Looking for information about My Great Uncle Henry 'Butch' Newton

As the title says, i'm afraid that i have very little information about him but i do have a photo of him which is of him in the attachment I've enclosed, all the information that i know of him are below

His name was Henry Newton his nickname was 'Butch' as he was a butcher before joining the army.

He was born and raised in Doncaster.

He served with the KOYLI, i don't know his regiment or army/rank number.

He was stationed/trained at SCARBOROUGH BARRACKS in Doncaster.

He was a Japanese POW, i don't where he was captured or the dates/years he was held captive.

According to my Gran who is 94, he helped to build the Bridge over the river Kwai.

He was imprisoned along two prisoners who were called ERNEST HOPKINSON and D H MASSEY who were also from Doncaster, ERNEST HOPKINSON unfortunately died in a POW camp and is buried in the Chungkai War Cemetery.

Henry Newton returned home but died years later through cancer.

As i live in Doncaster,there is the Doncaster museum, and they have a KOYLI exhibition, i have been there hoping to gain some information but without knowing what regiment he was in or his army number, nothing came up.

So if anyone has any information, whether it is only small, then i would love to hear from you

View attachment IMG_20140502_0002.pdf

 

Hello - as already mentioned get a copy of his service records. They'll tell you the units he served with and when.

Good luck
Andy

 

Hi Kevin,

This might not be too scientific, but the database of POW's on the Cofepow website has these results:

Ernest Hopkinson

Rank: Gunner

Service number: 964790

Service: Army

Date of capture: 15/02/1942

Douglas H. Massey

Rank: Driver

Service number: 964724

Service: Army

Date of capture: 24/01/1942

There are three Henry Newton's, but one them has these very similar details to the above men:

Henry Newton

Rank: Gunner

Service number: 964720

Service: Army

Date of capture: 15/02/1942.

The date of capture for Henry Newton is standard for the surrender at Singapore. There may be more documents held at the National Archives, an index card and possibly a liberation report that should confirm an address for this man, which should clarify whether he is your Great Uncle.

I hope this info will help in some way.

Steve

PS. Cofepow database link:

http://www.cofepowdb.org.uk/cdb2/Controller.jsp?action=simplesearch

 

Words cannot start to express my gratitude and appreciation for the information you have found, thank you ever so much.

 

Hi Kevin,

I hope that this is your Great Uncle, does your Nan remember where he lived back before WW2 began? This might be useful information to have.

Steve

 

Kevin,

Gunner Henry Newton, service number 964720.
Address in 1942, 78 Crompton Avenue, Sporboro Lane, Doncaster.

137th Field Regiment.

Sent to the Siam Railroad on 20/06/1942 which would make him part of the First Mainland Party,
who were responsible for initial construction of the camp at Banpong in preparation for the thousands who followed.

Returned to Singapore at some point and put in River Valley Camp.

Sent overseas for Japan on 04/02/1945 on the Haruyasa Maru , but the convoy (5 ships) was attacked by the American submarine USS Pampanito. Two of the freighters were sunk, and luckily the Haruyasa Maru made it safely to Cape St Jacques, and entered the Mekong-river and navigated to Saigon . (Vietnam).
The onward journey to Japan was abandoned, and the men were put to work constructing airfields at
Long Than or Phy My.

Mike

 

Brilliant information Mike, I'm pleased for Kevin to get such a result so quickly.

Best wishes

Steve

 

Hi Mike.

Thank you for your reply but i don't think he ever lived in Sprotbrough, i can't recall if my gran ever said that he lived in Sprotbrough, i am going to visit my Gran tomorrow to ask her if this is correct, i do sincerely hope that i'm wrong, especially with all the detailed information you have kindly found and posted. Funnily enough, i was born and raised in Sprotbrough and my mother and father actually still live in Sprotbrough and their house is just around the corner from Crompton Avenue.

I'll keep you updated if i find anything out.


Kevin

 

Kevin,

Do you realise it may lead to a court martial for lying if you find he never lived there, as this is clearly the address he gave to his commanding officer for the regimental files. ):

Mike

 

Hi Mike, i never thought of that, as i type i have just spoken to my Gran, she is 94, so her memory is not so accurate but she has told me the following information of her family and bits and bobs of Henry, which might sort of help.

Her parents were called HERBERT NEWTON and ALICE MAUD NEWTON, they had the following children below

VIOLET NEWTON (My gran)
FLORENCE NEWTON
DORIS NEWTON
ALICE NEWTON
ANNIE NEWTON
HENRY NEWTON
HERBERT NEWTON
FRED NEWTON

They all lived in Wesley Place, Doncaster and then they moved to 1, Palmer Street in Hyde Park also in Doncaster.

Henry then met and married ELSIE SCHOFIELD and they lived in Catherine Street in Doncaster, they had no children.

According to my gran , Henry was stationed at Salisbury Plain before he joined the war.

On his return from the war, he found out that ELSIE was seeing someone else and they got divorced

He then married MAJORIE NORMAN and my gran thinks that they had one child but doesn't know his or her name

When Henry returned from the war, my gran never saw him afterwards, when i asked her why, my gran said that all the family had fallen out or in her words, all the family were at 'loggerheads', she can't remember why or what the reason was for this. My gran was born in 1920 and she thinks that Henry was born in either 1917 or 1918, my gran is the only surviving child.

Kevin

 

Kevin,

I'll take a look at the index cards next time I'm up at the Archives. If there is one there for Henry it should show enough family details (hopefully) to narrow this down for you.

Cheers

Steve

 

Kevin:

 

Once again, thank you for the help and time your spending in helping me, i am truly grateful. The Doncaster Museum has a KOYLI exhibition, so i'll pop along and see what information they have with the 964720 service number you have kindly supplied.

kevin

 

Kevin,
I doubt whether a KOYLI exhibition is likely to help you.

The service numbers given to KOYLI were 4680001 - 4736000.

His number of 964720 was given to someone joining the Royal Artillery.

Mike

 

Henry Newton
Birth 18 May 1917 in 11 Wesley Place, Doncaster Death 26 Sept 1951, 13 Alexandra rd Balby Doncaster, Yorkshire, , England

Married Lily Elsie Schofield 26th July 1939.

Audrey Betty Newton
Birth 14 May 1941 in 26 Albany rd Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. Death 18 June 2011 in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire.
Another child is listed, though is private, as the person is still alive.

Married Marjorie Doreen Norman. July 1947.
No mention of any children from this marriage, though still possible.

 

Thank you for the information, i'm not sure why my gran thought he was in the KOYLI,

And also thank you RCG for your information, i am going to see my gran and show her the information you've found and see if she can shed any more light, it's getting fascinating.

 

Hi Kevin,

Attached is an example of a typical Japanese index card for another POW.

As you can see some of the information is written in Japanese Kanji characters, but I'm hoping that the personal details on the cards, date of birth, mother and father's name etc. will help identify your Great Uncle.

 

Thank you, i think i'll be saying these two words quite a lot.

 

I found the grave site of my my great uncle today at the local cemetery in Doncaster but unfortunately there was no head stone, which is such a shame to consider what he went through