To summarise

To summarise what you have kindly provided and my own research: interesting to note that by the time of the Second World War he was Secretary for Defence, Malaya; serving from 1938 until 1941. Singapore Governor, Sir Shenton Thomas and his Confidential Assistant noted in their recollections that “the course of Japan’s plans and campaign was predicted with great accuracy by Malaya’a Defence Secretary in whom Thomas had placed great confidence” but a new Army Commander in Chief, whist admitting that he “had a brain” did not like him and the army contingent on the defence committee wanted him sacked.

Henry Robert Moore Brooke-Popham had been a WW1 flyer; a staff officer with no combat experience. Air defence commander of Britain, then air officer commanding in Iraq and finally for the entire Middle East, he had long retired and became governor general of Kenya in 1937. He is described in the Pacific War Encyclopedia as “called out of retirement when the European war broke out ... the bottom of everyone's priority list ... elderly and prone to falling asleep during meetings” and that “he badly underestimated the Japanese, refusing to believe they would form an intelligent fighting force”. He spoke of “various sub-human specimens dressed in dirty grey uniform, which I was informed were Japanese soldiers”. He verbally attacked Charles (Archie) Vlieland in a final meeting which saw the influential ‘civilian’ removed. Brooke-Popham “was relieved on 27 December 1941 and thereafter played no significant role in the war”. It was far too late.


The Services had complained that it was ‘difficult to deal with the Civilian Authorities’ in Malaysia (no doubt, partly, because they disagreed with the hopelessly incorrect conclusions drawn by them). Recent BBC anniversary programmes on the fall of Singapore confirm that a British ‘spy’ had issued a report suggesting not only the areas from which the Japanese would invade, but even down to the exact beaches. This was ignored in favour of other less accurate counsel. Reports suggest that it was difficult to recruit able offices to the Far East whilst the war raged elsewhere. Archie was a veteran of the region. One wonders whether history would have been any different had the Governor stood up against the army contingent and followed the views of their Defence Secretary. Did the faulty intelligence stem mostly from Brooke-Popham or did others in England already share the same blinkered view?






The fall of Singapore to the Japanese Army on February 15th 1942 is considered one of the greatest defeats in the history of the British Army and probably Britain’s worst defeat in World War Two. Letters to the Times from his Milford Oswestry home in 1945/6 dealt extensively with Malays and the Malayan Union and, much later, his authoritative article on 'Singapore: the legend and the facts' appeared in the Daily Telegraph in 1967. Still recognised as a well remembered and authoritative commentator his Memoir and associated items are held at the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Prof. Anne E Booth BA (Wellington), PhD (ANU) the Professor of Economics with reference to Asia at London University and Member of the Centre of South East Asian Studies recently extensively quoted research by Vlieland in major articles.



His wife died in 1942 and at the end of the war he launched a successful career writing crime novels under the pseudonym ‘Jerome Nicholas’. The Sketchreviewed his second novel ‘the Asbestos Mask’ [1948] as ‘a very exciting spy story’. The main character in his first, 'The Widows Peak' has just returned from Malaysia to the UK and at the conclusion of the novel marries the beautiful war widow. (Oh, and he uses the name Archie for his boss). It could be no more than a coincidence but years later on Thursday, Aug 02, 1956 The Timesreported an “Engagement announced and the marriage will take place shortly quietly between Charles Archibald Vlieland ... and Audrey, widow of Arthur Henry John Hubert daughter of Mr and Mrs Michael Hanhart of Hampstead”. Arthur Hubert had, indeed, died in 1943 during the war.