Ryan, Lionel Ernest Norwood, 1888-1945

Ryan, Lionel Ernest Norwood, eldest son of George Norwood Ryan, of Teddington, Middx, by Isabella, daughter of James Anderson, of Aberdeen; b. July 16, 1888; adm. as (non­ resident) K.S. Sept. 25, 1902; went into College 1903; left (with Triplett) July 1907; Ch. Ch. Oxon., matric. Michaelmas 1907; sometime in the shipping office of M. Samuel and Co., London, and of Samuel Samuel and Co. Ltd., Yokohama, Japan; agent, Canadian Pacific Railway Co., Shanghai, China, April 1916 - May 1919; chief asst. Hong-Kong, July 1920-5; agent 1926; d. in the Japanese Internment Camp at Hong Kong Feb. 27, 1945; he bequeathed a share of his residue, amounting to about £6,000, to the Westminster School Society.

Lionel Ernest Norwood Ryan was born at Kingston, Surrey on the 16th of July 1888 the eldest son of George Norwood Ryan, a ship broker, and Isabella “Bella” (nee Anderson) Ryan of 21, Gwendolyn Avenue Putney in Surrey, later of “St John’s”, Somers Road, Reigate in Surrey. He was christened at Surbiton on the 23rd of October 1888.
He was educated at Westminster School where he was a non resident King’s Scholar from the 25th of September 1902 and was up College from 1903 to July 1907. He was a member of the Officer Training Corps where he was promoted to Sergeant on the 9th of August 1906. He was a member of the Shooting VIII in 1906 and 1907 and competed for the school in the Ashburton Shield Competition in the latter year. He was a member of the Debating Society in 1907. He matriculated for Christ Church, Oxford in 1907 and was awarded a Triplett Exhibition.
On leaving university he went to work as a shipping agent’s clerk for the office of M. Samuel & Company of London and of Samuel and Samuel & Company Ltd of Yokohama. He moved to China where he worked for the Canadian Pacific Company at Shanghai from April 1916 to May 1919 before transferring to their Hong Kong office as a Superintendant Assistant from July 1920. He was a member of the Hong Kong Club and of the Civil Defence Service.
He was captured and interned in a camp by the Japanese at the fall of Hong Kong on the 25th of December 1941. He was a Canadian national and the Canadians in the camp were released and repatriated to Canada in August 1943. Lionel Ryan and a Mr. Drummond were not among those who were released. A diary, kept by Franklin Gimson noted in August 1943 that: -“In the evening, Drummond and Ryan, two Canadians whose names had been excluded from the list (repatriation) came to see me and took the matter very calmly. All they asked was that they might be included on the list if vacancies occurred."
He died at The British Civilian Internment Camp at Stanley in Hong Kong from pneumonia brought on by a brain tumour.
He left the sum of £6,000 to the Westminster Society in his will.
His brothers, 2nd Lieutenant Warwick John Norwood Ryan, Queen’s Own Dorset Yeomanry died on the 5th of September 1916 and Captain Edward St John Norwood Ryan MC, 12th (Service) Battalion East Surrey Regiment, was killed in action on the 22nd of October 1918.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Christ Church, Oxford.
He is buried at Stanley Military Cemetery.

Civil Defence Service, Hong Kong

International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition. Updated by Bethany Duck, Archives Assistant, September 2022.

Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020. Westminster School Second World War Memorial by John C. Hamblin, 2022.

The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from Play 1883 to Election 1960, Volume 3, compiled by J.B. Whitmore, G.R.Y. Radcliffe and D.C. Simpson, Barnet, 1963