HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2020
Up to the entry of the USA into the war in early 1917, the Americans looked after the interests of the German and Austro-Hungarian Governments - one of their duties was to inspect and report on the various internment camps - one such report is given here reformatted from the original typescript but otherwise unchanged. Original held at TNA in file FO 383/ 33
I was at the Camp at Knockaloe on the Isle of Man on June 19 and 20. This Camp was visited by Mr. Jackson on February, 9, (See pages 18 and 19 of his printed report).
At the time of my visit there were 6,470 prisoners, all civilians. I understand
that the number has since been increased to about 12,000.
This Camp is destined to be the largest internment Camp in Great Britain and
is being arranged to hold 25,000 prisoners. During the week previous to my visit
2,000 had been received and the Commandant had been told to expect further prisoners
at the rate of about 1,000 per week. When the Camp is completed there will be
five compounds, each holding 5,000 prisoners. At the time of my visit only two
of these larger units were in use.
The men were in barracks or huts holding from 180 to 200 men, as at the time
of Mr. Jackson's visit. Each Compound or Camp is self-contained, having its
own cook-house, wash-house, latrines, drying-room and drinking-fountain. At
the time of my visit dining-halls had not been erected and the men were eating
in their huts. I have been told, since my return to London, by an official of
the Home Office, that the erection of the dining-halls has begun. This will
be a great improvement when effected.
There is a branch canteen in each compound and a large canteen and stores from
which the prisoners can order a varied list of articles. There is a small recreation
space in each compound and a playing field of about 22 acres has been added
for the use of the entire Camp. At the time of my visit 2,000 men were being
sent each day to this field or compound.
510 of the prisoners were living in tents but will be put into huts before
the winter sets in. Wooden roads have been laid in all the compounds between
the huts and leading to the latrines and cook-houses. One hut is set aside as
a theatre and concert room. A full orchestra gives regular concerts. There is
some sort of performance every night in the theatre.
Five sets of parallel bars and five horizontal bars have been set up on the recreation grounds in the compound, and five more sets of each have been ordered.
The prisoners also play foot-ball and have a number of balls. There is one library for the entire Camp with about 3,000 books.
Classes have been organized in French, Mathematics, English, Navigation, Science, etc. Twenty prisoners have been given permission to act as teachers for these classes. I was informed that about 1,00 prisoners were attending classes of one sort or another.
The Manx Governnent has given 500 books and a number of indoor games for the
use of the prisoners.
A water-borne system of sewerage and disposal of night soil is being installed to replace the pail and dry earth system now in use.
There is an adequate hospital with 60 beds. I found it clean, fitted with baths and a well-equipped surgery. Additional hospitals are to be fitted as the number of prisoners increases.
An exhibition of manual work done by the prisoners had been arranged to be held on the Monday following my visit.
I was informed there had been three deaths in the Camp since it had been formed.
I visited all parts of this Camp, first with the Commandant and later alone, and I had unlimited opportunities of talking freely and frankly and privately with the prisoners. For the most part those, who talked with me, were in an unhappy and discontented frame of mind. They complained of the food; that it was inferior in quality and not sufficient in quantity; that they were too crowded in their huts; that men of the better classes were not separated from the men of the lower classes; that the prices in the canteen were high, and that for some articles higher prices were charged than those given on the price lists posted in the canteen; that boots and clothing were hard to get.
I took these points up one by one with the Commandant of the Camp and he expressed
himself quite ready and willing to remedy any reasonable cause of complaint,
that lay within his power .
The Commandant does not fix the dietary. The prisoners complained specifically that they received meat only twice a week, instead of daily as in the other Camps, and that the sausage and bread provided was poor. On each of the two days that I visited the Camp I ate the brown bread supplied to the prisoners and found it good. I found that the same bread was supplied to the Officers' mess and to the Guard. It is cooked in the bakery at the Camp. I was shown, however, by the prisoners, part of a loaf of bread that had been supplied to them one or two days previous to my visit. It evidently had not been baked long enough. The sausage of which they complained I did not eat, but I found it was the same sausage as was supplied to the Camp Guard and the civilian Members of the Camp staff. Some of them liked it and some did not.
Since my return to London I have discussed with representatives of the War Office and the Home Office the possibility of putting this Camp on the same dietary as provided in the other Camps.
I asked one of the prisoners to supply me with a canteen price-list showing (a) the articles on the list, which were not supplied by the Canteen, and (b) the articles on the list for which higher prices were charged than those stated. This was done and I gave the marked list to the Commandant. He assured me that he would make a personal investigation and discover what basis, if any, existed for each complaint, and that, if it was well founded, it would be remedied.
I may add that these complaints were confined to the men who had been a long time in the Camp and who naturally had begun to chafe and grow restive under imprisonment.
I talked with a number of the newly arrived prisoners, who had only been in the Camp from 10 to 3 days and found that they had no complaint to make. I asked them particularly about the food and they said that it was adequate and palatable. The ration had naturally become monotonous to men, who had eaten it for a long time.
I think the unhappy state of mind observable in this Camp was partly due to the fact that it was in process of making and had not got settled down on a thoroughly and completely organized basis. I apprehend that when each of the five compounds or camps, which will constitute the whole Camp, becomes organized, each with its Sub-Commandant and Staff, and the dining-huts are erected, that much of the present dissatisfaction will dissappear.
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