Why wasn't he interned?

[AlfredJames]

Had a genealogist at the national archives look if there were any naturalisation papers for my great grandfather or his parents, but unfortunately there aren't any papers for them and we have come to the conclusion they never naturalised.

He was born in Germany, but for some reason managed to avoid internment during WWI and served in the British Army as a private. He was adopted by an Englishman in the late 1890s as his stepson after his father passed away and he and his mother moved in with him. He had already been living in England for roughly about 8 or 9 years prior to being adopted.

My great great grandmother never married my great grandfathers adopted father, but on all the census records they're listed as being married. I read that formal adoption did not exist in England prior to 1927 and was not registered, not much of a surpise, as very few things were accurately registered or kept track off prior to 1914. I wonder if his situation led the authorities to believe he was a British subject as there were no records for him stating he was German?

[Rena]

Have you read up on the rumbling of wars on the European mainland from mid 1860s onwards?  There was no such country as "Germany" until Bismarck of Prussia thought it would be a good idea for all the little Dukedoms, Kingdoms and principalities to amalgamate into one country.   People flooded out of mainland Europe from the mid 1860s onwards and your gt. grandfather's parents seem to have wanted something different for themselves and their offspring.  They might even have had to have sneaked out of their homeland if permission wasn't given for them to leave.

As your gt. grandfather was a child when he arrived here, in all probability the British authorities would have taken the view that he had become Anglicised, was of good character and therefore, not a danger to the country.

[AlfredJames]

When they left for Britain, Germany was already in existence, they moved to Britain somewhere between 1880 and 1890.

It says on the 1891 census they were born in Prussia, Germany, which could have been anywhere, Westphalia, the Rhine Province, Silesia, Posen, East and West Prussia parts of Saxony, etc.  These territories were all Prussian, which makes things very complicated


 

[KGarrad]

A woman who married, by law took on her husband's nationality.
Presumably the same was therefore true for any children the woman took with her?

I would guess that he was looked upon, by the authorities, as British.

[Rena]

When questioned my late aunt used to refer to her German grandfather as "the Austrian" but didn't know why.  As a newbie to researching family history, the first thing I did was surf for a bit of European history then email the Austrian central archives with dates, names and information I'd found on census (in schoolgirl German lol).  The archivist sent back a lovely email written in English giving ideas of where to look next. 

[majm]

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=740245.msg5867517#msg5867517

A woman who married, by law took on her husband's nationality.
Presumably the same was therefore true for any children the woman took with her?

I would guess that he was looked upon, by the authorities, as British.

Cheers,  JM

[AlfredJames]

Thanks for all your comments, very insightful.

My great grandfather was still a young child when he moved to England from Germany
with his parents. He lost his father, who worked as a baker & confectioner in Sunderland, at an early age and he and his mother moved in with an English chap who worked as a shipyard labourer in Sunderland.

He spoke English without an accent (other than a north country English accent) and had already been living in England for over 25 years at the outbreak of WW I. He had also married an Englishwoman and had two sons with her prior to the outbreak of the war.

With regard to majm's question: As far as I know his parents weren't British subjects and they never naturalised, as they probably never got the chance to naturalise since his father died at a young age. It's a bit of mystery how he could have served in the British army as a private. Was he indeed looked upon by the British authorities as British?