Hallo Listers,
I am still looking for town(s) of origin of Herman b circa 1855, Wilhelmina b1857 and Franz Henning Jacob FLEMME and their relative Conrad EHLERS and his musician father-in-law Amadeus BIELSTEIN.
Does anyone know what differentiated a young man being chosen for service either in the army or the navy. Would it be based on the area they lived in?
Here is a snippet of a letter I have just found in a newspaper, obviously written by one of my relatives also. It not only shows the amount of feeling about immigrants in those days, but also by the term "ran away (from home)" it shows how youngsters were 'kept in their place'!
"Herman Flemme was only 7 when his uncle, who was about 18 or 20, brought him to England as he didn't want to join the German navy. His uncle was called Conrad Ehlers.
"When they first came to England they went to London. They played the violin and earned a living busking on the streets. At some point they made their way to Grimsby, because Uncle Conrad married and lived there.
My Grandfather lived at Grimsby for a while, bur ran away to Hull and met a girl from Sheffield. They married at Drypool church.
"There was a lot of bad feeling during WW1 and I know grandad had to report in at a police station every day.
"He had 4 sons fighting in the war for this country. In fact, his eldest son was killed just before the armistice was signed.
" My father changed his name to Flemming and were brought up not to tell anyone we were of German descent."
Hermann Flemme and Conrad Ehlers always wrote Hannover on the census and the Ehlers brides GRIN & GUNTHER were from Salzgitter & also Darmstadt area, but in later years Hermann said he was an Austrian - it's all most confusing - helllppp 
Rena - England.