German British Subject

[Glynnis]

My great great grandmother Mary Ann Francis (nee Bennett), living in cardiff, Glamorgan,  remarried in 1880 following the death of her husband Daniel Francis three years earlier. She married a ship's carpenter named Hermann Maas and on 'Where Born' it states Germany British Subject. I can't find any further information about him but am puzzled as to how he could be a British Subject. I suppose he must have been naturalised at some point. Where could I find information on naturalised British subjects?

[Redroger]

Apart from Naturalization, there are at least 2 other possibilities 1) After the Elector of Hanover became King George I in 1714 many Hanoverians came to Britain from Hanover. The British King was also Elector of Hanover until the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, as women could not become Elector of Hanover 2) The island of Heligoland in the North Sea was British until it was ceded to Germany in 1890.

[behindthefrogs]

Surely all this means is that he was born in Germany but his parents were British.  This particular form of wording is fairly common in census returns for people whose parents were British but they happened to have been born abroad.

His German name does seem to confuse this slightly and may suggest that his father was a naturalized British person.

[Glynnis]

Yes, it was the name, if his first name even had been British I probably wouldn't have queried it, but the whole name is distinctly German. 

[jorose]

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/
If you search for Mass Hermann Ludwig here a naturalisation record comes up in 1879, but this appears to be for a different man (a stockbroker in London, he shows up in 1901).

I can see them in 1901; my question would be whether Herman(n) shows up as British Subject on other censuses, assuming he's not at sea in 1881 and 1891.

[Redroger]

I still believe the options I outlined in reply No.1 are at least possible. Looking for him in earlier censuses though is certainly an option.

[Glynnis]

He doesn't show up in other censuses so maybe he was on board a ship. I've searched all I can on Ancestry but to no avail. The only other references are to his death in 1901 and his marriage to my g g grandmother in 1880. Prob the best bet is for me to get a copy of the marriage cert as that will show his father, but didn't want to shell out £25!! Thanks for all the comments, I've learned a lot.

[behindthefrogs]

A Marriage certificate should only cost you £9.50 if you order it directly.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/default.asp

If you can find a transcription of the marriage register for the church involved you may be able to see the information for free.

[Blue70]

My Great, Great Grandmother is on the 1901 Census as born in Germany (British Subject). Her parents were both German and she and her parents and most of her siblings were born in Germany they didn't have any previous British roots. She was born in 1848 and came to England when she was five years old. Like a lot of people who settled in Britain she would not have gone through the process of naturalisation and would have considered herself a British Subject because she had been here so long. Arriving here aged five and growing up here she wouldn't have any trace of a German accent.

C