Netherlands: Prisoners, including: Question of the status of British and German prisoners...

Netherlands: Prisoners, including:

Question of the status of British and German prisoners in the event of the Netherlands becoming involved in the war.

Repatriation of civilians over 45 years of age interned in the Netherlands, including:

• Mrs G Ripley: enquiry about the repatriation of her husband, interned at Scheveningen.
• Information from the Prisoners of War Department that no agreement currently existed for the repatriation of British and German civilian prisoners over 45 years of age.
• Negotiations leading to a reciprocal agreement for the repatriation from the Netherlands of British and German civilians over 45 years of age.
• Gustav Sonnenschein, a German subject: enquiries into the reasons for his repatriation.

Employment of British civilians interned in the Netherlands, including:

• Mr John Southern and Mr F Dearle: copies of letters describing conditions for British civilians transferred to the Netherlands from Germany.
• Letter from Mather and Platt Ltd enquiring about the situation regarding their employees interned in the Netherlands.
• Proposals for training schemes for interned civilians, with a list (in docket no.107808) of British civilians who had obtained employment through the British Red Cross Society.
• Proposal for the provision of facilities for interned British prisoners to learn the Dutch language.
• Sir Arthur Fell: parliamentary question about facilities for the training and employment of British prisoners in the Netherlands.
• Report by the British Red Cross on the employment of British civilians interned in the Netherlands, with a list (in docket no.109698) of the numbers of civilians employed in various professions.
• Captain J Fitzgerald: copy of a letter to Sir Arthur Stanley on the work of the British Red Cross in providing training and finding employment for British civilians interned in the Netherlands.
• Report on the training and employment of civilian prisoners at Nijmegen Camp.
• Provision of educational facilities for British naval prisoners at Groningen Camp.
• Report by the British Red Cross Society in the Netherlands for the period 8 March to 18 September 1918, giving details of various training and employment schemes.

Mr C J Pearse: request by his father, William Pearce, for his repatriation on the grounds of his being a minister of religion.

Question of the exchange of prisoners of the Royal Naval Division and the Royal Air Force interned in the Netherlands, including:

• Recommendation by the Admiralty for an agreement for the exchange of non-commissioned officers and other ranks of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force who had been interned for more than eighteen months.
• Report by Lord Newton, Controller of the Prisoners of War Department, of a visit to Groningen Camp.

Payment of the costs by civilian prisoners of the costs of their transportation from Germany to the Netherlands, including:

• Lionel Strachan: enquiry from his wife, Mrs Edith Strachan, regarding the methods of transferring money to him.
• Request by four Indian lascars [merchant seamen] (names in docket no.115445) for a refund of the money spent on their fares.

Percy C Hull interned at Scheveningen: request for his repatriation on the grounds that he was the Sub-Canon of Hereford Cathedral.

Canadian prisoners interned in the Netherlands, including:

• Request by the High Commissioner of Canada for the urgent despatch of food and clothing to the prisoners.
• Letter from the War Office stating that clothing was supplied on an equal basis to British and Canadian prisoners.
• Proposal for a special mission to be sent to the Netherlands to investigate the conditions of internment of Canadian prisoners.
• Sapper J MacLeod, interned at Townley Barracks, The Hague: extract from a letter on the inadequate rations which he was receiving, with a note from the Prisoners of War Department on the food situation for prisoners in the Netherlands.
• Appointment of Major Hume Blake to represent the Canadian military authorities on a visit of inspection to the Netherlands.

Lieutenant-Commander K H Macartney RN including:

• Information from the Admiralty that Lieutenant-Commander Macartney had been detained at Rosyth, following his refusal to return to the Netherlands following a period of leave in the UK.
• Confirmation that Lieutenant-Commander Macartney had been handed over to the Dutch authorities, and was interned near Haarlem.

Brigadier-General Charles Bradley and Captain P H Anderson, retired officers interned at Scheveningen: decision that they should be granted civilian status.

Repatriation of medical personnel under the terms of the 1917 Hague Agreement, including:

• Private Frank Larkin, transferred from Germany to the Netherlands: request for his repatriation as a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
• Bombardier R MacLeod Carey: claim for repatriation as a medical orderly.
• List (in docket no.117526) of German medical personnel interned in the Netherlands whose repatriation was requested.

Postal rates for parcels for British prisoners interned in the Netherlands: proposal for a payment of five Dutch cents per parcel.

Maintenance payments for the wives and children of British civilians interned in the Netherlands, including:

• Louis Harrison: request for financial support for his mother-in-law, Mrs F Taylor, and his two children in the UK.
• Confirmation that Mrs Taylor was receiving relief payments in Worcester.
• Mr Chambers, an interned British civilian: payments to his wife and two children who had been transferred to the Netherlands.

Johannes Ströer (or Streuer), a German prisoner of Dutch nationality interned in France: decision not to sanction his release.

Ali Sinai, a Sinhalese national being held in a camp for interned Russians: correspondence regarding his possible repatriation to Ceylon.

Negotiations regarding the exchange of all British and German prisoners in the Netherlands; opposition to the proposals from the War Office.

Authorisation for the payment of the expenses for the repatriation of eight mentally ill prisoners from Rotterdam to the UK.

Request for proxy forms in connection with the Representation of the People Act 1918.

Request by certain British prisoners to bring their dogs with them when repatriated; advice from the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Lieutenant Aveling: permission for him to be provided with a car and petrol by the British Consul in Rotterdam.

Authorisation for the payment of accounts for telegrams sent by the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the British Government.

Mr Cornelius Warnsinck: letter protesting about the decision not to grant him financial assistance, on the grounds that he was not a British subject.

Claims from the following repatriated British combatant prisoners for payment for work carried out while they were interned in the Netherlands:

• Sapper S T Weston, formerly interned at Groningen.
• Mr O R Dyer, formerly interned at Groningen.
• Mr H Angrave, formerly interned at Scheveningen.

Major General Onnen, Chief of the Dutch Internment Department: report of his death, and official expression of regret by the British Government.

Code 1229 Files 81392-119645.

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