camps at Donington Hall, Alexandra Palace

[Doug Johnson]

I have just received a book of photographs of the above camps. Published by Tilerson and Son Ltd, Bolton and London. (no date)

The forward is as follows;

"The photographs which are reproduced in this volume were taken in response to a request made by the American Ambassador in Berlin. They were originally designed to form part of the Wurtemberg War Exhibition, and were actually taken by the photographic section of the Royal Flying Corps.

It should be understood that the prisoners were left entirely free to choose whether they would be photographed or not. The photographers had explicit instructions that no prisoner was to be photographed without his consent, and that neither compulsion nor persuasion was to be employed to induce anyone to form part of a group. These instructions were strictly carried out, and it is significant of the readiness with which the prisoners allowed themselves to be photographed that repeated requests were received by the authorities that copies of the photographs should be placed on sale in the camps.

The photographs which appear in this book cover six of the largest prisoners' camps in Great Britain - ... (List as above). They illustrate nearly every aspect of life in the camps, and show that the excellence of the conditions under which the prisoners live are in striking contrast with the regime which obtains in many of the prisoners' camps in Germany. It is only necessary to recall the horrors of a Wittenberg or a Gardelegen to appreciate the admirable organisation of the prisoners' camps in Great Britiain."

My guess for the date would be 1916/17 for the photographs and 1917/18 for publication. (RFC would predate 1918 for the photographs and therefore the request being from the Ambassador would have to predate America's entry into the war. The fact that they were not used for the original purpose suggests that they were only ready after America's entry. There is a photograph of a group of prisoners some of whom came from the Somme so they are no earlier than 1916)

There are between 12 and 20+ photographs (no text) for each camp and for Donnington they are captioned as follows;

Donnington Hall : Front entrance . German officers are seen assembling for roll call

The arrival of the mail

A corner of the Officer's Compound (NB this shows a good detail of a watch tower - Doug)

A view of the kitchens

The dining hall

In the Garden. Officers are allowed to cultivate and grow their own flowers

Donnington Hall: a general view

A summer game of football

The Chapel

Some of the farm cattle which supply the Hall with fresh milk and butter

Some of the officer's servants

One of the bedroooms

I will post the captions for the other camps on request.

Clearly there was extensive photography of some of the camps and prisoners.

Doug

[Alan Tucker]

I have just received a book of photographs of the above camps. Published by Tilerson and Son Ltd, Bolton and London. (no date)

The forward is as follows;

"The photographs which are reproduced in this volume were taken in response to a request made by the American Ambassador in Berlin. They were originally designed to form part of the Wurtemberg War Exhibition, and were actually taken by the photographic section of the Royal Flying Corps.

It should be understood that the prisoners were left entirely free to choose whether they would be photographed or not. The photographers had explicit instructions that no prisoner was to be photographed without his consent, and that neither compulsion nor persuasion was to be employed to induce anyone to form part of a group. These instructions were strictly carried out, and it is significant of the readiness with which the prisoners allowed themselves to be photographed that repeated requests were received by the authorities that copies of the photographs should be placed on sale in the camps.

The photographs which appear in this book cover six of the largest prisoners' camps in Great Britain - ... (List as above). They illustrate nearly every aspect of life in the camps, and show that the excellence of the conditions under which the prisoners live are in striking contrast with the regime which obtains in many of the prisoners' camps in Germany. It is only necessary to recall the horrors of a Wittenberg or a Gardelegen to appreciate the admirable organisation of the prisoners' camps in Great Britiain."

My guess for the date would be 1916/17 for the photographs and 1917/18 for publication. (RFC would predate 1918 for the photographs and therefore the request being from the Ambassador would have to predate America's entry into the war. The fact that they were not used for the original purpose suggests that they were only ready after America's entry. There is a photograph of a group of prisoners some of whom came from the Somme so they are no earlier than 1916)

There are between 12 and 20+ photographs (no text) for each camp and for Donnington they are captioned as follows;

Donnington Hall : Front entrance . German officers are seen assembling for roll call

The arrival of the mail

A corner of the Officer's Compound (NB this shows a good detail of a watch tower - Doug)

A view of the kitchens

The dining hall

In the Garden. Officers are allowed to cultivate and grow their own flowers

Donnington Hall: a general view

A summer game of football

The Chapel

Some of the farm cattle which supply the Hall with fresh milk and butter

Some of the officer's servants

One of the bedroooms

I will post the captions for the other camps on request.

Clearly there was extensive photography of some of the camps and prisoners.

Doug

They are not exclusively POW camps. They are also civilian internment camps for German

'enemy aliens' particularly Alexandra Palace and Handforth.

[Doug Johnson]

The photographs are now part of the IWM collection. Some of the illustrations for Alexandra Palace plus others are in "An insight into Civilian Internment in Britain During WW1" (available from the Anglo-German FHS) and are credited to the IWM.

Doug