Hugh McIntyre was my wife's grandfather. He was born in Hobart in 1892 and went to New Zealand in 1895 when his father took his family to Dunedin for health reasons.

His father was the Reverend Isaac Kirkir McIntyre born 5 April 1848 in County Antrim, Ireland, the fifth son of Rev Hugh McIntyre Loanends, County Antrim. At the behest of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland he was sent to Hobart, Tasmania. Whilst in Hobart he met and married a Miss Ethel Lucy Simmonds on 25 January 1890. Together they had thre children one of whom was Hugh McIntyre. In 1895 the family moved to Dunedin, New Zealand where Isaac was inducted to St Stephens, North Dunedin.

Hugh McIntyre became a teacher in Otago/South Canterbury. Family Folklore suggests Waimate and Clyde. There is a record of a Hugh McIntyre at Waitohi Flat in 1906(See http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/teachers3.html) and another for Glenavy School in 1909 which is intriguing because he would have been only fourteen when at Waitohi Flat.

Hugh met and married his first wife Jane McGuckin (my wife's mother)in 1914 who sadly died at an early age in 1924. After she died he purportedly married his housekeeper and not a 'nice' stepmother. He apparently then moved on to Western Australia, America and at some later date to Singapore. The children remained in New Zealand. There is no family information about when these events happened.

What happened to the housekeeper wife is not known as he apparently met a Thea Foster Brown in the USA and who subsequently met up with him in Singapore where they were married.

It was in Singapore that he got caught up in World War II and was interned in Changi Prison. His wife Thea was being evacuated from Singapore on the "S.S. Kuala" which was attacked and sunk by the Japanese in 1942. Survivors were then transported on a small boat the "Tanjong Pinang". This was also attacked and sunk by the Japanese and most of the passengers were killed as a result including Thea McIntyre.

See http://www.cofepow.org.uk/pages/civilian_ss_tanjong_pinang.htm

Hugh McIntyre was repatriated to Bangalore,India (see paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19450915.2.80&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0--).

He married (Gladys)Mary xxxxxx(?) reputedly his nurse on release from Changi Prison at the end of WW2 and spent five years in Western Australia leaving there in 1954. According to a press article in the West Australian in October 1954 Hugh and his wife Mary returned to the UK that year after five years in West Australia supposedly pig farming. Sometime thereafter he ended up in Spilsby, Lincolnshire however information on these years is not yet known.

In about 1946 or 1947 Hugh was awarded the OBE for his activities helping prisoners in Changi. This was reported in many newspapers in Australia. (See example at http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2794855?searchTerm=%22hugh%20mcintyre%22&searchLimits=)

Sadly details were never discussed during visits in later years by my wife and I. My wife and I visited them in Spilsby, Lincolnshire, UK on several occasions in the 60s and 70s until his death in 1975 and thereafter Mary until her death in 1986.