Douglas Internment Camp box
Date made: 1916
Description: A handmade wooden box made in the Douglas Internment Camp during the First World War. The square box has a hinged lid, and a drop-in tray with two velvet lined compartments. The lid originally could be locked and the key for the brass lock is in the box. The box has marquetry inlaid designs with string banding on the sides and a hand painted panel on the top of the lid. The handpainted panel depicts a young girl wearing a pink crinoline dress and large bonnet and carrying a bunch of flowers, and she is standing in front of a window.
The lid is now warped due to heat in the past. The front of the box has a boxwood decal with a hand painted black escutcheon and the initials 'H.H' (one assumes for Herbert Hildebrandt) in an Art Nouveau style. The design on the back is of the three legs emblem and Latin motto. The inscription 'Made by P.O.W. No. 2116 Herbert Hildebrandt Douglas 1916' is burnt into the base (pyrography). The drop-in tray has two compartments and is lined with dark blue velvet and has a centre handle (like cutlery tray). Incised or scratched into the base of the tray are the letters 'T195 M156 T306 T229'.
The closest match on the ICRC database would appear to be Herbert Hildebrandt, Prisoner Information Bureau number 3892, age 25 home address: Berlin, Hollmanstr.42.
Measurements: overall: 8.7 cm x 14.5 cm x 15 cm
Materials: velvet, wood
Object name: box
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 1991-0172
Subject tags : #WW1INTERNMENTMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS