German Îmmigrant Descendants

[Schuler]

I hope I've posted in the correction section.

My question is, were only descendants of German Immigrants whose parent/s had become naturalised, "permiited" to enlist?

I'm extending my Hohenlohe research of Pork Butchers who had emigrated to GB, to those who enlisted in the war, i.e. Hohenrein, Bareis, etc., although these are probably but just a few.

[Hywyn]

Hi Gill

Can't answer the bit about who was entitled to enlist but if you haven't access to the medal cards I can tell there are two Hohenrein and two Bareis (no etc!!)

Do you want details? Fire away with any other surname.

Hywyn

[truthergw]

Any British citizen who fulfilled the age requirements and was fit, would not only have been able to enlist, he would have been liable to conscription. I am ignoring the complications of the situation in Ireland.

[centurion]

There is one case of such a man going over to the other side on the WF

[Hywyn]

Hmm, these men in the medal cards had 'ordinary' English christian names. I see though that papers exist for a Maximillan Hohenrein and also for a Wilhelm Hohensang.

I tried searching birthplace Germany and there are 10 people in service records and 7 in pensions

Hywyn

[centurion]

The guy I was referring to was Joseph Lipmann who was of German descent and deserted to the Germans

[centurion]

On the other hand there was the Deutsche-Amerikaner Freikorps a volunteer unit of German Americans (mainly anti monarchists) who went to France in 1917 (before America entered the war) and were attached to the British. Although all were naturalised or born American citizens they were liable to be shot out of hand if captured.

[Schuler]

Hi Gill

Can't answer the bit about who was entitled to enlist but if you haven't access to the medal cards I can tell there are two Hohenrein and two Bareis (no etc!!)

Do you want details? Fire away with any other surname.

Hywyn

[David_Underdown]

Don't forget that a number of men of German descent would probably have anglicised their names to avoid anti-German sentiment, Weiss to White and similar for surnames, and likewise for equivalents of forenames. Even the Royal House changed its name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor, and of course the Battenbergs became the Mountbattens.

[Rockdoc]

Anglicisation doesn't seem to have been universal. 2nd Lt J Schwabe joined 32nd AA Section on 29th March 1917, for example, and a Lt Claus served with 24th AAS

Keith.

[ph0ebus]

I can't speak to the Great War but my dad had no problem joining up with the US Army in WWII though he was German-born and his dad (Emanuel) was an Unteroffizer in the Prussian Field Artillery in the Great War. Interestingly Emanuel, who came to the US in the late 1920s was required to fill out a draft registration card during WWII, which I have a copy of. He was of course too old and in too poor health to actually do anything but the irony of drafting a German Great War veteran to go fight the Germans is not lost on me.

Daniel

[PFF]

Walter Krueger was a Immigrant who rose from Private to 4 star General -career 1898-1946

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Krueger

FRANK LUKE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luke

Joseph wEHNER http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Frank_Wehner

E. Rickenbacker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Rickenbacker

{aCTUALLY sWISS BUT MISTAKEN FORM gERMAN{!}

[centurion]

One should not forget Major-General Sir Stanley Brenton Von Donop KCB KCMG the grandson of George, Baron Von Donop, of Wöbbell, Westphalia who was Master of Ordnance in WW1

[Terry_Reeves]

Major ABS Steinmetz RE, OC 1/2nd East Anglian Field Company, had a German father. Lt Otto Behrendt of the Royal Engineers Special Brigade also had German parents.

TR

[Ken S.]

The first bandmaster (in the 1860s), Peter Grossman, for what is now the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry was a German. I believe that this man, Carl Grossman, is a son. I know that he also had a grandson who was wounded quite early in the war serving with an Imperial regiment.

There is Daniel Kappele, native of Germany, American Civil War veteran, who settled in Hamilton after the war. Two of his sons were officers in the CEF, one of whom went on to command the 5th Field Ambulance. He also had a son who was a long-serving city official.

Ivan Manly Crull, who enlisted with the 173rd Battalion, and who died November 16, 1917 while serving with 54th Battalion, had a father who was a native of Germany.

I've come across 50 men who enlisted with the CEF who gave Germany as their place of birth. Of course, many of these were compelled to join during the last year or so of the war, but there are several exceptions. Then there are the unknown number who enlisted under aliases, or claimed to be from a Scandinavian country.

[Schuler]

Thank you for all the information and offers of help - amazing!

Hywyn, I have an Ancestry World Subscription (still looking for "etc )

Here's a story about George Haffner in WWI (click on "George"

http://www.haffners.co.uk/about.htm

[Jonathan Saunders]

A local chap with a German father enlisted under his mother's surname and was killed on the Western Front. His father was interred and died through illness contracted in the camp.

All very sad.

Jonathan S

[Mark Hone]

For a story of repatriation, internment and military service in the British Army involving members of the same immigrant family see the details I gave about my wife's German relatives on an old thread:

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69552&st=0&p=624800&hl=+fred%20+strolin&fromsearch=1entry624800

[Schuler]

For a story of repatriation, internment and military service in the British Army by members of the same immigrant family see the details I gave about my wife's German relatives on an old thread:

http://1914-1918.inv...=1

That is really insteresting. Crailsheim is not far from where my great grandparents originate, namely, Kocherstetten. If you look on the map, you will see Crailsheim and if you go diagonally upwards to the left, you will see Kocherstetten. Crailsheim is in Schwäbisch Hall and Kocherstetten in the Hohenlohekreis.

I looked up the Strohleins (Strolins) and I will ask the person who delivered the paper on "German Pork Butchers in England" on the "Lusitania Riots" thread, as he is from Schwäbisch Hall, if he has any additional infomation from his side. We keep in contact as I deliver him with the German immigrants in England and he helps me enormously as he has been to the archives in Kocherstetten and given me details of my Pfisterer-Brück family.

[NRP.HKP]

I hope I've posted in the correction section.

My question is, were only descendants of German Immigrants whose parent/s had become naturalised, "permiited" to enlist?

I'm extending my Hohenlohe research of Pork Butchers who had emigrated to GB, to those who enlisted in the war, i.e. Hohenrein, Bareis, etc., although these are probably but just a few.

Herman Walter von Poellnitz,the only son of a Bavarian Baron,commissioned into Lincolnshire Regt 1911,served Gibraltar,Bermuda then F & F from Nov 1914,joined RFC 1915 and killed (motoring accident) in Baghdad in 1918.

[Mark Hone]

We visited Crailsheim and Schwabisch Hall in 2008. A very nice area, and very friendly people, although we didn't end up finding out much new information. My wife's aunt, who is a descendant of the Strohleins, was visiting relatives there into the 1970s, but all the ones she knew are now dead.

[pmaasz]

My uncle KIA in 1918 (see below): his grandfather (my great-grandfather) and earlier generations were German, mainly from Hamburg, although given the family name I think a long way back they were from the Low Countries, now Holland.

[Wdragon]

I hope I've posted in the correction section.

My question is, were only descendants of German Immigrants whose parent/s had become naturalised, "permiited" to enlist?

I'm extending my Hohenlohe research of Pork Butchers who had emigrated to GB, to those who enlisted in the war, i.e. Hohenrein, Bareis, etc., although these are probably but just a few.

The British Library hold a copy of a diary maintained by a German doctor who was interned at Alexandra Palace in North London. I will look and see if I will look and see if I can find the details of the author and title. It is very moving and well written. He writes clearly and concisely and records the calorific intake that the internees are getting and points out (very calmly and rationally) that they are being starved and will die unless they can supplement the rations. I digress, he also records that many of internees receive visits on Sundays from their son's who were serving in the forces and came to visit their interned fathers in their uniforms.

David

[Schuler]

The British Library hold a copy of a diary maintained by a German doctor who was interned at Alexandra Palace in North London. I will look and see if I will look and see if I can find the details of the author and title. It is very moving and well written. He writes clearly and concisely and records the calorific intake that the internees are getting and points out (very calmly and rationally) that they are being starved and will die unless they can supplement the rations. I digress, he also records that many of internees receive visits on Sundays from their son's who were serving in the forces and came to visit their interned fathers in their uniforms.

David

That would be very interesting. I thank you.

[Stebie9173]

Many of the British born sons of German Naturalised Citzens enlisted early in the war into all sorts of Regiments and Corps. Later in the war, specific battalions of the Middlesex Regiment were set up as Works Battalions which were basically Labour Battalions which were restricted as to which areas and on which duties they could be employed.

Quoted from "A Call to Arms"

{The War Office} issued ACI 1209 on 17 June 1916. This stated that all recruits of German, Austrian, Hungarian and Turkish parentage were to be sent to the Middlesex Regiment, which was to raise a special Works battalion for them. This came into being as the 30th Middlesex the following month and soon became known as the 'Kaiser's Own'. The ACI also laid down that all serving aliens of enemy parentage should be transferred to this battalion. It was soon over establishment and so, in September, the 31st (Works) Battalion was also formed.

The member of the battalion that I have researched was the son of a Pork Butcher in Peterborough whose shop was stoned in August 1914. His father was interned, yet he joined the British Army.

Steve.