Nicholas d'Orloff

Alias Felix Richardson; Kumswaigenberg; Derner; Eric Werner; Swazenbach      Russian spelling граф Николай Орлов

Born 18.06.1881     Place Riga, Latvia     Ethnic origin Russian     Religion Church of England

Residence before arrival at Australia served in Russo-Japanese War for 3 years

Arrived at Australia

            from Buenos Ayres     on 10.1911 or 1914

Residence before enlistment Brisbane

Occupation seaman

Service

service number      enlisted 14.08.1915     POE Brisbane

unit 1st Depot Battalion       rank Private

place Depot     discharged 30.09.1915 not likely to become an efficient soldier

Naturalisation served as Russian subject

Residence after the war 10.1915 convicted at Maryborough, 3 months imprisonment at Brisbane Goal; 1916-1919 interned at concentration camps as German suspect, 27.05.1919 deported from Australia by M Mocho

Materials digitised service records (NAA)

Correspondence regarding internee Nicholas D'Orloff alias Felix Richardson, Kumswaigenberg, Derner, Eric Werner, Swazenbach (NAA)

Album of identification photographs of enemy aliens (NAA)

From Russian Anzacs in Australian History:

The misadventures of Count Nicholas D’Orloff were more serious. A few weeks after his enlistment, in Brisbane in August 1915, he was discharged from the army because of his absence without leave (he himself argued that he had applied for leave, to marry a girl who was waiting for him). But this was only the beginning. A matter of days after his discharge he was detained at Maryborough for wearing military uniform and tried by a police magistrate. ‘The offender claims to be a Russian … but judging by the acquaintances he desires to make and associate with, his feelings would appear to be pro-German’; further damning evidence was given that, besides Russian and English, he also spoke German and French (if he really was a Russian count, that would have been quite natural!). As a result, he received three months’ imprisonment with hard labour at Brisbane gaol. While he was in prison, the Intelligence section decided that he was actually a well-known criminal named Felix Richardson, so he was transferred to a concentration camp for Germans at Liverpool and finally, in 1919, deported from the country.

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