Papers of Captain A.C. Barclay

Scope and Content

Manuscript log of the journey, with typescript daily orders, 20 July 1947 - 8 September 1947; notes for guard commanders; standing orders for guards and escorts; nominal roll of the military escort; list of immigrants who had baggage placed on the ships; plan of the SS Runnymede Park; typescript 'Report on the return of passengers of SS President Warfield to France'; orders for Operations OASIS and RUNNYMEDE, with local area orders for Gibraltar and Hamburg, relating to the convoy; typescript 'Administrative report on the return of the Jews of Exodus 47 to Hamburg'; report on the accommodation and facilities on board the SS Runnymede Park; letters from the immigrants; appeal of the immigrants to the British soldiers and officers not to carry out their orders; notice of a hunger strike by the immigrants at Marseilles.

Administrative / Biographical History

Captain A.C.Barclay, Royal Artillery, commanded the military escort on the SS Runnymede Park, one of the convoy of British troopships (including the SS Ocean Vigour and the SS Empire Rival) returning Jewish immigrants to Hamburg in 1947, in what became known as the 'Exodus', after they were declined admission to Palestine. (D.Holly Exodus 1947 (Boston, 1969))

Access Information

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