Barbara Kentish was born on 11 March 1913 the elder child of Edgar Kentish (1881-1963) and Clara Margaret Kentish née Longstaff (1879-1964). Her birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1913 in the Lewisham registration district.
On 13 April 1913 she was baptised at the Cleveland Methodist Hall, Lewisham, where the baptismal register shows the family residing at 79 Burnt Ash Hill, Lee, London SE, and that her father was a solicitor. Her brother was Michael Kentish (1916-2007).
Electoral registers from 1934 to 1936 show her listed with her parents at 81a Burnt Ash Hill, Lee, Lewisham and from 1937 to 1939 the registers show her still at this address with her parents and her brother.
states that in the 1921 census she was living in the Lewisham area with her parents, her brother and a family servant. It also shows that she and a Miss H. Kentish of 81 Burnt Ash Hill, SE12 left the Port of London on 3 August 1939 bound for Mombasa, Kenya, aboard the Llandovery Castle of the Union-Castle Mail Steam Ship Co. Ltd. The ship's manifest shows they travelled tourist class, both had no occupation and they did not intend to remain in Kenya.
She gained the rank of Serjeant in the Women's Territorial Service (East Africa), formally of the Women's Transport Service (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry), service number K/200.
On 6 February 1944 she was on board the S.S. Khedive Ismail, a liner that was being used a troopship. It formed part of Convoy KR-8 that sailed from Kilindini Harbour at Mombasa, Kenya to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The convoy consisted of five troop transports (Khedive Ismail, City of Paris, Varsova, Ekma & Ellenga), escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins and the destroyers HMS Petard and HMS Paladin.
In the early afternoon of Saturday 12 February 1944, a Japanese submarine sank the Khedive Ismail with two torpedoes. No fewer than 1,297 people, including 77 women, lost their lives in the two minutes it took for the Khedive Ismail to sink. Only 208 men and 6 women survived. The sinking was the third worst Allied shipping disaster of World War II and the single worst loss of female service personnel in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations. The gives more details of the action.
She died, aged 30 years. As she has no known grave she is of the East Africa Memorial Kenya in the Nairobi War Cemetery, Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya and on the . The CWGC records show that she had been 'Mentioned in Despatches' but no details could be found relating to the circumstances of this award. She is also commemorated on the , St Edith's Well, High Street, Kemsing, TN15 6NA, on, High Street, Kemsing, Sevenoaks TN15 6NA and it would appear that her parents and brother were all buried in Kemsing.
Probate records confirm her address had been 81 Burnt Ash Hill, Lee, London, SE12 and that when administration of her estate was granted to her father on 10 August 1944 her effects totalled £530-2s-3d.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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