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Bureau de secours aux prisonniers de guerre SECTION ANGLAISE BERNE Sennelager
24/1/1916 Madam, I am today in
receipt of two breads
sent by you for which
I desire to thank you. Yours Joseph Connolly 10760 Connaught Rangers.
Please always give your Regiment and
Regimental No. 70760
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Zivilgefangenenlager
Joseph Connolly
14th Company
Sennelager
b. Paderborn
Geprüft
Kriegsgefangenensendung.
Bureau de Secours aux Prisonniers de Guerre Section Anglaise Thunstrasse 50
Berne (Suisse) 29. Feb. 1916
A postcard from Joseph Connolly to J M Dane Esq. Connolly writes the postcard from
Sennelager, near Padernborn, in Germany. The hand-written information suggests that
he was kept in a "Zivilgefangenenlager" (camp for civilians) while the blue stamp
reads "Kriegsgefangenensendung" (dispatch from prisoner of war). According to the
British military records, Joseph Connolly occupied the rank of Private in 1914, his
service number being "10760" in the Connacht Rangers: https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/records/13458396/private-j-connolly-british-army-connaught-rangers/.
In his postcard, Connolly thanks a "Madam" (supposedly Lady Clonbrock) for two loaves
of bread that he has received. This postcard is found in the Clonbrock Archive; as
such, Dane was possibly a member of Lady Clonbrock aid organisation or a friend of
hers, and thus received the postcard on her behalf in Switzerland. Augusta Caroline
Dillon (née Crofton) was the wife of Luke Gerald Dillon (1834-1917), the 4th Baron
of Clonbrock, Co. Galway and the daughter of Lord Crofton of Mote Park (Edward Henry
Churchill Crofton, 3rd Baron), Co. Roscommon. Aged 75 at the outbreak of war, Lady
Clonbrock, worked closely with the Irish Women's Association to send basic necessities
to Irish POWs. Many of her care packages went to members of the Connaught Rangers
imprisoned in Limburg near Cologne.