Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

When war broke out in 1914, it wasn't long before German civilians (and those who were thought to be German) living in Britain were targeted by the authorities and by local citizens.

Businesses were vandalised, one such attack occurred at the jewellers shop owned by John Smith at 536 High Road, Tottenham where so-called respectable people broke windows with rocks; people with 'odd' surnames were forced to take out declarations in local papers that they were English born and bred; and the authorities immediately required that Germans were to be registered by the police and, later, interned many of them in harsh conditions.

Artist George Kenner, living in South London, was registered as an "alien enemy" on August 23, 1914, then abruptly interned five days after the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915.

After a spell in a tent camp at Aldershot, George was transferred to Alexandra Palace. As he was a gifted artist, he was able to negotiate to create a series of internment scenes, many of which were painted at Ally Pally.

It is a remarkable set of paintings which show daily life at the camp in what to most of us are familiar surroundings:

George was eventually transferred to the Isle of Man, and then returned to the harsh post war conditions of Germany where he married and had three children, two of whom died as a result of the terrible poverty that Germany struggled with in the 1920s.

He and his family later emigrated to the USA where they had another child. The grandson of that child has posted a wonderful set of his paintings and documents on Flickr. 

Click on any picture above to view large and see the full set of 59 photos here

Tags for Forum Posts: alexandra palace, ally pally, world war one

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Replies to This Discussion

Wonderful Liz, thanks for sharing. I'd heard about George Kenner before- he and his family certainly suffered. 

Interesting that for the royal family, changing their surname was enough to spare them from being interned and registered as aliens! 

Indeed - no ladies in big hats hurling rocks at the windows of Buck House.

If it hadn't been for little cousins, Willie and Nicky, causing so much trouble, Europe might have been spared (or so one school of thought on the origins of the war teaches). 

I think I'd go along with the cousins at war school of thought. But then so many wars seem to involve cousins dragging all into the abyss… 

Ally Pally is meant to open up areas which are not normally accessible so that people can see what conditions were like.  Does anyone know when this will happen?

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