midgemeg Posted 13 February , 2009 Share Posted 13 February , 2009 I have been looking up a number of MIC's for POW's since joining Ancestry.co.uk and have had some excellent information. One point came up very quickly and that was that about half of the MIC's do not record that the person was a POW-this surprised me. The MIC card for Captain Sydney Harry Batty-Smith has a comment 'Exonerated Officer List B' Does this mean that he was questioned after the war about the circumstances of his capture? He was in the 1st Loyal North Lancs and went missing on the 22nd Dec !914. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 13 February , 2009 Share Posted 13 February , 2009 The thing that surprised me was that any recorded the fact that they were PoWs. The MICs were not service records and the PoW information was obviously irrelevant, since most do not record it. so why was it on some? (It was recorded on my Grandfathers) If someone looks up Cox's for your man before I get home then they can say if he was exchanged. Considering his date of capture he almost certainly was, in which case he would probably have provided a report on his release which could have been well before the end of the war. There is reference to insanity regarding this man and he is mentioned several times in other prisoner reports. If he did go insane then there may not have been a report and the information may have come from elsewhere (possibly from the other reports) The reports indicate that he may have been at Ingoldstadt. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted 13 February , 2009 Share Posted 13 February , 2009 I have been told that the only MICs that show whether a man was a POW are those for men entitled to the '14 Star. regards Bootneck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 13 February , 2009 Share Posted 13 February , 2009 Lt Batty-Smith was transferred to Holland on 23rd August 1918. I will check to see if I have any of the reports where he is named. Bootneck, I had a though after my last posting that perhaps it had something to do with the 1914 star. It was awarded before the end of the war and the undress ribbon was issued to PoWs whilst in Germany which would be the reason for recording that they were a PoW. My grandfather was awarded the 1914 star so that is part of the proof. Perhaps fairhaven can tell us whether that is true of the ones he has researched? Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midgemeg Posted 14 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 14 February , 2009 Thanks everybody for the information. The cover I have was sent by Batty-Smith to a Messrs. Neer (?)Co. 1126 Chipphead (?)Road London E.C. All the information is on the front of the cover. 'From Lieut. S.H. Batty-Smith, 1st Loyal North Lancashire Regt., Kriegsgefangenen Hann.-Muden, Deutschland. 23-3-15' The card received 5 postal and censorship strikes. Hann.Muden 3.4.15(civil pmk). Double circle cachet -Offizer-Gefangenenlager. Hann-Muden. Briefstempel. Single circle -offizer-Gefangenenlager. Hann-Muden Gepruft. Rectangular cachet. 'Off.-Gef.-Lager. Hann-Muden 3-4(this was the date in manuscript). London Receiving cancel for April 21st. Someone has my copy of Cox's list at the moment and the references to insanity are very interesting. I checked up on all the MIC's I 've done so far and your information appears to stand up. All mine have the 14 Star and with two exceptions the rest do not. The first is a POW from the Connaught Rangers imprisoned in Turkey. Although he qualified for the 14 Star on his MIC it just says 'Discharged 27.1.17'. I presume he was returned home sick. The other is an officer who only qualified for 1915 onwards but died as a POW and the fact that he was a POW was mentioned on the MIC, understandable I suppose. Again many ,many thanks Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted 14 February , 2009 Share Posted 14 February , 2009 Apologies I should have said that the men had to still be POWs when the '14 Star was issued. Boot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshdoc Posted 14 February , 2009 Share Posted 14 February , 2009 i have only seen 2 mics with pow and both were 1914 star awardees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie 1978 Posted 8 March , 2009 Share Posted 8 March , 2009 I have been looking up a number of MIC's for POW's since joining Ancestry.co.uk and have had some excellent information. One point came up very quickly and that was that about half of the MIC's do not record that the person was a POW-this surprised me. The MIC card for Captain Sydney Harry Batty-Smith has a comment 'Exonerated Officer List B' Does this mean that he was questioned after the war about the circumstances of his capture? He was in the 1st Loyal North Lancs and went missing on the 22nd Dec !914. Officers were questioned by MI9 on return to the Uk to ascertain the circumstances of their capture, and if indeed they were at fault/deliberate. Hence the word Exonerated, although not sure what list B was. jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 9 March , 2009 Share Posted 9 March , 2009 I had a quick look for Batty-Smith in FO383 and according to the index his report is in FO383/396. I could not find a reference to it in WO161 so perhaps it is an unprinted report. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamie 1978 Posted 9 March , 2009 Share Posted 9 March , 2009 I had a quick look for Batty-Smith in FO383 and according to the index his report is in FO383/396. I could not find a reference to it in WO161 so perhaps it is an unprinted report. Doug I think I am right in saying that these are completely different files. War Office and Foreign Office- so should they have ref to each other? Jamie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Johnson Posted 9 March , 2009 Share Posted 9 March , 2009 The reports were collected by the committee on the treatment of prisoners of war and their files are in FO383. The majority of the reports were printed and these are bound in WO161. Apart from where they were occassionally abridged when printed, the reports in WO161 should be identical to those in FO383. FO383 however contains reports that are missing from WO161, as the pages are missing, and may contain reports that were not printed (though listed) in WO161. There is not a full listing of the reports in FO383. Though many are listed in the on-line index of FO383, many are still hidden. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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