STANLEY CHARLES TODD

From May through to September 2026, Andrew will be fulfilling his dream to hike the iconic Land’s End to John O’Groats! You are all warmly invited to follow Andrew’s epic journey on his Facebook page, “Andrew Beal LEJOG” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577588795730

As Andrew hikes the 1,300+ miles, he will raise funds for the Ipswich War Memorial Project to help finance our future exhibitions and research of the brave Ipswich men and women who lost their lives in conflict. If you would like to make a small donation, please click on the link: https://gofund.me/5d4a50570

Thank you for your love and support. Andrew & Helen – I.W.M.P.

Image courtesy of P Todd.

Born: 20th April 1921, Ipswich.

Died: 14th November 1942; age: 21; Drowned as an Italian POW on board S.S. ‘Scillin.’

Residence: 29, Cecil Road, Ipswich.

Rank: Bombardier; Service Number: 905169.

Regiment: Royal Artillery, 67 Medium Regiment.

Memorial Reference:

Column 32.

Alamein Memorial,

Matruh,

Egypt.

Relatives Notified & Address: Son of Arthur George & Florence Maud Todd, of Ipswich.

Father: Arthur George Todd, born March 1892, Redenhall, Suffolk. A Police Constable.

Mother: Florence Maud Todd (nee Gooding), born December 1892, Ipswich.

Stanley’s father served during the First World War and received a bravery citation:

At Langincourt 22nd March 1918, Sergeant Todd took charge of the Lewis guns of “C” Company 9th Battalion The Norfolk Regiment, during an attack by the Enemy, Sergeant Todd noticed one Lewis gun out of the section, he at once repaired on the spot and this was instrumental in holding up of the enemy at a very critical stage of the attack.
Sergeant Todd’s prompt action, taken under very heavy fire, was an inspiration to all those around.

CENSUS

1921   373, Nacton Road, Ipswich.

Stanley was 2 months old and lived with his parents and brother.

Arthur Todd, 29 years & 3 months old, a Police Constable for Ipswich Borough Police, at the Town Hall, Ipswich.

Florence Todd, 28 years & 6 months old, Home Duties.

Ronald Arthur Todd, 14 months old, born Ipswich.

Stanley is also remembered on the war memorial at the Town Hall, Ipswich.

(Stanley 2nd from the right)

The photo was taken in Quassasin, Egypt, just after the regiment arrived in the Middle East. Richard Osborne (left) remembered Stan Todd (2nd right) in an interview in 2006
” This chap Stan Todd – it was very unfortunate – after we were taken prisoner by the Germans, we were handed over to the Italians and taken from Tobruk by lorry to Bengahazi and we ended up in two barbed wire compounds and there were two cargo boats to take us across to Italy and we got split up. Stan Todd went in one of these vessels and the rest of us on the other and the one Stan Todd was on, I’ve been informed, was torpedoed on the way across the Mediterranean with huge loss of life and that included Stan Todd.”

67th Medium Regiment

67th Medium Regiment, R.A. (T.A.)
HQ, 232nd (Suffolk) Bty: Ipswich
231st (Suffolk) Bty: Sudbury

The 67th Medium Regiment served under the command of IV Corps Artillery in the autumn of 1940. It was sent to North Africa in October 1941 as part of the Crusader convoys. It served under the 8th Army in the campaigns in the Western Desert from November 1941 until June 1942. It supported the South African attack on Bardia in December 1941. The regiment added (Suffolk) to its name on 17 February 1942. It was captured at Tobruk on 20 June 1942. Due to casualties, the regiment was reduced to a cadre on 7 September 1942.
The regiment was reformed at Hunstanton, Norfolk, on 7 February 1943 from the 167th Field Regiment. It joined 3rd Army Group RA on its formation on 11 February 1943 at 49 Trant Road, Tunbridge Wells. It served in Northwest Europe with this formation from June 1944 until the end of the war.

S.S.’Scillin’

S.S. ‘Scillin’ was a cargo steamship built in 1903 at Russell & Co., Greenock, Renfrewshire, at yard 511, for William Peterson Ltd. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and named H.M. ‘Pellatt.’ In 1905, she was sold to the Canadian Lake & Ocean Navigation Co. of Newcastle. H.M.’Pellatt’ was sold again in 1911 to the Merchants Mutual Line of Newcastle. The Canadian Northern Steamships of London bought her in 1917, and soon sold her in 1918 to Canada Steamship Lines Ltd. of Montreal. She was sold once again in 1920 and renamed S.S. ‘Memling’ by her new owner, the Société Belge d’Armement Maritime. In 1924/1925, her name was changed to S.S. ‘Nicole Le Borgne’ by the Compagnie Charles Le Borgne, of Marseille. In 1934, her new owner Giuseppe Pagan, of Venice, renamed her S.S. ‘Giuliana Pagan.’ The Aurora SA di Navigazione of Genoa had bought the steamship and changed her name to S.S. ‘Scillin Secondo,’ which was later shortened in 1937 to S.S. ‘Scillin.’ In 1941, S.S. ‘Scillin’ was in the ownership of Fratelli Biarchi Società Di Navigazione of Genoa.

14th November 1942

On the 13th November 1942, over 800 PoWs weak from the lack of food and medical treatment were loaded onto the S.S. ‘Scillin,’ at the Spanish Quay in Tripoli Harbour. The men were penned into the severely overcrowded hold with unsanitary conditions. The only air and light came through a small hatch. A further 195 PoWs were left behind to board another ship after the British Captain Gilbert, of the R.A.M.C. made a strong, forceful and intense protest that the ship was already overcrowded.

With an Italian Naval gun crew and guards, the ship set sail three hours late on it’s passage from Tripoli to Trapani, Sicily.

The British P212 submarine H.M.S. ‘Sahib’ (Lieutenant John Bromage) was on patrol in support of the Axis campaign in North Africa. When S.S. ‘Scillin’ appeared on their radar. In the darkness, 9 miles north of Kuriat, Tunisia Lt. Bromage, believing that the ship was carrying Italian troops, ordered open fire of their 3-inch gun as a signal for the ship to stop. She did not respond. At 19:50hrs, a torpedo was fired. The torpedo blew out the bottom of the hold in which the PoWs were penned. There was little chance of survival, and the ship sank rapidly.

H.M.S. ‘Sahib’ rescued 27 PoWs (26 British & 1 South African), plus S.S. Scillin’s Captain and 45 Italian crew members, before an Italian warship arrived and H.M.S. ‘Sahib’ was forced to withdraw. Only when the survivors (who later landed in Malta) were heard speaking English did Lt. Bromage realise that the ship had been carrying PoWs.

The ‘friendly fire’ tragedy was investigated as a war crime, and the subsequent inquiry absolved Lt. Bromage of any blame. The Ministry of Defence kept the incident a secret for 54 years. Telling families that their loved ones had died as PoWs in camps or ‘lost at sea.’ In 1996, after repeated requests from the families, the truth was revealed.

Now the Date of Death recorded by the C.W.G.C. (26th October 1942 – 14th November 1942) has been corrected to show the 14th November 1942 to almost all who had died on board S.S. ‘Scillin.’

S.S.’Scillin.’67th Medium Regiment information used from the work of Brian Sims (1997) and courtesy of Pat Dowsing.