Sorrell, Henry - WWII

Rob Forsyth

Henry - always known as Harry - was born 2 July 1911 in Islington. 

He married Ethel Mary née Downard (1910-2000)  in October 1937. They had a daughter.

He joined the Army in ???? Service Number 2351380

Although he never lived in Deddington his name was included on the War Memorial because his mother Eva and his sisters had been evacuated to the village in WWII. Two of them married local men who served in the army during the war (see Family History below). Also Ethel was living in Philcote Street according to the POW Index and the address used for Grant of Probate for his will in 1946

Extracts from A Parish at War (PatW) p.56

Driver, 18th Divisional Signals, Royal Corps of Signals.
He died on 12 September 1944 age 33. He was captured in Thailand and was being transported in an unmarked Japanese Hell Ship, the MV Rakuyo Maru, when it was torpedoed by the USS Sealion and sank; 1,159 Allied Prisoners of War died. The Japanese transported PoWs in unmarked ships. The prisoners were usually being moved to be used as slave labour and the warships had no means of identifying which vessels were actually PoW transporters.He is remembered on Column 46 of the Singapore Memorial.

The story of the terrible treatment that Allied PoWs received at the hands of the Japanese is recounted in The Forgotten Highlander by Alistair Urquhart published in paperback by Abacus (ISBN 978-0349-12257-1). It includes a full account of the sinking of MV Rakuyo Maru and other Hell Ships on the same day.

Far East Prisoner of War Family (FEPOW)  

This extract from the FEPOW website is reproduced with their kind permission:

Captured Singapore. Overland 1942/11/03 to Thailand with 'O' letter party, train 10. Transported 1944 to River valley Camp, Singapore.^#  

Hell Ship: Rakuyo Maru - Departed Singapore 1944/09/04 with convoy H1-72. Sunk by US submarine Sealion on way to Japan. 

^#Click here to see the Japanese record of him being a POW

Family history

Harry's Parents were Henry Edward (b.1877 in Clerkenwell) and Eva Emma née Mitchinson(b.1883 in Birmingham)  

1911 Census shows he was a Cabinet Maker living at 66 City Garden Row, Islington,  with two children Maggie (5) and Henry (4 weeks) and says they are married BUT... 

...there is an entry for 2 June 1915* in St Peter's Church (Islington) Register for Henry Edward Sorrell (soldier aged 38) marrying Eva Emma Mitchinson (aged 32).

Henry Edward died in 1926 in Finchley aged 49 of TB. Eva received a war pension

It shows his Army service number was 617491 

They had six children* - Marguerite (Maggie b.1906), Henry (Harry b.1911), Emma (Cissie? b.1913), Doris (Dol b.1920), Lillian (Lil b.1922) & Ada (b.1924)

The photograph on the left (from the left) shows: Harry, Mum Eva, Maggie and Cissie 

The children were evacuated to Deddington at the beginning of WWII. They were first accomodated in the Wesleyan Chapel then, after their mother came to Deddington (date??), they lived in Midhill on Philcote Street and later in The Paddocks

 [* Editor's note A family tree (available to Ancestry subscribers) has been compiled by Zoe Coggins who is a relative through marriage to the Sorrells. It has been a very useful source. It has all Henry and Eva's children named as above except that No 3 child (known as Cissie in the family) is named as Emma Eva and it has Henry and Ethel marrying marrying in 1905. Possible a typo ]

Ada married Arthur Bliss and Dol married Frank Tarling - both Deddington men who served in Europe in WWII. For more about them see PatW p.81

Eva died 22 February 1971 in Deddington. On her gravestone her husband's death is also recorded.

Ada died in 2010 and Dol in 2017.  

Ada's sons Roger and Terry live in Deddington and Dol's daughters June and Kate and Lil's daughter Anita still live local to Deddington

Gallery

These and other photographs can be seen in the Sorrell album in the gallery

The War in Japan  

In a seperate article are listed those Deddington men who served in the Far East including a POW on the Burma Railway.