Hawick’s German Prisoners - Stobs Internment Camp in Global Context, 1914-1919

During World War I, Stobs military training ground near Hawick was used as a mass internment camp for 4,500 prisoners; German civilian ‘enemy aliens’ who had settled in Britain before 1914 and were considered potential spies, civilian passengers and sailors from captured enemy ships, and military prisoners-of-war captured in Europe or at sea.

Although the majority of internees were German, there were some Austrians and some Turks.

There’s a free conference next summer about the Stobs camp, an opportunity to hear experts who have researched Stobs as well as camps in England, the Isle of Man, Ireland and others around the world, to see camp artefacts and perhaps to identify them, and visit the site with the Council’s archaeology officer, Dr Christopher Bowles.

If you have family members that worked at Stobs, or you’re descended from someone who was interned in one of the camps, I think you’ll find this conference especially interesting. Dr Bowles would also like to hear from anyone that has memorabilia relating to the camp.

Provisional programme.

The conference is on 18th and 19th June 2016 at Hawick. If you would like to attend, I suggest you register now at archives@scotborders.gov.uk

Another Isle of Man Collection Added to Family Search

I've just discovered a family member in a new collection indexed by Family Search.

They now have 4 sets of vital records for the Isle of Man though there's a warning for the first 3 collections that only a few localities are included and the time period varies by locality.

• Isle of Man Births and Baptisms, 1821-1911
• Isle of Man Marriages, 1849–1911
• Isle of Man Deaths and Burials, 1844-1911
• Isle of Man, Parish Registers, 1598-1950, containing baptisms, marriages, and deaths.

All in all, there's over 300,000 records included, and that must be good.


There's also a full list of all 891 of the Family Search collections.

The family member I found was Hamlet Lowe who married Catharine Ware at Braddan, Isle of Man, on 08 Jan 1788, though, of course, I still need to check that he is the correct one. I wonder where she was born, as there's no mention of her birth in the Isle of Man.

300 Million New Names Online

Family Search have announced that over 300 million new names have been added, creating or updating more than 150 new collections of records.

Can that be right ? It seems unbelievably large. Even 300,000 would be a lot.

The records can be found at FamilySearch’s Record Search pilot.

Whatever it is, it's good news for all of us.

The collections updated include

• Australia Deaths and Burials, 1816—1980
• Canada Births and Baptisms, 1661—1959
• Canada Deaths and Burials, 1664—1955
• Canada Marriages, 1661—1949
• British Columbia Death Registrations, 1872—1986
• British Columbia Marriage Registrations, 1859—1932
• New Brunswick Births, 1819—1899
• Nova Scotia Births, 1702—1896
• Nova Scotia Marriages, 1711—1909
• Ontario Births, 1779—1899
• Ontario Marriages, 1800—1910
• Quebec  Births, 1662—1898
• Gibraltar Marriages, 1879—1918
• Gibraltar Births and Baptisms, 1704—1876
• Great Britain Deaths and Burials, 1778—1988
• Great Britain Marriages, 1797—1988
• Channel Islands Births and Baptisms, 1820—1907
• Isle of Man Births and Baptisms, 1821—1911
• Isle of Man Deaths and Burials, 1844—1911
• Isle of Man Marriages, 1849—1911
• Wales, Births and Baptisms, 1586—1907
• Wales, Deaths and Burials, 1586—1885
• Wales, Marriages, 1541—1900
• Ireland Deaths, 1864—1870
• India Births and Baptisms, 1800—1945
• India Deaths and Burials, 1800—1945
• India Marriages, 1800—1945

as well as lots of records from south and central America, the Caribbean, Europe, Russia, and the USA.

Happy searching !

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