Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask what your great-great-grandparents did?

134 replies

Rosamund1 · 04/03/2018 14:02

Mine was a hamster.

OP posts:
isseywithcats · 04/03/2018 14:05

no idea whatsoever
paternal great grandfather was a cheif leutenant of police in glasgow
my grandmothers father
my paternal grandfathers father was a shopkeeper
grandmother ran off one afternoon to marry my grandad and when they told parents on return there was hell to pay her marrying a shopkeepers son
thats all i know

YouTheCat · 04/03/2018 14:07

Not sure of most of them. One set were Italian immigrants and had their own ice cream shop in Sunderland.

Atthebottomofthesea · 04/03/2018 14:07

No idea, but I'd hazard a guess that mining went quite far back on my Dad's side.

oneoffname · 04/03/2018 14:19

Sadly, I have no idea. I would hazard a guess that they would have been born in the mid 1800's so likely they were manual workers of some sort. I know that one set were immigrants and that one great grandparent spent time in the workhouse as a child, so pretty sure none of them were wealthy. Sad isn't it? It's not that far back really and I couldn't tell you anything about them with any certainty. Sad

vampirethriller · 04/03/2018 14:22

A hamster?

GrockleBocs · 04/03/2018 14:22

I know this because I'm a sad family history geek and wouldn't answer any of the closer generations
Quarrymen
Miners
Agricultural Labourers
Bakers

IsDaveThere · 04/03/2018 14:24

I also know mine for the same reason as GrokleBocs

They were all mainly pottery workers, miners or plasterers.

bluebells1 · 04/03/2018 14:25

I actually know this. But I guess this was a sarcastic thread?

AlpacaLypse · 04/03/2018 14:25

A quarter were farmers. Another quarter merchant navy officers. And wives of course. There was at least one engineer in the third quarter. I think the fourth set were also farmers, but not in UK. I'm pretty certain none of them were hamsters though.

Queenoftheblitz · 04/03/2018 14:25

Labourers, hawkers and butchers. One was in the local papers for beating his wife.

NonnieMouse · 04/03/2018 14:26

Miners and ag labs for the most part. One travelling salesman and one clerk. For the women most were were at home with the kids, one or two on the pot banks and a couple of laundry women/domestic helps.

DullAndOld · 04/03/2018 14:26

don't you mean, your's were 16 hamsters?

Mine were ferrets.

x2boys · 04/03/2018 14:26

Well there is a story that one of my ancestors had an illegitimate child with a member of the nobility the child was looked after financially but not publicly acknowledged ? This was my mums side of the family My dad was born n Ireland and lived there untill he was 11 his dad owned a pub which he inherited from his parents not sure how long it had been in the family and my grandmas parents were farmers .

Heratnumber7 · 04/03/2018 14:28

One GGF was a builder - he built houses.
The other GGF was a coal miner.

Both GGMs would have been housewives. They both had many children.

RainbowGlitterFairy · 04/03/2018 14:37

I know one was a suffragette, one was a soldier.
Other side of the family are travellers so I'm going to go with bit of this and bit of that, I know there was some fruit picking.

Perendinate · 04/03/2018 14:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pettynotvindictive · 04/03/2018 14:39

Not sure about maternal side but paternal worked in royal household, footmen, butlers etc. Job passed from generation to generation.
My gf died in prison (murder, he was an absolute bastard), when my dad was 7 so too young for royals.

Pettynotvindictive · 04/03/2018 14:43

Pressed post too soon

Too young for royal job. He wouldn't have wanted to carry on in his legacy even if he was old enough!

lljkk · 04/03/2018 14:44

Menfolk were Preacher, Handyman, Electrician, Mechanic.

Groovee · 04/03/2018 14:44

My great grandmother on my gran's side stayed at home and my great grandfather was a baker. He gave my gran amazing baking skills.

No idea about my dad's side.

52FestiveRoad · 04/03/2018 14:46

One set on my dad's side they were - miner and 'housewife' as it was called then. The other set were property owners, living from rent (unusually this was her money, she inherited the property from her father and he just lived off her money.....)

I am not sure about the others.

On my mum's side her family were always farmers.

Moanranger · 04/03/2018 14:50

Fathers- 9 generations of farmer, so farmer/ wife of farmer
Mothers - mixture of farmers & politicians, but believe GGGF was a politician/ wife of politician

sonjadog · 04/03/2018 14:52

I´ve traced my family on Ancestry so I know the answer to this one! Post office master, builder, teacher, linen factory workers, bricklayer.

BarbarianMum · 04/03/2018 14:54

On one side agricultural labourers and their wives (some of whom were dressmakers). On the other a variety of doctors, lawyers and minor aristocracy.

ModreB · 04/03/2018 14:57

I only know one side, so DGF GF was a Carriage Painter, which was quite a skilled job apparently. DGF GM was a housewife. The rest of the family were farmers.

DGM GF on her mothers side was a hatmaker, and founded Gibson Hats. DGM GM was a wealthy housewife.

DGM GF on her fathers side were music hall performers. DGM father's (my GGF) first cousin was John Majors father. DGM GM was a traveller.

When DGM parents got together, (they never married, but had 7 children between 1890 and 1909) it was quite a scandal.

Swipe left for the next trending thread