Airman's letters returned to family after death in enemy territory

[Aljie]

I have recently been shown a small amount of family correspondence dating from the months after a young family member  – an RFC observer – was lost in action behind the enemy line in 1915. The information given is sketchy, but seems to imply that letters found on the young man’s body were returned to his family by a German woman, with whom the family continued to remain in touch, eventually receiving a photograph of his funeral, as well as a series of photos of his grave as it appeared in the different seasons.

What I am wondering is if there is anyone here who might suggest how I might follow this up. Was it normal practice for documentation found on bodies to be returned and is it possible to draw any inferences as to whom the German woman might have been, eg, nurse, clerical worker etc? She seems to have gone beyond the call of duty in the service she provided, yet the correspondence records nothing beyond her surname.

Have any studies been made which might cover this sort of thing? Any suggestions would be most gratefully received.

 

[charlie962]

As well as a straightforward charitable act it could be this woman had a son at the front and hoped that if ever he was lost someone would take the same care. I've heard such stories from WW2 survivors, French and English.

[charlie962]

Clearly the woman lived close to the place where the airman was buried. You have a surname. If an unusual surname then a search should produce a result.

In the meantime if you wish to share the airman's name we could see what records and stories we could find perhaps?

Charlie

[Aljie]

The letters were written by the mother of T.E. Lawrence, but refer to T.E.'s brother Will who was killed in an air fight a few miles outside St Quentin on 23 October 1915. Copies were passed to me by someone who found them during unrelated research, but who knows I've been researching Will for some time. They amount to no more than a few sentences describing to a friend of the family how Will's letters and a number of photos had been received from a Frau Henke (not an unusual surname, I'm afraid). But if this Frau Henke had Will's letters in her possession, it suggests  she was acting in a formal role. I just wondered if anyone had heard of other instances where letters or other personal possessions were returned in this way. If I knew whether Frau Henke was a nurse or in a clerical post, for example, then perhaps it might give me something further to work on.

Thank you for your suggestions and sorry for the omissions - bit of brain fog while recovering from a cold.

[charlie962]

Given your interest I'm sure you already have this but just thinking where Frau Henke may have been.

Cwgc have two concentration reports but I presume this is pilot and observer (Lawrence) originally buried St Martins MCE St Quentin.

[charlie962]

There's an ICRC card 

[charlie962]

This is the related backing sheet. Can @charlie2 see any clues? 

[charlie962]

This is the ICRC card for Cecil H Marks.

I wonder if his family had similar correspondence? 

 

[charlie2]

There is nothing to be gleaned from the RC record. As he was shot down 0n the 23rd and died on the 24th suggests to me that he died of his wounds in a hospital of which there were plenty in an around St.Quentin.

Charlie2

[charlie962]

Thanks. Any thoughts on Henke?

[AOK4]

2 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

Thanks. Any thoughts on Henke?

Probably a Krankenschwester in a Kriegslazarett in Saint Quentin?

Jan

[charlie962]

16 minutes ago, AOK4 said:

Krankenschwester

A nurse. Would she have continued to send photos of the grave 'in the different seasons' ? 

Charlie

[charlie2]

If she was that way inclined there would be nothing to stop her taking the photos. As she is mentioned as Frau Henke she was a married woman, perhaps she, as previously mentioned, had a brother or husband serving. A quick search in Births, deaths and marriages on Ancestry for a woman named Henke born between 1870 and 1890 brings up just short of 2000 hits, so she is a needle in the haystack. Somehow the story, or one very similar, rings a bell with me.

Charlie2

[AOK4]

8 hours ago, charlie2 said:

If she was that way inclined there would be nothing to stop her taking the photos. As she is mentioned as Frau Henke she was a married woman, perhaps she, as previously mentioned, had a brother or husband serving. A quick search in Births, deaths and marriages on Ancestry for a woman named Henke born between 1870 and 1890 brings up just short of 2000 hits, so she is a needle in the haystack. Somehow the story, or one very similar, rings a bell with me.

Charlie2

The family of Lord Worsley received some information and letters via the wife of the German officer who buried him near Zandvoorde in 1914. This story is told in Lyn MacDonald's "1914" book.

Jan

[Aljie]

Thanks to everyone who has commented here for some really interesting ideas. Charlie962 posed the question as to whether Captain Marks' family had any similar correspondence and, actually, there is quite an interesting story to be told here. Both Marks and Will were officially recorded as missing in action. In February 1916, however, enquiries made on behalf of Captain Marks' mother by the Marquis of Winchester brought forth the first proof of their deaths in the form of a postcard identifying the site of their graves in St Martin's Cemetery. This was sent by Hjalmar Schacht (worth looking up), a director of Nationalbank für Deutschland in Berlin and apparently one of the Marquis's business contacts. Will's file in the National Archives suggests his family didn't learn of the existence of the postcard until May 1916, when they were informed of it by the Army Council, and it appears to have been entirely separate from their correspondence with Frau Henke. Sadly, the letters written by Will's mother I have seen are very fragmentary, so it is never learned how or when the correspondence began.

I suspect I will never find an answer, but at least I might be able to put some context around what I have learned, so I am grateful for the recommendation of Lyn MacDonald's book, and I've managed to get a copy.

Thank you, everyone.