Description
Physical description
depicts 9 mile march into Changi Gaol on 8 March 1942
Label
When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942 the remaining Allied civilian men, women and children were rounded up and interned in a group of houses in Katong where the men were separated from the women and children. On 7 March the men, led by the Governor Sir Shenton Thomas, were marched to Changi Jail. The following day, 8 March, the women and children followed, leaving Katong at ten o'clock in the morning and arriving at Changi Jail at five o'clock in the afternoon. Internee Freddy Bloom recalled this march in her memoir:
'We had all dressed with only one idea, comfort. Style had gone west. I looked splendid in my khaki trousers and the looted white evening blouse. On my head was a nurse's veil tied like a turban with the brim of a looted hat on top to keep out the sun. To finish the ensemble was a big black looted umbrella to be used as a walking stick or sun shade. Can you imagine five hundred women dressed in similar fashion marching forth under a strong, armed guard?' (Freddy Bloom,1980, pp. 8-10)
As they neared the prison Mary Thomas, another internee on the march, recorded:
'At last the grey walls and roofs of the prison appeared on a small hill to our right. We were hot and tired and glad to see them. As we drew near some of the women felt a gesture of defiance was needed and they began to sing. We had left Katong singing Tipperary and we walked into Changi singing There'll always be an England'. (MaryThomas, 1983, pp. 51)
This embroidered tray cloth clearly depicts that march showing the date, place and distance that the women had to walk and their arrival at the jail singing. However, the embroiderer is unknown but it would seem probable that it was created by someone who was on that march or at least present at that time.
Further research has revealed that there is reference in the Changi camp male newspaper the Changi Guardian dated 7 September 1942, to an embroidery depicting the great trek that the women in Changi made for fellow internee Lady Thomas, the Governor's wife. This embroidery fits that description perfectly but, beyond that, the biography of this embroidery seems shrouded in coincidence and mystery.
In 2001 The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum in Bristol advertised its forthcoming exhibition which focused on the items made by civilian internees in the Far East during World War II. Before the exhibition opened a gentleman telephoned the organisers saying he had something that might interest them. He arrived at the museum with this tray cloth which he had discovered in a Church jumble sale in Bristol. It would appear that it had been discarded by its owner, or the owner's family, who were perhaps unaware of its significance and had considered it just another piece of feminine embroidery of no historical or sentimental value.
Fortunately this gentleman realised its significance and saved it for posterity. He said, 'It wasn't until you put on your exhibition that it saw the light of day'. Without his, and the exhibition organiser's appreciation of what the embroidery depicted, this anonymous but important embroidered picture of that historical event would have been lost. It was subsequently donated to the Imperial War Museum by him.
Embroidered in black thread
KATONG - CHANGI
9 MILES
SINGAPORE 1942
8 MARCH
"There'll always be an England!"