Japanese POW relative lookup

[philipsearching]

Is there some kind rootshatter  can check a name for me?

There is a record for Phillip Cordner dated 1942.
I am hoping this relates to Philip Cordner (or Cordner-James) born 1893 who was a mining engineer in Malaysia between the wars and is believed to have been interned by the Japanese with his Malay wife and young daughter.

I know that Philip made several trips between England and Malaysia.  The last record I found states that he embarked at Liverpool on the Philoctetes on 27 Dec 1927 bound for Penang, but the paper trail has gone rather cold from then until he resurfaces in the 1950s, still in Malaysia.

All the best
Philip

[crisane]

All the record says is that he was a civilian and captured 14  Feb 1942 POW camp-Malay
The National Archives ref number is WO392/23 and this is their guide to POW WW11
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/british-prisoners-second-world-war-korean-war/

[philipsearching]

Wow, that was quick!  Thank you so much.

With the National Archive record number I can add him to the (steadily lengthening) list of records I need to check up at Kew next year.

Thank you again, and all the best
Philip

[cath151]

Were his parents Hugh and Marie? Have found a record but dob is 1889
Cathy

[whiteout7]

I've tried to have a look in the Malaysian newspaper archive for you
There is a J.H Cordner-James in a 1925 tin mining article
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19250127-1.2.3.aspx?q=Cordner-james&page=1&sort=relevance&token=cordner-james&sessionid=6928ed600ca64c4c8745930df014af72

and again in 1929
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19291101-1.2.34.aspx?q=Cordner&page=2&sort=relevance&token=cordner&sessionid=2ef7727cf0eb4be7b6d5cb3cc8a69abf

John Henry Cordner-James born in Lanner Cornwall 1859?

Phillip Cordner James (for cross reference)
http://www.genealogy.com/ftm/b/e/a/Wendy-Beasley-BC/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0022.html
Joan-Marie Cordner James.

I was hoping Phillip Cordner-James would put in an appearance in the paper

[philipsearching]

Greetings,and many thanks for your contributions.

John Henry James (1857-1946) was a mining engineer from Cornwall who travelled around the world advising on mining for metals and setting up mining companies from his London offices.  He added the "Cordner" to his surname after marrying Marie Cordner.

The extended family (including fellow Rootschatter Wendy Beasley) has amassed a substantial amount of information on John Henry James and many of his relatives, but records of the life of his son Philip are quite thin after WW1.  Philip was a mining engineer who settled in Malaysia (possibly Penang) and appears on shipping lists to and from England up to 1927.  After that date there is oral history but no paper trail.

All the best
Philip

[whiteout7]

Mr P Cordner of Batu Gajah 1928 wins a prize in a crossword puzzle competition
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/malayansatpost19280225-1.2.10.1.aspx?q=cordner&page=1&sort=relevance&token=cordner&sessionid=d51184733f8e41f8ac0ee082eca36c93

Batu Gajah is a town in Perak Malaysia famous for Tin mining and an area where there were wealthy English and Malay people lived, not a backwards place at all

Perhaps the marriage was registered in RG33, 34 or 36 voluntarily, https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/coverage/births-marriages-deaths/?affid=fiuhwk#England1

Findmypast states a Phillip Cordner was a pow in Malaysia and
I think this is him in Changi, possibly later shipped out to the Burma Railways
Cordner   Philip C   British   1890   M   Mining Engineer   Changi   971
http://www.changimuseum.sg/civilian-internees-database/#formmm
 
Seems to be no sign of his wife or child using the Cordner name, perhaps they stayed in Malaysia in a womans camp?

Also his daughter could still be alive in her 80s? -  so you could as Wendy Beasley to ask her about him after 1950

[philipsearching]

Thank you so much, whiteout7.

I'm going to have to get a better search engine (or put in wider search criteria!) - I didn't get the newspaper reference to him in Perak.

Philip's incarceration by the Japanese from 1942 onwards has now been confirmed by records.

Like so many veterans Philip was silent about his experiences in both wars and many of his records seem to have been lost, but the gaps are filling up!

All the best
Philip

[wendy beasley]

Hi philipsearching and whiteout7,
Joan-Marie, Philip Cordner's daughter, died between 2004 and 2007 in hospital in Malaysia. She was a surgical nurse. She told no one she was dying, and wrote out all her Christmas cards and had a friend post them for her.
Philip searched for his wife and daughter. His wife was dead, but an English woman had taken care of Joan and Philip married her. According to Joan (she was my cousin and visited us several times in the UK) once Joan was a teenager they divorced, her 'mother' only having stayed till Joan didn't need her any more. I have no idea if they kept in contact, but have the impression that the lady died before I met Joan.
At that time Philip was running an import export business and would send me some lovely fabrics! I was in my early teens, and Joan was a nurse even then.
Philip, like his brother (my father) loved animals and so did Joan. She was a lovely person. As I go through and organize my genealogical stuff I hope to find more about them, but I do have one or two photos of Philip (more of Joan) if any one is interested.
I have no certificates and have been very interested in the information you have both found.
Many thanks!
Wendy