Harry Hagemann - The British Soldier with German Parents

Harry’s parents were German and came to England at the end of the nineteenth century. He was born in England and signed up for the Territorial Army at 17, in 1911. This meant that he was called up as soon as war broke out and he served with the East Yorkshire Cycle Regiment. The new novel, At Break of Day, gives more insight into cycling regiments. Harry was a good soldier, as shown by his record card which states that he was “sober, honest and had working.” He was discharged two days before the end of the war with TB, and he married and went on to have five children. In a sad twist of fate, his first child, born in 1919, fought in the RAF during the Second World War and was shot down and killed in 1942.