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Verrieres · 11-01-2009, 03:49 PM

John Frederick Olney Bown was born on March 19 1913 at Penrhiwceiber, Glamorganshire, where his father was curate. Not long after his birth the family moved to Chelmsford diocese and to a long spell in London's dockland before his father became vicar of Orsett, a few miles from Tilbury.
Young John went as an exhibitioner to King's College, Cambridge, to read History, then to Cuddesdon Theological College to prepare for Holy Orders. In 1937 he joined a team of curates at Prittlewell, the parish church of Southend.
Padre John Bown enlisted as a TerritorialArmy chaplain while a curate at Southend, and was called up on the outbreak of war in September 1939 for service with an anti-aircraft artillery unit.
After being sent to France with the BEF early the following year Padre Bown worked in a casualty clearing station after the opening of the German offensive. When the British Army fell back on Dunkirk he elected to remain with the wounded who could not be evacuated.
For the next three years he was in a total 12 prisoner-of-war camps in Germany and Poland where, as he always put it, he was "the captive of the Hun". He ministered faithfully and sometimes courageously to his fellow prisoners, and at one point narrowly escaped execution by the Gestapo through the intervention of a German army officer.
He recalled how the men in his first camp, Stalag XXA at Thorn, Poland, had made him an altar, cross and candlesticks. At first chaplains conducted services in battle dress, but later the Red Cross sent them surplices, cassocks and stoles, while choristers improvised their own surplices. The chaplains' work was much the same as at home, except that they had to submit their sermons to the camp censor.
In 1943Bownwas repatriated, via Sweden, and became chaplain of the Woolwich Garrison, where he met and subsequently married his future wife Jane Crook, an assistant matron of the garrison hospital .In 1945 he was granted a permanent commission in the Royal Army Chaplains Department, and over the next 25 years served in senior positions in many parts of the world, proving himself a born padre – friendly, down-to-earth, at ease with all ranks and always aware of the religious character of his role.
He served as a senior chaplain to North Africa and Italy. Then came a year in India with the 10th Indian Division. Two years in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces included visits to devastated Hiroshima, and after two years at the Solent Garrison in Portsmouth he went for three years to Germany. Promotion to Deputy Assistant Chaplain General in 1953 gave him responsibility for the chaplains in East Anglia District, and in 1955 he went for the first of two postings to East Africa. These involved travelling 900 miles by land, sea and air most weeks. A unit in the Seychelles came under his jurisdiction, so that on several occasions he visited Archbishop Makarios, the Greek Cypriot leader who had been exiled for his support of the Eoka terrorist movement in Cyprus. Bown established and developed a training course for indigenous Army chaplains in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and also became a canon of Nairobi Cathedral where, during his second tour, he refurnished the garrison church in the city.
Between these postings he spent two years in England with Anti-Aircraft Command, and established a lasting link with the Royal Artillery which was to lead after his retirement to the honorary chaplaincy of the regimental association; for 17 years he conducted the annual Remembrance service at the Royal Artillery memorial in Hyde Park. Returning from East Africa in 1963, Bown was promoted to Assistant Chaplain General, I British Corps in Germany, where he remained for two years; he received a Scroll of Appreciation from the American Army for his contribution to the religious welfare of its units. His final years in the Army were spent in England, first as Assistant Chaplain General of Northern Command, then of Southern Command, becoming a Queen's Honorary Chaplain in 1967.
Padre Bown died suddenly on September 23rd 2008.

THE LONDON GAZETTE, 14 JULY, 1939

The Rev. John Frederick Olney BOWN,

B.A. 7th July 1939.,
Regards
Verrieres

11-01-2009, 03:49 PM	#9 (permalink)
Verrieres Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Durham Posts: 948	Another remarkable Man John Frederick Olney Bown was born on March 19 1913 at Penrhiwceiber, Glamorganshire, where his father was curate. Not long after his birth the family moved to Chelmsford diocese and to a long spell in London's dockland before his father became vicar of Orsett, a few miles from Tilbury. Young John went as an exhibitioner to King's College, Cambridge, to read History, then to Cuddesdon Theological College to prepare for Holy Orders. In 1937 he joined a team of curates at Prittlewell, the parish church of Southend. Padre John Bown enlisted as a TerritorialArmy chaplain while a curate at Southend, and was called up on the outbreak of war in September 1939 for service with an anti-aircraft artillery unit. After being sent to France with the BEF early the following year Padre Bown worked in a casualty clearing station after the opening of the German offensive. When the British Army fell back on Dunkirk he elected to remain with the wounded who could not be evacuated. For the next three years he was in a total 12 prisoner-of-war camps in Germany and Poland where, as he always put it, he was "the captive of the Hun". He ministered faithfully and sometimes courageously to his fellow prisoners, and at one point narrowly escaped execution by the Gestapo through the intervention of a German army officer. He recalled how the men in his first camp, Stalag XXA at Thorn, Poland, had made him an altar, cross and candlesticks. At first chaplains conducted services in battle dress, but later the Red Cross sent them surplices, cassocks and stoles, while choristers improvised their own surplices. The chaplains' work was much the same as at home, except that they had to submit their sermons to the camp censor. In 1943Bownwas repatriated, via Sweden, and became chaplain of the Woolwich Garrison, where he met and subsequently married his future wife Jane Crook, an assistant matron of the garrison hospital .In 1945 he was granted a permanent commission in the Royal Army Chaplains Department, and over the next 25 years served in senior positions in many parts of the world, proving himself a born padre – friendly, down-to-earth, at ease with all ranks and always aware of the religious character of his role. He served as a senior chaplain to North Africa and Italy. Then came a year in India with the 10th Indian Division. Two years in Japan with the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces included visits to devastated Hiroshima, and after two years at the Solent Garrison in Portsmouth he went for three years to Germany. Promotion to Deputy Assistant Chaplain General in 1953 gave him responsibility for the chaplains in East Anglia District, and in 1955 he went for the first of two postings to East Africa. These involved travelling 900 miles by land, sea and air most weeks. A unit in the Seychelles came under his jurisdiction, so that on several occasions he visited Archbishop Makarios, the Greek Cypriot leader who had been exiled for his support of the Eoka terrorist movement in Cyprus. Bown established and developed a training course for indigenous Army chaplains in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and also became a canon of Nairobi Cathedral where, during his second tour, he refurnished the garrison church in the city. Between these postings he spent two years in England with Anti-Aircraft Command, and established a lasting link with the Royal Artillery which was to lead after his retirement to the honorary chaplaincy of the regimental association; for 17 years he conducted the annual Remembrance service at the Royal Artillery memorial in Hyde Park. Returning from East Africa in 1963, Bown was promoted to Assistant Chaplain General, I British Corps in Germany, where he remained for two years; he received a Scroll of Appreciation from the American Army for his contribution to the religious welfare of its units. His final years in the Army were spent in England, first as Assistant Chaplain General of Northern Command, then of Southern Command, becoming a Queen's Honorary Chaplain in 1967. Padre Bown died suddenly on September 23rd 2008. THE LONDON GAZETTE, 14 JULY, 1939 The Rev. John Frederick Olney BOWN, B.A. 7th July 1939., Regards Verrieres Last edited by Verrieres; 11-01-2009 at 03:54 PM.