Shields folk and their neighbours rallied as never before.

Nearly half-a-million pounds was raised – an impressive figure even today – and for four long years, the small comforts it bought were a lifeline from home.

The destination of these parcels? Ruhleben, the prisoner-of-war camp in Germany, in which some 150 merchant seamen from here saw out the First World War.

Mostly they had been aboard Tyne traders caught out in the Hamburg river when war broke out in 1914, ships like the steamers Garesfield, Heworth and Coralie Horlock.

Today, there are still families in the area who had fathers or grandfathers at Ruhleben.

So it was interesting, recently, to come across a remarkable work of research by an Ayrshire-based genealogist, Chris Paton, who has set up a free website devoted to the subject of Ruhleben and its prisoners.

He hopes that Cookson Country readers might be able to add to what he has learned so far.

"The more word gets out, the better the chance people might get in touch to share their stories," he said from his home in Largs, Ayrshire.

Chris, originally from Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland, started off being intrigued by the story of his own great-uncle, John Paton, who was living in Brussels where he was captured, aged only 15, and interned at Ruhleben.

"But there really wasn't a single resource on the camp," he said.
Chris's researches took him through books, academic papers and the National Archives.

But actual records for the camp weren't easily accessible. Some documents were in the UK, but others were in Germany and even as far afield as Harvard, in America.

"I thought that if I could create a project on-line that would tell the story of Ruhleben, and try to identify all of those who had been interned, I might, in time, be able to understand John's experience there through the stories of other PoWs."

The result is The Ruhleben Story – visit the website here – with which many people have since got in touch to share their stories, and to donate copies of photographs, letters, diaries and more.

"It has become a fascinating obsession," said John, who learned that Ruhleben's other prisoners included the England football international Steve Bloomer and the scientist James Chadwick, discoverer of the neutron.

By the way, Chris also runs the Scotland's Greatest Story family history research service, which you can visit here.