Page 50 - 148 Years of the Royal Philatelic Society London

In 1916: First woman to serve in U.S. Congress; Charli Chaplin signs unprecedented $10,000

a week contract; Battle of Verdun; first superm arket, Piggly Wiggly Stores, Memphis.

At the RPSL: Government of India donates four engraved copper plates and nine lithographic

print ing stones to t he Society, which are still in the Society Museum today.

RPSL President was M. P. Castle M.V.O., J.P. Patron H.M . King George V. Membership 294.

OTTOMAN PRISONERS OF WAR AT

THAYETMYO CAMP IN BURMA

From t he collection of James Song.

M ember since 2010. Lives in Singapore.

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During WWI the Sinai, Palestine and Mesopotamian campaigns saw about 12,000 of the Ottoman

Army taken prisoner by the British Forces. They were sent to POW camps in India and Burma. The

camps in Burma were at Thayetmyo, Meiktila and Shwebo. Prisoners arriving from India would be

housed in the main camp at Thayetmyo, which had a population in 1917 of about 4,600 with more

than 100 Officers. They were forced to work in the construction of railways, bridges and artificial

lakes. After the war, most prisoners stayed and made their home in Burma. This is a letter from

Ottoman prisoner No: 69, addressed to Turkey, with an arrival postmark and a red cachet of the

Ottoman Red Cross Prisoner of War Association on the back of the cover. Bottom left is a censorship

stamp from Thayrtmyo Camp, dated Sth June 1916, passed by Camp Commandant Major R. H. Hilson.