Dervish Hassan was a “male of Turkish nationality” and an “alien interned in Camp 4 Compound 6” of the Knockaloe Camp in the parish of Patrick on the Isle of Man. A farmer by occupation, he was arrested at Gibraltar in September 1914 and was transferred from Lancaster to Knockaloe on September 16, 1915, where he remained until his death. He was married with two children and had left his family behind in the Anatolian Peninsula.

            Hassan was admitted to the Isolation Hospital A of Camp 3 on February 21, 1917, suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. He made no improvement and died in the hospital at the age of 36 on May 18, 1917. The coroner attributed his death to “natural causes, namely pulmonary tuberculosis and exhaustion.” His registration number was 18232.

            Interned with him was Selim Hassan, his step-brother (registration number 18216), who communicated with authorities through an interpreter. Selim identified himself as a prisoner of war interned along with Dervish in Camp 4 Compound 6 of Knockaloe Camp. The two men had been arrested at the same time. Selim explained that Dervish was returning to “Turkey” from the United States. Dervish’s uncle Hassan Mohamed, also speaking through an interpreter, identified himself as a prisoner of war (registration 18216 [sic]), interned in the same camp and compound. Hassan indicated that he had visited his nephew in the hospital and had “no complaint to make as to his treatment.” Hassan signed with an x.[1]

[1] Isle of Man Public Record Office, A168, inquest files: Dervish Hassan.