Harry Martin and Mabel Grace Tompson

St Giles, Cripplegate, London EC2
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/1209117

Harry Martin (b. Jan 1883 in Westbourne, Emsworth, Hants, son of William Henry Martin and Mercy King, married Mabel Grace Tompson (b. 6 Aug 1878), daughter of Dan Tompson and Sarah Jane Baker, at St Giles-without-Cripplegate, on 25 Dec 1913. Witnesses were Daisy Kritzer (Mabel's sister, Sarah Sophia) and Job Sweeney (husband of Mabel and Sarah's elder half-sister, Eliza Louisa, who lived in Fore Street, close to this church).

In 1911, Mabel Grace was Lady's Maid in the household of Sir Philip Hickson Waterlow, 2nd Baronet, one of the Waterlow baronets, then Chairman of Waterlow and Sons, at 24 Carlton House Terrace, St Martin in the Fields. Listed as 29, she was actually in her 30s and presumably maid to Lady Waterlow, Sir Phillip's second wife, Laura Marie (née Jones). Meanwhile, Harry Martin, then 26, was a Motor Car Driver, residing at The Stables, Trosley Towers Near Wrotham, Stansted, Kent. Sir Philip Hickson Waterlow had inherited the Trosley Towers (more images) estate from his father (part is now the Trosley Country Park), which confirms that both Mabel and Harry worked for the Waterlows, which is undoubtedly how they met.

The couple had one daughter:

1. Laura May Martin b. 27 May 1920, registered in Malling, Kent (J Quarter, Volume 02A Page 1800, with mother's maiden name THOMPSON), was baptised on 22 Jun 1920, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster.

That Mabel may have named her daughter after Lady Waterlow might indicate that there had been a particular friendship between employer and employee.

Harry Martin served as a Motor Driver & Mechanic during the First World War, having enlisted on 22 May 1916 at Whitehall, aged 31, in the Army Service Corps (M.T.) At that time he was 5 ft 9¼ in, weighed 140 lbs.

In 1921, Harry Martin (37) Motor Car and Electric Light Attendant; Mabel Grace Martin (40) and Laura May Martin (1) were living at Dairy Cottage, Fairseat, Nr Wrotham, Stansted, Kent.

Harry Martin died, at 37, on 20 December 1921 and was buried, on Christmas Eve, at Stansted (Saint Mary the Virgin) Churchyard (Kent). His military record states that he had developed valvular heart disease after suffering pneumonia - for which he was admitted to Stourbridge Military Hospital in 1919 - and gives his cause of death as "Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Mitral Stenosis." 

One cannot help noticing a great similarity in the style of Harry's grave site and that of the later grave of Sir Philip Hickson Waterlow (who died at Trosley Towers, Wrotham in 1931 and is also buried in Stansted Churchyard), which leads me to speculate that the Waterlows may have arranged their employee's burial. There is a note on the burial record, which says, "ex soldier died at Grosvenor Sanatorium, Kennington nr Ashford". It was used to treat Imperial soldiers & sailors suffering from tuberculosis during WW1.

Canadian Pacific Lines SS Montrose

On 30 Jun 1922, 'Grace Mabel Martin', Widow (43) and her daughter, Laura May Martin (2), sailed, 2nd Class, to Toronto on the SS Montrose. Mabel Grace said she was going to Canada "to join parents", listed as Dan and Sarah Tompson of 131 Morrison Avenue, Toronto, and that she intended to remain permanently in Canada. She listed her nearest relative back in the UK as her sister, Daisy Christie [Sarah Sophia Kritzer] of Trosley Towers, Withham, Kent (country home of Sir Philip Hickson Waterlow, Mabel's former employer, so presumably Daisy [Sarah] was then employed there.) Mabel responded "NO" to the question as to whether any of her family were Tubercular, which I suppose may have then been technically correct as Harry was deceased. Clearly Mabel and Laura didn't stay in Canada, however, because ...

Mabel Grace Martin (47) married Arthur John Stedman (51) in the parish of St James, Piccadilly, on 31 Jul 1926. Arthur John Stedman, bap. 7 Apr 1872 in Cobham, Surrey, was the son of John Stedman and Mary Ann (Marianne) Elvina Silvester (m. 1867 in Kingston, Surrey). Arthur's first wife, Harriet Jane Judge, who he married in Epsom, Surrey in 1909, had died on 18 Aug 1925 and is buried in Cobham Cemetery. Arthur John Stedman was a bricklayer.

Arthur John Stedman died, aged 66, on 5 July 1938 (1938 S Qtr in SURREY NORTH-EASTERN Vol 02A Page 57), leaving his estate to Mabel Grace.

In 1939, Mabel Grace Stedman, widowed, housekeeper, was living at 1 Pemry Villas, Elm Grove Road, Cobham, Surrey, with daughter, Laura May Martin, Ladies Hairdresser; Gerald Owen Weston (mechanic and lorry driver) and Mabel's sister, Sarah Sophia, 'Daisy' S S Kritzer, housekeeper.

Mabel Grace Stedman, formerly Martin, née Tompson, died in the 1st quarter of 1967, in the district of Surrey North Western, in her 89th year.

Wilhelm Kritzer and Flora Wilhelmina Gleichauf

The Catholic parish church of St. Johann in Donaueschingen, Germany. The building with a double tower façade in the Bohemian Baroque style was built from 1724 to 1747 to a design by the Prague architect František Maxmilián Kaňka. Photo H. Helmlechner, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wilhelm Kritzer (b. 10 Jan 1844), son of Michael Kritzer and Maria Agatha Hall, married Flora Wilhelmina Gleichauf (b. 26 Jan 1851), daughter of Johann Nepomuk Gleichauf and Waldburga Baur, on 26 Jun 1873 at the Katholisch (The Catholic parish church of St. Johann, consecrated to John the Baptist) in Donaueschingen, Villingen, Baden, Germany. 

Wilhelm and Flora Kritzer had five children, all baptised in that same church:

1. Amalia Kritzer b. 7 Oct 1873, bap. 19 Oct 1873
2. Julius Kritzer b. 18 Aug 1874, bap. 23 Aug 1874
3. Karl Kritzer b. 3 Nov 1875, bap. 14 Nov 1875
4. Josef Kritzer b. 30 Oct 1877, bap. 11 Nov 1877 
5. Wilhelm Kritzer b. 10 Mar 1879, bap. 23 Mar 1879,
   but who sadly died on 14 Sep of the same year.

Eldest son Julius Kritzer of 26 Karlstrasse, Donaueschingen, Germany died on 12 Feb 1925. (Karlstraße, appears to be the town's main street.) Probate was granted, however, in 1929, in England, to Mortimer Rooke, solicitor, attorney of Justina Kritzer, widow. It seems strange to have probate granted in England, unless they also spent time in the UK, but I can find no record of either of them having done so and no other record of Julius, nor Justina.

The three other surviving siblings certainly came to Britain to work in service in some very distinguished households and were in the UK at the outbreak of the First World War, where they found themselves at the epicentre of the anti-German hysteria and Spy Fever, incited by the press. 

Pelham Place, South Kensington
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Marathon - geograph.org.uk/p/2730271

Amalia Kritzer (27), daughter of Wilhelm Kritzer and Flora Gleichauf, in 1901, was employed as a Lady's Maid in the household of spinster sisters, Mary and Adela Ram at 20, Alexander Square, Kensington, a garden square in London's Chelsea, SW3. (Like the private communal gardens seen in Notting Hill.) 

In 1911, she was working as Lady's Maid for a 3rd sister, Elizabeth Ram at 19 Pelham Place, Kensington. The two older Ram sisters were born in France and the latter in Ireland, so the family don't appear on any census in England until we find them, living with their father, Stephen Ram, in the similarly upmarket Egerton Gardens, in 1891, where he was 'Living on own Means'. (Stephen Ram (1819-1899), of Ramsfort Park, Gorey, County Wexford, Ireland (The Rams of Gorey), had married Mary Christian Casamayor at Marylebone Church on 6 Aug 1839, with whom he had 7 children.)

In 1921, Amalie Kritzer (47) Lady's Maid from Baden, Germany was still working for Elizabeth Ram (62) at 19, Pelham Place, South Kensington, London. Living with Miss Ram was her niece, Christina M Ram and the pair were attended by Amalie, a Cook, a Parlourmaid and a Housemaid.

Elizabeth Ram died, at 67, in 1926 S Quarter in KENSINGTON Volume 01A Page 111 and The London Daily Chronicle of 15 Oct 1926 reported on, "£300 A YEAR TO MAID. Miss Elizabeth Ram of Pelham Place, South Kensington, whose estate is valued at £100,441 [nearly £8 million in 2024], left £200, the contents of her rooms, and £300 a year to her maid, Amalie Kritzer."

Amalie Kritzer, spinster, of 125 Beaufort St, Chelsea, London died, aged 60, on 4 Oct 1934. She left £1267 5s 8d (~£114,000 in 2024). Probate was granted to Mortimer Rooke and Alexander Herbert Macdonald, solicitors.

Source of the Donaubach in Donaueschingen (historically considered the source of the Danube)
Donaueschingen, in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) near the confluence of the two sources of the river Danube, close to the borders with Switzerland and France, is postcard perfect. This video gives us a look around the town today and the pronunciation of Doe-now-ess-shingen. 

Mark King and Anna Kritzer

London : Kensington - Hyde Park Gate
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/2112989

The three siblings, children of Wilhelm Kritzer and Flora Gleichauf: Amalia Kritzer, Karl Kritzer and Joseph Kritzer (who married my great-grandmother's half-sister), came to England to work in service, being employed in some very distinguished households. However, they were somewhat eclipsed by their aunt, their father's younger sister, Anna Kritzer (b. 1849), who could well be the inspiration for them coming to London to pursue these careers.

In 1881, Anna Kritzer (31) was Lady's Maid in the household of Hermann de Stern, described merely as a Merchant, from Germany at 4, Hyde Park Gate, Kensington. Baron de Stern (1815–1887), a member of the Stern family, originally from Frankfurt, was a German-born British banker and senior partner of the firm of Stern Brothers and one of the wealthiest businessmen in nineteenth-century Britain. His wife was Julia Goldsmid.

In 1891, Anna Kritzer (listed as 32, actually 42), was still a Lady's Maid at Hyde Park Gate. The head of the household is listed as Emily A Stern (76). However, I feel sure there are errors in this listing and that this is Hermann and Julia de Stern's daughter, Emily Theresa de Stern, born 1846.

In 1901, Anna Kritzer (47 with rebate), from Donaueschingen, Germany, was Lady's Maid to Lady Sherborne (38 - er, nope, she was 55) at Hyde Park Gate, who was Emily Theresa de Stern (1846–1905), daughter of Baron Herman de Stern, who had married Edward Dutton, 4th Baron Sherborne in 1894.

By 1911, Anna Kritzer (60 ish), now of independent means (retired) and listed as a Naturalised British Subject - for which I can find no evidence, the only record being for her nephew, Karl - was still living in South Kensington.

Then in the 3rd quarter of 1916, at 67, Anna Kritzer married, Mark King, a Bricklayer from Oxfordshire, widower, whose first wife, Elizabeth, had died in 1912. (The Kings had lived in Seymour Place, Kensington, since the 1880's.)

In the previous couple of years, Anna's nephew, Karl Kritzer, had been the butt end of the anti-German press, her other nephew Joseph had been interned as part of the mass internment of registered Enemy Alien men. Her niece, Amalia Kritzer, then in her early 40's, probably wouldn't have wished to pursue such an option, since marriage would have meant giving up her career, but I can see why Anna would find a gentleman to give her a non-German surname and, potentially, the British nationality that she was making claim to, but didn't have. Then Mark King died in early 1920, aged 68.

In 1921, there was an Annie King, Widow, claiming to be 66, but having avoided listing any birthplace whatsoever, working as a Housekeeper in a household at 60, Porchester Terrace, Paddington, London. Head of the household was a visitor, Max de Elin (70) followed by another visitor, Adda Merenberg, who was from Wiesbaden, Germany. This is just such as situation, I feel, in which we would find Anna King (née Kritzer). 

Anna King died, aged 75, in 1925 M Qtr in KENSINGTON Vol 01A Page 135.

Karl Kritzer and Lilian Emily Jones

Cathedral Road, Cardiff
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Robin Drayton - geograph.org.uk/p/1496808

Karl Kritzer (b. 3 Nov 1875), son of Wilhelm Kritzer and Flora Gleichauf, in 1901, was butler to John P Ingledew, Solicitor, at 9 Cathederal Road, St John, Cardiff. There, in the 1st quarter of 1905, an Anglicized, Charles Kritzer married Lilian Emily Jones, daughter of Samuel and Fanny Theresa Jones. 

Karl and Lilian's daughter, Flora Theresa Lillian Kritzer was born at the end of 1905 and, in 1911, was living with her grandparents in Gloucester, while her father was employed as butler to Henry Webb (Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Webb, 1st Baronet), Liberal MP for the Forest of Dean, at 2 Seymour Street, St Marylebone, London, while her mother, Lady's Maid to Lady Webb, was at the Webb's country house at Llwynarthan, Castleton, Monmouthshire.

When I saw who Karl was working for in the run up to WWI, I knew there was going to be a story. By accident of his birth and the position of his employer, Karl found himself under scrutiny. Hardly surprising, but quite shocking. 

The Great Spy Peril: Enemy Aliens in Great Britain

For context, it's important also to understand that Sunday newspaper, John Bull, was at that time a platform for Horatio Bottomley's "trenchant populist views" (read gammon: clearly reactionary and given to melodrama by the style of his writing), but it had estimated sales by August 1914 in excess of three quarters of a million copies a week. Bottomley was described as an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. (When exposed, he was convicted, imprisoned and expelled from parliament.) Evidently, he judged others based on his own standards. 

Secondly, as to the actual level of threat from Espionage in 1914, it was shown to be predominantly paranoia and put down to Journalistic fantasy:

"An unprecedented 'spy mania' gripped Britain. Although 21 real German spies were arrested on 4 August, thousands of imaginary acts of espionage were reported to credulous police and military authorities." 

In an article published in John Bull on October 24th, 1914, Bottomley starts off by referring to German people as "Teutons", a word that has been used - and it feels this is the intent - as a derogatory term. Mentioning Karl Kritzer by name, Bottomley tries to make something out of the observations - of him merely going about his duties - and imaginings of a cook, the so-called Mrs Stacey (having researched, I find she is single and strongly suspect that 'elevating' her status to that of a married woman was an attempt to make her seem a more reliable witness), who opines that "Kritzer was always an objectionable person." (Probably nowhere near as objectionable to someone less bigoted.) Bottomley calls her "loyal and patriotic", while referring to Karl Kritzer as "a traitor to her King and country" and "one of the Kaiser's blood". He offers no evidence for these accusations (there won't be any). 

It's not every day one's relatives are mentioned in the same breath as then Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith; Home Secretary, Reginald McKenna, Prince Louis of Battenberg, Wilhelm II, German Emperor and the House of Hohenzollern, though for all the wrong reasons. 

They have no evidence, of course, but also attempt to make an issue of Karl returning to Germany shortly before the war. The records show that Karl's father was born in 1844, which would make him 70 in 1914. An entirely plausible age then for the man to be ill or dying. It's a particularly low blow.

Another article in The Strathearn Herald, published on the very same date, October 24, 1914 - which frankly reads like Bottomley wrote it himself - praises the John Bull and Bottomley for doing "a national service in calling attention to the spy peril in our midst" and goes further, saying "Karl Kritzer, in the employment of Mr Webb, a member of His Majesty's Government, may not be a spy; neither may the humblest German barber: but there is just this - they are both alien enemies, and as such a danger to the country ..." Evidence?

We learn quite a bit about Karl Kritzer from an article in the Western Mail, on Friday October 30, 1914, where Harry Webb, MP, is given the opportunity of responding. Karl had been in his employ since 1908 and it confirms many of the details that I have also been able to research, such as Karl's naturalisation, Certificate A21115 issued 18 October 1911, which was signed by then Home Secretary, W. S. Churchill (I have a copy). Webb's manner of defending Karl Kritizer, does indeed seem to me to be the behaviour that a "decent, honourable man ought to pursue towards his servant."

Despite all this, we know Karl kept his job long after the end of the hostilities, because the following appeared in the Western Mail of 8 January 1921:

LLWYNARTHAN STAFF DANCE

After a lapse of six years, occasioned by the war, the annual staff dance at Llwynarthan, Castleton, Cardiff, the residence of Col. Sir Henry and Lady Webb, was revived on Thursday evening. The ball-room and smoke-rooms, originally a part of the old farmhouse, were converted into hospital wards during the war, and since being vacated by the patients, several alterations have been carried out. A happy party, numbering between 60 and 70, were entertained. Sir Henry and Lady Webb, and the members of the house party, did everything in their power to ensure the success of the function. Supper was laid in the dining-room, and after mutual expressions of esteem and goodwill, Sir Henry and Lady Webb left the staff and their friends at about midnight to their own devices. Thanks to the very admirable arrangements made by Mrs. Wynn and Mr. Charles Kritzer, a thoroughly happy and enjoyable time was spent.

Now who's the loyal servant, eh?  

In 1921, Charles Kritzer (36) Butler, still in the employ of Sir Henry Webb, was at Llwynarthan, St Mellons, Monmouthshire, Wales, while Lilian Kritzer (35) Lady's Maid was a boarder at the Beaufort Hotel, Monmouth, with Sir Henry Webb himself and other servants and the second Lady Webb, formerly Helena Kate de Paula. Their daughter, Flora Kritzer (15), was an Inmate at St Edwards Residential College, Totteridge, Middlesex (St Edward's School for Roman Catholic Girls), along with her cousin, Molly Kritzer (15).

Flora T L Kritzer married a William B Connors, in Cardiff, in 1929. It appears they had one child, in 1939. Karl Kritzer had died in 1933, in Faversham, Kent, aged 57 and on 6 Feb 1935, Lillian Emily Kritzer departed Southampton for New York, aboard the RMS Berengaria (formerly SS Imperator) The first Cunard "Queen". The trip appears just to have been a holiday / visit. Lillian, then employed as a barmaid, was living at 20 Effingham Street, Belgravia in 1939. Retired, Lilian Emily Kritzer of 2 Cross Roads, Holywell, Wales, died, aged 75, and was buried on 13 Mar 1962 in Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales.