wyndham Posted 2 October , 2008 Share Posted 2 October , 2008 I am interested in how this camp functioned. (There are several brief references on this site.). It appears to have been established to cater for those POW's arriving at the port of Hull. Presumably special trains ran from the docks to Ripon and motorised transport from the station to the camp. What is know of the procedures that were undertaken here before the POW's were allowed home? Also when did the role as a clearing house for POW's cease? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-ted Posted 3 October , 2008 Share Posted 3 October , 2008 Wyndham, hope the experts catch this soon as I would also like to know more on POW dispersal. In particular; how many disperal camps, there loction, and how the POW's were procesed? I wait with you for responses. Regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 3 October , 2008 Share Posted 3 October , 2008 I don't have any information for you, but I have read reports form my local paper regarding the trains going through to Ripon carrying the POW's - very moving stuff (complete with one or two photos from memory). Unfortunately I don't have the reports amongst my info (not that that's what you were asking for anyway ). From memory they came through very quickly after the armistice, in fact I was surprised at how quickly they were repatriated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-ted Posted 3 October , 2008 Share Posted 3 October , 2008 The POW I'm researching was released on 2nd December 1918. He travelled to Scotland via Cologne and managed to get himself back to Le Cateau and get married to his French sweetheart on 12th February 1919. And, he was not de-mobbed until later in 1919. Regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drover Posted 3 October , 2008 Share Posted 3 October , 2008 Hi John. Which POW camp was your man in? There was a steady stream of repatriated POW shipped from Danzig to Leith (the port for Edinburgh). Others came home through Calais. In Robert Jackson's "The Prisoners 1914-18" he records the experiences of a Captain Sterndale Bennett who landed at Leith on Christmas morning before being moved later that day to Scarborough "where in one of the fine hotels we were entertained to a magnificent Christmas dinner. In the morning we were medically inspected and given three documents, an open cheque for £2, a chit for two months' leave, and a facsimile letter from the king". Regards Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old-ted Posted 3 October , 2008 Share Posted 3 October , 2008 Hi Drover, He was a bit unusual as he was held in Kassel, not a standard POW camp. Still hoping for answers to the thread sarters original question. Regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDP1955 Posted 27 December , 2008 Share Posted 27 December , 2008 Curious about this camp .... One of me men I'm researching was demobbed through this camp, but he was not a prisoner of war What was the criteria, for passing through Ripon? Has anyone contacted the Borthwicke (York Uni), to see if they have any records or info? Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyndham Posted 27 December , 2008 Author Share Posted 27 December , 2008 I have had a look at the Borthwick, York University site and there does not appear any reference to WW1 or Ripon in particular. Also if there was, you are looking at a minimum fee of £15 for the first half hour. Some time ago I looked at various sites that applied to the Ripon area including the local historical society and that produced a negative return. Anyway I am still hopeful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDP1955 Posted 27 December , 2008 Share Posted 27 December , 2008 I have had a look at the Borthwick, York University site and there does not appear any reference to WW1 or Ripon in particular. Also if there was, you are looking at a minimum fee of £15 for the first half hour. Some time ago I looked at various sites that applied to the Ripon area including the local historical society and that produced a negative return. Anyway I am still hopeful. Hmmmmmm, I'm a member of York Family History Society, I'll see if anybody there can help me access records for Ripon My great-uncle was demobbed there, but he came from York, and was in the West Riding Regiment York isnt that far from Ripon, I dont know if that had anything to do with it Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pighills Posted 28 December , 2008 Share Posted 28 December , 2008 Always worth trying Northallerton where the county records are kept too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyndham Posted 28 December , 2008 Author Share Posted 28 December , 2008 1. Dianne Thank you for your offer to help. I hope you are luckier than me! 2. Kim I have had a look at the YCC records site but unfortunately it didn't provide any clues whatsoever. The amazing thing about my search request is that Ripon was quite a large camp during WW1 and nothing has come to light so far about it's role in the reception of returning POW's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 28 December , 2008 Share Posted 28 December , 2008 My Grandfather returned as a PoW through Ripon, at least that is where his railway warrant was issued. The Warrant is stamped "PoW reception camp, Ripon". He was repatriated on the 17th December 1918 and the Warrant is dated the 20th December; so I guess he was there about three days. He was given 2 months leave but on the 31st January 1919 he returned a slip stating that he was leaving the service at the end of his 2 months leave as he had been offered employment (with the company he was with when war broke out), all in accordance with Para 3 sub para 3 (iv), whatever that is. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDP1955 Posted 28 December , 2008 Share Posted 28 December , 2008 Hi Guys Realistically, I dont think the Army or any of the other services would allow records of service personnel or service installations to get into the hands of local records offices. They would want to have control over the records and therefore if any records were ever or are ever released it is likely to be through TNA. Personally I am only interested in the camp because my great uncle was demobbed through it, although most men demobbed there seem to be POW, whereas my great uncle had a terrible war but was not a POW I grew up 6 miles from Ripon and know nothing about Ripon Camp. I presume it was closed long ago ... Dianne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripon dave Posted 22 November , 2011 Share Posted 22 November , 2011 Don't know if you still look at this but I live in ripon and have a map of ripon south camp it was demolished after ww2 to make way for houses but it was massive and spread for about a mile each way said to be biggest camp in Europe at it's time with thousands of troops recuperating from injures of ww1 also was a german pow camp at race course camp and in ww2 was a german pow camp on banks of river ure which is now ure bank caravan park please ask if you need any more info and I will try my best to find out thanks dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Uncledulgaria Posted 26 September , 2014 Share Posted 26 September , 2014 Ripon WW1 camp was cleared by the mid 1920s, it had a rail link. My grandparents bought a field when my Grandfather bought a milk round in Ripon in the 1920s, as the motive power in those days was a pony. It was to the south of Clotherholme Road. The field my grandparents owned was known to have been part of the Ripon Camp. I played in it as a child in the 1950s and early 1960s. Although it was then pasture, the shapes of the levelled areas in which the spider huts were built were still apparent, and, in roughly the centre, was a broken off steel lamp post, about two feet high. Birds used to nest in it.About 100 yards south from Clotherholme Road, was a shallow trench, about ten feet wide, running east-west, parallel to the road. I was told that this was the route of the railway serving the camp. It was different under the surface to the rest of the field, quite stony. It was only in the 1960s, most of the field, and an adjacent one were built on. The married quarters of Weymss & Williams roads and those to the north side of Clotherholme Road were built in the early 1950s. I was told that about a third of the British army was demobbed through Ripon. What I find strange is that I have recently discovered (through the recently launched icrc website - http://grandeguerre.icrc.org/) that my grandfather was repatirated as a prisoner of war from Stendal POW camp into Hull in November 1918, so perhaps he walked over that same land that he came to own almost 10 years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauldarran63 Posted 19 March , 2016 Share Posted 19 March , 2016 my grandfather was a POW AT Camp 1 Haus sptial Munster. i was told by the RWF that he landed at HULL 2 Dec 1918. he was captured on the 20th October 1914 1st RWF. Can anybody give me any info on the camp & the landing at Hull. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 21 May , 2020 Share Posted 21 May , 2020 The camp at Ripon was originally used to receive POW's having originally been built as a training camp before WW1. It was certainly in operation as a POW Reception Centre as early as 1916. My own grandfather was posted there as a Sergeant in the Royal Field Artillery having been hospitalised when a horse kicked him and broke his leg in France. He never went back to the Western Front and spent the rest of the war doing something in Ripon - presumably running some form of administration. Despite being originally from Croydon and marrying and working in Southampton he returned to Yorkshire in 1931 when he became manager of the NAAFI Bakery in York Garrison. He died when I was 13 and I never got to talk to him about his experiences, although he'd originally joined the Army in 1907 and spent 6 years in what is now Pakistan (at Meerut, Hyderabad and Karachi). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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