Who Do You Think You Are? - Una Stubbs

Series 10 of Who Do You Think You Are? started last night with the story of Una Stubbs' family.

The main peculiarity with Una's story was her complete lack of knowledge of grandparents who, it turned out, were proud of her - with apparently no definitive 'ooh, that's what did it' reason that granddaughter and grandparents were forever kept apart.

Of course, the other thing of note in this episode was how much the Rowntree's company seemed to pop up. Una had been in their advertising campaign and visited the factory in which her grandfather had worked, without having the faintest of ideas that he had once lived a couple of streets away and worked where she was standing. Coincidences do seem to crop in almost every family's story, but that was an odd one - and the footage of the kitsch old ads was amazing.

This episode definitely proved that it is possible to trace your UK ancestry with sometimes a very sketchy starting point - Una didn't know her grandparents' names at the start of the episode. And there were some lovely little moments too - Una's innocent naivety at the lack of a father's name on her grandmother's birth certificate and complete technophobia definitely had the power to raise a smile.

All in all, a great return for a great series. More to come!

Lies, Darn Lies, and Official Documents

OK, so sometimes, people lie. It's a fact of life. And, in the past, a lot of people had absolutely no qualms about lying to officials to cover up uncomfortable truths.

Illegitimate children are often 'passed off' on censuses etc. as sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins etc. And when they came to be married themselves, would sometimes point blank make up a father.

There was also the question of social status - if you were better off than your parents were before you, then it was not uncommon to exaggerate a little regarding your father's rank or profession (or your own if you were marrying above your station.)

And, of course, lies, or simple mistakes, abound in terms of age and birthplace on pretty much every type of document from older parish records through to Victorian documents, and even into the twentieth century.

Need help sorting through the mess of conflicting information? See my website www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk to see my range of British family history services.

Keeping Up With the Jones'

Common surnames - such as Williams, Thomas, Smith, Jones etc. - are more difficult to trace because you have to make sure you've identified the 'right' individuals. At the end of the day though, tracing ancestors with a common surname is very difficult but not impossible.

I'm always up for a challenge, so if you've been put off in the past by a common surname, check out my research services at www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk

I can't promise miracles but I can promise I will commit myself to doing the best that I can. Having tracked a man by the name of William Williams I know that it can be possible!

On TV - WDYTYA? New Series

I can't wait for the new series of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' starting soon on BBC One. Series 10 will include Gary Lineker and the delightful Sarah Millican.

I'm planning on posting reviews after each episode (hoping I don't stray too far from the definition of 'review') so keep your eyes out!

Bye for now!

Looks Like A Job For A Woman

Image courtesy of
Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Can you name the first woman MP to sit in the UK parliament? I couldn't. Which is why I decided to find out.

In 1918, women over 30 who had sufficient property to qualify were given the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Women were also allowed to stand for parliament for the first time.

The first woman to be elected as an MP was Constance Markievicz who never took up her seat (she was a member of Sinn Fein.)

The first woman to actually sit as an MP in the commons was Nancy Astor, an American lady who became the Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton. As well as supporting women's right to vote, she also brought in a private member's bill which made it illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under the age of 18.

People like Nancy Astor paved the way for people who came after her, as did those women way back before 1834 who used to peer through a ventilation shaft to see House of Commons debates, and those crammed in the Ladies' Gallery afterwards - I'm very glad that women are no longer so completely excluded from politics in the UK.

Bye for now!

Family Stories

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, family trees are full of stories.

If there's one particular story in yours that you would like to know more about, then 'leaves' my hourly rate, would be great for you. If you want to find a more general view of the story of your family then you could try one of my other packages.

See my website www.familyhistorybycerys.co.uk for more details of my professional genealogist service - your family's story is waiting.

Scandal and Circumstance

A misdemeanour committed by a Victorian child could result in a lot more than a 'telling-off' from their parents.

Industrial schools were places where 'out-of-control' children would be sent to achieve redemption through work. These reform schools come up through newspaper reports and censuses as places to which judges and magistrates sent children who were stealing or 'running wild.'

Sometimes, these schools could be a positive influence - taking children away from poverty-stricken areas and 'bad' influences and giving them the skills needed to get work. Other times you fail completely to understand what the judge was thinking.

For example, three brothers were convicted of stealing a few months after their father had died. The oldest of the boys was eleven. None of them appeared to have ever been in trouble before. The judge sent each of them to an industrial school until they were fourteen. The youngest was seven, meaning that his 'sentence' was also seven years - by the time he left the school, he would've spent half of his life there, away from his family. Like I said before, I have no idea why the judge thought that this was fair.

Meanwhile, their recently widowed mother has her three eldest sons taken away from her, left on her own to take care of four children of five and under. To my modern mind, the way they were treated is the scandal, but at the time it could very well be seen as her fault that the boys had acted out.

More soon!

Family History on TV

OK, I admit it, I love family history related TV shows - not that much of a surprise really, except I do admit to yelling variations of 'You haven't checked for that through this!' at the TV occasionally.

Last night saw the second episode of ITV's 'Secrets of the Workhouse.' The content of the show was actually quite good, but the format was a little bit jumpy to be honest. Still, it was a good attempt at bringing one of the less talked about aspects of British history to TV. Workhouses were a huge part of the history of many families - and though there were many tragedies, there were also people who managed to get back on their feet and move on.

The other ITV show I've been watching lately is 'Long Lost Family' (granted, I'm an episode behind due to the universal law that if there are two things worth watching then they'll be on at the same time,) which deals with more modern family stories. These cases of family separation and reunion can show that the stories of our families are still being written.

Bye for now!

Looking Into The Past

Another day, another travel around the BBC's your paintings website.

I came across this fabulous image - A Barber's Shop, 1784 by Henry William Bunbury. Bunbury was a caricaturist - and certainly seems to display a sense of humour, at least as far as the dogs fighting over the wig are concerned.

About 40 years before this image, in 1745, the roles of barber and surgeon were split - before this a visit to a barber's was a bit of a one-stop shop as far as your physical well-being was concerned. I think I'm using the phrase 'well-being' a bit loosely, but you get the picture.

Barbers still continued to offer such off-putting sounding services as 'teeth-scraping' however, and seeing this picture has reminded me of an Old Bailey case I came across a little while ago from 1895 concerning two men - Paul Baron and Henry William Browett, who apparently were using a combination of fraud and intimidation to make customers pay for a teeth scraping/scaling service that they didn't want.

The witnesses to the case included such diverse customers as the vicar of Ebbw Vale and a man who the person recording the case felt the need to tell us was 'a Hindoo.' Both Baron and Browett were found guilty and sentenced to several months worth of hard labour.