Author
Martyn Hobrough (son-in-law)
Branch
Army
Personal Stories
Patrick Leslie Burgin, known as Pat, was born in London on 28 November 1919 to the Rt Hon Dr Leslie Burgin PC MP and his wife Dorothy.
Pat was at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge at the outbreak of war. He was commissioned into The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment and later transferred to The Northamptonshire Regiment.
Pat was posted to India to the Military Intelligence School, which at that time was in Karachi, and became an instructor.
He deployed within Burma several times on attachment to Force 136 and, from August 1944 until February 1945, as OC 'E' Group operating in enemy territory. He obtained “a considerable amount of valuable intelligence” (The National Archives reference WO 373/100/135) resulting in air strikes and naval bombardments on key targets. Major Burgin was Mentioned in Despatches for his actions in Burma.
After the war he married Elizabeth Uren and they had two daughters and a son. Pat joined the law firm, Denton Hall Burgin & Warrens (now Dentons), later becoming Senior Partner - the fifth generation of his family to hold the position. He was awarded the Chevalier Legion d’Honneur (France) and the Knight of the Dannebrog (Denmark) for his distinguished contribution as a lawyer to the governments of both those countries.
Pat greatly valued his membership of the Burma Star Association and was honoured to provide pro bono legal services to the Association and to several of its members.