Sorrell, Henry - WWII

Rob Forsyth with June Kimble & Kate Tarling - Harry's neices 

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 at the outbreak of WWII as a driver in the Royal Corps of Signals. 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 came to Deddington following Harry's death and was living in Philcote Street according to the POW Index and the 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

VJ Day 80 

On 15 August 2025 the nation marked the end of the war in Japan and so the end of WWII with church bells ringing to rejoice and a 2 minute silence to remember the fallen. Deddington did likewise. Harry Sorrell was the only Deddington man on the War Memorial who died in the Far East so his story was recounted and a wreath (see card left)was laid by his neices June and Anita on behalf of all his descendants. 

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

Family history

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

The 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 [Editor's note: He was a Rifleman in the 6th London Regiment] marrying Eva Emma Mitchinson (aged 32). 

 
Henry Edward Sorrell (l) and his brother William Alfred (r)

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 (Doll 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 and Forresters Hall. After their mother came to Deddington 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 it has Ethel marrying in 1905. Possible a typo ]

Ada married Arthur Bliss and Doll 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 and Dol's daughters June, Sheila and Kate and Lil's daughter Anita and brother Colin all still live in or local to Deddington

Gallery

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