William Norman DARKIN [1901-????]

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 15:54
Names
Given
William Norman
Family
Darkin
Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Born
Date

Suziepie:

Did you also meet Norman Darkin?  His wife, Marie, was evacuated to Sydney. She went on a later ship as she had just given birth to their 3rd child, a daughter.

Barbara Anslow:

I only knew Mr Darkin by sight in camp.  I wonder if he had a son, as I have a memory of my husband and I attending a HKPolice Assn. weekend in UK some twenty-odd years ago, when we sat at the same table as a fellow whose Dad had been in Stanley, I think he was a Darkin.

HO Lim-peng:

Yes Mr. Darkin had a son, he served in the RHKP for many years

Suziepie:

Yes, one of his son's served in the RHKP for many years.  Norman and Marie Darkin had two sons and a daughter.  Marie and the three children were on an evacuation ship to Australia.  But they left on a later evacuation ship in 1941 - as Marie gave birth to her daughter just when the first ship left. Marie and my mother were French - and she was my Godmother.

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Connections: This person is ...
Parent of
Richard Eric DARKIN [c.1937-2017]

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Comments

Norman and Marie were my grandparents. They had 3 children - Alex ( my father ) Eric , who sadly passed away 2017 in Spain , and Yvonne. Alex lives in Auckland and Yvonne in Kerikeri, New Zealand.

I remember my Grandmother talking fondly of the Brooks family.

 

W.N. Darkin served in the Hong Kong Police and at the time of the Japanese invasion was a Sub-Inspector attached to CID Central.

William Norman Darkin,b 24.01.1901      enlisted HKP 19.8.1923 as  A 140

Lance Sgt 1924     Water Police 1926    Sgt 1931      Sub Insp 12.2.1937    1941  CID Central   Awarded Colonial Police LSM 6.9.1941 as Inspector     15.8.1945 as Adjutant,Police Reserve   Awarded CPM G/N 713/47.Retired to NZ 1952

 

I believe the Richard Eric Darkin referred to above may have been married to my aunt Dorothy. She died in the early 70's at the Matilda Hospital on Hong Kong Island but was married at to a Rick Darkin who was an RHKP Superintendent in Kowloon znd they were living in Broadcast Drive at that time. They had two sons at the time Angus and Rodney who would be my cousins and I think he remarried after my aunt's death (contact with our side of the family ended at this point). I only met my aunt once and am having some trouble tracking down any records for her after her departure for New Zealand from the UK in 1953. I had been unable to find any listings for the Darkin family prior to seeing this post. Thank you for post as I now know a little bit more. Possibly that suzannejohnstone may be my cousins cousin?

I came across this site by accident and it has brought back so many memories from yesteryear.

Eric and I were classmates and friends at St Peter's in Mountain Road and I spent many hours at his home which I recall lay in a lttle street near Kyber Pass and we spent hours together wandering in what was then Grafton Gully.

Alex was in HK at that stage and when we finished school Eric went off to join him.  I lost cantact with Eric and the family at that point.  I later found that his Dad was evidentally operating theatre close by at Wanganui but my time too limited undertaking fighter training at Ohakea before heading off to Malaya to make contact.

Years later, then  flying for Qantas, I spent many nights in Hong Kong and managed to restablish contact with Eric. We spent time over a few beers and I got to meet and enjoy time with his family in Kowloon.

But alas those days were short; I was moved off 707's and onto 747's to spent the rest of my working life out of Sydney to UK or the USA and lost contact with Eric again.  It was very sad personally for me to read here of his death here but take solice from the fact that it really is only the good who die young.