[Royal Army Ordnance Corps] Victor Stanley Ebbage
Description:
Born:
13 August 1901, Beeston, Leeds
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
Son of Thomas Henry and Rose Monica Ebbage (nee Grimshaw), Victor – though academically gifted – left school just short of 13, after his father died of TB. He became an office boy, but six years later joined the RAOC. After training in Wiltshire he was posted to Mesopotamia and promoted to Lance Corporal within a year. Promoted to Lance Sergeant back in the UK in 1925 he gained a First Class Educational Certificate the following year and became Sergeant in 1927, being posted to Shanghai. A return to the UK in 1928 saw him married in 1930; his first child, Elsie Joyce, was born in 1931. He became Staff Quarter Master Sergeant in 1936, and that same year was awarded a BEM (for work done on machine accounting at Woolwich) and promoted to Warrant Officer Class I (Sub-Conductor). He was posted back to Hong Kong in 1938, together with his wife (also Elsie) who gave birth there to their second child, Keith. Ebbage received an emergency commission to Lieutenant in 1940 and was sent to Shanghai where he was Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services (responsible, among other things, for moving British ammunition stores from Beijing to Hong Kong and Singapore). In summer 1940 his wife and children were evacuated from Shanghai to Australia, and Ebbage was posted back to Hong Kong.
Wartime:
There he was promoted to Captain and became Officer in Charge of Provisions and Local Purchase, living in a flat at 3 Gap Road. As British forces were evacuating the mainland before 13 December 1941, Ebbage oversaw transferring all stores from the Lye Mun Married Quarters to The Ridge, where he was in command until Lieutenant Colonel MacPherson arrived. This job was done by 17 December, and a combined force of around 280 RAOC, RASC and others gathered there. They came under fire on 19 December and started trying to withdraw the next day. Over the next 48 hours men left in small parties, but Ebbage and his group were detailed to wait until the road to Repulse Bay was clear. MacPherson was killed trying to surrender the position at 17.00 on 22 December, by which time Ebbage’s party were unable to leave House No. 1 because of intense fire. They finally escaped shortly before 20.00 – though only Ebbage and two others made it, one of whom was later lost. The surviving pair finally surrendered on 28 December. Ebbage spent the entire war in Shamshuipo Camp where his efforts to make camp life more bearable for the men would result in a post-war MBE.
Post-war:
On his return to the UK, Ebbage immediately wrote to the families of all RAOC men lost in Hong Kong. He was promoted to Major in 1949, appointed to the War Office as Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services (DADOS) in 1952, and retired from the army in 1956. He was immediately re-employed as a Retired Officer in the Ordnance Directorate until his final retirement in 1966. He then became involved in much voluntary work, and when the Royal British Legion Sheltered Housing Association built a block of flats in Woking they named it Ebbage Court in his memory.
Awards:
MBE, BEM
Further Reading:
The Hard Way, Victor Ebbage, edited by Andrew Robertshaw.
Born:
13 August 1901, Beeston, Leeds
Death:
Unknown
Pre-war:
Son of Thomas Henry and Rose Monica Ebbage (nee Grimshaw), Victor – though academically gifted – left school just short of 13, after his father died of TB. He became an office boy, but six years later joined the RAOC. After training in Wiltshire he was posted to Mesopotamia and promoted to Lance Corporal within a year. Promoted to Lance Sergeant back in the UK in 1925 he gained a First Class Educational Certificate the following year and became Sergeant in 1927, being posted to Shanghai. A return to the UK in 1928 saw him married in 1930; his first child, Elsie Joyce, was born in 1931. He became Staff Quarter Master Sergeant in 1936, and that same year was awarded a BEM (for work done on machine accounting at Woolwich) and promoted to Warrant Officer Class I (Sub-Conductor). He was posted back to Hong Kong in 1938, together with his wife (also Elsie) who gave birth there to their second child, Keith. Ebbage received an emergency commission to Lieutenant in 1940 and was sent to Shanghai where he was Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services (responsible, among other things, for moving British ammunition stores from Beijing to Hong Kong and Singapore). In summer 1940 his wife and children were evacuated from Shanghai to Australia, and Ebbage was posted back to Hong Kong.
Wartime:
There he was promoted to Captain and became Officer in Charge of Provisions and Local Purchase, living in a flat at 3 Gap Road. As British forces were evacuating the mainland before 13 December 1941, Ebbage oversaw transferring all stores from the Lye Mun Married Quarters to The Ridge, where he was in command until Lieutenant Colonel MacPherson arrived. This job was done by 17 December, and a combined force of around 280 RAOC, RASC and others gathered there. They came under fire on 19 December and started trying to withdraw the next day. Over the next 48 hours men left in small parties, but Ebbage and his group were detailed to wait until the road to Repulse Bay was clear. MacPherson was killed trying to surrender the position at 17.00 on 22 December, by which time Ebbage’s party were unable to leave House No. 1 because of intense fire. They finally escaped shortly before 20.00 – though only Ebbage and two others made it, one of whom was later lost. The surviving pair finally surrendered on 28 December. Ebbage spent the entire war in Shamshuipo Camp where his efforts to make camp life more bearable for the men would result in a post-war MBE.
Post-war:
On his return to the UK, Ebbage immediately wrote to the families of all RAOC men lost in Hong Kong. He was promoted to Major in 1949, appointed to the War Office as Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services (DADOS) in 1952, and retired from the army in 1956. He was immediately re-employed as a Retired Officer in the Ordnance Directorate until his final retirement in 1966. He then became involved in much voluntary work, and when the Royal British Legion Sheltered Housing Association built a block of flats in Woking they named it Ebbage Court in his memory.
Awards:
MBE, BEM
Further Reading:
The Hard Way, Victor Ebbage, edited by Andrew Robertshaw.
Sources: Photo: Tony Banham
