Half German serving with Royal Irish Rifles

[elizabethjones]

I am intrigued by a family member, Charles Joseph Sixt, who was half-German (on his father's side) but who served in the Royal Irish Rifles 15th Battalion and died in 1917. His father had been in the UK since about 1877 but was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien and later, in WW2, his British-born wife had to register to prove she was not an alien - yet the son (born in 1888 in London though maybe the family was based in Dublin) was allowed to serve in the British army. Does anyone know if this was unusual? and whether the RIR would have any more details about him? We are unable to find out where his father came from, other than probably Bavaria.

[lesleys]

My German grandfather came to England about the same time and was interned at Alexandra Palace and later sent back to Germany. He came back to England in 1919. He had two sons who my mother said had fought in the British forces. Unfortunately they did not enlist using their father's name and I have been unable to find record for either of them. In WW2 I have the alien registration forms for both grandparents. I imagine this was not an unusual experience.

[simmo1]

Hi

It looks like he served with 2 battalions- from Ancestry his Medal Index Card-

Name:
Charles Sixt

Regiment or Corps:
17th London Regiment,R Ir Rif

Regimental Number:
7283,15/43209

You can view the card on Ancestry and also this-


Name:
Charles Joseph Sixt

Residence:
Bushey, Herts

Death Date:
9 Aug 1917

Death Location:
France & Flanders

Enlistment Location:
Fulham, Middx.

Rank:
Rifleman

Regiment:
Royal Irish Rifles

Battalion:
15th Battalion

Number:
43209

Type of Casualty:
Died of wounds

Theatre of War:
Western European Theatre

Comments:
Formerly 7282, London Regt.

He was entitled to a pair which means he fought after 1915. I would say by then as they were getting desperate for men he was allowed in due to his mother's British heritage. Have you looked at his birth certificate? that should list where his father was from.
I cant see a service record for him on Ancestry, so maybe destroyed.
Read here for more ideas- https://www.1914-1918.net/soldiers/research.html
A bit on his regiments - https://www.1914-1918.net/london.htm and https://www.1914-1918.net/ririfles.htm
The RIR probably will not have much if any information on him but here is their contact information - https://www.royal-irish.com/museums , you can only ask.

regards

Robert

[simmo1]

Also there is a bit more information on Ancestry about him and his parents.

regards

Robert

[Peter Goodey]

He was a British subject by birth and he was a permanent resident. There would have been no grounds for avoiding conscription.

[helachau]

yet the son (born in 1888 in London though maybe the family was based in Dublin) .....

A Charles Sixt was manager of The Great Northern Hotel, Bundoran (Belfast News Letter 1896). Other sightings of a George Sixt as a hotel manager -

Royal Exchange Restaurant, Boar Lane and Park Row, Leeds (Yorkshire Evening Post, 1903)
Imperial Hotel, Paragon Street, Hull (Hull Daily Mail, 1907)
"....previously manager of the Golden Cross Hotel, Charing Cross.....(Hull Daily Mail, 1907)
Grand Central Hotel, Briggate, Leeds (Yorkshire Evening Post, 1912)
photo https://www.leodis.net/display.aspx?r...2011314_171946

[steveinfo]

I am intrigued by a family member, Charles Joseph Sixt, who was half-German (on his father's side) but who served in the Royal Irish Rifles 15th Battalion and died in 1917. His father had been in the UK since about 1877 but was interned on the Isle of Man as an enemy alien and later, in WW2, his British-born wife had to register to prove she was not an alien - yet the son (born in 1888 in London though maybe the family was based in Dublin) was allowed to serve in the British army. Does anyone know if this was unusual? and whether the RIR would have any more details about him? We are unable to find out where his father came from, other than probably Bavaria.

Are you also aware of the Irish born brother of the soldier having served in one, and probably two, world wars, and of him, (the brother of the soldier), having been awarded the M.B.E. ?

Of course at that time Ireland was still a part of Britain.

Their British born mother did not register to prove that she wasn't an alien,...she WAS an alien at the beginning of WW2,...until 1948 a British woman who married a foreign national, (even if she married in Britain ), automatically lost her British subject status, and was automatically regarded as an alien.

The assumption of the British government was that such women would automatically acquire the nationality status of their husband, but that didn't always happen in regard to every country, and so many women who were British by birth were rendered legally stateless by marriage.

What she was doing in 1940 was that she was being readmitted to British nationality status via the legal process of naturalisation, which is more or less the same as if she had been a foreign born person who was being granted British nationality.

When one acquires British nationality by birth, (or most other nationalities), there is an automatic legal presumption that one has a legal obligation of loyalty and allegiance to Britain, ( or to the relevant country ), that's why British subjects can be tried for committing treason against Britain, but they can't be tried for committing treason against France or Italy for example, because they have no legal obligation of Loyalty to such countries, and vice versa.

When she married a foreign national, and thereby became an alien, she automatically lost her obligation of allegiance to Britain, and that's why in 1940, as part of the naturalisation process, she had to reaquire that obligation by swearing an oath of allegiance to the British Crown.

The circumstances of both brothers are particularly cruelly ironic in view of the situations and treatment of their parents, and vice versa.

I know that such matters may seem very nit picking and remote from most of us, and that most of us take our nationality status for granted and probably assume that we will never be affected by such legal technicalities, and most of us won't be, but when an individual does bump up against such rules and regulations, such things suddenly become very real, and the governments and the lawyers take such things very seriously and apply those procedures very literally, and sometimes with lethal consequence for the people concerned.

The effects can vary from not being able to acquire a passport, to being killed.

Many people in both world wars, were made pariahs, lost their homes and livelihoods, had their families disrupted, and found themselves imprisoned, just because they fell into the wrong legal category, and many of them, even in Britain, America, Australia, and Canada, also died or were rendered ill or injured as a result of the conditions that they were held under, and such things are still happening today.

It must have been traumatically appalling for her and for other people in similar circumstances, one day she is Mrs. harmless elderly British housewife, and the next day she is a potentially dangerous enemy of the state !, and all because of the heavy handed application of some unjust legal gibberish, yep, that must have really helped the war effort.

There is another effect of such legalisms, the brother who was awarded the M.B.E. and some of the other siblings, were born in Ireland, and the Irish government says that the children and grandchildren of anyone who was born in Ireland have Irish citizenship.

So if you or your mother or other relatives are direct descendants of any of those people then you have dual Anglo Irish, (or whatever), nationality status, and you are citizens of the Republic of Ireland.

[Seletar]

Charles Sixt is remembered on the Bushey war memorial. He also features in the current 100 year commemoration for Bushey and Oxhey. 350 local men have been identified as having lost their lives and form part of an exhibition at the Bushey academy. It runs for the next few weeks. In addition, the houses from which serviceman died are displaying temporary plaques stating 'a serviceman who died in the Great War lived here' Charles Sixt has such a plaque: it's displayed in my window!

His name was also read at a special service in St James church Bushey.

The notes in the exhibition detail that he married Amy Wells in 1914 and was a railway Clark.

If your not too far the exhibition is well worth a visit. Just google Bushey World War One project.

[brentor boy]

In response to Lesley's (#2), I have two brothers, sons of a German father, who served in First World War. One retained his father's name and died. The other adopted his mother's maiden name and survived.