Samuel George Herbert Mason

Samuel George Herbert Mason MC was born on 7 April 1891 in Moseley, Birmingham to Samuel George Mason a brass-founder and Amy Mason (nee Collins). He was known professionally as Herbert Mason throughout his theatrical and film career.
He worked in the family business before deciding to begin a career on stage. However, his career came to a pause when the First World War broke out.
He was awarded the Military Cross for his courage in the Battle of Guillemont in September 1916. Prior to the battle he painted a self-portrait with oil paints left behind by a French officer whose dugout he moved into.
When the war ended, Mason resumed his career in theatre and became a stage manager in the 1920s. In the 1930s he moved into film making and after the Second World War film production. He and his wife Daisy Fisher, a novelist wrote several plays together. They were married for nearly 46 years.
Samuel George Herbert Mason died on 20 May 1960 in London, aged 69.
Even over 60 years after his death, he remains fondly remembered by his daughter-in-law and grandchildren and admired by his great-grandchildren. He is described as “a larger than life character” by his daughter-in-law.
Thanks to John Gumley Mason for sending this painting and description of his great grandfather Samuel George Herbert Mason.
Remembering Joseph (John Jonas) Phillips

Joseph was born 7 April 1904 in Liverpool to Max Phillips & Cecilia Benjamin but in later life he was known as John Jonas.
On 29 June 1927 he was shown as a deck boy on his first foreign going ship. The 1939 Register shows him as a Marine Fireman on the SS Badgestea.
Stoker John Jonas Phillips (service no. LT/KX105223) of the Royal Navy Patrol Service died aboard HM Trawler Burra on 20 March 1942, aged 37. He is commemorated at Port Said War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt.
Headstone Inscription – ‘MY DEAR BROTHER JOHN. HIS NAME IS WRITTEN IN LETTERS OF LOVE IN HEARTS AT HOME’
See his entry at Commonwealth War Graves Commission
His details can also be found at the website Remembering the Jews of WW2. My thanks to Cathie Hewitt for the photo and the military information.