Hey all. I'm currently writing a WW2 novel where some of the characters have been born in Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, etc, etc, but they have become "naturalised" citizens of England after moving there before the story takes place. Is this possible and does it seem authentic?
prior to the establisment of the Citizenship Act in 1948, all people who were born in countries that were part of the british empire would be 'british subjects' and have the same legal status as those born in the british isles... 'citizenship' wasn't a term used officially till 1948... so you'll need to do some adjusting to that part of your novel... btw, you could have found that out the same way i just did, with a few seconds' worth of googling... ;-)
It's not my fault I don't know everything about this sort of thing. Sometimes I have to get people to help me with research, when I'm out of my depth.
I think the ;-) indicated that she meant no malice I'm curious as to why you have chosen this topic to write about, I would have a look at personal memoirs/biographies of "naturalised" civilians during this time period, it could help you establish the language they used in regard to 'citizenship', nationality etc. But at the same time, you're not writing an essay, so precise definitions of these terms are not explicitly required, only a grounding knowledge. Good luck!
There is a South African branch of my family. They had to choose between German and British nationality at the outbreak of WW1. Look up the British Nationality Act 1914. So being born in a British colony or dominion (or on a British ship) did not always mean the person was a British subject (which, by the way, people who are British passport holders STILL ARE frequently known as in some legal language). Normally, naturalised British at that time were from Europe.
exactly!... googling is easy, shinn... and i only meant that you should try it before asking others to do your research for you, since it's so much quicker than waiting for someone to come along here who just might happen to know that specific bit of info you need...
Sorry if I came off as angry in my post Maia - the thing is, when I do research, I can't seem to find the specifics on the Internet. That is why I ask people who have the knowledge on the specific subject.
We would rather teach you to fish than feed you a grilled brook trout. Use your initial google searches to refine your search keywords. Try synonyms for certain keywords, and group words that must appear together by enclosing the phrase in quotes. Practice, practice.
