Background
Introduction
The following notes are not conclusive. I have gathered the loose threads
of available information in an ad-hoc manner, and therefore further
research is required to be conducted and these notes are open to correction.
If you have further information please contact the web author. Thank
you.
Barracks History
(Courtesy Muzium & Galeri Tuanku Fauziah)
The image shown above is of the Army Hospital at the Barracks
(note Army ambulance parked out the front!), otherwise known as the
British Military Hospital Penang, which incorporated the British
Military Maternity Hospital.
What we know as the actual Minden Barracks was built before or during World War 2, and the structure itself is now virtually unrecognisable as part of the Universiti Sains Malaysia. See iimage on the Present Day page.
The Barracks were renamed “Minden Barracks” from the original “Glugor Barracks”. From studying the image of Glugor House on the front page, it would appear that it is in fact the original building, before being converted for use as Barracks in the late forties. Glugor House was the plantation home of the wealthy Brown family, Scottish traders of the 19th century. As Local Government was established in George Town in 1800, Mr John Brown fulfilled the roles of Provost, Sheriff, Gaoler, Coroner, Bailiff, Constable, Police Officer and Secretary to the Committee of Assessors. Mr David Brown, another wealthy land-owner was also on the Committee. His nutmeg and clove plantation the subject of the artwork shown here by Daniell Smith.
.
Glugor Plantation
A new building was erected at Minden Barracks in 1960/61. The school
was situated downhill from the married quarters, and not far from the
movie theater, and was approximately 10 metres wide and 25 metres in
length. The name "Minden" is apparently after the Battle
of Minden, or the Seven Years War of 1759 in Minden, North
Germany. The combatants of that war were the British, Hanoverians, Hessians
and Prussians against the French and Saxons.
Background
A number of events led Great Britain to play a direct part in the affairs
of the Malayan peninsula. There was conflict between Chinese settlers,
who worked in the tin mines, and Malays; there were civil wars among
the Malays; and there was an increase in piracy in the western part
of the peninsula. Merchants asked the British to restore order. RAAF
and British squadrons were committed to South-East Asia for a quarter
of a century, from 1950 to 1975. Subsequently there were also the problems
of the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941-1945, the Malayan Emergency
from 1948 to 1960 and subsequent conflicts including the Indonesian
Confrontation from 1963 to 1966. The Western bloc nations were apprehensive
about the spread of international communism.
Occupied
During the war, the Japanese occupied the barracks. The Barracks were
then occupied by various regiments of the British Army and RAF, during
the Emergency. The KOYLI (Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) serving
in Malaya from 1948, used the Barracks as their headquarters until they
left in 1951. Only the band and the bugle platoon were permanently based
at the Barracks. At this time there were just four barrack rooms, the
officers' and sergeants' messes, married quarters and an AKC (Army Cinema
Corporation). Other Rifle companies on operations against the communists
on the mainland also used the barracks, but only for rest and rehabilitation.
The 1st Bn, The Royal Greenjackets were also based at the Barracks,
at least from 1962 to 1965.
Australian battalions were sent to Malaya as part of the British Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve (FESR). FESR comprised British, Australian, New Zealand, and Malayan troops. The Royal Australian Regiments 1RAR, 2RAR and 3RAR were deployed to Malaya from September 1955 in efforts directed against the Communist terrorists. While in Malaya, the battalions were stationed at Minden Barracks, although they rarely spent any length of time there as operations in the jungle lasted for days or even weeks at a time, and breaks between operations were brief.
Closure
The Barracks closed in 1971 as it was taken over by the University as
part of the campus.
Schooling
The school was called “Minden Barracks”, because it was located at the
Minden Barracks. It encompassed the BACS (British Army Children’s School),
or the BAFS (British Armed Forces School), and was for children of Armed
forces servicemen, Army and RAF children, as well as any civilians working
with the Forces. At secondary school level children had to go to boarding
school in Singapore, although some actually went to a UK school. Children
of Armed Forces servicemen were sent to either Slim
School in the Cameron Highlands or Bourne in Kuala Lumpur,
at about age 12 after sitting an exam of sorts. Those who went to Slim
School enjoyed it immensely. Bourne
was almost all British, and not uncommonly regarded by the students
as the best school days of their teen years. It schooled children from
the USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Schooling was conducted 5 days per week but in the mornings only. Twice a day students were provided with chocolate or strawberry milk – which always nice and cold. The desks were the long style, where students would sit side by side, and slates were used. Some students remember attending the RAAF school for Sunday School classes.
By 1962 when the RAAF School opened and those children travelled to
school by bus, the Army children were travelling to school at the Barracks
in an ‘antique’ British truck with Ghurka guards as conductors. The
BAFS school at the Barracks had woven walls and a “palm” roof. No fans,
but large windows which were cantilevered open with sticks.
Sports houses of the day were Nightingale, Baden Powell, Bader and Cook.
Each year there was a swimming gala at the pool on the Barracks site.
The school closed in 1971.
School Staff
Only a couple of names have been received so far, that of Mr Grindrod,
the Headmaster Mr Beadle (only had one hand) and also Mr Ramsden, Headmaster
(63-69).