Stratford Camp 1914-1917

Opened in a disused jute spinning factory in December 1914, situated at the eastern end of Carpenter's Road, over looked by the railway line to Stratford high level station and in the midst of what at the time was both a manufacturing district and poor working class housing. Described in a document presented as rebutals to the numerous criticisms by the Commandant, Lt Col Lambert in 1916 as "extremely dirty at the time" of takeover but "ever since it has been kept and remains scrupulously clean", but goes on to say "the outside of the building remains as before, i.e. dirty and apparently dilapidated.". He continues to admit that the roof has never been rainproof, that it has been constantly under repair and was so at the time of writing ...

The report of a visit of inspection made on 14th February 1916 by two special attaches from the American Embassy(German division) is given:

Direction.

The Camp is under the general supervision of the Commander of the Eastern District, and the Commandant is Lt. Col. F. A. Heygate Lambert.

Prisoners.

There were 3 military prisoners temporarily in the Camp at the time of our visit and 298 civilians, whom 286 were German and 62 Austrians, 8 Turks and 2 of other nationalities.

Committees

A committee of Amusement or Recreation has been formed by the prisoners, which has set up a small theatre in the Recreation Hall, where plays are sometimes given. There are the usual so-called "Lowry" and "Markel" Committees. The prisoners at this Camp are for the most part only here for a short time. The Camp population is a shifting one. It is composed chiefly of men who have either been just interned, or who are brought here from other Camps for repatriation. Therefore the camp life is not so well organized as in other places of internment.

Sleeping Accomodations

There is one large room containing beds for 700 men and one outbuilding containing beds for 50 men. The beds are trestle and are of the same description as those issued to British soldiers. The bedding consists of a paliasse filled with straw, a pillow and three blankets. The private property of the prisoners, such as kit-bags, etc., are retained by the men and kept by the bed-heads. All the rooms were very neat and clean, well-warmed and well-ventilated, and lighted with electric light. The beds were not crowded and there was sufficient space between the beds for the comfort of the prisoners.

Sanitary Arrangements

Automatic flushing is used in this Camp. There are 50 seats in the indoor latrines and 40 seats in the outdoor latrines. All the latrines were very neat and clean and absolutely odourless.

Infirmary.

There is a hospital in a separate building, where we found 15 patients. There is one doctor and two attendants. Everything about the hospital seemed neat and clean and the patients looked well cared for. There was only one serious case - an Armenian. The Commanding Officer was anxious to have him removed but it is difficult to bring this about on account of his nationality. None of the other patients were seriously ill at this time. A list of their names and their diseases is hereto attached.[missing from file]

Kitchens

There ie one Kitohen at this Camp and 8 cooks all of whom were German. We found the kitchen to be very neat and clean. On inspecting the meat we found it to be of good quality. We tasted the bread and found it excellent. A copy of the scale of rations issued is hereto attached.

Work

A few prisoners occupied themselves with tailoring, shoemaking and watchmaking,

Exercise

There is a recreation ground, where the prisoners may take exercise and play football and other games. There are also horizontal and parallel bars in the Recreation Hall.

Complaints by Camp.

After inspecting the Camp, we had a private talk with the various captains and found that they had no complaints to make except that they were deprived of their liberty.

Later we had many talks, in both English and German, with the prisoners and their complaints were chiefly of four classes.
1. Complaints against being confined at all.
2. Complaints against not being allowed to leave the Camp occasionally to visit their families.
3. Complaints that the medical attendance was insufficient.
4. Complaints against being made to clean the rooms of the soldiers of the Guard.

In regard to the first complaints we brought the names of four prisoners to the attention of the Commanding Officer, who said that their cases would be investigated, if they had not already been looked into.

In regard to the sworn statements of Hans Bendix and others, transmitted with the notes verbale Nos. III b 1462/8493 dated January 15. 1916 and III b 2063/16579 dated January 26. 1916, from the Imperial Foreign office at Berlin, about conditions at this camp, we ascertained the following facts:-

The roof does leak in places, but is continually being worked on and repaired. Our visit took place shortly after a rain and we could find only one place, which showed a leak. This Camp is in an old building, which requires many repairs, which are being carried out all the time.

The Recreation Ground was wet in places, after the rain, but not more so than an ordinary play- ground and there was little mud.

The food, which we inspected carefully, seemed plentiful and of a good quality.

With regard to the Medical attendance all serious cases are sent to the German Hospital at Dalston, N.E., and are not treated in the Camp. There were complaints that the Medical Officer passed prisoners as fitted for light work, when they thought themselves unfit, but the general health of the prisoners is good and there has been little illness of any kind, apart from colds and such troubles as the prisoners brought with them.

The better educated class of prisoners had no complaint to make, except that of their imprisonment for such a length of time.

The number of prisoners in this camp is so much less than it was several months ago, that the conditions have been greatly improved.

We found one man in cells for twice refusing to work, but his cell was clean, dry and well-lighted.

The first of these notes verbale are given in translation in the FO 383/126 file, which also complained about the camp at Malta - the covering paragraph notes "that the lodging of the camp at Stratford has been, even quite recently, thoroughly defective, though here also the defects do not appear to have come to light when the camp was visited on Sept 22 last" - this was a barbed comment reflecting the position held by many internees that the Americans were seldom critical of camp conditions. One of the several sworn statements was by Dr Friedrich Hacker - a deputy assistant surgeon of the Reserve.

When war broke out I was travelling from Hong Kong to Trieste on the Austrian Lloyd S.S. Koerker.

Eighteen of us were taken to Stratford on Oct 4th & remained there until Oct 27th [1915] We were lodged there in an old factory. The roof was not rain-proof. The rain penetrated so that puddles formed on the floor, The flooring was partly of wood, partly of stone; the wood was damp. Other prisoners related that after a heavy down-pour the water stood 2 inches deep on the floor. We slept on straw-mattresses placed on wooden platforms raised about 15cm above the level of the floor.

There were 600 prisoners there, each one had 4 blankets. There were 45-50 primitive latrines of which half the number could be used simultaneously. A doctor visited the camp, but sick prisoners often complained to me about their treatment. On one occasion the doctor gave a powder to a prisoner who had sprained his hand.

Complaints continued to be noted in notes verbales for example two of the many descriptions made by repatriated internees to the German Authorities and passed to the Americians to investigate are given below, there had been others

With regard to the latter camp extracts are herewith enclosed for transmission to the American Embassy in London from reports made by two German subjects lately returned from imprisonment in England namely Herr Brill formerly Acting-Consul at Madras and Herr Botefur Director of Customs in the Cameroons, The American Embassy in London are requested to use their discretion in forwarding these statements concerning the conditions at Stratford to the British Government. Berlin, May 25th, 1916,

The first by Albert Brill removed from India and transferred to the UK

Bonn April 15th 1916

Stratford Camp is a horrible hole in the manufacturing quarter of London. It consists of the machinery hall of an old jute spinning works.
It is dirty, cold and draughty. It is regrettable that such an unhealthy place should have have been chosen for the assembling of old and sick prisoners before exchange when they might easily have been collected in some roomy, well-lit and healthy camp such as for instance Alexandra Palace. It is absurd moreover that during the daily inspection at Stratford the soldiers should go about carrying handcuffs as though an armed guard consisting of a Lieutenant, a corporal and six men were not sufficient to protect the Colonel in Command. !!!

During my stay in the camp it was a matter of daily occurrence for British soldiers in passing trains to shout the most vulgar abuse at the prisoners and nothing is done to put a stop to this despicable and cowardly behaviour nor to protect the prisoners on their way from the station to the camp from the unflattering expressions of the populace and from being pelted with mud from the streets.
(Signed) Albert Brill Acting Consul, Madras.

The hostile behaviour of the local populace towards the internees was commented on by Colonel Clark who accompanied a somewhat disaster prone transfer of internees for repatriation in December 1916.The description of the daily parade is confirmed by Richard Nosche in his account of a stay in Stratford from 23rd July 1915 to February 1917 as well as the casual brutality of the guards and the continual insults from the passengers on the trains. He also confirms the parades by the then Commandant Marquis de Burr - he was replaced as Commandant by Col Lambert whom "seemed worse than the first".

The second report was by one of the many Germans transported from various stations in West Africa to the UK - internment in the country where they had commercial interests was not to be allowed as a prime requirement was to destroy any German commercial or cultural influence in the colonies. He was transferred at short notice from the German Hospital at Dalston.

Stratford
I was transferred on March 21st [1916] in accordance with telegraphic instructions from the war Office to the Civilian Camp at Stratford. There I was lodged in the so-called hospital. This hospital consists of an old storage building which was once a spinning works. The building is seven or eight metres high with a vaulted corrugated iron roof and divided by a partition into two compartments in a ratio of one to two. The roof does not meet the walls. The intervening space is partly stopped up with paper and rags but plenty of room for wind and rain to enter. In a corner near my bed the water was running down the wall and the flooring too was rotten in places. Light entered principally through a window one to one-and-a-half metres large. A second window had been white-washed over as also some similar windows in the roof. The occupants lay on a bed formed of two low tressles with wooden planks laid upon them and straw sacks and brown woollen blankets. Besides this there were eight iron bedsteads in the rom which were said to have been transferred from the German Hospital. I was told that four more bedsteads were used by the British soldiers. The bed linen which should also have been provided by the hospital was not distributed. The bedsteads were tarred over to render them more durable and the blankets were so dirty that it was impossible to keep one's personal washing clean. The room was heated to a insufficient temperature during the day by steam from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., however the heating apparatus was put out of use. In this room persons who had been under treatment for so long in the German hospital and had been removed from there only for the purpose of being sent home were kept for periods of a fortnight or longer. No separation of classes was made among the inmates, who were drawn from every conceivable class of life.
During one's residence in this camp it was customary for certain individuals among those who had been brought thither from hospitals and prisoners' camps to be removed from the list for exchange. It is easy to imagine the nervous tension to which such a measure subjected prisoners who were already weakened and depressed by illness and long residence in prisoners' camps. No motive for this was given to the prisoners concerned. [a pencilled note comments "the Germans have repeatedly done this to our people"] So far as I am aware no medical examination or treatment was carried out at Stratford. The nature of the building as well as the food provided and the manner in which this was served must be deemed unendurable in the long run for semi-cultured persons.
There were still in the camp about 400 persons of whom 120 were due to be sent home at the end of March. As a typical instance of the treatment which the prisoners receive in this camp it may be mentioned that the Commandant was said to be in the habit of punishing anyone who came to him with a complaint during his rounds or otherwise came into contact with him by having them handcuffed and placed in solitary confinement. I was further told that one of the prisoners was given the daily task of polishing the handcuffs.
Berlin March 31st 1916
(signed) Bötefür

The Camp would appear to have been the subject of a regular series of short visits of inspection - the first possibly on the 28th January 1915 when it held 400 prisoners and the second on 23 May 1915 when the conditions were stated to be unchanged but with now 740 prisoners much different in personality as "the present prisoners are mostly from overseas (the Cameroons, and South Aftrica) having been transferred from Southampton owing to a scare of spotted fever" [luckily no cases were found]. An interesting comment "there were but two cases of sickness... one being neuralgia, and the other cold. Owing to the change in personel there was but little venereal disease". Thus it would appear to have been viewed very much as a temporary transit/holding camp from the time of its opening. A new hospital of 20 beds was about to be built. Many of these prisoners would be moved along with several hundred others when Camps III and IV opened at Knockaloe in the summer of 1915.

The following is a report on a visit of inspection undertaken by the American Embassy in May 1916 though prior to receipt of the previous comments.

I have the honor to transmit herewith a report covering a visit of inspection to the Prisoners of War Internment camp at Stratford, London E., on May 10, 1916.

Direction

The camp is under the general supervision of the Commander of the Eastern District and the Commandant is Lieutenant Colonel F.A. Heygate Lambert.

Prisoners

On the day of my visit there were 174 men interned at the Camp, of whom 141 were German, 30 were Austrian and 3 were Turks.

Committees

There were the usual "Lowry" and "Markel" Committees. Besides these there was a Camp Committee. The Committees are chosen and run by the interned men.

Sleeping Accomodations

There has been no change in the sleeping accomodations since the last report, dated February 18, 1916. The large amount of room and the small number of interned men give greater opportunity for comfort than at that time. All the rooms were inspected and were found neat and clean, well lighted and well ventilated.

Sanitary Arrangements

There has been no change in the sanitary arrangements since the last visit. I inspected and found everything in excellent condition, clean and odourless.

Infirmary

There is one doctor in charge of the Infirmary who is assisted by one German and one British R.A.M.C. orderly. there were 19 patients, only one of whom was in bed suffering from a nervous breakdown. The others were suffering from slight toubles. Everything was examined and it was found there was no criticism to be made.

Kitchens

The kitchen arrangements were the same as mentioned in the last report. Everything was examined and found neat and clean. The bread was tasted and found excellent. A copy of the scale of rations is hereto attached.
There was the usual fatigue work to be done about the Camp by the interned men. They were also engaged in a little carpentry and metal craft, and a few were occupied in tailoring.

Exercise

The oportunities for exercise are the same as mentioned in former reports. The exercising field was dry and free from mud.

Complaints by Camp

There were few complaints of a serious nature. Many of the interned men wanted to be repatriated. I was informed that their cases were being considered, and that, though repatriation in some cases was slow, they were not being neglected.
There were certain complaints about the treatment in the hospital. I was told that any serious cases were not treated there, but were sent to an outside hospital, and that this hospital was only used for slight diseases.

Observations

The number of prisoners in this Camp has been greatly reduced since the last visit. This Camp is now practically only used as a place where interned men are sent from other camps for purposes of repatriation. There are, however, a few men who prefer to stay in this Camp so that they may be near their wives and families and receive visits from them.
Since the last visit a Y.M.C.A. tent has been put up in the exercise ground which gives the men shelter from the sun.
There were no men in cells, which were, however examined and found satisfactory.

Repatriation

From ICRC records the camp would appear to have been used for repatriation from late 1915 though building up in numbers during 1916. Internees were mostly moved by the still operating Dutch ferry services from ports such as Tilbury or Gravesend to Flushing - a party of some 100 to 150 would be transferred to Stratford, once or twice a month and then over next week or so, split into parties of around 30 to be repatriated, followed by the next party some two or three days later. The Dutch Red Cross would see these prisoners on board a train to the German border station at Goch. The early repatriation parties were often drawn from those who had spent time in a camp hospital or were, as in one party from Knockaloe, all over 50. In March and April 1916 it would appear that a special effort was made to clear many of the mental cases as these had been gathered from various asylums to Colney Hatch Ayslum. There were parties from Knockaloe,sometimes together with a smaller group from Douglas approximately every month during 1916 - other parties came from Lofthouse Park Wakefield with the majority from the relatively close Alexandra Palace camp.

Closure

Stratford was convenient as a repatriation camp as long as the commercial ferry services from nearby ports (eg Tilbury etc) were maintained - however with the German declaration of intent to attack all shipping these became too dangerous from late January 1917 and such services ceased - the final voyages would appear to be on 29th January 1917.

The camps at Alexandra Palace and Stratford were officially amalgamated as by letter from Eastern Command dated 23 May 1917; the Commandant at Stratford, Maj G A Luscombe was to move to Alexandra Palace in place of late Lt-Col R S Frowd Walker, the remainder of staff to move to AxP as supernumary until absorbed, the guard to be disposed of, the PoWs transferred to AxP together with all records though all stores to remain at Stratford with suitable safeguarding. The building was to be maintained until repatriation is resumed - this did not happen as the new arrangement with Germany from end of 1917 moved repatriation to be via Boston until after the Armistice the prewar ferry services from Hull, Harwich and the Medway ports could be resumed (Alexandra Palace seemed to be used as transit camp for these until it too closed in May 1919).

The highest camp number found in the ICRC records was 7707 - the large parties transferred to Stratford for repatriation would appear to have started in November 1915 from around camp number 4400 onwards, thus near 3,300 internees passed through the camp in some 14 months.

References

An Insight into Civilian Internment in Britain during WW1 Book 1 Diary of Richard Nosche 2nd or larger ed Anglo-German Family History Society Publications 1998 - ISBN 0-9514133-7-6

TNA FO 383/126 and 163 Visit reports

TNA FO 383/33 visit May 1915

TNA FO 383/276 amalgamation of Stratford + Alexandra Palace camps


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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2021