Did your family have a riches to rags trajectory?

[GossamerGirl]

I was looking at a series of photos of country houses which were demolished in the 20th century, and it just got me wondering as to where these families who could no longer afford the upkeep of the family seat went.

Are you living in a 3-bed semi but your three times grandparents were titled and living in a moated manor house?

Was your g-g-g-grandmother a wealthy Victorian industrialist who owned half of Manchester?

Was there a wayward son somewhere along the line who lost the family fortune at a game of cards?

I’m just nosey.

If you're really interested in this type of scenario you would enjoy reading "Twopence to Cross the Mersey" by Helen Forester

It's the true story (names have been changed) of Helen's family in the 1930's . . . she was the eldest of seven children. In her early childhood they were an affluent family but her parents poor financial management caused them to become homeless and they ended up in Liverpool which is where the book starts

The descriptions of the rooms they lived in, their struggle for food and their illnesses are mind-boggling

It's one of those rare books I read decades ago but will never, ever forget . . . .

I loved those books by Helen Forester
I was brought up poor, but her stories were something else.

Thankyou for reminding me that there are other books in this series . . . I've been ferreting around my bookshelves and have just found them. It's years since I read these. I don't think they had quite the same impact on me that Twopence to Cross the Mersey did but they're definitely worth a re-read

Mine have on one branch. 5x great grandfather was listed as a gentleman, he had enough land to vote (I know who for as it was not private then and the records are in the archives) and he lived in a nice house that is still there and beyond my budget to say the least. 6 x great grandfather left £350 in cash in the house when he died which was a lot of money then. I am on universal credit.

Death duties in the 1950s/60s were up to 80% of the estate's value. For many landed gentry it was financially more sensible to destroy their huge, expensive properties than to try to meet the bill. Also, large country houses were built on the assumption that there would be a large staff to maintain them. Just not the case after WW2.

I've had a glass of rosé, and now I realise that I've entirely missed the point of your post. But then, I come from a very long line of peasants, so what can you expect?

My great great grandfather and great grandfather were multi millionaires (or would be in today's world). I am from working class stock. There's a story behind where the money went, ultimately great grandfather was generous but too trusting of people, took some bad advice and lost it all.

My grandmother was born into a very upper middle class family at the turn of the 20th century. Her great grandfather had a title.
I have a photo of her and her siblings with nanny infront of their massive house.

Her father lost everything in the 1920s and ended up bankrupt. They bought a small farm and he became a milkman.

Grandma married a Liverpudlian lad who was penniless.
They lived in a two up two down terraced house in Manchester and were as happy as could be.

Not me, but my husband. Have name changed to avoid this being linked to other posts.

He comes from a titled family. But the estate to which it is linked had to be sold and is now a National Trust property.

They were super rich. DH found a copy of the will of his great, great, great, great, grandfather and when adjusted for inflation, he left hundreds of millions of pounds to his children. And the children…squandered it. As did the next generation, and the next.

By the time my father in law inherited, there was very little left. Luckily he is a hard worker and makes his own money, as did his siblings. But nowhere near the sort of money that had been wasted.

At some point my husband and I (through marriage) will inherit a title. Which is insane because we live very normal lives. I will never tell anyone in real life and just hope the aristo sleuths (yes, they exist!) never work out who I am (I’ve kept my own surname so I hope that will keep me safe)

I don’t agree with inherited titles or the concept of an aristocracy. Like most titles it only goes down the male line. We only have DDs so when we die, the title dies with us.

My great grandmother must have been a self made millionaire (bought herself a small stately home in Surrey, a farm in Cornwall & various other properties). I think her money dwindled away a bit post war but mostly it went out of the family because she disinherited my grandfather!

the rags to riches story I always think about though is my ancestors who in 1850 left their jobs as labourers in SW England & sailed off to the colonies, & basically transformed themselves within a generation to landowning businessmen (lots of complex stuff here about colonialism, oppression etc!)

Yes. My mother’s family were landed gentry. Her father was the second son; the first born squandered the lot.

A long time ago (my grandmother is 97 to give you a timeframe, my mother is in her 60's, I'm 31) My grandfather was able to acquire 400+ acres in (what's now become) a very desirable location. He built a massive, massive home to house his fourteen children (we called it The Big House), founded and ran his own ball bearing company, and then promptly died. There's a lot to this story & I do consider myself very lucky to have been the last generation able to make plenty of lovely childhood memories in what was once my mother's childhood home, but my uncles sold out a few years ago.

They sold the home +25 acres of surrounding property for a ludicrously low amount, someone snatched it up, renovated, and just sold it for millions.

Now I get to drive by it and bask in the memories, lol.

Thanks, holiday reading sorted from Ebay x

Of sorts. Relatives of mine were lord and lady blah blah, had the massive estate etc and they wrote off my their oldest son of two, because he married the ‘wrong’ person. He moved to the other side of the country (with said ‘wrong’ person) bought a farm and ended up living happily ish ever after… with his next wife… who came from old money herself. So sort of riches to rags but then back to riches 🤣

My mum was bought a house by her father when she got married.

Cut to endless bad decision making, financial and otherwise, and she asked her kids to pay off her mortgage - yes there was a mortgage by then - when she got to 60.

I can’t believe I actually did it, now. I was only in my early 30s, if that, and I had to get a loan. It was £3K, took forever to pay off, and stopped me from being able to save for my own deposit when I should have been getting on the housing ladder.

Writing this down has made me realise how ludicrous it was. When she started out with a flipping GIFTED HOUSE.

My late nan used to sigh about "The diamond mine in Kimberly." My late mum would sometimes say something about the 25 room London house she lived in as a child and how nan wore furs and jewels and had a Jaguar and driver. Then the war changed everything.
Council estate upbringing for me. I am sitting in a 6 room rented house and can't wrap my head around 25 rooms!

Nope, just rags all the way down.

Not my family but a friend of mine has a title.

He lives in a normal three bed semi in a London commuter village. Nice bloke.

Not me but apparently DH’s aunt, however many generations back, was disinherited because she married the wrong soldier- he wasn’t an officer. The family came over with William The Conqueror and owned one of the big castles.

My family were all servants, factory workers or very poor Irish servants and factory workers. I some on my dad's side had a trade. The highest anyone rose was a commercial traveller. Sometimes I dream of having lots of disposable income, not having to work, a cook, fresh bed linen every day and naice small, friendly schools for DC. I'd have been taught to draw and speak french beautifully. Then you get my mother who always likes to look at the kitchens in stately homes because her grandmother was cool to lord and lady somebody before world war one. Bless her.

We did end up, through my dad's sheer hard work, having a very nice lower middle class lifestyle. My mother used to hide the chip pan, horrid old oil and all under the sink. It was brought out three times a week like some sort of heirloom. 🤣🤣

I read Two Pence To Cross The Mersey when I was 14 and it left a profound mark on me. I will never ever forget that book or it's sequel, how their fortune changed in the end is so poinant.

My family goes back about 500 years locally, my gggg grandparents owned about 300 houses in a big city. All of it lost through gambling apparently. My grandmother lived in an 2 up 2 down terrace.