"Aliens" in Territorial Force prewar

[Moonraker]

In Skindles* I asked for a translation of a message written in Teutonic (?) handwriting on a postcard sent to a lady in Berlin by a member of the Queen's Westminsters at summer camp on Salisbury Plain in 1908. (My request was very quickly met.) One might guess that the sender was of German origin.

But were "aliens" allowed to enlist in the Territorial Force, or would they have needed to have taken British nationality?

And are there any anecdotes about such men being suspect with the declaration of war in 1914 and perhaps being asked to resign or being detained?

(There are accounts of members of the First Canadian Contingent, which had immigrants from many countries in its ranks, being sent back to Canada having been "weeded out" on Salisbury Plain in autumn 1914.)

* Skindles is the off-topic section of the GWF, with membership available to those who have made a certain number of  posts. An eclectic range of topics is discussed and one plus point is being able to discuss military matters that are just outside the scope of the main forum, as was my request relating to a 1908 card.

Edited 25 July , 2023 by Moonraker

[MaureenE]

Even those who had previously taken British nationality had a hard time.

An online account

The War Diary of a Square Peg. With a Dictionary of War Words by Maximilian A Mügge. 1920 Archive.org. A British citizen of the group subsequently called in the newspapers "enemy alien Britons", he volunteered for the Army, hoping for his language skills to be utilised but was initially appointed as a Private in an Infantry regiment. However, as an enemy alien Briton, he was soon transferred to a non-combatant corps (N C C) where conscientious objectors were usually sent, with which he served in France for a few months, where NCCs were not well regarded. He was soon transferred again to an Infantry Works Battalion in England which he calls “a political concentration camp” where the majority of the men were conscripts of enemy alien parentage, in spite of being British born, or naturalised citizens. He details the situation of these enemy alien Britons - most suffered discrimination.

Maureen

[Keith_history_buff]

There is no question concerning nationality on the Army Form E. 594 ("Form of enrolment of Volunteers") but the ninth question does ask if the recruit has ever served 'in the Regular forces of any Foreign Power?'

I presume there is nothing similar on the Army Form E. 501 for TF attestations that subsequently came into being?

[MaureenE]

One of my ancestors joined the British Army in the 1890s.  On his attestation form it says he was born in London of German parentage.  However through DNA testing (which a cousin did) and contact wth a different branch of the family it turns out that he was actually born in what is now Germany, and the family story is that the recruiting Sergeant told him to say he was born in London to make him more acceptable.  He served in WW1 with the Australian Army at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. If anyone during the Great War period had known he was born in Germany he would probably have been interred.

 

The following topic mentions men of enemy alien parentage  in the Middlesex regiment who were transferred to Labour Corps

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/284762-middlesex-regiment-which-battalion/

Also "Internment of enemy aliens - how were they identified etc?" https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/303317-internment-of-enemy-aliens-how-were-they-identified-etc/

 

 

Maureen

Edited 25 July , 2023 by MaureenE

[charlie2]

3 hours ago, Moonraker said:

member of the Queen's Westminsters at summer camp on Salisbury Plain in 1908.

What has drawn you to the conclusion that he was a member of the Regiment, apart from the photo on the front of the card which is a tenuous connection at the best?
Charlie

[Moonraker]

My intuition gained from having a couple of hundred postcards from soldiers at summer camp on Salisbury Plain and with written messages lead me to think that he was very likely to have been a member of the Queen's Westminsters, though I concede that this not certain and cannot be (un)proven. The message and postmarks make it almost certain that he was at the camp. Why would he send a postcard of a unit to which he did not belong and with no explanation to the recipient?

[Keith_history_buff]

I'm just looking at a record completed for a soldier discharged in 1919. He has a SERVICE AND CASUALTY FORM (Part 1). Army Form B. 103 I. Part I.

Question 7: 'Whether of British or of Alien origin (vide A.C.I. 571 of 1918)'

Outside of the original scope of the question, but in seeing this, it reminded me of this thread.

[IRC Kevin]

When the 1/6th KLR (Liverpool Rifles) deployed to France in 1915, they had eleven men whose parents had been German migrants to Liverpool and another who'd been born in Germany and had 'naturalised' as a child. All twelve had enlisted pre-war (two were senior NCOs) and all bar one changed their names at some point during the war. For example, Sgt Alfred Mittendorfer became Alfred Mitchell in March 1916. He ended the war a Captain in the Dorsets with an MC and an MBE. Sgt Francis Zacharias, the one born in Germany, kept his name, presumably believing it could be thought to be English.He was commissioned into the SWB in Jan 1916. 

[Moonraker]

We're straying a little from my original question, not that I mind. To continue to stray, I've been trying to recall, unsuccessfully, the name of the RFC officer with a German "von" name who's mentioned in several books.

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/files/names_combined_T-V.txt lists several other "vons": Poellnitz (Lincolns, with multiple entries); Roemer (RFC Special Reserve); Stieglitz (Connaught Rangers); and Weasel (Russian Flying Corps).

And of course there's the famous author Captain Robert von Ranke Graves, whose name caused problems through much of his life.

(No need, I suggest, to repeat here the situation relating to the British Royal Family and its German connections.)

[IRC Kevin]

On 25/07/2023 at 08:01, Moonraker said:

But were "aliens" allowed to enlist in the Territorial Force, or would they have needed to have taken British nationality?

There were US citizens, who were resident in the UK but not naturalised subjects, in the pre-war battalions of both KLR and KORL, which suggests that being being born British, or being naturalised wasn't compulsory.

[Keith_history_buff]

On 25/07/2023 at 08:01, Moonraker said:

But were "aliens" allowed to enlist in the Territorial Force, or would they have needed to have taken British nationality?

 

  

On 25/07/2023 at 09:05, Keith_history_buff said:

There is no question concerning nationality on the Army Form E. 594 ("Form of enrolment of Volunteers") but the ninth question does ask if the recruit has ever served 'in the Regular forces of any Foreign Power?'

I presume there is nothing similar on the Army Form E. 501 for TF attestations that subsequently came into being?

 

Richard Maurice Boland was born at Clerkenwell, London in 1887. He served in The Rangers within the London Regiment, in both its V and TF eras.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rangers_(British_battalion)

Had enlisted under Volunteer terms of service in the 22nd Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps, 2590, prior to formation of the Territorial Force. Enlisted under TF terms of service on 1 Apr 1908, 241, served for 3 years with 12th Battalion, London Regiment.

He has a surviving service record amongst the WO 363 records. On his TF attestation, question 3 asks 'Are you a British Subject?'

Whilst this refers to a different country, I am sure I have come across immigrants to the US who served in the AEF during WW1, but did not become naturalised American citizens until the interwar period.