PoW stories: Harry Mounsey and John Peacock

In this article we look at the stories of two young men who were held as Prisoners of War in World War Two and made heroic attempts to escape their incarceration.

Harry Mounsey

Black and white photograph head and shoulder shot of a man in British army officers uniform — Lieutenant Henry Charles Mounsey, Royal Artillery. Photograph kindly supplied by Jonathan Mounsey FCA.

Lieutenant Henry Charles 'Harry' Mounsey, an articled clerk with Lewis & Mounsey in Liverpool, served in the 69th (4th West Lancashire) Medium Regiment of the Royal Artillery (TA) in Greece and North Africa. He was captured at Tobruk in June 1942 and was held in several Prisoner of War camps in Italy (PG 75, Bari; PG 21, Chieti; PG 78, Sulmona) before being transferred to Oflag VII-F and finally Oflag 79 in Germany.

During the train journey from Italy to Germany in October 1943, Mounsey and his fellow prisoner Lt. James Hill* (68th Medium Regiment, Royal Artillery), made a hole in the side of the cattle truck they were being held in and jumped from the train at Raviono, 60km East of Rome. They were at large for 27 days before being recaptured by the Germans at Arsoli.

*Hill qualified as a solicitor, taking his Final Exam in Oflag VIII-F in April 1944.

Photograph of an archive document — Details of Harry Mounsey's escape from a train in his M19 debriefing questionnaire. © Crown copyright

His older brother Arthur, also an articled clerk with the firm, was killed in action in Crete while serving as a Lieutenant with the 106th (Lancashire Hussars) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery in 1941. He had a chance meeting with Harry in an olive grove just a few days before his death.

Oflag 79 was liberated by the Americans in April 1945, and Mounsey returned to Britain in poor health, weighing just 6st (38.1kg) and having lost many teeth and 85% of his hearing. He rejoined the family firm (Harry was the 4th generation of Mounseys with them) and qualified as an ACA in 1949. Lewis & Mounsey had merged with Harmood-Banner & Sons in 1948, becoming Harmood-Banner, Lewis & Mounsey.

While in Oflag 79, a group of men decided to fund raise for the creation of a number of Boys Clubs on their return home. Mounsey, along with fellow PoWs, Captain James Michael Marshall* and Lt. Philip Evans, formed the Liverpool Branch of the Brunswick Boys Club in Toxteth in 1947. "The Brunny", as it is known locally, moved to Bootle in 1964 where it is to this day. The two other branches in London and Glasgow also continue to thrive. The name Brunswick comes from the anglicised version of the camps German location, Braunschweig

Mounsey became a senior partner with Harmood Banner & Co (as it became in 1965) and was instrumental in its continued expansion.. He was also a president of the Liverpool Chartered Accountants Student Association. He died in Bebington, Wirral, in 2003, aged 84.

Harry's son, Jonathan Mounsey FCA, has continued the family tradition, becoming a 5th generation Chartered Accountant in 1973 and is a former president of both the Liverpool Chartered Accountants Student Association, Liverpool Society of Chartered Accountants and the Chairman of Chester and North Wales Society of Chartered Accountants

*Marshall took his final Law exam in Oflag 79.

John Peacock

Lieutenant John Robert Peacock, a Lieutenant in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars (TA), enlisted with the army in 1938 and was commissioned as an officer in January 1940. He was captured in April 1941 in Patras, Greece and was held in four different camps in Germany; Oflag V-B (Biberach); Oflag VI-B (Warburg), Oflag VII-B (Eichstatt) and Stalag VII-A (Moosburg).

While still in Greece, Peacock made his first attempt to escape, jumping from a lorry with his friend Lt. Albert Hornby, also from the 4th Q.O.H., but was immediately recaptured. A second attempt was made by the pair in Salonika in May, which involved crawling under barbed wire. Unfortunately Hornby was shot and killed in the attempt. Peacock's last attempt came at Oflag VI-G in Germany. Peacock was part of a tunnelling team but was forbidden to use the tunnel to escape as he had contracted blood poisoning during the digging of the tunnel.

Although Peacock had made his last escape attempt, he did not waste his time spent in captivity, passing the Institute of Arts Part 1 Italian exam and was an accounting instructor alongside D.H. Winney at Oflag VI-B.

Peacock had articled with George Norton of Gane, Jackson, Jeffreys & Freeman. He become an ACA in 1936 and was with Price Waterhouse & Co in Old Jewry, EC2. Later in his career he moved into business with Harry Ferguson Holdings Ltd. in Cheltenham.