Serving under an alias.

[Bob Coulson]

Currently researching my third local WW1 memorial and for the first time I have come across a man who served under another name.

I have seen these "alias's" many times on the CWGC site and was wondering if there was a consensus of opinion as to the main reasons why men would do this.?

Would appreciate opinions.

Bob.

PS Feel sure this has been discussed before but can't find it.

[Neil Burns]

Frederick Williams Thread

Hi Bob,

The above link should take you to a thread I started regarding a member of the CEF serving under another name.

Take care,

Neil

[paul guthrie]

I think this was more common in Australian forces than elsewhere but truth is I don't know that. The memorial at Lone Pine sure has a lot and I'm sure not all by any means were discovered.

[Will O'Brien]

Bob

My Great Uncle used an alias of sorts. My Grandfather William Ingram was the second son of my Great Grandparents Samual & Annie Ingram, being born in 1900. However he had an elder brother Harry who was born circa 1894 (the 1901 census show him as being aged 7). Harry was in fact illegitimate & born when my Great Grandmother was only 18. He was named William Henry Kenney (this being my Great Grandmothers maiden name). There was some talk in the family that my Great Grandfather Samual was his father, but that is possibly something that may have been passed down through the family to 'sanitise' the story. Anyway William Henry Kenney was certainly known as Harry Ingram irrespective of his true parentage. Incidently my Great Grandparents weren't it seems your stereotypical Victorian couple as they only managed to get married four months before my Grand father was born. Illegitimacy of course at the time carried a terrible stigma & I understand through stories related to me by my Grandmother, who obviously got them from my Grandfather, that my Great Uncle Harry suffered quite badly thoughout his life, particularly from neighbours & work colleagues. When the war came it is alledged that the taunts drove him to join the army. It is said, (although again impossible to verify & could be an embelishment to the story) his parting words to his mother were something in the nature of 'Everyone tells me that i'm not Harry Ingram but poor b*****d William Kenney that I might as well go & be that poor b*****d in the army'. So he volunteered under the name he was born with. I'm lead to believe that my Great Uncle Harry was not the ideal candidate to be a soldier, a gentle, timid type quite unsuited to what was happening over in France & Flanders. My Great Grandmother is known to have taken his death in February 1916 very badly & as a result of him dying my Great Grandmother informed the Navy that my Grandfather had volunteered underage

(he was 15 at the time) just to get him back home because she didn't want to lose her other son. My Grandfather never saw active service & missed being conscripted as he wasn't 18 until December 1918. Quite literally without the sacrifice of my Great Uncle, I might not have been here.

Uncle Harry is listed by the CWGC as his alias being William Henry Kenney & his true family name as being Ingram. Presumably this was based on information provided by my Great Grandparents as his next of kin. They obviously wanted him to be remembered as an Ingram rather than a Kenney. Interestingly enough the CWGC have his age as being 20 at the time of his death rather than the actual 23. As i understand it age at time of death was information provided by the next of kin. Therefore I feel that either the CWGC have misprinted his age (which is possible but not probable), My Great Grandparents geniunely forgot how old their eldest son was (highly unlikely) or it was a deliberate attempt to make him appear younger & thus perhaps in some way try to legitimise him or tie him to my Great Grandfather. Of course this last part is purely conjecture on my behalf, but knowing some of the antics my family have been up to over the years, it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

Will

[Geoff Parker]

Bob

Men joined the services under an alias for several reasons. Under aged boys

who did not want their parents to know that they had enlisted, criminals wanted by the authorities, married men who were deserting the wives. Basically a chance to

begin their lives again under a new name.

Geoff

[Terry Denham]

This subject was recently covered in another thread (which I can't now find!).

Other reasons often included avoiding debts, hiding previous military service, hiding the fact that the man was over age (as well as under), paternity problems and having an embarrassing or foreign sounding surname (ie Bumstead or Muller).

[mordac]

Other reasons often included avoiding debts, hiding previous military service...

This in fact happened with the well known CEF snipper Henry Norwest. In January 1915, he enlisted in the CEF using the name Henry Louie and was discharged after three months service for misbehaviour. In September 1915 he reenlisted under the name Norwest. You can read his attestation papers here.

In the early years of the war, Sir Sam Hughes wanted primarily single men as members of the CEF. If you were married you needed a signed letter from you wife granting you permission to join the army. If a married man couldn't get his wife to sign on the dotted line, he would enlist under an alias and claim his marital status was single.

Garth

[Bob Coulson]

Thanks to all for the interesting and informative replies.

Think I'll print this off and keep it filed for future reference.

Bob.

[Cliff. Hobson]

Evans V.C. alias Simpson, Bob provided me with information and history of this man who won the V. C. at Etaing whilst serving with the Lincolns, it seems likely that he must previously had been a deserter having attained the rank of Sgt., and his action in winning the Medal.

[Jonathan Saunders]

I have a very interesting find of a man serving under an alias of sorts from my local war memorial. This might be difficult to explain without using names but he was registered with two conventional christian names and then a German surname as a third christian name. His father was not named.

Within months of his birth his mother had married a German national that had the same surname as her son's third name. I know it is easy to put 2 and 2 together, but obviously evidence suggests a close relationship before birth between the boy's mother and the German national, and probably paternity as well. On the 1901 census the family use the German surname only, although the indication at birth was that he had been registered with his mother's surname. Also by this time another son had arrived.

I have found nothing to suggest he used anything but the German surname until he enlisted in late 1915 and his attestation papers only refer to him by his mother's maiden name. He was kia in late 1917 and from what I can deduce, by this time his mother was most likely widowed, otherwise separated from her husband, but she still used the German surname.

In the scheme of things he did enlist under his originally registered surname, also providing his two English christian names. For obvious reasons the German name was not used at all. However this was an alias of sorts, as it would appear most likely his father was German and his reverting back to his mother's maiden name was something that hadnt happend since the early days following his birth.

I expect this was a cause of aliases by others in similar circumstances with a German national parent(s), born and brought up in Britain.

[Jock Bruce]

I have a guy with a German surname who enlisted and served in 5th Seaforth using an alias. When he transfered to ASC after a couple of years in the 5th he formally changed his name by deedpoll to the alias.

Jock