, Charles’s father passed away and in February 1951 he had to return south briefly to register his death. The responsibility fell to him as his sister lived far away.

On returning south, Charles and his young family moved to 57 Parkside Avenue, Romford, Essex. Connie was pregnant and Janet was born on 15^th March 1953.

Charles’s wartime experiences continued to haunt him. He had recurring bouts of Malaria but it was the mental scars that were worse. He struggled to cope with the daily challenges of life and suffered from periods of depression and these were perhaps exacerbated by feelings of grief surrounding his father‘s death. Today these symptoms would be recognised as post-traumatic stress disorder, but they were not so well-understood in the 1950s. My mum has memories of him being taken away in an ambulance for electric shock therapy. He would return home, wrapped in a towel, and would be placed in a chair. He would pick up a newspaper which he would hold upside down in front of his face.

Charles was eventually prescribed with lithium tablets which brought his symptoms under control. The tablets helped him to regain control of his life but they were to have serious repercussions for his health later in life.

Left to right: Janet, Charles and Connie

Life improved and Charles and Connie gave birth to another daughter, Clare Elizabeth Hand, on 23^rd January 1961. By this time Theresa and Janet were at school. Theresa was attending the Ursuline convent school in Brentwood and Janet would have attended a local primary school. Maureen married Brian White in 1964 and in 1966 she gave birth to a son of her own named Darren.

Circa 1967, Charles and his family moved from Romford to a large house in The Warren, Billericay.  The house had a large garden and a double garage. Everybody loved the house. At the time of the move, Theresa had left school and was working in London. Janet had moved up to the Ursuline and Clare was old enough to go to primary school.

At around the time of the move, Charles had lost his job at the civil service. They had grown weary of his absenteeism due to his poor mental health and had forced him out. Charles managed to secure work with the post office and then later with the insurance firm Eagle Star. All this helped to pay the bills but he was not earning as much as when he was with the civil service and he had also lost out on the lucrative civil service pension.

Theresa was married to Keith Melton on 18^th October 1969. The service took place at the Most Holy Redeemer RC church in Billericay and was a very happy occasion. Less than four years later, Janet married Brian Jewell at the same church. Clare, who was by now old enough to attend the Mayflower school in Billericay, was a bridesmaid at both weddings.

As the carefree and prosperous 1960s gave way to the 1970s the economic dark clouds began to gather. Bills rose and they could no longer afford to make ends meet. In 1974 Charles, Connie and Clare, were forced to move to a smaller house at 167 Mountnessing Road, Billericay. Charles and Connie had hoped to have some money for their retirement but the rates were just as high in the new house. Charles retired from work in 1978 and still faced financial uncertainty.

The wedding of Clare to Martin Gale on 4^th June 1983 meant that Charles and Connie were alone for the first time in their marriage. The wedding, once again, took place at the Most Holy Redeemer RC church and this was followed by a reception at a hotel in Basildon.

With all of the daughters now married, Charles and Connie were free to spend their retirement years in any way they wished. In 1984 they moved from Billericay to a newly-built bungalow at 4 Grimston Way in Walton-on-the-Naze. These were happy times and they made friends with other couples who had retired to the Essex coast. They had a good social life and fresh air was good for their health.

We would regularly visit them at weekends for Saturday or Sunday tea. During the summer holidays, my sister and I would spend a week with them. They would sometimes rent a beach hut for the duration of our stay and we would have many happy days by the beach playing in the sea when it was sunny or playing cards inside the hut over a cup of tea if it rained. 

Charles and Connie with a friend 

Charles never forgot his wartime experiences and would attend annual Remembrance Sunday parades in London with other FEPOWs. Sometimes, over tea and cake on a Saturday afternoon, he would talk to me and Dad about his wartime experiences. He would talk about his hatred of the Japanese and his helplessness at being unable to treat the sick due to lack of supplies.

In 1997 Charles and Connie celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. The family took them out for a meal at a local restaurant called “Harbour Lights” and it was quite an occasion.

By this time Charles’ was suffering from kidney disease which had been caused by his long-term use of lithium. Following his diagnosis, he spent several weeks in hospital at Black Notley. His condition stabilised with the use of new medication, but now he had to get used to having regular dialysis which he could have at home, although he still needed to attend out-patients’ appointments.

In spite of receiving treatment his condition gradually worsened and he was admitted to Ipswich hospital. He sadly died there on 20^th February 1998 aged 79.

Further reading:

Account of Charles’s unit until their capture in Singapore.

Lawrence Smith’s experiences in the 196 Field Ambulance

Ronald Fiegehen’s experiences in the 197 Field Ambulance

Account of life in NakonPatom POW camp.

Account of life in NongPladuk POW camp

Details of POW movements

Charles' FEPOW questionaire