Isla HARTLEY ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

Isla and her daughter Gill were evacuated from Shanghai in 1941 to avoid the imminent attack on Shanghai by the Japanese. They took the ship Anhui which was bound for India as they were warned that it was the last vessel out of Shanghai. The ship sailed for Hong Kong but while on route the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and Hong Kong and they were diverted to Manila where they disembarked with their hand luggage. Unbeknown to them the ship then sailed without them.
Manilla was occupied by the Japanese on 3rd January 1942 and Isla and Gill were interned at Santo Tomas University. Their account of prison life is recounted in "Prisoners of Santo Tomas" by Celia Lucas, based on Isla Corfield's diaries which she kept at considerable risk to herself and her daughter. It was published in London in 1975. In it she said that she had never returned to the Phillipines and had no desire to do so.
Life in prison camp was grim but unlike many other Japanese run camps, prisoners were not routinely beaten or killed. Rather they were constantly humiliated and deaths were from disease. In 1944 due to military reverses by the Japanese the Corfields were moved to a new camp "Los Banos", from which escape was more difficult. There conditions were much worse and many of their friends died of starvation or diseases exacerbated by malnutrition. But on 23rd February 1945 the US 11th Airborne Division located the camp and attacked the Japanese in conjunction with an army and amphibious attack. The Corfields and 2000 others were freed and taken to Manila and then put on a ship to Australia.
Isla and Gill arrived in New Guinea on 2nd April 1945 and three days later they sighted Australia and at Townsville were given a huge reception. It took four days to reach Sydney from Townsville and then they took the Stirling Castle back to England were they were re-united with TD and Richard in Liverpool.
After she was widowed Isla lived at 20 Kenway Road, Earls Court, London.

Isla married Gerald Frederick Conyngham CORFIELD, son of Conyngham William George CORFIELD and Henrietta EDWARDS, on 4 Jan 1919. (Gerald Frederick Conyngham CORFIELD was born on 14 Jun 1886 on board ship., christened on 14 Jun 1887 in Emu Bay, Tasmania. and died on 21 Jan 1961.)