Leonard Hughes

Bank: National Provincial Bank

Place of work: London Cromwell Road branch

Died: 18 January 1943

Leonard Hughes was born on 30 August 1919, the son of Percy William and Gertrude Eleanor Hughes. He joined the staff of National Provincial Bank and worked at its London Cromwell Road branch. In May 1939 he became a territorial soldier, joining the Princess Louise Kensington Rifles.

Hughes was mobilised for full time military service at the outbreak of war in September 1939. He was posted to Hong Kong with the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, and was captured at the fall of Hong Kong in December 1941. He was a prisoner of war on board the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese troop ship headed for Japan, when it was torpedoed on 1 October 1942. He spent hours in the water and was eventually rescued by a Japanese naval boat. He was taken to a prisoner of war camp in Osaka, where he died of dysentery and beri beri on 18 January 1943. Lance Corporal Hughes was 23 years old. The bank's staff magazine noted in his obituary that he was 'of a very happy disposition, a likeable nature, and very popular with his colleagues and all with whom he came in contact. Always keen to learn, he would doubtless have made good progress in the bank, and our deep sympathy is extended to his parents in such a sad and early loss of a life so full of promise.'