|
1862917
(one record used 1863197)
Company Sergeant Major
Edgar Middleton
1896/01/07 - Born Hyde, Cheshire
Son of Matthew and Sarah Jane Middleton
(Father was a Lytho Painter, C W S Printers Longsight)
Brother to Frederick (b.1899), Harold (b.1901), Violet (b.1903), John William (b.1903) and Ernest (b.1907)
1911 - Edgar at 14 years old (1911) was an Apprentice Electrical Engineer
1921 - Edgar was and Engineer, Aston's Longsight
From 1923 Edgar’s occupation was Regular Army
1923/03/07 - Enlisted
1923/07/07 - Married Nellie Dean at Chalk, St Mary the Virgin, Kent
Next if Kin - Wife, 53 Overdale Crescent, Flixton, Lancashire
Royal Engineers
41 Fortress Company
(In 1942 became REME)
Attached to Manchester Regiment
Service
Served in both World Wars:-
WW1 - Enlisted 1914
1917 - Hospital admission and discharge
Surviving-wwi-service-recordsAccount: 11006. Item Code: ADH000403062
Enlisted 1923
WW2
Transported to Singapore
Edgar’s wife and son, Stanley, then 15, and his younger brother were evacuated to Liverpool from Singapore on the SS Duchess of Bedford.
1942/02/15 - Singapore surrendered to the Japanese
1942/06/08 - WO 417/41, Casualty List No. 790. Reported ‘Missing’.
1943/06/08 - WO 417/62, Casualty List No.1155. Previously shown on Casualty List No.790 as Missing, 15/02/1942. Now Reported ‘Prisoner of War’.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
PoW No. I 4226
Changi Camp, Singapore
Commander Lt-Col. Holmes, Manchester Regiment
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
Roberts Hospital, Changi, Singapore
New PoW No. 7634
Selerang, Singapore
1945 - Changi Jail, Singapore
1945/11/02 - Liberated Singapore
General Seishiro Itagaki, Japanese Commander of Singapore, would not accept the surrender. Plus it gave him time to cover up all Japanese Atrocities in Singapore. The allied naval landing force 'Operation Tiderace' were delayed as it was still understood the Japanese would dispose of all the PoWs in Singapore if they landed. Mountbatten ordered British paratroopers into Singapore to protect the camps. To many of the PoWs in Singapore, those red berets of the paratroopers were the first signs that the war had ended. All this delayed organising the PoWs. It wasn't till the 12th September that Lord Mountbatten accepted the Japanese surrender at the Municipal Building. Hospital cases were the first to leave Singapore 1945/09/10 on the HMHS Koroa. They were soon followed by Repatriation ships which started reaching the UK about the 15th of October 1945. Why many of the liberated PoWs on these ships had November on their Japanese Index cards, I don't know as in other areas of the Far East, PoWs were marked as Liberated at their PoW camps with the correct date. Unless General Seishiro Itagaki did not make the cards available when the camps were liberated.
Liberation Questionnaire
World War 2 Medals
|
|
|
|
|
Pacific Star
|
War Medal
|
1939-1945 Star
|
|
|
|
1945/11/28 - WO417/99, casualty List No. 1922. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1155 as Prisoner of War now Not Prisoner of War. Previous Theatre of War, Malaya. Rank Company Sergeant Major.
Information
Judy Campbell
Paul Middleton - Grandson
Andrew Snow - Thailand Burma Railway Centre
Liberation Questionnaire - COFEPOW
KEW Files:- WO 392/25, WO 345/35, WO 361/1947, WO 361/2062,
|
