Captive Memories

Professors Geoff Gill and Nick Beeching being interviewed in the laboratory in front of a display cabinet of historical laboratory equipment and samples

What we do

FEPOW art

Whilst incarcerated, some FEPOWs used art as a means to document their experiences in the camps. The production of this art was risky, as keeping any form of records was strictly forbidden. It was also an important coping mechanism for many FEPOWs.

FEPOW Oral History Project

The stories of some of the thousands of British servicemen held as prisoners in South East Asia during WWII can now be explored online. The project was commissioned by LSTM in partnership with the Imperial War Museum Sound Archive and sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Your FEPOW history

Audio/video/written stories of growing up with a FEPOW

Your chance to write your own family history bringing stories alive for future generations and to remember this often unexplored history of the Second World War.

Books about this project

LSTM's involvement with the health of FEPOW represents the longest collaborative partnership ever undertaken by the School. This book details this journey and the subsequent advances understanding and delivering tropical medicine.

Burma Railway Medicine

The first in-depth analysis of the medical crisis in the Allied prisoner of war (POW) camps on the Thai-Burma Railway, between 1942 and 1945.

Captive Artists: the unseen artwork of British Far East prisoners of war

11 Dec 2019

News

Obituary DR KAMALUDDIN (“KAMAL”) KHAN BSc, MB, BS, PhD, FRCPsych, DPM. The "FEPOW Psychiatrist"

26 Apr 2022

FEPOW 75

As planned live events for November had to be cancelled, a website has been launched as a virtual alternative marking 75 years since the repatriation of FEPOW.

Meg Parkes has been involved with the FEPOW art element of the website, with links to various pages of this website.

08 Oct 2020

VJ DAY 75: An online tribute from the Lancashire Infantry Museum

The East Lancashires, the South Lancashires, and the Loyals all fought in the ghastly, grinding war against the Japanese, and the 2nd Loyals and 18th Recce (formerly 5th Loyals) suffered terribly as Prisoners Of War after being captured at Singapore. See our on-line tribute to them and the men of the 14th Army – the ‘Forgotten Army’

24 Sep 2020

Laughter of our own making: Cartoons from the secret artists of Changi Prison Camp 1942–1945

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day), this online exhibition reveals never-before-exhibited cartoons and other works of art created at POW camps in Singapore and Thailand during the Second World War.

This online exhibition at the Cartoon Museum features the work of three of the SAoS artists: AKKI, Bettany and Norways.

08 Sep 2020

Secret Art of Lockdown - Online Exhibition

An online exhibition, inspired by the exhibition, celebrating the power of art which has made us feel better and kept us connected to loved ones during lockdown.

21 Jul 2020

This sketch of a self-retaining ileostomy tube, designed and made by Vaughan at Chungkai POW hospital camp in Thailand in 1943, also featured in the exhibition (courtesy LSTM)

VJ Day 75 years on: stories, sound and pictures by Meg Parkes and Geoff Gill

In this, the 75th anniversary year of VJ Day, authors and alumni Meg Parkes (MPhil Tropical Medicine 2013) and Geoff Gill (MA Tropical Medicine 1999, PhD 2009) look back at the recent "Secret Art of Survival" Exhibition at the Victoria Gallery & Museum and pay tribute to the VJ Day 75.

01 Jul 2020

Secret Art of Survival exhibition now online!

As a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, the VGM has made the exhibition available online

03 May 2020

Captive Artists: the unseen artwork of British Far East prisoners of war

11 Dec 2019

'Secret Art of Survival' exhibition opens at Liverpool’s Victoria Gallery & Museum

Secret Art of Survival, an exhibition displaying the artwork of British Far East prisoners of War (FEPOW), is now open to the public at the Victoria Gallery and Museum in Liverpool.

25 Oct 2019

Appeal for information – FEPOW artist named “Payne”

Do you know the identity of the FEPOW artist who signed himself, ‘Payne’, and who did this portrait of my grandfather in camp in Thailand in 1943?

21 Oct 2019

‘Secret Art of Survival’ exhibition opens 24 October in Liverpool

Final preparations are underway for a new exhibition displaying the artwork of British FEPOW, Far East prisoners of war, who were captured by the Japanese during the Second World War.

18 Oct 2019

The Neston High School FEPOW patchwork quilt

15 Jul 2019

LSTM announces upcoming Secret Art of Survival exhibition

On the eve of the 77th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, LSTM is delighted to announce the upcoming Secret Art of Survival exhibition.

14 Feb 2019

Tom with his ukulele after being repatriated to the UK

Tributes to former FEPOW Tom Boardman

It was with great sadness that LSTM learned of the death of former Far-East Prisoner of War (FEPOW), Tom Boardman, who died following a short illness earlier this month.

10 Jan 2018

View the FEPOW resources

09 Jun 2023

In conversation: Professors Geoff Gill and Nick Beeching

Hon Research Fellow, Meg Parkes MPhil, interviews Professors Geoff Gill and Nick Beeching about their work over many years with WWII Far East prisoner of war (FEPOW) veterans.

Audio/Video