Second Lieutenant Bryan Desmond Uprichard Kane (235313) served with 104th (Essex Yeomanry) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery during World War Two. Born in 1915 and known as "Mick", he was the son of Captain Richard Rutledge Kane MC.
Kane’s father Captain was the 4th Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1921 to 1929. His mother was Ethel Emma Kane (née Thurston). From 1925-1932, Kane received his education at Sydney Church of England Grammar School, Sydney, Australia. He returned to the United Kingdom by the mid-1930s and married Rita Jones in Chelmsford, Essex in 1939 while serving in the Territorial Army. He was a keen sportsman playing rugby for Chelmsford’s ‘A’ team before the outbreak of the Second World War.
When Britain declared war on Germany, “Mick” Kane’s unit moblised and he found himself bound for the Middle East. Kane died of an illness at 9th General Hospital, Cairo, Egypt on 7th March 1942 aged 27 years old.
WartimeNI Photo: Memorial to Second Lieutenant Bryan Desmond Uprichard Kane who died of an illness while serving in Cairo, Egypt. Photo taken on tour of Belfast City Cemetery with Peter McCabe in Spring 2017. Copyright Scott Edgar - WartimeNI.
His name features on his grandfather Reverend Dr. Richard Rutledge Kane’s headstone alongside that of Denis Dermot Kane. The headstone, dedicated by the Orangemen of Belfast describes Richard Rutledge Kane as a “faithful pastor, gifted orator, and loyal Irish patriot”. He had been County Grand Master of Belfast for 13 years.
Bryan Desmond Uprichard Kane’s grave is in Section 1, Row B, Grave 26 of Heliopolis War Cemetery, Egypt. A memorial to Corporal Kane can also be found on the Kane family headstone in Belfast City Cemetery, Belfast, Co. Antrim.