Stanley Robert KERR (aka Dickie) [????-1969]

Submitted by SUZE 40 on Wed, 08/30/2017 - 05:16
Names
Given
Stanley Robert
Family
Kerr
Alias / nickname
Dickie
Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Born
Birthplace (town, state)
London
Died
Date
(Day & Month are approximate.)

Lived in Taipo. Japanese speaker. Described as Major Kerr in some accounts. HELD in Argyll Street Camp from 1942

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This is an interesting combination, not just the Japanese language, but also the fact he was in in the Army but lived in Tai Po. I thought he might have been with the volunteers, but Tony's website lists him under the "Provost Marshall – Corps of Military Police" as:

Kerr, Stanley R. ‘Dicky’. Major Regular Reserve of Army Officers

The Tai Po address still suggested a local connection, and the 1939 Jurors List shows he was working in Hong Kong at the time:

Kerr, Stanley Robert  |  Secretary, H. K. Club  |  8 Conduit Road, Hong Kong

A look in Vaudine England's Kindred Spirits book about the history of the HK Club answers a couple more questions. Page 77 explains Kerr's skill in Japanese:

When the manager [of the Hong Kong Club], Lieutenant Colonel Robertson, had to retire in 1934 on grounds of ill health, S. R. 'Dickie' Kerr was appointed from the United Club in Yokohama.

And page 79 shows when he returned to the Army:

Clues there were, however, that men at the Club knew that war was coming. When the manager, Dickie Kerr, had to resign 'on account of some trouble with the comprador' in 1939, he and his Swiss wife, who both spoke Japanese, had been snapped up quickly by the local garrison.

Brian has also written about him in his entry for 28 Dec 1942:

The worst period in the ordeal of the Maryknoll Fathers comes to an end. Their bonds are removed and they are allowed to leave the garage for meals. They are back in the garage when the Japanese-speaking Major Kerr arrives. He's acting as an interpreter, and he manages to get some food to them and to the British soldiers who are being held in the room next to them. He also persuades a Japanese officer to allow them out of the garage and into a room in the House - at least this has a wooden floor not a cement one. They are allowed to spend the night in their lower chapel but there are still Japanese soldiers in Maryknoll House itself.

Stanley learned Japanese when he lived and worked in Yokohama in the early 1920's. He and his family were caught up in the Yokohama earth quake of 1923. He died in Los Angeles in 1969 .

UK Birth Registers Stanley Robert Kerr registered Woolwich Quarter 2 1894

UK Census 1911 30 Ardoch Road Catford living with mother and siblings age 17 born Woolwich stockbrokers clerk 

US Naturalisation Records Declaration 1 May 1917

Stanley Robert Kerr male age 23 unmarried born Woolwich 31 March 1894 book keeper arrived in San Diego from Mexico 1913

UK Foreign and Overseas  Registers

Stanley Robert Kerr age 27 married Vera Marguerite Ada Fardel 29 October 1921 in  Kiangsu China 

UK Allied Prisoners of War Source Japanese Index

Major Stanley Robert  Kerr Corps of Military Police born 31 March 1893 (sic) in Kent

California Death Records

Stanley Robert Kerr born 31 March 1894  died 7 May 1969