Leading-Stoker Ernest Bourne Ernest Bourne of Canon Road, Bromley (Kent) spent 8 and a half years with navy on HMS Hecla, and a further 2 years on foreign service including China & Japan. On leaving the service he became a fireman of the London Fire Brigade Bourne served at Cannon Street, Sydenham & Clapham, before moving to Poplar workhouse where he worked for about 3 years before being called up for World War 1. During WW1 he served with the Royal Naval Reserve onboard HMS Aboukir. Sadly Bourne did not…
Category: People
Captain Gilbert W Murlis Green
Captain Gilbert Ware Murlis Green Highly decorated Officer Captain Gilbert W. Murlis Green was the son of Mr & Mrs J. W. Murlis Green, born in London on the 24th January 1895. His family were from Beckenham. Gilbert joined the army in 1914 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps the following year. He was a Royal Air Force career officer credited with eight aerial victories and was highly decorated for this. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Serbian Order of Karageorge for duties effectively accomplished and for…
William Bernard Bingham
William Bernard Bingham Killed whilst on service William Bernard Bingham was born at West Stoke and was the son of John and Alice Bingham. William was married to Charlotte Jean Bingham, of 2, St. Mary’s Cottage, Hayes, Kent, and was formerly chauffeur to Lady Laidlow of Warren House, Hayes for 8 years, before enlisting as a 2nd-class Air Mechanic with the Royal Air Corps., in April 1916. Sadly he was killed in an accident while serving. On the 5th July 1916, William was working on a stationary Mechanical Transport when…
Second-Lieu F. G. W. Marchant
Second Lieutenant Francis George Wake Merchant Killed in Action Second Lieutenant Francis George Wake Marchant served with the 3rd Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and was the only son of Frank and Torfrida Marchant, of Woodside, Keston (Hayes), Kent. Born in London on the 4th March 1897, he was educated at Ludgrove and Eton. Having proceeded to Sandhurst in May, 1915, Francis obtained a commission in the Royal West Kent Regiment on 19th October, 1915 and immediately volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps. After 5 months training went overseas…
Staff-Sergeant J.W. Filby
Staff-Sergeant J.W. Filby News has been received that Staff-Sergeant J. W. Filby, eldest son of Mr and Mrs J. Filby, 11 Turpington Lane, Bromley Common is among the missing in Singapore. A native of Bromley, he was educated at the Church School, Bromley Common, afterwards going to the Beckenham Trade School. He joined the East Surrey Regiment in April, 1933, and went to the Far East in 1938, going first to Singapore and then to Shanghai with the British troops, he returned to Singapore, and later went to Malaya. The…
Basham Brothers Missing, 1942
Basham Brothers Missing in Action It must have been bad enough having one son go missing in action, but it must have been almost unbearable having two. This article featured in the Bromley & District Times local newspaper, reporting on two brothers who were reported missing after the fall of Singapore in 1942. The brothers were the sons of Benjamin and Rose Basham of Bromley. Bennett Thomas Basham was married to Constance Elsie (of Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk) who was living with his mother during the war. Both brothers were members…
Mr David Waite in Singapore
Missing in Singapore David Stanley Waite was the son of Harold & Margaret Waite of 22 Woodlands Way, West Wickham. He married Margaret Greenhalgh in Bromley in 1934. After studying at the London University School of Journalism, he worked for several years in Fleet Street, and was for some years on the staff at the Kentish Times. In 1935 David left England for Japan where he joined the Straits Times as a sub-editor. He was then only 25 years old. He wife Margaret, joined him in Singapore and they had…
Ronald Frederick Leonard Tong
Pilot Officer Awarded The Distinguished Flying Cross Pilot Officer R.F.L. Tong Among a number of awards approved by the King is the Distinguished Flying Cross to Pilot Officer Roland Frederick Leonard Tong, Royal Air Force, Volunteer Reserve, No. 57 Squadron. Born in Bromley in 1917, he is the son of Mr and Mrs P.C. Tong, S, Upper Park Road, and an Old Boy of the county School, Hayes Lane. Afterwards he was on the staff of the West Minister Bank (Lower Sloane Street branch). He enlisted in June 1940, and…
Thomas Holloway
Sergeant Thomas Holloway Chislehurst Sergeant’s Letter Sergeant Thomas Holloway, R.A.F., of 11 Church row, Chislehurst, who has been a prisoner of war in Germany since May 1940, has written home to his mother in Chislehurst giving of how he and his new found friends spent Christmas Day in a German prison camp. In his letter he said that they had a grand time on Christmas Eve decorating their hut and setting up a fine Christmas tree adorned with fairy lights, tinsel, and the usual decorations. About 250 communicants attended a…
Prisoners of Singapore (WW2)
Singapore Prisoners of War During World War II, following the Fall of Singapore in February 1942, the Japanese military held some 50,000 Allied Soldiers, predominantly British and Australian in a Prisoner of War camp in the Changi area. During the first few months there was little news, then came the reports of the missing. Finally, after months came reports of men being held as prisoners of war. Personally I found it very upsetting. The first reports came sometimes over a radio broadcast or in the form of a postcard. In…