This page is updated with
details of new information, news
and photographs as they are added
to the Brindle At War website.
- 23/03/08 - Jimmy
Trafford - A Japanese POW, 1942
- 1945
Jimmy
Trafford
from
Brindle,
a
Prisoner
of
War
during
WW2
Jimmy Trafford lived and
farmed in Brindle, before
and after the war, marrying
a local girl – Joyce
Crompton from Bateson’s Farm
in the village in 1941. His
daughter, Susan Rodgers from Brinscall
kindly donated photographs,
postcards, telegrams and
artefacts of her father,
Trooper Jimmy Trafford. He
was taken prisoner by the
Japanese at the fall of
Singapore in February, 1942.
During the Second World War
he was held in captivity in
appalling conditions in Changi Jail in Singapore.
However, he was lucky as
many men were shipped out to
work on the notorious Burma
- Siam railway the Japanese
were building through the
jungle of South East Asia.
One of those men was a
fellow soldier from Brindle
– Trooper Joseph Baxendale
whose parents ran the local
pub in the village, the
Cavendish Arms. Upon his
return to Brindle in
November 1945 Jimmy had the
unenviable task of telling
the Baxendale’s that their
son was not returning – he
died of disease on the 15th
September 1943 whilst
working on the death railway
and is buried in
Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in
Burma (now Myanmar); some
13,000 British soldiers met
a similar fate in the hands
of the Japanese whilst
working on the railway.
Whilst in Japanese hands the
British troops could send a
post card home to their
family, containing of no
more than 25 words. Several
of Jimmy’s cards survived
and a card Joyce posted to
her him on the 7th August
1945 (the day the American’s
dropped the bomb on
Hiroshima) was returned to
her in Brindle endorsed
“Service suspended”. Amongst
Jimmy’s bare possession he
returned with from Singapore
were two small trinket boxes
he had made. He fashioned
them out of tin plate
(possibly an old can) and
hammered them into shape,
adding some intricate design
work; the boxes will now go
into Brindle Historical
Society’s archives.
- 23/03/08 - "A
Somme Sweetheart" – Private
Samuel Hunt
A
selection
of
the
wartime
postcards
sent
by
Pt
Samuel
Hunt
Mrs. Eva Grimshaw from
Chorley contacted Brindle
Historical Society just
before Christmas. She had in
her family collection,
numerous postcards to and
from Private Samuel Hunt
from Brindle who was killed
on the Somme on the 30th
July 1916. Samuel lived in
the centre of Brindle with
his widowed mother, younger
brother Septimus and sister
Agnes. Samuel was engaged to
marry Gertie Miller, who
worked with him at Withnell
Fold Paper Mill just across
the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at
Withnell Fold. He was killed
in action serving with the
4th Liverpool Pals,
attacking the village of
Guillemont; he has no known
grave and is commemorated on
the Thiepval Memorial to the
Missing on the Somme.
Copies of the cards and
photographs of the couple
were taken and his story
will be featured in the
forthcoming book, ‘Brindle
and Hoghton Pals’; it is due
out in May.
- 28/12/07 - National
Archives search reveals Brindle
“Chelsea Pensioners”
- Link
A recent
search of the National Archives
website revealed that 13 men
who gave their birthplace as
Brindle, Lancashire received
a pension via the Royal Hospital
in Chelsea, after being discharged
from the Army during the period
1760 to 1854. File number WO97
lists the men along with the
Regiments they served in – some
returned to the village, others
cannot be traced via the Census
records (1841 – 1891).
- 22/12/07 - New pictures
of Brindle's Cold War Nuclear Bunker
added
- Link
