Signaller Peter R. Marchant joined the engineering section of the G.P.O. and served at various exchanges in the South-East Section. He was a member of the Royal Corps of Signals and was in charge of a switchboard at headquarters in Calais when the town fell after a gallant defence.
In July 1940 he was reported as missing in the local newspapers (see published report below), however in the September of the same year his parents received a postcard to say that he was a prisoner of war in Germany.
MISSING
Signaller Peter Robert Marchant of Bromley
Mr and Mrs Robert Whittingham Marchant, of Brookmeade, Hayes Road, Bromley have been officially notified that their eldest son, Signaller Peter Robert Marchant, is missing.
He was on the staff of the engineering section of the G.P.O. and joined the Royal Corps of Signals when he was 19, being one of the first to embark for France last September. From colleagues who have come back safely it is understood that he was one of the gallant band who remained in Calais. He was in charge of a switchboard at headquarters and in the circumstances it seems highly probable that he was finally taken prisoner in the German advance.
If any of his friends who have returned have any information about him, Mr and Mrs Marchant would be grateful for it.
The family lived for may years at Sidcup, where they have a host of friends and young Marchant was educated at Sidcup County School. On leaving school, he entered the engineering section of the Post Office and served at the various telephone exchanges in the South-Eastern section – Bromley, Chislehurst, Beckenham, Hither Green, Sidcup etc. He assisted in the work of converting the Sidcup (Foots Cray) exchange to the automated system.
Mr and Mrs Whittingham Marchant moved to Bromley some five years ago and now have many friends in both towns.
Source:
Reported Missing – Bromley & District Times newspaper, 19th July 1940
Prisoner of War report – Bromley & District Times newspaper, 13th September 1940
