Billericay, Essex. Internment Camp First World War

[Steve20y]

There was apparently an Internment Camp in or near Billericay in Essex during the First World War. I am assuming that this was for foreign nationals who had been living in Great Britain rather than German POW's. The only reference I have ever been able to find about it was, 'Billericay Working Camp - Under Pattishall - Billericay, Essex', but that's as far as it goes. Any information or pictures that anybody might have in relation to it would be greatly appreciated.

[CGM]

Hello Steve,

Welcome to the forum!

You may well find the thread "Eastcote/Pattishall POW Camp 1914-19" interesting because it does mention that Pattishall satellite camps existed and forum member Pattishall is writing a book about these:

"Further books are to follow on both the parent (Pattishall) and the satellite WW1 POW Camps - some for civilian internees, others for combatant military POWs."

SEE HERE.

CGM

[Steve20y]

Hello Steve,

Welcome to the forum!

You may well find the thread "Eastcote/Pattishall POW Camp 1914-19" interesting because it does mention that Pattishall satellite camps existed and forum member Pattishall is writing a book about these:

"Further books are to follow on both the parent (Pattishall) and the satellite WW1 POW Camps - some for civilian internees, others for combatant military POWs."

SEE HERE.

CGM

Hi. Many thanks. What is Pattishall? I am writing a book about Billericay in the Great War and just when I thought I had finished it, I got wind of the fact that there had apparently been an Internment Camp in Billericay during the First World War which I'd never heard of. As its an Internment Camp I am assuming it was for civilian aliens rather than a POW Camp.

[Moonraker]

Pedantically, Billericay was not itself an internment camp, but as a work(ing) camp, Billericay would have housed civilian internees and or PoWs working locally, under the administration of Eastcote, latterly known as Pattishall, Camp. There were dozens of such work(ing) camps in Britain, accommodating parties working on farms, roads, waterways, army camps, airfields and the like. Accommodation could be army huts within a wired compound or a farm building, for example.

My own parochial researches failed to bring up very much about such work(ing)camps in Wiltshire, with censorship preventing any references to them in newspapers - unless any inmates escaped, in which case warnings were posted in national and local newspapers.

Moonraker

[Steve20y]

Moonraker,

Many thanks.

Any idea where I can find information about where the camp was located and numbers of people who were 'detained' there?

I am assuming we are talking about Eastcote that now sits in the London Borough of Hillingdon? What's the Pattishall bit, I don't get that?

I've never heard of a POW camp being in Billericay during the First World War.

When you did your research in relation to Wiltshire I am assuming from your comments that you didn't find much that had been kept nationally about these records?

There is a museum in Billericay and when I enquired there about this Internment Camp they had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

Kind regards

Steve

[Moonraker]

We're talking about Eastcote Camp near Towcester in Northamptonshire. Eastcote is a settlement within the parish of Pattishall. In 1914 Eastcote House became - initially - an internment camp for German merchant seamen.

There are other cases of very localised addresses causing confusion in WWI and perhaps some other people confused the Northants one with others in the country, prompting a change of name to Pattishall.

From my Wiltshire experiences I'm not surprised you've been unable to find out anything about the Billericay work(ing) camp. Many such camps in Wiltshire have only very brief entries (just the name) in lists of PoW and internment camps and are not mentioned in village histories - and I had the advantage that many of them were attached to the numerous airfields and camps in the county, so there are passing references to them in soldiers' memoirs and in local newspapers when there were escapes or the occasional act of heroism by a PoW (such as rescuing the pilot of a crashed aeroplane).

The postal address for "your" camp was "Billericay Union", and you may care to find out what this signified.

Ah! Just seen that you've been lucky and that "Pattishall" has offered you some good info on his original thread. So I can bow out. I was almost getting confused with your two threads and now there's a third ...

Moonraker

[Steve20y]

We're talking about Eastcote Camp near Towcester in Northamptonshire. Eastcote is a settlement within the parish of Pattishall. In 1914 Eastcote House became - initially - an internment camp for German merchant seamen.

There are other cases of very localised addresses causing confusion in WWI and perhaps some other people confused the Northants one with others in the country, prompting a change of name to Pattishall.

From my Wiltshire experiences I'm not surprised you've been unable to find out anything about the Billericay work(ing) camp. Many such camps in Wiltshire have only very brief entries (just the name) in lists of PoW and internment camps and are not mentioned in village histories - and I had the advantage that many of them were attached to the numerous airfields and camps in the county, so there are passing references to them in soldiers' memoirs and in local newspapers when there were escapes or the occasional act of heroism by a PoW (such as rescuing the pilot of a crashed aeroplane).

The postal address for "your" camp was "Billericay Union", and you may care to find out what this signified.

Ah! Just seen that you've been lucky and that "Pattishall" has offered you some good info on his original thread. So I can bow out. I was almost getting confused with your two threads and now there's a third ...

Moonraker

Moonraker,

Once again many thanks

Out of interest where did you get the 'Postal Address' from?

'Billericay Union' can only possibly refer to the 'Billericay Union Workhouse' which was still open during the First World War. I've read quite a few things over the years about the Billericay Workhouse but nothing about it ever having been used as an Internment Camp.

Regards

Steve

[Moonraker]

From Prisoners of War in British Hands during WWI by Graham Mark (Postal History Society 2007). Billericay gets just a one-line mention in an appendix, There's a full section on Eastcote/Pattishall. As the publisher's name suggests, Graham's book includes the postal history of the camps. I could idly speculate further - that the building wasn't so much an "internment camp" as secure lodging for working parties of internees - but the information that our eponymous Pattishall Camp expert has promised you should be more helpful. The fact that Billericay merited an inspection suggests that it was larger than I might have thought.

Moonraker

[Steve20y]

From Prisoners of War in British Hands during WWI by Graham Mark (Postal History Society 2007). Billericay gets just a one-line mention in an appendix, There's a full section on Eastcote/Pattishall. As the publisher's name suggests, Graham's book includes the postal history of the camps. I could idly speculate further - that the building wasn't so much an "internment camp" as secure lodging for working parties of internees - but the information that our eponymous Pattishall Camp expert has promised you should be more helpful. The fact that Billericay merited an inspection suggests that it was larger than I might have thought.

Moonraker

Moonraker

Many thanks. I'll keep you updated as to how I get on. I'm of the Essex County Archive on Tuesday to see what they have that can help.

Regards

Steve

[Tonybu10]

Hi, I was wondering if you had ever come across the name of an ancestor I am researching. His Name was Ferdinand Walser born in Germany in 1883. He was living in Hackney in 1911 and married a relative later that year also in Hackney. I would assume that he was probably interned at the outbreak of WWI but I have no further details. is it possible he could have changed his nationality and fought for the British? Interestingly their children were born in 1915, 1918 and 1925 and the family had moved to Essex. Any info gratefully received.

Thanks

Tony