WW1 Internee - Rudolf Lechner

The following is based on a file found in FO 383/251 concerned with an industrial accident involving PoW Rudolf Lechner whilst employed away from Knockaloe at an Agricultural Workcamp. Unusually for FO files it is an untranslated German document marked Copy which possibly derives from a transcribed handwritten document as there are several obvious errors in place names with other probable errors of misreading. The documents in this file are tightly bound and some words at the start of certain lines were lost in the binding when photographed. The following translation was kindly provided by Professor Gerald Newton - it may be possible on re-examination of the file to regain the missing text.

Concerning the accident to civilian prisoner of war Rudolf Lechner 6002.
Of Austrian Nationality
[text missing] witnesses, likewise prisoners of war,
Max Leser 6007 Oberndorf in the Neckar valley, Württemberg
Georg Zisler 6389 Kingelsau [Küngelsau?], also Württemberg
[the following] from:

We had as usual on the 6th of September gone [with a work party] under Esharte[sic "Unter Eskorte" under Escort] to Rallaugl[sic Ballaugh] on the Isle of Man. [We] were sent to Mr Crow, the farmer, for work with the threshing, while 4 [of us] were detailed to loading potatoes for the Government.
For the work, which had proceeded quickly and had soon been concluded, the farmer gave [the chaps] a good midday meal, to show his thanks, [missing] Lechner asked whether there might possibly be some more work for him to do. The farmer released Lechner from duty, and sent him to help with the timber drying [sic chopping] , and directed him to fellow-prisoners to take instruction. After a short while, Lechner said to Leser that a splinter had flown into his eye, and Leser saw that the eye was already [swollen]. Lechner was taken to the private quarters of Farmer Crow, [and had the wound] dressed. The farmer himself [had by then] requested medical help by telephone. The doctor appeared after an hour, and had Lechner transferred immediately to the Hospital in Douglas, since an operation was necessary. Lechner was taken at that point to Douglas.
We confirm the statements made above,
Knockaloe, 9th September, 1917.

Georg Zissler 6389.
Max Leser 6007.

Ballabeg farmhouse, out near the Cronk and now uninhabited was known to have been used to feed internees from Knockaloe - whether they billeted there as at Regaby or travelled each day by train from St John's is not known. No name of the farm is given, though Crowe is a relatively rare name in Ballaugh there are two farmers, probable tennant farmers, with that name in the 1911 census, one at Ballamoar and the other at Bishopscourt farm on the Michael Ballaugh border. A threshing machine of this era would be driven by a steam traction engine though there was a water-driven Threshing mill in Ravensdale. One of the apparent misreads of the original led to a "beim Holzbacken" = 'for drying wood', but is almost certainly "beim Holzhacken" = 'for chopping wood' which would indeed produce flying splinters.

The other intriguing point is the farmer's use of the phone to summon medical help - few if any small farms would be on the phone at that period. There are none such listed in the 1924 Telephone directory - the few phones listed were those 'public call offices' at local post offices. It is possible that Bishopscourt had a phone though it is not listed in the 1924 directory. The combination of need for assistance with threshing and for loading potatoes, within easy access to a phone, suggests it may be Bishopscourt farm just across the road from Bishopscourt.

The surrounding file was concerned with the question as to whether PoWs were covered by existing compulsory Employers' Insurance but then I suspect the realisation dawned that this may not exist on the IoM - there was a note stating a request had been sent to the Commandant at Knockaloe asking for his comments - no reply was included, it may be placed within a later file, though a quick search failed to find it.

Lechner did lose the use of the eye - the request for compensation was sent, by the Prisoners' Aid Society at Knockaloe to the Swedish Embassy which at that period was handling affairs for the Austro-Hungarian Government.

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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2019