[Extracted from WO 162/341]

Report on PoW Information Bureau 1914-1919

Introduction

The Prisoners of War Information Bureau was the third of the major war-related sections to produce a report - like those of the Home Office and the War Office it would appear not to have been published - the version held in the National Archives, originally held by the War Office library, consists of over 40 pages of dense typescript on thin paper, possibly a carbon copy. It is preceded by a 'foreword' by the Director Sir J. D. Rees (1854-1922) - he had retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1901 and served as the Liberal M.P. for Montgomery 1906-1910 before switching to the Unionist (Conservative) cause as M.P. for Nottingham East 1912-1922.

It is ironic that the copies of the lists of Prisoners sent to the International Red Cross Committee (I.C.R.C.) against which he rails both here in the forward and at more length in the final section of the Report are the main surviving copies, those held by London being destroyed in WW2.

Text

Report on the Prisoners of War Information Bureau

General

The Bureau was formed at the outbreak of war with Sir Paul Harvey, Chief Auditor of the National Insurance Audit Department, as Director, Sir William Lauance, Bart., from the Board of Education, as Secretary, Mr. Hunter and Miss Westbrook, M.B.E., from the National Health Insurance Commission (England), as Assistant Director and Head of Card Section respectively, and Mr. O'Brien, M.B.E., from the National Insurance Audit Department, as Registrar, with a Staff consisting of 3 men and 6 lady clerks, which subsequently grew to 19 men and 447 lady clerks.

In October, 1915, I was invited by Lord Kitchener to become Director in place of Sir Paul Harvey, who was called to other duties. I had volunteered for service on the Russian Front, being a qualified Russian Interpreter, and on the Western Front, where among Indian troops Hindustani, Persian, Tamil and Telugu in which languages I served as official Government Translator for many years, would have proved useful. I had also qualified in Arabic by the Higher Standard and these qualifications apparently suggested that I could be better employed at home, and in the Bureau where the duties to be performed called for linguistic acquirements, as we had to deal with Arabic, Russian and the kindred Bulgarian, and Turkish, as well as with some of the Indian languages named.

Mr. Hunter, who became Assistant Director when I took charge possesses considerable linguistic qualifications, as does Miss Westbrook, and a large percentage of the whole staff was necessarily well acquainted with German, and, in a lesser degree, with French. We were also helped by Mr. Devay, late British Consul at Damacus, who was lent by the Foreign Office.

The whole Staff served of course upon a remunerative basis, with the exception of myself.

The life of the Bureau lasted from 17th August,1914, to 6th March,1920, when it ceased to exist as a seperate organisation. A certain number of the staff, mostly belonging to the Ottoman section, continued to work under Colonel Larking, who came to join the Bureau as Liaison Officer, when Mr.Hunter returned to his own Department, in December,1919. Mr. Hunter's long and zealous services in the Bureau call for special recognition, and I should say the same of Miss Westbrook and Mr.O'Brien, and not omit to mention Mrs Roberts, Miss Barrett, Miss Glover end Miss Collier.

Upon the departure of Mr. Hunter, Sir Reginald Brade lent the Bureau the services of Lt.Colonel Larking, late Scots Guards, C.B.E., A.A.G., who had under General Sir Herbert Belfield, K.C.B., K.C.M.C., D.S.O., in the Prisoners of War Department at the War Office, had considerable experience. Colonel Larking's official and personal qualities rendered him highly acceptable to the staff at the Bureau, and he was been most successful in the difficult task of liquidating, what was in fact no inconsiderable Department in the public service.

It would be ungrateful to omit to thank Sir Reginald Brade, G.C.B., end General Belfield for their cordial co-operation throughout the life of the Bureau, and Sir Herbert Creedy, K.C.B, and Mr.J.A. Corcoran, C.B., who under his direction, assisted most materially in bringing our operations to a satisfactory conclusion, and in arranging for the disposal, after the closing of the Bureau, of such business as continued to require attention.

The Ottoman Section for instance could not be closed while 50,000 Turks remained to be repatriated, and with them the remaining comparatively small staff continues to deal, working under and in the War Office.

In July, 1916, a circular was received from the Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence, the material portion of which follows for convenience of reference.

Extract from letter from the Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, dated 25th July, 1916.

3. The Prime Minister suggests that particular situation should be devoted to those whether Departments, sections of Departments, or Committees, which have either been created or expanded from a small nucleus for the purposes of the war. He regards it as of special importance that a very careful record should be made of their work and system of operation, in order that, at the end of the war, in connection with the compilation of a future War Book, full information may be available on the following points :-

(a). How the Department, Section, or Committees came into being and by whose authority; also a brief description of its scope and activities. :

(b). The best arrangements for mobilising or re-establishing the organisation on the outbreak or in immediate anticipation of war.

(c). The authority on whom should rest the responsibility for action as in (b); in this connection the incidence of departmental responsibility should be carefully passed under review.

(d). The extent of the mucleus (if any) which it is desirable should be maintained in time of peace.

(e). The preparation and maintenance of panels from which can be drawn the personnel of the organisation when re-established for War.

(f). The desirability of retaining on the Statute Book or keeping ready to be re-enacted on the outbreak of any future war Acts of Parliamant passed for the purposes of the War. Also the suitability, for issue at the outset of future wars, of Proclamations and Orders in Council in operation at the close of the present war.

(g). Instructions for the guidance of all concerned in the event of the re-establishment of the organisation. The information of this head might include all details of the working of the organisation; forms which might usefully be kept ready; instructions to officers of other Departments or Committees concerned in carrying out work on behalf of, or in connection with, the organisation; particulars of the relations with such Departments, or Committees, and lists of persons to whom experience has shown that reports ought to be communicated.

(h). Imperfections of constitution and working which experience has revealed, together with suggestions as to remedies; any other information which experience has shown would be conducive to the rapid re-establishment and smooth working of the organisation on a war footing.

In the following report all these matters are fully treated, and specimums of the forms used are given. I think, however, that I should state in general terms in this preface the broad conclusions at which I arrived after long experience of the operations of the Bureau.

Though neither I nor any of my subordinates were in any way responsible for, or connected with, the discipline and management of the camps, & duty discharged by the War Office. I necessarily enjoyed wholly exceptional opportunities of becoming acquainted with the system persued, and it may be advantageous that I should state the general conclusions at which I arrived.

I found the discipline excellent and the management good in the Camps in the United Kingdom and in France.

The prisoners of war recognising this, have behaved well. Small lapses have sometimes been exaggerated in the press, and general good conduct has escaped notice.

The messing arrangements in the camps have been excellent, and the ration quite sufficient. The general scale has been so far removed from luxury as it has been from scarcity [penury].

The same remarks apply mutatis mutandis to the Officers Camps.

The tales of undue indulgence, countenanced from high places luxurious living and so on, have been either careless or malevolent gossip, without the slightest foundation in fact.

The officers chosen as Commandants have almost without exception, proved efficient, diligent, tactful and sincerely interested in their work.

It is desirable that the officer commanding the Guard should be under the officer in command of the camp, and this system prevailed universally, I think, towards the end of the life of the camps. It is also desirable that the Commandant should have a separate mess.

It is extremely difficult to put together and held together a large staff with the linguistic qualifications required by an office like that of the bureau and lists of officially and otherwise qualified linguists should be maintained in our great offices of state to which reference can when necessary be made. (Standards of linguistic qualificationds should be co-ordinated, correlated and rendered definite & ascertainable. It is not clear for instance what value attaches to qualifications by departmental standards such as obtained under the Foreign Office as compared with qualifications resulting from examinations held by the Civil Service Commissioners).

The good work done by such a Bureau as this should be used as a lever where necessary to obtain corresponding advantages from belligerent powers for British prisoners of war. It was admitted even by the Prussians that nowhere were records so well kept and the work so well done as in England.

Admirable and continuous good work can be got from an office staffed as to 95% of its personnel by women.

The Bureau should not furnish voluntary organizations with copies of its lists supplied to belligerent powers, as this leads to vain duplication of agencies, redundant references, extra work in all directions, and the maintenance of expensive and unnecessary bodies at someones expenses (and resentment at undue preferences shown).

In connection with this conclusion I would say that before I took office here it had already been the rule that copy of the lists sent by the Bureau to belligerent governments, should be despatched to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Geneva, and not only was this continued throughout the war, but copies were despatched to Geneva of all our lists containing corrected or additional information concerning the prisoners of war.

The Geneva Red Cross alone among voluntary institutions thus received the results of all the work for which the British Tax Payer paid. This may be quite free from objection, but during my visit to Geneva, to my astonishment I learned that upon receipt of these lists, the Red Cross officials circularised the relatives of the prisoners of war mentioned offering their services to them, and were anxious to enter into correspondence with this Bureau regarding particular prisoners of war. To this I demurred, pointing out that everything we knew about every prisoner of war was entered in our lists, and placed gratuitously at their disposal, and we could not increase our already very large and extensive staff costing something like £1,000 per week, in order to enable a voluntary Agency in a neutral country to carry on a competition with us in respect of our official functions.

So far as the Prisoners of War Department of the Geneva Red cross is concerned. I cannot understand why it survives to duplicate the duties now performed under the Hague Convention by Official bodies, the efficiency and sufficiency of which, in the case of this Bureau, have been universally acknowledged.

I would add that I do not think the lists of the official Bureau should be communicated to any quarter other than that designated as an official Bureau or as performing the functions of such by a belligerent power.

One of the great difficulties of carrying on here has been the perpetual incessant, redundant, superfluous, duplication of all work rendered necessary, by the existence of large numbers of voluntary associations.

These remarks do not apply of course to Red Cross organizations acknowledged by belligerents as their Bureau under the Hague Convention, of which the Frankfort Red Cross is the most conspicuous (and the most efficient) illustration.

Signed J.D.Rees Director PWIB 6 March 1920

CONTENTS

Section I. Provisions of the Hague and Geneva Conventions,
Section II. Constitution and work of the Prisoners of war Information Bureau.
Section III. Registration of Prisoners of war
    (a)Procedure at Places of Internment
    (b)Procedure in Bureau
Section IV. Preparation of Weekly Lists of Prisoners of war for Enemy Governments.
Section V. Transfers of Prisoners of war.
Section VI. Releases and Repatriations of Prisoners of war.
Section VII. Information concerning disease, injury and decease of Prisoners of war.
Section VIII. Postal matter for Prisoners of war.
Section IX. Enquiries congerning Prisoners of war.
Section X. Enemy Dead.
Section XI. Property. (exclusive of money) of Prisoners of war (other than Enemy Dead or of prisoners dying in captivity).
Section XII. Money belonging to Prisoners of war.

SECTION I.

THE PROVISIONS OF THE HAGUE AND GENEVA CONVENTIONS.

The Prisoners of War Information Bureau established by the British Government to give effect to certain provisions contained in the Geneva Convention of 1906 and the Hague Convention of 1907 concerning the laws and customs of war on land. Article XIV of the Annex to this Convention, which was signed at the Hague on the 18th October, 1907, and ratified by Great Britain on the 27th November, 1909, is as follows :-

"A bureau for information relative to prisoners of war is instituted at the commencement of hostilities in each of the belligerent states, and, when necessary, in neutral countries which have received belligerents in their territory. The business of this bureau is to reply to all enquiries about the prisoners, to receive from the various services concerned full information respecting internments and transfers, releases on parole, exchanges, escapes, admissions into hospital, deaths, as well as all other information necessary to enable it to make out and keep up to date an individual return of each prisoner of war. The Bureau must state in this return the regimental number, name and surname, age, place of origin, rank, unit, wounds, date and place of capture, internment, wounding, and death, as well as any observations of a special character. The individual return shall be sent to the Goverment of the other belligerent after the conclusion of peace."

"It is also the business of the information bureau to gather and keep together all personal effects, valuables, letters, etc., found on the field of battle, or left by prisoners who have been released on parole, or exchanged, or who have escaped, or died in hospitals or ambulances, and to forward them to those concerned".

Article IV of the Convention which was signed at Geneva on the 6th July, 1906, and ratified by Great Britain on the 16th April, 1907, provides that :-

"As early as possible each belligerent shall send to the authorities of the country or army to which they belong the military identification marks or tokens found on the dead, and a nominal role of the wounded or sick who have been collected by him".

"The belligerents shall keep each other mutually informed of any internments and changes, as well as admissions into hospital and deaths aneng the wounded and sick in their hands. They shall collect all the articles of personal use, valuables, letters, etc., which are found on the field of battle or left by the wounded or sick who have died in the medical establishments or units, in order that such objects may be transmitted to the persons interested by the authorities of their own country".

SECTION II.

THE CONSTITUTION AND WORK OF THE BUREAU.

At the outbreak of the war in August, 1914, no administrative machinery existed in this country for carrying out the provisions of the Hague and Geneva Conventions; but within a week the Prisoners of War Information Bureau staffed entirely by civilians was in working order. The number of persons eventually employed by the Bureau rose to 472, nearly all of whom were women. The responsible officers, 211 of whom with the exception of Sir J.D.Rees, were Established Civil Servants, were as follows :-
Director (1914 - October 1915): Sir Paul Harvey, K.C.M.G., C.B.
    (October 1915 - March 1920): Sir J.D.Rees, Bart., K.C.I.E.,C.V.O.,M.P. Russian Interpreter, Government Translator in Hindustani, Persian,Tamil and Telugu, H.S. Arabic.
Assistant Director - Mr.H.S.Hunter, First Class Clerk, loaned from the Ministry of Health because of his knowledge of languages (German, French, Russian and Bulgarian).
Establishment and Accounting officer. Mr. Chas H.W.O'Brien,M.B.E. Staff Clerk, loaned from the National Ministry of Health owing to his knowledge of "machinery" of a Government office.
Lady Superintendent (in charge of Card Section). Miss G.C.Westbrook, M.B.E. Assistant Inspector Heath Insurance Department, loaned from the Ministry of Health because of her knowledge of languages (German, French, Italian and Dutch.

In addition to these officers, two established Women Clerks, Mrs.A.E.Roberts, (nee Silvester) of the Ministry of Health, and Miss M.L..Barrett of Accountant General's Department of the General Post office were loaned to the Bureau, the former owing to her knowledge of German, as assistant to Miss Westbrook, the latter assistant to Mr.O'Brien.

The following table shows the composition of the remaining staff on 1st September 1919.

The staff of Junior Administrative Assistants and Linguistic Temporary Women Clerks, which was recruited through the Civil Service Commissioners had a thorough knowledge of one or more of the following languages: German, Turkish, Arabic, French, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Polish, Dutch and Russian. Great difficulty was experienced in obtaining women with the necessary linguistic qualifications. The staff was never adequate for the work nor did it ever reach the authorised cadre of 520 although non-linguists (see Treasury Grades I, II and III above) were used wherever possible to bring up the mumbers.

The following table shows the allocation of work and staff 1st September 1919. It must, however, be remembered that the distribution of staff to the different sub-sections within the Card Section was never fixed, as the pressure of work on any one sub-section necessitated the transfer of a large number of clerks at any moment; for example, the Main Card Preparation Section is shown below with a staff of 12 clerks, but its numbers at the time of highest pressure rose as high as 100.

The work of the Bureau fell into eight main divisions :-

I. In the first place it kept records of information concerning all enemy nationals who were interned as prisoners of war in any part of the British Empire. Such alien enemies might be either combatants who had been capured, or interned civilians. For the purpose of keeping the records, the Bureau received from all camps and places of internment lists containing the names and full particulars of all persons interned by His Majesty's Goverment, and of transfers, releases, repatriations, transfers to neutral countries, admissions into and discharges from hospital, deaths during internment, and particulars as to the situation of graves of deceased prisoners of war.

From the information thus received the Bureau compiled complete weekly lists containing full details concerning prisoners of war, which were despatched to the various enemy governments, to the German, Austrian and Bulgarian Red Cross Societies in Frankfort-on-Main, Vienna and Sofia respectively, and to the Ottoman Red Crescent Society in Constantinople.

II. Secondly, it received from all hospitals (including Camp hospitals,in the United Kingdom and on fighting fronts lists of all sick or wounded prisoners under treatment there, together with particulars of their disease or injury. Similar returns were received fron places of internment overseas, It also received from all hospitals (including "Camp" hospitals) in the United Kingdom weekly "condition" reports upon all serious cases. "Condition" reports were also forwarded in the large majority of serious cases from overseas camps.

III. Thirdly, it forwarded regularly to the belligerent Government concerned a list of enemy dead found within the British lines. This list comprises particulars derived from identification marks, paybooks, or other effects found on enemy dead or on the field of battle and sent to the Bureau by the military authorities or received from other sources.

IV. Fourthly, it received from the front and took charge of all personal effects found on the battlefield, as well as the property of prisoners of war who died after internment.

V. Fifthly, it took charge of the property of prisoners of war (other than Enemy Dead or prisoners dying in captivity) which was

(a) of a nature which prisoners were not permitted by the competent authorities to retain in places of internment
(b) inadvertently left behind in places of internment by prisoners of war on repatriation or in excess of the amount permitted to be taken on transfer from one place of internment to another or on repatriation. This amount was regulated by the rank and status of the owner.

VI. Sixthly, it answered all enquiries from whatever sources about prisoners of war or enemy dead, replied to general enquiries about transmission of postal matter, money, etc., dealt with all letters, parcels, and gifts of money sent to prisoners at the address of the Bureau, and verified the addresses in all cases in which postal matter and money remittances sent from foreign countries had been insufficiently or incorrectly addressed.

VII. Seventhly, as the result of an arrangement made September, 1918, the Bureau obtained and forwarded to the German Government whenever obtainable, death certificates in respect of deaths of prisoners of war of German nationality which occurred in the British Isles; further every sheet of the weekly lists compiled by the Bureau for transmission to the German Government on which was entered a notification of the death of any prisoner of war in the hands of the British Government, whether at home or abroad, was signed by a competent official of the Bureau, who thus, in effect, certified the death of all German prisoners of war whe died in the hands of the British authorities. In the case of Ottoman and Bulgerian prisoners of war an "acte de deceas", a special form recording death, was forwarded to the governments concerned whenever it could be obtained. No arrangements concerning the provision of death certificates for deceased Austrian or Hungarian prisoners of war were made with the Austro-Hungarian Goverment.

VIII. Eighthly, the bureau was responsible for the custody of much monies belonging to prisoners of war as were forwarded from places of internment.

SECTION III.

THE REGISTRATION OF PRISONERS.

(a) Proceedure at Places of Internment.

The satisfactory registration of the internment and movements of prisoners of war was found to hinge upon the regular and punctual rendering to the Bureau of an accurately completed "State" (see Form I.B/402. Appendix 1) by Officers in Charge of places of internment. In the case of Places of internment in the United Kingdom, a Daily State was rendered and in the case of those overseas (other than Prisoners of war Section, France, which furnished a Weekly State), a Monthly State was forwarded. A summary of all Daily States received was constructed each day, so that the total nunber of prisoners interned could always be given. (See Forms I.B/54 in appendix 1)

Directly on the arrival of prisoners of war at a place of internment, the Commandant registered them allotting to each man a general number, and then rendered any necessary returns in accordance with the instructions contained in Memorandum I.B/375.

Forms I.B/11 and I.B/33 were not rendered from prisoners of war companies and medical units attached to fighting fronts, as Army Form 3034, a daily return rendered from medical units of the Expeditionary Forces in respect of admissions and discharges was deemed to be adequate.

Form I.B/289 was not brought into use by Prisoners of War Section France, but Form I.B/3 was adapted to report cases of prisoners sent to prison in France.

(b) Procedure in Bureau

The Bureau was normally notified by the War Office of the opening or closing of every prisoners of war camp (whether a "parent" camp or a "working" camp attached to a parent camp) in the United Kingdom. Prisoners of War Section, France, similarly notified the opening or closing of working companies in France and Italy. The arrival of information regarding overseas camps was more erratic, but the calling in of Monthly States from all internment authorities overseas, which was instituted in the first instance by the War Office eventually produced fairly satisfactory results.

The receipt of a "Daily State" ("Weekly" from France and "Monthly" from overseas), enabled the Bureau to ensure the receipt of the returns relative to the events which were recorded on it, and these States may therefore he said to form the indispensable basis of the Bureau's records. On the receipt of a Daily State, the events recorded thereon ware noted on a special monthly sheet, (I.B/58 See Appendix I ) A separate sheet was kept for each place of internment. With the exception of the records relative to Ottoman prisoners of war, which it was found necessary to treat in a separate section of the Bureau, the receipt of all returns I.B/1, I.B/2, I.B/3 were recorded without distinction as to place of internment, or as to the nationality of the prisoners, on a "Record of Receipt of Forms" I.B/430 (See Appendix I.) from which they were checked on to the relative I.B./58. Application was made for any forms found to be outstanding.

The records formed by Forms I.B./58 and I.B./430 proved to be invaluable. Not only were they useful as a check on the returns furnished by Commandants, but the location of forms within the Bureau itself was thereby rendered expeditous as the disposal of each form was shown on I.B./430.

Preparation of Main Card Index. The internment history of prisoners of war was recorded by means of a general card index hereafter called the Main Card Index. Form I.B.121 (see Appendix I.) shows the various categories in which it was found convenient to classify Forms I.B./1.

Immediately after the record of the receipt of Forms I.B./1 and I.B./2, these forms were passed to the main Card Preparation Section, where they were divided according to nationality and further sorted into the categories shown on Form I.B./121 (see appendix I.) They were next sorted according to date of capture and then placed in alphabetical order under each date. A main card, I.B./40, (see appendix I.) was prepared in respect of every prisoner of war from the particulars contained on Form I.B./1. It was found necessary, for purposes of satisfactory identification, to record on the main card all details as to name, age, place and date of capture, regimental particulars, occupation, birthplace and home address. There were for example, more than 250 prisoners named Willi, William or Wilhelm Schmidt in the Main index.

Fixed abbreviations (see appendix XVI) were adopted for use an the cards in order to expedite the work. The services of expert linguists were necessary in order to read the various languages and decipher the scripts in which the forms were completed. In addition to the personal particulars of each prisoner, certain information entered on Part I of Form I.B./1, i.e. the date and place of internment, the general number allotted to him thereat, and if wounded, the nature of the wounds, was also entered on the card. Careful Supervision was required in order to see that details were written plainly, and that all capital letters followed the printed style. The cards of military and naval combatants were distinguished by the impression of a stamp (MIL. or NAV. in red and green ink respectively.

Forms I.B./1 were frequently badly prepared. Those furnished from Prisoners of War Section, France, were often only bad carbon copies of originals and were consequently exceedingly difficult to decipher. In addition to this, Commandants in thousands of cases neglected to see that all the necessary details were entered on the forms. This entailed much correspondence between the Bureau and places of internment.

Each card and its relative I.B./1 were stanped by means of a duplicating mchine with a Serial Number. The prisoner retained this as the reference number of the Bureau throughout his internment, and it was used in the commmunication of alli information to the enemy government concerned. Four separate series of Serial Numbers were at first employed. (a) a series, stamped in black ink used indiscriminately for German and Austrian prisoners of war interned in the British Isles. Prisoners interned in Europe and Egypt were later included in this series.

(b) a series, stamped in green ink, including the letter "C" (Colonies) added to the right of the figures, used indiscriminately for German and Austrian Prisoners of war interned overseas.

(c) a series, stamped in red ink, including the letter "T" added to the right of the figures, used for Ottoman prisoners of war wherever interned.

(d) a series, stamped in brown ink, including the letter "B" added to the right of the figures, used for Bulgarian prisoners of war wherever interned.

Experience showed (a) and (b) to be clumsy and arbitrary in practice, as prisoners were frequently transferred from overseas to the United Kingdom, with the result that it became necessary to substitute a black general Number for the green one. At a later stage a separate series

(e) stamped in blue ink, without a distinctive letter, used for Austrian prisoners of war, wherever interned, was adopted.

Undoubtedly the most convenient system would have been that of one series of serial numbers for prisoners of each nationality, without reference to location.

After the main card and Form I.B./1 had been stamped, the Form I.B./1 was ticked off against the relative entry on the nominal roll (normally entered on Form I.B./2, but if not forwarded by the camp authorities, constructed in the Bureau.) The spelling of the name of the prisoner appearing on Form I.B./2, was checked and amended if necessary, and the serial number was entered on the form. It may be pointed out here that Form I.B/2 wes never rendered by Prisoners of War Section, France. This caused enormous additional work and difficulty in referencing in the Bureau's records.

As soon as the main records were written and stamped, they were arranged in serial number order, and passed to the Listing Section, where the lists for the various enemy governments were prepared. (See also later under "Preparation of the Weekly Lists of Prisoners of War for Enemy Governments")

As the main cards were eventually filed alphabetically in the main index, Forms I.B/1 in order of Serial Number, and Forms I.B/2 (or nominal rolls) in order of General Number under the places of internment from which they were rendered, it was possible to identify a prisoner of war in three ways :-
(1) by name, through the medium of the main card index,
(2) by General Number on the nominal roll of the place of internment,
(3) by the Serial Number appearing on the Form I.B/1, and on the weekly lists.

In addition to the preparation of the main index card the Main Card Preparation Section also prepared a special card for every officer prisoner of war and for every prisoner of war whose personal particulars form showed him to be interned in a Hospital. The index of officers formed by the cards in the former class proved very valuable for special reference, while the cards in the latter class were passed to the Health Section for use in the subsidiary hospital index (See under Section VI).

Forms I.B/1 were not rendered from hospitals in France until November, 1917, Until that date, the Bureau had to do the best it could with very bad returns, furnished on army Form 3-103A. which were prepared by British soldiers with no knowledge of German. These cases were reported provisionally on a special appendix of the weekly list, but the Bureau could not guarantee that the information was correct, or undertake to relate the notifications to any others, which might be made as the result of the receipt of Forms I.B./1, from the place of internment to which prisoners might be discharged from hospital although by dint of painstaking search, and the exercise of much imagination, the linguistic staff linked up numberless cases.

The average time taken, after the receipt of Forms I.B./1 and I.B./2, to prepare the main card and make the relative notification on the Weekly Lists, was about half an hour. It will be easily seen that this was too long to permit rapid notification of the intermment of masses of prisoners. Even if returns were received immediately after capture,(in many cases the responsible authorities allowed weeks to elapse before forwarding them), it became impossible to notify promptly such numbers of prisoners as were taken on the Western Front in the push of Autumn 1916, and the Bureau at this stage fell months behind with the work. Neither staff nor accomodation were adequate, and it is important to remember that the difficulty of obtaining staff with the requisite linguistic qualifications would be even greater in the event of war with a country whose language was less spoken by British subjects than German.

In the light of these difficulties, it would be advisable to devise alternative methods of notification. It might perhaps be feasible to use a form of personal particulars to which a detachable counter foil was affixed, and to cause each prisoner when completing the main form to repeat exactly all essential particulars on the counterfoil. When the copies of the forms with the counterfoils still attached were received in the information bureau, a series number could be stamped in duplicate on main form and counterfoil. The coumterfoils could then be detached and forwarded under scrutiny to the enemy Government. Any subsequent enquiries concerning a particular prisoner, would presumably bear the relative serial number.

Main Card Index

Owing to the perpetual use of the main Card Index, it was found difficult to preserve it exact alphabetical sequence, and it was found necessary to revise every card drawer once a week. This check served not only to keep the index in alphabetical order, but when carried out with intelligence revealed duplicate cards, caused "watch" cards to be related to main cards and enabled torn or illegible cards to be replaced or amended.

It is estimated that over 600,000 prisoners of war passed through the hands of the British Authorities. A main card had to be constructed for every one of these prisoners, and in the majority of cases one or more subsidary cards.

The places of internment in which these prisoners were confined were nearly 1,600 in number A list complete up to January 1919, is contained in Appendix 17.

Owing to the number of enquiries, letters and parcels received by the Bureau for persons who appeared to be detained in H.M. Prisons in a capacity somewhat resembling that of prisoners of war, the Secretary of the Prison Commission arranged that the Governors of these prisons should furnish from time to time lists of enemy aliens under detention in such places. A special card I.B./86 (see Appendix I) was prepared for insertion in the main card index in these cases.

For the sake of brevity, the persons concerned were styled "Offenders". It sometimes happened that an "offender" became a prisoner of war, in which case the new main card ran up against the yellow card which was then withdrawn. If a prisoner of war became an "offender", the yellow card ran up against the main card which was then withdrawn. As each yellow card bore an indication that the person to whom it was proper was a "special case", and that any revelant enquiry must be brought to notice, such cards were occasionally adapted for use instead of a main white card for a prisoner whose case needed confidential or careful handling.

Ottoman Section.

The general procedure in Ottoman Section followed that of the other sections of the Bureau, i.e. its records depended on "States" and nominal rolls, and were kept in the same manner. It was, however, extremely difficult to construct a satisfactory Ottoman Main Card Index owing to the fact that the Turk has no patronymic; thus "Said Ahmed Mustefa", might also be rendered as "Said Mustefa Ahmed" or "Ahmed Mustafa Said" or "Ahmed Said Mustafa" or Mustafa Said Ahmed" or "Mustafa Ahmed Seid". This necessitated the institution of an elaborate system of cross reference cards. Further, the same Turkish name may have many spellings, e.g. Mehned, "Mohammed, Mohamed, Mohomed, Mohamet, Mahomet, Mahmud, Ahmed.

Hassan, Hussan, Housean, Housen, Hasin, Houssein,

Khalil, Halil, Kalil, Ali,

The difficulty which this presents in card indexing is apparent. It was found that the only way to deal with it was to select a standard spelling, and to make all variations conform to it.

The work of keeping the records of Ottoman prisoners of war was rendered still more difficult owing to the very unsatisfactory returns furnished by the responsible internment authorities. Camps and hospitals were frequently in existance for months before any records, which were frequently illegible or incorrect, were received by the Bureau. As Ottoman prisoners were interned in Egypt, Mesopotamia and India, the very large correspondence which was necessary owing to the shortcomings of returns sometimes took many weeks to reach its destination.

SECTION IV.

PREPARATION OF WEEKLY LISTS OF PRISONERS OF WAR FOR ENEMY GOVERNMENTS.

(a) German Lists Each List was divided into two parts containing :- (1) the names of prisoners interned in Europe and Egypt(for whom the black serial number was used); and (2) these interned elsewhere (for when the green serial mumber was used).

Each part was subdivided into three main sections dealing with military combatants, naval conbatants, and civilians respectively: Each section was composed of a "Main List" on which all first notifications of internment were made. Each Main List was followed by appendices as required, vis:-

Appendix A ... Corrigenda and additional particulars.
Appendix B ... Transfers.
Appendix C ... Releases, Repatriations.
Appendix D ... Re-internments.
Appemdix E ... Prisoners of war reported to be in British Hospitals in France. (This was discontinued as soon as Forms I.B/1 began to be rendered from France).
Appendix F ... Transfers to Switzerland.
Appendix G ... Transfers to Holland.
Appendix H ... Transfers to the United States, (i.e. of prisoners originally captured by U.S.)
Appendix K ... Identicals (Relation of two main list notifications discovered to refer to one prisoner).
Appendix I ... Admissions into, and discharges from Hospital (giving nature of disease or injury)
Appendix II ... Health reports (of serious cases).
Appendix I1I ... Deaths.
Appendix IV ... Advance notifications (of officers and important prisoners of war. It was sometimes found advisable to put these forward earlier than the sequence of receipt of the relative returns would have allowed).
Appendix V ... Particulars of burial of deceased prisoners of war.

Both Main List and Appendices were arranged according to the sequence of the Serial Numbers of the prisoners.

(b) Austrian Lists. These were prepared in the same way as the German Lists. Certain of the appendices were untitled in the Austrian Lists, as, either necessity for their use did not arise, or in the absense of agreements with the Austrian Government for the same detailed information, they were not required.

(c) Ottoman Lists. These were prepared in the same way as the German Lists. The only appendices used for the Ottoman Lists were Nos. I to IV, A,B,C,D,and E. (Note: - In Ottoman Lists 1-56 inclusive, Appendix IV was used for notification of releases. After that date Appendix IV was used for advance notifications as in a1l other weekly Lists).

(d) Bulgarian Lists These ware prepared in the same way as the German Lists. The only appendices used for the Bulgarian Lists were Nos. I to III, A,B,C,D,and E.

The main lists were compiled from the main cards abf checked from the relative Forms I.B/1, a process which brought errors in cards and lists to at the same time. Appendices were compiled from subsidary cards put foward by sprecial sections charged with their preparation. (See further under relative headings).

The first list for each enemy goverment was despatched as follows :-
to the German Goverment on 19th Septenber, 1914.
to the Austrian Goverment on 26th September, 1914.
to the Ottoman Goverment on 14th April, 1915.
to the Bulgarian Goverment on 23rd March, 1916.

The early "Main Lists" contained the following perticulars:- Serial Number, Surname, Christian names, age or date of birth, military particulars and home address of each prisoner of war. In December, 1914, the place of internment was furnished, although the General Number thereat was not added until September, 1916. The date of internment was first given in October, 1917. after May, 1916, the birth place was stated wherever possible, and after August, 1916, the name of the next-of-kin appeared on the lists. The particulars were further amplified in April, 1917, by the addition of the place and date of capture of combatants.

Fixed abbreviations, the meaning of which was always communicated to the enemy goverment concerned, were used in the preparation of the lists in order to reduce the work of the typists.

It may be fairly held that the particulars communicated to the enemy governments through the medium of the weekly lists supply the information required for the "fiche individuelle" referred to in the Annex to the Hague Convention of 1907, and at a conference held at the War Office, between the authorities there and the Director and representatives of the Bureau, it was decided that no further "fiche individuelle" should be rendered. The following detailed statement shows in what respects the information supplied fell short.

MEMORANDUM (January 1920)

Construction of "fiches individuelle" from Weekly Lists.

Notifications in Lists are incomplete as follows :-

A German and Austrian Lists.

B. Bulgarian Lists

C. Ottoman Lists

Copies of the various Weekly Lists were typed and despatched as shown below:

German List.

2 copies sent to German Government (via Swiss Legation).
1 copy sent to Frankfort Red Cross (via Swiss Legation).
1 copy sent to International Committee Red Cross, Geneva.
1 Copy General Office Copy (bound), used for all references
1 Copy of Main List and Appendix A. only. Used in Subsidiary Card Preparation Section for preparation of movement cards.

Austrian List.

2 copies sent to Austrian Goverment (via Foreign Office and Swedish Legation).
1 copy sent to Vienna Red Cross (via Foreign Office and Swedish Legation).
1 copy sent to International Committee Red Cross, Geneva.
1 Copy General Office Copy
1 Copy Main List and Appendix A. only, for Subsidiary Card Preparation Section

Ottoman and Bulgarian Lists.

Copies were despatched as for Austrian lists, except that the Red Cross Copies were sent to Constantinople and Sofia respectively.

Upto 28th February 1920, the Bureau had transmitted the number of lists shown below :-

German Government 205
Austrian Government 198
Ottoman Government 182
Bulgarian Government 117

SECTION V.

TRANSFERS OF PRISONERS OF WAR.

After the completion of each Weekly List, a copy of the Main List and Appendix A. was passed to the Subsidiary Card Preparation Section, where a staff of non-linguistic clerks prepared for each prisoner on the main list, a special subsidiary card called a "movement card" I.B./85 (see Appendix I) which was destined for use by the sections dealing with transfers, releases and repatriations. In this and in all other subsidiary indexes, naval, military and civilian prisoners were distinguished from one another by the colour of the card, and the different nationalities were distinguished by lettering in the corner of the card. When the movement cards had been prepared, they were taken to the Transfer Section and put away in a subsidiary index according to sequence of General Number, under the respective places of internment, whence they could be withdrawn as required.

Notifications of transfers of prisoners of war were normally made on Form I.B./3 (See Appendix I.) On receipt of the necessary copies of the form from the place of internment despatching the prisoners, the Commandant of the camp of arrival entered thereon the new general numbers in his own series. It was found necessary to emphasise repeatedly the importance of allotting these numbers in exact and unbroken chronological sequence as, in order to ensure thet the Bureau's records were correct, every number had to be accounted for. One copy of the completed form was forwarded to the bureau, where it was dealt with by the Transfer section. The transfers were marked up on the main cards and were then recorded on the movement cards which were withdrawn for the purpose from the subsidiary index in which they were kept. The movement cards withdrawn during each week were sorted into serial number order, and were then passed to the Listing Section for the movements to be notified to the eneny governments. On return from Listing Section the cards were put away in the drawers proper to new place of internment under General Number order. When the final event in the prisoners internment history occurred (release, repatriation, transfer to neutral country, etc.) the card was withdrawn by the Release Section and was incorporated in the subsidiary index of that section.

The various types of transfer are as follows :-

1. In the United Kingdom

1) From one Parent Camp to another Parent Camp.
2) From a Parent Camp to a Working Camp, an Agricultural Depot (i.e. a Working Camp having smaller units, known as Agricultural Groups, depending on it) or to an Agricultural Group and vice versa.
3) From a Working Camp to another Working Camp, an Agricultural Group, or to a Migratory Gang (i.e. a small group usually composed of about 10 men attached to a Working Camp or an Agricultural Depot), and vice versa.
4) From an Agricultural Depot to an Agricultural Group or to a Migratory Gang and vice versa.
5) From an Agricultural Group to another Agricultural Group or to a Migratory Gang and vice versa.
6) From a Migratory Gang to another Migratory Gang.

In cases (2) to (5) the transfers were of two kinds
(i) between Camps under the same Parent Camp, in which case the p/w retained the General No. alloted to him on his first admission to that Camp and
(ii) between Camps under different Parent Camps, in which cases the p/w was allotted a fresh Gen. No. in the series proper to the Parent Camp to which he was transferred.

II. In France

The Camps in France were divided into groups known as Working Companies and prisoners of war were transferred from one Working Company to another Working Company. Each Company had its own series of General Numbers. Prisoners of War were also transferred from the United Kingdom to France and from France to the United Kingdom.

Much trouble was caused at the times of transfers from France to England owing to the fact that Forms I.B./3 could not be furnished as the prisoners were dispersed to various places of internment on arrival. The use of a label Army Form 3417 (See Appendix II) was instituted, on which particulars necessary for identification were entered in France. On arrival in the United Kingdom, the label together with a fresh copy of Form I.B./1 showing the new general number assigned to the prisoner, was forwarded to the Bureau by the Commandant of the new place of internment, and identity could then be satisfactorily established.

III. In the Colonies

Prisoners of war were transferred from one place of internment to another in the same territory or colony and also from one territory or colony to another territory or colony. Transfers to the United Kingdom also took place.

Notification of transfers to Enemy Goverments

These were all notified with the exception of the classes set out in the memorandum in Section 4 of this report. An agreement was made with the German Government during 1916 which provided that (1) a special form I.B./82 (See Appendix I) should be completed by every prisoner in a Combatant Camp in the United Kingdom on 1st April,1916, and transmitted without delay to the German Government, (2) all transfers of combatant prisoners in the United Kingdom occurring after that date should be notified, (3) Form I.B./82 should be completed by any fresh combatant prisoner of war interned in the United Kingdom, and similarly transmitted. This was duly carried out. The forms were transmitted via the Department of the Postal Censor. Transfers between Parent Camps only were notified and not between Parent Camps and Working Camps under their control. Transfers between Parent and Working Camps not under their control were as transfers between Parent Camps and were duly notified.

It may be mentioned here that the work of the Bureau was made very heavy and sometines very difficult owing to the constant changes which the military authorities found it necessary to make in the location of prisoners of war.

SECTION VI.

RELEASES AND REPATRIATIONS OF PRISONERS OF WAR.

It was found convenient to allot the work of recording releases, repatriations, transfers to neutral countries, escapes, re-captures and imprisonments to a single section. These movements were notified to the Bureau on Form I.B./3 (see Appendix I). In cases of imprisonment for the purpose of serving the sentence of a Civil or Military Court, Form I.B./289 was rendered in addition to Form I.B/3, (except from Prisoners of War Section, France).

On receipt of the returns, the movements, were marked up on the main index cards, and were then recorded on the movement cards which were withdrawn for the purpose from the subsidiary transfer index. So far as the movements cards showed movements which it was necessary to notify to the enemy governments, those withdrawn during each week were sorted into serial number order, and were then passed to the Listing Section for the necessary entries to be made on the weekly lists. On return from the Listing Section the cards were put away into the indexes kept by Release Section according to the categories to which they were proper. The indexes were divided according to nationality (which in the case of Germans included a European and an overseas division) into the following Classees :

I. Release (other than these shown below in special categories) and repatriations.

In this category were included, without further sub-division
(a) Releases on parole
(b) Unconditional Releases
(c) Releases for work of national importance
(d) Repatriations

(1) owing to physical incapacity,
(2) of Medical Personel,
(3) of prisoners who had been interned eighteen months or more.
(4) after Armistice.

II. Prisoners handed over to allied or neutral countries, either to join the army or for other reasons.

This category was subdivided according to the countries to which the prisoners were passed over, i.e., (a) Great Britain (b) France (c) Poland (d) Jugo slavia (e) Csecho-slovakia (f) Denmark (g) United States

These special subsidiary indexes were found to be very useful when prisoners' property and money were being handed over to the respective governments.

III. Escapes and re-captures.
IV. Imprisonments (Transfers to Detention Barrecks or to a Civil Prison to undergo the sentence of a Military or Civil Court.
V. Transfer of German prisoners of war for internment in Switzerland.
VI. Transfer of German prisoners of war for internment in Holland

All releases of enemy nationals, other than those falling inte category II, or of prisoners from the "Friendly" Camp at Feltham, were notified to the Governments concerned.

Repatriations were all notified to the German and Austrian Governments until the Spring of 1919 when owing to pressure of work, the procedure was discontimed.

When the general repatriation of prisoners began a receipted nominal roll was almost invariably obtained from the eneny representatives to whom the prisoners were handed ever, and it was decided by a conference held in conjunction with the War Office authorities in Jamary, 1920 that these rolls constituted sufficient evidence of repatriation the British Authorities and that it was umnecessary to make any relative notifications on the weekly lists. Where a receipted roll was not forthcoming, a notification was made on the lists.

Escapes and re-captures ware not notified in the weekly lists, although information concerning these events was furnished in reply to enquiries.

Imprisonments to serve sentences for one month or longer were notified.

Transfers of Geman prisoners to Switzerland were effected during the Summer of 1916, and transfers to both Switzerland and Holland were the outcome of an agreement made at the Hague between the British and German Gevernmments in July 1917 by which combatant prisoners of war (officers and non-comissioned officers) who had been interned more than eighteen months and invalid civilians became eligible for transfer to these countries for internment.

SECTION VII.

INFORMATION CONCERNING DISEASE, INJURY AND DECEASE OF PRISONES OF WAR.

Subsidiary indexes were compiled in respect of a) admissions into and discharges from Hospital of prisoners of war, each card being backed by a second card where necessary, showing the condition of these men who were seriously ill, b) the death of prisoners of war; c)particulars of burial of prisoners of war; d) receipt and despatch of death certificates,

(a) Admissions into and discharges from Hospital and medical reports. All admissions into and discharges from "Camp" Hospital (i.e. sick wards attached to the Place of Internment) were notified to the Bureau on Form I.B/11 (see appendix I.) Such admissions into Hospital were shown on the main card by the stamping of a capital letter "H" below the relative internment space. This was deleted in pencil on discharge. After the event had been noted on the main card, a small subsidiary card I.B/31 (see appendix I.) was prepared. Proceeding from left to right across the middle of the card, the following particulars were shown: (1) Place of Internment from which the prisoner was admitted to hospital, together with the general number therein, and the date of admission to that Camp, (2) Name of Hospital to which he was admitted, together with the date of admission, and a statement of the cause of admission, (3) Place of Internment to which the prisoner was discharged, together with the date of discharge and the new general number.

Admissions into and discharges from Hospitals which were separate medical units outside the jurisdiction of the Camp Authorities were notified on Form I.B/3 except in the case of medical units attached to fighting fronts and of prisoners of war Working Companies in France and Italy, when Army Form W3034 (See Appendix III) was rendered, The transfer to Hospital was noted on the main index, but no details as to the disease or iliness were entered thereon, as it was found necessary to restrict additional notations on the main card as far as possible to particulars of location. The subsidiary hospital cards then noted in the same way as for admissions to "Camp Hospital".

The subsidiary Hospital index was kept in alphabetical order. It was subdivided according to nationality, and, as regards Germans, no distinction was made between those interned in Europe (including Egypt) and those interned overseas. When cards were withdrawn for notations to be made, or new cards were prepared, they were kept in a special drawer until the end of each week, when they were put forward in order of serial number to the Listing Section for completion of the relative Appendices of Weekly Lists,

Every place of internment in the United Kingdom and most of those overseas, rendered a weekly progress report on Form I.B/33 (see Appendix 6) showing the condition of prisoners who were seriously ill, every prisoner whose condition was not satisfactory, appeared on this report until he could be said to be making satisfactory progress, : If no cases of serious illness were treated during any week, a nil report was furnished. In the case of places of internment in the United Kingdom, the nil report was furnished on I.B/33a.

No notation was made on the main index in respect of the progress reperts, A Subsidiary card I.B/52 (see appendix 1) was prepared showing the place of internment and general number of the prisoner, the date of the report, his condition on that date, and the number of the List and of the Appendix therein in which it was to be notified on the Weekly List. The cards noted during any one week were put forward to the Listing Section in serial number order,

It was found best, as a matter of practical convenience, to keep each of these cards behind the relative hospital card so as to form one index, since this enabled full information about the health of a prisoner to be given with the minimum of search.

Injuries were sometimes received by prisoners subsequent to internment, These might be due to accidents occurring during work, explosions, attempts to escape etc, when returns were received by the Bureau in such cases, any admission to Hospital which might have been necessary would be duly notified to the enemy government concerned, but the Bureau forbore to give any particulars of the cause of admission until it had received either a copy of the Proceedings of the Court of Enquiry which was generally held, or full particulars of the circumstances from the internment authorities, In cases where it seemed advisable that no information on the point should be given, no notification was made as to the cause of admission, (see also below under "Deaths").

Cases of venereal disease were not notified as such and where it was not possible to give an alternative diagnosis, the admission into hospital was notified without the cause.

(b) Deaths. The decease of a prisoner of war, as distinct from that of an enemy combatant found dead on the field of battle or dying in a "forward" medical unit, was notified to the Bureau on form I.B/3 which bore a statement as to the cause of death. The death was first noted up on the main card by means of a black stamp "D" in the first vacant internment space, together with the date. A subsidiary card I.B/30 (see Appendix I) was prepared. These cards were sorted each week into serial number order and put forward for the relative notifications to be made on the Weekly Lists. In the case of violent or sudden death, the Bureau awaited the report of the finding of the inquest or of the Proceedings of the Court of Enquiry if such took place, before notifying the cause of death to the enemy government.

Two special watch cards, the "Death Certificate" watch card and a "Grave Registration" watch card I.B/105a and I.B/125a (see Appendix I) were completed in respect of deceased German prisoners of war,

These two additional indexes were rendered necessary in consequence of an agreement made in September 1918 between the British and German Governments, whereby the British Government undertook (1) to furnish information on the bureau's Weekly Lists with regard to the date and place of burials of German prisoners whose death in the British Isles, British Overseas Colonies Dominions and Protectorates, and in enemy territory ; then in British occupation was notified thereon, so far as such information could be given and had not already been furnished,(2) to forward to the German Government civil death certificates, wherever obtainable, in respect of deaths of prisoners of war of German nationality which had occurred or might occur in the British Isles, so far as each documents had not already been furnished; As this arrangement did not provide for certificates in respect of deaths of prisoners of war who died outside the British Isles, it was agreed that every sheet of the lists compiled by the Bureau for transmission to the German Government on which was entered a notification of the death of a prisoner of war should be signed by a competent official,

An arrangement had already been made with the Registrar General and the other competent authorities in the British Isles, during the year 1916, for the automatic rendering of a death certificate to the Bureau "in respect of the death of any German subject, combatant or civilian, who was either a prisoner of war or had been interned" and Registrars of Birth and Deaths were instructed that on and after 18th October, 1916, if such deaths occurred in their sub-district, a stamped certificate of death must straightway be transmitted to the bureau, together with a demand for the statutory fee (usually 2/7d.)

Under this arrangement the Bureau obtained over 2,600 civil death certificates, including a certain number furnished in respect of deaths occurring at sea after action, during transfer from overseas to the United Kingdom, or en route for repatriation. The rendering of the certificates was automatically checked and secured in the Bureau by an arrangement of the Death Certificates Card index. The certificates were scrutinised in order to see that they related to the prisoner whe had been reported dead, and to prevent the communication to Germany of any qustionable particulars, (such as the names of British warships on which death occurred, or causes of death which seemed to suggest ill-treatment etc). A number was then allotted to each certificate in a special register of death certificates, and batches were forwarded, at first at irregular intervals, later every week, to the Foreign office, via the Censor for despatch to. the German Government. Each certificate was accompanied by Form I.B/125 (see appendix I) which established the identity of the prisoner of war concerned.

A great deal of difficulty was experienced in obtaining certificates in many cases of deaths at sea of prisoners picked up by British warships, as the entry on the ship's log on the strength of which a death certificate could be issued was sometimes not made, and in other instances, the ship was subsequently lost at sea and the log was therefore not recoverable,

No arrangement whatever was made with regard to the furnishing of death certificates to the Austrian Government, No particulars of the burial of deceased Austrian prisoners were ever notified, The Bureau is, however, in possession of the necessary information.

Early in 1917, in order to secure reciprocity for British prisoners in the hands of the Ottoman Government it was arranged that an "acte de deces" Form I.B/134 (see appendix I) should be furnished in respect of all deseased Ottoman prisoners. In January,1918, this procedure was also adopted for Bulgarian prisoners.

Up to 28th February, 1920, 14,283 actes de deces had been forwarded to the Ottoman Red Cross Society and 257 to the Bulgarian Red Cross.

Particulars of burial were obtained in the case of death in the United Kingdom and overseas by the despatch of Form I.B/194 (see appendix I) at the time of the preparation of the subsidiary death card,

The despatch of this form was recorded on the relative Grave Registration Watch Card index, An automatic arrangement of this index secured the rendering of the necessary returns, The particulars were obtained from the place of internment if possible. Failing that, application was made to the Command in the United Kingdom, or to the responsible Internment Authorities in overseas territories. In the case of prisoners dying in internment in France or Italy, the particulars were furnished on the Form I.B/3 on which the death was notified, and the relative Form I.B/194 was constructed in the Bureau. Army Council Instruction 1319 of 1917 (see Appendix IV) provided for the erection of wooden crosses over the graves of all deceased enemy combatents in the British Isles and in all Commands of the British Empire and districts abroad where war was not in progress, and the carrying out of this instruction was kept in view by means of the entry in paragraphs 12 and 13 of Form I.B/194.

On the return of Forms I.B/194 duly completed they were allotted a serial number. This nunber was noted on the relative watch card, and the forms were passed to the Listing Section, they were put away in serial number order in a binder, thus forming a permanent record for reference.

SECTION VIII.

POSTAL MATTERS FOR PRISONERS OF WAR.

Article 16 of the Annexe to the Hague Convention of 1907 states "Information Bureaux enjoy the Privilege of free carriage. Letters, money orders and valuables, as well as postal parcels, intended for prisoners of war, or dispatched by them, shall be excepted from all postal charges in the countries of origin and destination as well as in the countries they pass through. Presents and relief in kind for prisoners of war shall be admitted free of all imports or other duties, as well as any payment for carriage by State railways".

It is estimated that more than two million letters, parcels and money orders passed through the Bureau for re-direction and despatch to the addressees. This re-direction often entailed careful search much immagination, and where parcels were concerned, laborious end disagreeable work.

(a) Parcels. In the early days of the war, parcels were sent to the Bureau for re-direction, but this was found to cause much work both in the General Post Office and in the Bureau. The plan of sending the relative "parcel note" which the foreign postal authorities despatched with each parcel, was then adopted, and the necessary correction was made on this instead of on the parcel itself. This saved much labour as well as obviated the disagreeable task of handling decomposed food. In course of time, the place of internment became known to the relatives, and parcels could then be despatched direct to the addressees, although the fact that the War Office authorities constantly transferred prisoners from one camp to enother was always a troublesome factor in the disposal of postal matter received by the Bureau. After some time, the German Postal Authorities discontinued the use of parcel notes, and the Bureau was once more liable to be flooded with derelict parcels in all states of decay. A successful endeavour was a to divert the stream by the issue of instructions to Commandants to re-direct parcels for prisoners who had left their camp. This worked very well except in cases of large transfers of prisoners from France to the United Kingdom, such as occurred during the early part of 1918, when owing to the fact that their various destinations were not known to the authorities in France, all their postal matter was poured into the Bureau for re-direction. The Bureau and the General Post Office itself were swamped with thousands of parcels in all states of delapidation, and decay, and it says much for the patriotism of the Bureau's staff of women that this sometimes truly disgusting work was loyally carried through.

In the summer of 1917, an agreement was made between the British and German Governments for the distribution among needy prisomerse of war of parcels despatched from enemy countries which were undeliverable owing to the fact that the addressee was dead, released, repatriated or transferred to a neutral country. Under this agreement, it was arranged that notification should be made in every case, to the enemy country from which the parcel emanated that this had been carried out. See Army Council Instructions 1277 of 1917 and War Office letter 0103/9996 (P.W.2) of 13th October,1917, (appendices V & VI). The notifications on the British side were made by means of schedules prepared at each place of internment, or at the Bureau in the last resort, on Form I.B./208 (See Appendix I), a separate form being used for each nationality. As it was found that Commandants could not always be relied upon to determine correctly whether a parcel fell within the "Undeliverable category" it was arranged that preliminary slips I.B./313 (See Appendix I), should be forwarded to the Bureau order that the undeliverable nature of parcels might be confirmed. On the return of the slips the Commandants entries in respect of all relative parcels found to be undeliverable were made on the schedules. A Camp Committee of prisoners certified at the foot of each form that the parcels had been properly distributed, and the signatures of the Commandant or his deputy was added. The forms were then forwarded to the Bureau by whom they were despatched to the various enemy Postal Authoroties

Inland parcels for the United Kingdom were returned to the sender.

This arrangement held good until the end of August 1919, when owing to pressure of work the Bureau ceased to transmit the schedules. It was understood that the Germans had carried out their side of the agreement very indifferently so far as notification of distribution was concerned, so that the discontinance did not call for comment.

In the summer of 1919, it was arranged that parcels addressed to Officers should be returned to the senders, and after the end of November,1919, all parcels for all prisoners were so treated.

(b) Letters. A copy of instructions issued by the Bureau to Commandants concerning undeliverable letters appears in Appendix VII (G.19/60 of 20th November, 1918).

(c) Money Orders. A very large number of Money Orders intended for prisoners of war were insufficiently or incorrectly addressed, and this necessitated an arrangement whereby the Money Order Department of the General Post Office forwarded such orders, (later batches of slips containing particulars of the orders instead of the orders themselves) to the Bureau for the internment particulars to be added.

Great difficulty arising from the same causes, (mis-spelt names, wrong regimental particulars, etc.) were experienced at places of internment, and many cases of orders paid to the wrong payees occurred necessitating careful investigation and much correspondence before the necessary adjustments could be made. The steps taken by the Bureau in collaboration with the General Post Office to meet these difficulties are shown in the Memoranda issued by the Bureau to Commandants (see Appendices VIII, IX, X, and XI).

A record was kept of all cases in which the actual Money Orders passed through the Bureau, also of all letters, so that these could be traced in case of enquiry. This was achived by means of a special card (see Appendix I), filed in alphabetical order and a register I.B.190 (see Appendix I)

It was the aim of the Bureau to handle as few Money, Orders as possible in order to avoid the work in connection with recording them, and to this end, the special counterfoil issued by the Post Office with every order for a prisoner of war was made use of as far as possible, in cases of re-direction.

The procedure as finally crystallised, is set forth in Armyy Council Instructions 245 of 1918 (See Appendix 12).

SECTION IX.

ENQUIRIES CONCERNING PRISONERS OF WAR.

It is estimated that the Bureau has dealt with considerably more than half a million enquiries from all parts of the world, the bulk of which emanated from enemy countries, This number would have been largely multiplied had it not been for the fact that drastic measures were adopted to prevent duplication of enquiries as far as possible. To this end, it was arranged early in 1917, to send a duplicate of the weekly lists hitherto despatched to the German Government to the Frankfort Red Cross Society, and to in future prepare an extra copy each week for that Society, This enabled the German Red Cross to answer many thousands of enquiries for themselves.

The International Committee of the Red Cross at Geneva is the typical example of the redundant intermediary, This society was most prolific of enquiries by letter and telegram which, in a very large proportion of cases, proved to be duplicates of enquiries made by the representative Red Cross Societies in Germany. The Committee seems to have had no functions in respect of prisoners of war in British hands which could not have been as well, indeed better, carried out by the Red Cross organisations of the enemy countries, By an arrangement made at the beginning of the war, the Committee was furnished with a duplicate copy of all the Bureau's weekly lists, but although it was soon discovered that it would be advantageous to cut off neutral intermediaries and the inevitable duplication of work caused by them, it was not deemed politic to discontinue furnishing information in this particular case, as the Committee were able to do valuable work in connection with British prisoners interned in enemy countries. The Bureau therefore, retained what was, in effect, an old man of the sea on its back.

In addition to enquiries from organisations and individuals in enemy countries, innumerable enquiries were received from crowned heads, organisations and the general public in neutral countries, and from many sources in the British Empire, e.g. Govermnment Departments, Legations and Consulates of neutral countries, public organisations, and private individuals, A great number of enquiries were also received from prisoners of war who sought to discover the whereabouts of missing comrades. Many personal enquiries were made by callers at the Bureau.

In view of the fact that arrangements were made whereby Boards of Guardians were authorised to pay a Government grant to the British-born wives and dependants of interned aliens, it was necessary to institute special proceedure to deal with these cases, It was therefore arranged with the local Government Board in January, 1915, that when application was made by the wife or dependants of an interned alien, for the granting of thie allowance, the Clerk to the Board of Guardians should, in the first place, bring the case to the notice of the Bureau for confirmation of the internment. The Bureau then undertook to notify the Clerk of the release, repatriation or death of the prisoner. On receipt by the Bureau of the letter appying for confirmation of internment, the letters "B.B.W." (British-born wife) were stamped in red ink at the top of the relative main card. When returns showing the release, repatriation or death of interned aliens were received the relative notations were made on the main index card, watch was kept for all cases of cards bearing this stamp, and these were automatically brought forward for the necessary notice to be sent to the Boards of Guardians concerned.

In cases of enquiry from an important source for a prisoner of war of whom no trace was found in the records a special "watch" card I.B,24 (see Appendix I) containing essential particulars, was inserted in the main card index, if the missing man eventually became a prisoner, the normal main card duly found its way into the index, and when being filed came up against the watch card, which was then withdrawn in order that a reply might be sent to the enquirer.

Many thousands of telegraphic enquiries were received by the Bureau, These were mostly from neutral Red Cross Societies such as the International Committee at Geneva, and the Bureau de la Paix at Berne, which, until the armistice, acted as the transmitting agent for telegrams from enemy Red Cross Secieties, These telegrams were reply paid. Owing to the immense number of telegrams received which referred to untraced prisoners, a special arrangement was made with the principal Red Cross Societies concerned, whereby replies were only sent in cases in which the prisoner was traced, thus leaving a large number of reply vouchers for use in connection with traced prisonere, This was a very convenient arrangement as it was often necessary to send long telegraphic communications which would not have been covered by one reply voucher, Further the Bureau made use of the reply paid forms from Berne for the purpose of telegraphing, for transmission to the Frankfort Red Cross, the names of all officer prisoners of war as soon as possible after capture, This practice enabled the Bureau to obtain for the British Red Cross similar telegrams containing names of British officers captured by the German forces, and it is of interest in this connection that the names of 600 British officers were received during 4 days after the retreat from Cambrai.

During the period of the "Great Push", just before the declaration of the amistice, telegraphic enquiries were received at the rate of 400 a day.

Printed forms and postcards were used a far as possible for replies to enquiries (see Forma I.B 6 a,b,c I.B.8a, I.B.34b, I.B.45, I.B.459 in Appendix I). Paragraphs were drawn up to be added to these forms where specal circumstances required this and in this way an immense amount of work was disposed of as a matter of mechanical routine.

Every effort was made to limit enquiries from Germany to a few principal Red Cross organisations i.e. those of Frankfort, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig, although it was, of course, impossible to control enquiries at the source. However, by dint of sending the replies to enquiries from the smaller organisations to the Frankfort Red Cross, it came to be realised to some extent that Frankfort should be regarded as the channel of enquiry, Enquiries from individuals in enemy countries received direct replies.

Enquiries for members of the Crews of submarines were submitted to the Admiralty, and those for airmen to the Intelligence Section G.H.Q. Home Forces, with a view to the extraction of any information possessing military value which might be contained in them.

Enquiries received after the armistice from persons resident in Alsace-Lorraine were replied to direct, as it was thought probable that no information would be given to such persons if they applied to the German Authorities, Enquiries concerning "friendly" prisoners from their responsible organisations always received replies.

Complaints were often received of the absence of news from prisoners or of the failure of parcels and money to reach them, in such cases the Bureau forwarded a special enquiry form I.B.91 (see Appendix I) to the prisoner, who made a statement thereon which was then forwarded to the enquirer via the Postal Censors Department,

Many requests were received from Germany for the interrogation of prisoners concerning the fate of missing comrades, chiefly in order to obtain evidence on which a death certificate could be issued, A system was gradually evolved for despatching these enquiries to places of internment and the resulting statements were transmitted to Germany via the Postal Censor's Department, Over 50,000 statements of this description were so transmitted by the Bureau to the chief enemy Red Cross organisations. It should perhaps be pointed out that reciprocal arrangements were made in Germany for obtaining news of British missing.

Prior to the arrangement whereby the Bureau obtained as a matter of routine particulars of the graves of deceased prisoners and communicated them to Germany on its weekly lists, the Bureau made many special enquiries in order to secure this information for communication to interested persons. Further, many photographs of graves were obtained and forwarded to relatives, the cost being defrayed out of a special fund placed at the disposal of the Bureau by the Frankfort Red Cross, it is interesting to note that although photographers were always asked for an unmounted print of cabinet size, their charges ranged from sixpence to thirty five shillings!

Application was frequently made for certificates of internment or for sickness certificates, the latter presumably for relatives to secure the state grant allowable in such cases under the German insurance scheme. As, however admissions to and discharges from hospital were notified on the weekly lists, such enquiries were forwarded to the Frankfort Red Cross with the suggestion that as the information waa already in the possession of the German Government they were in a position to issue euch certificates themselves.

Under a reciprocal arrangement between the British and German Governments, special enqiry forms for German subjects believed to be resident in British territory but who had not been reported as prisoners of war were sent through the usual diplomatic channels by the Foreign Office, These were transmitted to the Bureau, where the records were consulted in order to ascertain whether the form related to prisoners of war interned in the British Empire. Any form related to a prisoner interned in the United Kigdom was forwarded to the Commandant of the place of internment in which the subject of the enquiry was confined, in order that he might make thereon a statement for the information of the enquirer, Forms for persons stated to be resident in the United Kingdom which were not related to prisoners of war, were passed to the Home Offices, Scottish Office, or Irish Office, it was found convenient, however, for the Bureau to despatch to the various internment Authorities overseas, all forms for persons supposed to be resident in their territory, as it not infrequently happened that a form which the Bureau had been unable to relate to a prisoner of war was found on arrival in the colony to be in respect of a prisoner of war.

On the return of the enquiry forms bearing statements by the enemy subjects concerned, they were despatched to the Postal Censor for transmission to the Foreign Office.

SECTION X.

ENEMY DEAD.

Article IV of the Convention which was signed at Geneva on 6th July, 1906, and ratified by Great Britain on 16th April,1907, provides that:- "As early as possible each belligerent shall send to the authorities of the Country or Army to which they belong the military identification marks or tokens found on the dead...."

"It is also the business of the Information Bureau to gather and keep together all personal effects, valuable letters etc. found on the field of battle ... or died in hospitals or ambulances and to forward them to those concerned".

The work entailed under the above was performed by the Section of the Bureau known as "Enemy Dead and Effects Section" and is detailed under :-

I. The receiving of reports of the death of Combatants killed in action or who heave died in forward Medical Units.

II. The preparation from these reports of Lists for the Enemy Governments concerned giving all available particulars furnished by these reports.

These Lists also included information concerning the Burials and re-internment of combatants whose dead bodies had been found after an action or during a survey of the terrain formerly occupied by the Enemy, as well as information concerning the effects of combatants whose fate is unknown.

III. This Section was also resposible for seeing that the effects of prisonars of war (combatants and civilians) who had died in internment in any part of the British Expire were duly forwarded to the Bureau for disposal.

The effects of more than 25,000 deceased enemy subjects were received by the Bureau and when inventoried were despatched to the Enemy Governments concerned through the various Legations representing them. The effects of Deceased Civilian prisoners of war whose next-of-kin were resident in the United Kingdom were, under proper safeguards, handed over to the latter.

The effects of deceased "Friendlies" (Alsatians, Czecho-Slovaks, Poles, Croats Slovenes, etc.) were sent to the representatives of their respective Governments.

Correspondence dealt with by Enemy Dead and Effects Section included applications to Camps for the effects of deceased prisoners of war on notification of death to the Bureau and replies to all enquiries concerning (a) the death and place of burial of enemy combatants whose names appeared on the Enemy Dead Lists (b) the effects of deceased and civilian prisoners of war.

Specimen Forms used by the Bureau in carrying out work detailed above will be found in Appendix XVII.

SECTION XI.

PROPERTY (EXCLUSIVE OF MONEY) OF PRISONERS OF WAR (OTHER THAN OF ENEMY DEAD OR OF PRISONERS DYING IN CAPTIVITY.)

The Bureau took charge of property of the Following nature:-

(a) Property consisting of camera, binoculars, firearms, sextants, certain toos, maps of war-areas, fiction on war subjects, civilian clothing of combatants), which prisoners were not permitted by the Competent Authorities to retain in places of internment, _ See War Office letter G.48/37 (DPW of 16/8/15, (Appendix XIII) and Army Council Instruction 252 of 1917, (Appendix XIV).

(b) Property inadvertently left behind in places of internment by prisoners of war on repatriation, which was in excess of the amount permitted to be taken on transfer from one place of internment to another or on. leaving the country, This amount was regulated according to the rank and status of the owner, See Army Council Instruction 646 of 1916, (appendix XV).

(c) Property of prisoners sentenced to a term of imprisonment, This was returned to the owner on expiration of the sentence.

(d) Property of prisoners who have escaped.

{e) Property received from the Police Authorities, chiefly in London areas, This consisted mainly of firearms and cameras.

(f) Property received from places of intermment, outside the United Kingdom, viz., Gibraltar and West Africa, This consisted of impounded firearms, cameras and knives. A large quantity of personal baggage was received from West Africa, which was forwarded to England via S.S. "Boma", and S.S. "Lome", A few of the owners were identified as prisoners of war but in most cases it was found that the property belonged to persons presumably German, of who the Bureau had no record. No other property was held by the Bureau for prisoners interned outside the United Kingdom.

(g) Property of which the owners are unknown, This was a miscellaneous collection of articles received from time to time from places of internment and the police.

(h) Property belonging to certain restaurant employees' clubs, the owners of which, in the majority of cases were not traced as prisoners of war.

Property was forwarded from the place of internment to the Bureau's storage premises to be warehoused for the period of the war Each individual item (vis. box, sack, parcel etc.) was assigned a number and was warehoused in numerical sequence, so far as division according to nationality would permit, The total number of packages stored was approximately 25,000. These weighed 600 tons and oceupied 20,000 cubic feet of accommodation, The necessary accommodation was provided in the basement of the British Museum until September,1919, when the Museum Authorities refused to place the space at the disposal of the bureau for the short additional time for which it was required, and this huge collection of material was consequently removed to the King's Cross Motor Garage, Paneras Road, where it remained till the end of February, 1920.

The following procedure was adopted for the construction of the necessary records.

Before the despatch of property to the Bureau the Commandant of the place of internment forwarded a list showing the nature of the property, together with the names and general numbers of the owners. The property on arrival was checked against this list. The names of the prisoners were verified by reference to the Card index, and the serial numbers and rank of the prisoners were entered on the list. From the particulars now appearing on the list were compiled :-

(a) the property card I.B/69a (see Appendix I) for use in the alphabetical subsidiary index of prisoners for whom property was held, Each card showed the nature and amount of the property held by the prisoner to whom it referred, These cards were also used by the Accounts Section. which was charged with the care of the money of prisoners of war.

(b) the property label I.B/252 (see Appendix 1) for storage.

(c) the loose leaf register I.B/180 (see Appendix I) which was kept according to the running series of numbers allotted to all property as it was received

No sub-division was made in either index or register in respect of nationality. The usual distinctive colourings (pink cards for military combatants, blue for naval combatants, white for civilians) were preserved.

The letters U.E.S. (Unknown Enemy Subjects) were used with regard to property belonging to untraced owners instead of the serial number appearing on the Main Card Index. A small index was kept of such property arranged according to the name of the article.

From about April, 1916, to June 1919, a receipt was issued to each prisoner in respect of property held by the Bureau, but the practice was discontinued partly owing to pressure of work and partly owing to the fact that Commandants had been instructed by the war Office to issue receipts for property handed over to them for storage,

As a general rule the actual contents of any piece of property were not checked by the Bureau.

The contents of parcels were usually stated on the lists received from places of internment, In the case of excess baggage, certified inventories were in most cases furnished by the Commandants,

Certified inventories were not received with property consisting of clothing, books and papers taken by the Police authorities from civilian prisoners of war, and in these cases, only a cursory examination was made in the Bureau for purposes of record.

When arrangements had finally been made for the despatch of the property to the various Governments concerned, a list was prepared in sextuplicate according to nationality, and it was arranged that the signature of a duly accredited official of each Government should appear on each list as evidence that the property had been handed over, lists were compiled in respect of the following nationals

Alsace Lorraine and France, Austria, Bulgaria, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark Germany, Poland, Turkey,

Property belenging to Austro-Hungarian, Bulgarian and Ottoman subjects were handed over to the Swedish Legation for disposal, whilst that of other nationals was taken over by authorised representatives of the respective Governments,

In addition to warehousing property the Bureau investigated, so far as lay its power, numerous claims from prisoners of war concerning property said either to have been taken from them on capture or left in former places of residence in the United Kingdom, The Bureau also received from time to time effects taken from prisoners of war on capture which were returned to the owners at the place of internment.

SECTION XII.

MONEY OF PRISONERS OF WAR.

The keeping of the individual accounts of prisoners of war whilst in internment did not fall to the Bureau but to the Commandants of their places of internment. It was found convenient, however, to make the Bureau the custodian of the money of prisoners of war taken from then on capture so long as they remained in captivity in the Theatre of War, and such money was regularly forwarded from Prisoners of war Section at the Base, France. On a prisoner being evacuated to the United Kingdom for internment the money taken from him, referred to above, was transmitted by the Bureau to the Commandant of his Camp, in exchange for the receipt for it given to the prisoner at the time he was deprived of it. The Bureau held the duplicate and was this able to verify the rightful owner.

By an arrangement with Messrs. Thomas Cook and son the German money of Prisoners of war was changed into British Currency at the option of the owner. The procedure was as follows ;- The Commandant, Prisoners of War, sent a schedule of amounts to Messrs.Cook who in turn quoted a rate and on the rate proving acceptable the money was exchanged. This arrangement was cancelled early in January 1918 by A.C.I. 3 of 1/1/18, and the Bureau was made the sole medium for the exchange, prior to January 1918 the conversion of a prisoner's German money into Sterling was optional but this instruction made it incumbent on Commandants to collect from the prisoners of war the receipt they held for money in German currency taken from them as described above and to send it to the Bureau for its English equivalent at the then rate of exchange fixed by His Majesty's Treasury.

As the Bureau had accumulated a vary large balance of German money (owing to the retention of so many prisoners of war in France) it was thought desirable at the tine of the repatriation and transfer of prisoners of war to a neutral Country under the Hague Agreenent, 1917, to use thie money for the purpose of settling their accounts. Accordingly instructions were issued to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command, to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Aldershot Command, and to Embarkation Commandant, Boston, and , to Commandants Kegworth, Brecton, Sleaford, and Spalding, setting out the procedure for such repatriation and transfer (see Army Council Letter of 29th Nevenber, 1917, (O103/2/1084 P.W.2)). Paragraph 3(b) af these instructions stated "Each prisoner of war before departure is to receive from his Commandant, all monies a standing to his credit (and in the case, of Officer prisoners of war his tokens will be changed into cash). If possible the prisoners of war should receive their money in Reichstadt bank notes, and the Commandants may indent upon the Priseners of war Infornmation Bureau for the amount they require". By June 1918 the demand for Geman money made by Commandants had exhausted the Bureau's supply and all Commandants of Prisoners of War Camps at Home were instructed under War Office letter of 14th June 1918 (O103/2/2498 F.2) as follows :-

"... please arrange for any German notes and money held by you or by the prisoners in the camp under your charge to be forwarded to the Bureau" Hitherto it had been optional for prisoners to hand over their German money but in view of the demand at present existing this option is now withdrawn, except in very special circumstances, e.g. where some rare coin is kept as a souvenir.

"This procedure should also be followed in the case of new arrivals whe bring German money with them".

It will be noted that A.C.I, 3/1/18 only referred to receipts for German money held by prisoners of war but this instruction went further, as will readily be seen.

The amount sent by Commandants proved insufficient to meet the demand for German money for paying out prisoners of war on repatriation or on transfer to a neutral country so an arrangement was made with the branch of Belgian National Bank, then located at the Bank of England, to supply Belgian currency in exchange for sterling and to accept the Bureau's cheque "signed by Mr. Charles O'Brien, the Accountant, or Mr. H.S Hunter, the Assistant Director", Army Council letter of 15th June, 1918, numbered 0103/2/2370 (F.2.e).

A few months later, owing to success of our Arms and the capture of a large number of German prisoners, with the consequent flow of German money to the Bureau, the necessity for recourse to the Belgian National Bank ceased. But the available Sterling held by the Bureau also ceased and recourse had to be made to the war office for an Imprest of £2,000 in August 1916 and for further Imprests of £5,000 (21/9/18) and £3,000 (28/10/18).

Another phase of the Bureau's operations as a Bureau de Change arose after the Armistice when our officers and men were coming home from the Internment Camps of the various Enemy Countries. By request of the war Office Army Banks used to exchange the enemy money (German, Austrian, Turkish etc.) of Officer exprisoners of war at the rate fixed from time to time by Army Council Instructions and credit them in sterling. The Enemy money so exchanged used to be brought to the Bureau where it was purchased at the figure paid for it by the Banks. The rank and file used to bring theirs direct to the Bureau for exchange. Later it was found more expedient to collect the German, Austrian etc. money from the repatriated prisoners of war at the Port of disembarkation and to send it to the Bureau for exchange.

It came to the knowledge of the Army Council early in 1919 that British prisoners of war were not allowed by the German Goverment to bring to this Country the balances on their accounts and in order to afford reciprocal treatment not more than £2 each for Officers and 10s. for other ranks (£3 and 15s. respectively where a prisoner of war was repatriated fron an overseas place of internment other than France) was allowed to be issued on repatriation.

Commandants were instructed to remit sums in their balances in excess of these respective amounts including any working pay due, to the Bureau, together with the prisoners' account cards and vouchers showing the balances retained. (Army Council instruction 169 of 9th March, 1919). This instruction applied only to German Military prisoners of war and German medical personnel. Military prisoners of war of other nationalities were allowed to receive the balance due to them.

Aa a result balances amounting in the aggregate to over £40,000 were remitted.

Certified particulars of these balances were given to the prisoners on repatriation and they were told that this action was taken for the reasons stated above and that as the British Goverment had cashed the "receipts" issued to British prisoners of war in Germany, the German prisoners of war should look to their Government to honour the receipts issued to them.

These instructions had but a short life, for they were cancelled on 15th August of the same year (Army Council instruction 483 of 1919), on and after which date military prisoners of war were to take with them on repatriation the full credit balances due to them, as far as possible in the currency of the country to which they were being repatriated,

Commandants of prisoners of war in the United Kingdom were instructed to indent for the sums required from the Bureau on Forms I.B/360-361 on the terms of the memorandum from the Bureau (G.13/781 of 1/11/16), a copy of which together with copies of the Forms will be found in Appendix.

Army Council Instruction 485 of 1919 also directed that where the prsoner accounts could not be settled at the time of their repatriation they should be advanced a reasonable sum, not exceéding the balance due, and furnished with a certificate to the effect that their accounts would be finally settled in the course of a month, and the balances due would be transmitted to the German Government, to whom application shuld be made. It further directed that every endeavour should be made to settle with the prisoners before repatriation.

The rapidity with which repatriations from France took place prevented these instructions being carried out with the result that balances of private money and working pay for ever 100,000 ex-prisoners of war unpaid. Rolls for these are in course of preparation with a view to financial adjustment between the German and British Govermments. A reversion to the policy of Army Council instruction 169 of 9th March, 1919.

From time to time the Treasury fixed the anount which an individual Geman or Austro-Hungarian repatriate could take with him out of the country. Sums over these amounts remaining to the credit of prisoners of war were sent to the Bureau for custody under Home Office instruction. These sums amounting to about £10,000 are still held by the Bureau and it is understood that the question of the disposal of them formed the subject of correspondence with the Treasury and war office (F.2) and is still proceeding.

Balances of deceased and escaped prisoners of war were also sent to the Bureau for custody and ultimate disposal.

It might prove of interest to refer to the treatment of balances on the Public and Private Account cards of German prisoners of war transferred from Working Companies in France to places of internment in England.

In cases of prisoners of war belonging to working Companies in France two account cards were kept. One described as a private account card contained a record of receipts and payments in respect of all remittances that had been received by the prisoner of war while in France, the other, described as a public account Card, wae prepared in the office of the Staff paymaster i/c Clearing House, Base, and was a record of working pay earned and paid while in France,

In cases of prisoners of war transferred to England from these Working Companies both cards were sent separately to the Bureau for action,

The Public Account Card was then sent on to the Commandant of the Camp where the Prisoner of war was interned on arriving in England, and any balance shewn thereon was adjusted by being claimed by the Commandant through his imprest account and the charges were supported by the cards and a certificate that the amount had been duly credited to the prisoner of war on his private account card.

The Private Account Card showing a credit balance was marked in the Bureau with the name of the Camp to which the prisoner of war had been transferred and passed to Accounts 1 (late F.1.B) and was adjusted by paymaster's Advance and the anount due credited to the account of the Commandant of the Camp to which the prisoner of war had been transferred.

The Private Account Card which was clear or bore a "nil" record was sent direct to the Commandant by the Bureau.

Where a private account card shewed a balance of German money the Commandant had to refer to the Bureau who held all such monies sent from France.

In very many instances money was sent to the Bureau for transmission to prisoners of war, where such prisoners of war were interned in England all such money was passed on to the Commandant and no difficulty presented itself. Matters were somewhat different where a prisoner of war was in a working Company in France.

When money for prisoners of war in Working Companies in France first began to come to the Bureau it was dealt with "in the aggregate a cheque in favour of the officer in Charge, Prisoners of War Section, General Headquarters, Base, France who distributed the money to the individuals for whom it was sent, early in 1917, Prisoners of War Section requested the Bureau to discontinue this method and to remit the money in the form of British Money Orders in respect of each prisoner of war concerned". This was an impracticable suggestion as the Bureau had no knowledge of the situation of the various working parties nor did it know the French towns on which to draw the individual Money Orders. Recourse had therefore to be made to the Money Order Department of the General Post Office; and as a result of the conference between Officials of the Money Order Department and the Bureau, special arrangements were made for the issue of Money Orders and their despatch to the Payees by the former Department. The Procedure was as follows :-

1. A Requisition, showing the amount of each order required and the full description and address (the Number of his Working Company in France) of the Prisoner to whom it was payable, was prepared in duplicate by the Bureau on a special form provided for the purpose.

2. One copy of the Requisition was sent to the Money Order Department with a cheque, in favour of the Postmaster General and "crossed" "Bank of England", for the total amount of the Orders required. The other copy was retained by the Bureau as a record,

3. Money Orders for the amounts entered on the Schedule were then issued at the Money Order Department and forwarded to the Payees in France through the same medium as was employed for sending to the Payees the Orders issued in respect of remittances advised from the Netherlands in favour of Prisoners of war in France.

4. The total amount of the Orders were entered on the debt side of the Money Order Department Cash Account and the amount of the cheque on the credit side of the Account, and the cheque forwarded as a remittance to the Comptroller and Accountant General,

A specimum of the Schedule and other Forms used will be found in the Appendix, XVIII.

In conclusion it may be expedient to put at on record that the account of the Geman money referred to in the opening paragraph of this report was kept in Marks and not converted into sterling, with consequent saving (owing to the great and increasing fall of the Mark) of several thousands of pounds.

SECTION XIII.

GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS.

in view of the following considerations :-

(1) that experience has proved the rendering of a "fiche individuelle" to be impracticable; .

(2) that the method of notification on weekly lists according to the sequence of serial numbers allotted by the information bureau was found to cause grave delay in the commmication of information when large numbers of prisoners were captured;

(3) that unnecessary duplication of enquiries is found to occur when application for information is made by individuals direct to the information bureau of the captor state;

(4) that the work of dealing with such enquiries is likely to be extremely difficult and costly if the enemy language is not well known;

it is suggested that -

(a) the first notification of internment might be made to the enemy government by means of the detachable counterfoil of I.B./1 referred to in Section III of this report;

(b) subsequent notifications of transfers, releases, admissions to and discharges from hospital should be made, as far as possible by the provision by Commandants of a duplicate copy of the returns notifying these events (see Form I.B./3 in Appendix I) which could be transmitted to the enemy government after scrutiny by the information bureau. This would obviate the immense labour involved in the creation of subsidiary indexes and the completion of huge appendices to the lists. When the bureau came to work on its own copy of the return, any mistakes which came to light could be corrected on the weekly lists.

In those cases in which it was not advisable to forward copies of returns to enemy authorities, the relative notifications could be made on the weekly lists. It is considered that all notifications of death and of particulars of burial should be made on the lists and not by the transmission of duplicate returns;

(c) that the nationals of each belligerent, except those not resident in their own country,should address all their enquiries to one officially recognised organisation in their own country, which should also be the recipient of all information furnished aa suggested above. This would prevent duplication and obviate difficulties created by language.

The adoption of these suggestions would necessitate a re-draft of Article 14 of the Convention.

It is pointed out that during the war practically no use was made by the British Government of its own British Information Bureau with a view to obtaining better treatment of and fuller information concerning British prisoners in the hands of the enemy. Even the Germans acknowledged that the Bureau's records were far the best of those kept by the belligerent countries, and much use might have been made of this superiority with advantages to our own forces.

6th March 1920.

signed J.D. Rees Director

Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received The Editor HTML Transcription © F.Coakley , 2025