How did my grandfather get from New Zealand to Suffolk in WW1?
QMy mother, Edith Maud Newble, was born illegitimately in 1916 in Southwold, Suffolk. We established through DNA testing that her father was William Thomas Johnson of Otago, New Zealand, born in Surrey.
William left Australia, on 1 November 1914, as a fireman (stoker) on HMNZT Tahiti. The ship sailed to Egypt with troops for the Gallipoli campaign.
How did he end up in Suffolk in July 1915 when my mother was conceived?
Michael Goodey
AGetting from Egypt to Britain at the end of 1914 was relatively easy and safe. There were no U-boats in the Mediterranean until April 1915, and the Turkish and Austrian fleets were safely bottled up. The easiest route would be to the south of France and then back across the English Channel. There were very few checks at the ports, and the authorities had no power to prevent British subjects landing. It got harder in 1915, because the French stopped suspicious Britons from boarding unless checked by the local consulate. The other route might be to join a British ship as a stoker in Egypt and sail back with them. Things got tougher as the war progressed, with increasing restrictions on entering and leaving, with passports and visas required for both by 1916.
However he got here, there would be nothing to stop him moving about and,