Knockaloe Camp letter balance, scales
Date made: 1914-1918
Description: A metal letter balance/ scales made in Knockaloe Internment Camp. The metal letter balance has a counter balance mechanism and a wooden tray on top to place letters on for weighing. The letter balance will weigh letters up to 8oz in weight and has a brass plate on side of mechanism marked/ calibrated in 1/4oz divisions. The faint remains of a stamped/ printed inscription can be seen on wooden base. The letter balance was made using metal from old meat tins (bully beef tins) and was collected by the Society of Friends as an example of the ingenuity of internees in making objects from scrap materials. The scales were probably made for and used in the Knockaloe camp Post Office.
Background:
During the First World War (1914-1918) the Isle of Man was used as an internment base for civilian ‘enemy aliens’. Its biggest camp was known as Knockaloe Camp, Patrick, situated in the west of the Island (other historic names referring to the camp include Knockaloe P.O.W. Camp, Knockaloe Prisoner of War Camp and Knockaloe Alien Detention Camp). Originally designed for 5,000 people, at its peak it housed up to 23,000 men and as many as 30,000 men may have been interned in total. 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 organization) 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.
Measurements: overall: 19.5 cm x 11 cm x 7 cm
Materials: brass, mahogany, tin
Object name: letter balance, scales
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: L22135/2
Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS