Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Five: Commander M. E. Scott-Lindsley, Royal Navy, a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese after the fall of Hong Kong, an amateur artist whose sketchbook and diary are held at the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth

1939-45 Star; Pacific Star; War Medal 1939-45; Naval General Service 1915-62, 1 clasp, Near East (Cdr . M. E. Scott Lindsley. R.N.); General Service 1962-2007, 1 clasp, Malay Peninsula (Commander M. E. Scott-Lindsley. R.N.) the first four mounted as worn, good very fine (5) £1,200-£1,500

Mervyn Ewart Scott-Lindsley was born at Worcester in 1914 and was commissioned as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 25 August 1940. An electrical specialist he was promoted to Lieutenant (E) on 25 December 1940 and, in March 1941, was posted to H.M.S. Tamar, the shore base at Hong Kong. The Japanese attacked Hong Kong on 8 December 1941, and when the island surrendered on 25 December, Scott-Lindsley became a prisoner-of-war. He was detained in Hong Kong throughout the remainder of the war, firstly in Sham Shui Po camp and then in Argyle Street camp. Scott-Lindsley was one of three officers who secretly built a radio, described as ‘a masterpiece of ingenuity... it kept us supplied with B.B.C. news for several months’ (R. B. Goodwin, Hong Kong Escape, refers). In September 1943, the radio was discovered and several officers were arrested and tortured, but fortunately not Scott-Lindsley. He was a talented amateur artist and kept a record of life in captivity through his sketchbook and diary, both of which are today held in the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth. A two-part article titled The War Art of Mervyn Scott-Lindsley RNVR, 1941-1945 is also available online to subscribers to The Navy Records Society.

Scott-Lindsley was liberated on 2 September 1945 and, in June 1946, he transferred from the R.N.V.R. to the Royal Navy, being posted to H.M.S. Liverpool. Two weeks later he transferred to H.M.S. Diadem, a cruiser, and was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander (E) in November 1946. In 1949 he began three years’ service ashore, first at Osprey, the R.N. Air Station at Portland, then at Collingwood, the Electrical Training Establishment at Fareham, Hampshire. In June 1954, he was promoted to Commander (E) and soon afterwards posted to H.M.S. Chevron, then H.M.S. Chieftan. In October 1956, the latter ship participated in the Suez campaign.

From April 1857, he served ashore at various naval bases, viz., as Ship’s Electrical Officer at Bellerophon (the Reserve Fleet, Portsmouth; at Devonport Dockyard; and as Fleet Electrical Officer at H.M.S. Terror, a shore-base in Malaya (1962-65). During the latter period of this posting he took part in the operations on the Malay Peninsula against Indonesian infiltrators. From March 1965 until his retirement in 1968, he served with the Department of Guided Weapons (Naval). Commander Scott-Lindsley died on 31 August 1987.