Knockaloe Camp jewellery box
Date made: 1914-1918
Description: A wooden box with a hinged lid and a inset, drop-in tray with three compartments. Decorative marquetry designs include a handcoloured single stemmed red rose on the lid (2 flowers in bloom and 1 bud), a diamond on the front panel and string banding on all the sides and the lid. Small disc of animal bone has been inlaid in front as escutcheon, surround for lock, key hole.
Box has slightly warped so lid does not shut fully and some marquetry has slightly lifted. One narrow section of corner beading is missing on the back right hand edge and a small section of banding is missing on the front top right hand corner.
A typical example of wooden craftwork made in the Knockaloe Civilian Internment Camp.
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.
Measurements: overall: 12.7 cm x 25.5 cm x 14 cm
Materials: mammal bone, wood
Object name: box
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 2006-0241
Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS