| Description | Postcards and letters from English, and one Russian, prisoners of war in German hands, and other military personnel and their families, including some Belgian refugees. The prisoner of war postcards were pre-printed by the German authorities for the prisoner to write his thanks for the parcels they had received.
Letters from Belgian refugees and a serving Belgian soldier, including after the war giving news of their life after their return to Belgium.
Also includes seemingly unrelated letters from Kevin Jean-Marie Donovan (1931-2008) at boarding school in Sussex to his mother, Marcelle Félicie Caudrillier (d 1974) |
| Administrative History | These documents show that Margery Swanwick assumed responsibility for the provision of parcels for four men, three British soldiers and one Russian, held as prisoners of war in camps in Germany. At first those who had “adopted” one or more prisoners would pack individual parcels with food and other useful items, but toward the end of 1916 the provision of parcels became centralised and regulated, and like all contributors Margery Swanwick’s role would have then been restricted to meeting the cost of parcels. A glimpse of the processes involved in sending parcels can be obtained from four informative letters which Margery Swanwick received from national and regimental coordinating organisations.
(See N Durbach: The parcel is political: the British government and the regulation of food parcels for prisoners of war, 1914–1918 First World War Studies 9(1):1-18, October 2018)
In the early part of the First World War many locations in England made provision for individuals and families fleeing from the German invasion of Belgium. Local newspaper reports indicate that in Chesterfield a Committee for Belgian Refugees was quickly formed and began to operate in September 1914. Margery Swanwick was a member from the start. Fourteen Belgians arrived at the end of September, with further arrivals in the following months such that by February 1915 there were 95 refugees in the Chesterfield district. Many remained throughout the War, being supported through the provision of housing, clothing, food and everyday necessities. After the war, and shortly after the departure of the final group of sixty refugees the committee held its final meeting in July 1919: Margery Swanwick was one of those present. |