Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Captain Edgar Stephen Tanner, (Service Nos:V10208/V39825/VX67798) initially served in the Militia (Sergeant; 46th Battalion) from 1925 - appointed Captain in 1929 - before enlisting in the ACMF on 1 August 1940. Captain Tanner served with the Australian Intelligence Corps, transferring to the AIF on 10 December 1941. Posted to Gull Force, Captain Tanner embarked from Darwin for Ambon on board the Sparrow on 10 January 1942, and was Reported Missing on 2 February 1942 - confirmed as a PoW of the Japanese on 18 May 1942. Captain Tanner was imprisoned in Ambon and on the Chinese island of Hainan, where he organised sports events for fellow prisoners. Recovered from the Japanese in September 1945, Captain Tanner embarked from Hong Kong for Sydney via Manila on board HMS Vindex on 3 October 1945. Transferred to 115 (Heidelberg) Australian Military Hospital, Captain Tanner was attached to Australian Intelligence Corps on Termination of his Appointment on 3 January 1946.

Sir Edgar Stephen Tanner was born in Albany, Western Australia in 1904, eldest of four children of Edgar Tanner (b1874 in Lara via Geelong, Victoria) and Emily Prosser (b1882 at Port Augusta, South Australia). Edgar Snr (a Striker with the WA Government Railways) and Emily married in 1901 in Albany, where they lived and Edgar Snr worked as a Striker and Labourer. The family moved to Beverley and then Gin Gin, where Edgar was a Publican, and in 1914 moved Casterton, Victoria -  Edgar Snr was Licensed Victualler of the Casterton Hotel when he died in 1919.

Edgar attended All Saints Grammar School in Melbourne before completing studies at the University of Melbourne, where he won a blue for boxing (fighting in 150 featherweight bouts). Edgar worked as Advertising Manager for the Herald and Weekly Times in Melbourne, and in 1938 he married Edna May Ponsonby (b1909 in Launceston, Tasmania) - Edna was a student in Melbourne. Edgar and Edna settled in Melbourne where they raised their family, and during the 1930s Edgar worked for the Herald and Weekly Times, served in the Militia and was appointed Secretary of the Victorian Amateur Boxing and Wrestling Association and managed Australia's boxing team at the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney. Following his Discharge from the Army in 1946, Edgar resumed employment with the Herald and Weekly Times, was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Victorian Olympic Council (VOC) and in 1948 was General Manager of the Australian Olympic Team at the London Olympics. Edgar served as Secretary General of the Australian Olypic Federation from 1947 to 1974, and was President from 1974 to 1977. He also served as Chairman of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association. Edgar was a Life Member of the Australian Olympics Committee and the Commonwealth Games Australia. Edgar was a Member of the Victorian Parliament between 1955 and 1976, and was Chairman of several committees and Deputy Speaker in 1970/1973. In 1952 he was awarded an Efficiency Decoration (ED) for officers in the ACMF, in 1957 he was made Commander (Civil) of the Order of the British Empire and in 1968 Knight Bachelor. Edgar died in 1979 and Edna in 2004.