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  1. #11
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    That record came up as a hint but I can't access it because I don't have worldwide membership.
    Is it possible that August went back to Germany when war broke out to fight for his country, and ended up back in Britain as a prisoner of war?
    It explains why he had some kind of military number on his internment record.

  2. #12
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    Have you tried your local library to see what membership they have?

    It is more than possible that he returned to Germany to fight for them.

  3. #13
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    There are several references to men named August Damps on the German WW1 Casualty Lists. These lists are pretty much the same as the Casualty Lists published in Britain, but obviously these were published by the Germans and relate to their soldiers.

    Using Google Translate on a different 1917 entry it says August Damps, Sergeant, 27.08.88 Saspe, Danzig. Missing

    If August was living in England at the outbreak of war then it's extremely unlikely he would have been able to move between the two countries due to the Aliens Restriction Act that came into force the next day, which included severe restrictions on their movement & travel.

    I also doubt that the marriage certificate will tell you much more - whether August was known to be dead or simply assumed so, Alice would simply be described as Widow.

  4. #14
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    You might be interested in this
    https://www.ourmigrationstory.org.uk...ntieth-century

    Their marriage may have broken down before the out break of war, or he could have been visiting family in Germany at that time. The above web site shows the level of bad feeling towards Germans was immense and if he had been in Germany there would have been little incentive for him to return to the UK after the war.

  5. #15
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    In November 1919 the Aliens Repatriation Committee reported that of the 24,450 Enemy Aliens interned at the date of the armistice, 84% had been repatriated, with the remaining 16% applying for exemption. As you have found him in a camp in Surrey during the war it does seems likely that he was repatriated at the end of the war, either voluntarily or compulsorily.

  6. #16
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    This is really fascinating stuff. Also quite sad at the same time. I have a feeling that as August's children were quite young when he left, they probably didn't remember him and never knew that they had German ancestry.
    I wish that I had been interested in family history 15 years ago when my great grandfather was still alive. I wonder if he would have known anything about his father.

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