Norah Chambers (nee Margaret Constance Norah Hope; 1905–1989) was a Singaporean-born British chorale conductor and prisoner of war during

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 ...

Biography

Chambers was born Margaret Constance Norah Hope to engineer James Laidlaw Hope and Margaret Annie Ogilvie Mitchell in 1905,

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. She was sent to boarding school in

Aylesbury, England Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycom ...

and went on to attend the Royal Academy of Music, London. Chambers studied piano, the violin, and chamber music. She went on to perform with the Royal Academy of Music orchestra under Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hund ...

. Chambers married engineer John Lawrence Chambers in 1930 Malaya and they had a daughter Sally in 1933. She taught violin locally. After the Japanese invasion, Chambers traveled for five days through the jungle from Malaya to Singapore and succeeded in getting her daughter evacuated to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in Australia. She was also evacuated but the ''Vyner Brooke'', her ship, was bombed and destroyed. She was interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, her husband sent to another. In 1943, she founded a vocal orchestra with

Margaret Dryburgh Margaret Dryburgh (24 February 1890 – 21 April 1945) was an English teacher and missionary. Born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, Sunderland, England, she later became a missionary in Singapore, where she was captured in the Second World War. Th ...

, writing out the music from memory. Chambers was reunited with her family and returned to Malaya. She retired in 1952 to

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

where she composed music for, and directed the St. Mark's Church choir in St. Helier. After the war the music produced in the camps was performed widely. Her work and time in the camp was the inspiration for the film '' Paradise Road''.

Sources

1905 births 1989 deaths Singaporean conductors (music) British choral conductors People from Singapore Jersey musicians British women in World War II British women classical composers British classical composers British people in British Malaya {{UK-conductor-stub