We are currently in production on the life of a soldier who died in the Hong Kong campaign  during the second world war.

The client is the granddaughter of this Scottish Army Officer, she wanted to commemorate what would have been his 100th Birthday this year. The research started by tracing his birth (the family had incorrectly thought he was born in India where his father was serving in the Indian Army.) We followed his father's army career at www.indiafamily.bl.uk to discover our subject lived in India until he was 11 years old when he came to England to be educated at Epsom College (www.epsomcollege.org.uk) The school archives revealed much previously unseen material and gave the family the youngest pictures they had seen of their grandfather, with pictures of him and their great uncle in school sports photographs. The journey then took us to Sandhurst and archive footage was traced of his passing out parade from www.britishpathe.com

Next stop was Scotland where his army regiment, The Royal Scots (www.theroyalscots.co.uk), could provide information about where he lived and worked in his twenties. We discovered his marriage certificate at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk which led us to the church he was married in and his wife's family home. Following the birth of a son (our client's father) our soldier was posted to Hong Kong and records were found from surviving Army wives stories, about life in Hong Kong, the evacuation to Australia of the women and children and ultimately the fate of the soldiers who were left to defend the island (info at www.hongkongwardiary.com)

First edit of the film - without colour or sound correction...