Tynemouth Prisoners of War Parcels Fund
From early in the war a considerable number of British servicemen became prisoners of war or were interned as enemy aliens in countries with which we were at war – Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey.
Over the four years of the war an increasingly complex system of arrangements was developed to provide foodstuffs and comforts to prisoners and internees. These were eventually brought under the overall control of the Central Prisoners of War Committee.
In Tynemouth Borough a Fund was established and managed by Mrs Ethel McConnell to raise money and supply materials to prisoners and others in enemy hands.
By good fortune a cache of correspondence (180 documents) about the fund was passed to the project after lying unused and unexamined for 100 years.
With the support of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded in 2019 the project has researched the details of the men named on the correspondence and others we can trace from wartime sources, to tell the story of their imprisonment and later lives on return home at the end of the war. The Tynemouth POW Parcels Fund project is focused on men resident in the Borough of Tynemouth before becoming Prisoners of War or civilian internees. To date we have identified more than 300 individuals captured or interned during the war. If you have details of anyone who was a prisoner or internee we would be most grateful to have any information you can provide. The results of our research into individuals have been published progressively.
Talk by Professor Heather Jones, University College London
Prisoners of War and Humanitarianism in the First World War:
We were fortunate and extremely grateful that Professor Heather Jones, UCL London prepared a comprehensive review of the treatment of Prisoners of War during the conflict which can be viewed here.
All our databases are free to access and all materials in relation to each man or woman are free to download for personal and academic use only.
Current relatives of prisoners and internees are welcome to contact us: info@northumbriaworldwarone.co.uk
Whilst we take care to provide accurate information, the Project can accept no responsibility for inaccuracies in the data provided.
For use in any commercial product please contact info@northumbriaworldwarone.co.uk
Some of the documents held by the project.
