Tell me something cool one of your ancestors did

[JustOneLastThing]

Stolen this idea from Twitter, I don't really have anything of my own to share apart from my grandma is pretty bad ass, raising my Mum and Aunty by herself in the 60's, facing a ton of social stigma and hardship. She is a hard act to follow.

My relations on my maternal grandmothers side founded Colman's mustard.

Famously had a song written about him, had 3 inns named after his hounds and likely an area of Canada.

A closer relative has his photo in Beamish museum, where he led the band practice-the hall where they practised is still standing.

Brigante9 whats the song? Is it a well known one?

My grandad's plane went down over occupied France in World War II and he had to make his way back to the UK helped by the French.

My husband’s great uncle was a Victorian industrialist and philanthropist who set up one of the first model villages.

My father in law worked in Romania for M16 post war. He learned to speak Romanian at the Sorbonne. We (including his wife) didn’t know much about it until his funeral.

My mother was a volunteer with the Red Cross on the beach at Ramsgate when the little boats returned in 1940.

Started WW1 😥

Participated at Henry VIII's coronation

Was a captain in the Spanish Armada

A distant uncle of unknown number of greats was the Runcorn to Widnes ferryman and may well be the inspiration of the ferryman in in the 'Albert' monologue about the ferry monologues.co.uk/Runcorn-Ferry.htm. Sadly I am not related to the lion that would later eat poor Albert.

At Trafalgar with Nelson 😎

My grandma , born 1899 was the eldest child, there were then two sets of girl twins - all survived - grandma did a lot of childcare at a young age - then the much wanted golden boy was born. Unfortunately he died aged 3, possibly of Spanish flu.
Grandma and the twins all lived to a grand old age - pretty amazing.

On the other side of the family, same generation , though mum of the first 3 kids drowned herself in the canal - puerperal psychosis - those poor kids.

My Nan divorced her husband on the grounds of cruelty in the 60s. She had people stopping her and shaking her hand in the street. The fact she left him and moved towns with loads of young kids to bring up by herself makes me so proud and a great example of walking away from domestic abuse. I love her.

Direct descendent of the Hawkhurst gang. Involved in smuggling and ended up being hung for their crimes.

My grandma used to drive and fix trucks in WW2. I never saw her drive, she refused and we always had to walk or catch the bus! She also said the only action she ever saw was behind the filing cabinet. She was great!

Dh is royalty 500 years ago

My ancestor killed 3 Englishmen (they had guns/bayonets, he had a kitchen knife) in a skirmish during the clearances. Apparently he was a big lad.

Some of my ancestors were Huguenot silk weavers. They had to flee France and get across the channel in secret, as they would have been executed if they were caught. They led quite a hard life later in London, being relatively poor, whereas in France they had been quite comfortable. Their descendants would later convert to Catholicism....

Not cool as such, but one of their descendants, who was my gggg grandfather is recorded, along with his wife, my gggg grandmother, as being in the workhouse for three consecutive censuses. I don’t know if they were somehow permanent residents for more than 20 years, or were in and out a lot and just happened to be there for each census.

Grandad fought and was made POW at battle of Arnhem (WW2).
Great Grandad committed bigamy by marrying Great Gran in Gloucestershire (and having four children with her), leaving a wife and family in Newcastle upon Tyne. (1920s). Not cool but interesting. As an aside, he ended up being kicked to death by a horse!!

My Dad survived a mid air collision between 2 aeroplanes

My g-g-grandfather was apparently a famous runner back in his day.

On the other side it was either my grandfather or great-grandfather who was a painter of the Forth rail bridge.

Built a large and still in use brick railway bridge in a local town. The little told story is something about people dying (possibly my g-g-uncles) in the construction and my g-g-gparent winding up the business afterwards. Macabre and fascinating to me, and I’m so aware that soon there’ll be no one I can ask about this part of my history.

My other DGF captured a U-boat in the war and my g-aunt smuggled a significant keep-sake off his submarine in my aunt’s pram.

My granny was arrested by Putin when he was in the KGB. She designed spy equipment for the Russian government but fell out of favour when my father applied to be a political asylum seeker.

My grandma survived being the youngest of 14 children living in a 2 bedroom house with a shared toilet at the end of the block, no hot water on tap. Started work in a weaving shed at 13, had a week off work when first DD was born, had 2 days off when second DD was born (my mum). Worked until she was 60 in mainly factory jobs. Had never been swimming until she retired at 60, when me and my sister taught her. Lived on her own until she was 90 then in a home until she was 101. She was fucking amazing!

I traced my ancestors back to the Border Reivers. They were notorious bad asses.

My great grandfather was Lord Mayor of Dublin for 10 years in the 30s and again for a spell in the 50s. There’s been a book published about him quite recently.

Walter Scott wrote a poem about my 14th Great Grandad” Sir Brian the Stainless Knight”

My great granddad got arrested for stealing a barrel of beer and then rolling it down a hill. The headline at the time was ‘over a barrel’ :-)

Great great great aunt went from England to America with the Mormons but died on the trek within sight of Salt Lake City. They buried her on the trail that day and kept on walking.

Designed dresses for princesses! And on DH’s side we had an Oscar winner