Book Title: Down To Bedrock
ISBN: 9780992695408
By Author(s):Eric Cordingly
By Publisher:MISCELLANEOUS-EDU GB
Format:PB
"Within the camp were men of all sorts ..the strange thing was that seemingly ordinary men, of no particular calibre stood out head and shoulders above their fellows.. Under the strain of prison life only one thing prevailed and that was strength of character... Only real goodness made any impact".
These recently discovered papers contain the story of one man's experience as prisoner-of-war of the Japanese from 1942-45, first in Changi in Singapore and then up-country beside the River Kwai during the building of the infamous Death Railway. As a young priest, Eric Cordingly suddenly found himself catapulted into a parish of 50,000 fellow captives. With an unsentimental and practical approach, this modest man set about his pastoral duties under the most harrowing conditions. His diary and secret notes were written when he had no idea whether he would survive. This eye witness account and many original illustrations by fellow POWs which he collected and kept with his papers, create a vivid picture of three and a half years' life in captivity.
Bishop Eric Cordingly was born in 1911; educated at King's College London and St Stephen's house, Oxford. Then, after a curacy in Muswell Hill, London, he became a parish priest in the Cotswolds.
During World War II he was an Army Chaplain 1940-45, first in France (evacuated at Dunkirk), then in the Far East. He received an MBE for services as a prisoner-of-war.
In 1955 he was appointed Rector of Stevenage, then Chaplain to the Queen in 1960. He moved to Norwich in 1962 as Archdeacon or Norfolk and Residentiary Canon at Norwich Cathedral and in 1963 he was consecrated Bishop of Thretford. He died in 1976 and is buried with his wife, Mary, in the Jesus Chapel in Norwich Cathedral.