Returned a first class passenger

Gerolamo Filippo Manzocchi was born in Morbegno (Sondrio) Italy on the 18th April 1904.  At the time of his arrest on the 11th June 1940 he was living at The Tuscan Hotel, Shaftsbury Avenue, London.

Dr Manzocchi had qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Milan in 1928. He arrived in London and was registered on the 17th October 1930 and appeared in The Medical Register for 1931, Foreigners List working at the Italian Hospital. In 1938, he married Amalia Adele Togna.

Upon arrival in Melbourne, Australia on the 3rd September 1940, he and Dr Zezi accompanied German and Italian internees in poor health to the Broadmeadows Military Hospital. The Italian group would transfer to Tatura Camp 2B on the 20th September 1940.

Dr Manzocchi was remembered as a doctor of considerable ability who together with Dr Zezi treated internees on the Dunera and ran the camp medical clinics.  Nicola Cua recalled that Dr Manzocchi from Shepherd Market gave lessons in Spanish, he played football and taught first aid. In November 1943, Dr Manzocchi offered his services to the Commonwealth Government in any medical capacity though stated he had a preference for the field of chest diseases.

On the 7th September 1944, Dr Manzocchi was released to Melbourne and it was noted that he had sufficient means to support himself.  Mr Vaccari, the liaison officer for Italians in Melbourne was on hand to support him to find residential accommodation and employment. Dr Manzocchi became resident medical officer in a sanitorium in the vicinity of Melbourne.

Dr Manzocchi departed Australia on the SS Nestor in April 1945 as a first-class passenger. He disembarked in Liverpool, England on the 18th May 1945 and his documents recorded that he ‘landed unconditionally as a returning resident’.

At the time of his sudden death on the 2nd February 1961, he was living with his wife and son at 4 Sloane Court, East London. Dr Manzocchi was remembered by the medical community as a charming, generous, compassionate and excellent physician with an alert and well-formed intellect. He operated his practice and an outpatients’ clinic at the Italian Hospital until the time of his death. His failing health did not stop him working nor his zest for life.

A family man, a medical man and a man for all seasons, he was a keen gourmand, a racing enthusiast who had raced at Monza in the twenties, and he was also bi-lingual in Italian and English and spoke fluent French and Spanish.