Barry Thorne joined the army as a Boy soldier in 1952, he was one of the first ever Junior Leaders Serving in Tuxford and then in A Company that was detached to Harrogate. On reaching the age of 18 Barry served in the Gloucestershire Regiment from 1953 to 1959, obtaining the rank of sergeant in 1956. His postings included Kenya (1955-56, during the Mau Mau campaign); Aden, the Yemen border, and the Persian Gulf (1956); Cyprus (1957, during the EOKA campaign); and Germany (1958/59).
After a short break in the UK, he joined the Colonial Police, serving in Nyasaland/Malawi from 1961 to 1968. In 1968, he became a member of HM Diplomatic Service, serving in East Pakistan/Bangladesh; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Ethiopia; Italy; Turkey; and The Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London. He retired as Deputy Consul-General, Istanbul, in 1993, and set up his own business in Maidenhead, Berkshire, in International Credit Management, where he continues to act as Chairman. Barry tells his story of IBB in the early days in his book entitled “A Varied Life” and he has kindly given us permission to reproduce the information in our Archives. You can read Barry’s story in our Archive Gallery .
What an inspiring career, as with quite a few of our fellow Boy Soldiers thanks in part to a good start in IBB/IJLB. Well done Barry I salute you Sir.
I can remember Barry well and hope to publish some early photos with him!
I also hope he publishes his own memories of those days. I have re- viewed them and they are excellent records of those times!
Hopefully, today, 18th November we will be able to set up Barry’s excerpt from his book in the archives for everyone to see.
What a great life to look back upon and an inspiration to the juniors now in the system. We all have so much to be thankful for following our early military life at IJLB. Thanks for sharing, Barry.