Lives of your great-grandfathers


Only thing I know about mine was that he was a messenger in the First World War and was killed at Arras in France in 2015.

My great grandmother was pregnant when he left to go to war and she never saw him again. She named her son, my grandpa, Arras.

My mam and dad took him to Arras in the early 90s to find his dads grave. They went to the town hall for information about where he might be and when they learned his name and the reason behind it, they practically shoed my mam and dad out of the door and looked after my grandpa for the rest of the day.

He was killed in 1917 btw. Got a copy of an eyewitness account of his death.
 
@E Tenebris Lux will confirm that.

One of my great-great- great grandfathers moved from Whitehaven to Houghton.

My ggf at 17 moved with his parents and siblings to Crawcrook then after marriage to Craghead, Chopwell, Wallsend, South Shields then Easington Colliery.
Some of my wife’s moved to here from Somerset, Stoke and Reeth.
Mining was a hard dangerous job but secure employment and housing must have been very welcome in those times.
 
I know one of mine was German and another was Scottish. Scottish great grandad moved his family down to the sacriston area for work in the Durham coalfields. I think that's just about all I know about them.
 
My lockdown project was to find out about my ancestors, about whom I knew nothing before I started.
"Highlight": On my father's side, I am the first male in 300 years not to be a miner.

Joseph William, b. Houghall 1873, miner, wife Catherine b. B. Auckland 1872. JW's younger brother Arthur died of wounds 1918, buried Tudhoe.
William, b Egremont (?)1874, miner, wife Susan Hannah, b. Murton 1879. Eldest son David killed in action 1918, no known grave.

Luke, b. Rainton 1862, miner, wife Jane, b.1873 Middle Rainton. Luke was raised by his grandmother (father killed at work down Rainton pit, mother died weeks after)
Michael, b. Chester le St 1856, blacksmith, wife Isabella, b.1863 Monkwearmouth.
 
Ancestry often offer a free trial month.
Their search function with your grandparents details will provide information plus possible links to other people’s family trees that include your family.
@Crook Mackem Find My Past have free weekends too, sure it's often around bank holidays. You can get a 7 day free trial but would need to make sure you cancel as it's expensive.
 
Knew all my grandparents. Haven't really got any knowledge whatsoever about their parents and no idea where to start when finding out (for free)

My local library (Blackpool) has a link to free online access to Ancestry. Maybe yours does?
Sounds a stupid question but if I wanted to find out, how would I go about it? I’ve always dismissed them ancestry websites as I can’t imagine them having much information on them.

If you look up the census returns on the various ancestry websites, you will find their families, where they lived and what they did for a living every 10 years from 1841 (first census) to 1939 (pre-war census), barring 1931, which was destroyed in a fire.

Work backwards from known relatives alive in 1939.
 
Last edited:
The Great Grandad i have the most knowledge of is the one on my Dads side who was a Merchant Navy man born in Middelburg, Netherlands, who sadly died in 1942 when his ship the SS Empire Fusilier was sunk by the U-Boat U-85 off the coast of Newfoundland. His name is on the Merchant Navy Memorial next to Tower Bridge/Tower of London.
 
Last edited:
GG1 - trawlerman in Fife all his life. Got a belter photo of him in the wheel house with my grandad as a teenager stood beside him
GG2 - explosives expert in the mines around Fife. Also worked in the USA where rumour has it he had a second family which has never been confirmed. Tried to find his grave a few years ago only to find Fife council had taken them all down for safety reasons :(
GG3 - from Dumfries, served in WW1 in the black watch and was present at the first day of the Somme. Had shell shock for the rest of his life after that and went to an early grave through drink.
GG4 - the only English born one and he was half Irish and married an Irish woman and he was born in Pitt Street, Newcastle right next to Sid James park the dorty mag :lol: Lived in absolute poverty and worked for the Newcastle City council and build those shitty high rises in Elswick too. He originally tried to join the army in WW1 at 14 years old, and when they eventually let him in (Tyneside Irish) he got captured and ended up a PoW for the best part of it. Daft shite
 
Last edited:
Dad's dad's dad - William. I have no idea what job he did or when he was born and died. He was a drunk. He was a domestic abuser and my grandad used to hate talking about him, so I never pushed him to do so. Too much trauma. Grandad grew up in Kirk Merrington and I'm assuming that his parents were from around there.

Dad's mam's dad - Norman. A carpenter, I'm assuming from near North Bitchburn as that's where my grandma grew up. All I know beyond that is that he used to grow a lot of his own vegetables!

Mam's dad's dad - my grandad is actually my mam's stepdad, and his father was called Thomas. He was a bus driver on the Northern for part of his career, but I don't know much else. I should ask my grandad! I don't know anything about the father of my mother's biological father.

Mam's mam's dad - also William. I believe he was a coal miner somewhere near Seaham, but I'd have to check with my grandma to be sure if that was his whole working life. He was killed in 1967 (when my mother was a baby), by my grandma's first husband, i.e. my mam's biological father that I mentioned earlier.
 
I know very little about them, but;

GGF 1. Born circa 1850's. Down my fathers line.

GGF 2. Born 1852 at Shipston on Stour, which is North East of London.

GGF 3. Born circa 1858, Fressingfield Suffolk. Down my mothers paternal line.

GGF 4. Born circa 1861, possibly Houghto-le-spring.

Seems my family moved up from South and East of the country.

I have a smidgen of Family tree that was given to me by my Niece.
 
Granddad on my mams side was born in 1899, but was in France by 1915. He must have been under age when enlisted. His service record showed he was a gunner and bomber so he must have been right at the front, and survived the war.

My mam remembers a hand grenade as an ornanament on the mantlepiece in Tatham Street, Hendon which he must have brought back as a souvenir. I presume it was diffused as it sat on the mantlepiece above a coal fire for all of her childhood.

He was a docker who had a bad accident being almost decapitated by a steel cable in his fifties and could work after that.

A very tough life.
 
My mam remembers a hand grenade as an ornanament on the mantlepiece in Tatham Street, Hendon which he must have brought back as a souvenir. I presume it was diffused as it sat on the mantlepiece above a coal fire for all of her childhood.

Still got one of these that my great grandad brought back with a date of 1917 on it. It was turned into a money box but it's so old now that the thread at the base has fused to the bottom of it sadly.
 
Have used find my past and it’s been great. On one of the lines, have got back to 1660.

Have distant relatives who served with General Wolff in Canada, one who became a Chelsea pensioner at the age of 39 due to being “worn out”, one who was killed in a zeppelin raid over Norwich, a couple of Sea Captains, and a Nana who was a riveter during the Second World War.
 
Have used find my past and it’s been great. On one of the lines, have got back to 1660.

Have distant relatives who served with General Wolff in Canada, one who became a Chelsea pensioner at the age of 39 due to being “worn out”, one who was killed in a zeppelin raid over Norwich, a couple of Sea Captains, and a Nana who was a riveter during the Second World War.
Peoples lives were so diverse.

Anyone will have an ancestor who's life story would make a very good book.

In years to come, people will be researching ancestors who worked in call centres🤣
 
Peoples lives were so diverse.

Anyone will have an ancestor who's life story would make a very good book.

In years to come, people will be researching ancestors who worked in call centres🤣

Without a doubt, I love reading about stuff like that some proper characters, be better than peaky blinders.
I've only done the paternal side of great grandparents (will do the others eventually) just off the two I've done. Murder, bigamy, an incident with dynamite. We lead boring lives now man.
 
Without a doubt, I love reading about stuff like that some proper characters, be better than peaky blinders.
I've only done the paternal side of great grandparents (will do the others eventually) just off the two I've done. Murder, bigamy, an incident with dynamite. We lead boring lives now man.
Better being boring than dead though. The only great-grandad that I'm aware of fought in WWI and was gassed multiple times. He died in 1922 as a result of his injuries. Bollocks to that.
 

Back
Top