Edward Perry

Edward Perry was born in the predominantly Chinese part of Limehouse on 23 April 1904. He trained as a metallurgist and in later life worked at the Royal Mint. In 1920 he joined the army. His regiment was rushed to India following the mutiny of the Con aught Rangers who had come to believe that atrocities were being committed in Ireland by the British government. He spent the next 7 years in India and the Afghan border regions, developing an instant love for Kashmir. In World War II he was among the last British soldiers to be evacuated from France. His company walked to Dieppe past advancing German motorized units who assumed they were POWs as heading deeper into the German lines. Dieppe had not been captured as the Germans were advancing on Dunkirk, and the soldiers were able to board a coal barge back to Great Britain, but had to abandon all their equipment due to the numbers of soldiers boarding. His regiment served in North Africa and at the Battle of El Alamein. Then were part of the Italian Campaign. At the end of the war Edward was part of the liberation forces of a concentration camp. He met John Wayne while Wayne was filming Brannigan (1975) in London. Wayne always the gentlemen spent time talking and drinking with him at a pub in Wapping. Edward Perry was one of the extras in the pub scene in the film. Edward Perry married Elizabeth Healy in 1931 of the Healy family of Cork who included Governor General Tim Healy whose ancestors had played a major part of Irish politics back to the Irish Revolution an Confederate Wars. The eldest of his 7 children is Edward Michael Perry who is an artist and engineer who also worked and acted in films., and artist Mickey Perry .His grandchildren include actor-director, writer,composer,cinematographer Steve Armourae, his sister Bernadtte Perry, composers Robert and Brendan Perry and stage actress Dawn Perry.