SINFIELD AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM

FOURTH SECTION

DECISION

Application no. 61332/12
Jean Ethel SINFIELD and Others
against the United Kingdom

The European Court of Human Rights (Fourth Section), sitting on 18 February 2014 as a Chamber composed of:

Ineta Ziemele, President,
George Nicolaou,
Ledi Bianku,
Nona Tsotsoria,
Zdravka Kalaydjieva,
Paul Mahoney,
Faris Vehabović, judges,
and Françoise Elens-Passos, Section Registrar,

Having regard to the above application lodged on 11 September 2012,

Having deliberated, decides as follows:

THE FACTS

1. The 707 applicants are either former servicemen or personal representatives or dependents of deceased former servicemen. A list of the applicants is set out in the appendix. They are represented before the Court by Mr N. Sampson, a solicitor practising in London.

A. The circumstances of the case

2. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. For ease of reference, the term “applicants” in the following statement of facts should be taken to mean both the present applicants and the deceased former servicemen who are represented by their estates.

1. The atmospheric tests of nuclear devices

3. Between 1952 and 1958 the United Kingdom carried out a series of atmospheric tests of thermonuclear devices in the region of the Pacific Ocean. All three branches of the armed forces took part, involving some 22,000 servicemen, including the applicants. Some contemporaneous monitoring was carried out of radiation levels to which individual servicemen were exposed at the moment of detonation, but no monitoring took place of subsequent exposure to radiation in the form of fallout through ingestion of contaminated water or fish, for example.

2. Attempts to establish whether there was a causal link between participation in the tests and illness

4. In medical and scientific circles it was known since the 1940s that exposure to ionising radiation was capable of causing many forms of cancer, although the risk was generally associated with fairly high levels of exposure caused by “prompt” or “instantaneous” radiation. Subsequently, the effects of lower levels of radiation caused by fallout were studied. In the United Kingdom, public interest in the possibility that British servicemen might have suffered ill effects as the result of exposure during the nuclear tests was aroused following a series of items on a BBC television news programme broadcast in December 1982 and early 1983. These ventilated the possibility that test participants were suffering unusual levels of ill health of various forms. This interest appears to have stemmed from publicity in Scotland generated by concerns raised in the Daily Record by one of the applicants, Mr Kenneth McGinley. Mr McGinley publicly claimed that he was one of a number of nuclear test veterans who had suffered ill health as the result of exposure to radiation.

5. Soon after this publicity, a group of veterans, all of whom had served in the Pacific during the tests, formed the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association (BNTVA). Mr McGinley was their Chairman. Their objectives were to gather information about their exposure to radiation and its likely effects, to press for further research and to seek financial recompense for any harm suffered, either by claiming for war pensions or by making claims for damages.

6. As a result of the publicity described above, in January 1983, questions were raised in Parliament about the possibility that the veterans had been injured by exposure to radiation. The attitude of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was, and is, that the men had not been exposed to excessive levels of ionising radiation. However, the Government commissioned a health survey of the men involved in the tests, to be conducted by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB).

7. The survey sought to identify all the men who had been present in the area at the time of the tests and to compare them with a similar sized cohort of men of similar backgrounds who had not attended the tests. About 22,000 nuclear test veterans were identified. The survey examined death registration documents for causes of death and also the incidence of cancer using the National Health Service Cancer Register. The report, issued in November 1988, disclosed that, among the veterans, there was no excess mortality either from all causes or from all cancers. However, there was a significantly higher level of deaths from leukaemia and multiple myeloma among the participants than among the controls. The report expressed the view that this was probably a chance result, to be explained by the very low level of deaths from these causes among the control group. When the deaths among the participants were compared with the national mortality figures for those conditions, the excess among the participants was only slight. It was concluded that participation in the nuclear tests was not associated with any detectable effect on expectation of life or the risk of developing cancer. It added:

“that there may well have been small hazards of leukaemia and multiple myeloma associated with participation in the programme, but their existence is certainly not proven and further research is desirable”.

The NRPB carried out two more surveys and reported in 1993 and 2003, but the later conclusions did not differ significantly from the earlier ones. The methodology and conclusions of all three surveys were criticised by the BNTVA and subsequently by the claimants in the group action, principally on the ground that they looked only at deceased, but not living, veterans.

8. Meanwhile, in 1985 an action for damages was begun by a veteran named Melvyn Pearce. He developed a lymphoma in 1978 and alleged that it had been caused by exposure to ionising radiation during the tests. The allegations of negligence in Pearce v. The Secretary of State for Defence and Ministry of Defence [1988] AC 755 were based on both exposure to prompt high dose radiation (that is, as a result of proximate presence at one or more of the nuclear tests) and delayed, low dose, exposure (as a consequence of ingesting radionuclides from fallout while swimming in contaminated waters or eating contaminated fish). It was also alleged that the MOD had deliberately exposed the men to radiation as an experiment to see what the effects were. The MOD denied liability and sought to rely on immunity from suit provided by section 10 of the Crown Proceedings Act 1947. It did not plead the Limitation Act. The issue of immunity was treated as a preliminary issue and in due course went to the House of Lords which held in the Mr Pearce’s favour, leaving him free to proceed to trial. However, soon afterwards, the claim was discontinued, because the Mr Pearce’s team concluded that it could not prove a causal link between the exposure to radiation and the development of cancer.

9. In 2008, the results of a study carried out by a team of scientists led by Dr R.E. Rowland of the New Zealand Institute of Molecular Biosciences were published as “Elevated chromosome translocation frequencies in New Zealand nuclear test veterans” (“the Rowland Study”). Using a technique called “mFISH”, which involved “painting” chromosomes enabling breaks and rearrangements to become visible, the team had examined the damage to the chromosomes of 49 New Zealand veterans who had served on board two frigates positioned between 20 and 150 nautical miles upwind from certain explosions which were part of the United Kingdom nuclear test programme. The Rowland study found that the 49 crew members examined had on average three times as many chromosomal aberrations than 50 controls who had not taken part in the tests. This finding was regarded as significant and probably attributable to long term genetic damage resulting from ionising radiation during and after the nuclear test. An attempt was made to estimate the radiation dose from the level of translocations. The median dose for the veterans was estimated to be far in excess of the median estimated dose of the controls. However, the study made no claim for any correlation between the raised levels of chromosomal aberrations and the incidence of any illness.

3. The group action

10. Meanwhile, in 2002, several veterans instructed two different firms of solicitors with a view to bringing claims for damages. Legal Aid was granted for the investigation of the claims. On 23 December 2004 a claim form was issued in respect of a group action brought by or on behalf of 1,011 former servicemen, including the applicants, against the MOD. Damages were sought in respect of injury, disability or death alleged to have occurred in consequence of the exposure of the former servicemen to ionising radiation as a result of their presence near, or involvement in the aftermath of, the nuclear tests.

11. In August 2005 public funding was withdrawn from the claimants on the ground that the legal merits were insufficient to justify the case being pursued at public expense. It was agreed between the parties to stay the proceedings, until the Rowland study had been published. The stay was lifted on 1 September 2006 and a different firm of solicitors took over, after arrangements had been made for the matter to proceed on a conditional fee basis. Under the conditional fee arrangement, the solicitors would be paid only if the claimants were successful. The claimants purchased an insurance policy, known as “ATE (after the event) insurance”, to cover the MOD’s costs, should they be ordered against them.

12. On 29 December 2006 Master Particulars of Claim, containing more detailed allegations, were served. It was alleged that the nuclear tests had been negligently planned and executed, in that, inter alia, protective clothing and equipment was not supplied, to prevent the exposure of the servicemen to ionising radiation both at the time of each blast and subsequently, in the form of fall-out, and steps were not taken to prevent servicemen from swimming in contaminated water and eating contaminated seafood in the aftermath of the tests. In addition, it was alleged that the authorities failed properly to monitor the extent to which each serviceman was exposed to ionising radiation, both during and after each test. The claimants further claimed that they had suffered a variety of illnesses known to result from radiation exposure and relied in particular on the mFISH methodology, used by the Rowland study (see paragraph 10 above), as a reliable and specific indicator of genetic damage caused by exposure to ionising radiation. The Master Particulars of Claim included a partial list of the illnesses which the claimants, as a group, contended to have suffered as a result of their exposure to radiation, but individual medical reports were not included. In connection with the question whether the claims were time‑barred, the applicants contended that it was only with the availability of the results of the Rowland study in 2007 that “scientific evidence became available that indicated that the conditions suffered by the veterans were attributable to exposure during the tests”. Furthermore, they argued that where delay had occurred, which in most cases was not great, this was explicable by funding difficulties and the MOD’s attitude of denial, and that the cases should be allowed to proceed under Section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 (“the 1980 Act”: see paragraphs 27-29 below).

13. The MOD denied liability, alleging that all proper precautions were taken to protect service personnel from exposure to ionising radiation and that, in most cases, the actual exposure of the men was no more than the background radiation they would have experienced in the United Kingdom. In addition, the MOD contended that the claimants would be unable to prove, individually or as a group, that their illnesses were attributable to their presence during the nuclear tests, rather than other factors. The MOD also argued that the claims were time-barred under the terms of the 1980 Act, which requires a claimant to institute proceedings within three years of the date on which the cause of action accrued or “the date of knowledge (if later) of the person injured”. It was contended on behalf of the Ministry of Defence that the claimants had relevant knowledge prior to 23 December 2001 (that is, before the three-year period preceding the institution of proceedings). In relation to the discretionary power under section 33 of the 1980 Act, it was argued that the passage of time since the tests had eroded the cogency of the evidence and that the overall merits of the claim were weak, particularly in relation to causation.

14. A group litigation order was made, which decided inter alia that the issue of limitation should be tried as a preliminary point. On the agreement of the parties, five test cases were selected by each side for the purpose of the preliminary hearing to determine the limitation issues. On 10 April 2008 the MOD informed the veterans’ solicitor that it intended to serve expert evidence going to the weakness of the claims on causation. The following day the MOD was granted leave to serve limited expert evidence in the fields of radiobiology, epidemiology and nuclear physics. The applicants were subsequently granted leave to serve expert evidence in the same disciplines. The selection of the test cases was completed by August 2008. Disclosure was provided by the parties, but was limited to documents relevant to the limitation issues only.

4. The judgment of the High Court

15. The hearing took place over ten days in January and February 2009 before Foskett J, who heard and considered expert evidence in relation to the development of scientific knowledge of the effects of ionising radiation as well as evidence from the claimants about their knowledge and belief about the cause of their injuries. He delivered his judgment on 5 June 2009. Although the claimants had complained in their Particulars of Claim of exposure to prompt radiation, it was agreed early in the trial that none of the veterans had been sufficiently close to the explosions to have been affected by prompt radiation.

16. At the hearing, without issuing any application, the MOD invited the judge to strike out the claims or, in the alternative, to give summary judgment in favour of the MOD, on the ground that the claims had no prospect of success. Foskett J declined to do so, ruling that these requests were premature, since causation was essentially a question of fact and since the facts, dependent on lay and expert evidence, had not been established at the current stage of the proceedings. Moreover, he did not accept that the claimants’ case on causation was so weak that the claims were bound to fail. However, he accepted that, if any of the cases were to clear the limitation hurdle and proceed to trial, there was a risk that they might subsequently be abandoned because of difficulties in establishing causation, and stated that, if invited to do so by the defendant, he would consider how the Ministry of Defence could be protected in terms of costs and other adverse consequences should this occur.

17. On the limitation issue, the judge considered himself bound by previous case-law to hold that “knowledge” within the meaning of section 14(1)(b) of the 1980 Act in effect meant “belief”, so that each claimant acquired the relevant knowledge at the moment in time when he formed the belief that his injury was capable of having been caused by exposure to radiation. Following this approach, he examined each case to determine the moment at which the veteran had manifested not merely suspicion but a firm belief that his illness was attributable to exposure to radiation. He found that five of the lead claimants had not had knowledge of their claims, within the meaning of section 14 of the 1980 Act, until less than three years before they began proceedings, so they were entitled to proceed with their claims as of right. He further considered that the claims of the other five test claimants were prima facie statute barred, but exercised his discretion under section 33 of the 1980 Act so as to allow the actions to proceed. In particular, he emphasised that the need to avoid an apparent injustice, both in the minds of the claimants and of the general public, was a weighty factor to be taken into account. The judge awarded the claimants their costs, estimated at GBP 11.8 million, to be paid by the MOD.

5. The judgment of the Court of Appeal

18. The MOD appealed to the Court of Appeal, which gave judgment on 19 November 2010 (Ministry of Defence v. A.B. and Others [2010] EWCA Civ 1317). The Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge’s refusal to strike out the case, but on different grounds. They considered that the pleadings disclosed reasonable grounds for bringing the case and that as there had been no abuse of process nor failure to comply with procedural rules, it would be wholly inappropriate to strike the cases out. The Court of Appeal considered that the MOD’s application for summary judgment should be rejected on procedural grounds, because no formal notice had been given.

19. With regard to the limitation issues, the Court of Appeal applied broadly the same test as Foskett J, although it considered that in relation to nine of the ten test cases, he had applied too high a threshold. In the Court of Appeal’s view, only one case, that of Mr Sinfield (the first applicant’s husband), who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in October 2005, had been brought in time. In relation to the discretion under section 33, the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had erred in law in holding that the need to avoid an apparent injustice, both in the minds of the claimants and of the newspaper-reading public, was a weighty factor to be taken into account. The court further held that the broad merits test should be a prominent consideration when deciding whether or not to exercise the discretion. The resource implications both for the MOD and Treasury solicitors and for the courts would be enormous, and it would be inappropriate to allow an expensive and resource-consuming trial to take place if the prospects for the claimants’ success were slight. On the other hand, if the prospects of success “were even reasonable, those resource considerations fade into relative insignificance”. The Court of Appeal next examined the likely strength of the applicants’ case on causation. They observed that the burden of proving that the alleged tort caused the alleged injury lay on the claimant, on the balance of probabilities. In order to determine whether the section 33 discretion should be exercised, the court had to assess the broad merits of the material put before. The claimants had not produced evidence of how they intended to estimate the doses of radiation to which they were exposed and the court considered that the best they could hope for would be to show low but significant exposure. In addition, on the state of the evidence before the court, there was no prospect that the claimants would be able to satisfy the “but for” test of causation by showing that their illnesses were at least twice as likely to have been caused by their exposure to radiation during the tests than by other causes, for example, smoking. Nor was there any possibility, on the evidence as it stood, that the claimants would be able to rely on the synergistic inter-action of two different causative agents. The foundation of medical evidence had not been laid. The court therefore concluded that the claimants’ case on causation faced very great difficulties. They accepted that there was a theoretical possibility that further evidence might become available if the case were permitted to proceed, but nonetheless underlined that they had to apply the broad merits test under section 33 on the basis of the evidence which the claimants had put before the court. When considering, in relation to each of the nine time-barred test cases, whether to exercise its discretion under section 33, the Court of Appeal found that the merits of each case were weak on causation and that the prospects of success were therefore weak. In addition, the delay in bringing the claims would be prejudicial to the MOD, through the loss of available witnesses. In consequence, the court declined to exercise its discretion to allow the time-barred cases to proceed.

20. The Court of Appeal concluded with the following words:

“We recognise that these decisions will come as a great disappointment to the claimants and their advisers. We readily acknowledge the strength of feeling and conviction held by many of the claimants that they have been damaged by the Ministry of Defence in the service of their country. The problem is that the common law of this country requires that, before damages can be awarded, a claimant must prove not only that the defendant has breached its duty of care but also that that breach of duty has, on the balance of probabilities, caused the injury of which the claimant complains. These can be heavy burdens to discharge.

If we look back to 1985, Melvyn Pearce won a significant victory in the House of Lords, which established that the MOD could not rely on the immunity of the Crown from suit. Yet, within a few months of that victory, Mr Pearce abandoned his claim because his advisers recognised that they could not satisfy the burden of proving that Mr Pearce’s cancer had probably been caused by radiation exposure; for his personal position, the victory was entirely pyrrhic. As we noted earlier, the abandonment of that case comprised a warning to those who wished to follow after. Causation would be a potentially difficult issue and would have to be addressed if any such actions were to have a prospect of success. Thus, it was no surprise that one of the first steps taken by [the solicitors] originally instructed by Mrs Brothers, was to seek evidence to establish causation (which was not forthcoming). Further, although the MOD raised the issue of causation both generically and, later, in the individual cases, no attempt was apparently made when the lead cases were identified to obtain specific evidence on this topic. It may be that it is not yet possible for a doctor to say that a condition such as cancer has probably been caused by radiation as opposed to any of the other possible causes but, until such evidence is available, claimants will face the difficulty which caused Mr Pearce to abandon his claim.

We have no doubt that it will appear that the law is hard on people like these claimants who have given service to their country and may have suffered harm as a result. No doubt partly with this background in mind, Parliament has provided that servicemen who have been exposed to radiation which might have caused them injury will be entitled to a war pension. Of course, a war pension is not as financially beneficial as common law damages but it is some compensation. Of particular importance on this issue, on an application for a war pension, the burden of proving causation is reversed; thus, the MOD has to exclude the possibility that the applicant has been harmed by radiation. We cannot say that any of these claimants who have, so far, not been awarded pensions will succeed in their attempts to do so but their chances of success must be far greater with the MOD having to prove the absence of causation than they ever were while the claimants had to establish it.”

21. The claimants were ordered to pay 90% of the MOD’s costs of the first instance trial on the preliminary issues of limitation, and all of the MOD’s costs of the appeal. These costs, in excess of GBP 5.6 million, were paid by the applicants’ ATE insurers.

6. The judgment of the Supreme Court

22. The nine lead claimants who had lost before the Court of Appeal appealed to the Supreme Court, which gave judgment on 14 March 2012 (Ministry of Defence v. A.B. and Others [2012] UKSC 9). The Supreme Court was divided by four judges to three as to the application of the 1980 Act in this case. The minority (Lord Phillips, Lady Hale and Lord Kerr) held that the Court of Appeal had confused knowledge with belief and that, although the claimants believed that their injuries were caused by exposure during the nuclear tests at the time they issued their claim, they lacked knowledge of attributability because at that time there was no available scientific evidence. The majority (Lords Wilson, Walker, Brown and Mance) agreed with the Court of Appeal that “knowledge” should be equated to belief held “with sufficient confidence to justify embarking on the preliminaries of the issue of a writ, such as submitting a claim to the proposed defendant, taking legal and other advice and collecting evidence”. The majority found that each of the nine appellants had believed that his exposure to radiation had put his health at risk and, on becoming ill, had believed that his illness was attributable to his presence during the nuclear tests, on that each had attained the requisite state of knowledge more than three years before the commencement of proceedings. It was conceded before the Supreme Court by counsel for the claimants that they lacked evidence with which to establish a credible case that the injuries were caused by the tests. The majority also agreed with the Court of Appeal’s approach to the exercise of discretion under section 33 of the 1980 Act and upheld the refusal to allow the claims to proceed.

23. All members of the Supreme Court agreed that the claims had no real prospects of success. Lord Phillips observed that:

“The current difficulties facing the veterans in relation to causation appear to me to be very great indeed. The Rowland report assists them a little but it does not have the significance that [their counsel] has sought to attach to it.

The Rowland report shows that many of the New Zealand veterans had a raised incidence of chromosome translocation that suggested exposure to abnormal, albeit low level, fall-out radiation. But this was not true of all the veterans assayed. The assays of some show no abnormalities. This is no more than one would expect. Exposure to radiation results from inhalation or ingestion of fall-out. It may result from swallowing sea water while swimming or eating contaminated fish. Thus it can vary from one man to the next. The most that can be deduced from the Rowland report is that it is probable that individual veterans were exposed to low level fall‑out. There is currently no evidence that there is any correlation between the raised incidence of chromosome translocation of individual New Zealand veterans and the incidence of cancer or any of the other conditions of which the claimant veterans complain. ... The Rowland report results simply constitute a biomarker suggesting exposure to radiation.

The most the veterans as a group are currently in a position to establish is that there is a possibility that some of them were exposed to a raised, albeit low level, of fall-out radiation and that this may have increased the risk of contracting some at least of the injuries in respect of which they claim. This falls well short of establishing causation according to the established principles of English law. ...

For these reasons I do not believe that the veterans’ claims have a reasonable prospect of success.”

Lord Wilson accepted that the Court of Appeal had wrongly elevated the issue of causation to be the determining factor under section 33, but nonetheless concluded:

“It is undesirable that a court which conducts an inquiry into whether a claim is time-barred should, even at the stage when it considers its power under section 33, have detailed regard to the evidence with which the claimant aspires to prove his case at trial. But the ten claims placed before Foskett J were of particular complexity; and the nature of the submissions made to him on behalf of the appellants about the meaning of knowledge for the purpose of section 14(1) of the 1980 Act led him to undertake, over ten days of hearing and expressed in 885 paragraphs of judgment, a microscopic survey of the written evidence available to the parties, in particular to the appellants, in relation to causation. At all events the result was to yield to the Court of Appeal an unusual advantage, namely a mass of material which enabled it with rare confidence to assess the appellants’ prospects of success. It expressed its conclusions in terms of the ‘very great difficulties’ which confronted the appellants in that regard. But, in line with the realistic concession made by [counsel for the appellants] in this court, the fact is that, for the reasons set out by Lord Phillips ... their claims have no real prospect of success. In my view it would have been absurd for the Court of Appeal to have exercised the discretion to disapply section 11 so as to allow the appellants to proceed in circumstances in which the next stage of the litigation would be likely to have been their failure to resist entry against them of summary judgment ...”

24. On 14 November 2012 the Supreme Court made an order relating to the costs of the appeal, which provided that the applicants should pay the MOD’s costs of the appeal and that the stay of execution in respect of the previous costs orders should be removed.

7. Subsequent developments

25. Following the above proceedings, one of the applicants (Ms Sinfield) had an absolute right to go forward to trial, since her case had not been found to be time-barred. The other applicants (whose cases had been stayed while the ten test cases went ahead) had to consider whether, in the light of the Supreme Court’s judgment, their claims were time-barred. A certain number of the applicants’ claims were not time-barred, because, like Mr Sinfield, they had become ill within three years of the commencement of proceedings. This group of applicants therefore wished to proceed to trial. The other applicants, whose claims were prima facie time-barred, took the view that much of the assessment of the Supreme Court, in relation to the question whether to exercise the discretion under section 33 of the 1980 Act, had been concerned with the difficulties that the claimants would face in establishing causation. However, the applicants considered that there was increasing evidence establishing that the illnesses they suffered were caused by exposure during the tests. This group of applicants also wished to proceed to trial.

26. Under the terms of the group litigation order, the MOD’s costs of the preliminary limitation proceedings were paid by all the claimants within the group, in equal proportions, whether or not their claims had been brought out of time. In a letter dated 12 September 2012, the MOD insisted that, before pursuing further litigation, the applicants had to obtain ATE insurance to cover them for the MOD’s costs should their claims fail. It proved impossible for the applicants to obtain such insurance, since the ATE insurers had already made large payments following the costs orders made by the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Legal aid, which was withdrawn in 2005, will not be re-awarded. None of the applicants is in a position to contribute to the funding of the litigation on a private basis. In consequence, none of the applicants’ claims proceeded to trial.

B. Relevant domestic law and practice

27. The background to the adoption of the Limitation Act 1980 (“the 1980 Act”) is set out in detail in the Court’s judgment in Stubbings and Others v. the United Kingdom, 22 October 1996, §§ 28-37, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996‑IV.

28. Section 11 of the 1980 Act deals with special time limits for actions in respect of personal injuries and, in its relevant parts, reads as follows:

“11 (1) This section applies to any action for damages for negligence, nuisance or breach of duty (whether the duty exists by virtue of a contract or of provision made by or under a statute or independently of any contract or any such provision) where the damages claimed by the plaintiff for the negligence, nuisance or breach of duty consist of or include damages in respect of personal injuries to the plaintiff or any other person. ...

...

(3) An action to which this section applies shall not be brought after the expiration of the period applicable in accordance with subsection (4) or (5) below.

(4) Except where subsection (5) below applies, the period applicable is three years from—

(a) the date on which the cause of action accrued; or

(b) the date of knowledge (if later) of the person injured...”

29. Section 33 of the 1980 Act further provides for discretionary exclusion of the time limit for actions in respect of personal injuries or death in the following terms:

“(1) If it appears to the court that it would be equitable to allow an action to proceed having regard to the degree to which—

(a) the provisions of section 11 or 12 of this Act prejudice the plaintiff or any person whom he represents; and

(b) any decision of the court under this subsection would prejudice the defendant or any person whom he represents;

the court may direct that those provisions shall not apply to the action, or shall not apply to any specified cause of action to which the action relates.

(3) In acting under this section the court shall have regard to all the circumstances of the case and in particular to—

(a) the length of, and the reasons for, the delay on the part of the plaintiff;

(b) the extent to which, having regard to the delay, the evidence adduced or likely to be adduced by the plaintiff or the defendant is or is likely to be less cogent than if the action had been brought within the time allowed by section 11 or (as the case may be) by section 12;

(c) the conduct of the defendant after the cause of action arose, including the extent (if any) to which he responded to requests reasonably made by the plaintiff for information or inspection for the purpose of ascertaining facts which were or might be relevant to the plaintiff’s cause of action against the defendant;

(d) the duration of any disability of the plaintiff arising after the date of the accrual of the cause of action;

(e) the extent to which the plaintiff acted promptly and reasonably once he knew whether or not the act or omission of the defendant, to which the injury was attributable, might be capable at that time of giving rise to an action for damages;

(f) the steps, if any, taken by the plaintiff to obtain medical, legal or other expert advice and the nature of any such advice he may have received.

(4) In a case where the person injured died when, because of section 11, he could no longer maintain an action and recover damages in respect of the injury, the court shall have regard in particular to the length of, and the reasons for, the delay on the part of the deceased.

(5) In a case under subsection (4) above, or any other case where the time limit, or one of the time limits, depends on the date of knowledge of a person other than the plaintiff, subsection (3) above shall have effect with appropriate modifications, and shall have effect in particular as if references to the plaintiff included references to any person whose date of knowledge is or was relevant in determining a time limit.

(6) A direction by the court disapplying the provisions of section 12(1) shall operate to disapply the provisions to the same effect in section 1(1) of the Fatal Accidents Act 1976...”

COMPLAINTS

30. The applicants complained under Articles 2 and 6 of the Convention that, despite its size, complexity and importance, neither legal aid nor any other source of funding was made available to allow them to pursue their case and exercise their right of access to the courts. They also complain, under Article 2, that there has been no public investigation into the causes of death of the deceased atomic veterans.

THE LAW

31. The applicants complained of breaches of Articles 2 § 1 and 6 § 1 of the Convention, which provide as follows:

“Article 2 § 1

Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.”

“Article 6 § 1

In the determination of his civil rights and obligations ... everyone is entitled to a fair ... hearing ... by [a] ... tribunal ...”

A. The applicants’ arguments

32. Under Article 2, the applicants submitted that the Court’s case-law provided that the State should carry out a procedural investigation into the accountability of State agents for deaths occurring under their responsibility. However, the effect of the procedure employed by the MOD to have limitation determined as a preliminary issue, together with the effect of the costs orders, meant that there had never been an adequate investigation into the death of Mr Sinfield or other applicants. The applicants complained that notwithstanding the strong prima facie case that the veterans were exposed to ionising radiation in harmful quantities and notwithstanding the available evidence on causation, there would be no public inquiry in the United Kingdom and no further scientific investigation on the part of the State. They contended that, apart from the United Kingdom, every atomic power that had conducted atmospheric atomic tests had established a scheme to compensate servicemen suffering from certain illnesses linked to radiation exposure. Such schemes existed in the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, France, Russia, Australia and China and some of these countries had also held public inquiries into the atomic tests.

33. The applicants accepted that the Government operated a scheme whereby veterans or their dependants suffering illnesses or death caused by service in the Armed Forces could claim for a pension and that where a veteran applied for a military pension the onus was on the Government to show that the relevant service with the Armed Forces did not cause the relevant illness. Some of the applicants had claimed and been granted pensions; others had had their claims rejected. However, these proceedings did not involve a full inquiry into the circumstances in which the servicemen served, nor did they provide the applicants with an opportunity to make claims for their loss and damage in accordance with the normal principles of English law.

34. The applicants argued under Article 6 that the Court’s case-law demonstrated that it would carefully examine a restriction on access to court based on costs to determine whether it pursued a legitimate aim and was proportionate. Moreover, legal aid could be required in civil cases to give effect to the right of access to court. In determining whether legal aid was necessary under Article 6 § 1 in any particular civil case, the Court had attached considerable weight to the rights that were at stake for the applicant in the litigation. In addition, the size and complexity of the case had been held to be an important factor. In the applicants’ submission, their case had a strong public interest, because of the number of litigants involved in the group action and also the number of servicemen who had been involved in the tests and who could be similarly affected. Against this background, the Government had a particular obligation to ensure that they could exercise their right of access to court. In a more normal piece of litigation, the prospects of success would be a reasonable condition for the availability of legal aid. However, in a case such as this, the prospects of success could not be a determining factor. The complexity of the scientific evidence and the fact that research was still developing meant that establishing causation would never be straightforward. The importance and scale of the case would still justify the grant of legal aid in general. In addition, the applicants submitted that the size of the costs orders awarded by the national courts amounted to a disproportionate restriction on their right of access to court, because their effect was to ensure that none of the applicants, even those like Ms Sinfield whose claim was not time-barred, was able to take out further ATE insurance and pursue their claims.

35. In the present case, the Government (acting through the MOD) did not succeed in showing that each of the applicants’ claims was statute‑barred. However, by diverting all the applicants’ limited resources into the preliminary issue on limitation, and obtaining costs orders, the Government had effectively prevented the applicants from continuing to trial, despite the fact that the issues about exposure of the applicants to radiation and causation of their illnesses merited examination by a court. The preliminary proceedings on limitation were extremely costly and gave rise to delay. It meant that the applicants’ aim to have a full and fair hearing where they could learn the truth about what happened was frustrated. This was despite the fact that the issue of causation could only fairly be decided when, first, the extent of exposure to radiation had been determined in the light of full disclosure of documents; secondly, the actual illnesses suffered by the applicants had been considered in the light of the exposure each suffered; and, thirdly, other potential causes had been considered, whether for synergistic effect or as competing bases of causation. The applicants contended that it was clear that further medical evidence would come to light which would assist them in proving causation. For example, the Redfearn Report, dated 16 November 2010, had now become available. This showed that the Atomic Weapons Establishment had analysed human tissue in order to assist the Treasury Solicitor, the coroner and families of deceased veterans in investigations following the deaths of atomic veterans. The Report also indicated that there was more material yet to be disclosed by the MOD that would assist in identifying causation in these cases.

B. The Court’s assessment

36. The Court observes that, to the extent that the applicants complain that the procedural obligation under Article 2 entails that there should be a public inquiry into the conduct of the nuclear tests and the health consequences for veterans, it does not appear that this point was expressly raised by the applicants in the domestic proceedings. Furthermore, the events which the applicants claim should be investigated took place between 1952 and 1958, before the United Kingdom’s Articles 25 and 46 declarations of 14 January 1966 (see, mutatis mutandis, McGinley and Egan v. the United Kingdom, 9 June 1998, § 68, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998‑III and L.C.B. v. the United Kingdom, 9 June 1998, § 35, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998‑III). It would therefore appear that the Article 2 complaint about failure to hold a public inquiry is inadmissible on grounds of non-exhaustion of domestic remedies and incompatibility ratione temporis with the scope of the Convention (compare Varnava and Others v. Turkey [GC], nos. 16064/90, 16065/90, 16066/90, 16068/90, 16069/90, 16070/90, 16071/90, 16072/90 and 16073/90, ECHR 2009).

37. To the extent that the applicants complain under Article 2 that, following the judgment of the Supreme Court and the adverse costs orders made against them, they have been unable further to pursue their civil claims for damages, the Court considers that this is, in essence, a complaint about lack of access to court, which does not need to be considered separately from the complaint under Article 6.

38. In connection with the Article 6 complaint, the Court recalls that in Golder v. the United Kingdom (judgment of 21 February 1975, Series A no. 18, pp. 13-18, §§ 28-36), it held that the procedural guarantees laid down in that Article, concerning fairness, publicity and expeditiousness, would be meaningless if there were no protection of the pre-condition for the enjoyment of those guarantees, namely, access to a court. It established this as an inherent aspect of the safeguards enshrined in Article 6, referring to the principles of the rule of law and the avoidance of arbitrary power which underlie much of the Convention. Article 6 § 1 “may ... be relied on by anyone who considers that an interference with the exercise of one of his (civil) rights is unlawful and complains that he has not had the possibility of submitting that claim to a tribunal meeting the requirements of Article 6 § 1” (see Le Compte, Van Leuven and De Meyere v. Belgium, judgment of 23 June 1981, Series A no. 43, p. 20, § 44). Where there is a serious and genuine dispute as to the lawfulness of such an interference, going either to the very existence or the scope of the asserted civil right, Article 6 § 1 entitles the individual “to have this question of domestic law determined by a tribunal” (see Sporrong and Lönnroth v. Sweden, judgment of 23 September 1982, Series A no. 52, p. 30, § 81; see also Tre Traktörer AB v. Sweden, judgment of 7 July 1989, Series A no. 159, p. 18, § 40 and, more recently, Z and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 29392/95, § 91, ECHR 2001‑V § 91 and Roche v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 32555/96, § 116, ECHR 2005‑X).

39. One aspect of the right of access to court is that a litigant is not denied the opportunity to present his or her case effectively before the court and that he or she is able to enjoy equality of arms with the opposing side (see Airey v. Ireland, 9 October 1979, § 24, Series A no. 32 and Steel and Morris v. the United Kingdom, no. 68416/01, § 59, ECHR 2005‑II). Article 6 § 1 leaves to the State a free choice of the means to be used in guaranteeing litigants the above rights. The institution of a legal aid scheme constitutes one of those means but there are others, such as for example simplifying the applicable procedure (see Airey, cited above, § 26 and Steel and Morris, cited above, § 60). The question whether the provision of legal aid is necessary for a fair hearing must be determined on the basis of the particular facts and circumstances of each case and will depend, inter alia, on the importance of what is at stake for the applicant in the proceedings, the complexity of the relevant law and procedure and the applicant’s capacity to represent him or herself effectively (see Steel and Morris, cited above, § 61).

40. The right of access to court is not absolute. Where the individual’s access is limited either by operation of law or in fact, the Court will examine whether the limitation imposed impaired the essence of the right and, in particular, whether it pursued a legitimate aim and whether there was a reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means employed and the aim sought to be achieved. If the restriction is compatible with these principles, no violation of Article 6 will arise (see Z and Others, cited above, § 93). The Court has considered regulations concerning minors and persons of unsound mind, statutory limitation periods and security for costs orders to constitute legitimate restrictions on access to court (see Golder, cited above, § 39; Stubbings and Others v. the United Kingdom, judgment of 22 October 1996, Reports 1996-IV, pp. 1502-03, §§ 51-52; Tolstoy Miloslavsky v. the United Kingdom, judgment of 13 July 1995, Series A no. 316-B, pp. 80-81, §§ 62-67). It has also held that it may be acceptable to impose conditions on the grant of legal aid based, inter alia, on the financial situation of the litigant or his or her prospects of success in the proceedings. Moreover, it is not incumbent on the State to seek through the use of public funds to ensure total equality of arms between the assisted person and the opposing party, as long as each side is afforded a reasonable opportunity to present his or her case under conditions that do not place him or her at a substantial disadvantage vis-à-vis the adversary (see Steel and Morris, cited above, § 62).

41. Turning to the facts of the present case, the Court notes that the applicants were claimants in a group action brought by or on behalf of 1,011 former servicemen who had been present during the nuclear tests carried out by the United Kingdom between 1952 and 1958. Legal aid was initially granted for the investigation of the claims. However, once initial investigations had been carried out, including consultation with experts with a view to obtaining evidence that the claimants’ injuries had been caused by their exposure to radiation during or in the immediate aftermath of the nuclear tests, the Legal Services Commission withdrew legal aid because it did not consider that the prospects of the claimants proving their case were sufficiently strong to justify further public money being spent. Nonetheless, the claimants were able to continue with the proceedings, through the negotiation of a conditional fee arrangement with new legal representatives and the purchase of an insurance policy to cover the MOD’s costs should they lose the case and become subject to an adverse costs order.

42. The decision was made by the first instance court that the question whether the claims were statute-barred on grounds of delay should be decided as a preliminary issue. This Court has recognised that limitation periods in personal injury cases serve important purposes, namely to ensure legal certainty and finality, protect potential defendants from stale claims which might be difficult to counter and prevent the injustice which might arise if courts were required to decide upon events which took place in the distant past on the basis of evidence which might have become unreliable and incomplete because of the passage of time (see Stubbings, cited above, § 51). Given that the claims related to events which occurred in the 1950s, it cannot be said that it was unreasonable of the national court, in 2009, to decide first to examine whether the claims were statute-barred, before proceeding to a trial on the merits.

43. In any event, the fact that the national legislation allows the judge discretion to permit claims which are time-barred but otherwise meritorious to proceed, meant that the causation of the claimants’ injuries was a central issue. Although expert witnesses were not subject to cross-examination, both sides were granted leave to file written expert evidence, which was considered in detail, particularly by Foskett J in his thorough judgment, which ran to some 885 paragraphs. The question of causation was also a key issue in the appeals to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. While some of the judges in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court differed as to how the Limitation Act 1980 should be interpreted and applied, they were all agreed that the claimants would face serious difficulties in establishing causation. Indeed, all the judges of the Supreme Court were unanimous in agreeing with Lord Phillips’ assessment that the applicants’ claims had no reasonable prospects of success. As Lord Brown put it in the Supreme Court, “[t]he plain fact is, despite decades spent urgently trying to assemble a viable case, on the evidence as it stands these claims (in which huge costs have already been expended) are doomed to fail”. Indeed, it was conceded before the Supreme Court by counsel for the applicants that they lacked evidence with which to establish a credible case that the alleged injuries were caused by the tests.

44. Since the applicants, through the ten test cases, were able vigorously to pursue their claims as far as the Supreme Court, the Court finds it hard to conclude that they were denied access to court. To the extent that the judgment of the Supreme Court, together with the costs orders and the earlier decision of the Legal Services’ Commission to withdraw legal aid, entailed a restriction on access to court, the Court considers that any such restriction pursued a legitimate aim and was proportionate to that aim. The litigation undertaken was complex and very expensive. The Court notes in this connection that the applicants’ costs awarded against the MOD at first instance were estimated at GBP 11.8 million and that the MOD’s costs before the Court of Appeal, paid by the applicants’ insurers, were in excess of GBP 5.6 million. In addition to the millions of pounds of legal fees and expenses incurred by each side in relation to the limitation issue, the costs to the court service in time and resources must have been extensive. Against this background, it was reasonable for the State authorities to decide that no further public money should be spent on funding litigation which objectively appeared to have no reasonable prospects at all of success.

45. The applicants reason that the large number of servicemen who participated in the tests and the complexity and incomplete nature of the scientific evidence were grounds for disapplying the usual rules about withdrawing legal aid in respect of cases with no reasonable prospects of success. The Court does not accept any such requirement incumbent on the State can be derived from Article 6 § 1 of the Convention, for the reasons set out above. Moreover, it considers it relevant that an alternative scheme for the provision of compensation to nuclear test veterans has been established. In proceedings before a tribunal for the award of a military disablement pension, the burden is on the Government to prove that the claimant’s illness was not caused by his or her military service. In the Court’s view, it fell within the State’s margin of appreciation under Article 6 § 1 to decide to channel public funds into this alternative means of access to a court for the provision of compensation, rather than to continue to provide legal aid to the applicants in respect of further speculative and highly costly litigation in the High Court.

46. It follows that the applicants’ complaints under Article 6 § 1 are manifestly ill-founded and therefore inadmissible, pursuant to Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.

For these reasons the Court, unanimously,

Declares the application inadmissible.

              Françoise Elens-PassosIneta Ziemele
RegistrarPresident

Appendix

Number

Name

Date of Birth

Nationality

Place of Residence 

Jean Ethel SINFIELD

09/11/1938

British

Potters Bar  

Toni ADAMS

24/06/1935

New Zealand

Blenheim 

Paul AHPOY

01/06/1936

Fidjien

Suva 

Ngaire ALEXANDER

11/09/1933

New Zealand

Dannevirke  

Anne ALLAN

09/07/1936

British

Stockton-on-Tees 

Edward ALLEN

04/05/1938

British

Manchester  

Elizabeth ALLEN

25/03/1936

British

Whitby  

Pamela ALLEN

17/11/1936

New Zealand

Riverton  

W V AMUNDSEN

28/09/1935

New Zealand

Carterton  

Alfred ANDERSON

18/08/1938

British

Widnes  

Ralph ANDERSON

31/03/1937

British

Bristol 

Anthony ANNALL

01/02/1939

British

Beverley  

Sidney ANNING

03/08/1943

British

Plymouth  

Helen APIHAI

16/02/1928

New Zealand

Kawerau 

Bernard ARMER

01/04/1939

British

Newton Abbot 

George ARMSTRONG

03/03/1936

British

Wallsend  

Martyn ASHCROFT

30/04/1936

British

Stoke-on-Trent  

Adeline ASHWOOD

05/07/1935

British

Beith 

George ASKHAM

20/03/1938

British

Sheffield  

Stanley ASPINALL

17/07/1936

British

Bradford-upon-Avon 

Bernard ATKIN

03/03/1939

British

Hull  

Warren ATKINS

27/04/1937

New Zealand

Auckland 

Kathleen Doreen ATKINSON

08/10/1932

British

Plymouth  

Raymond ATKINSON

21/07/1938

British

Portsmouth  

Garry ATTWOOD

18/01/1938

British

Rotherham  

Sheila AUSTEN

01/12/1937

British

Westgate-on-sea 

Stephen AUSTEN

01/12/1937

British

Poole 

Lorraine AVERY

24/12/1938

New Zealand

Rotorua  

Anne AYRES

26/12/1932

British

Barry  

Edwina Mary AYRES

26/12/1932

British

South Molton 

Filipe Vaka BABENISALA

11/12/1937

Fidjien

Suva 

James BADLEY

09/03/1936

British

Sleaford  

Elaine BAILEY

23/12/1937

British

Gloucester  

Marie BAILEY

27/01/1939

British

Newport City 

Llimotama BAKA

18/01/1937

Fidjien

Lautoka 

Anare BAKELE

17/08/1938

Fidjien

Tailevu 

Gordon BAKER

19/03/1922

British

Canterbury  

Isaia BALEITAVUKI

04/05/1930

Fidjien

Suva 

Frederick BALL

25/02/1937

British

Mitcham  

Kenneth BALLOCH

04/12/1937

New Zealand

Atawhai Nelson 

Terence BAMBRIDGE

04/11/1935

British

Hertford  

John BANNISTER

23/09/1935

British

Salisbury  

Tevita BARIKACIWA

14/10/1938

Fidjien

Nausori 

Michael BARKER

22/12/1938

British

Leyland  

Lesley BARLOW

11/08/1921

British

Bury St Edmunds 

Peter BARNARD

23/02/1939

British

Scunthorpe  

Isaia BARO

24/08/1937

Fidjien

Wainivula 

Harold BARWELL

06/04/1938

British

Braunstone  

Keler BATAI

02/07/1926

Fidjien

Nausori 

Josefa BATIMOKO

30/09/1938

Fidjien

Suva 

Wendy BEAR

16/02/1939

British

Sudbury  

Marion BEASLEY

11/08/1935

British

Charlton  

Molly BECKETT

25/02/1932

British

Barnsley  

Kevin BEDDOW

07/05/1935

British

Durham 

Deborah BEGG

24/06/1940

British

Dundee  

Andrew BELL

21/06/1928

New Zealand

Auckland  

Ruth BENSON

07/03/1938

British

Dorchester  

Wilfred BESSANT

02/11/1938

British

Clevedon  

Morgan BEYNON

05/03/1936

Australian

Trafalgar  

Donald BICKERTON

10/07/1933

British

Poole  

Donald BICKERTON

01/07/1940

New Zealand

Auckland  

Mary BISHOP

16/04/1942

British

Chapel Hall 

Richard BISHOP

31/12/1939

New Zealand

Christchurch  

Angela BLACK

30/08/1918

British

Norwich  

Marion BLACKBURN

08/02/1929

British

Manchester 

Patricia BLACKBURN

28/05/1937

British

London  

Phyllis BODIE

28/03/1939

British

Wrexham  

Maraia BOILA

11/07/1925

Fidjien

Nabua 

Ian BOLD

29/08/1938

Canadian

Ontario  

Richard BONAS

24/03/1938

British

Glastonbury  

Jean BOND

13/04/1933

British

St Leonard’s On Sea 

Kieran BOOMER

14/12/1935

British

Chorley  

Janet Lesley BOOTH

10/05/1937

New Zealand

Auckland 

Denise BORTHWICK

13/05/1934

Canadian

New Westminster 

Suzy BOWEN

19/08/1930

British

Market Rasen 

David BOYFIELD

21/04/1938

British

Worksop  

William BRADLEY

18/08/1931

British

Géraldine 

Ronald BRADSHAW

09/07/1938

British

Wigan  

Stanley BRADSHAW

06/09/1937

British

Wigston  

Terence BRADY

05/06/1932

British

Newcastle-upon-Tyne 

Joan BRAIN

17/08/1939

British

Wingate  

Malcolm BRAIN

02/07/1937

American

Newport Richey 

Kenneth BRAMWELL

22/02/1937

British

Runcorn  

Thomas BRANDON

28/03/1938

British

Beith  

Gillian BRAY

25/12/1934

British

Plymouth  

George BRENNAN

19/04/1938

British

Rhyl 

Edward BRIERLEY

18/05/1939

British

Ayr  

Harold BROCKEN

05/03/1937

British

Liverpool  

Karen BROGAN

03/10/1927

British

Crosby  

Peter BROOK

19/12/1936

British

Huddersfield  

Dennis BROOKS

05/09/1934

British

Blackpool  

Wendy BROTHERS

20/05/1933

British

Sleaford  

Allan BROWN

20/05/1938

British

Penmaenmawr  

Robert BROWN

09/02/1938

British

Fraserburgh 

Betty BRUCE

30/04/1936

British

Thornaby 

Charles BRUCE

12/11/1938

British

Crieff 

Bill BRYCE

05/04/1937

British

Aberdeen  

Gregory BRYDEN

10/05/1937

British

Girvan 

Gregory BRYDON

26/08/1931

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Dorothy Joan BUCKLE

26/08/1928

British

Daventry                      

Eta BULIMAITOGA

03/07/1932

Fidjien

Suva                      

Peter BULLEN

08/04/1938

British

Gwynedd                      

Ronald BURGESS

12/01/1938

British

Ellesmere Port                     

Sylvia BURNETT

03/02/1935

British

Worthing                      

Josephine BURNS

06/03/1933

British

Corby                      

Patrick BURNS

28/10/1937

British

Coventry                      

Rusiate BUSA

17/02/1941

Fidjien

Lautoka                     

Brian BUTLER

04/07/1937

British

Hebburn                      

Trevor BUTLER

07/03/1938

British

Hull                      

Michael BUTTERS

07/01/1935

British

Greenwich                      

Viliame CAGILABA

07/12/1934

Fidjien

Ba                     

Roy CAIN

24/04/1939

British

Isle of Man                     

William CALDWELL

10/09/1938

British

Glasgow                      

Maureen CALLENDER

23/03/1938

British

Gwynedd                      

Maxwell CAMERON

09/04/1934

Australian

Mackay                     

Nanette CAMPBELL

25/12/1934

British

Stafford                      

Robert CARBERY

27/06/1937

British

Isle of Man                     

Neil CAREY

04/08/1939

New Zealand

Dargaville                     

Ada CARMAN

28/06/1925

British

Helensburgh                      

Alvin CARMICHAEL

02/10/1938

British

Hull                      

Ann Elizabeth CARMICHAEL

29/09/1937

British

Maidstone                      

Alan CARR

04/10/1934

British

Northants                      

James CARR

04/10/1934

British

Newcastle                      

Daphne CARTWRIGHT

30/06/1938

Australian

Tuncurry                     

Maureen CAW

23/02/1938

British

Wolverhampton                     

Lynn CAWSE

12/03/1928

British

Plymouth                      

Setoki CEINATURAGA

25/12/1929

Fidjien

Ovalau                     

Carol CHAMBERLAIN

05/10/1937

British

New Duston                      

Mary CHAMBERLAIN

30/10/1936

British

Birmingham                      

Gil CHAPMAN

02/07/1935

British

Derby                     

Derek CHAPPELL

30/11/1936

British

Norfolk                     

June CHARNEY

28/02/1920

British

Eastbourne                      

Diana CHENEY

24/09/1926

New Zealand

Wellington                      

John CHESHER

20/07/1935

British

Ripon                     

Ann CHEW

01/09/1938

British

Birmingham                     

Raymond CHIMES

04/07/1937

British

Southampton                      

Alice CLARK

04/04/1938

British

Romford                      

Ronald CLARK

15/07/1938

British

Cheltenham                      

Thomas CLARK

21/03/1938

British

Saltash                     

Keith CLARKE

21/07/1937

British

Stevenage                      

Richard CLIFFORD

09/10/1938

British

Southwold                      

William COCKBURN

07/12/1938

British

Berwick on Tweed                     

Ann COCKCROFT

26/09/1934

British

Gosport                     

Ernest COCKER

20/02/1936

British

Wirral                      

Beryl COLE

14/06/1935

British

Colchester                      

Ronald COLEBY

03/10/1934

British

Brighton                      

Philip COLEMAN

08/09/1936

British

Birmingham                      

Charles COLLINS

21/07/1930

British

Dawlish                      

Gerald COLLINS

27/12/1935

British

Birmingham                      

Maureen COLLINS

29/08/1935

British

Accrington                      

Bruce COLLYER

03/12/1937

British

Kent                      

Katherine CONNERY

17/04/1936

Irish

Limerick                     

John CONQUEST

20/03/1915

British

Bedford                     

Roy CONSTABLE

13/04/1935

British

Kettering                     

Brian COOK

19/08/1938

British

Bridport                      

John COOKE

02/10/1937

British

Ammanford                     

David COOMBER

21/12/1938

British

Maidstone                      

Patricia COOMBES

10/11/1934

British

Yate                      

Graham COOPER

30/06/1938

Australian

Kallangur                     

John COOPER

06/11/1934

British

London                     

Molly COOPER

19/02/1938

New Zealand

Te Kuiti                     

Ronald COOPER

29/04/1930

New Zealand

Rotorua                     

Jean Marion COPELAND

09/05/1937

British

Romford                      

Carole CORNWELL

25/01/1934

British

Cambridgeshire                      

Diana COSTIN

21/11/1938

British

St Austell                     

George COWAN

24/11/1938

New Zealand

Timaru                     

Naima COWEN

09/05/1933

New Zealand

Paeroa                     

Brian COWIE

12/05/1937

British

Aberdeen                     

Jane COWLING

18/09/1938

British

Cheltenham                      

Allan COX

10/11/1938

British

Burton-on-Trent                     

Stanley CRAIG

17/08/1933

British

Caernarfon                      

John CRAWFORD

15/04/1936

New Zealand

Auckland                     

Margaret Elizabeth CRISP

21/05/1922

British

Hornsea                      

Rose CROMPTON

25/07/1939

British

Leyland                     

Terence CRUNDWELL

16/08/1938

British

Hull                      

Thomas CUNNANE

20/02/1937

British

Wakefield                      

Jona CURUVAKARUA

30/11/1936

Fidjien

Nausoh                     

Robyn Maree CUTFIELD

14/08/1934

New Zealand

Whangarei                     

Wini CUVATOKA

10/08/1938

Fidjien

Suva                     

Kathleen DADD

06/03/1927

British

Weston-Super-Mare                     

Margaret DAINES

25/11/1934

American

Alpharetta                     

David DAVENPORT

02/06/1932

British

Taunton                      

Allan DAVEY

30/05/1940

Australian

Ipswich                     

George DAVIES

20/04/1936

British

Sunderland                      

Sidney DAVIES

01/05/1933

British

Gwent                     

John DAVIS

27/07/1938

British

Selkirk                      

Edward DAWES

25/05/1935

British

Darlington                      

Joan DAY

23/05/1925

British

Cardiff                      

Paul DE ROSA

20/05/1936

British

Glasgow                     

Ralph DE ROSA

20/05/1936

British

Glasgow                      

Geoffrey DEAN

13/09/1937

British

Knaresborough                     

Esita DEBALEVU

13/04/1933

Fidjien

Nadi Airport                     

Shirley DENSON

06/04/1932

British

Morden                     

Fred DENT

26/06/1935

British

Crook                     

Freda Nellie DENT

05/12/1936

British

Brigg                      

Geoffrey DENYER

22/09/1930

Australian

Leabrook                     

Evelyn DICKINSON

08/06/1938

British

Wakefield                     

Norman DICKINSON

27/01/1938

British

Earl Shilton                     

Michael DILWORTH

21/09/1938

British

Buxton                      

Anthony DIXON

14/02/1940

British

Plymouth                      

Edith DOBSON

03/10/1938

New Zealand

Cambridge                     

Elizabeth DONNELLY

02/08/1938

British

Cheshire                      

Sheila DONNO

17/07/1917

British

Cambridge                      

Terence DORRALL

24/12/1936

British

Plymouth                      

Gordon DOWNEY

02/02/1937

British

Hastings                      

Dree Beryl DOWNIE

28/08/1916

British

Surrey                      

Kathleen DOWNING

20/11/1936

British

Atherstone                      

Alan DOWSON

10/05/1938

British

Peterborough                      

Margaret Catherine Ellen DRAKE

27/01/1934

British

King’s Lynn                     

Charles DUDLEY

21/03/1937

British

Exeter                      

Neil DUNKERLEY

29/07/1938

British

Oldham                      

Mary DYTOR

28/06/1938

British

Braunton                      

Christopher EASTGATE

29/12/1938

British

Woodford Green                      

Kevin EINON

14/09/1924

British

Abingdon                      

Helen ELKIN

07/10/1938

British

Nelson                      

Graham ELLIOTT

05/02/1946

British

Littlehampton                      

Ronald ELLIOTT

09/01/1938

British

County Durham                      

Coral ELLIS

28/10/1936

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Edna ELLIS

05/05/1926

British

Hook                      

Hilary ELLIS

04/08/1938

British

Hereford                      

Trevor ELLIS

01/09/1931

British

St. Helens                     

Terence ELLISON

28/09/1939

British

Leeds                      

Clifford EMERY

27/10/1936

British

Ayr                      

Leslie EMERY

22/11/1934

British

Solihull                      

Murray ENGEBRESTSEN

06/01/1940

New Zealand

Bullo                     

Joan ETHERINGTON

02/08/1932

British

Tuffley                      

Avril EVANS

04/09/1936

British

Ammanford                      

Michael EVANS

01/12/1935

British

Gwynedd                     

Michael EVELEIGH

12/12/1933

British

Exeter                      

William FAIR

30/01/1937

Australian

Tasmania                      

Carole FAIRS

01/05/1938

Portuguese

Algarve                     

Frank FALCONER

01/01/1954

British

Arbroath                      

Lynda FARR

20/09/1938

British

Bromsgrove                      

Derek FIDDAMAN

14/12/1936

British

Horsham                      

Rosemary FINDLAY

01/06/1937

British

Cowdenbeath                      

Brian FITZGERALD

21/06/1939

British

Branksome                      

Enid FITZSIMMONS

04/03/1927

British

Liverpool                      

Leon FLAVELL

06/05/1934

New Zealand

Dargaville                      

Reginald FLETCHER

04/11/1938

British

Blidworth                      

Thomas FOOT

14/10/1934

Australian

Sydney                      

Agnes FORBES

25/12/1936

British

Cumbernauld                      

David FORBES

19/03/1930

British

Carlisle                      

Doreen FORD

31/03/1938

British

Killingbeck                      

Raymond FORD

08/05/1938

Australian

Queensland                      

Raymond FORWARD

11/08/1938

British

Sittingbourne                      

John FRANKLIN

25/09/1935

British

Gravesend                      

David FREEMAN

21/11/1938

British

Norwich                      

Erina FREEMAN

06/08/1935

New Zealand

Blenheim                      

Dennis FURR

04/03/1939

British

Carlton                      

Temalesi GALALA

08/06/1933

Fidjien

Nadi Airport                     

David GAMBLE

11/02/1933

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Lusiana GANILAU

28/07/1919

Fidjien

Suva                     

Kenith GARDNER

03/04/1923

British

Leicestershire                      

Pauline GARNHAM

12/05/1938

British

Torquay                      

Harold GARRETT

03/10/1938

New Zealand

Tauranga                     

Jean GATWARD

14/05/1937

British

Manchester                      

Alice GAUL

18/02/1938

British

Llanelli                      

Brian GAY

22/08/1937

British

Leeds                      

Michael GAYWOOD

24/11/1936

British

Exeter                      

Christine GELLENDER-MILLS

13/02/1939

British

Warlingham                      

Peter GILBODY

13/05/1939

British

Manchester                      

John GILCHRIST

01/10/1935

British

Dundee                      

Margaret GILLESPIE

13/06/1937

British

Leeds                      

Callum GILMOUR

09/02/1939

British

Swansea                      

William GIRDWOOD

03/04/1940

British

Larkhall                      

Christine GODBEHERE

25/03/1936

British

Sheffield                      

George GOLDS

12/10/1928

New Zealand

Auckland                      

James GOLDSMITH

27/02/1934

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Mabel GOLDSMITH

29/05/1938

British

Newport                      

Gerald GOODRIDGE

31/08/1935

British

Crewe                      

Catherine GORDON

19/06/1928

British

Paisley                      

Janette GRAFTON

01/06/1937

British

Christchurch                     

Alistair GRANT

05/07/1939

British

St Albans                     

Elizabeth GRAY

09/08/1936

British

Blackpool                      

Helen GRAY

11/11/1932

British

Gourock                      

Ismail GRIFFITHS

21/03/1936

British

Cannock                      

Lindsay GRIFFITHS

21/10/1938

British

Chorley                      

Ida GRIMES

02/08/1937

New Zealand

Tauranga                      

Steven GRIMMOND

26/04/1936

British

Dundee                      

Senimelia GUGUQALI

05/01/1934

Fidjien

Nakasi                     

Patricia GUIGNET

15/04/1939

British

Liverpool                      

Peter GUY

18/06/1938

British

Crosby                      

Rosemary HABERMAN

15/01/1933

British

Hemel Hempstead                     

Isabel HALL

24/10/1933

British

Berwick-on-Tweed                     

Ivan HALL

27/07/1939

British

Wareham                      

Joy HALL

24/01/1933

British

Leicester                      

Marilyn HALL

19/06/1938

British

Leicester                      

Stephen HALL

01/04/1938

British

York                      

Peter HALLEWELL

27/06/1937

British

Tadley                      

Denzil HANCOCK

21/08/1937

British

Abertillery                      

Rex HANDCOCK

14/05/1939

New Zealand

Murchison                      

Joyce HANSEN

25/10/1929

New Zealand

Milford                     

Lianne Marie HANSON

27/11/1937

British

Manchester                      

Bernard HARGREAVES

22/06/1939

British

Thondda CynonTaff                     

Pauline HARGREAVES

20/11/1938

British

Swansea                     

David HARMAN

11/12/1936

British

Hemel Hempstead                     

David HARMS

28/06/1935

British

Bolton                      

Brian HARNOR

11/02/1938

New Zealand

Tauranga                      

Carol HARRIS

27/08/1938

British

Pontypridd                      

Malcolm HARRIS

07/11/1938

New Zealand

Masterton                      

Mary HARRIS

11/05/1932

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Miriam HARRIS

06/03/1939

British

Hertfordshire                      

Raymond HARRIS

24/09/1939

American

Edgewater                     

George HARRISON

09/10/1935

British

Preston                      

Arthur HART

08/06/1937

British

Warrington                      

Pauline HART

04/01/1939

British

Southport                      

Gordon HARVEY

20/09/1937

British

Rugby                      

Arthur HASELDEN

30/11/1936

Portuguese

Algarve                     

William HASLOCK

11/03/1937

British

Redcar                      

William HATFIELD

18/04/1935

British

Middlesbrough                      

Ahitana HAWEA

29/07/1939

New Zealand

Waipukurau                     

Colin HAWKER

10/03/1938

British

Stockport                      

David HAWLEY

21/02/1935

British

Cobham                      

Dennis HAYDEN

16/03/1944

British

Lydney                      

Christina HAYMAN

16/08/1933

New Zealand

BIuff                      

Carole Anne HAYNES

23/08/1936

British

Exeter                      

Dawn HAYNES

16/08/1935

British

Hertford                      

Alister HAYWOOD

22/06/1938

British

Isle of Man                     

Maurice HEADINGS

31/03/1929

British

London                      

Derek HEAPS

06/07/1933

British

Castle Donington                     

Douglas HERN

11/09/1936

British

Spalding                      

Ann HESS

14/06/1936

British

Skelmersdale                      

Kenneth HEWITT

14/11/1937

British

Weybridge                      

Alison HILL

27/12/1938

British

Halesowen                      

Ronald HILL

02/08/1936

British

Coventry                      

John HINDMARCH

04/04/1935

British

Hitchin                      

Mavice HINE

14/04/1919

British

London                      

John HIRD

23/07/1937

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Michael HOBSON

30/05/1935

British

Redcar                      

Geraldine HOLFORD

16/05/1937

British

Stoke-on-Trent                     

Shaun HOLLINGER

04/05/1929

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Gwyneth HOLLOWAY

28/05/1937

British

Todmorden                      

Ronald HOOPER

13/07/1937

British

Fakenham                      

David HOWARD

28/05/1929

British

Southport                      

Queenie HOWARD

19/05/1938

British

Bury St.Edmond                     

Sean HOWARD

20/11/1935

British

Bicester                      

Peter HUDDLESTONE

29/05/1941

New Zealand

Oamaru                     

Ernest HUGHES

08/03/1935

British

Bognor Regis                      

Ann HUME

04/05/1934

British

Newtownards                      

Ronald HUME

17/11/1938

British

Thornton-Cleveleys                     

Brian HUNT

14/08/1932

New Zealand

New South Wales                     

Merle INGRAM

07/02/1937

British

Nuneaton                      

Ian IRVING

24/11/1938

New Zealand

Warkworth                     

Stanley JACOBS

10/09/1931

British

Camberley                      

Allan JAGGARD

30/06/1937

British

Auckland                      

Donald JAMES

11/06/1938

British

London                      

Raymond JAMES

11/09/1933

British

Newton Abbot                     

Colin JEFFERS

23/09/1934

British

Pinner                      

Dennis JENKINS

18/04/1936

British

Pontypridd                      

Geoffrey JENKINSON

28/02/1940

British

Norwich                      

Stanley JENKINSON

12/07/1937

British

Llanfairfechan                      

Vonivate JIOJI

08/01/1934

Fidjien

Navua                     

Arlene JOHNSON

13/01/1935

British

Lincoln                      

Josephine JOHNSON

11/05/1934

British

Manchester                      

Raeburn JOHNSON

19/07/1937

British

Oxford                      

Alice JOHNSTON

24/10/1927

New Zealand

Оһоре                      

Kenneth JOHNSTONE

11/10/1937

British

Salford                      

Peter JOHNSTONE

22/05/1933

New Zealand

Gisborne                     

Malcolm JONES

07/04/1920

British

Malvern                     

Michael JONES

19/05/1938

British

Caldicot                      

Ralph JONES

16/12/1933

British

Pontypridd                     

Ani KAIKAIVONU

30/01/1938

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Kini KAMARUSI

18/01/1933

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Elesio KANASALUSALU

07/02/1926

Fidjien

Suva                     

Viniasi KARIKARITU

31/01/1933

Fidjien

Nabalili                     

James KEAVENY

17/05/1933

British

Bradford                      

Vorray KEEGAN

27/04/1935

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Vernon KEEN

28/12/1937

British

Truro                      

Rex KEEPING

10/01/1935

British

Bicester                      

Patricia KELLY

23/02/1939

British

Isle of Man                     

William KELSEY

11/12/1934

Australian

Queensland                      

Raymond KENNEDY

28/10/1937

British

Northumberland                      

Lynn KENT

28/02/1934

British

Halstead                      

June KILBY

19/10/1932

British

Slough                      

Basil KING

21/07/1935

New Zealand

Christchurch                     

Colin KING

02/05/1938

British

Norfolk                      

Raymond KING

12/08/1938

British

Rochester                      

Thomas KITCHING

11/09/1933

British

Hull                      

Monica KNOX

04/03/1939

British

Abergavenny                      

Rupeni KOCOLEVU

04/10/1934

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Eseroma KURUWALE

19/06/1934

Fidjien

Suva                      

Geoffrey LAMBIE

23/09/1940

New Zealand

Auckland                     

Terence LARKIN

10/05/1934

British

Watford                      

Marieta LASAGAVIGAU

06/04/1931

Fidjien

Suva                     

Agnes LAW

27/04/1934

British

Mold                      

Eileen LAWRENCE

26/01/1921

British

Rickmansworth                      

Thelma LAWRENCE

20/05/1927

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Andrew LAWSON

27/11/1939

British

Slough                      

David LE PREVOST

01/12/1935

New Zealand

Auckland                     

Inoke LEDUA

15/07/1940

Fidjien

Suva                      

Mereoni LEDUA

26/03/1905

Fidjien

Nabua                      

Anthony LEE

25/03/1939

British

Mildenhall                      

Joan LEE

11/12/1935

British

Manchester                      

William LENNON

07/07/1937

British

Motherwell                      

Paul LEVENE

06/05/1937

British

Edgware                      

Cagimudre LEWENILOVO

27/07/1934

Fidjien

Ba                     

Elsbeth LEWIS

03/02/1942

British

Swansea                      

Kate LEWIS

23/07/1933

New Zealand

Wellington                     

Teresa LEWIS

26/03/1937

British

Swindon                      

Jeffrey LIDDIATT

28/11/1940

British

Bristol                      

Kelera LIGAIRI

14/03/1936

Fidjien

Cakaudrove                     

Emori LIGICA

23/09/1935

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Anthony LISTER

22/05/1925

New Zealand

Auckland                     

John LOCKWOOD

19/04/1938

British

Leicestershire                     

Jeffrey LOFTHOUSE

15/06/1934

British

Todmorden                      

Catherine LOVATT

08/08/1935

British

Nottingham                      

Frederick LOVELOCK

13/02/1937

British

Letchworth Garden City                     

Douglas LOW

13/01/1938

New Zealand

Timaru                     

Gordon LOWE

02/12/1933

British

Brierley Hill                      

Leslie LUND

23/07/1935

British

Telford                      

Muriel MACCROSSEN

16/08/1928

British

Crawley                      

Mary MACKENZIE

03/12/1931

British

Portree                     

Christine MADDISON

07/08/1940

British

Oldham                      

Audrey MAILER

07/01/1939

British

Beverley                     

Robert MALCOMSON

10/11/1937

Spanish

Alicante                      

Thomas MALONE

10/01/1938

British

Dundee                      

Richard MANDLEY

18/09/1938

British

Chatteris                      

Brian MARCHANT

26/07/1938

British

Brighton                      

Alan MARKS

05/07/1938

British

Biggin Hill                     

John MARR

15/09/1938

British

Liverpool                      

Christopher MARSHALL

06/04/1937

British

St Columb                     

David MARSHALL

13/12/1936

British

Dereham                      

William MASSON JNR

06/06/1936

British

Bacup                      

Samuel MAUCHLINE

22/07/1939

Australian

Queensland                      

Linda MAUGER

19/03/1935

British

Uttoxeter                     

Dennis MCCANN

23/01/1940

British

Christchurch                     

Dorothy MCCANN

17/09/1917

New Zealand

Auckland                     

Margaret MCCANN

15/12/1937

British

Glasgow                     

Alastair MCCUE

30/04/1936

British

Galashiels                      

Malcolm MCDONNELL

06/05/1931

British

Rugby                      

Ken MCGINLEY

18/09/1938

British

Johnstone                     

Bede MCGURK

24/02/1937

British

Jarrow                      

David MCINTYRE

04/07/1939

British

Gainsborough                      

George MCKECHNIE

11/12/1936

British

Aberdeen                      

Ruth MCKENZIE

08/10/1916

New Zealand

Waiheke Island                     

Joan MCLACHLAN

21/12/1918

New Zealand

Auckland                     

Anne MCLELLAN

18/05/1936

British

Falmouth                     

Pauline MCLEOD

17/03/1936

Australian

Victoria                      

Joan MCNAMEE

10/08/1936

British

St Helens                     

Harry MELIA

13/04/1938

British

Holmesfield                      

Philipp MERCER

18/04/1938

New Zealand

Porirura                     

William MIDDLEMASS

04/08/1936

British

Lincoln                      

Derek MILLERSHIP

02/07/1939

British

Sancton                      

Susie Hokimate MILLYNN

24/07/1935

New Zealand

Kaikohe                     

Brian MONK

08/04/1938

British

Plymouth                      

Lionel MOORE

16/09/1934

British

Norwich                     

Archibald MORRIS

15/10/1937

British

Johnstone                      

Ethel MORRIS

08/03/1934

British

Southport                     

John MORRIS

17/08/1937

British

Bury                     

Francis MORRISEY

11/04/1930

British

Podsmead                     

Sheila MOULTON

03/07/1930

British

Hove                      

Reapi MUALAULAU

30/12/1922

Fidjien

Nadawa                     

Adi MUALEVU

15/04/1934

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Keith MULLEN

10/08/1941

British

Dorchester                      

Margaret MULLEN

01/12/1928

British

Manchester                     

Jessie MUNN

01/12/1933

British

Glasgow                      

Dianne MUNRO

22/02/1938

Australian

Wingham                      

Russell MUNRO

09/08/1934

British

Renfrew                      

Reginald MURRAY

15/06/1937

New Zealand

Maketu                     

Asikinasa NABUKAVOU

08/01/1930

Fidjien

Nabua                     

Milika V NADUVA

17/02/1935

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Silivakadua NAIKAWAKAWAVESI

05/05/1938

Fidjien

Tailevu                     

Epeli NAILATIKAU

21/12/1908

Fidjien

Suva                     

Vereniki NAILOLO

27/08/1915

Fidjien

Narere                      

Salacieli NAISEVU

14/09/1937

Fidjien

Tailevu                     

Margaret NAISMITH MORGAN

23/04/1939

British

Lanark                     

Raijieli NAIVIQA

27/03/1927

Fidjien

Tailevu                     

Virisila NAIVOWAI

13/08/1936

Fidjien

Tailevu                     

Bette NATHAN

08/09/1937

British

Nottingham                      

Mere NAULU

19/12/1931

Fidjien

Macuata                     

Silina NAVITI

17/04/1926

Fidjien

Suva                     

Levani NAWAQA

27/01/1936

Fidjien

Rewa                     

James NEARY

23/03/1939

British

Mearnskirk                      

Catherine NETLEY

07/03/1929

British

Troon                      

Kenneth NEWMAN

12/10/1934

British

Saltburn-by-the-Sea                     

Christopher NOONE

15/06/1938

British

Brighton                      

Virginia NORRIS

21/12/1923

British

Stoke-on-Trent                     

Virginia NORRIS

23/09/1939

British

Stoke-on-Trent                     

Maureen Francis NORTH

16/10/1936

British

Bedfordshire                     

John NUTTAL

18/09/1935

British

Bolton                     

Peter O’DONNELL

03/05/1939

Australian

East Maitland                     

Margaret ORMROD

20/01/1937

British

St. Helens                     

Duncan Raymond OSBORNE

27/07/1939

Fidjien

Taveuni                     

Ronald OWEN

26/04/1936

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Tina PAINE

15/03/1936

British

Hastings                      

Barbara PARKINSON

01/08/1935

British

Preston                      

Alec PARRY

28/02/1930

British

Ross-on-Wye                     

Roy PARRY

04/11/1930

British

Sittingbourne                      

Ian PATON

18/03/1937

British

Perth                     

David PAUL

28/01/1935

British

Swindon                      

Andrew PAYNE

03/02/1937

British

Mexborough                      

Brian PAYNE

24/01/1934

British

Spalding                      

David PEACEY

06/07/1937

British

Cheltenham                      

Ann PEACOCK

20/03/1935

American

League City                     

Ronald PEDGE

10/08/1934

British

Lincoln                      

William PENGELLY

21/04/1934

British

Okehampton                      

Morlais PHILLIPS

22/02/1936

British

Llantwit Major                     

David PICKFORD

21/07/1938

British

Torquay                      

Malcolm PIKE

02/03/1935

British

Bexhill-on-Sea                     

Edwards PITHERS

18/09/1936

British

Nottingham                      

Barry PITT

16/11/1937

British

Norfolk                      

Sheila PLANK

18/09/1933

British

Hawkhurst                      

Amy POLLARD

06/01/1930

New Zealand

Dannevirke                     

Stella PRATLEY

25/04/1932

British

Barking                      

James PRATT

24/04/1937

British

Kingswinford                      

Sheila PREECE

21/09/1937

British

Stockport                      

Janet PRICE

07/09/1929

New Zealand

Nelson                      

Barbara PRIESTLEY

05/06/1935

British

Helston                      

Margaret PRING

21/12/1934

British

Kidlington                      

Isireli QALO

20/05/1937

Fidjien

Nadi Airport                     

Kelerayani QASEVAKATINI

23/08/1924

Fidjien

Navua                     

Llisapeci QOLI

25/05/1940

Fidjien

Tacirua                     

Elden QUALILAWA

28/01/1927

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Joseph QUINN

06/01/1939

British

Sheffield                      

Siteri RANOKO

27/05/1928

Fidjien

Rewa                     

Salamieto RATULECA

18/09/1927

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Kelera RAVUSUVUSU

30/06/1934

Fidjien

Tailevu                     

Alan RAYFIELD

04/07/1938

British

Gravesend                      

Helen REDDY

31/05/1939

British

Wirral                      

Robert REDMAN

29/08/1935

British

Hebburn                      

Albert REED

12/02/1937

British

St Andrews                     

Barry REED

20/11/1936

British

Middlesbrough                      

Aeron REES

21/09/1937

British

Bridgend                      

Ann Marie REYNOLDS

27/12/1935

British

King’s Lynn                     

Colin REYNOLDS

08/02/1937

British

Bexhill-on-Sea                     

Lorraine RHIND

10/02/1937

Australian

Queensland                      

Lawrence RICHARDS

11/11/1931

British

Haywards Heath                     

Peter RICHARDSON

30/08/1938

British

Sheffield                      

Henry RIPLEY

01/10/1929

British

Burnley                      

Elisabeth RITCHIE

11/04/1940

New Zealand

North Shore City                     

Dennis ROBBINS

04/07/1937

Australian

Ridgewood                     

Anthony T ROBERTS

10/06/1928

British

Ardrossan                      

Gordon ROBERTS

26/02/1939

New Zealand

Omokoroa                      

Trevor ROBERTS

02/04/1934

British

Coatbridge                      

Henry ROBERTSON

03/03/1938

British

London                      

Frances ROBINSON

29/10/1925

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Randall ROBSON

05/05/1937

British

Houghton-Le-Spring                     

Michael ROGERSON

02/11/1936

British

Edinburgh                      

Kelera ROKOBIAU

18/10/1932

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Seruwaia ROKOLEWASAU

07/06/1931

Fidjien

Lautoka                     

George ROLTON

27/08/1932

New Zealand

Dunedin                      

Tekoti ROTAN

25/09/1934

Fidjien

Laucala Beach Estate                     

Evelyn RUGGLES

10/08/1931

British

Braintree                      

John RYDER

18/05/1938

British

Lichfield                      

Michael SAFFERY

18/02/1934

American

Stamford                     

Joan SANGER

01/11/1935

British

Doncaster                      

Ethel SARGEANT

05/07/1943

British

Oldham                      

Timoci SAUMAKI

16/06/1938

Fidjien

Lami                     

John SCANLIN

01/08/1940

Australian

Victoria                      

Catherine SCOTT

18/02/1938

British

Haddington                      

Elizabeth SCOTT

07/03/1940

British

Dunfermline                      

James SCOTT

24/08/1936

British

Edinburgh                      

Robert SCOWCROFT

19/11/1937

British

Bury St Edmunds                     

Brian SCRUNTON

24/08/1939

Australian

Queensland                     

Robert SEENEY

24/07/1938

British

Oldbury                      

Nacanieli SERU

07/05/1936

Fidjien

Lami                     

John SHARP

26/03/1934

British

Bristol                      

Denis SHAW

17/04/1937

British

Whitby                      

James SHAW

16/07/1939

British

Skelmersdale                      

Raymond SHAW

01/10/1937

British

Dinas Powys                     

Ronald SHEELEY

31/10/1934

British

Manchester                      

Martin SHERGOLD

28/01/1938

Australian

Queensland                      

Anthony SHERIDAN

07/06/1937

British

Westbury Wilts                     

Gareth SHORT

26/07/1939

British

Abertillery                      

Peniame SILATOLU

21/05/1937

Fidjien

Rewa Provincial Office                     

John SIMPSON

05/08/1935

British

Leven                      

Susan SIMPSON

11/12/1938

British

Cambridge                      

Joan SKILKY

07/10/1938

British

Widnes                      

Neil SLINGER

21/08/1939

British

Barton-On-Sea                     

Alan SMITH

26/02/1936

British

Liverpool                      

David SMITH

09/12/1936

British

Leicester                      

David SMITH

18/10/1937

British

Blackpool                      

John SMITH

28/08/1934

British

Sheffield                      

John M SMITH

06/06/1933

British

Eaglescliffe                      

Margaret SMITH

13/03/1936

British

Blackburn                      

Maurice SMITH

12/02/1938

British

Castle Douglas                     

Robert SMITH

19/03/1911

British

Wimborne                      

Robert SMITH

16/07/1938

British

Glasgow                      

Stewart SMITH

07/07/1938

British

Nottingham                      

Mereti SOBU

25/05/1929

Fidjien

Tailevu                     

Noel SORRENSON

03/07/1936

New Zealand

Te Awamutu                     

Ronald SOUTHARD

30/08/1937

British

Bath                      

Carolyn SPENCER

20/04/1938

British

Aberdeen                      

Tony SPOSITO

20/07/1936

British

Plymouth                      

Harold STEAD

25/03/1938

British

Malton                      

Meryl STEVENS

15/08/1939

British

Colne                      

Leonard STRETTON-ROSE

18/12/1933

British

Chippenham                      

Clive STRICKETT

13/04/1935

New Zealand

Pirongia                      

Brian STROUD

27/11/1938

British

Westcliff-on-Sea                     

Maciu SUGUTURAGA

20/02/1931

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Laisa SUKA

08/01/1934

Fidjien

Suva                     

Tulia TABUA

26/03/1932

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Loata TABUAKARAWA

18/12/1936

Fidjien

Naitasiri                     

Tere TAHI

07/06/1938

New Zealand

Bulls                     

Raijieli TAKAYAWA

27/12/1927

Fidjien

Tailevu                     

Cagi TALICA

25/09/1938

Fidjien

Suva                      

Samuel TAMS

21/03/1939

British

Crewe                      

Ronald TANSEY

21/07/1935

New Zealand

Northland                     

Frederick TASKER

29/05/1939

British

North Allerton                     

William TASKER

05/09/1936

British

Peterlee                      

Katherine TATE

12/03/1938

British

Northampton                      

Cagica TAWAKE

06/08/1935

Fidjien

Nausori                     

John TAYLOR

24/03/1937

British

South Shields                     

Maureen TAYLOR

16/02/1929

British

Gloucester                      

Pamela TAYLOR

01/03/1936

British

London                      

John TEMPLETON

10/09/1929

British

Plymouth                      

Paul THACKRAY

04/01/1936

British

Halifax                      

George THEAKER

04/07/1935

British

Barton-on-Sea                     

Clifford THOMAS

12/10/1937

Australian

Queensland                     

William THOMAS

30/04/1938

British

Hereford                      

Florence THOMPSON

29/03/1939

British

Paignton                      

James THOMPSON

03/05/1939

British

Stocksfield                      

Karen THOMPSON

02/01/1939

British

Stockton-on-Tees                     

Barry THORNTON

09/08/1934

British

Thornton-Cleveleys                     

Miriama TIKOENALIWALAIA

27/09/1936

Fidjien

Suva                     

Alena TINAI

31/03/1928

Fidjien

Savusavu                     

Anasaini TINAIRUVE

31/07/1932

Fidjien

Nasinu                     

Doris TITMUS

08/05/1925

British

Emsworth                      

Joeli TOKABOBO

02/04/1931

Fidjien

Nausori                     

Gillian TOMPKINS

17/09/1929

British

Melksham                      

Michael TOOMATH

29/06/1938

British

Ohaupo                      

Brian TORODE

16/10/1937

British

Colchester                      

Glenys TRIANA

07/03/1934

New Zealand

Rotorua                     

Raymond TRING

27/11/1935

British

High Barnet                     

Apisalome TUILAWAKI

27/05/1928

Fidjien

Suva                     

Benedito TUIMALABE

08/05/1938

Fidjien

Suva                     

George TUMMEY

10/06/1937

British

Kidderminster                      

Patrick TUNNICLIFF

10/02/1929

British

Nelson                      

Sandra TUNNICLIFFE-JENNER

06/11/1934

British

Plymouth                      

Wame TURAGA

22/11/1935

Fidjien

Suva                     

Dereck TURVEY

28/08/1928

New Zealand

Palmerston North                     

Barry UNDERDOWN

15/02/1938

British

London                      

Katarina VAKATALE

24/09/1938

Fidjien

Suva                      

Jone VARIVAL

Fidjien

Lami                     

Jone VARIVAL

27/12/1935

Fidjien

Lami                      

Terence VAUGHAN

21/08/1938

British

Leeds                      

William VAUGHAN

21/06/1938

British

Merseyside                      

Angela VESSEY

14/02/1939

British

London                      

Howard VINCENT

29/01/1939

British

Leicester                      

Brian VOSPER

30/10/1938

British

Dunoon                      

Josefa VUETI

06/08/1938

Fidjien

Nausori                      

Kinisimere VULAVOU

20/06/1939

Fidjien

Nabua                     

Jone VUNIVALU

23/10/1922

Fidjien

Nausori                     

John WADE

06/12/1938

American

Bradenton                     

Keith WADSWORTH

29/07/1937

British

Tadcaster                      

Sylvia WAIGH

08/04/1922

British

Ambleside                      

Nathaniel WAKEFIELD

02/05/1937

British

Pontefract                      

Pauline WALKER

13/04/1939

British

Eston                      

Robert WALLACE

27/09/1930

British

Auckland                      

Harold WALMSLEY

17/06/1938

British

Holywell                      

Norman WALSH

28/03/1928

New Zealand

Ashburton                     

Usaia WAQATAIREWA

27/08/1938

Fidjien

Suva                     

Thomas WARD

11/05/1929

New Zealand

Auckland                      

Jennifer WARE

21/08/1938

British

Okehampton                     

Maria WARNER

09/02/1936

New Zealand

Waitakere                     

Terence WASHINGTON

04/12/1934

British

Macclesfield                      

John WATERS

26/09/1935

British

Swansea                      

Paul WATKIN

12/01/1940

British

Plymouth                      

David WATKINS

14/12/1938

British

Merthyr Tydfil                     

Peter WATSON

17/04/1940

Australian

Hillarys                      

John WATT

28/03/1936

British

North Shore City                     

Michael WATTS

15/08/1939

Turkish

Antalya                     

Arthur WEBB

13/06/1934

British

Winsford                      

June WELSH

06/01/1929

British

Stirling                      

Harry WEST

05/09/1931

Canadian

Surrey                     

Leonard WHISKER

09/11/1940

British

London                      

Lily Ann WHITE

31/05/1931

British

Alton                      

Roy WHITE

12/01/1938

British

Spalding                      

Raymond WHITEHEAD

08/05/1939

Canadian

Ontario                      

Joan WHITTAKER

09/12/1936

British

Edinburgh                      

John WHITTON

04/07/1937

Australian

Walleroo                      

Patrick WICKER

13/03/1938

British

Chatham                      

Rita WIGG

26/08/1936

British

Luton                     

James WIGHTMAN

05/09/1937

British

Newcastle upon Tyne                     

Leslie WILKINS

01/02/1938

British

Watchet                      

Ronald WILKINS

09/02/1938

British

Longlevens                      

Shirley WILKINSON

24/06/1932

British

North Shields                     

Avis WILLARD

02/02/1938

British

St. Leonards-on-Sea                     

Brian WILLIAMS

13/09/1936

British

Cardiff                      

Malcolm WILLIAMS

02/06/1938

British

Newport                      

Peter WILLIAMS

09/12/1939

British

Lincoln                      

Raymond WILLIAMS

11/07/1939

Australian

Mandurah                      

Ernest WILLIAMSON

14/11/1937

British

Kilmarnock                      

Hazel WILLIAMSON

25/04/1937

British

Stoke-on-Trent                      

Janet WILLIS

16/04/1924

British

Liverpool                      

Elizabeth WILSON

19/10/1933

British

Heckmondwike                      

Gail WILSON

27/02/1935

British

Scarborough                      

James WILSON

29/12/1935

British

Telford                      

Thomas WILSON

10/08/1932

British

Newcastle upon Tyne                     

Thomas WILSON

21/06/1935

British

Nottingham                      

David WOOD

11/12/1937

British

London                      

Frances WOOD

17/06/1931

British

Swindon                      

Sandra WOOD

15/06/1932

New Zealand

Auckland                     

Jack WOODGER

18/04/1935

British

Swindon                      

Peter WOODHAM

26/03/1928

British

Eastbourne                      

Patricia WOODMAN

23/05/1938

British

Gosport                      

Margaret WOODWARD

04/05/1936

British

Jarrow                      

John WOOLDRIDGE

16/05/1939

British

Fareham                      

Christopher WORSWICK

21/05/1935

British

Runcorn                      

David WRIGHT

13/10/1939

British

Bournemouth                      

James WRIGHT

21/01/1939

British

Victoria                      

Roy WRIGHT

14/07/1931

British

Cambridge                      

Ropate YAGOMATE

21/07/1939

Fidjien

Lautoka                     

Laurence YEO

30/12/1938

British

Crewe                      

George YOUNG

31/12/1937

British

Newcastle upon Tyne                     

George YOUNG

14/12/1938

New Zealand

Helensville                      

Mark ZEALEY

10/05/1930

British

Canterbury

 

Full & Egal Universal Law Academy