History - Captain Robert Campbell, the POW Who Kept His Word

Captain Robert Campbell (Image: SWNS from Kent Online)

In the early days of the First World War, Captain Robert Campbell and his battalion, the First Battalion East Surrey Regiment, were positioned on the Monds-Conde canal in north-western France.

About a week later, they were attacked by German forces, and a severely wounded Captain Campbell was captured by the enemy.

The 29-year-old, who’d served in the army for 11 years before the outbreak of the war, was taken to a military hospital in Cologne where his injuries were treated, and then transported to a prisoner of war camp in Magdeburg, Germany.

In 1916, Campbell, still a POW, received word from home that his mother, Louise, had terminal cancer and didn’t have long to live.

Naturally, he was desperate to see her.

Probably believing there was no harm in trying, and with nothing to lose, Campbell wrote to the Kaiser himself, asking to be allowed to visit his dying mother.

To his great surprise, he received a response.

Kaiser Wilhelm II by TH Voigt, court photographer 1902 (W.Commons)

Kaiser Wilhelm II would grant Campbell’s request, but with one condition attached – after visiting his mother, Campbell had to return to the Magdeburg camp for the rest of the war.

Campbell gave his word as an army officer that he would return, and that appeared to be enough to satisfy the Kaiser.

In November 1916, Campbell was given 2 weeks’ compassionate leave, which included 2 days travelling to England and back again by boat and train.

On the 7th of December, he arrived at his mother’s bedside, and spent a week with her.

True to his word, he then returned to Germany.

Louise Campbell passed away in February 1917.

Historians have agreed the prisoners of war at Magdeburg would not have faced any retribution if Campbell had failed to return, which makes his voluntary return even more remarkable.

Another amazing point is the British Army agreed to allow him to return.

It would appear that Campbell had a strong sense of duty and honour, which he adhered to regardless of circumstances.

However, this didn’t mean Campbell accepted his imprisonment meekly.

He was one of a number of prisoners who dug an escape tunnel out of their camp from which they managed to escape.

They were almost at the border with the Netherlands when they were captured and sent back to the camp.

Campbell spent the rest of the war in the Magdeburg camp.

At the end of the war, he along with the other prisoners were freed, and he returned to England.

Although he retired from the army in 1925, he rejoined his former regiment, the First Battalion East Surrey Regiment, at the outbreak of the Second World War.

This time he served as the Chief Observer of the Royal Observer Corps in the Isle of Wight, surviving the war unharmed.

After the war, he, once again, retired from the army, this time for good, living the rest of his life on the Isle of Wight.

Robert Campbell died in 1966, aged 81.

While some may question his decision to return to being a prisoner, I find his story inspiring, to know that despite the horrors of war, there were those who held to their code of honour, proving that a person’s word still had value, a trait sorely lacking in this modern age.