A man with a highly adventurous career as a soldier, traveller and sportsman whose life story reads like an episode from Boy’s Own Paper died quietly and almost forgotten in Bourne over 30 years ago.

Clarence Edward Brett Binns was born at the gatehouse of Grimsthorpe Castle, Grimsthorpe, near Bourne, on 16th November 1897, son of Edward Richard Binns who was estate agent to the first and second earls of Ancaster, working with them for a total of sixty years.

Clarence was educated at Charterhouse, one of Britain’s most exclusive public schools based at Godalming, Surrey, and after volunteering for military service during the Great War of 1914-18, he was commissioned in 1915 as a second lieutenant in the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, attaining the rank of lieutenant and fighting at Passchendale in Flanders between July and November 1917 which was among the bloodiest battles of the war.

He subsequently transferred to the newly-formed Royal Flying Corps as a lieutenant, working as an observer, and during 500 hours of flying time he crashed three times but escaped serious injury on the first two occasions although he suffered head injuries and was hospitalised in London for several months after the last of these disasters which effectively ended his flying career. At the war’s end, he was appointed a member of the special commission convened to find the bodies of personnel from the RFC killed in action.

Returning to civilian life, he went to the Middle East as an executive of the Persian Oil Company (now the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company), surviving a serious attack of typhoid and amoebic dysentery which rendered him unconscious in hospital for several months before moving to Malaya as a rubber planter for fifteen years and becoming one of the pioneers in the production of palm oil. In 1936, he moved to take over a 7,000 acre plantation in the Northern Shan State of Burma where he employed 1,000 workers on the production of tung oil, used in dyes, stains and wood varnish, and it was here, at Maymyo, a colonial hill station, that he married his wife Phyllis who had made the journey from England to Burma by boat to join him.

The Second World War started in 1939 and when the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942, the couple lost their livelihood and all of their belongings, their home subsequently requisitioned by the Japanese military and the family silver hidden in a well where it remains to this day. Mrs Binns and her baby daughter managed to escape by plane to India but her husband remained behind, valiantly trying to get a tanker loaded with oil to Britain where it was much needed but he was eventually forced to blow it up to prevent the valuable consignment falling into Japanese hands. He then set his sights on India, trekking to safety through the Naga Hills and eventually arriving in a poor physical condition weighing only seven stones, having contracted malaria en route and surviving on very little food, and for three months his wife did not know whether he was dead or alive. For his work with the part time military forces while in Malaya, Mr Binns was subsequently awarded the Territorial Decoration.

He remained in India for the rest of the war, returning to duty with the Royal Air Force as a flight lieutenant working for central photographic intelligence, helping drop agents behind Japanese lines but when the war ended in 1945, he returned home to Grimsthorpe to join his wife and their two daughters, Diana, who had been born in Burma and Cynthia in India.

He went into partnership with Lord Ancaster and formed the Grimsthorpe Nurseries, running them successfully until he retired in 1963 and the following year, he and his wife moved to No 23 North Road, Bourne. He also served for a spell on the Income Tax Commission which sat at Corby Glen, as a member of Edenham Parish Council and as a manager of the village primary school. During his earlier years, he was also an enthusiastic sportsman, playing tennis and cricket with great ability and golf, at which his handicap was six.

Mr Binns died at his home in North Road on Sunday 16th February 1975 after several months of failing health, aged 77. The funeral was held at Edenham parish church the following Wednesday, conducted by the vicar, the Rev Geoffrey Roberts. He was survived by his wife and daughters. Floral tributes were from family members only but other mourners and sympathisers were asked to send a donation to the Royal British Legion of which Mr Binns was a founder member. He is buried in the churchyard at Edenham with his wife, Phyllis Mary Binns, who died in 1995.