Who do you think you are?

George W. Bone's enlistment papers in 1889

Wednesday night I saw the episode of the BBCs Who do you think you are? featuring Minnie Driver.

It followed her attempts to find out more about her family and especially her father who had never spoken of his war service. He had, in fact been decorated for his conduct at the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1939.

Family history is not always as fascinating.

Sometimes you will find generations of Agricultural labourers. There are some nuggets that really catch your eye - or someone who was involved with a major event. Unfortunately this is fairly rare.

Often all you will be able to gain is a snap shot of life from a census, get an idea of age, occupation, dates of birth/marriage/death etc. you can pad it out with some research into trades. For example my Second Great Grand Aunt Ada Williams was a machinist at Chatham Dockyard Ropery according to the 1911 census.

A visit to the site or reading up on the subject would give you a clearer idea of what life entailed for her.

As someone with a fascination for military history I find myself looking at the Soldiers and Sailors in the family - two of whom paid the ultimate price and died for their nation. My Great Great Grandfather George W. Bone who fell in the Boer War and my Great grand uncle Donald Homersham who was killed on the Somme in October 1916 three months after being awarded the military medal for bravery.

When reading around the subject of trench warfare and of the hot bloody fields of South Africa it is easy to draw comparisons to the lives of your family and wonder if they felt the same way or saw the same things.

Despite the frustratingly small amount that can be available for lower class families through history, there is a lot for you to find out, more than you would think. With all the genealogy websites out there it is really easy to get started and to map your family tree out.

As a starting tip I'd suggest you try and get as much starting information is possible such as your parents, grandparents and if possible great grand parents to give you as good a starting position as possible. As Censuses have a 100 year shelving period so the most recent you can get hold of is the 1911 and goes back as far as 1841. Beyond this you have to rely on Parish records for christenings, marriages and funerals which creates a sort of glass ceiling that only those with time and money to go in search of these records.

The other glass ceiling is the pay wall that plagues users. I've tried to do as much for free as possible but I'm hitting the pay wall and hitting it hard. There are a couple of documents that will clear up a lot of questions and the question of how George William Bone died during the Boer War. I do find it fairly frustrating but there it is.

It is something that is fascinating and is a worthwhile thing for at least one person in the family should undertake at some point. It is a sad fact that so much information about our ancestors are lost and anecdotes only last a few generations. 

History is all around us

Disused toilets near the Strand in Gillingham

History is a very important subject. It tells us where we've come from, where we have been and what we have done. In some circumstances it can even dictate where we are going.

History is the sum of human experience. If it is not learnt from then you are doomed to repeat it.

History is made by asking five questions; when, where, who, how and why?

Often we know four of the five but one is always a source of contention.

We know when the battle of little bighorn started, we know who led each side,  we know roughly where from the bodies discovered afterwards, we know why but we do not know how Custer's wing conducted itself or how it was defeated.

The truth will always be elusive and open to conjecture.

Local history is something that is all around us, you can't miss it. Not just the castles and cathedrals but also in other areas. The out houses behind the old Chatham Post office is clearly a stable for the stage coaches of old, plaques on houses with dates of construction, grave stones, blue plaques, missing houses in streets - it is all there.

Ever noticed that Gillingham high street has a road like layout with paving slabs on walkways along the side and a wide flat area in the centre? It is where the old tram lines used to run through the town.

You may think that nothing ever happens in the Medway towns but if you scratch the surface we have war, crime, pestilence, famine, death and a role in national and global history. There is something for everyone even if it is one thing that makes you go "huh!"

So how can you get involved or read more?

Well there are many good books in the local libraries any of the book shops in Rochester especially Baggins'.

There is also online resources both amateur and professional. You can check out Medway City ark, The kenthistoryforum and many more - just ask Google a question and the answer will present itself.

These are our towns, they are something to be proud of and generations of people have lived here and made a rich tapestry of events that is fascinating if you but take the time to look into it.

Not into Local stuff - why not take a look at your family? Lots of people get into it to see if they can replicate what they have seen on Who do you think you are? but are often disappointed. occasionally there is something really awesome that makes you think wow other times there is a lot of repetitiveness. It is worth looking into, even if you just go a few generations. There are plenty of Genealogy websites that will help you (for free to a point.) so why not?

History is not the reserve of dusty old professors who do not see the light beyond their libraries, it belongs to all of us and it is waiting for us to grab hold of it.