Soldiers of the RegimentCorporal
Thomas Lowe
Corporal Thomas Lowe, number 22728954 relating to his service with
1st Battalion King’s Own from 1953-55, including Germany and Korea.
View of Aden from off shore whilst 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal
Regiment, Travelled from UK to Korea, 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/01
Five soldiers of the shooting team of 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal
Regiment, in Germany, 1953. In the centre is a soldier called Wilson.
Accession Number: KO2668/02
Soldiers in military wagon, “The day I left Korea for Kure, Japan, to
wait for the ship home, Sep 1954” Private Thomas Lowe, 1st Battalion,
King’s Own Royal Regiment,. Corporal Atkinson is waving from the rear of
the vehicle.
Accession Number: KO2668/03
Passage through the Suez Canal, soldiers looking at the 1914-18 War
Memorial
Accession Number: KO2668/04
On deck of troopship at sea, circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/05
View of Port Said, circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/06
1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, soldiers on board troop ship
circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/07
3 soldiers of 1 King’s Own at Pusan, Korea, Guard Company, circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/08
View of Malta from ship in Harbour, circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/09
Troopship HMT/RMS Asturias circa 1950s.
RMS Asturias
This Asturias, the second Royal Mail Line ship of that name, was built
by Harland & Wolff, Belfast and launched in 1925. Registered to Royal
Mail Meat Transports, Ltd. (a Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. subsidiary),
she made her maiden voyage from Southampton to La Plata (River Plate),
Argentina, on 26 February 1926. In 1932, Asturias was re-registered to
Royal Mail Lines, Ltd., together with the rest of the Meat Transports
fleet.
Originally fitted with diesel engines, Asturias was refitted in 1934
with turbine engines, and made her first voyage as a steamer in
September of that year. After being taken over as an armed merchant
cruiser in 1939, her forward funnel was removed, leaving her with only a
single stack, as she is shown here. While serving in the South Atlantic
in 1943, she was torpedoed and badly damaged by an Italian submarine,
and was towed to Freetown, where she was abandoned as a total loss. The
British government took her over in 1945 and had her towed first to
Gibraltar, and then to Belfast, for repairs and conversion into a troop
carrier. After the war ended, she continued to serve as a troop
transport and also saw service as an emigrant ship to Australia. She was
sold for breaking up in 1957.
Interestingly, before being broken up, she was lent by the breaker,
Thomas W. Ward, to the Rank Organisation for use in the film "A Night to
Remember". Asturias' port side was used to depict Titanic in the
lifeboat-lowering scenes of the film even as the ship breakers were at
work on the starboard side. Once filming was completed, demolition was
as well.
Accession Number: KO2668/10
View from train to Pusan to Camp near the 38th Parallel, Korea, circa
1954
Accession Number: KO2668/11
Church, Yokahama, Japan, circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/12
Unidentified Aircraft Carrier in Harbour, possibly Korea or Japan circa
1954
Accession Number: KO2668/13
Hong Kong Harbour, circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/14
Church in Singapore, circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/15
Museum in Singapore, circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/16
Arrival of 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, into Hong Kong,
view from Ship, circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/17
View of Aden from off shore circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/18
Suez Canal circa 1953 view from on board ship
Accession Number: KO2668/19
View of Malta from harbour circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/20
View of street in Kure, Japan circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/21
Hong Kong
Accession Number: KO2668/22
Street scene with local women in Hong Kong circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/23
Troopship HMT Empire Trooper circa 1950s
Empire Trooper
Built as the passenger ship ‘Cap Norte’ for the Hamburg South America
Line in 1922, it was captured off the Faroes by HMS Belfast on 9 Oct
1939. In 1940 it became Empire Trooper under the Ministry of War
Transport and managed by British India Steamship Navigation Company. The
vessel was scrapped in 1955 at Inverkeithing in Scotland.
Accession Number: KO2668/24
Private Ernie Leach at Kure in Japan, of 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal
Regiment, circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/25
Corporal Tom Lowe, left and Lance Corporal Lomax, at Columbo, circa 1954
of 1st King’s Own
Accession Number: KO2668/26
Private Tom Lowe, alongside military wagon in Germany in 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/27
Corporal Tom Lowe, Singapore, 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment,
circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/28
Corporal McLouglin of 1st King’s Own on board ship between Korea and
Japan in 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/29
Three soldiers of 1st King’s Own in Germany, 1953, unknown Corporal and
Private King and Corporal Scott.
Accession Number: KO2668/30
Five soldiers training for the 1st King’s Own Shooting Team in Germany,
1953. Back row left to right Private R Earp, unknown, Private Wilson,
front row Private Tom Lowe, and Corporal Howarth
Accession Number: KO2668/31
Private Tom Lowe of 1st King’s Own, Germany, 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/32
Horse drawn Water Carrier in Aden circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/33
Three soldiers of 1st King’s Own at Pusan, 1954, ‘Guard company’ looking
as though one of the soldiers is under arrest?
Accession Number: KO2668/34
Private Ronnie Earp of 1st King’s Own in Germany circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/35
Soldiers of the 1st King’s Own enjoy the beach on the Baltic Sea,
Germany, 1953, prior to Korea. Left to right, unknown, Howarth standing,
Corporal Stirling, Private Osballdestin and unknown.
Accession Number: KO2668/36
Troopship HMT Empire Orwell off the coast at Aden, circa 1953.
Empire Orwell
Built in 1936 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany she was launched as
the ‘Pretoria’.
During the war she became a hospital ship and was used for the
evacuation of the Eastern territories in early 1945. Taken by the
British is Copenhagen in May 1945 she served as the Empire Doon under
the Orient Line management until 1950 when she underwent a major refit
and became the Empire Orwell.
Sold to the Blue Funnel Line in 1958 she became the ‘Gunung Djati’ a
pilgrim ship sailing between Indonesia and Djeddah. In 1979 she was sold
again to the Indonesian navy and spent her last years trooping as the
Tanjung Pandan. She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1987.
Accession Number: KO2668/37
Soldiers of 1st King’s Own watching a helicopter in Hong Kong circa 1953
Accession Number: KO2668/38
Soldiers on board ship from Korea to Japan in order to catch the
homebound ship circa Sep 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/39
Troopship travelling through the Suez Canal circa 1953-4
Accession Number: KO2668/40
View of Pusan Beach
Accession Number: KO2668/41
‘Blasting Bunkers on the Kansas Line’ circa 1954, Korea.
Accession Number: KO2668/42
British and Commonwealth Cemetery of Korean Dead, circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/43
Troopship and docks in Singapore Harbour circa 1953-54
Accession Number: KO2668/44
HMS Cumberland in Malta Harbour circa 1953-54
Accession Number: KO2668/45
Group of Soldiers, A Company, 1st King’s Own, Kansas Line, Korea circa
1954. Sat on wood is Corporal Atkinson from Lancaster. Stood left to
right are Parkinson, unknown, Flood and Lomax
Accession Number: KO2668/46
Soldiers of A Company, 1st King’s Own, Korea on parade with full kit,
circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/47
Soldiers of A Company, 1st King’s Own, Korea on parade with full kit,
circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/48
Soldiers of A Company, 1st King’s Own, Korea on parade with full kit,
circa 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/49
1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, A Company’s tents, rainy
season, Korea, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/50
The Kansas Line, Korea, from A Company’s positions, looking south, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/51
Lowe, McDermott and Whalley of A Company, 1st King’s Own, Korea, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/52
Soldiers of the 1st King’s Own and Inniskillings on board a small boat,
Pusan, Korea, 1954.
Accession Number: KO2668/53
‘The lads on a bunker’ 1st King’s Own Korea, 1954, on the left is
Corporal Atkinson from Lancaster
Accession Number: KO2668/54
Lance Corporal Thomas Lowe of the 1st King’s Own sat on top of a bunker
in Korea, 1954.
Accession Number: KO2668/55
Lance Corporal Thomas Lowe of the 1st King’s Own on the Kansas Line,
Korea, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/56
River Imjin and the North from the positions of A Company, 1st King’s
Own, Korea, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/57
Corporal Thomas Lowe of the Guard Company, 1st King’s Own, Pussan,
Korea, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/58
The tented camp of A Company, 1st King’s Own, Korea 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/59
The tent of Corporal Tom Lowe and Private Jones (pictured) A Company,
1st King’s Own, Korea 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/60
Six soldiers of 1st King’s Own, Korea, 1954. Rear left to right
Coleclough, unknown, Jones, seated left to right, Kerfoot, Thomas Lowe
and Hoyle
Accession Number: KO2668/61
Five soldiers of 1st King’s Own, Korea, 1954. Rear left to right,
Kerfoot and Ernie Lowe, front Coleclough from Manchester, Jones and
Hoyle.
Accession Number: KO2668/62
Yokahama British Second World War Cemetery, Japan, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/63
Troopship HMT Empire Orwell, circa 1950s
Empire Orwell
Built in 1936 by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg, Germany she was launched as
the ‘Pretoria’.
During the war she became a hospital ship and was used for the
evacuation of the Eastern territories in early 1945. Taken by the
British is Copenhagen in May 1945 she served as the Empire Doon under
the Orient Line management until 1950 when she underwent a major refit
and became the Empire Orwell.
Sold to the Blue Funnel Line in 1958 she became the ‘Gunung Djati’ a
pilgrim ship sailing between Indonesia and Djeddah. In 1979 she was sold
again to the Indonesian navy and spent her last years trooping as the
Tanjung Pandan. She was scrapped in Taiwan in 1987.
Accession Number: KO2668/64
Troopship HMT Empire Fowey, circa 1950s
Empire Fowey
Built by Blohm & Voss in Hamburg and launched as the ‘Postdam’ in 1935.
She was seized by the Allies in Flensburg in 1945 and sailed for one
year as the ‘Empire Jewel’ before taking the name Empire Fowey in 1946
under the management of P&O. In 1960 she was sold to Pakistan and became
Safina-eHujjaj, eventually scrapped in Karachi, Pakistan in 1976
Accession Number: KO2668/65
Troopship HMT Dunera, circa 1950s
HMT Dunera
Built at the Barclay & Curle shipyard in Glasgow the SS Dunera made her
maiden voyage from Southampton to China in September 1937. She was
ordered by the British India Steam Navigation Company and chartered as a
troopship. She and her sister ship, HMT Dilwara, represented a
considerable advance in troopship design. During the Second World War
the ships took part in the evacuation from Singapore and landings at
Madagascar, Sicily and southern France.
Modernisation and refit work took place in 1950 in Glasgow and HMT
Dunera continued until service until trooping by sea finished. She was
then converted as Britain’s first permanent school cruise line.
Accession Number: KO2668/66
Troopship HMT Empire Ken, circa 1950s
Empire Ken
The Empire Ken started her life as the Ubena, one of several luxury
vessels operated by the German East Africa Line in the 1930s. During
WW2, she became part of the Nazi fleet, helping to service submarine
flotillas. In February 1945, she was used to transport German wounded
and helped evacuate refugees from East Prussia.
As part of war reparations, the UK claimed heron 17 July 1945, while she
was tied up in Copenhagen, and converted to transport British troops,
far more than she had been designed to carry in her heyday.
Accession Number: KO2668/67
Lance Corporal Thomas Lowe of the 1st King’s Own, and a Korean Soldier
guarding Teal Bridge, across the Imjin River, Korea, 1954
Accession Number: KO2668/68
1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Regiment, A Company Lines, circa 1954.
At Choksong, Korea.
Accession Number: KO2668/69
Soldiers of A Company, 1st King’s Own, circa 1954, Korea. Left to right,
Whalley, Stanflood, Parkinson, unknown, Hallett with arms crossed at
front, and two unknown.
Accession Number: KO2668/70
Three soldiers of 1st King’s Own, Corporal Thomas Lowe, unknown and Alf
Horrocks. Pusan, Korea, Feb 1954.
Accession Number: KO2668/71
Three soldiers of 1st King’s Own on leave to Tokyo in Japan, 1954. Left
to right Private Etock, Private Atherton and Corporal T Lowe
Accession Number: KO2668/72
British Army Identity Card of Corporal Thomas Lowe, number 22728954, of
1st King’s Own 1953-54. Front.
Accession Number: KO2668/73
British Army Identity Card (rear) of Corporal Thomas Lowe of 1st King’s
Own, 1953-54.
Accession Number: KO2668/74
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