Roy gave us a very informative talk on the Frith Hill Prisoner of War camp during World War One which where the Pineridge Links Golf Club is currently sited.

In 1907, international rules were laid down for the treatment of prisoner of war (POW) and immediately after the outbreak of war registers were set up of all prisoners taken, and later of all the civilian internees. These registers also contained the details of all movements of prisoners whilst they were held in confinement. Of these registers there are only two that have survived and are currently held at the National Archives.

In August 1914 there were no POW camps in the UK and we were totally unprepared to handle the POW’s. There were no free barracks available as these were very quickly being used to train and equip all the 100,000’s recruits that were required by the forces. The only way to provide the necessary locations was to use disused industrial arrears.

Frith Hill Camp was set up as a hub due to it’s close location to the coast and the rest of the country. It was designed to initially process the prisoners, and later the civilian internees, before they were passed on to over locations in the country. There were also some internees held at Knap Hill. Frith Hill was opened in August 1914 between Deepcut Barracks and Brompton Hospital.

Roy showed us a slide show of the camp and it’s prisoners who would be matched in from Frimley. It was after the sinking of the Lusitania that German and Austrian civilians living in the country were interned. The slides showed that the camp was a large area with wire fencing that was electrified and guard posts linked by telephones. Inside the camp the occupants were held in bell tents identical to those used by the Army. As well as the accommodation, there was also space for food preparation, ablutions, a post office a hospital and sports areas. During the summer, the conditions were quite reasonable in the camp but when winter arrived the weather invariably became boggy and caused many complaints.

All prisoners and internees received the same ration as British Front Line troops. This was not the case for the British prisoners of the Germans.

During the war there was a lot of conflict between the POW’s and the internees and this resulted in the two factions having to be kept separate as far as possible.

There were 6 successful escapes from the camp during WW1 which caused substantial alarm in the local area and resulted in 1,000’s of police and troops being used to search for them. Of these escapes only one succeeded in evading recapture.

Only 3 or 4 prisoners died at Frith Hill and were buried close by.

At the end of the war in 1918 the camp was closed very quickly, the last inmates being the civilian internees.

The presentation was well supported by Roy’s slide show that included copies of drawings and paintings produced by an inmate of the camp. They added substantially to the understanding of the subject, proving the old adage “that a picture is worth a thousand words”! Roy’s presentation also proved that Northern France was not the closest location to us to view WW1 sites.