Horace Wilfred BROWNE (aka Bunny) [1917-2020] | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Horace Wilfred BROWNE (aka Bunny) [1917-2020]

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Submitted by Admin on Fri, 2022-01-21 12:00
Names
Given: 
Horace Wilfred
Family: 
Browne
Alias / nickname: 
Bunny
Sex: 
Male
Status: 
Deceased
Birth
Date: 
1917-11-29
Birthplace (town, state): 
London
Birthplace (country): 
England
Death
Date: 
2020-12-02
Tags: 
POW
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Comments

Submitted by Admin on Mon, 2022-01-24 15:04.

This is the entry on http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/supportingunits.html for this man:

Browne, ‘Bunny’ H.W.[13] Lieutenant General List

It lists him under the Financial Advisor & Army Audit Staff.

Tony Banham has a note that ''Browne contributed to this book.", so Browne survived the war.

Submitted by annpake on Mon, 2022-01-24 23:07.

So there were two persons named H W Brown in the HKVDC?

Submitted by Admin on Tue, 2022-01-25 12:57.

Mr Harold Wilson Brown was a Sergeant in the HKVDC, and died on 17 Dec 1941. I've made a page for him at: https://gwulo.com/node/57326

'Bunny' Browne isn't mentioned in the list of HKVDC prisoners, so I guess he was a regular soldier. He survived the war.

Bunny Browne is mentioned several times in John Charter's wartime diary, but Charter only refers to him by his nickname Bunny.

Submitted by annpake on Tue, 2022-01-25 22:16.

Could he have been Henry Davenport Browne ?

Submitted by annpake on Wed, 2022-01-26 05:07.

John Charter mentions that Bunny did not become a lieutenant until hostilities broke out. So in any records prior to the start of hostilities his rank would not be shown as lieutenant.

Submitted by moddsey on Wed, 2022-01-26 07:12.

Lieutenant Horace Wilfred 'Bunny' Browne was a member of the Financial Adviser and Army Audit Staff in Hong Kong - a group of War Office civilian staff under the permanent under-secretary for war attached to, but independent from, the military headquarters.

Source - Reduced to a Symbolic Scale: The Evacuation of British Women and Children to Australia in 1940 by Tony Banham.

Submitted by annpake on Thu, 2022-01-27 00:01.

From Japanese Cards

Lieutenant  Horace Wilfred Browne born 29 November 1917 London

Regiment HQ Staff China Command

Father Mr H D C Browne All Saints Vicarage Newmarket Suffolk

Mother Florence Browne

Marriage 1949 Southend on Sea

Horace W Browne to Patricia M S Worster

Passenger List 1951 Singapore to Southampton

H W Browne 33 civil servant 32 Elderton Road Westcliff on Sea Essex

Patricia Browne 22

Electoral Register  2002 - 2006 14 Victoria Road Southampton Hampshire

Horace W Browne Company Director 65+

Patricia M Browne

Government Probate and Death Index (Find My Past)

Horace W Brown died 2 December 2010 in Hampshire

Submitted by Admin on Thu, 2022-01-27 10:34.

Thanks for tracking him down. He was Charter's best man, so I looked in the newspapers to see if he was named in the report on the wedding. One didn't mention the best man at all, and the other said he was "B. Brown", so no help there!

Submitted by annpake on Thu, 2022-01-27 21:13.

It sounds like everyone knew him as Bunny and not Horace.

Submitted by Robert Wilson on Thu, 2022-02-03 07:19.

There are some 20 references to Horace Wilfred (Bunny) Browne in the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club history "Eastern Waters - Eastern Winds", accessible at this link on the Club's website: https://www.rhkyc.org.hk/upload/AboutRHKYC/History/Eastern-Waters-Easter...