Our October meeting’s illustrated talk about the Isle of Man between 1914 and 1945 by Catherine Jones was entitled ‘Khaki and Camisoles’ and the packed hall paid tribute to the interest of members who arrived on a sunny afternoon to enjoy this very interesting topic.

We were shown the three legged symbol of Isle of Man which always stands wherever it is thrown.

The island is 13 by 33 miles and in 1914 the Government needed somewhere to intern Germans and other nationalities who were in England. The Isle of Man government said ‘we are a holiday island and there is plenty of room’.

Cunninghams Holiday Camp housed 2,500 internees, some of whom were housed in privileged huts where the interns could buy extra food. Another camp, Michaela Farm was built up of army huts with railway sleepers placed between to make roads and housed 26,000 internees. It was realised that the internees should be kept occupied so they were encouraged to work in the gardens and attend one of the eleven schools which offered agricultural courses as well as teaching 10 languages.

James Baker, a Quaker, taught woodwork and basket making and items made were in turn sent to the UK to be sold.

Archibald Knox was appointed censor of parcels etc. looking for secret messages inside cakes and even sauerkraut jars. 5,000 parcels at Christmas kept him especially busy.

Joseph Pilates, a German had suffered from asthma as a child and did exercises to make himself strong and in turn passed on his teaching. During the flu epidemic in 1915 no-one in his group caught it as they were all fit.

In September 1939 the landladies of the hotels along the promenade in Douglas were told to leave within the week as their properties were needed. The Royal Corps of Signals was moved in where they spent many hours decoding Morse code messages from Germany, Italy and Japan. This of course was top secret.

The UK government realised the Isle of Man’s worth utilising the three airstrips, radar stations and 10 internal camps were made available.

In May 1940, 4,000 women arrived as internees to Port Eric where they performed housework during the morning and their afternoons were spent happily shopping, especially for dress fabrics. They made toys and did dressmaking which they exchanged for tokens which they could spend in the shops.

Mona’s Queen was one of the ferries which sailed from Southampton to the Isle of Man. It made several trips to France and sadly hit a mine on its return journey and sank.

St Andrew’s church tower had to be demolished as it was thought to be a hazard on for the planes on the flightpath so it was taken down stone by stone and stored away. The government offered to rebuild the tower after the war but the church authorities decided to take the money in lieu and purchased an organ instead.

There were 400 air accidents, one being caused by two Polish pilots who flew between the lampposts on Douglas front! Only 1 in 4 of the bomber crews came back safely.

A young Manxman, Denis Teare, went on a bombing raid to Mannheim in an Avro Lancaster and had to bail out as three of the engines failed. He landed in a tree in the dark in Northern France. All he had in his survival pack were three maps, a broken tin of condensed milk (!) and a sheath knife. He headed for a canal where he met two young guys on guard and luckily they decided Denis was not a spy. He was taken to a safe house where he was quizzed by Monsieur X who seemed to know about Denis, his crew and his plane. Monsieur X took Denis to a barbers but covered his mouth with bandage, explaining to the barber that Denis had boils on his mouth so he could not speak.

Denis was moved to live above a carpenter’s shop where 14 others were staying. They had to be silent during the day. Food was very scarce and one day Denis was given a horse’s head to cut up with his sheath knife. He sliced it into four buckets, pretending it was beef but although the other men were very sceptical of this they were so hungry they ate it. It was at this point that Denis decided to join the French Resistance.

Denis paired up with Robert a French/American who had an office in the town. They were followed to the office by two Germans and Robert told Denis to run up to the top of the building where he found a store room and hid in there. He heard a shout and the Germans went down and arrested Robert, who had saved Denis’s life by running downstairs.

Two days later the Americans rolled into town. Denis was very malnourished and suffering from scabies and spent a month in hospital

Denis was awarded the Legion d’honneur for his service to France.

Next month’s talk will be entitled The Archaeology and History of Rabbits and Warrens and will be held at Wulstan Hall at 2.15pm on Tuesday 21 November. As usual, new members will be very welcome.

JACKIE PEEK