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This brief report does not do justice to the wealth of information provided and sheer variety material displayed at the meeting. Hopefully it gives you an idea of what is available and collectable as a general collection or in-depth study of a particular aspect. Barrie Jay started off the afternoons displays with the comment that his display did not go beyond 1815 ! He also started off by saying that there was really nothing before 1700 and showed items addressed to French POWs in that year. The earliest was from the War of the Austrian Succession. At around this time prisoners sought different methods to send mail home. He also included a one-frame exhibit of French POW mail during the Napoleonic period which showed that within Great Britain French POW mail was not placed in the general mails. Included was a 1798 letter from a French POW in Porchester Castle which had the "Examined Porchester Castle" cachet, in both red and black. Alistair Kennedy showed an item from a British prisoner being held in France - possibly a fisherman; he also showed items from the Franco-Prussian War and mail to Boer War Prisoners in St Helena, Bermuda and Ceylon. Amongst the items showed by Graham Mark were a large number of Red Cross postcards printed in Geneva circa 1916 - all were in unused condition and he commented that he had only seen one or two actually postally used. He also mentioned that he had listed over 700 POW camps in Britain. Neil Russell showed various items associated with the German Cruiser "Emden" as well as mail from Australian POWs during the Gallipolli campaign. Peter Burrows displayed a number of American Red Cross released POW cards used in 1918 whilst Eddie Weekes put up two frames on POW ships during WW1 off the English coast, known as the Solent and Leigh Squadrons and used mainly for internees. The Leigh Squadron was moored in the Thames Estuary, off Southend. Hilary Shaw showed a small number of items with various undeliverable cachets. Meanwhile Peter High showed items from a number of hospital ships hired by the International Red Cross and used for the repatriation of sick and wounded prisoners, including "Imperator" (repatriation of Russian wounded in May 1917) and Dutch vessels "Koningin Regentes" and "Sindoro". He also displayed a picture postcard of a Red Crescent Hospital Ship which depicted the disembarkation of wounded from the ship; this was from a British POW in Turkish hands back to the UK - Lt Duxbury and his brief message contained name, rank, POW No and camp address. Michael Goodman had a selection of POW cards sent by German prisoners captured by the British: Alexander Palace picture post card - two types printed in English and also in German for use by the prisoners; various cachets used at the many British camps, including Islington, Stratford, Stobbs Camps, Alexander Palace and Handforth. Moving forward to WW2 Michael Dobbs showed items from 2218 POW Camp in Belgium and No 81 POW Camp at Pingley Farm Camp, Brigg in Lincolnshire. He also showed the results of some of his researches including a list of POW Camps in Norway as at 11 June 1945 showing number of POWs at each; details of the movement of former enemy POWs, DP and refugees and the various Allied organisations established to control and look after these people; and a list of German POWs units formed at 2218 POW Camp from mid-1945 to early 1946. Our President Peter O'Keeffe provided us with a selection of material mainly from German and Italian POWs back to their homelands; PW letters sheets to British POWs in both Germany and Italy and lastly a German pre-printed "Advice of Capture" card printed in English and sent by a POW at Stalag 306 back home to Australia in 1941. David Tett showed POW cards from Sumatra and explained how you could tell the difference between cards from Malaya and those from Sumatra - especially as prisoners in Sumatra were told to write "Malayan POW Camps" on their cards. In 1944 the Japanese decided to number their camps and Nos 1 and 2 Camps were in Sumatra. He also showed mail from civilian labourers on the Burma-Thailand Railway - or more especially items from postal workers sent from Malaya to administer and manage the postal facilities there. Such mail was written in English. Peter Burrows brought us (relatively) up to date with POW cards printed aboard HMS Hermes in 1982 and intended for use by Argentinean prisoners. But these were never used as the prisoners were repatriated back to Argentina at the end of the war. |