Margaret Dryburgh

Margaret Dryburgh (24 February 1890 – 21 April 1945) was an English-born teacher who spent most of her life as a missionary teaching in Singapore. During her wartime internment by the Japanese Army, she wrote "The Captives' Hymn", and worked with classically trained musician Norah Chambers to co-found the Women's Vocal Orchestra of Sumatra.

Early life Margaret Dryburgh was born in Nelson Street, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, an industrial city in the north of England in 1890. She was the eldest child of Reverend William Dryburgh, minister of St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, and his wife, Elizabeth Webster. The family moved to Swalwell, near Gateshead, when Dryburgh was a baby, where her father worked as minister at Swalwell Presbyterian Church from 1895. When he retired in 1906, the family returned to Sunderland, where their local church was St George's in Stockton Road.

Dryburgh trained as a teacher at King's College, Newcastle, later achieving a BA degree from Durham University with distinction in Latin and Education. She joined the staff of Ryhope Grammar School in 1911, where she taught history, French and Latin for the next six years. She left teaching, however, to become a Presbyterian missionary in 1917, qualifying as a nursing sister to extend her skills.

Second World War

The outbreak of the Second World War put an end to her missionary work. When Singapore fell in 1942, Dryburgh tried to escape from the advancing Japanese forces by ship, but was captured with other missionaries.

Within days of arriving at the camp, Dryburgh started arranging church services for her fellow inmates, as well as a Glee Club, hymn singing, writing classes and poetry sessions. She also ran a short story club for the prisoners and produced a monthly camp magazine which included articles on cookery, a children's section and a crossword puzzle. After joining forces with fellow musician, Norah Chambers, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, the pair formed a camp choir, the Women's Vocal Orchestra of Sumatra. Dryburgh wrote down pages of music from memory, from baroque to contemporary, for the vocal orchestra to perform, as well as pieces of her own light classical compositions. Even the Japanese soldiers were said to be amazed at what they heard, inviting themselves to the concerts.

The concerts continued throughout 1944 and into 1945. A documentary about camp life, Song of Survival, was shown on Channel 4. The film Paradise Road, made in 1996, told the story of life at the camp, with the role of Dryburgh played by Pauline Collins. The Captives' Hymn was used in the film during a burial scene. Dryburgh's name was changed to Margaret Drummond in the film.