
Obituary for Major Richard Anthony Plowden Gournay (Tony) Ferrier
Tony died on 3 Nov 2016 aged 96. He was the last surviving Royal Norfolk Regiment Officer captured in Singapore in 1942.
Tony served with 1st, 2nd and 5th Bns The Royal Norfolk Regt and as a 1950s PARA in Egypt, Palestine, Cyprus and Germany before retiring in 1960.
He was OC D Coy in Cyprus during the 1956 fire which claimed 5 fatalities from the ranks of the Norfolks. The photograph above is of Tony in 1985.
Born in Gorleston, he spent his childhood at Hemsby Hall. Tony was proud of his Norfolk heritage and his family can trace its roots to at least 1549 from the reign of Edward VI. One ancestor was MP for Great Yarmouth from 1708-1715.
After leaving Radley in Oxfordshire, he went to Sandhurst for two years and was commissioned in July 1939, just weeks before the outbreak of war.
In Oct 1941, the 21-year-old officer boarded a troopship with two other Royal Norfolk battalions as Task Force 14, later known as ‘Winston’s Specials’ and sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia. There, they transhipped to American ships in Nov 1941 for the long voyage to Basra, Iraq, via Capetown in South Africa. During a brief break there, they learned of the attack on Pearl Harbour on 7 Dec.
As the Japanese advanced at speed through Malaya, the Norfolks were diverted to defend Singapore. It became the longest ‘trooping voyage’ in British military history as they crossed the Equator six times and steamed the equivalent of more than once around the world.
As a company commander in the 5th Bn Royal Norfolk Regiment, he spent almost four years in a Japanese prison of war camp.
He was also a training officer with the Norfolk Army Cadet Force for many years.
After retiring in 1960, returning to his native county, he spent four years with seed merchants McGill & Smith,before joining the CLA (Country Landowners’ Association) in November 1964 as secretary responsible for Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely and then five months later took on Norfolk as well.
During his 21 years as regional secretary he built up the membership and extended the CLA influence across the counties.
A keen supporter of the work of the St John Ambulance Brigade and a former president of the Dereham area, he was made a Commander of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in April 1966.
Awarded a ‘blue’ at Sandhurst, he took up golf again after a 41-year break, playing at Reymerston and later at Dereham for many years. He also shot and was a keen dinghy sailor for many years on the north Norfolk coast.
Tony is survived by his wife Peta and leaves two sons, Richard and Michael; stepdaughters Adrienne and Caroline; grandchildren Louisa, Victoria and Giles and great-grandchildren Arabella, Sam and Hugo.
After a private family funeral an extremely well attended Service of Thanksgiving, conducted by The Revd Canon William Sayer, took place in Norwich Cathedral on 13 Feb 2017.
Tony was indeed a Gentleman whom it was an Honour and a Pleasure to have known.
Michael Pollitt (Eastern Daily Press) & JLR