PERCY WILFRED BURROWS Service Number: 4968035

PERCY WILFRED BURROWS
Service Number: 4968035
Royal Artillery 15 Bty., 6 H.A.A. Regt
Is the next name on my list. It may be a little more difficult to trace his last moments as he died as a POW, captured by the Japanese in early 1942. His date of death is given as Dec 4th 1942.

 

Ian,

It always helps to provide their CWGC entry, as that is the starting point for those who research Japanese POW deaths.

I expect this is his CWGC entry and appears in a thread devoted to those lost by this regiment @ Singapore and Java:

From: 6 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery - Roll of Honour

 

Cause of Death:

Acute colitis



Bu Database

 

Thanks for the advice David, I more or less copied it from his Cwgc certificate, but in future I will do as you suggest.
Regards
Ian

 

Thank you so much for this information, it is a great help, so really appreciated
Regards
Ian

 

Courtesy of FWR:

 

Copy of the death certificate and list of deaths, translated from Japanese. According to his death certificate, Percy was taken ill on 17th November 1942 and passed away at 8pm on 4th December, as witnessed by T. Yoshida, the probational medical officer at Moji POW Camp, Japan:








From the list of British POWs held in Japan or Japanese-held territory:





From list Prisoners of War, Far East: POWs Transported from Dutch East Indies to Japan:



(all images from Ancestry)

 

The 1911 Census. He was born in Hartshorne, Derbyshire. His age is given here as 3, although his age at death in 1942 is recorded as 36.



1921 Census, which gives his age as 14 years and 2 months. From this, we can deduce that he was likely born in April 1907, as the 1921 Census was taken in June. The 1911 Census was taken 2nd April, which would point to his being born after 2nd April 1907 for him to still be 3 years old for the 1911 register.



Register of his birth is from the APR-MAY-JUN register of 1907. It says it was registered in the Ashby-de-la-Zouch, which is in Leicestershire, which confused me, but then I saw it’s very close to Woodville so very possible therefore.



I cannot find a 1939 Register entry for him and his wife Katherine (nee Kendrick). Maybe some other helpful soul will have better luck with that.

The point of all my wittering, though, is that if Percy was born in April 1907, then he would not have been 36 in December 1942. He would have still been 35 years old, so possible his age at death has been recorded incorrectly…

This suggestion is based, of course, on my having the right man for the Censuses and register in the first place!

 

Thank you so much for sharing these, when I did the men of Hartshorne I had a couple of Japanese captured soldiers so could have done with this forum back then, only I wasn't aware of it's existence. It is my intention to update the Hartshorne ones next year once I have completed Woodville.
Regards
Ian

 

Thank you so very much for all that you have shared, it makes the picture of Percy much more complete so really appreciate you. BTW Ashby de la Zouch district covers part of South Derbyshire including Woodville and Hartshorne as well as Leicestershire.
Regards
ian

 

Happy to help as I’m sure we all are.