CRICH PARISH
Crich, Fritchley, Whatstandwell, Bullbridge, Crich Carr, Coddington, Wheatcroft, Wakebridge
WW1 Prisoners of War in Crich
German Prisoners of War were held at two places in the parish: the old Malt House at Bull Bridge and in the Candle Factory above Crich Bakery in Crich Market Place. Technically that part of Bull Bridge is just ouside the parish boundary.
Derbyshire Courier
24 May 1919
CRICH, LEA & HOLLOWAY
The German prisoners of War who have been recently housed at the old Malt House, Bull Bridge, left their quarters on Tuesday, after having been in the parish for nearly a year. They ceased to work for the Butterley Corporation last week-end, and on Monday visited the graves of their three comrades who were interred at the parish churchyard last December.
Building record MDR12511 - Former malthouse, Bullbridge Hill,
A long narrow building on Bullbridge Hill to the south of the Cromford Canal was in use as a malt house in 1843. The Crich Tithe Award of that date lists it as such, in the occupation of Phoebe Poyser. During the Great War it is said to have been used to house German Prisoners of War and was later used by Stevenson's as their factory shop.
Candle Factory at Crich Market Place
The building to the right of what was once Allsop's Bakery (now the Loaf) was once a candle factory and then winter quarters for German prisoners of war during WW1.
Inside the Candle factory
The candle fat was wheel-barrowed up from the farm which was opposite and the candles were made in the upstairs part of the building. The candles were hung from these beams. It is thought that the candles were made for the local coal mines at a time when the only light used in mines was the candle. They were made of ox or sheep tallow, with a cotton wick with forty-five candles to the pound. Ox tallow was considered the best.
It was in this upper room that WW1 German prisoners of war slept during the winter months, exercising in the large room below. In the summer months they were housed in tents close to Hilts Quarry where they worked. Whilst the prisoners were working in Hilts Quarry they were treated kindly by the locals, in particular by Henry and Lily Holtham. Henry was a foreman engine driver
Three of the prisoners died and were buried in Crich churchyard where Fred Walker (Church Warden) tended the graves and was paid a small fee by the War Graves Commission for doing so. Between the wars the bodies were repatriated back to Germany. The three were: Otto Gehrhardt aged 23, Franj Kaminski aged 28 and Franz Koyub aged 31(the graves were in row 13 and 14 of 'new ground' from east wall to top of quarry hole)
Newspaper reports
Derbyshire Courier
27 July 1918
A company of 50 German prisoners arrived at Ambergate on Monday, en route for the camp at Crich. A good number of sightseers were assembled at the station and on the road to the camp. The prisoners who had previously been working at Brocton, differed widely in age some having quite a boyish appearance whilst others appear to be past the British military age. Since their arrival on Monday crowds of people have visited the camp grounds.
Derbyshire Courier
7 December 1918
One of the German prisoners at the Victoria House camp, Crich, died on Wednesday from pneumonia. The deceased, Lance-Cpl Otto Gerhardt, was about 19 years of age
Derbyshire Courier
14 December 1918
Crich Lea & Holloway
There was a large crowd at the Parish Churchyard, Crich, on Monday when two more German prisoners who had died at the Victoria House Camp were interred. Twelve of their comrades accompanied the cortege to the churchyard, and acted as bearers. The service was conducted by the Rev C E B Deacon, of Alderwasley. The coffins were of elm, and bore the following inscriptions: – "Lance Corporal Franz, Kamanski, 4th German Grenadiers, died December 6 aged 28"; and "Private Franz Koyub , 51st German Regiment, died December 7 age 29." At the conclusion of the service the deceased soldiers’, comrades each caste a sprinkling of earth on the coffins and uttered a farewell sentence before lining up under the armed escort. The prisoner who died last Wednesday week was interred at the parish churchyard last Friday. Pneumonia in each case was the result of death.
Derbyshire Courier
18 January 1919
During the week ten or eleven of the guards from the War Prisoners Camp at Victoria House have left Crich for duties elsewhere.
Derbyshire Courier
1 March 1919
The German prisoners of war have removed this week from Victoria House, Crich, to the old malt House, Bull Bridge. The latter place has been used during the war for the purpose of cleaning khaki suits. The Germas have been in occupation of Victoria House for about four months.
Derbyshire Courier
8 March 1919
Last weekend over each of the graves of the three German prisoners of war who died at the Victoria House Camp, a cross was erected. These have been made by Mr Norman Smith, of Messrs. Smith and Son, who was himself a prisoner of war in Germany for a long period. The names on the crosses are Lance Cpl Otto Gerhardt, 23, Lance Corp Franz Kamanski, 28, and Private Franz Koyub, 29. The three prisoners died during the first week in December and were victims of influenza.
Note: Alan Flint
The bodies of the three men were not repatriated to Germany but were instead re-interred in a special cemetery for German war dead, on Cannock Chase in the late 1960s.
From the CWGC site:
"On 16 October 1959, an agreement was concluded by the governments of the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the future care of the graves of German nationals who lost their lives in the United Kingdom during the two World Wars. The agreement provided for the transfer to a central cemetery in the United Kingdom of all graves which were not situated in cemeteries and plots of Commonwealth war graves maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in situ. Following this agreement, the German War Graves Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge) made arrangements to transfer the graves of German servicemen and civilian internees of both wars from scattered burial grounds to the new cemetery established at Cannock Chase. The inauguration and dedication of this cemetery, which contains almost 5,000 German and Austrian graves, took place in the presence of Dr Trepte, the President of Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgraberfursorge, on the 10th June 1967. In the centre of the Hall of Honour, resting on a large block of stone is a bronze sculpture of a fallen warrior, the work of the eminent German sculptor, Professor Hans Wimmer."
The CWGC link for the Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery is:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4007266/cannock-chase-german-military-cemetery/
Otto Gerhardt – 95th Infantry Regiment – Regimental No. 18542 – Lance Corporal – Gefreiter – Date of Death: 04/12/1918
Franz Kaminski – 4th Gren’r Regiment – Regimental No. 17934 – Lance Corporal – Gefreiter – Date of Death: 06/12/1918
Franz Kozub – Res. WF Regiment 51 – Regimental No. 13764 – Private – Muskateer – Date of Death: 07/12/2018
Documentation on the repatriation
