Betty Marryat

Betty Marryat
Born: 1922 Canberra
Died:
Father
Francis Albert Marryat
Mother
Doris Isabel Gould
Siblings
Francis Nathaniel Marryat 1919-
Lorraine Elva Marryat 1925-
Francis Herbert Marryat 1926-
Spouses
John Darcy McInerney 1917-1943
Arthur Brimblecombe

Betty Marryat was born in 1922 in Canberra, Australia, the daughter of Francis Albert Marryat and his wife nee Doris Isabel Gould, and the granddaughter of Nat Gould and his wife Elizabeth Madeline Ruska.

Betty Marryat was married to John Darcy McInerney, who was born on 16 July 1917. He was called Darcy within his family, and was a shop assistant. They married before Betty was 21 years old, probably in 1941, and lived at 44 Girraween Street in Braddan, Canberra.

Darcy McInerney enlisted in the Australian Army Service Corps on 15 September 1941 at Paddington, New South Wales, and served in the Third Reserve Motor Transport Company AIF. His wife had to celebrate her 21st birthday without him (1).

In 1942 Betty McInerney learned that her husband had been taken prisoner by the Japanese. He was forced to work on the Burma railway, and died of illness in captivity on 26 November 1943. He was 26 years old.

The graves of the prisoners of war who died during the construction and maintenance of the Burma railway (except for the Americans, whose remains were repatriated) were transferred from camp burial grounds and isolated sites along the railway into three cemeteries at Chungkai and Kanchanaburi in Thailand and Thanbyuzayat in Burma (Myanmar). Private John Darcy McInerney was reburied at Thanbyuzayat. His grave there is number A2. D. 14. He is commemorated in Canberra on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Panel 83.

His parents were Joseph Patrick McInerney and Olive McInerney nee Brown. They had five other children. They were:

Josephine Mary (1913-1994), who married Andrew Makin
Patricia Elizabeth (born 1915), who married Charles Thomas Atherden
Clifford Lawrence (1920-1996), who married Ruby Mary Reynolds on 4 April 1941
Janet Helen (born 1923), who married Harold George Day
Marie, who married William Robert Capper.

Joseph McInerney died on 15 July 1947 in Canberra Community Hospital.

On 15 May 1948 Betty McInerney nee Marryat was married at St. John's church in Canberra to Arthur Brimblecombe, the son of Mr. and Mrs. A.W. Brimblecombe of Brisbane (2).

References

(1) Canberra Times 27 May 1942.
(2) The Courier (Brisbane) 15 May 1948.