The Changi Murals are a set of five paintings of biblical theme painted by
Stanley Warren
Stanley Warren (1917 England – 20 February 1992, Dorset England) was an English painter. He was a bombardier of the 15th Regiment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery who became known for the Changi Murals he painted at a chapel during his int ...
, a British bombardier and
prisoner-of-war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
(POW) interned at the
Changi Prison
Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore.
History First prison
Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside t ...
, during the
Japanese occupation of Singapore
, officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II.
Japanese military forces occupied it after ...
in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(WWII). His murals were completed under difficult conditions of sickness, limited materials and hardships. With a message of universal love and forgiveness, they helped to uplift the spirits of the POWs and sick when they sought refuge in the prison chapel.
After the war, the walls of the chapel were
distempered over, hiding the murals from view. They were forgotten until its rediscovery in 1958. Due to their historical significance, an international search was conducted to locate the original painter in helping to restore the damaged and faded murals. Stanley was eventually found in 1959 and, after much persuasion, agreed to assist in the restoration project. He made three trips to Singapore between 1963 and 1988 to restore his former paintings. Due to Stanley's advanced age, only four of the original murals were fully restored. In the 1990s, the former site of the murals was gazetted as a Heritage Site by the
National Heritage Board of Singapore.
History
Stanley Warren was born in England in 1917. He was talented in art from young and was a religious man. Stanley was employed as a commercial designer producing poster ads with the Grenada organisation before the war. In January 1940, he enlisted in the army to join the fight against
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Germany and was posted to the
Royal Regiment of Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
as an Observation Post Assistant. His responsibilities included having to make quick drawings of panoramas used to plot targets for the guns.
[Stubbs, "Prologue" pp. 9—10.]
Changi
In early 1942, he was posted overseas to
Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
(former name for
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
) with the 15th Field Regiment Royal Artillery after the
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
had invaded Malaya and
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, and
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...
had been bombed. Upon their arrival, their fight against the Japanese was brutal and short-lived, and soon his battalion began retreating to Singapore. The Changi Garrison, a heavily fortified coastal defence where most of the British forces were based, consisted of three army barracks; the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders in the Selarang Barracks, the Royal Engineers in Kitchener Barracks, and the 9th Coastal Artillery Regiment of the Royal Artillery in Roberts Barracks. By 12 February, the situation in Singapore was desperate and
Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
Arthur Ernest Percival
Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...
, General Officer Commanding of HQ Malaya Command, ordered the Changi Garrison to withdraw to
Singapore Town. After the British surrender of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Stanley and
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
POWs were ordered to march to Changi for internment; the 15,000 Australians went into Selarang Barracks and the British to Roberts and Kitchener Barracks. Stanley was interned at Roberts Barracks and later joined other POWs to work around Singapore, repairing damage inflicted by the Japanese attacks and getting essential services back to working order. Percival was held in Roberts Barracks until, with all senior officers above the rank of
lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...
, he was sent to Formosa (now
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
) by the Japanese. The food given to the prisoners was of poor quality and inadequate for men working as slave labour. As a result of this and the harsh treatment meted out by the Japanese guards such as the beatings and executions of escaped prisoners, the men's health and morale began to suffer in the long run.
[Stubbs, "Prison Camp", pp. 37—43.]
St Luke's Chapel
During one of the work parties, Stanley was sent to build a road and stairs leading to a memorial to the Japanese dead on Bukit Batok Hill (Marked with a
Bukit Batok Memorial
The Bukit Batok Memorial is located on top of the tranquil Bukit Batok Hill upon which once stood two war memorials built by Australian POWs to commemorate the war dead of the Japanese and the Allies who fought during the decisive Battle of B ...
plaque today, only the stairs and road called Lorong Sesuai are still there to be seen).
The chaplain of the regiment, well aware of Stanley's religious conviction and artistic background, requested him to decorate the
asbestos
Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...
walls at the altar area of a small open attap-roofed chapel at Bukit Batok. With charcoal salvaged from around the camp, he drew two murals: ''Nativity'', which featured a
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
and ''Descent from the Cross'' in which he included soldiers in uniforms, using his comrades as models. By then, he was becoming ill and was suffering from a severe
renal
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...
disorder complicated by
amoebic dysentery
Amoebiasis, or amoebic dysentery, is an infection of the intestines caused by a parasitic amoeba ''Entamoeba histolytica''. Amoebiasis can be present with no, mild, or severe symptoms. Symptoms may include lethargy, loss of weight, colonic ulc ...
. On 23 May 1942, Stanley was lying comatose and was sent to Roberts Barracks in
Changi
Changi () is a planning area located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah in the East Region of Singapore. Sharing borders with Pasir Ris and Tampines to the west, Changi Bay to the southeast, the South China Sea to the east and the Sera ...
which was converted for use as a hospital for POWs to recuperate.
By mid-August 1942, Stanley had recovered enough to be moved to the dysentery wing at Block 151 of Roberts Barracks.
Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penna ...
Chambers and Payne had heard that Stanley had decorated the prisoners' chapel at Bukit Batok. So they asked him if he would do some paintings for St Luke's Chapel, which was recently converted from the ground floor of Block 151, near the area where Stanley was recuperating. The Chapel was dedicated to
St Luke
Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...
the Physician. Stanley agreed, and sought inspiration for the proposed paintings in the
Gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
.
[Stubbs, "The Painting of the Changi Murals", pp. 50—55.]
The five murals
On 30 August 1942, at the time when Stanley was preparing the draft drawings of the murals, the Japanese began an action which would become known as the ''
Selarang Barracks Incident
The Selarang Barracks incident, also known as the Barrack Square incident or the Selarang Square Squeeze, was a revolt of British and Australian prisoners-of-war (POWs) interned in a Japanese camp in Changi, Singapore.
The events started on 30 ...
''. It was an incident concerning seventeen thousand Anglo-Australian POWs, who were forced to vacate their buildings and be exposed for nearly five days in the open without water or sanitation for refusing to sign a "No Escape Pledge".
Against this backdrop, Stanley began to paint the murals. No one had asked the Japanese for permission to draw and at no stage did they interfere with his work.
Considering the purpose of the murals, Stanley felt that the Chapel was basically dedicated to peace and reconciliation, and so he choose universal themes for the murals which would embrace all mankind. Paint was not readily available in the camp, but with the aid of the other prisoners, who unquestionably put themselves at great risk, materials to make the paint were gradually acquired—brown camouflage paint, a small amount of crimson paint, white oil paint and
billiard chalk were found and brought for Stanley use. Despite still being very ill, Stanley set to work on the murals in early September 1942. His illness meant that he could only paint for a limited period each day, for perhaps 15 minutes at a time followed by a rest. To compensate as much as he could for the lack of coloured paint, Stanley resorted to using large brush strokes and big areas of solid colour when painting. In September 1942, a few weeks after Stanley began painting the murals, he was informed that his work party was to be sent north to Thailand to work on the
Thai-Burma Railway
The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...
. A colonel in charge of the hospital, who knew of his work-in-progress murals, intervened to have Stanley transferred back to the hospital so that he could continue on his work in the Chapel. Most of Stanley's unit who went to the
Thai-Burma Railway
The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...
never returned. Stanley recounted: "Had I gone with them, most certainly, I would have died. So the murals very directly saved my life in the way I could never have foreseen... It's a terrible sense of debt... that one feels to the chapel."
By Christmas 1942, he completed his first mural, the ''Nativity''. Altogether, Stanley managed to produce five large murals on the walls of the Chapel, each mural being about three metres long, in the following order:
#''
Nativity''
#''
Ascension''
#''
Crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
''
#''
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
''
#''St Luke in Prison''
All of them were subjects which are at the very heart of Christian belief. The completed murals uplifted the spirits of the POWs and sick when they sought refuge in the Chapel. Stanley never put his name on any of his paintings as he considered them "a gift to God". In May 1944, Block 151 with the St Luke Chapel's inspiring murals was designated to become a store for an airfield nearby. The lower portion of St Luke in Prison mural was almost completely destroyed when it was demolished to make a link to an adjoining room. The walls of the Chapel were distempered over, hiding the murals from view. Stanley was later sent to
Kranji
Kranji is a suburb in northwestern Singapore, bounded by Sungei Kadut to the north, Turf Club to the east, as well as Lim Chu Kang and the Western Water Catchment to the west.
It is located about from the city centre and it came from Malay word " ...
in the north of Singapore, not far from the
Causeway
A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tra ...
to Malaya, and remained there until the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945. After the war, Stanley returned to England believing that his murals had been destroyed by Allied bombing towards the end of the war. He married and became an art teacher at the Sir William Collins School, later South Camden Community School and currently
Regent High School
(Nothing without effort)
, established = Leased 1873 (existed prior)
, closed =
, type = Community school
, free_label_1 = Affiliations
, free_1 = Reed Group, IiP, Camden Consortium, Eco-Schools
, religious_affiliati ...
in
Somers Town, London.
[Stubbs, "The Rediscovery of the Murals", pp. 84—88.]
Rediscovery
Forgotten for nearly 13 years, the Changi Murals were accidentally rediscovered in 1958 by servicemen of the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(RAF) occupying the Roberts Barracks. The Chapel was again used as a store, and later as accommodation by the RAF. Once rediscovered, the distemper coating covering the murals was carefully removed – four complete murals and the top-quarter of a fifth were revealed. As there was no signature on any of the murals, a search for the artist was undertaken but failed after initial investigations. By a stroke of luck, the artist's name came to light in the
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Changi Education Library of all places. A reader came across a book titled ''The Churches of the Captivity in Malaya'', mentioning about the Chapel of St Luke in Roberts Barracks and the artist's name – Bombardier Stanley Warren. The ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'' was notified and again went to work looking for the known artist. In February 1959, he was found living in London with his wife and son. He was shocked when he saw the photo of his mural of the ''Crucifixion'', when a keen-eyed colleague of his showed him the papers.
Restoration
In 1960, the RAF contacted Stanley and the idea of restoring the murals was brought up. He was initially reluctant to return to restore his works due to the painful memories of war and captivity the murals would bring back to him: "I didn't immediately want to come. I felt that there would be some sort of... trauma. I'm trying to forget this, you know, I tried so hard... It took years really to eliminate the memories and fears... the long drawn out experience and really waiting for death over three and a half years, it's long time to expect death. And I really tried to forget... But of course I was never able to do that."
[Stubbs, "The Restoration of the Murals", pp. 91—96.]
After much persuasion, he overcame his fear and eventually made three trips to Singapore to restore his murals in December 1963, July 1982 and May 1988. The 1982 restoration was more intensive and the invaluable assistance given to Warren by the officers and boys of the
SAF SAF, S.A.F or saf might refer to:
Companies
* SAF Tehnika, a producer of digital microwave data transmission equipment
* Strip Art Features, a comic book publishing house
* Svenska Automobilfabriken, a Swedish auto manufacturer
Computing
* Ser ...
Boys' School enabled the bulk of the work to be completed.
Of the original five murals, only one was not fully restored; the mural of ''St Luke in Prison''. Stanley's original tracing of the drawing was missing, and he could not remember the details of the missing portion. In 1985, Stanley's original drawing was discovered in the memorabilia of Wally Hammond who had been a fellow prisoner with Stanley. These original sketches were subsequently donated to the National Archives of Singapore. From the original, Stanley painted a small picture, which was placed below the remaining piece of the mural in 1988. He was, by then, not fit enough to restore the actual mural.
On 20 February 1992, Stanley died in his home in
Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...
, England at the age of 75.
Parliamentary discussions
Stanley's murals were discussed in the
British Parliament
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
in October 1968.
Charles Morris, minister of parliament for
Openshaw
Openshaw is a suburb of Manchester, England, about three miles east of the city centre. Historically part of Lancashire, Openshaw was incorporated into the city of Manchester in 1890. Its name derives from the Old English ''Opinschawe'', which me ...
, asked the Defence Ministry, Denis Healy, to consider moving the murals to England. His proposal was unsuccessful when the Singapore
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
decided to take responsibility of the murals and to keep them in good condition for display in 1969. (Singapore gained independence from Britain in August 1965). In addition, a copy of one of the murals painted by Stanley had been brought to England and installed in the Garrison Church at
Larkhill
Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury.
The settlement ...
in Wiltshire.
The murals today
![Changi Museum](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Changi_Museum.jpg)
The three-storey Block 151 of Roberts Barracks (off Martlesham Road) still stands today, but is now part of the Ministry of Defence's Changi Airbase Camp. Most of the buildings surrounding Block 151 were demolished in July 2003. However, for public interest, a replica of Stanley Warren's murals is also on display at the
Changi Chapel and Museum
The Changi Chapel and Museum is a war museum dedicated to Singapore's history during the Second World War and the Japanese occupation of Singapore. After the British army was defeated by the Imperial Japanese Army in the Battle of Singapore, tho ...
, along with an audio-visual theatre that screens videos about POW life, display of POW belongings and collection of books about Singapore during WWII.
Since 1993, the Changi Murals, Changi Prison, and other WWII sites in Singapore are part of a Battlefield Tour organised by the
National Institute of Education
The National Institute of Education (NIE) is an autonomous institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Ranked 12th in the world and 2nd in Asia by the QS World University Rankings in the subject of Education in 2015, the ...
and the Ministry of Defence, a bi-annual five-day residential National Awareness programme to create greater awareness of national and security issues among trainee teachers.
Commemoration
In November 1994, a two-man British team was in Singapore to film the Changi Murals and
Kranji War Memorial
The Kranji War Memorial ( Chinese: 克兰芝阵亡战士公坟; ms, Tanah Perkuburan Perang Kranji; ta, கிராஞ்சி போர் நினைவு) is located at 9 Woodlands Road, in Kranji in northern Singapore. Dedicated to the ...
for a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
documentary, for the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...
which marked the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II.
On 15 February 2002, more than 250 former POWs and their families from Australia,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and the United Kingdom came over to Singapore for a reunion-cum-memorial service that was held at the Changi Chapel and Museum, and a tour of the Changi Murals and the Selarang Camp. The event was organised by the
Singapore Tourism Board
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Singapore, tasked to promote the country's tourism industry.
History
The board was first established on 1 January 1964 and wa ...
to mark the 60th anniversary of the
fall of Singapore
The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...
.
See also
*
Double Tenth Incident
*
James Clavell
James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best ...
*
Battle of Kranji
The Battle of Kranji was the second stage of the Empire of Japan's plan for the invasion of Singapore during the Second World War. On 9 February 1942 the Imperial Japanese Army assaulted the north-western front of Singapore, capital of the Stra ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
{{good article
History of Singapore
British rule in Singapore
Tourist attractions in Singapore
Changi
Murals
English paintings
Modern paintings
1943 paintings