SKIPTON was second lieutenant Robert Bloch’s fifth prisoner-of-war camp. He only stayed for six months, but these six months would be important. Born in the historic town of Nuremberg, Bloch had previously been a medical student. Although he had left the camp by the time the influenza pandemic arrived in February 1919, Bloch had shared the camp with thirty-five of the forty-seven prisoners who would eventually die from the disease. When he was finally released and had returned to Bavaria to finish his studies, he decided to specialise in pulmonary medicine. The British authorities were responsible for breaches of camp security such as escapes or unacceptable behaviour towards the British guards. Bloch served two stretches at Chelmsford Prison. It is not known what offence he committed at Skipton. The assistant commandant was a tall, thin man with an aristocratic bearing. The German officers nicknamed him ‘The Graf’ or ‘The Count’. The German memoir ‘Kriegsgefangen in Skipton’ tells us that at an evening roll-call one prisoner was heard to utter the similar-sounding ‘Giraffe’. The officer concerned protested his innocence, but still had to spend time in a real prison.