Internment camp during World War One in Radford

I was told today there was an internment camp somewhere in Radford during WW1. Apparently the internees helped build houses in Engleton Road. Anyone know anything?

The only evidence I can find in the newspapers is a court case that mentions it and in 1919 the huts etc are being sold off

Thanks Anne. There's something on the "Radford as it was" group site on Facebook. Patricia McAree has posted a picture of the front of an envelope sent from the Radford Camp in October 1917 - no idea of the letter's contents.

Thanks Belushi. I had seen that and it prompted me to find out about it. It was good to see that someone else was interested. I found another site with the same thing on it, it was one about prisoner of was stamps but I am blowed if I can find it again ! Looking back at old maps there seems to be many open spaces in the area where it could have been, so many of the houses were built between the wars. I lived in Poole Road and I know that was built in the 1930's. Some maps have Engleton Road, Wiley Road Dugdale Road etc but Poole Road does not appear until later maps. The article I found about the case was about somebody delivering a letter from the camp. It says he lived in the Hutments, Radford Road and I have no idea where that was. It seems that a lot of the prisoners were working in the area. A lot were civilians and some were married. Of course they must be German people who were living in the UK when the war broke out and were interned. The article I read says many of them had British wives. An interesting BFA picture 1936 I did find was this. Do you have any idea what it is on the right of the picture in a square plot. could that be old foundations of Huts ? It would be land somewhere just behind where the Savoy was built, you can see the church near the bottom of the picture.

This is different view, This one says hangers but I can't see that,

The map suggests it was a rifle range on the right. The area with the mark in the grass is marked as part of Radford House. If that helps.

It's all those things sticking up at the back Helen, If you look at the image on BFA it is clearer. I think the hangers were closer to the railway line

Anne - back in February 2015 you posted a map on the 'Radford Aerodrome' topic which shows what appear to be four buildings in the corner of the aerodrome nearest to Radford Rd. The same map shows buildings which appear to be the aircraft hangars alongside the railway line between the end of the Daimler factory and Holbrooks Lane railway bridge. Could the buildings in the Radford Rd corner have been temporary hangars? There were hangars called Bessonneau Hangars during World War One which were temporary structures made from wood and canvas which could be moved from location to location. The squares shown on the photographs could just be the old hangar bases which were later used as a rifle range. Returning to the original topic I doubt that the edge of an aerodrome would have been used to house enemy nationals.

Was it an aerodrome in WW1?

Radford Aerodrome was owned by Daimler and was used to test fly the new aeroplanes built in their factory. It was taken over by the Royal Flying Corps in I think 1915 or 1916 and was used to test fly all of the military aircraft which were being produced in Coventry. The airfield closed after WW1 and presumably remained the property of Daimler until parts of it were eventually developed for housing.

I agree, Helen that I don't think the camp would be a place to house prisoners of war, especially if they were testing planes. I think it must have been somewhere further up Radford Road, possibly near the Radford Building Estate as people say that the houses round Engleton Road etc. were built by German Labour. One of articles about the court case says the address of the hutments as Radford Building Estate, which sounds as if they were put there for workmen. At a sale on 14th November 1919 various items were sold, huts from Barracks Square, Wyken Light Station, Radford Gun Station and Wyken Grange Farm. From the Radford Prisoner of War camps galvanised corrugated iron water tanks holding 500 gallons were sold for prices ranging from £5.15s to £6.10s. A sectional hut 90ft x 15ft by 7ft 6in high was sold for £290 and others including stoves were sold from £50 to £92.10s.

Midland Daily Telegraph, 20 September 1918: In connection with the housing scheme of the Ministry of Munitions at Radford it is proposed to construct six new streets on the west side of Radford Road, two of them being continuations of Wyley Road and Dugdale Road. The Waterworks and Fire Brigade Committee have resolved that the mains to be extended and other works carried out, at an estimated cost of £1,540, so as to supply the estate with water; that application to be made to the Local Government Board for their sanction to a loan of £1,540 for the purpose and to the Ministry of Munitions for facilities for the obtaining of labour and materials. Midland Daily Telegraph, 2 December 1918: GERMAN PRISONERS Councillor Bannington then announced that as a result of the resolution passed at their meeting on the previous Sunday respecting the discharge of civilians and discharged soldiers and their replacement by German prisoners a reply had been received from the Secretary to the Government Road Board at Bristol as follows: "In case there should be any misapprehension as to the employment of civilians and prisoners of war, I wish to draw your attention to the following facts: 1. On September 24 propositions were made to provide labour to carry out Road Board work, the Coventry housing scheme and various other Ministry of Munitions work in the district by establishing winter quarters for German prisoners of war at the Coventry Radford Park Aerodrome. This course was adopted after repeated attempts to obtain civilian labour, and a heavy outlay has been incurred in providing the winter quarters referred to. 2. Some of these prisoners were employed on the Coundon filling factory. Instructions, however, were received that enemy aliens were not to be employed on or near filling factories, and civilians were, therefore, put on this work. When this work was finished the civilians were discharged. It was not, however, possible to discharge prisoners of war in the same way and the Board having this labour available must employ it. The civilian labour available is quite insufficient to meet requirements, and until it is I cannot afford to release the prisoners of war. I quite agree, however, that it is not desirable to dismiss civilians and substitute prisoners of war, and I am, therefore giving instructions that any men of good record who have been previously employed should be reinstated." This letter, added Mr Bannington, was a point gained to the credit of the federation.

Thanks for that Brotherjoybert, very interesting and I think it has answered all our questions. Still surprised they were housed so near the aerodrome. I was brought up in Poole Road which I think was one of the later built ones. The first roads built were council houses but Poole Road, up to Moseley Avenue at least not sure about further up was council houses on one side and private on the other. The council houses were semis with big gardens and provision for garage access, the private were terraced with smaller gardens (but compared with what they build now were probably big !) Just checked the newspapers and Poole Road was started in 1927