Thomas Joseph BIBBY (1865 – 1945)

Biography

From “The Bibby Family in New Zealand” –

Farmed in Pettits Valley. In 1910 he leased his share of the farm to his brother Jack and went to Japan, where he lived, returning to New Zealand in 1919 for three years. In 1922 he returned to Japan where he was involved with Japanese social work and received recognition for this. Thomas had a cryptic manner of speech and was fond of quoting Kipling.

Information from David Medlen 2025 –
I was looking at 1945 burials in the Yokohama Foreigner Cemetery and found T. Bibby…The entry notes he died in an internment camp. I confirmed this from some Red Cross / Japanese records.
Documents relating to internees number 29 – Obtainment of passport by Thomas Joseph Vivi, New Zealander who died in Nanasawa.
Ignore the “Vivi” spelling of “Bibby” that results from a vagary of translation. The document is in French and Japanese but page 4 does confirm the full name and date of death.  The date of death does give one clue what happened. It was the date of a massive fire bombing raid that killed a number of allied prisoners and internees and obviously Japanese.