(Muriel) Joan MACLEOD (née WHITELEY) [1916-2004] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

(Muriel) Joan MACLEOD (née WHITELEY) [1916-2004]

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Submitted by jill on Sun, 2014-09-14 20:42
Names
Given: 
(Muriel) Joan
Family: 
MacLeod
Maiden: 
Whiteley
Sex: 
Female
Status: 
Deceased
Birth
Date: 
1916-10-27
Death
Date: 
c.2004-04-01 (Day is approximate)

Nursing sister interned in Stanley Camp and acquaintance of James O'Toole who looks for her but can't find her when he visits Stanley from Shamshui Po in 1945 gwulo.com/node/14390 Probably the daughter of William and Ellen Whiteley who were also interned and previously lived at 16 Broadwood Road. I have faded photos labelled 'Mrs Whiteley,' as she was godmother to my cousin, Diana Warren, who lived at 19 Broadwood Road. We don't have any photos of Joan but perhaps she crops up in other accounts or photos.

Jill

Tags: 
WW2: Interned at Stanley Camp
Connections: 
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Comments

Submitted by jill on Thu, 2016-11-24 03:18.

Joan Whiteley's granddaughter has recently confirmed on the Stanley Camp Forum that she was no relation of William and Ellen Whiteley. She has also posted a photograph of her there.

Submitted by David on Thu, 2016-11-24 18:16.

Here's the link to the thread about Joan Whiteley on the Stanley Camp list:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/stanley_camp/conversations/topics/4218

Submitted by David Gresswell on Sun, 2020-01-05 21:20.

I think you will find that  (Muriel) Joan Whiteley was my late aunt, the youngest daughter of Edith Alice Whiteley (nee Twemlow) and William Alfred Whiteley, who lived in Cheetham Hill, Manchester during the war years.  Joan was interned at Stanley having previously met her husband-to-be Forbes MacLeod who was with the HKRNVR They were married in Manchester in Dec 1945.  Forbes died in Sept 1974.  Joan died in April 2004 in Cornwall and is survived by her daughters - Alison and Jean.  Her grand-daughter Joanne has published a book called 'The Suitcase' based upon her grand-mothers diaries from the time.

Submitted by David on Tue, 2016-11-29 16:05.

Thanks for the extra information about Joan and Forbes, I've updated their pages.

Just curious if you know more about how they met? They'd have spent the occupation years in different camps (Joan in Stanley, Forbes in POW camps), so I wonder if they met in Stanley in the short time after liberation, or perhaps on the repatriation ship sailing back to UK, and whether they already knew each other before the war?

Regards, David

Submitted by David Gresswell on Tue, 2016-11-29 19:02.

David - I will enquire of her daughter/grand-daughter.

Regards, David

Submitted by David Gresswell on Tue, 2020-01-07 02:15.

David,

Finally getting round to replying - sorry!  (Checked back in the book today and amending detail)

As far as I can ascertain, Joan met Forbes at a beach party with Brenda Morgan and naval types - probably at the  Repulse Bay Hotel - not long after she arrived in Hong Kong by sea from the UK  She managed to keep in touch with Forbes whilst she was interned at Stanley, and Forbes was a POW, having been in the HKRNVR.

Think there may also be references to Joan with a mis-spelling of her name as Whitely.

Regards,

David

Submitted by David on Mon, 2020-01-06 18:54.

Thanks David, good to know!