Writing for Fun
April 2018
The Immigrant - Bob Wendelkin
Very few people become immigrants through choice, it is often as a result of a problem with the family, work or the country or to better themselves, seldom is it a desire to help England. Now days most of the immigrants into the UK are from the Third World and are probably Muslims. In the past many immigrants were from Europe and were probably Protestant Christians. They and their children’s integration into the population was so much easier, it being more difficult to tell the difference between them and their children and those of the indigenous population.
For Fredrick August Demuth born to Heinrich and Hanna Demuth in October 1786, a Lutheran family in Hanover, it was different he came to help England in a war. As a young man he had made his living as a miner and then as a soldier fighting Napoleon in the Hartz Mountains in Germany. Europe was at constant war with a French Dictator Napoleon who thought he should control the whole of Europe.
In that year 1802 Napoleon invaded Hanover and made his brother the King of Westphalia. King George the Third at that time was not only the King of England but also the Elector of Hanover. As a result of Napoleon’s invasion about 8000 Hanoverians, many who were soldiers, left Hanover and made their way to England to continue the fight. Many of them, like Fredrick August, had a military background and they were eventually formed into the King’s German Legion and integrated into the British Army as a complete military force in their own right. Fredrick August Demuth joined the KGL from 1806 he was listed as ‘Served Before’. He was not a big man, being only five foot and three inches tall he could not be one of the front line troops but served more in the capacity of a Batman to one of the officers. It was here that he learnt how to care for hair and wigs, a profession that he would make use of in later civilian life. Although being a Batman he was not precluded from taking part in the battles, sometimes in the front line.
After consolidation in the British Army and training the KGL embarked for Europe from Margate in June 1807 and Fredrick August fought at the battle of Copenhagen where he received prize money awarded by the British Government.
In 1808 he was at the Battles of Milazzo and Augusta on the North–East coast of Sicily. From there he went to the siege of Genova, where he was taken prisoner for a short time being rescued by others of his company. From there he became part of the army fighting Napoleon in the Peninsular War in Spain, where, under the command of Wellington, Fredrick was present at several important battles including Salamanca and the victory over Napoleon at Vittoria in 1813.
Napoleon abdicated and was sent to Elba. The war ended and the KGL was disbanded and Fredrick August left the army in February 1815. Later that year Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France where he reformed the Imperial Army and so the war with Napoleon recommenced.
The British High Command appealed to recently discharged KLG soldiers to return to the colours, Fredrick August obliged and the KLG was shipped immediately to the Netherlands. The KGL then move to Waterloo where because they were an integrated part of the British Army, they were placed in strategic positions, such as the farm of La Hale Sainte. They held on even though they were encircled by the French. The KGL took part in a great charge which pushed the French back from this site. When the French attacked the farm house for the third time the KGL was fast running out of both ammunition and men. During this part of the battle Fredrick August was severely wounded taking a musket-ball through the mouth and out of the back of his neck.
Fredrick August must have been tough given the poor medical facilities of the time it is surprising that he survived his injuries. He was shipped back to the barracks at Ipswich. His survival is a tribute to his stamina and determination.
After a year he left hospital in Ipswich and married Frances Lawes, who was born in Akenham in Suffolk; what brought her to Ipswich is not known but she may have been employed as a nurse in the Army Hospital.
It was here in Ipswich that he set up a business as a Hairdresser and wig maker. It is thought that he perfected the skills when he acted as an Officer’s Batman. During his marriage with Frances they had seven children. One of these children Fredrick William went to London in 1836 and became a hairdresser in St Martin’s Lane.
As for Fredrick August he continued to collect his 8p per week army pension from 1815 until his death in 1859 at the age of 73. His health beginning to fail after the death of his wife he had travelled to London to be with his daughters. In London he applied to be admitted to become a Chelsea Pensioner. It was reported that there were three others trying to gain admission to the hospital but as soon as the magic word ‘Waterloo’ was mentioned he was admitted immediately, however his health was such that his stay was very short as he died soon after being admitted.
The life story of this immigrant who came to England more than 200 years ago can be found on the Internet. He was not only an immigrant to England but he was also my Maternal Great-Great-Great-Grandfather and because he had been at Waterloo I was invited to attend the Waterloo Ceremony at St Paul’s in June of 2015, 200 years after the battle.