Help For British Prisoners of War

From Woman’s Weekly, 12th October 1918.

HELP FOR BRITISH PRISONERS.

A Very Useful Article, Telling How to Inquire After the Soldier who is in Enemy Hands.

MUCH time might be saved, and trouble avoided, by going about a thing in the right way.
At the request of your Editress, therefore, I am going to tell readers who are anxious to ascertain information of the missing, or to send parcels to prisoners of war, the best way to go about it.

THE FIRST STEP. 
IN the first instance, write to The British Red Cross Society, 18, Carlton House Terrace, and do not fall into the common error of stating that "your son or husband is missing" without giving his Christian name and regimental number, or even the name of his regiment.  Remember that in the majority of cases dozens bear the same surname, and the omission causes unnecessary trouble and delay.
Should you hear from Carlton House, or from some other source, that he is a prisoner of war, your next step would be to call at or write to

Central Prisoners of War Committee, 
Records Dept., 
4, Thurloe Place, 
London, S.W. 1, 

giving information received, with a view to sending him food.  The entire record, as far possible, of every prisoner, and details, can be had from the above address.  However, many regiments have their own care committee, and the Central Prisoners of War Committee—which is a branch of the Red Cross—only pack for a certain number.
If you want to send a parcel to a British prisoner, you can send it through the committee.

STANDARD PARCELS. 
HEREWITH two standard parcels, costing about 10s.

(A)

One pound of beef, one pound of vegetables, one pound of rations, half a pound of cheese, quarter of a pound of tea, half a pound of milk, half a pound of sugar, half a pound of dripping or margarine, one pound of jam, one pound of biscuits, one packet of Quaker oats or milk pudding, fifty cigarettes or one ounce of tobacco, one tin of sardines, and one tablet of soap. 

(B)

One pound of beef, one pound of bacon, one pound of baked beans, half a pound of tea, half a pound of ham or veal, or beef dripping, one pound of biscuits, one pound of rations, one pound of dripping or margarine, one pound of Quaker oats or Grape Nuts or milk pudding, one tin of sardines, one pea-soup roll, fifty cigarettes, and one tablet of soap. 

NO assistance is afforded by the Government in any way, the institution being entirely supported by voluntary contributions.  This being the case, surely no one with a conscience will seek assistance without doing their utmost to help.
Of course, there are genuine cases of poverty.  The mother with a large family of growing children, struggling bravely with her inadequate separation allowance, can do little, if anything. If, however, she frankly states her case to the secretary of the committee, the prisoner will be as well looked after as those whose relatives are able to provide for him.

WHAT THE PRISONERS WRITE. 
HERE is a typically grateful letter, culled from a large number of similar ones, which the committee has kindly given me permission to publish:
(Extract from Pte. E. May's letter.) 

Rifle Brigade, 

Lager Lechfeld, 

May 13th, 1918. 

You will be glad to know that we are regularly receiving our parcels from the British Red Cross, and we are truly thankful for the same.  What we should do without them I dread to think.  Life would not be worth living.  They contain an excellent assortment of foods, and the best quality at that.  In addition to our grocery packets we receive bread parcels, each containing two loaves of pure white bread.  So you can rest assured that we will not starve while we have a British Red Cross Society.  May their good work continue to the end!  
The Red Cross sends all we need. 

With regard to the bread mentioned in the letter, as soon as the committee know the camp at which the prisoner is, a wire is instantly despatched to Copenhagen, and the society's agents begin to send him weekly supplies of bread.

HOW THE COMMITTEE WORKS. 
DIFFERENT sections deal with different regiments.  Directly information is received from the secretary relating to any particular captured man it is taken to the right quarter, and two cards are written for him.
One is for the camp-room (containing all particulars and source of information), the other for the records.
The latter are filed in boxes alphabetically arranged.  Fresh information is added from time to time, so that the committee is in a position to supply in-quires with all particulars.
The splendid work done by the Red Cross—of which the Central Prisoners of War Committee is a branch—needs no comment. Even those who have grown somewhat weary and sceptical of war charities must surely be in sympathy with it.
Every penny sent for the help of the prisoners of war is spent on them, and on them alone.  I am in a position to unhesitatingly assert this.  There is no reduction for working expenses, or anything of that sort.  Our brave lads get the full benefit of your generosity and self-denial.
I must not omit to mention that officers are cared for in the same way as the men and the relatives of both receive the same courteous consideration from all who have the great work at heart,
FREDA ELLIOT.

Parcels to the Front and Prisoners of War

From the Falkirk Herald, 25th March 1916.

PARCELS FOR OUR SOLDIERS AT THE FRONT.

It is gratifying to know that the scheme for the dispatch of parcels to our soldiers, under the supervision of the Falkirk and District Choral Union, has been largely taken advantage of this week.  The number of parcels handled was 166 (double the number of last week), and the combined weight was over half a ton.  These were despatched in 48 sacks to the various units.  The saving in postages to the senders amounts to £8 10s, and this alone ought to encourage those sending to their friends to take full advantage of the scheme.  Work parties are specially invited to send their parcels.

SOCKS FOR PRISONERS OF WAR.

The committee of the East Stirlingshire Prisoners of War Fund are in the habit of sending supplies of socks to the prisoners of war in Germany belonging to East Stirlingshire.  Many people have given their services voluntarily in knitting these socks with supplies of wool furnished by the committee, and as a further quantity of socks will be required immediately, the hon. secretary, Mr Wm. J. Gibson, 96 West Bridge Street, Falkirk, will be glad to have the names and addresses of those who will be willing to help in this way. 

[Two examples of the activities going on around the country to support their local men.  I like all the statistics in the first one - they did like to quote precise figures for everything.  Many of the parcels would have been sent by friends and family to individual men, but the encouragement for work parties to send out their parcels by the same route suggests that Sir Edward Ward was not making much headway in Falkirk.  His plan was that comforts should be sent to a central depot and then distributed as needed, so that sending out parcels directly to units at the Front should not have been necessary.]    

Halifax Fighters and Prisoners' Needs

From the Halifax Courier, 3 July 1915

FIGHTERS AND PRISONERS’ NEEDS

SHALL WE FORGET OUR OWN?

THE PREMIER POINTS THE WAY

In a day, one solitary Saturday, Halifax alone raised £800 for horses.  Now what will Halifax do for its own Fathers and Sons?  Shall they appeal in vain?  Shall indeed they go short of anything?  Do not those vacant chairs appeal to us?  There is no more direct way of proving to our own, our gratitude.
We have made it our business to ask folk at home to provide needed comforts for Tommy.  It is one bit of proof that he has a soft spot in our hearts, that we want to help him in his great sacrifice for us.  Without he kept the enemy back, where should we be?  Let us pour out thankfulness to the fullest measure.

WHAT THE PREMIER SAYS.

What did the Premier say on Tuesday:- "All money that is spent in these days on superfluous comforts or luxuries, whether in the shape of goods or in the shape of services, means the division of energy which can be better employed in the national interests, either in supplying the needs of our fighting forces in the field, or in making commodities for export which will go to reduce our indebtedness abroad."

WHAT LADY JELLICOE SAYS.

Lady Jellicoe, speaking in Halifax yesterday, said: "However brave our soldiers and sailors are, they cannot fight, and beat the enemy without all the aid they can get from the civilian.  We know now that men and women alike must put their shoulders to the wheel.”

NEEDED QUICKLY: £500, FOR 1,400 MEN

Regiment:  2nd West Ridings; 5th W.R. Artillery; Ammunition Column; R.A.M.C. (A Echelon); R.A.M.C. (B Echelon).
Area: Brighouse to Todmorden, Stainland to Queensbury.

The claims of other regiments (at the Front only) will be put before the public, as soon as the needs of the above have been met. As long as the War goes on, it is up to this district to continue to think generously of native braves.

The goods provided by this Fund are : --
Vests.     Carbolic Soap.   Pipes.
Pants.    Vaseline.    Cap sunshades.
Braces.    Boracic ointment.   Candles.
Handkerchiefs.  Zinc ointment.   Tinned goods.
Razors.    Sweets.   Writ'g mat'ial.
Shaving Soap.    Fruit.   Towels.
Toilet soap.   Tobacco.   Mirrors.
Tea    Games.   Biscuits.
Coffee.    Laces.   Tooth powder.
Cocoa.    Thread.   Tooth brushes.

Except to men in other than local regiments, the "Courier" only supplies on the signed application of Commanding Officers, and on the understanding that every man from the district indicated above shares.  105 prisoners known to us have received parcels weekly, but owing to lack of adequate support we are obliged to cut them down one half, so that each prisoner will now get a parcel in the next fortnight; and if the rate of sending in money does not vastly improve, we shall have to curtail their help further because, whoever else we forget, the fighters must have every possible attention.  Each parcel contains 2 mothers’ loaves, and goods costing 6s. 3d.

For shirts, socks, and all knitted goods, local regiments must apply to the Mayoress’s Committee.

TO SOCIETIES, WORKERS AND THE PHILANTHROPIC.

Will district Red Cross and other Societies kindly consider our appeal with a view to helping it, in view of the fact that it is all for local men?
Mill, workshop, and office collections would be particularly agreeable now.  Employes throughout Halifax, Elland, Brighouse, Todmorden, Lightcliffe, Hipperholme,  Queensbury, Sowerby Bridge, Ripponden, Hebden Bridge, and all the intervening places, know that in assisting in this cause they are contributing directly to their own lads.  The cause is likewise commended to churches and their auxiliaries.  The consideration of all charitably-disposed friends we cordially invite.  Lady collectors and workers would be valuable.

Nobody can do too much, and certainly we can sacrifice in no better cause.

We have got to win.  Then let us help our own lads in doing their share.

[For some time, the Halifax Courier had been saying that their 'Comforts' fund was short of money, and making increasingly desperate appeals for more.  It seems to me that they had taken on too much - the list of things they were supplying includes many items that should have been provided by the War Office, and probably were.  Providing all those things for 1,400 men out of charitable donations was evidently proving too great a burden - and could only get more difficult as the number of Halifax men at the Front increased.]   

Bread for Prisoners of War

From the Halifax Courier, June 26th 1915

NOTICE TO LADIES.
For some time now we have received some 200 loaves a week from kind ladies in Halifax, and a few just outside it.  This bread has been sent, the day after receipt to somebody’s father or son held in a Germany as a prisoner.  We know of just 100 of them, and each has been getting two loaves every 8 days.  Cannot we induce another 100 ladies to put their names on our list, promising two loaves apiece fortnightly?  We should like them to do so, and then we would ask our very splendid helpers of the past weeks not to send in oftener than fortnightly.  No lady has uttered the slightest grumble, or asked for this relief, but we feel the alternative scheme we have suggested would be desirable, only fair.

[List of bread-makers follows.]

[It seems extraordinary that the Courier should be sending bread from Halifax to camps in Germany - but presumably they had evidence that the loaves were still edible when they arrived. ]

Supplies for British Prisoners of War

From the Halifax Courier, 15th May 2015.

LOCAL MOTHERS AND BREAD FOR PRISONERS.

Almost every postcard from the internment camps asks preferably for food.  For a long time it has been our practice to send each man a few garments and, as frequently as our fund would allow, some food, with a little solace in “smokes”.  The craving for food, bread principally, was at the bottom of our idea of sending loaves.  We are most grateful to mothers who have answered the appeal, but as we can do with three or four times the number we shall be glad to hear from some of you gentle readers of these lines.  What we ask of you is a promise to send a loaf or loaves on your regular baking day, but only when you see your name in our list on Saturdays.  The following are kindly asked to oblige during this next week, and we tender hearty thanks in anticipation of the kind service:  [list of names and addresses follows.]

We had a letter from the West Riding War Fund (York) yesterday, to say they also are sending out consignments to all West Riding units and to the prisoners of war in Germany belonging to same.  We are glad more interest is being aroused in our war prisoners and the public will be relieved to know it.

[There follows a list of 12 prisoners of war, and the camps they are in, to be sent parcels during the week, and a further 14 who had just been sent parcels.]

Do the parcels get to the men?  This question is asked many times each week.  Yesterday we received a communication which gives the answer.  Some time ago an address in Germany was left with the request to forward a parcel.  The address was faithfully copied and a parcel despatched.  To-day, we are advised by American Express Co. that intimation has been received from the Continent that the particular parcel cannot be delivered as there is no lager of the name given, and asking us to give correct place as soon as possible.  This shows that parcels are being handled with care at the other end.