Description
Physical description
1
Cream-coloured tablecloth edged with zigzag lace, in the centre is a panel bearing an embroidered inscription which reads "INTERNMENT CAMP CHANGRI PRISON SINGAPORE March 8th 1942 A.Willies" stitched with red thread, there are 68 embroidered signatures stitched around the panel in brightly coloured thread, half of the cloth is covered with light dirt.
The following is a list of the signatures as could be best read, it is in no way definitive:
R BUSH
EDITH LASCELLES RATTRAY
P R ELLIOTT
JOAN STANLEY-CAREY
L LINDSAY JACKSON
B... THOMPSON
P E N MITCHELL
NORAH DIXON
M SMALLWOOD
MAUREEN EISINGER
PAULINE DICKINSON
RONA CURLOR...
GERTRUDE MIGHT
LOUISE BURSTALL
CYNTHIA KOCK
FLORENCE L SMARVES
ALANA CLIFTON
D I KENT
DOROTHY NIXON
FRANCES ...
DOROTHY MATHER
TOBY WILLIAMS
K DOROTHY WHITE
VIOLET P AITKEN
AMELIA JONES
GWEN KINNEAR
KAY BOLTON
HELEN MACKIE
SARAH L DALTON
GLADYS LINDSAY
KATHLEEN KENNARD
AGNES HUTCHINSON
H DE GRAFF
F GARCIA
A LA CLOCHE
A L MCIVOR
MARION WILLIAMS
CONSTANCE E RENTON
TRUDE VAN ROODE
HILDA BARBOUR
BETTY L MILNE
B MILLAND
A M WATSON
H A KIRKBRIDE (Helen Anne)
P REDFEARN
M SHELTON PALMER
MIA BARNES
A M CUTHBE (Augusta Mary)
H F PRIESTLEY
ALICE EBER
P G BYRON
L M THOMAS
JILL DAWSON
BESS ROGERS
SYLVIA SILLEY
FERGUSON
A L GRIFFITH-JONES
H I WORTH
JOAN DRAPER
ELIZABETH ENNIS
HELEN BECK
SYBIL MACKENZIE
EDITH A LOVERIDGE
DOROTHY TOBY
PAT MEW
A TOASTÉE
ISABELL BENTLEY
History note
Tablecloth made in Changri Prison internment camp, Singapore, and embroidered with the signatures of 68 women who had been interned by the Japanese following the fall of Singapore in February, 1942.
Mrs Ada Willies and her husband had owned a hotel in Singapore. When Singapore fell, Mrs Willies, then a widow, was taken by the Japanese and interned at Changi prison. Before the Japanese arrived to take her away, Mrs Willies managed to bury some of her possessions in the grounds of her hotel which she retrieved after her release with the help of a young [Allied] officer. A description of Mrs Willies by her great niece reads 'this intrepid Englishwoman was a great character and she did much to keep up the morale of the women prisoners. She even encouraged them to collect fruit peel from the dustbins and to clean and use it'.
For further infomation on some of the women who embroidered on this tablecloth see EPH 803 and EPH 4566.
Embroidered
INTERNMENT CAMP CHANGRI PRISON SINGAPORE March 8th 1942 A.Willies
signatures -see description