Edwin William Gates was born on 11th December 1905 in Portsmouth. His father, William Francis, was an able seaman in the navy. His mother was Janet Rosa Parrott.
Edwin followed his father into the navy and was a Leading Seaman at HMS Tamar, which was the name for the royal navy’s shore base in Hong Kong. Following Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded and Edwin was captured on 25th December 1941.
He died on 2nd October 1942. With about 1800 other prisoners of war he was on a ship called the Lisbon Maru, being transported by the Japanese to a new prison. It was torpedoed by an American submarine, which was under the impression it was attacking a merchant ship.
As the hold started to fill with water the prisoners tried to escape but some were shot by their guards. Others were trapped when the Japanese guards shut the hatches. Around 800 died, 400 were rescued by local fisherman and 600 were rescued by the Japanese to be returned to captivity.
Edwin himself has no direct link to Bearsden but by 1940 his father lived at a house called Soundings, now 40 Maxwell Avenue.
He is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial:
