Who Do You Think You Are? - Amy Dowden

I had the opportunity, this week, to briefly appear on BBC’s Points of View to discuss this episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

You can see that on iPlayer here, with the WDYTYA? section starting around 8-10 minutes into the programme.

Who Do You Think You Are? - Ralf Little

 

The last episode of Series 19 of Who Do You Think You Are? featured the actor Ralf Little.

Ralf Little is best known for roles in TV series like The Royle Family, Two Pints of Lager and A Packet of Crisps, and Death In Paradise.

Much of Ralf's episode was a little like a Boys' Own adventure - full of aeroplanes, war, and football!

As seems to have been quite a theme this series, Ralf found out previously unknown-to-him things about his grandparents.

He had known that his grandfather did 'something in the war,' but not what - or that his service with the Royal Navy's air division involved working as an engineer on 'Seafire' aircraft. The Seafire was the Naval version of the well-known Spitfire planes of World War Two.

His grandfather had made his way to the Royal Navy as a medical assistant, a job that continued his prior medical experience - namely working as a male nurse in a mental hospital.

This entire episode in Ralf's grandfather's life was unknown to him - but vital to the history of Ralf's family, as this was where his grandfather had met his grandmother, who was working in the hospital laundry.

What really thrilled Ralf, though, was the story of another ancestor - who played international football for Wales.

...Although it's safe to say that his ancestor's relationship with football was not straight-forward, being entangled, as it was, with one of the (several) Welsh religious revivals.

Traditionally, football is a less popular sport than rugby in Wales - certainly in a 'national sport' sense -  in part due to the dislike of football by many Welsh chapels and religious leaders. 

The links between football and hooliganism, foul language, and a culture of drinking, meant that many chapels saw the sport as a bad influence on young men.

The most Puritanical of chapels saw sport in general - and football in particular - as taking away time that could be spent in the service of God and the community. 

For most, though, it was the culture of alcohol and gambling that caused them to try and divert their congregations away from the sport.

Looking for your own family's story? I offer a range of genealogy services. Feel free to drop me an e-mail to discuss your research needs.

History on TV

 

Hi everyone!

Happy St. David's Day!

I hope you're all keeping safe and well.

I thought I'd write a quick post to let you know about some interesting-looking history-based TV programmes coming up over the next few days.

The first is The Story of Welsh Art, which starts at 9pm tonight (1st March 2021) on BBC Two Wales, and BBC Four for everyone else. It'll also be available on iPlayer.

Tomorrow, at 9pm on BBC Two, we have Stacey Dooley presenting the first episode in her new series, DNA Family Secrets.

I'm not an expert in DNA genealogy and don't pretend to be - I just hope that this series is clear on where DNA is useful and where it's not. 

It can be an extremely useful tool, especially when it comes to finding close family, like biological parents or siblings... It can also be vastly misunderstood, however, particularly when it comes to the borders between cultural, national, and ethnic heritage.

Still, it should be interesting viewing!

WDYTYA? Series 17 - Ruth Jones

 

Monday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured Ruth Jones, best known as the actor and writer behind the Welsh-based TV shows Gavin and Stacey, and Stella.

Probably unsurprisingly, Ruth's family was primarily Welsh - although most people from South Wales in particular have some English ancestry somewhere along the way.

The part of the family we followed with this episode, though, were Welsh through and through.

Encompassing both rural, and, more extensively, maritime Wales, Ruth's episode showed how much coal permeated through the Welsh economy in the 19th Century.

Moving on from there, the episode looked at Ruth's ancestor's connection to the Welsh medical societies that acted as a fore-runner to the NHS, and correspondence between him and Aneurin Bevan himself.

All in all, it was a sturdy little episode comprising the penultimate offering of this small series.

A brief reminder that Saturday (31st October) is the last day to get in touch with me for Christmas 2020 orders. 

Check out familyhistorybycerys.co.uk to see my range of services, and please don't hesitate to get in touch!

WDYTYA? - Jack and Michael Whitehall

Jack Whitehall is a lot of fun - and his Who Do You Think You Are? episode with dad Michael made me laugh.

While their family's history was a lot less posh than I was expecting, there was also some serious money involved in latter generations!

Jack & Michael's episode was another that examined uncomfortable truths about the past - uncomfortable for Jack anyway, Michael was less bothered!

We started off with a tale of syphilis and early death, before moving to look at another side of the family.


Jack & Michael's ancestor, Thomas Jones Phillips, was on the wrong side of history, and generally came across as... an unpleasant sort of person.

When the Chartists in Newport* - those beloved Welsh heroes and martyrs - were attacked, and in some cases killed, by the military, Phillips was very much on the side of the establishment.


*The Wikipedia 'Newport Rising' link is useful, but its description of the WDYTYA? episode, at time of writing, confuses Sir Thomas Phillips with Thomas Jones Phillips - two different individuals.

Welsh research is full of completely different people with the same name!


It's strange to think, now, that the idea that people (or, at the time, men, as this was long before the Suffragettes,) should be allowed to vote regardless of whether they owned property was a radical one.

Many saw it as a highly dangerous idea - in the 19th Century many thought that the place in which you were born in society was pre-determined by God. Therefore, God had placed the upper classes in a position to decide what was best for the lower classes; the lower classes were too stupid to make decisions for themselves, and should not be educated as this would be too much for their brains to handle (the same arguments that were used against women for centuries.)

Thomas Jones Phillips was what Jack described as a 'massive Tory' and it was quite refreshing to see how irritated Jack was with what Phillips had done.


My favourite part of the episode, though, was Jack and Michael trying to decide whether the word 'mandrills' meant that the Chartists were trying to take ducks to the Uprising!

WDYTYA? - Lisa Hammond

Lisa Hammond's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured a lot of interesting stories!

The stories included were Hollywood-worthy, moving from World War Two, to the East End of London, to Seventeenth Century Wales!

The most poignant of these stories was perhaps the most recent of them - the story of Lisa's grandfather, Harry, who was a Prisoner of War.

Interesting too was the details of Harry's return to the UK, at a time when mental health care for the military services was starting to develop.

Most of Lisa's family were from London, which she was happy about, given that she considers herself a true Londoner.

Given that, it was really funny to see her reactions to finding rural Welsh family - and even more amusing to see her reaction to cows!

A really interesting episode, with only one episode now left in the series.

WDYTYA? - Fearne Cotton

Fearne Cotton's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured two ancestors involved in the medical profession.

From both her maternal and paternal families, these were men who struggled through poverty to follow their desire to help those in need.

In the case of her paternal great-grandfather, this was something that led not only to work in medicine - but also to a prison cell.

Conscientious Objectors in WW1 were imprisoned and punished severely for their beliefs. For many, the stigma never left them.

Still, the coal miner from Abertillery stuck to his principles.

And he made it through. He trained as a chemist, and lived out his life in that profession.





On her mother's side, Fearne traced the life of another chemist, an Irishman who later became a doctor.

Although, 'became' indicates that he trained as a doctor... in his case, it was more like, 'decided he was a doctor, so now he was a doctor, ok?'

Still, he was apparently a skilled one!

WDYTYA? Catch-Up Post - Cheryl, Ricky Tomlinson, Sir Ian McKellan, and Greg Davies

Looks like I got a little behind on these - ironically, I'm a genealogist with very little time at the moment!

Anyway, let's just give you a short round-up of the episodes of Who Do You Think You Are? that've aired since my last post, and then we can get back on track for the last two!

Cheryl (Tweedy, Cole, Fernandez-Versini,) found that she truly is Geordie through-and-through, with family based around the docks of the North-East, and a tragedy related to their seafaring profession.



Ricky Tomlinson discovered his connections to his working-class Liverpudlian ancestors, and the beginnings of worker's rights - something which he himself has been a passionate advocate for.



Sir Ian McKellen's was another tale of the apple not falling far from the tree, as he discovered that his family had an acting past that he had never known about.

Oddly enough, the various experts in theatre history seemed just slightly thrilled to meet him!



Greg Davies' family story was one I recognised - I've been researching similar stories of Welsh ancestry for over a decade now. Granted, I've never come across medieval royalty in any of the trees I've researched! (Yet! I live in hope.)

There's also plenty of family skeletons in Greg's tree (metaphorical ones,) including illegitimacy (which wasn't as uncommon in the 19th Century as you might think,) and running to the Rhondda to avoid scandal (as you do.)






The next (and last) three episodes of WDYTYA? will feature Warwick Davis (I love him!), Sunetra Sarker and Sophie Raworth.

Our Culture, Our Heritage - Tenby Museum

We need to support our own culture.

Tenby Museum and Art Gallery is a lovely little museum in the Pembrokeshire town of Tenby. I've been there more than once, and it's both interesting and affordable (£4 per adult for an entire year, and free entry to children.)

There's a range of archaeological finds, art - both modern and fine, and objects which illustrate the long history of the town. It's a little treasure trove.

Unfortunately, the museum faces funding problems - like so much of our cultural institutions, so I urge you - if you're in the area - to pay it a visit.

Your ticket will be valid for a year. It's worth it!

January Rains

We Brits have a well-known obsession with the weather.

And examples of a wet January (like this one seems to be!) can be found in many old newspapers.

The Rainfall

The County Observer and Monmouthshire Advertiser shows us that the obsession with rainfall and the British weather goes back over a century - on 3rd January, 1906, the paper reported that three inches of rain had fallen over the previous 15 days, with 1'8 inches being the monthly average.

The Barry Herald a few years earlier - on 3rd March, 1904 - reported that the January of that year had been wet also (probably not a big surprise.)

The paper reports 4'97 inches of rain for the January of 1904, with an average for the previous 15 years of  2'49 inches for January.

The Flooding

The South Wales Daily News of 22nd January 1877, tells of flooding in the Trent Valley and Lincolnshire.

The same paper, on 22nd January 1895, reports 'STREETS TURNED TO RUSHING RIVERS,' with widespread flooding in Clwyd, Conway, Buckingham, Tamworth, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwick, Kidderminster, and Maidenhead.

Meanwhile, according to the Evening Express of 1st January 1901, Tewkesbury had been cut off completely by flooding - essentially becoming an island, and the 'Eastern Counties' were 'Under Water.'

Coming Home - BBC Wales

BBC Wales has it's own answer to Who Do You Think You Are? - it has Coming Home. Coming Home is a series of half-hour programmes looking into the Welsh roots of the famous and semi-famous.

Series 10 (oh yes, this is a long-running series,) features a four-episode run, starring actress Sian Phillips, journalist Jeremy Bowen, comedian and actor Ben Miller, and sports star and One Show presenter Iwan Thomas.

The series starts tonight at 8.30pm on BBC1 Wales with Sian Phillips' episode - the episodes will be available after airing on the BBC's iPlayer for people living in other UK regions.

I usually find the series to be well worth the watch - so if you're interested in history, give it a try.

Some Things Never Change

Truly, some things are pretty unchangeable. The sky is blue, and boys will be boys and do stupid and dangerous things on bonfire night.


This article from The South Wales Echo on 15th November 1900:

REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF

NOVEMBER

-----

Some Barry Boys are not likely to readily for-

get it. They attempted to celebrate Guy Fawkes

night by letting off fireworks in the street, and

this morning were called upon to appear before

the magistrates at the Police Court. Five lads -

John Ash, Henry Williams, William Harris,

Emmanuel Williams, and Alfred Williams -

were each fined 5s including costs, while Ree[s]

Jones, a Cadoxton juvenile, who disobeyed the

summons, was ordered to appear at the next

sitting of the court.

 

 

I hope no-one is planning the same on this November 5th - keep yourselves and your pets safe!

The Welsh in Patagonia

Hi everyone, thought I'd share this link to an article about 150 years since the first Welsh emigrants set up home in Patagonia in Argentina. Bye for now!

A Political Statement from 1909

'...What measure of success he had attained - he did not say this boastfully, but to encourage others - was due to consistent hard work. He entered public life because he thought it the duty of every citizen to render some service to the parish or the town where he lived, and the greater the privileges they enjoyed in this respect the greater were their responsibilities.'

 

Cardiff Times, 27 March 1909, detailing a speech made by Alderman Lewis Morgan, Lord Mayor of Cardiff

Hidden Arthurian Gems

Hi everyone, thought I'd tell you about this article showing hidden gems discovered by UV light in the medieval manuscript known as the Black Book of Carmarthen. Enjoy!

The day the people wanted politics

The chartist uprising of 1839 was an important part of Welsh history and the history of people and politics in this country. It wasn't just suffragettes who had to fight for the right to vote. The Newport chartists wanted everyman of the age of 21 and over to be allowed to vote - not just the wealthy. Because of property restrictions on eligibility to vote, the poverty stricken did not have that right - and therefore were alienated from a system which largely ignored them and their needs.

Tonight at 9pm on BBC 2 Wales, the actor Michael Sheen presents a programme on the Newport Rising. It will be available on iPlayer for those in other regions.

178 year old family Bible is returned to its owners

Hi everyone!

I found this interesting short article about how a piece of one Welsh family's history (a 178 year old family Bible) was returned to them. Hope you enjoy it!

Tales of Impropriety

People have always been people - and the Victorians were less shocked by what went on in their towns than you might think. For example, I found this quite casual newspaper report from the Cardiff Times on 4 October 1879:



Image courtesy of dan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

MERTHYR

 

A CASE DISMISSED - At the police-court on

Monday - the Stipendiary on the bench - Mary

Evans, a prostitute, was brought up charged with

stealing a dress, the property of another frail

sister named Elizabeth Jones. As prosecutrix

did not appear, the prisoner was discharged.

'Frail sisters' was a common euphemism, as was 'nightwalker' or 'lady of ill repute.'

Welsh family history (Coming Home) and a series from a little further away (WDYTYA? USA)

Thought I'd let you all know that the Welsh family history series Coming Home starts tonight on BBC1 Wales at 7.30pm. Viewers outside the region will be able to see it on iPlayer.

Though the celebrities may not have the razzle-dazzle of a big series like Who Do You Think You Are? the programmes are well presented, interesting, and, at half an hour long, perfect to slip in between other things you want to see.

On a similar note, the digital TV channel Watch has been showing Who Do You Think You Are? USA in the UK (if that makes sense,) to allow us here in Britain to see the US episodes which the BBC may not have decided to screen, or have screened at off-peak times in the middle of the night (they have the habit of putting WDYTYA?USA on at 11.35 or a similar time, with little to no advertising, and choosing a selection of episodes as opposed to purchasing the entire series. Although, the editing the BBC does perhaps makes it more suited to British audiences.) So keep an eye on the schedules, as Watch have been repeating them and are likely to continue to do so.

Welsh in America

Many Welsh immigrants headed to America for the chance of a better life and steady work - most notably to Pennsylvania, where many found work in industries familiar to them such as slate.

I cam across this BBC iWonder page about the Welsh in America - including a very interesting theory about a Welsh prince - Madog ab Owain Gwynedd - finding America in 1170, and also a comparison of Welsh words with a very similar Native American language called Mandan.

I'm afraid I don't agree with the theory over the origin of the name America - I'm pretty convinced that that honour goes to the explorer and all-around-rogue Amerigo Vespucci.