British Officer Prisoners of War 1914-1918 on Familyrelatives.com

List of British Officers taken prisoner in the various Theatres of War between August 1914 and November 1918.

The collection commemorates British military personnel who were taken prisoner, detailing their name, rank, regiment, camp location, date of capture and release date. Even those who escaped are included.

The collection lists nearly 9000 names of British Officers taken prisoner in various theatres of war.

This rare volume was compiled Messrs Cox & Co.'s Enquiry Office for the purpose of giving general advice and information regarding the wounded to the relatives of Officers of the original expeditionary force. Due to the strain placed on the Casualty Department at the War Office at the beginning of the War.

Their organisation was found to be of considerable benefit in obtaining fuller details of individual cases and in conveying messages to and from wounded officers still in hospital in France.

The collection consists of names of Officers from 117 Regiments and Dominion forces including Australian, Canadian, Indian, New Zealand and West African Force. As well as the Royal Air Force and Royal Naval Air Service and Division and forces from the West and East theatre of war in Palestine and Mesopotamia which consisted of many Air Force Pilot Officers.

What's included; Names are listed by regiment and corps and in order of capture. Deaths and during imprisonment are noted together with dates reported missing and repatriation, those who escaped are also noted. The index lists every name in alphabetical order.

The collection lists a surprising number of Brigadier Generals including Hurdis Secundus Lalande Ravenshaw CMG who as a senior British Army officer during the First World War who served at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and saw action on the North-West Frontier of India, in South Africa during the Second Boer War and in France and Greece during the First World War. In 1916 he was captured by an Austrian submarine with all his staff and held as a prisoner until the end of the war.

Captain William Leefe Robinson VC the first British Pilot to shoot down a Zeppelin

Another lists one of the war's most popular heroes Captain William Leefe Robinson VC of the Royal Flying Corps who shot down the first German Zeppelin airship over London and had transformed the battle in the air over Britain. Captain Robinson was later shot down by German fighter aircraft led by the “Red Baron” Lieutenant Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen and captured.

Reports that Robinson had been killed stunned the nation however a letter to his fiancé confirmed he was a prisoner. Although safe, his captors made his life unpleasant and he was poorly treated as he and his fellow prisoners had made several attempts at escape and sentenced to a month of solitary confinement. He and others were sent to the underground fortress of Zorndorf much as hardened escapees were confined in Colditz Castle in World War II

The records were digitised and provided online for easier searching and are a useful resource when researching family military history.  The collection now forms part of Familyrelatives.com’s online military archives which number over 20 million records.