LIst of POW Camps in Britain 14 November 1947

Discussion in 'UK PoW Camps' started by Osborne2, Nov 5, 2020.

  1. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    This appears to be a definitive list of those German POW Camps still open in Britain in late 1947. As it concerns a national issue, I cannot image it was not sent to all camps. It is taken from TNA FO 939/270 Conditions in prisoner of war camps: incidents and morale.
    upload_2020-11-5_12-51-55.png
     
  2. Malcolm56

    Malcolm56 Well-Known Member

    A useful listing to update those NOT open in 1948. Thank you.
     
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  3. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    ETOUSA Documents showing US POW and Discipline Training Centers, Aug 1944.......I can check further in the documents and see if I can find a later document


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  4. Temujin

    Temujin Member

    ETOUSA Documents showing US POW and Discipline Training Centers, May 1945

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  5. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Temujin, Somewhere l have posted a thread on US camps in Britain. I have a feeling that what was on this map was a plan and wasn’t what exactly happened. I think some of these locations for POWs did open and others were added. My comments will be reassessed when l have time to check. I also do know that German POWs were located at US camps elsewhere probably as ‘casual labourers’ . There were two deaths at a small camp in Shropshire. Fold3 carries info. somewhere about their wider use, as well as Italian POW labour. Italians had been used at Burtonwood in, l think January 1944.
     
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  6. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Temujin. Here is the thread and an updated list, I think, of US camps, which confirms most of those on the UK map you posted, but adds more in Yorkshire. WW2talkthreads/us-controlled-pow-german-camps-in-britain.73913/
    Haltwhistle. Apparently US troops posted there (its near Hadrian's Wall) called it 'death valley'. Most of the US controlled POW camps were fairly rapidly returned to the British even from before Christmas 1944 (Devizes).
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2020
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  7. Malcolm56

    Malcolm56 Well-Known Member

    Putting names to the numbers.
    I have gone through my date list for the camps and produced a list of names for the numbers in the 14 November 1947 Memorandum.
    I had just one anomaly – Scriven Hall, which I have as Camp 121 in 1947 and into 1948, but 121 is not in the list.
    For one number - 258 - I can not work out which of 2 possible sites it is.
    I have pasted the list direct below so that if anyone spots any errors – and I am sure there will be some – the list can be easily edited (I think).

    Camp Nos. Name No. in 1947
    2 Toft Hall Camp, Cheshire 2
    4 Scraptoft, Leicestershire 4
    9 / 183 Quorn Camp, Leicestershire 9
    11 / 198 Island Farm Camp, Glamorganshire 11
    16 Gosford Camp, East Lothian 16
    17 Lodge Moor Camp, Yorkshire 17
    18 Featherstone Park, Northumberland 18
    19 Happendon Camp, Lanarkshire 19
    23 / 1004 / 1023 Sudbury Camp, Derbyshire 23
    25 Lodge Farm Camp, Berkshire 25
    27 Ledbury Camp, Herefordshire 27
    28 Garendon Park, Leicestershire 28
    29 Royston Heath Camp, Hertfordshire 29
    30 Carpenters Road Camp, London 30
    31 Ettington Park Camp, Warwickshire 31
    32 Wormwood Scrubbs, London 32
    36 Hartwell Dog Track, Buckinghamshire 36
    38 Pool Park Camp, Denbighshire 38
    39 Maxstoke Castle Camp, Warwickshire 39
    40 Somerhill Camp, Kent 40
    41 Ganger Camp, Hampshire 41
    42 Exhibition Field Camp, Devon 42
    43 Harcourt Hill Camp, Oxfordshire 43
    44 Goathurst Camp, Somerset 44
    45 / 180 Trumpington Camp, Cambridgeshire 45/180
    46 Kingsfold Camp, Sussex 46
    47 Motcombe Park Camp, Dorset 47
    48 Greenfield Farm Camp, Radnorshire 48
    50 Garswood Park, Lancashire 50
    51 Allington, Lincolnshire 51
    52 Nether Headon Camp, Lincolnshire 52
    53 Sandbeds Camp, Yorkshire 53
    54 Hampton Lovett, Worcestershire 54
    55 Shalstone Camp, Buckinghamshire 55
    56 Botesdale, Suffolk 56
    57 Merrow Downs Camp, Surrey 57
    58 Firs/Nether Heage, Derbyshire 58
    59 Sawtry Camp, Huntingdonshire 59
    60 Overdale Camp, Skipton, Yorkshire 60
    62 The Moor Camp, Lanarkshire 62
    3 / 63 Balhary Camp, Perthshire 63
    64 / 242 Cowden Camp, Perthshire 242/64
    65 Setley Plain, Hampshire 65
    67 Sandyhillock Camp, Banffshire 67
    69 Darras Hall, Northumbria 69
    70 Henllan Bridge, Cardiganshire 70
    71 Sheriff Hales Camp, Shropshire 71
    72 Duck's Cross Camp, Bedfordshire 72
    73 Storwood Camp, Yorkshire 73
    75 Northhill Camp, Kincardineshire 75
    76 Merry Thought Camp, Cumberland 76
    77 Annsmuir Camp, Fife 77
    78 High Garrett Camp, Essex 78
    79 Moorby Camp, Lincolnshire 79
    80 Horbling Camp, Lincolnshire 80
    81 Pingley Farm Camp, Lincolnshire 81
    82 Hempton Green Camp, Norfolk 82
    84 Sheet Camp, Shropshire 84
    85 Victoria Camp, Suffolk 85
    86 Stanhope Camp, Kent 86
    87 Byfield Camp, Northamptonshire 87
    89 Easton Grey Camp, Wiltshire 89
    90 Friday Bridge, Cambridgeshire 90
    92 Bampton Road Camp, Devon 92
    93 Harperley Camp, Durham 93
    94 Gaulby Road, Leicestershire 94
    95 Batford Camp, Hertfordshire 95
    96 Wolseley Road Camp, Staffordshire 96
    97 Birdingbury, Warwickshire 97
    99 ShugboroughMH, Staffordshire 99
    101 Glandulas Camp, Montgomeryshire 101
    102 Llanddarog Camp, Carmarthenshire 102
    104 Beela River Camp, Westmoreland 104
    105 / b Wooler Camp, Northumberland 105
    10 / 106 Stamford Camp, Lincolnshire 106
    108 Thirkleby Camp, Yorkshire 108
    109 Brahan Castle (Estate), Ross-shire 109
    111 Deer Park Camp, Aberdeenshire 111
    14 / 112 Doonfoot Camp, Ayrshire 112
    113 Holm Park Camp, Wigtownshire 113
    114 Eden Vale Camp, Westbury, Wiltshire 114
    116 Mill Lane Camp, Essex 116
    117 Walderslade Camp, Kent 117
    118 Mardy Camp, Monmouthshire 118
    119 Pabo Hall Camp, Caernarvonshire 119
    120 Sunlaws Camp, Roxburghshire 120
    121 / 211 / 905 Scriven Hall Camp, Yorkshire 121???
    122 / 274 Ministry of Works Camp, Middlesex 274/122
    123 Dalmahoy Camp, Midlothian 123
    124 / a Bedminster Camp, Gloucestershire 124
    129 Ashford (Lodge) Camp, Essex 129
    135 Stanbury House Camp, Berkshire 135
    136a / 264 Welton House Camp, Yorkshire 136
    137 Chaddlewood House Camp, Devon 137
    139 Wolviston Hall, Durham 139
    141 Beeson House, Huntingdonshire 141
    145 Normanhurst Camp, East Sussex 145
    151a Lawne Camp, Staffordshire 151
    153 Fulney Park Camp, Lincolnshire 153
    154 Ministry of Works Camp, Kent 154
    156 The Heath Camp, Lincolnshire 156
    22 / 157 Bourton Camp, Gloucestershire 157
    160 Lydiard Military Hospital, Wiltshire 160
    162 Naburn Military Hospital, Yorkshire 162
    165 Watten Camp, Caithness 165
    167 Shady Lane Camp, Leicestershire 167
    168 Brookmill Camp, Lancashire 168
    171 Bungay Base Camp, Suffolk 171
    174 Norton Park Camp, Nottinghamshire 174
    16 / 175 Flaxley Green Camp, Staffordshire 175
    180 Radwinter North Camp, Essex 180
    184 Llanmartin, Monmouthshire 184
    185 Springhill Lodge, Gloucestershire 185
    186 Fornham Park, Suffolk 186
    180 / 189 Marbury Hall Camp, Cheshire 189
    194 Council House Camp, Staffordshire 194
    196 Arbury Hall, Warwickshire 196
    230 / 618 Stuckenduff Camp, Dunbartonshire 230
    231 Redgrave Park Hospital, Norfolk 231
    232 Northwick Park, Gloucestershire 232
    234 Talgarth Hospital, Breconshire 234
    236 Ninewells Camp, Berwickshire 236
    237 Coed Bel Camp, Kent 237
    238 Brook House, Sussex 238
    239 Shirley Church Road, Surrey 239
    240 / 285 Hawkstone Park, Shropshire 240
    195 / 241 Merevale Hall Camp, Warwickshire 241
    244 / 245 Butcher Hill Camp, Yorkshire 245
    246 Basildon House, Berkshire 246
    178 / 247 Ure Bank Camp, Yorkshire 247
    248 Norton Camp, Yorkshire 248
    181 / 249 Carburton, Nottinghamshire 249
    83 / 250 Eden Camp, Yorkshire 250
    251 East Cams Camp, Hampshire 251
    252 Abergwili Hospital, Carmarthenshire 252
    253 Mousehold Heath Camp, Norfolk 253
    256 Willingham House, Lincolnshire 256
    258 RAF Camp, Seething, Norfolk 258
    258 Ellough Airfield, Suffolk 258
    259 Weekley Camp, Northamptonshire 259
    260 Hardwick Heath Camp, Suffolk 260
    262 RAF Camp, Langar, Nottinghamshire 262
    263 Leckhampton Court, Gloucestershire 263
    266 Hutted Camp, Langdon Hills, Essex 266
    268 Norduck Farm, Buckinghamshire 268
    270 Luton Airport Camp, Bedfordshire 270
    273 / a Debach Airfield, Suffolk 273
    276 Nissen (Nisson) Creek, Devon 276
    277 Recreation Ground, Worcestershire 277
    278 War Department Camp, Bedfordshire 278
    279 Yaxley Militia Camp, Huntingdonshire 279
    280 North Lynn Farm Camp, Norfolk 280
    284 Abbey Road Camp, Glamorganshire 284
    286 / 654 / 655 Purfleet Camp, Essex 286
    292 Donna Nook Airfield, Lincolnshire 292
    293 Carronbridge Camp, Dumfries 293
    295 Cattistock Camp, Dorset 295
    182 / 298 Barony Camp, Dumfries 298
    20 / 300 Wilton Park, Buckinghamshire 300
    412 Langdon Barracks, Kent 412
     
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  8. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    Malcolm 56. If your list is taken from Roger Thomas, English Heritage list or any newspaper article (that pinched them), then their listings are not always trustworthy. I do not blame Thomas, he was probably working on a budget of time and money.

    There are hundreds of records and lists spread across many a ministry in the TNA and he did not find them all and neither have I. You are probably aware of all this already.
    I am writing this for the benefit of new arrivals at the temple of sorting out camp existences and numbers.

    The camp number is not given to the place, it was given the 'management team' who administered the camp. If they moved en bloc, they took the number with them. The best analogy I can think of is an RAF squadron. It kept its number but not any airfield name.

    Camp 2 wandered all over the place and I am not sure yet whether we've got them all. You are right for 1947, but in 1944, Toft Hall was camp190 for a few weeks and not a lot of people know that. Thomas didn't. (Continue to eat your heart out Sir Michael).

    My pious hope is that there were no typos in War Office letters and the list I posted above is accurate!
    Edit. An error in the first post linking Comrie/Cultybraggan to Cowden.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2020
  9. Malcolm56

    Malcolm56 Well-Known Member

    Hello Osborne2 - I agree with you on Thomas. Even though there are many mistakes in his report, I think he did a very good job on the limited time/budget he had. He also created a good basis on which to build. It is very easy to make mistakes with the research, as I frequently find out o_O, but bit by bit, a more accurate story and details are being produced. BUT, no I did not use his list.

    The info I have is based mainly on FO docs - in particular the 1947 Wilton Park list (FO1120/182) to carry forward from - e.g. the Cowden entry coming in at number 64. This number could have been Castle Rankin OR Cowden, but the FO file gave us:
    upload_2020-11-15_18-0-55.png

    The other main source used was the FO939 file of re-education reports. E.g Willingham House, 256 was visited on 5-8 November 1947 and again on 14-16 January 1948. Which gives us a nice date sandwich for the 14 November Memorandum. Other sources also add to the list, e.g postal items.

    I think the list you published is very accurate, just 1 mis-match which I can't (yet) explain. I also think the list I have produced is pretty accurate, but this was a time when camps were closing down, shrinking, changing status (and so number changes), being reduced to sub-camps, etc, etc. Hopefully others will spot the errors I have made and then I can update the list.
     
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  10. Osborne2

    Osborne2 Well-Known Member

    What more can l say, but agreed. Now, I said l had not seen all the lists, and there you are pulling another rabbit from the bowler hat. One day when Covid free that is another l want to look at as well as ones in HO 215, ones l failed to photograph completely in 2015. l have posted elsewhere about the segregation reports which are good for new camps and hostels created during the 1945 expansion. I might add that l am not attempting to build a definitive list, l am just trying to add to the public information that might help others as l go through what l have. The lists l have photographed were to solve a problem but l failed to realise the problem l dealt with was not the one that needed solving. Ever been there? Bet you have. Here’s to the thrill of the chase, see you the other side of the hedge, falls permitting.
     
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  11. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

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