Bingham, Leslie Paget Birkett, son of Herbert Berkeley Fanshawe Bingham, of Hampton Wick, Middx, and Beatrice Mary, d. of William Henry Birkett of Exeter; b. 3 June 1913; adm. Sept. 1927 (R); left July 1932; Gas Light & Coke Co.; East Surrey Regt 1940-2 (Lieut.); wounded and p.o.w. MalayaJan. 1942; d. of wounds Singapore 26 Feb 1942; despatches (posth.) Aug. 1946.
Leslie Paget Birkett Bingham was born at Montreal, Canada on the 3rd of June 1913 the only son of Herbert Berkeley Fanshawe Bingham, an insurance official, and Beatrice Mary (nee Birkett) Bingham later of “Memphis”, Pharaoh’s Island, Sunbury in Middlesex. The family returned from Canada on board the SS Scandinavia and landed at Liverpool on the 26th of December 1916. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Rigaud’s from September 1927 to July 1932 after which he went to work for the Gas, Light & Coke Co Ltd.
Following the outbreak of war he attended an Officer Cadet training Unit before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the East Surrey Regiment on the 2nd of November 1940. He was posted to the 2nd Battalion of his Regiment based at Singapore where the Battalion became heavily engaged in the fighting which followed the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941. After suffering heavy casualties in the first few days of the fighting the Battalion was merged with the remnants of the 1st Battalion, Royal Leicestershire Regiment on the 20th of December 1941 to form the composite British Battalion. Leslie Bingham was appointed as the Carrier Officer for the new Battalion.
At 4am on the morning of the 10th of January 1942, the British Battalion received orders to fall back to the town of Labu, to the south of Kuala Lumpur where they arrived at 11pm that night. Before they could continue their retreat the Battalion was charged with blowing up the bridge there to impede the enemy advance.
Early on the morning of the 11th of January 1942, the Battalion set out to blow up the bridge but found that the approaches to it were mined and, when the first lorry in the column was destroyed by a mine, the column halted and Leslie Bingham volunteered to make a reconnaissance to see it was safe to proceed. While doing this his carrier was blown up and he was seriously wounded. Following a further reconnaissance the bridge was successfully destroyed at 4.30am.
He was admitted to the Alexandra Hospital, Singapore where he died from his wounds six weeks later and was buried in a slit trench in the hospital grounds by Padre Chambers. His body was later exhumed and reburied in its present location.
He was Mentioned in Despatches: - “In recognition of distinguished services in Malaya in 1942”, which was announced by the War Office on the 1st of August 1946.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Shepperton.
He is buried at Kranji War Cemetery Plot 11, Row A Grave 6.
