Aliens internment WW1

[sand]

A friend of mine has been trying for some considerable time to find out more about her grandfather to no avail. I am wondering if some of the wise and learned folks of Rootschat can help. Here goes....

Her grandfather a Joseph WOOD lived and worked in LEEDS in the early 1900s.
Just after the start of WW1 3 men arrived at the family home to take the family away for internment. My friend's mother thought it was to the Isle of Wight (she was only a child at the time) but I can only find reference to people being sent to the Isle of Man. Joseph was never taken away though because he had recently died and the rest of the family were allowed to stay.

My friend does not know what nationality her grandfather was. She only knows that he spoke with an accent and thinks that he may have been German and probably Jewish. She got a birth certificate showing that he was born in Hull but she does not believe that this is correct. She also thinks that he changed his name to WOOD as many aliens did at that time.

Can anyone suggest who to get into contact with or offer any suggestions. I am intrigued to know more about her ancestry. I'm always telling her that she looks foreign - very black hair and a certain shaped nose.....!

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sand

[HannahR]

Hello Sand,

There were around 452 internment camps in Britain so it may be a bit tricky to find out exactly where he was sent. That being said there were very few internment camps for families. As far as I am aware Isle of Man was only for civilian males. It may be worth checking the local papers in Leeds first as they tended to round up 'Aliens' in groups especially if they were transferred.

There is the Internment Research Centre in Hawick [I am the archivist there] but it is still a work in progress and the archive is still being built. It was only launched in November of last year. There is a map with the camps on the website which is still being added to if that helps stobscamp.org/irc.

Sorry to not be of more help at the moment.

Best of luck in your search,
Hannah

[california dreamin]

Hi sand,

I don't know whether or not you have seen this site but it looked quite interesting:
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/prisoners_of_war_and_internees_great_britain

I suppose if she is intrigued enough about her ancestry the obvious choice these days would be to suggest DNA testing....

Good luck with your quest!
CD

[KGarrad]

Hannah, you are correct re Isle of Man in WW1.
Knockaloe was a big camp (more like a township!), and there was a second camp near Douglas, Cunnibgham's Camp.

Both camps catered only for male internees.

[HannahR]

I don't know whether or not you have seen this site but it looked quite interesting:
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/prisoners_of_war_and_internees_great_britain

This is one of our sources of information. We are working with Dr. Panikos Panayi on this project.

Thanks for confirming that KGarrad.

Hannah