As you get older you may watch, if it is still running, a TV programme called 'Who Do You Think You Are?' In that programme they look into the family history of some well known people, often unearthing some fascinating stories. The people in those stories often lived very ordinary lives, as farm labourers, textile workers, clerks, just like our ancestors did. They often lived in small villages or in very poor parts of towns, with very little money, few possessions, and very little chance that things were ever going to change. These days we are much more fortunate.
You have four grandparents, I'm going to write briefly here about one of those family lines or trees, my ancestors. Even in very recent times they grew up in a world very different to mine or yours. For example when your great great great great grandfather Jonas Baker was born in 1831 only 2% of the UK population could vote, and Stephenson's Rocket had not yet launched the age of railways. When your great great great grandfather Harry Baker was born in 1860 there were no telephones in use. When your great great grandmother Ellen Parfett was born in 1887 women did not have the vote and no aircraft had ever left the surface of the earth. When your great grandparents were born there was no television, and even when your grandfather (that's me!) was born computers were not in general use and the internet had not been developed.
My family came from two very different parts of England, the Baker family from Dorset in the south west, and the Scott family from Middlesex to the west of London. But despite that if we go back just 100 years they lived very similar lives. I have been researching my family since 1975, not continuously, there have been many years when I did nothing. I know a lot more about the Dorset family, mainly because I decided early on just to follow the Baker name back in time, and also because they stayed in the same villages for many generations so were easier to find out about.
If you ever start to look at your ancestry one of the things you realise very early on is that however much you try to stick to one family as soon as they marry you have yet another family name to search too. For example, my research into the Baker line takes me back to Daniell born 1689, that's 326 years ago. Now that is pretty impressive, but your 5G grandfather Benson married Honour Phillips and she was descended from Robert Burte who was born in 1601. He is your 10G grandfather and I can go back two more generations with the Burte family to John who would have been born around 1540. That's a very long time ago so I'd better add some more recent information too.
The things I am going to mention now are things that interest me, and hopefully you, but there is lots more, and don't forget this is only from one of your four grandparent lines.
You may not have heard of the Tolpuddle Martyrs but we are related to them, some people like your Grandma say it's where I get my 'leftie' views from. I do hope so. The martyrs were farm labourers like most of our ancestors and they formed a union to protect themselves against the landowners who could turn them out of their homes or cut their (already very low) wages whenever they wanted. At that time, the 1830's, it was illegal to form a union and they were arrested, tried, convicted, and transported to Australia. This caused a huge public outcry and eventually they returned to England. These events were the birth of the trade union movement and there is a celebration rally every year in Tolpuddle, which we have been to. At that event I heard Tony Benn speak, his views on democracy have always been an inspiration to me.
Another thing about my family that makes me very proud is that in 1911 your great great great grandfather Harry refused to complete the census, this was a protest in support of the Suffragettes, the people trying to get the vote for women. To us now it seems ridiculous that just one hundred years ago women did not have the vote, but to get it they had to fight very hard to get it.
On the Nowell part of my Scott family they ran pubs (very proud of that of course) and also one branch emigrated to Canada, both Montreal and BC. In the meantime members of the Lunn family emigrated to New Zealand, very interesting as we currently live there. People in my family have left England to live in many parts of the world, always because they were looking for a better life. Some of you were not born in England for this reason. But wherever you live now, or wherever you move on to there is a large part of you that was forged in England.
This has just been a glimpse of some of your ancestors, I hope that some of you will continue the research. This is real history, the people who made us what we are, and they can bring history alive. In future blog posts I will tell you more.
You have four grandparents, I'm going to write briefly here about one of those family lines or trees, my ancestors. Even in very recent times they grew up in a world very different to mine or yours. For example when your great great great great grandfather Jonas Baker was born in 1831 only 2% of the UK population could vote, and Stephenson's Rocket had not yet launched the age of railways. When your great great great grandfather Harry Baker was born in 1860 there were no telephones in use. When your great great grandmother Ellen Parfett was born in 1887 women did not have the vote and no aircraft had ever left the surface of the earth. When your great grandparents were born there was no television, and even when your grandfather (that's me!) was born computers were not in general use and the internet had not been developed.
My family came from two very different parts of England, the Baker family from Dorset in the south west, and the Scott family from Middlesex to the west of London. But despite that if we go back just 100 years they lived very similar lives. I have been researching my family since 1975, not continuously, there have been many years when I did nothing. I know a lot more about the Dorset family, mainly because I decided early on just to follow the Baker name back in time, and also because they stayed in the same villages for many generations so were easier to find out about.
If you ever start to look at your ancestry one of the things you realise very early on is that however much you try to stick to one family as soon as they marry you have yet another family name to search too. For example, my research into the Baker line takes me back to Daniell born 1689, that's 326 years ago. Now that is pretty impressive, but your 5G grandfather Benson married Honour Phillips and she was descended from Robert Burte who was born in 1601. He is your 10G grandfather and I can go back two more generations with the Burte family to John who would have been born around 1540. That's a very long time ago so I'd better add some more recent information too.
The things I am going to mention now are things that interest me, and hopefully you, but there is lots more, and don't forget this is only from one of your four grandparent lines.
You may not have heard of the Tolpuddle Martyrs but we are related to them, some people like your Grandma say it's where I get my 'leftie' views from. I do hope so. The martyrs were farm labourers like most of our ancestors and they formed a union to protect themselves against the landowners who could turn them out of their homes or cut their (already very low) wages whenever they wanted. At that time, the 1830's, it was illegal to form a union and they were arrested, tried, convicted, and transported to Australia. This caused a huge public outcry and eventually they returned to England. These events were the birth of the trade union movement and there is a celebration rally every year in Tolpuddle, which we have been to. At that event I heard Tony Benn speak, his views on democracy have always been an inspiration to me.
Another thing about my family that makes me very proud is that in 1911 your great great great grandfather Harry refused to complete the census, this was a protest in support of the Suffragettes, the people trying to get the vote for women. To us now it seems ridiculous that just one hundred years ago women did not have the vote, but to get it they had to fight very hard to get it.
On the Nowell part of my Scott family they ran pubs (very proud of that of course) and also one branch emigrated to Canada, both Montreal and BC. In the meantime members of the Lunn family emigrated to New Zealand, very interesting as we currently live there. People in my family have left England to live in many parts of the world, always because they were looking for a better life. Some of you were not born in England for this reason. But wherever you live now, or wherever you move on to there is a large part of you that was forged in England.
This has just been a glimpse of some of your ancestors, I hope that some of you will continue the research. This is real history, the people who made us what we are, and they can bring history alive. In future blog posts I will tell you more.
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