WW1 Internment Camp at Knockaloe

[HarrysGirl2]

Only 'Enemy' aliens were interned - if he was Russian (as per passport ?) then he wasn't an enemy alien.
I've not heard of any releases from Knockaloe on such grounds so suspect he was never interned and not there;
Re documents - can't you get a reply from the NA in Dublin as to the form of the records ?

Hi Frances,
I have made enquiries at the National Archives at Dublin & I'm waiting for their reply.  My grandfather states he was a German National on all Liverpool Censuses, but we suspect he was from somewhere in what is now Lithuania, but was maybe Prussia when he left his homeland.  He was born about 1866 & first appears in Leeds where he married his 1st wife in 1890.  (He was married & widowed three times)

If he signed the Dublin Alien book, then he must have been classed as an Enemy Alien.  But this seems very relaxed for him to be staying with the Levin family in Dublin.

HG2

[Frances_mnb]

I thought there might be an upper age limit for internees but some (not many) of the deaths at Knockaloe were of older men so if he was German then somewhat strange unless different rules applied in Ireland

[HarrysGirl2]

I thought there might be an upper age limit for internees but some (not many) of the deaths at Knockaloe were of older men so if he was German then somewhat strange unless different rules applied in Ireland

Yes, it does seem strange & too relaxed.  I'm told that conscription started in England in January 1916, but didn't start in Ireland until early 1918.  So, altho his older sons enlisted for war, maybe my grandfather tried to keep his younger sons from war for as long as possible.  I can't imagine him taking his young family across the Irish sea especially after the Luci was sunk there if he didn't have good reason & maybe he thought they would be safer in Ireland. 

Both Elias & Isaac died young - Elias at 21 & Isaac at 39.  He also had a stepdaughter Betsy aged 10 (Rosa's daughter to her first marriage) so she is not mentioned & another stepson Abraham aged 18 to his 2nd wife - (his 1st & 2nd wives were both widows themselves)  He was a remarkable man, holding onto such a large family plus stepchildren too, but he brought them all up & from having nothing he worked hard & he prospered.

HG2

[Florida June]

My question:  how were divorces handled when the (german speaking) husband was released, but never returned to England...were their wives allowed to divorce without consent of that husband?  How could they remarry if still legally married to the vanished husband?  Were there special provisions in the law for this?

I just discovered my Knockaloe ancestor had been married in 1912 in London, but after being released from internment went to France, then to USA.  He never mentioned a marriage to the family.  I further see his wife remarried in 1931, under her married name. Did they have to wait a certain # of years to remarry?

Just wondering if this makes me "officially illegitimate", as he married my mother (while still legally married to this other woman?) in 1940 just  before I was born.

June in Florida

[Annabel]

Hi,

I would be grateful if you would add my Great Grandfather's name to the list.  He was Henry Bruns born in Germany about 1864.  He had 10 children in Liverpool between 1892 and 1913, he was interned on the IOM.

Thanks
Annabel

[Yawn]

Hi,

i am new to this & can't work out how to post so am replying to your message in the hope that someone will see this. My grt grandfather, Otto Puhlmann, later known as George Pullman, was interned at Knockoloe camp between 1914 & 1918. I have letters from him to his daughter that tell me he was in camp 3. I have searched to see if I can find any documents that name him without success. I do have general papers relating to the camp. Otto / George was living in Brighton when war broke out. He went back to Brighton after the war and died in 1937. Can anyone out there help me to find more about his time at the camp/

Thanks,
Sue

[Frances_mnb]

have you tried Manx Museum ? library@mnh.gov.im
there were some 25,000 internees - all official records were held in London and destroyed - the Museum has over the last few years been putting together a database from incidental records (eg Polic etc)

[Yawn]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I haven't tried the museum yet but will now.

Sue

[Sherb]

Hallo, I have only just discovered this great conversation and would like to add some info in case it's of some use. Also if anyone comes across my grandfather's name I would be most delighted. The Anglo-German FHS has been very helpful and I now have the PoW No. and release date of my grandfather, Erich Heinrich Gustav JACOBS. My grandmother said that he had died in the great 'flu epidemic but I was told that the epidemic never spread into the IoM. He was released in Feb 1919, so he would have missed the flu. I shall try the Red Cross to see if I can find out what happened to him. The family is sure he survived. Grandmother re-married in 1923. The effect of his internment on the family including my mum was profound.