George Ernest Paulin
1912-1976
George Ernest Paulin was born 15 January 1912, in Valparaiso, Chile. He was the only child of Harold Ernest Paulin and Alice Lumsden Jeffreys. His English father was Canadian-born, and worked as a clerk at WR Grace and Co, an American Fertilizer and Machinery company.
His father Harold died in June 1913. His widowed mother decided to return to the United Kingdom with her son, arriving in August that year. They settled in Aberdour, Scotland, near her parents.
It is assumed that Ernest (as he was known by his family) received a decent education, based on his occupation as an adult, but nothing is known of the specifics.
Ernest enlisted with the Royal Regiment of Artillery in June 1929 and served in the Territorial Artillery until his discharge in 1933.
After his service he entered the banking profession, likely with the Commercial Bank of Scotland. In 1936 he was posted in Ghana, and in 1938 in Sierra Leone.
In 1940 he re-enlisted, and was initially with the Royal Army Service Corps. He was transferred in 1942 to the Indian Army. Ultimately, he served with the 14th Army HQ and the 26th Indian Division. He would have been involved in the First and Third Arakan Offensives, and the capture of Rangoon. He earned the Burma Star for his service there.
In March 1946 he married Laura Leask Pottinger, daughter of JJ Pottinger of Edinburgh. They were married in the Scotia Hotel in Edinburgh.
Ernest resumed his work as a banker and was once again travelling to Africa. He was in Nigeria in 1950 and 1952, Gambia in 1954, and Nigeria again in 1955. He moved back to Scotland in 1960, presumably to retire.
His wife Laura died in 1973, and he died in 1976 in Edinburgh. They had no children.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/26th_Indian_Infantry_Division
Correspondence with Barrett family, October 2021
Applications for Burma Star Association, Findmypast.co.uk
Royal Artillery Army Roll Book, Findmypast.co.uk
Birth Certificate, George Ernest Paulin, Valparaiso, Chile, 1912
UK Shipping records, shipping lists, arrivals and departures, findmypast.co.uk and Ancestry.ca
The Scotsman, newspaper 1946
Note – will update this when his service record is accessed.
So here is a bit of a puzzler, here is a picture of Emma Jane Paulin (nee Jennings) with a young boy. Looking at her relative age, her clothing (and his) the picture seems to have been taken during the First World War (ish). Who is the boy?
The Amazing Paulin(e) Family 