Genealogy Chat

I would appreciate a bit of advice please!!

I have a copy of a relative's wartime marriage certificate between an English soldier and a lady whose nationality was recorded as 'English' even though she was born in Alexandria, Egypt.

There is no record of any birth in England of the lady's father and I do not have any details of her mother. Would I be correct in assuming one, or both, of the parents would have had to have been born in England for English nationality to be claimed?

Was the bride perhaps from a Service family and her father born overseas?
They could still claim to be English

Gwyn

I have accessed bmd entries and all census returns but without success so wondered whether English nationality was just 'passed down' to subsequent generations because the lady concerned was born in 1917 in Egypt.

Have tried to find out whether the bride was 'from' a military family but this seems unlikely.

Certainly for births in 1973 and earlier, the nationality of the father determined if you were British. It doesn't matter where the birth took place. The mother, seemingly, had nothing to do with it. There was no English nationality. Rather more surprisingly, until the late 1940s, there was no Canadian or Australian etc nationality - we were all Brits, and Canada and Australia etc could grant British nationality, being responsible governments.

if you the lady was born in egypt and he was born in england there will be a marrige certificate of marrige in church and it will tell you the nationality of the if bought were british or which one of them was british in the era the woman was automatilly british if he was in service of the crown there is know such thing as an Australian national there is a australian citizen and the commonwealth and if the husband was british born she is a british citizen by her husband decent

In the olden days of the British Empire there were British people working in many walks of life all over the world: diplomats, missionaries, tea planters, rubber planters & other businesses are just a few examples. If children were born to them overseas, they were normally considered 'British Subjects' - as can be seen from UK census records.

You might be able to pick up clues from the parents' surnames, or from occupations, if these were recorded on the marriage certificate.

Alison

Her father could have been a foreign national who took British naturalisation.

The most likely explanation was that her father was already a British Subject.

For a birth in 1917 the relevant legislation would have been the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act 1914. This legislation came into force on 1 January 1915. British subject status was acquired as follows:

* birth within His Majesty's dominions

* naturalisation in the United Kingdom or a part of His Majesty's dominions which had adopted Imperial naturalisation criteria

* descent through the legitimate male line (child born outside His Majesty's dominions to a British subject father). This was limited to one generation although further legislation in 1922 allowed subsequent generations born overseas to be registered as British subjects within one year of birth.

* foreign women who married British subject men

* former British subjects who had lost British subject status on marriage or through a parent's loss of status could resume it in specific circumstances (e.g. if a woman became widowed, or children immediately upon turning 21).


The next set of changes were introduced in 1948, mainly with respect to Commonwealth countries.

um.....this thread was posted in 2008 folks. Doubtful if Susan is still looking for replies to be honest. Cx

Good spot, but some one else might find it of interest.

Indeed Inspector! I'm looking for relatives who were (probably) in military service in India and Burma from 19th Century up until just after WW2. I found some of the above information of interest.