Person    | Female  Born 2/4/1922  Died 12/2/1944

Serjeant Beatrice Dunbar Thomson

Countries: Kenya

War dead, WW2 i

Commemorated on a memorial as having died in WW2.

Serjeant Beatrice Dunbar Thomson

Beatrice Dunbar Thomson was born on 2 April 1922 in Nairobi, Kenya, the younger of the two children of James Thomson (1890-1935) and Beatrice Thomson, née Dunbar (1885-1959). Her brother was James Ian Thomson (1918-1971). Her parents were originally from Scotland and had emigrated in 1921 to Tanganyika (now Tanzania), East Africa, where they were farmers in the highlands of north Tanganyika.

She attended Arusha High School, Tanganyika.

She gained the rank of Serjeant in the Women's Territorial Service (East Africa), formally of the Women's Transport Service (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry), service number K/233.

On 6 February 1944 she was on board the S.S. Khedive Ismail, a liner that was being used a troopship. It formed part of Convoy KR-8 that sailed from Kilindini Harbour at Mombasa, Kenya to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The convoy consisted of five troop transports (Khedive Ismail, City of Paris, Varsova, Ekma & Ellenga), escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins and the destroyers HMS Petard and HMS Paladin.

In the early afternoon of Saturday 12 February 1944, a Japanese submarine sank the Khedive Ismail with two torpedoes. No fewer than 1,297 people, including 77 women, lost their lives in the two minutes it took for the Khedive Ismail to sink. Only 208 men and 6 women survived. The sinking was the third worst Allied shipping disaster of World War II and the single worst loss of female service personnel in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations. The https://www.royalmarineshistory.com/post/sinking-of-the-troopship-khedive-ismail website gives more details of the action.

She died, aged 21 years. As she has no known grave she is commemorated on Column 75 of the East Africa Memorial Kenya, in the Nairobi War Cemetery, Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya, and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.

Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Serjeant Beatrice Dunbar Thomson

Commemorated ati

Women's Transport Service (FANY)

We like the bespoke layout of this plaque: the medals, the maiden-name, the "...

Read More

Other Subjects

Hasmukh C. Parmar

Hasmukh C. Parmar

United Kingdom citizen who died in the terrorist attacks in America on 11 September 2001. Hasmukh Chuckulal Parmar was born on 3 January 1953 in Nairobi, Kenya. He was married to his wife, Bharti...

Person, Tragedy, Kenya, USA

1 memorial
Serjeant Patricia Helen Le Poer Trench

Serjeant Patricia Helen Le Poer Trench

Patricia Helen Le Poer Trench was born on 5 April 1922 in Nairobi, Kenya, the younger daughter of Arthur Hugh Donald Le Poer Trench (1889-1965) and Hilda Mabel Le Poer Trench née Bradshaw (1883-195...

Person, Kenya

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Mala Ashok Trivedi

Mala Ashok Trivedi

Mala Ashok Amin was born on 17 August 1953 in Narobi, Kenya. She married Ashok Trivedi in 1975 and the Civil Registration Marriage Index shows that in the 3rd quarter of 1975 a Malaben R. V. Amin w...

Person, Tragedy, Kenya

3 memorials
Jomo Kenyatta

Jomo Kenyatta

Prime Minister and President of Kenya. Born as Kamau wa Muigai, in the village of Gatundu, British East Africa (now Kenya). His birth year is approximate. He joined the Kikuyu Central Association a...

Person, Politics & Administration, Kenya

1 memorial
Serjeant Florence Fairburn Moojen

Serjeant Florence Fairburn Moojen

Florence Fairburn Moojen was born on 31 March 1903 in Streatham, the second of the three daughters of Henry Edwin Moojen (1851-1908) and Emma Moojen née Fairburn (1868-1947). On 25 March 1903 she w...

Person, Kenya

War dead, WW2
1 memorial