| David Brind lent me a book called The Forgotten Highlander by Alistair Urquhart. It contains a number of references to brothers Freddie and James Brind who were born in the mid 1920s (in India). Apparently they were drummer boys in the Gordon Highlanders before they were captured by the Japanese. Try as I might I can't pin them down (find their trees). Freddie returned to England and married a girl called Nora but he died in the 1950s. James (or Jim) worked in the Selo film factory in Brentwood for many years. (March 2013). By coincidence there was a Percy Brind in the Gordon Highlanders at the turn of the century. He died at Ladysmith during the Boer War . | ||
| Page 86: They were fairly obedient, though sheer terror more than anything else. Freddie, despite being the youngest, was most definitely the ringleader. A little under five feet tall, with hollow cheeks, he was dark skinned with a mop of curly brown hair and brown eyes.He ws the dominant personality by far and always getting his older pals to follow him. He was very cheeky and ribbed me endlessly but in quite a likeable way. I could never be mad with Freddie. He had a way of flashing a smile, with big wide eyes that glinted in good humour, or turning a phrase which made you think butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Even with people telling him to go to hell he would break into a grin and shrug. He was the most charming of rogues and a real artful dodger. | ||
| Page 86: If Freddie was the extrovert, his brother Jim was the exact opposite. He was about the same height but slightly sturdier and had very little to say, to the point where I thought he had a speech difficulty. He did not stutter or stammer yet hew as a slow speaker and found the right words hard to come by. Maybe because Freddie spoke so fast and so frequently Jim had allowed himself just to fade into the background. | ||
| Page 86: The Brinds lived in Singapore. Their father had completed a twenty-three-year stint with the Gordon Highlanders and his last posting was in India, where both boys were born. On leaving the Army he moved the family to Singapore where he took over warden duties at Changi jail, the purpose-built prison constructed by the British. He stayed on at his post in Singapore and was subsequently captured by the Japanese. The boys' mother and sisters successfully escaped from the besieged army on one of the last shis out and returned to the family's original home in Brentwood, Essex. | ||
| See letter from a Gordon Highlanders researcher
and POW WOW
, the newsletter of the Scottish Far East POW Association. Also note fictional drummer boy (Ingoldsby legend) turned into a radio play, based on Salisbury plain and naming two brothers called Brand. | ||
| Return to index | WW2 | ||
| Frederick G Brentwood 30/Dec/1947 Britton 0 | |||
| Patrick J J Brentwood 30/09/1950 Cooke 0 | |||
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British nationals armed forces births | BRIND Patrick J J Indian Subcontinent 1926 | BRIND Frederick G Indian Subcontinent 1928 (note from David, dated May 2013, Freddie born 13 Jan 1928, mother Mrs J Brind, father not in the Gordons.) See also document from Frederick's service record See obit (d. 2/Apr/1987) in Tiger &Sphinx. | |
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Gordon T (b. 1953) is probably Patrick (Jim's?) son See also Richard A J (b. 1952) Jacqueline R born 1957, James P W born 1962 and Robert J b. 1965 | |||
| Patrick James Brind died in Kent at the age of 78
in 2004. He was born on 15/May/1926. This is very likely James who seems to have been born 13/May/1926 See also document from Patrick's service record | |||