Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 4. p 914

The Royal Berkshire Regiment Prisoners of War Fund.

How the Men of the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th Battalions were Cared For.

If a survey is made of all the various charitable war organisations none can be found more noble in its purpose and none which has been more steadfastly and thoroughly carried out than the work of caring for our prisoners of war. Here, thank God, the saw "out of sight, out of mind" was not applicable, but rather another old proverb "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". It is gratifying in the extreme to be able to reflect, now that the storm has been weathered and our lads have returned, that right through their dreary and weary captivity in the hands of a brutal and unscrupulous foe, those hapless prisoners of war were constantly being cared for and looked after by watchful friends at home. The time has now arrived, now that the fourth and final report of the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th Battalions of the Royal Berks Regiment Prisoners of War Care Committee has been published, to pay due tribute to that indefatigable committee which has so ably carried through with the undertaking -€” to Mr. W. A. Mount, O.B.E., M.P. (chairman), Miss Eastwood, Miss V. Eastwood, Miss L. A. Fowler, Vice-Admiral Cherry (hon. treasurer), and Mrs. Mount (hon. secretary).

That report is a standing memorial to the power of organisation, sympathy, generosity and energy. When it is stated that the number of prisoners cared for numbered 1,400, to each of whom six 10s. (and subsequently 15s.) parcels were sent every 28 days, and three kilos of bread every week (the bread bill alone for October totalled £674), some idea of the scope of the beneficent work can be gathered. Each prisoner, too, was supplied with a complete issue of clothing as soon as he was reported to have fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the clothing was renewed every six months. In less than twelve months 6,825 parcels of clothes were sent. The secretarial side of the organisation was a big undertaking in itself, seeing that in the course of a year nearly eighteen thousand letters and cards were dispatched. Valuable assistance was lent to the committee by the Depot of the Royal Berks Regt., the Central Prisoners of War Care Committee and the Bread Bureaux at Berne and Copenhagen, and the adopters and subscribers may feel that they have contributed a large share to the success of the committee's work.

The final report states: The prisoners belonging to the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th Battalions, for whose food and clothing this Committee is entirely responsible, numbered on November 11th, 1918, 1,400 as compared with 260 at the end of last year. Since the Armistice 1,234 prisoners have been repatriated, and it is hoped all will soon be home again. During 1918 and 1919 intimation has been received of the deaths of 42 prisoners in captivity.

Food Parcels.

Up to the end of July, six 10s. parcels were sent to each prisoner every twenty-eight days, which parcels were packed by the Central Prisoners of War Committee. After August 1st the number was changed to four 15s. parcels every twenty-eight days. As it was impossible! to get a sufficient number of adopters to provide the food parcels for the ever increasing number of prisoners a good many of them had to be paid for out of the Fund. For the month of October, £1,153 4s. 3d., and for November, £1,359 6s. 9d., was paid to the Central Prisoners of War Committee for this purpose. A good part of the November cheque, however, was returned, as after the signing o f the Armistice no individual parcels were dispatched. From acknowledgments received, it is satisfactory to be able to record that where the prisoners were allowed to send their proper addresses home the food parcel arrived regularly and in good condition. In cases, however, in which the prisoners were made to send home the names of Registration Camps, such as Gustrow, Stendal, Limburg, Friedrichsfeld and Parchim, the parcels of food and clothing very seldom reached them as they were working behind the German lines and had never been near these camps. By request of the Central Prisoners of War Committee a complete list of parcels dispatched to these camps has been made out, together with the number of acknowledgments received for the same, in the hope of making a claim against the German Government.

Bread and Biscuit Parcels.

Three kilos of bread a week were supplied to every prisoner till May, 1918, when the ration was reduced to two kilos. During the hot weather, when it was found that the bread sent would not keep, biscuits were substituted for bread. As our Committee not only paid for the bread for the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 8th Battalions, but also for the bread for the 6th, 1/4th and 2/4th Battalions, the bills became very heavy with the increase in the number of prisoners. The bread bill for October alone came to £674. After Nov. 11th no more individual bread or food parcels were sent to prisoners of war, but large consignments were sent in bulk by the Central Prisoners of War Committee to different centres for distribution in Germany, Denmark, and Holland.

[photo, portrait] Mrs. MOUNT, the hard-working and extremely popular Hon. Sec.

[photo, portrait] VICE-ADMIRAL CHERRY, Hon. Treasurer.