The Long, Long Trail

Ernest Sidney Carpenter was born in 1881 in Camberwell, South London. He was the youngest of 5 children of George and Caroline Carpenter. He was always known to his friends and family as "Chick". On 17 October 1908 he married Harriet Jane Sayers, and they were to spend their married life in Hither Green, London. His working life was spent with the General Post Office and he was, in his later years, a sorter on the mail training serving the Newhaven-Dieppe Ferry.

He served as Private 375726, 2/8th London Regt, The 2nd Post Office Rifles.

As a child, his daughter remembers him talking of having taken part in the Third Battle of Ypres, and that having survived the horrors of Passchendaele it was just his luck to have been taken prisoner in what was supposed to be a quiet part of the line.

The image below shows his observations written on the back of a photograph on having been captured, on where he was taken and on what he and his fellow prisoners were given to eat. His seeming preoccupation with food is not surprising – food was a Tommy’s obsession at the best of times – but the sense of indignity of it all is notable. For example, his reference to spending "2 nights at Guise in stables on manure", when the many less-refined among us would called a spade a spade and referred to manure by a coarser term!

Tasted tea last on 21st March [1918] Captured on the 22nd Stopped at La Fere for 2 hrs Taken to cage in Wood on 23rd Left at 1.30pm for Moncheau (1 slice) Arrived at Moncheau at 6 pm Had supposed coffee (Roast Barley) Left Moncheau on 24th (1/5 loaf) for Guise about 10 kilo’s (i.e kilometres) at 2 pm. Spent 2 nights at Guise in stables on manure. Left Guise on 26th Mar for Landricies 26.4 kilo’s (i.e. kilometres) on nothing. Had Swede and Turnip soup with Gee Gee (i.e. horse meat) on arrival Slept on top of stairs. More "soup" "coffee" Left on 27th for Langansalza in train of Horse Trucks. Had "food" at Namur, Limburg and Giessen. Taken to concentration camp And left at 5.30pm for Langansalza on 1/5 loaf. Arrived here on 31st March. Had nothing but crude veg soups since to eat. Not whole bread.

Ernest was taken to a prisoner of war camp at Zerbst in Germany, from where he sent the postcard home on 15 November 1918 (i.e. just 4 days after the Armistice.

The stripe on his trousers is what is known as a POW stripe and would have been in yellow.

By 26 December 1918, he was on his way home: he sent a telegram from Lyungbyhed, Sweden to tell his wife he was on his way.

This excellent account was kindly provided to the site by his grandson, Steve Graham, to who we owe our thanks.

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