REGINALD JOHN KEMP
From May through to September 2026, Andrew will be fulfilling his dream to hike the iconic Land’s End to John O’Groats! You are all warmly invited to follow Andrew’s epic journey on his Facebook page, “Andrew Beal LEJOG” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577588795730
As Andrew hikes the 1,300+ miles, he will raise funds for the Ipswich War Memorial Project to help finance our future exhibitions and research of the brave Ipswich men and women who lost their lives in conflict. If you would like to make a small donation, please click on the link: https://gofund.me/5d4a50570
Thank you for your love and support. Andrew & Helen – I.W.M.P.
Image taken from the Evening Star – 9th April 1942.
Born: 26th March 1919, at the Workhouse, 129 St. John’s Road, St. Mary’s, Islington, London.
Mother, Dorothy Kemp, was a domestic servant at 37, Freeling Street, Islington.
Died: 10th September 1943; age: 24; died of Ulcers and Diarrhoea at the Tambaya Hospital Camp whilst a Japanese POW on the Thailand/Burma Railway.
Residence: 69, Richmond Road, Ipswich.
Occupation: Milk Roundsman – Buck’s Dairy, Bramford Lane, Ipswich.
Captured: 15th February 1942 – Fall of Singapore.
Transferred overland with Party ‘F’ – 25th April 1943.
Rank: Private; Service Number: 5830611.
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 4th Battalion.
Originally buried at Tambaya Cemetery. Re-buried January 1946.
Grave Reference:
B1.G.7.
Myanmar.
Image courtesy of Kevin Knights.
Relatives Notified & Address: Son of John & Dorothy Roper; husband of Ruby Eva Kemp, of Ipswich.
Mother: Dorothy Kemp, born March 1893, Ipswich.
Stepfather: John Edward Roper, born March 1886, Ipswich.
CENSUS
1921 534, Spring Road, Ipswich.
Reginald was 2 years & 3 months old. He was a Nurse Child of the Finbow family.
John Finbow, 80 years & 1 month, Old Age Pensioner, born Mendlesham, Suffolk.
Sarah Finbow (nee Denny), 76 years old, born Earl Stonham, Suffolk.
Ellen Finbow, 44 years, Home Duties, born Earl Stonham.
The Finbow family also had three other Nurse Children – illegitimate/unwanted children in their care.
Evelyn Stella Pettitt, 3 years & 7 months, born Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.
Harold Meadows, 3 years & 4 months, born Ipswich.
Edward Cyril Taylor, 13 months old, born Debenham, Suffolk.
In 1921, Reginald’s mother, Dorothy Kemp, was 28 years & 3 months old, she was the General Domestic Servant for Amelia Grimwood (nee Frost) a widow, and her adult children at the Grimwood family home – Tankerville House, 310, Norwich Road, Ipswich.
Dorothy Kemp married John Roper, in 1925, in Ipswich.
ENGLAND & WALES REGISTER 1939.
Reginald was a Milks Roundsman. He lived with his mother, stepfather and stepbrother at their family home – 69, Richmond Road, Ipswich.
John, a Builder’s Labourer.
Dorothy, unpaid Domestic Duties.
Herbert J. Roper, born 1926, Ipswich.
In 1939, Ipswich, Reginald married Ruby Eva Dale, born 1921, Ipswich – daughter of Frederick Dale, a lawn mower warehouseman and Lily Sarah Dale (nee Wenham), of 6, Fletcher Road, Ipswich.
Probate to Ruby Eva Kemp – widow.
4th and 5th Battalions:
The Battalions were attached to the 18th East Anglian Division.
15th February 1942: After the Fall of Singapore, approximately 620 of the Battalions were taken POW and later mostly died on the Burma-Thailand Railway.
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