ENEMY ALIEN CIVILIANS

1914 – 1918

North East England

In 2017 we embarked on a project looking at the lives of Germans living in the north of England during the First World War (‘Hunting the Hun’, 2017). In the process we hit on a treasure trove of regional archive material, including over 300 ‘aliens files’ held by Northumberland Archives at Woodhorn. They were police files recording the movements and experiences of aliens from all over the world: ‘friendly aliens’, those whose home countries were neutral or allies, and ‘enemy aliens’, those whose governments had joined the Central Powers.

These cases only represent a small percentage of the total number of foreign nationals in Britain during WW1, people whose lives were often seriously affected by hostile attitudes and restrictive wartime legislation.

We set out to uncover some of these individual experiences, to contribute to a more complex history of WW1 that highlights the diverse cultural memories of the period.

Of course, the stories we found illuminate the big issues, the historical developments and socio-political influences. But what really gripped us was the chance to make explicit the harsh realities endured by innocent people who suddenly found themselves strangers in their own land.

A heartfelt thank you to our volunteers for their generosity and hard work!

We would also like to express our gratitude to:

• Sandra Armstrong, Eileen Buckle, Carol Hunt, Erika Martin (♰), Sean Mattimore, Dorothy Ramser, Les Robertson, Karen Shepherd and Simon Wood for sharing their family histories with us!

• Alastair Robertson and Simon Danby, Alston Moor Historical Society

• Alan Fidler, Northumbria World War One Project

• Dr André Keil, Sunderland University

• Andrew Jepson, Stobs Camp Project Officer

• German-speaking Congregations in Scotland and North East England

• Ian Johnson, Special Collections, Newcastle University

• John Charlton, North East Labour History

• Durham Records Office

• Mark Simmons, Hartlepool Museum

• North East Labour History Society

• Reflections of Newcastle 1914 - 18

• Sunderland Antiquarian Society

• Brighton Avenue Primary School; Broadway First School; Burradon Community Primary School; Gosforth East Middle School; Haltwhistle First Academy; St Stephen's RC Primary School; Whalton C of E Primary School; Whitehouse Primary School, North Shields

... and everybody else who has contributed to the project!