Lesley Brown lost her father David when she was just six years old. Later, her mum passed on his camera and photographs and Lesley unearthed a fascinating chapter of his life. She tells us about how she came to inherit his Kodak Retina 1a and the pictures her father took while on National Service during the Malayan Emergency.
Lesley spoke to Nora McElhone.
I was born in the 1970’s and brought up in Woodside in Glenrothes by my mum Gina and dad David. Sadly, my dad died when he was 42 and it was a very difficult time for us as we were a very close family and losing dad left a big hole in our lives.
Much later, my mum gave me an album of photos dad took when he did his National Service in the 1950s. He saw active service in Malaya (now Malaysia). Then, after I met Steven (Courier photographer Steven Brown) my mum gave the camera that took the photos to him. She knew he would appreciate it.
My mum, who is now 84, tells me my dad got the camera in Malaya from another solider. He was looking to sell it but dad didn’t have any money so offered cigarettes in exchange as they had plenty of those – it cost him 100 fags!
dad didn’t have any money so offered cigarettes in exchange as they had plenty of those -it cost him 100 fags!
He used it to record his time in Malaya and I think he saw it as a great adventure. He had never even been to Edinburgh before he enlisted.
The album is a window into history. National Service was seen as what made boys into men, and an opportunity to see the world, but it’s hard to believe that young men were sent to active war zones without a choice. My son is 18 and I can’t imagine him going to fight a war without choosing that path for himself.
Part of our family
My mum had held on to the camera, but never used it herself. She tells me dad used it to record their engagement and our childhood photos, so it was an important part of our family.
To be honest, I don’t think any of us would know where to start if we were to try and use it now. And of course you would have to wait to see the results!
It’s a lovely thing to have both the camera and the photos dad took. He is in some of the photos and you can start to imagine what his life was like at that time. It’s extra special because Steven can also appreciate them and hopefully even work out how to use it!
Dad was in was in the 15-19th Royal Hussars Regiment, which was a tank regiment. The hussars were originally a cavalry regiment but the horses were replaced by tanks. I grew up with the knowledge that dad had been there and seen active service and to me, as a child, it was a war but I didn’t know any details until quite recently.
What I do know is that it was down-graded from a conflict and is now referred to as an emergency, I’m not sure how these things are worked out but it feels like it minimises the risks that he and others took – you can see from the photos there were tanks involved!
His role was to receive and send messages in Morse code – he was a signaller. While he was in Malaya his brothers were in Singapore and Korea doing their National Service. My granny must have been worried sick, but they all came home.
Lesley lives in Glenrothes with her husband Steven. She works full time as a planner with Scottish Water and has two children and three grandchildren.
Do you have an everyday heirloom that you still use? We would love to hear about it. Email Nora McElhone nmcelhone@thecourier.co.uk with your name and details of the object and why you love it so much.
