charger Posted 15 December , 2003 Share Posted 15 December , 2003 I apologise if this topic may have been covered before. Why did soldiers use another name. Could they have been rejected the first time and then tried again. Was it age related as I am interested in the following soldier who was 34 when he died. Any information please John Page served as 3979 Private J Radford MM d16 Dec 1917 and served in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment A coy 1st BN. Both parents surname was Page Many thanks Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob HAmilton Posted 16 December , 2003 Share Posted 16 December , 2003 Steve There could be many reasons why a soldier joined up under an assumed name. I can think of these but I'm sure others will provide more. To prevent his family tracing him He had a committed a criminal offence and was on the run He was a deserter from the armed services who was rejoining Regards Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 16 December , 2003 Share Posted 16 December , 2003 Another reason was that his name sounded foreign or could be mocked by fellow soldiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 16 December , 2003 Share Posted 16 December , 2003 Rob mentions being "on the run" from the law, but men could be "on the run" from other circumstances - an unhappy marriage, all kinds of personal feelings of guilt, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 16 December , 2003 Share Posted 16 December , 2003 Steve, You are correct in saying that often the reason for a man serving under an alias was that he had tried to enlist under his own name and was rejected on age or medical grounds and would then try again using another name so determined were some men to serve. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will O'Brien Posted 16 December , 2003 Share Posted 16 December , 2003 Steve My Great Uncle used an alias of sorts. My Grandfather William Ingram was the second son of my Great Grandparents Samuel & Annie Ingram, being born in 1900. However he had an elder brother Harry who was born circa 1894 (the 1901 census show him as being aged 7). Harry was in fact illegitimate & born when my Great Grandmother was only 18. He was named William Henry Kenney (this being my Great Grandmothers maiden name). There was some talk in the family that my Great Grandfather Samual was his father, but that is possibly something that may have been passed down through the family to 'sanitise' the story. Anyway William Henry Kenney was certainly known as Harry Ingram irrespective of his true parentage. Illegitimacy of course at the time carried a terrible stigma & I understand through stories related to me by my Grandmother, who obviously got them from my Grandfather, that my Great Uncle Harry suffered quite badly thoughout his life, particularly from neighbours & work colleagues. When the war came it is alledged that the taunts drove him to join the army. It is said, (although again impossible to verify & could be an embelishment to the story) his parting words to his mother were something in the nature of 'Everyone tells me that i'm not Harry Ingram but poor b*****d William Kenney that I might as well go & be that poor b*****d in the army'. So he volunteered under the name he was born with. Uncle Harry is listed by the CWGC as his alias being William Henry Kenney & his true family name as being Ingram. Presumably this was based on information provided by my Great Grandparents as his next of kin. They obviously wanted him to be remembered as an Ingram rather than a Kenney. Interestingly enough the CWGC have his age as being 20 at the time of his death rather than the actual 23. As i understand it age at time of death was information provided by the next of kin. Therefore I feel that either the CWGC have misprinted his age (which is possible), My Great Grandparents geniunely forgot how old their eldest son was (highly unlikely) or it was a deliberate attempt to make him appear younger & thus perhaps in some way try to legitimise him or tie him to my Great Grandfather. Of course this last part is purely conjecture on my behalf, but not beyond the realms of possibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Bowbrick Posted 16 December , 2003 Share Posted 16 December , 2003 From my own family Pte William Robert Shadbolt Loyal North Lancs, was actually William Robert Bowbrick. Will had enlisted in 1901 underage and was called up from the reserve in August 1914 and served throughout the war under his assumed name - his 14 Star trio is inscribed as such. Why he never reverted to his real name in 1914 when he was 29, I don't know - perhaps someone can suggest a reason. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charger Posted 16 December , 2003 Author Share Posted 16 December , 2003 It seems the reasons could be endless. Thank you for the replies. Regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Denham Posted 16 December , 2003 Share Posted 16 December , 2003 You might like to look at these earlier threads on the subject - http://www.1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?s...c=5637&hl=alias http://www.1914-1918.org/forum/index.php?s...c=3373&hl=alias Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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