Blackburn Prisoners of War WW2

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Repatriated Prisoners of War​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Blackburn

Introduction​
A rather unprepossessing looking book resting in Blackburn Central Library’s Community History Collection does not prepare the reader for a glimpse into the lives of the men (and some women) who endured captivity as a Prisoner of War in various theatres of conflict during the Second World War. 

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In total there are some 302 names in the book. The book must have been available to the men and women who were not able to attend the function, to sign at a later date.

Interestingly, only 11 people seem to have written the date when they signed the book; the earliest is May 1945, two men signed in August 1945, five on the 30th October 1945, one on the 2nd November 1945, one on the 26th March 1946 and one on the 2nd April 1946.

Nearly all the entries are written by men but there are three women who signed, Louise Steward, page 11, Margaret Trim, page 12 and Margaret Walton, page 127.

The Mellor event does not appear to have been reported in the newspaper, however, an event which took place on the 1st of March 1946 was reported in ‘The Blackburn Times’, (2). It was held in the Lecture Hall (King Georges Hall) when a luncheon and concert was given for the returned Prisoners of War by the Comforts Committee. 65 ex-POW attended, each was given a wallet containing £12 from the comfort committee and a box of cigarettes given by the Blackburn Times Cigarette Fund. The event was attended by Mrs. Heyworth, the Mayor John Charnley and Mayoress [Mrs Charnley] with various other officials attending. It is perhaps worthy to quote that ‘After paying tribute to the very fine work which the Mayoress’s committee was just concluding over a period of 6 ½ years in the distribution of more than 17,000 parcels to men of the Forces everywhere, exclusive of those sent to prisoners, the Mayor pointed out that the additional gift of £10 above the £2 & wallet received by prisoners in other theatres was in place of parcels which could not be sent to men in Japanese hands. 

Mrs E. L. Heyworth, secretary of the prisoners of war section of the committee, thanking the mayor for presiding, said there were four more occasions on Tuesday afternoons on which ex-Prisoners who had not signed the records that evening could do so’ (2).

Some of the comments recorded within this fascinating volume are short and to the point; ‘Pretty bad’ notes L/Cpl Albert Taylor of his time in Singapore. 

Blackburn’s William (Bill) Griffith’s​  entry was written by R. Griffiths, his Uncle: ‘Captured 8 March 1942 till 18 Sept 1945.  I was ordered by the Japs to remove some grenades which were booby trap and was blown up and since then I have been Blind and have no Hands’. 

Diary Entry for William (B​ill) Griffith Page 115

How the book has been transcribed for publication on Cotton Town

The alphabetical index of names is located at the back of the book, but, for ease of use on the website, has been placed first. As in the book, the names under each letter are not in alphabetical order. The page number at the side of each name is linked to the appropriate page. The text is more or less how it was written in the original book with only one or two minor exceptions. The spelling remains as it was written by each man. Where it was felt that it might help the reader, explanations as to the meanings of some abbreviations and the location or name of a Prisoner of War Camp has been inserted in square brackets and in italics.​

Images
There are no images in the book but wherever possible an image has been inserted.  

Please contact: library@blackburn.gov.uk if you are able to supply a photograph for inclusion with this resource.  

Sources 

(1) “The History of Mellor in Lancashire”, (1999) Summersgill, Neil, p.65, 

(2) The Blackburn Times, Friday March 8th 1946

Acknowledgement
With grateful thanks to  Community History Volunteers, Janet Burke and Stephen Smith. 

Published 19th July 2023.