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Knockaloe Camp bone vase

Date made: 1916

Description: A handcarved bone vase, mounted on wooden base. The vase has a bas relief carved rose design and the inscription 'Knockaloe'

The bone vase was made for the donor's father, Henry Leslie Moore, a civilian worker in one of the Knockaloe Camp offices prior to his call up during the First World War for military service in the Sherwood Foresters regiment.

Background:
During the First World War (1914-1918) the Isle of Man was used as an internment base for civilian ‘enemy aliens’. They were held in two camps, a requisitioned holiday camp in Douglas and a purpose built camp located at Knockaloe near Peel on the west coast of the Island. These held at their peaks over 4,000 and 23,000 men in some cases for nearly five years between opening in 1914 and final closure in 1919. Over 30,000 men passed through Knockaloe between 1914 and 1917, more than the population of Douglas. Other historic names referring to the camp include Knockaloe P.O.W. Camp, Knockaloe Prisoner of War Camp and Knockaloe Alien Detention Camp. The confinement of the prisoners led to specific behavioural issues known as ‘barbed wire disease’. Receiving its name from the aimless promenading of inmates up and down the barbed-wire boundary, other symptoms included moroseness and avoidance of others. It was decided that providing practical stimulation would help. The Friends’ Emergency Committee (a Quaker organisation) based in Great Britain was invited to the Island from 1915 onwards with the aim of providing books, tools, equipment and materials for the inmates to work and establish workshops.

Materials: mammal bone, wood

Object name: vase

Collection: Social History Collection

ID Number: 2007-0215/1

Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS

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