Rangoon evacuation

Great digging as always TD.

 

TD, using the 1939 ID Register preview at findmypast and using that Liverpool address it comes up with a Beatrice S. Pullen born 1881 and Percy S. Pullen born 1878 and there's one other in the household.

Does anybody have a yearly subscription to findmypast that can reveal the third person on the register?

 

Ahha - the parents of Edith Maine Pullen (Franks second wife) so Jackies grandparents


Well found

TD

 

Percy Stanislaus Pullen born Norfolk in 1878 TD, wife Beatrice also born Norfolk according to familysearch.org.

I see Ancestry have his probate entry from 1947. A little breakfast research TD

 

Beatrice S. Pullen. Born 4th Dec 1881. Unpaid Domestic.
Percy S. Pullen . Born 12th NOV 1878. General wood worker, organ builder
Frank McCann Born 2nd April 1903. Aircraft Tool Maker.
George R. Williams.Born 24th April 1905. Wholesale Salesman & Buyer.
Doris V. Williams. Born 14th Sept 1905. Unpaid Domestic Duties.
1939 at Findmypast. Address, given for all named above as; *62* Ancaster Road, Liverpool.

 

Cheers for the info Veronica. Was Percy's year of birth wrongly transcribed by findmypast in their preview? (It wouldn't surprise me).

I think Jackie needs to get a hold of her parents marriage cert as a starting point. My other thought is if TD is right and she didn't arrive in the UK until age 11, she must have received some schooling before her arrival in England. Surely her secondary education notes would have some background information on her admission.

Looking forward to Robins feed back next week.

 

Percy Stanislaus Pullen in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966


Name: Percy Stanislaus Pullen
Probate Date: 12 May 1947
Registry: Liverpool, England
Death Date: 5 Mar 1947
Death Place: Liverpool, England



He left his estate to George R Williams (see post 25)

Percy S Pullen in the England & Wales, Death Index, 1916-2007

Name: Percy S Pullen
Birth Date: abt 1879
Date of Registration: Mar 1947
Age at Death: 68
Registration district: Liverpool South
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 10d
Page: 778


Beatrice died the year before in 1946 and left her estate to her husband Percy who is noted as an organ builder


Beatrice Sarah Pullen in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966

Name: Beatrice Sarah Pullen
[Beatrice Pullen]
Probate Date: 9 Dec 1946
Registry: Liverpool, England
Death Date: 1 Oct 1946
Death Place: Liverpool, England




Beatrice S Pullen in the England & Wales, Death Index, 1916-2007

Name: Beatrice S Pullen
Birth Date: abt 1882
Date of Registration: Dec 1946
Age at Death: 64
Registration district: Liverpool South
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 10d
Page: 509


So in 1953 who was in Liverpool to look after Miss J and Miss P Friedlander??????

TD


Edited to add:
Part in red above.

 

Pullens in Liverpool 1939

http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/1939-register?lastname=pullen&registrationdistrict=liverpool%20c.b.

Friedlander in Liverpool 1939


http://search.findmypast.co.uk/results/world-records/1939-register?lastname=friedlander&registrationdistrict=liverpool%20c.b.

 

Thank you one and all for your time and research. Jackie will be pleased. She is quite a character an adopted Scouser. I will pass on all the information received. Jackie's past illustrates what a cosmopolitan city Liverpool is and how if was affected post WW11. robin bird

 

Yes I would say they got their 7 and 8s wrong way round.
As his birth was registered in 1878 and in 1881 census was aged 3.
In 1901 census he was 23 and working as a cabinet maker.
He was born in Heigham Norwich a small hamlet in Norwich, not Potter Heigham near Gt Yarmouth.

The place was here Heigham street.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Potter+Heigham,+Great+Yarmouth,+Norfolk/@52.6365949,1.2833109,1706m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d7553bbce57097:0x3088a5815f08bd51!8m2!3d52.7228319!4d1.573341?hl=en-GB

As we are not that good at reading and writing here in Norfolk, Heigham street and Potter Heigham is always pronounced Ham street and Potter Ham.

 

Thanks RCG for confirming year of birth. I'm sure reading/writing is not so bad in Norfolk

Robin, here's a link to the Australian website Trove.

Link will take you to some of their newspaper reports about evacuees arriving in India etc. It's a good website to get news stories

http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/result?q=Rangoon+evacuees+

 

My mistake, 1878 is the correct date. ( Well I was enjoying my second glass wine) Veronica.

 

Jackie Friedlander, she has kept her maiden names, thanks members of the forum for their interest in her history, particularly the period between Rangoon 1941 and England 1953. We chatted between her serving customers. Jackie said she would take print outs from the forum to read properly at home. She found the ship's passenger list with her and her sister on it particularly fascinating. Jackie was 6 months old when the Japanese invaded Rangoon having lost her father in a bombing raid. Her mother evacuated the siblings to India by train. They returned to Rangoon circa 1946 and that is when Jackie remembered seeing Japanese prisoners in chains. The family had lost their home and their papers during the war and were classed as having no country. Jackie's mother went to England to set up home at 2a Ancaster Road, Liverpool, leaving her two youngest children with relatives in Rangoon. This was so the mother could set up home and apply for British citizenship. Jackie, 11, and her sister followed as soon as possible as 'alien' passengers aboard the Salween arriving at Plymouth in June 1953. In all six Friedlanders came over and Jackie's mother lived into her 90s. So there was a happy ending to our story. The only gap is the journey by train to India to escape the Japanese. Jackie said her mother never spoke about the war. So thank you for your help and feedback. I had similar success, via this forum, tracing the final resting place of Else Kruger, Borman's secretary in the Bunker. She lived post war here in Wallasey before returning to Germany

 

The only gap is the journey by train to India to escape the Japanese.

Robin, I'm not so sure that there was a rail route to India.
It seems that different nationalities went on different routes from Rangoon to India.
Found this site, which appears to give a good insight of what happened in Rangoon at the time and how people got out.

http://amitavghosh.com/blog/?p=432

 

There is also mention of trains on this site - http://www.dadinani.com/capture-memories/read-contributions/the-unforgettable/93-barefoot-from-burma-to-india-1942-by-benegal-dinker-rao - plus there are many comments towards the bottom of the page of people who did similar journeys to Jackie, there is always the possibility that she may be remembered - nothing ventured ................

Having read through that web site there is also always the chance that she may have left early on in the evacuation and perhaps that would be by military train, as wounded, and hospital staff may have gone back to India in Dec 1941 or Jan 1942, before the real 'assault' took place late in Feb 1942, especially considering the lack of food and water at that time -- guessing on my part.

TD

 

An even more relevant site - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/41/a9029441.shtml

On 19th Feb - Ash Wednesday, we went to mass at the parish church in the morning. Then that same day my Father said we had to leave Rangoon and put my mother and the five of us children on the train leaving Rangoon for Maymyo in the hills. He had to stay behind to carry on working. We left our dog Bingo with Daddy. Along the journey more and more people crowded on to the train with people even on the roof. Each time the train stopped at a Railway Station, very kind Burmese women came loaded with food and drink which they freely gave to the passengers.


So even as late as 19 Feb 1942 trains were still 'running'
TD

 

yes, Jackie says she went by train from Rangoon and my research indicates the last train was on March 7 at 7-30pm.Thanks again everyone. It has been an interesting journey. robin

 

Maybe Jackie's mother was POW. Keep an eye out for the Red Cross files going live on line later this year for the WW2 period.

 

Will do. The time from evacuating Rangoon to India post war is the 'black hole' in Jackie's story, one her mother did not speak about, robin

 

Jackie had a meeting with her wider family following information received via the forum. It seems as a baby she was on the 'last aircraft out of Rangoon' in March ' 42 Presumably this was a DC2 of 31 Squadron? After that Jackie's mother and her young family found safety in a convent in India.