Sheila Mary Baskett was born in Victoria, B. C., Canada in 1916. When she was four, she moved to England.
She arrived in Hong Kong around 1933 and later found a secretarial post at the Asiatic Petroleum Co. Ltd.. Her father, Paul Evelyn Baskett was working in Hong Kong at the time.
Sheila Baskett was taken prisoner whilst serving as an Auxiliary Nurse and interned at Stanley Camp. Her father was interned at Sham Shui Po Camp. In 1943, she was given permission by the Japanese authorities to be repatriated to Canada. She travelled on the Teia Maru/Gripsholm.
On the Gripsholm, she met Bengt Forsblad, a Swedish assistant purser and romance blossomed. Two days before the ship's arrival in New York they got married. Unbeknown to Sheila Baskett at the time, her arrival in Canada coincided with the sad news of the death of her father.
Sheila Forsblad would later go on to live in Sweden. She passed away in 2006.
Source
- Family search: https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KLC5-8XB/paul-evelyn-baskett-1884-1943
- Photo of Sheila Baskett in Life Magazine, 20 December 1943 here
- Swedish Stories: https://www.askerohistorier.se/forsblads-en-ovantad-historia/ (set up Google Translate)
- Arrival in Canada: https://archive.org/details/victoriadailytimes19431206/mode/2up?q=sheila+baskett%2C+gripsholm
Photos that show this Person
