Cuthbert James Norman was apointed Assistant Superintendent of Prisons with effect from January 10, 1941. During the December 1941 hostilities he commanded the Stanley Platoon (prison officers) which saw some of the fiercest fighting of the conflict.
He was interned in Stanley and after liberation wrote 'A Farewell to Stanley', perhaps the best-known poem of the Hong Kong war.
He became Commissioner of Prisons on February 26, 1953.
He was awarded the CBE.
Poem:
Date of birth from John Black's list.
Mathilde Compton was the second wife of A. H. Compton, the head of Sassoon's. They married in 1919. She was interned in Stanley.
http://www.boormanfamily.ca/genealogy/compton_edward_ca1530/rr01/rr01_079.htm#P865
American missionary and teacher. He, his wife Sally, and family were interned in Stanley and repatriated on the Asama Maru/Gripsholm.
Barbara Anslow's diary mentions "Edith Palmer from Shanghai", and John Black's list has a woman named "E G Palmer", so I've assumed they are the same person.
Walter Thompson was a Superintedent in the Hong Kong police when the Japanese attacked in December 1941.
He was wounded by shell fragments during the hostilities and interned in Stanley after the surrender. On the night of March 18, 1942 he began an escape with Gwen Priestwood. On their way to Chungking, they were helped by Chinese guerrillas, and Thompson decided to operate with them behind Japanese lines. He ended the war as a Lieutenant-Colonel.
Norman Gunning came to Hong Kong in 1936 to become a policeman.
He was a sergeant when the Japanese attacked in December 1941.
He was interned in Stanley with his wife Nan and baby son Richard.
He took early retirement on health grounds in 1948 and returned to the UK. He eventually became an estate manager in Lincolnshire.
In 2005 he published Passage to Hong Kong, an account of his time in the police and during the war.
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