View source for Central Prisoners of War Committee

The '''Central Prisoners of War Committee''' was a British organisation established in 1916 jointly by the [[British Red Cross Society]] and the [[Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)|Order of St John]] at the request of the government.<ref name="21 Oct">"Progress in Prisoners' Aid"/"Parcels for Every Prisoner", ''[[The Times]]'', 21 October 1916, p. 9</ref><ref name="3 Apr">"Parcels for Prisoners: Work of a Great Organization", 3 April 1918, p. 8</ref> Its function was to co-ordinate aid, especially food and comfort parcels,<ref name="21 Oct" /> for British [[prisoners of war]] in [[Axis Powers|Axis]] POW camps and also internment camps in Switzerland during the [[First World War]].<ref>"Visits to Prisoners: Two Parties of Relatives a Week", ''[[The Times]]'', 23 September 1916, p. 3</ref><ref>"Prisoners' Wives: First Party Leave for Switzerland", ''[[The Times]]'', 2 October 1916, p. 5</ref> It was dissolved in 1919.
It opened extensive offices at 4 Thurloe Place, [[South Kensington]], London SW7 (opposite [[Brompton Oratory]]<ref name="21 Oct" />), on 3 October 1916<ref name="3 Oct">"News in Brief", ''[[The Times]]'', 3 October 1916, p. 5</ref> and took over the duties of several previous organisations, including the Prisoners of War Help Committee,<ref name="3 Oct" /> the Bread Fund for Prisoners of War<ref>"Bread for Prisoners of War", ''[[The Times]]'', 12 October 1916, p. 12</ref> and the British Prisoners of War in Germany Fund.<ref>"Control of War Charities: New Regulation Schemes", ''[[The Times]]'', 1 January 1917, p. 3</ref> Many other organisations continued to exist, but their efforts were now co-ordinated by the Central Committee.<ref name="21 Oct" /> As well as supporting, co-ordinating and inspecting these organisations, it raised money itself and established its own branch to pack aid parcels.<ref>"Committee's New Scheme: Solid and Varied Food", ''[[The Times]]'', 4 November 1916, p. 7</ref> This supplied about a quarter of the total aid packages, with the remainder being provided by regimental and other aid committees, although about seventy of these relied on the Central Committee to provide packing services.<ref name="14 Mar">"Parcels For Prisoners: Work of the Central Committee", ''[[The Times]]'', 14 March 1917, p. 8</ref><ref name="3 Apr" /> The Central Committee's co-ordination meant that all prisoners received aid packages.<ref name="3 Apr" /> Similar organisations in the [[British Dominions]] were affiliated to the Central Committee.<ref name="14 Mar" />
[[Leander Starr Jameson|Sir Leander Starr Jameson]] was the chairman<ref name="21 Oct" /> until his death in November 1917, when he was replaced by [[George Montagu, 9th Earl of Sandwich]].<ref>"Prisoners of War: British Red Cross Appeal", ''[[The Times]]'', 28 March 1917, p. 9</ref> [[Patrick Agnew (civil servant, born 1868)|Patrick Agnew]], a retired [[Indian Civil Service]] officer, was vice-chairman and [[managing director]] from 1916 until 1919.
There was some disquiet with the regulations imposed by the Central Committee, which included forbidding private aid parcels and rigidly limiting the clothing that was allowed to be included, and claims of mismanagement. A parliamentary committee was appointed to enquire into it and its report was issued as a [[white paper]] on 26 June 1917. The main suggestion was that in future the committee should include representatives of regimental care committees and local associations.<ref>"Parcels for War Prisoners: Criticism of the Central Administration", ''[[The Times]]'', 27 June 1917, p. 3</ref> [[Ivor Philipps|Sir Ivor Philipps MP]] continued to call for the members of the committee to resign, claiming they were causing "suffering and misery to British soldiers".<ref>"The Prisoners of War Committee", ''[[The Times]]'', 3 July 1917, p. 12</ref> From 1 October 1917, the Central Committee, which had previously only sent parcels to civilians and [[other ranks]], also sent parcels to officers,<ref>"The Prisoners' Cause", ''[[The Times]]'', 7 July 1917, p. 7</ref><ref>"Parcels for Officer Prisoners: Central Control Scheme", ''[[The Times]]'', 7 July 1917, p. 7</ref><ref name="3 Apr" /> although officers were still also permitted to receive private parcels.<ref name="3 Apr" /> There had previously been complaints that the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] had decided that [[British Merchant Navy|Mercantile Marine]] officers were to be treated as officers, which was seen by some as insulting to "true" officers.<ref>"Prisoners' Parcels", ''[[The Times]]'', 31 August 1917, p. 9</ref>
Food parcels, packed in cardboard boxes, weighed about 10 pounds each and about 14,000 were despatched by the Central Committee three times a fortnight.<ref name="3 Apr" /> The Central Committee established a depot in [[Copenhagen]] to supply bread to prisoners in Germany, but due to major problems this soon closed, fuelling the accusations of mismanagement. It reopened in October 1917.<ref name="3 Apr" /> By May 1918, about 500 people worked in the packing department at Thurloe Place.<ref>"Care of Prisoners: Parcels from Home", ''[[The Times]]'', 27 May 1918, p. 10</ref>
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:1916 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1919 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British World War I prisoners of war| ]]
[[Category:Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)]]
[[Category:Defunct organisations based in London]]
[[Category:Volunteer organisations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:United Kingdom in World War I]]
[[Category:International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement]]