Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An interesting British War Medal awarded to Private J. Rother, Middlesex Regiment, later Labour Corps, a British National by birth but of Prussian-English parentage, who likely faced extensive 'Germanophobia', making subtle adjustments to his forename in consequence

British War Medal 1914-20 (3133 Pte. J. Rother. Midd’x R.) good very fine £60-£80

Juleus Rother was born on 8 February 1897 in the parish of Westminster, London, the son of Julius Rother and Edith Emily Merrett. His father was born around 1869 at Lauben (Oberallgau), near Bayern, and emigrated as a young man to England where he met and married Gloucestershire-born Edith at a church in Hampstead on 12 December 1889. Setting up home in the parish of St. Marylebone, Middlesex, the couple went on to raise a family of four sons and a daughter, Juleus being the second child. 

By 1911 the family are shown living at 41 College Place in Camden Town with Julius senior employed as a waiter, one of nearly 60,000 overseas nationals working in the UK hospitality industry at this time. Appreciated for working long hours and taking advantage of Londoners’ growing tastes for foreign cuisine, it is said that nearly 10% of all waiters in the City at this time were of German heritage - indeed Julius senior was clear to state on the 1911 Census for England that he was a 'Prussian resident' and of Prussian nationality. The same document records Julius junior as a 14 year-old office boy living alongside four boarders in the family home: Karl Mety, a 20 year-old waiter; William Koegimaur, an 18 year-old Munich-born waiter; Edward Hausler, a Bohemian-born barman; and Rudolf Milty, a 19 year-old Viennese waiter.

The outbreak of the Great War likely had a significant impact upon the finances and life of the Rother family, especially with the children still being young and at school. It is almost certain that income dried up from letting rooms, and any tenants that remained had likely been earmarked for internment on the Isle of Man. With newspapers extolling the horrors meted out by the Imperial German Army in Belgium, British society soon became gripped with spy fever and suggestions that many of those who had worked in the UK for decades were now working in the interests of the 'Fatherland'. 

On 14 October 1914 the Daily Mail published an editorial titled 'The Spy Danger and the New Order' which complained about 'the multitude of Germans employed in our British hotels, who also have singular opportunities of learning all that is happening... found at the centres of naval and political intelligence'. Even before the sinking of the liner Lusitania in 1915 and the corresponding anti-German riots in London, it was clear that employment as a waiter or 'enemy in our midst' according to the contemporary press, was no longer a viable option for Julius senior. Family research displayed online notes Julius senior travelling to New York aboard Franconia on 26 December 1914, where he was immediately held by US immigration for special enquiry - almost certainly on account of his nationality. He appears to have been deported from the east coast after barely three weeks ashore.

Upon reaching the age of 18, Juleus junior attested for the Middlesex Regiment and was soon posted to the 7th Battalion. He served in the Balkans from 29 August 1915 and was discharged on 24 February 1919. Little is known about his military service, but it is interesting how his MIC notes the spelling of his forename as Juleus, whilst in the medal rolls it becomes Julius and finally the Index of Wills entry for 1962 makes plain his desire to be known as Julian.