A Tale of Two Migrants

My Great great grandfathert Balthasar Dietz was an economic migrant by today’s standards, In about 1842 he left his native village in rural Hessen in Germany and travelled to England.



He had no trade so went to work in one of the many Sugar refineries in the East End of London. Being a sugar baker in Whitechapel was hard work in great heat for not a great deal of money. He stuck at it for about four years, and in the meantime married and had children but still managed to save up enough money to set himself up in business as a beer seller.

He must have been reasonably successful at this as he could afford to make trips back to his home village, owned a gold watch and on his last visit to Germany had fifty pounds of his own money in his pocket.

How this entrepreneur of the 1850s would have progressed we do not know because he died at the age of 42 in unknown circumstances in Cologne on his way to visit his aged parents in Germany. As he had succeeded to go from a labourer in a sugar refinery to being self employed with money to spare in just four years, imagine what he may have accomplished given more time,

On the other hand my great grandfather Alphons Eder was a different kind of migrant. He left his home in Ljubljana, Slovenia and signed on one of the last Royal Navy sailing ships as a bandsman. After sailing to British Columbia via Valparaiso and Rio and back, he stayed in London haveing presumably seen as much of the world a he wanted. 

He married the only surviving daughter of Balthasar, fathered ten children and for the rest of his life he never had a “proper job” supporting his wife and family playing in a German Band as a street musician or busker if you will.  I always think of him as some kind of early jazzman for whom the music was more important than the money. He lived a good life as far as we can tell and lived to the age of 77, never having returned to his native land.

My Great Grandad went to Brazil in 1857.

My Great Grandad went to Brazil in 1857.

There was no World cup of course and there was no organised Carnivale either, the only street processions in those days were on religious festival days.



He was on board HMS Ganges a Royal Navy sailing ship, which at the time was the Flag ship of Rear Admiral Baynes who had recently been appointed Commander in Chief of the Pacific Squadron based in Valparaiso.

They arrived in Rio in November after 71 days after leaving Sheerness without any of the crew having been ashore.  The ship spent two weeks in Rio and it is hoped that the crew were allowed ashore there to sample the delights of this special city.

My Great grandfather, Alphons Eder was a bandsman on Ganges and had been born in Laibach (now Ljubljana) in Slovenia.  He was 20 years old and would never have experienced anything like what he found in Rio.  It would not have been just the distant scenery which was a new experience for Alphons and his band colleagues. There was the tropical heat even in November and there was no football !!

In most respects Rio was a modern city for its time with some fine buildings including an opera houses amongst the numerous churches, gas street lighting and electric trams.

HMS Ganges went on to go round Cape Horn and on to Valparaiso and other ports in Chile before going on to Canada.

Alphons Eder and Ganges finally returned to England in 1861. Two years later the Football Association was formed and thus changed the world forever. The first Football international took place in 1870 between England and Scotland and it seems as though the match isn't over yet..