The Prisoner of War Collection from The First World War

The new records also show in certain cases what happens to a soldier whilst in captivity in our Prisoner of War records. Here we see Sergeant-Major Turner of the Sherwood Foresters Regiment. The records show him captured in June 1915, then arriving in Holland for internment in March 1918 and finally repatriated and arriving back in England in November 1918.

Initially unprepared for taking large numbers of prisoners, from early 1915, the German authorities put in place a system of prisoner of war camps, in total there were just under 300. The camps included Holzminden, Stendal, Spandau and Soltau which was said to accommodate 30,000 prisoners. The officers were generally kept in camps that were less crowded and conditions were slightly better than the lower ranks. The average officers camp housed about 500 to 600 men, the ordinary soldiers camp (or Mannschaftslager) could house between 12,000 to 50,000 men, often in dreadful conditions.

Holzminden Prisoner of War Camp, near Hannover, accommodated the most ‘troublesome’ officers, those who had repeatedly tried to escape. Conditions were harsh and it was run by a brutal commandant.

The Holzminden camp saw the first ‘great escape’ of the war. In July 1918, 29 officers, including the most senior British officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles E H Rathbone, escaped through a tunnel and 10 evaded capture to get to the neutral Netherlands and freedom. The escape tunnel collapsed on the 30th escapee otherwise more men would have escaped.

There were a number of notable prisoners at Holzminden Camp including Lieutenant Brian Horrocks who tried to escape Holzminden a number of times and was awarded a Military Cross for his efforts. He later became a famous senior officer in World War 2 as a close colleague of General Montgomery.

Below you can see Lieutenant Horrocks in the Prisoner of War lists on TheGenealogist, showing his repatriation. Another famous inmate at the camp was future Hollywood film director James Whale, a Second Lieutenant in the Worcestershire Regiment. He went on to direct the film ‘Frankenstein.’

Holzminden Camp held a number of high profile Allied servicemen. Conditions were harsh as it was used for the most troublesome prisoners who made regular escape attempts. Prisoners listed on TheGenealogist records include Michael Claude Hamilton-Bowes-Lyon (brother of the future Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother) and William Leefe Robinson (who shot the first German airship down over London and was kept in solitary confinement for repeated escape attempts).

The unusual escape from Yozgad POW camp in Turkey- how 2 allied servicemen ‘faked’ their way to freedom

The new records on TheGenealogist also reveal the details of two Allied Officers who went to extraordinary lengths to try to win their freedom.

Lieutenant Elias Henry Jones (Indian Vol. Artillery Battery) was taken prisoner at Kut-el-Amara- force marched 700 miles to a camp at Yozgad. He was the grandfather of television producer Hilary Bevan Jones (worked on Blackadder, Cracker, Red Dwarf and Chairman of BAFTA). Lieutenant Cedric Waters Hill of The Royal Flying Corps was an Australian air force officer serving in the RFC.

Here we find Lieutenant Jones in the Prisoner of War records on TheGenealogist:

And here is the prisoner record of Lieutenant Cedric Waters Hill, within the Casualty Lists on TheGenealogist:

Bored in captivity they fooled around with a homemade Ouija board and hatched a plan to use it to more productive means. Playing on the naivety of their captors and the greed of the commandant they weaved an elaborate plot to plan an escape. Acting as mediums for the Ouija board, they attempted to convince their captors that they could reveal the whereabouts of buried treasure on the Mediterranean coast, once there, they planned to abscond to Cyprus. The original plan failed but the pair faked insanity to gain repatriation on medical grounds. They succeeded (although a fake suicide attempt by Elias Jones nearly cost him his life) and they were approved for a prisoner exchange and arrived in Britain a couple of months before the end of the war.

Another well known escapee from Yozgad camp was Captain Clarke of the Royal West Kent Regiment. Captain Clarke along with 8 other British officers escaped from the camp and then crossed 450 miles of hostile terrain to eventually steal a boat and sail to Cyprus. Here we find the record of Captain Clarke on TheGenealogist.