First World War Internee Heinrich Schild and others, Douglas Camp, Isle of Man
Date(s): 1915
Scope & Content: Placard reads:
Nach Der Heimat Mochtich Weider
Reservisten in Kriegsgefangenschaft, Douglas I.O.M. 1914-15
Falk Lamotte Schreiber Schild Scho___ Lenz Kruger
The men are military reservists, and their names are on the board. The glass plate is marked Mr N.Schild, but the closest match in the Douglas Camp daybook would appear to be Heinrich Schild with number 1559.
Heinrich Schild appears on the ICRC website, on a list of prisoners in 1914, with Red Cross information bureau number 1584. His age is recorded as 24, rank: Matrose [sailor] 2 M.D.[Marine Division] Reserve. Home address: Eckwarden bei Wilhelmshaven. If the position of the names matches the positions of the men, then he is standing right in naval uniform.
There is a record of a Heinrich Schild of correct age, an AB of German nationality aboard the Bremen registered cargo vessel Schlesien (of the Norddeutscher-Lloyd line) in December 1913 (Ancestry). The Schlesien was captured by the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Vindictive in the Bay of Biscay in November 1914, as she returned from Brisbane to Bremen, and taken to Plymouth. She was later declared a prize of war.
The man seated on the right with arms folded corresponds to 'Kruger' and he bears a strong resemblance to 1635 Otto Kruger in another image. The man corresponding to 'Lamotte' can only be Christian Lamotte according to the Douglas Camp Daybook. He appears on the ICRC database as Christian Ludwig Lamotte with Red Cross information bureau number 1164. He is recorded on a 1914 list of prisoners, with age shown as 24, rank Unteroffizier, unit Inf 1C no 136. He died of menigitis in Dachau concentration camp in February 1945. His Dachau camp record card shows that he was married with one child, was an evangelical christian and a citizen of the German Reich, so the reason for his incarceration is not obvious, however he may have been a trade unionist or socialist.
Language: German
Extent: overall: 16 cm x 12 cm
Physical description: Black & white glass half-plate negative
Item name: photograph
Collection: Photographic Archive
Level: ITEM
ID number: PG/7870/33796
Subject tags : reservist, placard