Served under an assumed name

[BereniceUK]

In St Michael's churchyard, Betchworth, Surrey, is the CWGC headstone of Arthur Mackrell who served as 24451 Private C.V.Peace, Cheshire Regiment. The CWGC site simply states that he served as "Peace" but it seems that he also changed his forenames too. His parents, also surnamed Mackrell, lived in Betchworth.

Any thoughts as to why and how he changed his name for his war service? Was the choice of 'Peace' significant in some way? How often did serving under an assumed name occur?

[John_Hartley]

There's nothing in his pension papers on Ancestry that gives any clue - he signs his attestation Charley Victor Peace

I've come across this on a couple of occasions when researching the Stockport war memorials. The reason always seems to have been that the man had been brought up be relatives other than his parents and had taken their name. Changing first names must be even rarer. Maybe he was doing a runner from someone/something.

[centurion]

Discussed elsewhere on the forum. There were a host of reasons for enlisting under a false name including

• parents who objected to army service
  
• evading creditors
  
• evading the law
  
• breaking an apprenticeship agreement
  
• don't want wife, pregnant girlfriend, pregnant girl friend's father or husband etc etc to find one
  

[Sue Light]

My great-uncle served (and died) under an assumed name, changing both forenames and surnames. In his case it was to enable him to carry on drawing a pension, having been discharged from the army on medical grounds in 1912. He is commemorated on CWGC under his assumed name, the army not being aware of his former identity, and I suspect this was fairly common. So I believe many more cases than can be found by entries on CWGC and on headstones. In this case Charles Peace was not an uncommon name at the time, so perhaps it was that of a friend or colleague who was unable to serve for one reason or another.

Sue

[centurion]

Using the search engine on "alias" brings up a lot of threads including:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=150011entry1443069

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=136208entry1298341

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=118285entry1132167

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=116019entry1108144

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=166237entry1617626

[centurion]

Not the case in the OP but men with German sounding names sometimes enlisted under an alias

[BereniceUK]

In this case Charles Peace was not an uncommon name at the time, so perhaps it was that of a friend or colleague who was unable to serve for one reason or another.

Charlie Peace was a Victorian burglar and murderer who was hanged; perhaps Arthur Mackrell had a morbid sense of humour.

[Sue Light]

Charlie Peace was a Victorian burglar and murderer who was hanged; perhaps Arthur Mackrell had a morbid sense of humour.

Yes, and perhaps the significance is now lost to all but him.

[Kath]

Yes, and perhaps the significance is now lost to all but him.

Not to me!

He lived just up the hill!

Kath.

[John_Hartley]

A nosy at the 1911 census suggests 20 year old Alfred (not Arthur) Mackrell was serving in the army, at Aldershot. Parents & three sisters were living in London.

I wonder if he was, perhaps, a deserter and that accounts for his name change when he re-enlisted? And him saying, on his attestation form that he had no previous military service.

[centurion]

A nosy at the 1911 census suggests 20 year old Alfred (not Arthur) Mackrell was serving in the army, at Aldershot. Parents & three sisters were living in London.

I wonder if he was, perhaps, a deserter and that accounts for his name change when he re-enlisted? And him saying, on his attestation form that he had no previous military service.

A not uncommon circumstance. I would suspect just like the recruiting sergeant in Kiplings poem - Into the Army Again - a blind eye would be cast over any obvious signs of military bearing etc.

[Spud Trevor]

A case which backs up some of the points previously made.

I recently researched an interesting chap who died under an alias, who had a chequered service history. A brief summary of which is shown below:

Attestation 08/10/1914 - Liverpool.

At which he admitted to previous service which was cut short after 1 year by discharge due to mis-conduct (Served in South Africa).

He was discharged a second time after just 1 month - unlikely to become an efficient soldier.

He then attested again 27/05/1915 - Shoreditch. (Using the same name).

This time he didn't admit to any previous service, although it was clearly suspected as his attestation papers show.

7. Have you ever served in any branch of His Majesty's forces (state particulars,) ? No.

Additional hand written question (7A)

Have you truly stated the whole of any previous service ? Yes.

Again military service did not go well and he deserted 05/06/1915 at East Ham.

He then turns up in Montreal 08/09/1915 where he attested for the CEF.

He initially gave the same name but must have thought better of it, because its crossed out and a new name written. It is by this name that the CWGC record him, albeit noting it as an alias.

Incidentally he kept the same forename.

Regards,

Spud

[Simon Mills]

Serving under an assumed name seems to have been a reasonably common occurrence in those days, particularly in the merchant marine.

While studying the loss of the HMHS Britannic I came across one of the casualties named Thomas McDonald, who is listed in the ship's crew agreements with the surname of Taylor. In this case the reason seems to be reasonably straightforward as his mother's maiden name was Taylor, but there is no indication as to why he decided to turn his back on his father's surname. To cover all bases the Merchant Marine Memorial at Tower Hill actually refers to him as T. McDonald serving as T. Taylor.

Perhaps the most interesting example of switching names is T.E. Lawrence. After the war he enlisted in the RAF as a humble AC named John Hume Ross; after being found out he then joined the Tank Corps under the name of Shaw.

[keithmroberts]

I now have two men who served and died under assumed names. Both were in the Border regiment. One has a CWGC headstone which has his real name, and below it "served as Jones", while the other , (I have yet to photograph his headstone), has his parents names in the additional information on CWGC. Of 83 who are commemorated of the 543 I am researching I have only the two who used assumed names.

My research on those who served and survived is at varying stages for different men, so I cannot preclude the possibility of others.

Keith

[Derek Black]

The mothers maiden name is a pretty common source of alternative surname for soldiers serving under an alias.

I've come across a man or two who the military authorities were never informed of having served under an assumed name.

Cheers,

Derek.

[healdav]

Nothing to do with this man, but in Victoria's time I did come across an account of a man who became a member of one of the Guards regiments, but just couldn't get to grips with all the bull and drill. He desterted and rejoined the army under an assumed name in an ordinary regiment.

He gave himself away by correcting the Drill Sergeant on some obscure points! The army was not best pleased and wanted to execute him for deserting. Victoria pointed out that he had excellent reports as a soldier, and it was a bit silly to shoot him for being a good soldier. He was released and had a good career in an ordinary regiment.

I may have some of the details wrong (I read it a long time ago), but this was the gist.

[jaywalker]

I have a chap on my local memorial who enlisted under age and served using his next door neighbours name, different christian name. He joined the Royal Scots, transferred to the Machine Gun Corps and won the Military Medal.

If the information I have is correct and the certificates seem to back it up, all of this happened before he was killed aged 16 and 5 days.

[aradgick]

I have found a man who served under his twin brother's name. He had originally served in South Africa (after the Boer War), but discharged after three military imprisonments. As soon as war broke out, he enlisted again using the brother's name, and was later killed. The brother does not appear to have served overseas, but having worked at home with horses, and living near Arborfield (one of the Remount Centres), I'm assuming he may have served out the war there.