German ancestor

[shaneystar2]

Bit of a long shot .
A friend of mine has asked me to have a look and see if I can find out anything about a German ancestor .Having perused lots of sites in Deutsch have come up with zilch :)

Her grandmother (Alice Harriet Talmage born 1894 Kingston on Thames ) marries a chap called Fritz Friedhofer on 22 August 1912 in the Registry Office ,district Wandsworth .
On the marriage certificate he is a master hairdresser in either Putney or Wandsworth.as this is the area they lived in and his father ( deceased) is named as Balthazar Freidhofer ( furniture manufacturer) .
They have a child ( Albert Balthazer ) who dies aged 21 months .

Fritz then disappears never to be seen again .

Alice remarries in 1916 to a Robert Burns ( from Liverpool) and on the certificate gives her as a spinster .
Alice appears to be a bit of girl as she lies about her age .When she marries Fritz she gives her age as 21 when in fact she was 18. but comes clear on her age in her subsequent marriage to
Robert Burns .
.I've said to my friend that Fritz was either interned or went back to fight in WW1 and was missing ,presumed killed and Alice thought ..what the hell ..and married someone else .
But how could she have got away with it ?
The second marriage ( to Burns) took place in church under licence in 1916 in St Marys Church Roehampton .
If Dotty or Craft could shed any light on poor old Fritz I would be very grateful .

[dotty.]

They got away with it because there was probably no reason to coubt her word when she aplied for the second marriage. She was still young and the register office would have had no reason to doubt her and no access to any records in another RD,.

Internment was ay White City dog track and it was a desperate and cruel time for any German citizens which is why there was a desperate rush or obtain nationalization papers, however , there is no record that Franz did that.

The little boy was Alfred not Albert BTW. i don't believe that Alice was pregnant when she married Fritz in 1912 as the baby was not born until 1914 but by the time the baby died in 1915 her husband could well have been interned or had left England of his own accord, i don't think there is any instance of the surname in English records even in the immigration
however:
Kriegsranglisten und -stammrollen des Königreichs Bayern, 1. Weltkrieg 1914-1918 Bavaria, Germany, WWI Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918
Name: Balthasar Freidhöfer
Birth Date: 26 Jan 1878
Birth Place: Heiligenstadt Bamberg Bayern (Bavaria)
Combat Arm: Infanterie
Type of Unit: Landwehr-Infanterie-Regimenter
Unit: Bayer. Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 7 (Bayreuth)
Volume: 3703. Kriegstammrolle

[dotty.]

The only instance I can find of his name is this:
Name: Franz Freidhofer
Arrival Date: May 1882
Age: 46 Years 0 Months years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1836
Gender: Male
Race: Bavaria
Port of Departure: Bremen, Germany
Ship Name: SS Strassburg
Port of Arrival: Baltimore, Maryland
Microfilm Roll Number: M255_35
Page: 34

[craft1948]

How old was Fritz on the wedding certificate?

[twix123]

Many Germans who did not take British Nationality were interned in the Isle of Man for the duration of the war. There are also many instances of them changing their surnames to avoid victimization both during and after the war.

[dotty.]

Some good titles here to look at:
http://www.rootschat....490499.html#msg490499

and some decent sources at the NA:
http://yourarchives.n....php?title=Internment

[shaneystar2]

Fritz was 31 at the time of the marriage Craft .
My friend can find no record of his death anywhere . Perhaps the death of the baby was a factor and they split up. Or, he could have seen which way the wind was blowing re the war and hotfooted it out of the country either to America or back to Germany ..
I'l print all your info off for her to peruse .

Thanks ever so much for your help .xx

[craft1948]

Is it worth getting the son's birth certificate - Alfred B Freidhofer Q1 1d 1420 Wandsworth to see if Fritz was still alive then.

[shaneystar2]

I don't know if she has the childs birth or death cerificates Craft ..I'll ask her .
Perhaps if she can get hold of those it may give her more of a lead on what happened to Fritz .
He's a bit of a mystery .I was wondering that if he was a hairdresser he may have had a business in Putney or Wandsworth which I suppose she could find out from Kellys Directories of the time .
Thanks very much for your help .