My maternal grandparents lived and worked in what was then British North Borneo (now Sabah, a state in Malaysia) from 1919 to 1951, apart from home leave periods, and three and a half years spent in various internment camps in Borneo under the cruel keep of the Japanese during World War 2. My mother and her brother were born there in the early 30s, and I have been researching colonial life in British Borneo for quite a few years now. (One day I hope to publish a book about it. One day …)

The carpentry box belonging to H Dipper of Labuan, British North Borneo.

I watch Antiques Road Trip every now and then, and in a recently-aired episode I was interested to see a large wooden chest filled with carpenter’s tools. The name of the owner, H Dipper, was clearly written on the side; the first part of his address was a little less clear but I could just make out ‘LABUAN’ and below it ‘B. NORTH BORNEO’ (for British North Borneo); to the right of this was other script that had been rubbed out and so was pretty much illegible, though I could make out ‘BORNEO’ again. British North Borneo (first ruled by a Chartered Company and then post-war as a Crown Colony) ceased to be on 16 September 1963 with the formation of the independent Federation of Malaysia, after which time it was (and still is) known as Sabah. So that gives me a terminus ante quem for the date of this box and H Dipper’s sojourn on Labuan, a small island (and now a Federal Territory of Malaysia) off the south-west coast of Sabah.

I am curious to find out more about H Dipper and his life on Labuan. Were his tools part of his work? Maybe he worked for the PWD (Public Works Department)? Or was woodworking his hobby? Maybe the tools were added later and are nothing to do with the life of the box in Borneo. If anyone knows anything about H Dipper (I’m pretty confident in assuming he is a he) I would love to hear from you. You can leave a message in the comments field below.

The box was bought by Charles Hanson in Williton in Somerset for £55 and sold at an auction held by Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset for an impressive £220. The programme (Series 5, Episode 6) was first broadcast in October 2012, and I think was probably filmed in the spring of that year.

A little postscript: I do know at least that H Dipper was not one of the civilian internees held at Batu Lintang camp outside Kuching in Sarawak, Borneo, the camp where most of the civilians from British Borneo were held by the Japanese during WW2.