Hi Lawrence, I don't know whether this would have any relevance to the feelings in the northeast, but I've read where the largest number of WW1 Soldiers from any one area, came from the northeast. I look forward to following this thread, I had a ggf (German) in the northeast and although dead, some of his family still lived there - although Australian born. Denise ----- Original Message ----- From: "lawrence cook" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 11:39 AM Subject: [AVNE] high courts and the first world war > After a break I am again chasing my Vandenberg ancestors in the area. > > One of the things I have found is that my grt grt grandfather Henry > Vandenberg took libel action in 1916 against the Australian Pictorial > Newspaper and a John Michael Myers for libel. After much waiting the > National Archives have digitised the record onto their site. > > The paper published an article in April 1916 referring to Huns and a large > number of people with germanic surnames who were in Councils or were J. > P.s. Obviously at this stage of the First World War feelings were running > high and the article is highly inflammatory. > > Henry took exception to this obviously and the High Court awarded him > 1500 pounds in damages. > > Given that Henry was a British subject born in Whitechapel (I have a copy > of his birth certificate) of Dutch jewish parents who had moved to London > from repression in the low countries I can see why he was upset to be > labelled as a Hun. As the family arrived in the Beechworth area in 1855 it > emphasises how long term and deep seated some prejudices were. > > My query is whether there are any members of the list who have come across > this anti-german feeling in their research and whether it was in fact a > feature of that time. I have very little knowledge of social conditions in > the 1910s and twenties and wondered whether Henry Vandenbergf's experience > was common. > > Lawrence Cook