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13703
Sergeant
Victor Harold Wentworth
B.Sc, A.I.C, A.I.R.L
1911/09/07 - Born Hackney, London
Son of Harold Stephen and Alice Beatrice Wentworth
School of London University, which was part of the Northern Polytechnic at Holloway (London Borough of Islington). where Victor obtained Honours Degree in Chemistry.
At the Polytechnic there was a unique trade school where the technology of rubber manufacturing was taught, Victor had no instruction in rubber technology but he was able to observe what it was all about.
Occupation Research Chemist
In the great slump of the early 1930’s Victor became a Works Chemist with the Goodyear Tyre and Rubber Company Ltd at Wolverhampton; moved to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, as the Rubber Technologist in their Chemistry Department; and then, to complete his knowledge of the rubber industry, joined the Rubber Research Institute of Malaya, as a Research Chemist in Kuala Lumpur, FMS.
Victor married Constance Elizabeth Poole in 1934 before they moved to Kuala Lumpur, when they were blessed with a baby girl in 1939.
Victor Enlisted
Federated Malay States Volunteer Force
Constance escaped Singapore with their two year old daughter in January 1942.
Japanese PoW
1942/02/15 - Captured Singapore
PoW No. 13703
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
New PoW No. I 11396
Changi Industries:- The facetious title included the operation of what was more widely known as the Changi Rubber Factory and encompassed numerous activities with which Victor became associated …… it led to various remarkable improvisations which were of great value to the camp. Also it may well have saved Victor’s life, for he would probably have been sent to Thailand, because of the value of the services which he was able to provide he was kept at Changi.
Des Bettany sketch of Victor at Changi Camp
New PoW No. 11177
1945/08/02 - Liberated Changi
Repatriation
1945/09/11 - Victor returned “home” aboard the SS Monowai (New Zealand Troop Ship). With 1000 PoWs and 199 civilians.
Via - Colombo, Bombay, Adabaya (Suez Canal), Gibraltar.
1945/10/08 - Arrived at Liverpool docks to be greeted by a very anxious Wife and a very bemused 5 year old Daughter (Sandra’s Mother).
Awards
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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London Gazette
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37808/supplement/5949
Recommended for British Empire Medal
Victor continued his work as a Research Chemist, working for British Insulated Calander Cables Ltd (BICC) and Monsanto Chemicals Ltd , until his retirement, in the 1960’s . He had worked on numerous patents and had papers published in his name including:
The Production of Dental Alloys and Substitutes for Plaster of Paris in Changi POW Camp, Singapore (Printed by The British Dental Journal in 1946)
And
“The Training of Young Men in the Rubber Industry” Printed in 1935
For which he was awarded the King Medal for the best essay by a junior member of the Midland Section of the Institution of the Rubber Industry,
Died
Victor passed away in 1988 whilst on holiday in Cyprus at the age of 76.
Information
Sandra Forsyth - Granddaughter
Transport Home
The Changi Artwork of Des Bettany
KEW Files:- WO 367/3, WO 345/55, WO 361/1948, WO 392/26, WO 361/2044, WO 361/2044, WO 361/2017, WO 361/2229,
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