Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

My father seemed to have worked in Burma back in 1945. However, he was demobbed from the Royal Navy on July 12, 1946. Interestingly, he was already back in Burma working for the Rangoon Electrical Supply Company by 1946-1947. He may have been offered the job in Rangoon when he was serving in the navy there.

The Japanese and the British had taken turns at destroying the infrastructure of Rangoon during the Second World War;⁷⁰ this included the power stations that fed the tramways with electricity. At one point during the hostilities, the British had destroyed the power station to deny the facility to the Japanese.

So, there was some irony that my father was engaged in restoration of wartime damage (as some of it was caused by the British). My father’s CV specifically mentions the power stations. 

As mentioned above, my father he was involved in rebuilding a city that lay in ruins after being devastated by warfare. In fact, his CV states that as Chief Draughtsman, he was “engaged upon the design of and the preparation of drawings for H.T. and L.T. distribution networks, and associated electrical plant and equipment for a large city. (…) the necessary electrical plant and cabling used in the major reconstruction and overhaul of several coal fired power stations.” In other words, this must have been in Rangoon.

Four-year Contract

It can be assumed that my father started a 4-year contract in September 1946. This would mean he would work there until September 1950. In actual fact, it seems he only worked there until March 1947, when he started to work at the North British Rubber Company. Although, on his CV (unreliable), it says he worked in Rangoon until 1948.

Of course, Burma was politically unstable in the post-war period, and the country became independent from Britain on 4 January, 1948. This can perhaps explain why my father’s contract was cut short. There was also a mention of a general strike.⁷¹ 

Fortunately, there are letters between my parents that provide us with more insight into his time in Burma. I will discuss them in a separate post.

⁷⁰ https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Rangoon_Tramway,_Burma

⁷¹ RANGOON GENERAL STRIKE [ARTICLE]. Page 2 RANGOON GENERAL STRIKE Reuter. RANGOON Sept. 21—Employees of all Government offices, Burma railway Ports and Posts and Telegraphs win stage a "general :>:r.ke on Monday as DO reply has been received up to 5 p m. this evening to the memorandum sent to the https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/issue/maltribune19460923-1