Mooragh Internment Camp

Mooragh Camp was a World War II internment camp in Ramsey, Isle of Man, in operation from May 1940 until September 1945. It was the first such camp on the island since World War I.

Following an announcement of the planned camp in the Manx newspapers in the second week of May 1940, official letters were sent out on 12 May to inform occupants of all the houses along the Mooragh Promenade that their houses were to be requisitioned for the formation of a camp to intern enemy aliens. The residents had to be out of their houses by 18 May and they were to leave behind all furniture, bedding, linen cutlery, crockery and utensils.

Some thirty boarding houses and hotels along the Mooragh Promenade were requisitioned, as well as a number of other bungalows nearby to be used as properties for billeting the military guard. The camp also included the Mooragh golf links which were to be used as a recreation ground for the internees.

The road leading from the swing bridge to the Mooragh Park was to remain open to the public, although part of the roadway was included within the compound. A double row of barbed wire fencing was erected as the perimeter of the camp. On the seaward side the fence extended to within a few feet of the sea wall allowing a narrow alleyway for the use of the patrolling guards.

On 26 May ten officers and 150 men belonging to the Royal Welch Fusiliers arrived at Ramsey on the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s ship, the Castle Rushen, ready to take up guard of the camp, under Captain Alexander.

On the following day, Monday 27 May, the armed military force took up position guarding the length of Queen’s Pier, ready to receive the first shipment of internees. 823 men arrived on the Belgian cross-Channel steamer Princess Josephine Charlotte and they were despatched in batches to the base of the pier and assembled along the South Promenade. A large body of police from Douglas also assisted in the marshalling arrangement as large crowds of local people stood by to watch. The guards then accompanied the prisoners, some of them whistling, as they walked along the South Promenade and the quay before crossing over the swing bridge to the camp.

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Wikipedia