Following up an enquiry from Jean Mozley (wife of Bert Mozley,
a former Derby County football player) in Canada, about a pen-friend of
"yester-years", Robert Ford, I discovered, thanks to the assistance of
Arthur Woolley, Duncan Topliss, David Yates and others, a bit about this local
'hero'.
I know little about his childhood except that he attended the
village school, his parents lived in Church Road, and as a boy always sought
excitement - nearly blowing himself up with a home made motorbike. He had always
wanted to travel and joined the RAF to see the world. "A safe white-collar
job seemed the fate of most grammar school boys in 1939, but I hated the idea of
spending the rest of my life in a bank or office in Burton-on-Trent" (taken
from his book Captured in Tibet by Robert Ford , George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd,
London 1957.). He was an easy victim for the recruiting posters and enlisted as
an apprentice when he left school at 16 - a week later war broke out. He was
posted to India in 1943 and soon became disillusioned, and jumped at the chance
of the job in Lhasa that carried a temporary release from the RAF.
Robert Ford setting out from Gangtok on the journey into
Tibet.
"Jeff" at Radio G5 JF
From 1948 to 1950, he was a
Radio Officer to the Tibetan Government, charged with installing Tibet's
first Broadcasting Station and developing an internal radio communications
system. He became the first foreigner ever to be employed by the Tibetan
Government and was given an official rank in the Tibetan hierarchy.
He was based in Chamdo, NE Tibet, and called Phodo Kusho
(Ford Esquire). He (call sign AC4 RF) established a radio link with a
Burton operator, a tailor named Jefferies (G5 JF) that enabled his parents
to speak to him every Wednesday. At the very best a letter took 5 weeks to
reach them.
He was captured by the invading Chinese Communists in
October 1950, having attempted to escape only to find his route blocked.
He was taken back to Chamdo and from there onto Chingking, arriving on 10
December 1950. The Chinese believed they were liberating Tibet from
American and British imperialism and suspected Ford of espionage and
involvement in the death of Geda Lama.
An article in The Times, 5 Dec 1950, reports:
Hong Kong, December 4 - Mr R Ford, the British wireless
officer who was captured by Chinese Communists in Tibet, was yesterday accused
of poisoning a high lama who was deputy chairman of the Sikang
Provincial Government, according to the New China News Agency. The agency
alleged that Mr Ford destroyed the priest's body to hide the crime, and it
accused Mr Ford of being a British secret agent. The agency alleges that Mr
Ford gave the priest poisoned tea.
He was to spend nearly five years imprisoned, living in
constant fear, subjected to interrogation and thought reform. On 14 May 1954 he
was allowed to write to his parents for the first time. On 8 December 1954 his
trial started and he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. He was eventually
released/deported on 29 May 1955, first going to Hong Kong, then later by sea to
Singapore from where he flew to London.
Hong Kong - and freedom
Reunion at London Airport
I am led to believe banners were put up in the village when he
came back home and that he spent some time at Rolleston pool.
Following an article in the Summer 2005 issue of
the Rollestonian about Robert Ford, Joan Littlewood (nee Fisher), has kindly
provided two pictures taken at the welcome home party arranged for him at Ivy
House, by Captain and Mrs Welch (seen standing either side of him as he cuts the
cake).
The Daily Mail reported on 23 May 1956 'World's loneliest man
to marry' on 2
June, 1956 to a girl he knew at school. When he returned home he met Miss Monica
Tebbett of nearby Tutbury. "We met again and fell in love," said
Robert. Miss Tebbett was employed by the United Nations in New York but
yesterday she was back at her home at The Paddock, Lodge Hill, Tutbury preparing
for the wedding. (Article provided by Monica
Porter, Missing & Found correspondent, Daily Mail).
Apparently he gave a talk at the village school
about his captivity. Not sure about the date (late 1950s?) but the Truant
Catcher's name at the time was Mr Law! If anyone remembers him visiting the
school or can add to the information already available on this page then please
email the
.
On the occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit to
London in September 1994, His Holiness invited for lunch a group, including
Robert Ford, who had the
privilege to live, visit and work in Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion of the
country in 1950, to exchange their experiences and reminiscences of that time.
Some personal observations on Tibet's independence prior to 1950 by Robert Ford,
London (13 September 1994) can be found at http://www.tibet.com/Status/ford.html.
Photo - left to right - Mr Kazi Sonam Togpyal, Mr Robert Ford,
Mrs Ronguy Collectt (daughter of Sir Charles Bell), Dr Bruno Beger, His
Holiness, Mr Henreich Harrer, Mrs Joan Mary Jehu , Mr Archibald Jack and Prof.
Fosco Maraini
I have received an email from a Linden (Lovegren) Malki who wrote to say:
On page 309 of the American edition, "Wind between the Worlds", Mr Ford mentions an American named Lovegren who was in the same prison. This was my uncle, Dr Levi Lovegren, a Baptist missionary from Seattle, Washington. He had been in west China as a missionary for nearly 20 years before World War II, and then had been sent back to China as a translator for the Army during the war. After the war, he went back to a new area in west China, and did not leave when advised by the American government. When the Communists discovered an American with US Army connections out in west China, he was arrested in 1951, held in house arrest for nearly a year, and then sent to the same prison as Mr. Ford. He told me once that he had not been as vulnerable to the propaganda pressures as some of the other prisoners because he had his doctorate in educational psychology and understood what they were trying to do to him and could anticipate their methods. They also charged him with "spying" by writing letters home in the 1920's and 1930's describing the country and mentioning the weather--which was retroactively classified information. Toward the end of his time in prison some of the guards were smuggling in vegetables. He was released in 1955 in Hong Kong where his wife and daughter had been waiting for him. They came back to the US for recuperation and a speaking tour in some of the churches who had been praying for him, and then returned to Taiwan to teach at Taiwan Christian College for about five years. He then retired to his mother's house in Oregon, and lived to the age of 93 in 1981. One of his daughters is working on a book about his life.
