Krikor Hagopian

Royal Engineers Badge

Krikor Hrand Hagopian (sometimes misspelled as Krickor Brand in official documents) was born in Fulham, London, England, in about 1887 to the family of Garapet and Elizabeth Sarah Hagopian. According to the 1891 census, he was the youngest of the couple’s eight children  – four boys and four girls.   However, by the time of the 1911 census, he was single and living with his parents, brother Nerses Arshag and sister Varduhi.   His father was a professor and translator of foreign languages, and his brother was also teaching languages: Hindu and Persian.   Sister Varduhi was a music teacher and Krikor himself is listed as a student of science.   He studied at the University of London. 

Garapet was born in the Ottoman Empire and was still an Ottoman subject in 1911; his wife Elizabeth Sarah, born in Cork, Ireland, was a British subject ‘by parentage’.   All their three children are listed as ‘British born’, which would give Krikor the right to to enlist in the British Army.

He enlisted in 1916, specifying his profession as a teacher of Chemistry.   Krikor served as a Pioneer in the Royal Engineers Corps, which maintained the railways, roads, communications etc. (Regimental Number 224948) and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.   It is unclear when he returned from the army, but in 1918 he is registered as living in Fulham.

In 1925 his mother passed away and his father died the following year.  Also in 1925, Krikor married Elfrida V D Starkey in Doncaster, where he was living by then and their daughter Mary was born in 1927.   The exact date of his death is unknown.