Papers of W.P. Winston

This material is held atBodleian Library, University of Oxford

  • Reference
    • GB 161 MSS. Ind. Ocn. s. 317
  • Dates of Creation
    • [1937-1959]
  • Language of Material
    • English.
  • Physical Description
    • 6 boxes

Scope and Content

Papers relating to service with the Public Works Department, Malaya, 1937-1959; including war service in the Indian Engineers, 1942-1945, office diaries, 1946-1959, and cine-films of PWD road building and Merdeka celebrations.

Administrative / Biographical History

William Peter Winston (fl 1914-1985) joined the Colonial Service in 1937 and was posted to the Public Works Department of Pontian and then to Johore Bahru, Malaya. He served in Johore Nahru as Engineer-in-Charge until the Japanese occupation of Malaya in 1942. For the rest of the war he served in, and later commanded, 151 Indian Railway Construction Company I. E. rising by 1945 to the rank of Acting Major; the company was principally employed on the construction of the Rangapahar Base in Assam. After the war he transferred to the British military administration of Malaya. After Malayan independence in 1957 he remained as State Engineer for Kedah and Perlis. In 1959 he married Dr. Thora Oehlers and shortly afterwards retired from the Colonial Service.

Access Information

Bodleian reader's ticket required.

Note

Collection level description created by Paul Davidson, Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House.

Other Finding Aids

Listed as no. 744 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996). A handlist is also available in the library reading room.

Conditions Governing Use

No reproduction or publication of personal papers without permission. Contact the library in the first instance.

Related Material

Certificate of the Technical Association of Malaya, 1957; letter of appointment as Councillor of State, Kedah, 1956; citations and correspondence relating to Kedah medals, 1958-1960; Malayan proclamation of independence, 1957 (ref. MSS. Ind. Ocn. t. 9); three letters home, 1942, giving an account of the Japanese invasion of Malaya and his subsequent escape (ref. MSS. Ind. Ocn. s. 122)