When a cornet player on tour with a German band came to lodge with her family in Birmingham, British born Caroline Eliza Detig fell in love.
Married in January 1904, their daughter was born the following September. Yet sadly within 10 years they would be separated by the war with her husband, known to the family as Louis, interned – briefly in Handforth Camp, and then at Knockaloe.
100 years later, their story was captured, very appropriately, in a song written by Caroline and Louis’ Great, Great Niece, Victoria Bourne, and her band “Husky Tones”, filmed when they visited the Island in 2017 bringing the artefacts that her Great, Great Uncle Louis made in the Camp.
This link takes you to their recording of this song on Knockaloe and also concludes with an interview with Victoria talking about what it means as a descendant visiting Knockaloe, about Louis and about her Great, Great Aunt’s journey to Knockaloe to see him with food for him secretly sewn into the hem of her dress: https://youtu.be/SaWPGj1F3d4.
Original Images © www.knockaloe.im
Kindly donated to the Charity from The Family's Collection
The Island of Barbed Wire
Music and lyrics (below) by Victoria Bourne and Chris Harper
Stone paths on a narrow road
Cold wind circles around you
A remote farm and a holiday camp
On the island of barbed wire
Men who once called the island their home
Now interned for no crime
But being born in a different place
Their talents now go to waste
A three day journey
To bring you food
Hidden in the hem of my dress
Prison guards fooled
I'm so tired
Of being without you
Barbed wire all around my heart
And I'm thinking
Of you in a place called Knockaloe
No law protected our family
Our lives soon divided
Everything taken from us
By the island of barbed wire
The mobilisation
Of new emotions
Spreading fear and scaremongering
In a bloody and sacred crusade
All your freedoms were soon removed
You're handed boredom instead
Bone sculptures you've made for me
But I see your heart is broken
I'm so tired
Of being without you
Barbed wire all around my heart
And I'm thinking
Of you still in Knockaloe
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The photographs left and above show: Louis playing his Cornet (taken in Germany before WW1) together with a portrait of his wife, Caroline, who took the incredibly difficult and potentially dangerous journey as an enemy alien, over to the Island to see him … as told in the lyrics above.
We are so grateful to the family for donating the original photographs from the family collection, together with the artefacts Louis made in camp which reflect his incredible carpentry skills, to the Charity. We are honoured to display these special items in the Visitors Centre and tell his story.
Original Images © www.knockaloe.im
Kindly donated to the Charity from The Family's Collection