Horace Wilfred BROWNE (aka Bunny) [1917-2020]

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Names
Given
Horace Wilfred
Family
Browne
Alias / nickname
Bunny
Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Born
Date
Birthplace (town, state)
London
Birthplace (country)
England
Died
Date

Tags

Comments

Mr Harold Wilson Brown was a Sergeant in the HKVDC, and died on 17 Dec 1941. I've made a page for him at: https://gwulo.com/node/57326

'Bunny' Browne isn't mentioned in the list of HKVDC prisoners, so I guess he was a regular soldier. He survived the war.

Bunny Browne is mentioned several times in John Charter's wartime diary, but Charter only refers to him by his nickname Bunny.

John Charter mentions that Bunny did not become a lieutenant until hostilities broke out. So in any records prior to the start of hostilities his rank would not be shown as lieutenant.

Lieutenant Horace Wilfred 'Bunny' Browne was a member of the Financial Adviser and Army Audit Staff in Hong Kong - a group of War Office civilian staff under the permanent under-secretary for war attached to, but independent from, the military headquarters.

Source - Reduced to a Symbolic Scale: The Evacuation of British Women and Children to Australia in 1940 by Tony Banham.

From Japanese Cards

Lieutenant  Horace Wilfred Browne born 29 November 1917 London

Regiment HQ Staff China Command

Father Mr H D C Browne All Saints Vicarage Newmarket Suffolk

Mother Florence Browne

Marriage 1949 Southend on Sea

Horace W Browne to Patricia M S Worster

Passenger List 1951 Singapore to Southampton

H W Browne 33 civil servant 32 Elderton Road Westcliff on Sea Essex

Patricia Browne 22

Electoral Register  2002 - 2006 14 Victoria Road Southampton Hampshire

Horace W Browne Company Director 65+

Patricia M Browne

Government Probate and Death Index (Find My Past)

Horace W Brown died 2 December 2010 in Hampshire

He was my grandad, I found this googling his name for another reason. His date of death is incorrect, would you like the correct date and any further info? He had quite an interesting ongoing relationship with Hong Kong after the war, and was involved in setting up the Royal Hong Kong Yacht club. I've heard a lot of stories about his time in the pow camp in Hong Kong, and went back to Hong Kong with him and my family as a child. His wife Patricia (Paddy) grew up in Singapore and through her father also had links to Hong Kong. He was called Bunny when I knew him, but would have been called Wilf when he was in Hong Kong. 

Yes please, if you let me know the correct date I'll update the details above. Anything you can add about his time in Hong Kong will be interesting to read. If you'd like to add a photo of you grandad, please follow the steps at https://gwulo.com/node/2076 to upload it.