Marshmoor WWI prisoner of war camp

The POW labourers of Welham Green

Photograph of Marshmoor POW camp guards 1918
Image from the Peter Miller collection

A WWI prisoner of war (POW) camp in North Mymms, built by the inmates themselves in 1916, and housing 210 captives, was, it's claimed, used as a source of cheap labour for the local timber industry, with interns being paid 1d (the equivalent of about 20p in 2018) an hour.


Local historian, Mike Allen, has been researching the Marshmoor WWI POWs and finding out about the lives of the prisoners. He's illustrated the piece (below) with images from the Images of North Mymms collection.

 Mike's investigations into the North Mymms POW looks into the living conditions of those held captive in the parish and how some locals feared the prisoner work parties labouring in the nearby railway sidings would commit "filthy nuisances or any other spiteful damage".