'The Enemy in our Midst', or Welcome Visitors? Reaction and Interaction between Interned Germans of the Handforth Camp and the Local Community, 1914-1918

Abstract

'The onset of war brought trouble for many Europeans living in the country, especially those with German sounding names', David Kelsall is correct to suggest that Europeans in Britain at the outbreak of war faced trouble which was only to be exacerbated with the passage of the Aliens Act in 1914. The Act made the confiscation of property and interment of Germans in Britain, whether naturalised or otherwise a possibility. The impact of the decision to intern 'aliens' on Handforth was that suitable accommodation must be found to hold those interned, Handforth offered one such solution. A print works factory had 'huge sheds nearly a quarter of a mile in length' built 1910 but never used, offering ideal 'if comfortless' accommodation potential. Initially the four battalions of the Manchester regiment had intended to use these buildings as barracks, however the War Office intervened and work on the buildings began for the adjustment to a prisoner of war camp.