RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: california dreamin on Wednesday 24 July 13 22:34 BST (UK)
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Well I've just watched it - was really looking forward to it. Is it me? :-[ Have they dumbed it down? Although charming in parts I really was disappointed. I especially missed the lovely voice overs of Mark Strong. Seems he's been replaced by Sheri Lunghi. Oh dear.
Perhaps better next week? Let's hope so.
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I wonder how Una's parents met? :-*
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Although we did not go back too far in terms of years, I really enjoyed this one as a warm up to the series. So many co-incidences in her maternal and paternal lines. Nice that for a show business person she was not 'acting' as so many of the subjects have in the past.
Perhaps Mark Strong felt it was time to move on (although he was also the narrator for the USA series). I thought Cherie Lunghi was calm and clear and easy to understand, just as Mark had been.
Great to see Peter Higginbottom of the Workhouses website ;D
SM
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I also enjoyed it, though I had to stop myself yelling 'because she's illegitimate' when Una was looking at Annie's birth certificate. It's hard to remember that things like that are totally new to the subjects ;)
I wonder if Una followed up on the reference to Annie's dancing with her cousins - presumably this was just personal rather than professional.
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Ir was generally OK, though they did not go back far, and too much time was shown of Una's emotions
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I thought it was a good start to the series.
They managed to introduce a number of concepts that Joe Public probably wasn't too aware of?
Workhouses.
Illegitimate births.
Factory workers, and typical housing.
Basic steps in FH - marriage & birth certificates, use of Ancestry (even if it wasn't named!).
A "dysfunctional" family - Una not having contact with her father's family.
Yes, I too thought Una was a bit over-emotional!
All-in-all a good start! ;D
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An improvement on many of the last series. And having grown up in Letchworth GC, and educated in the school in its central hub, it was interesting to learn of Ebenezer Howard's background
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I found it fascinating even though it didn't go back very far. I must admit I knew nothing of Ebenezer Howard's background; looking him up on Wiki after the programme I was interested to read of his time in America which went a long way to shaping his views. I think during that time he also seems to have made some influential friends which probably helped him in later years to achieve his dream. I had puzzled during the programme how a man from an 'ordinary' background could have achieved so much, whilst still working as a short-hand writer. But it seems there was a lot more to him than than. I too would have been interested to know how Una's parents met; but the chances are that nobody knows that. I know she was emotional, but I would have been emotional/angry/upset if I had discovered a side of my family which had been deliberately kept hidden from me. Particularly the dancing link. Una must have felt a keen sense of loss at never having had contact with her paternal grandmother.
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I thought this programme was delightful .... Una came across as an innocent, charming, simple person .... what you saw was what you got. No drama or false emotions, very refreshing. I thought she was lovely and so moved by what she found out, or what was found for her.
I too have wanted to know a bit more about Ebenezer .... must look him up.
Good start to the series.
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I really enjoy it, but found i didn't enjoy Cherie Lunghi voice over :'( please bring back Mark Strong, it felt like she was talking down to me, it's hard to explain,but i just want her to shut up :o
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I thought Una very modest. She said she did not tell people about ther Gt Grandfather Ebenezer because she did not want to boast.
However, I found it a bit odd that she never obtained her father's birth certificate herself to find out her grandparents names.
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I think some people just don't know how to do these things .... I didn't until I started serious FH
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One of her cousins knew that her own father was illegitimate but said that Clarence, Una's father, was definitely ("Oh, definitely!") Arthur's son with Annie before they got married; and Una said she could "see" her father in Arthur.
I don't see what was definite about it at all.
Clarence's middle name is Watson, and that's a bit of red flag to me for him being Arthur Stubbs' son. It was quite usual for an unmarried mother to give her child a name referencing the father, even if he couldn't be named officially on the birth certificate. Just because Arthur and Annie lived opposite each other in the same street and Clarence was born at Arthur's house, doesn't actually make Arthur the father. If he was, would it have been so unusual to have his name on the birth certificate? and if Arthur was Clarence's father, why didn't they marry before he was born?
I appreciate we'll never know, but I felt that this bit was skated over a bit too easily.
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Arthur states there were 2 children born to the marriage, at a point when Alwyn has also been born - so some support to the idea that Arthur is Clarence's father?
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One of her cousins knew that her own father was illegitimate but said that Clarence, Una's father, was definitely ("Oh, definitely!") Arthur's son with Annie before they got married; and Una said she could "see" her father in Arthur.
I don't see what was definite about it at all.
Clarence's middle name is Watson, and that's a bit of red flag to me for him being Arthur Stubbs' son. It was quite usual for an unmarried mother to give her child a name referencing the father, even if he couldn't be named officially on the birth certificate. Just because Arthur and Annie lived opposite each other in the same street and Clarence was born at Arthur's house, doesn't actually make Arthur the father. If he was, would it have been so unusual to have his name on the birth certificate? and if Arthur was Clarence's father, why didn't they marry before he was born?
I appreciate we'll never know, but I felt that this bit was skated over a bit too easily.
I didn't mention earlier but this grated with me too
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Me too.
Also when they looked at a census on Ancestry, and immediately said "it wont be this one" rejecting the first on the list," but it is this one".
OK, I know they had looked at it all before, and worked out which entry was the right one, but it doesnt give a good example to would-be searchers if the impression given is that a quick glance at an index will leàd you to the right person when there are several to choose from.
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Its all to do with getting the whole thing into a 55 minute programme ............ I often wish the programmes were a couple of hours long !!
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If Arthur was Una's grandfather than surely her father's birth would have been re-registered after their marriage, usually seen as a handwritten correction in the GRO index. Simply being shown as his son in the 1911 census isn't conclusive proof
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Where was Una Stubbs born??
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I wonder if they film it out of sequence. They showed Una a certificate possibly her grandparents marriage cert which clearly showed her grandfather was a confectioner, then later on in another context, Una asked the researcher if she knew what her grandfather's occupation was.
My guess is that her mother, being descended from Ebenezer Howard was probably living a middle class life and married "beneath" herself and was ashamed of her husband's family, hence Una never met them. Very odd that she never asked any questions though. I wonder if her father secretly visited his parents.
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Although there are things we can criticise I don't think it's a bad thing if these programmes at least ignite people's interest in family history. If it's made to look too complicated to navigate the sites then it'll put some people off. If you were to show all the hard work and the stone walls that you can come up against then people might think twice but show little interesting snippets and you get them hooked. Understanding of certificates and the detective work needed comes with experience and practice!
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I agree the detective work etc. comes with experience and practice, but anyone can read a marriage certificate, the headings show what each column is, which is why I wondered if they film the programmes out of sequence.
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The birth of Clarence and the marriage were very close together and Arthur was very young which might have complicated matters.
I think then, as now, people didn't always do the right thing so they may not have bothered with re-registering the birth.
When she asked 'why', I think the cousin said, 'it was your mother'.
I enjoyed it- she came across as a lovely person and it was a poignant story with the various coincidences.
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I agree the detective work etc. comes with experience and practice, but anyone can read a marriage certificate
Maybe so but she didn't know why there was a gap against the father's name on the birth certificate and I'm sure we were all shouting at the TV for that one!
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I too am sure we were all shouting at the TV at that point, but then, as I said earlier, she's an innocent ... it would never have occurred to her that it meant illegitimacy; she probably thought it meant the father was elsewhere when the birth was registered !
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Where was Una Stubbs born??
Welwyn Garden City I thought?
Hatfield district
June qtr 1937
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I too am sure we were all shouting at the TV at that point, but then, as I said earlier, she's an innocent ... it would never have occurred to her that it meant illegitimacy; she probably thought it meant the father was elsewhere when the birth was registered !
Yes, that's the point that I was making that not everyone can "read" certificates!
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Where was Una Stubbs born??
Welwyn Garden City on 1st May 1937
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Una_Stubbs
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This is a useful link for people just starting out;
http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/births.htm#COL4
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Lydart gets it just about right as per usual, thank you!!
I thought the programme was delightful but of course my RC name gives my interest away.
All the usual nit-pickers seem to conveniently forget that its an entertainment programme and they have to cram as much as possible into less than an hour.
To be perfectly honest, this website will give you many more pointers for your research than watching TV.
I respect your diverse opinions, honestly!!
Steve.
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I thought it was a good start to the new series and Una seems like a lovely lady. I agree with several of the comments about Clarence's father's identity not being fully investigated but maybe the family did not want that part to be under scrutiny? I thought Cheri's voiceover was good but I too miss Mark. Looking forward to the next programme.
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I loved it, I thought Una was charming and I loved how excited she was about the whole thing. Miss Mark though :)
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Perhaps my o.h. will stay awake now that the VoiceOver has changed!
I agree it was an interesting start to the new series.
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Perhaps my o.h. will stay awake now that the VoiceOver has changed!
I doubt it cms,mine didn't ;D ;D ;D
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LOL as they say!
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If Una Stubbs was born in Welwyn, then why in WDYTYA magazine does it say that she was born in Hinckley, Leicestershire? Also, before the programme was on, someone told me that Una was from Burbage (which is directly next to Hinckley). However, her birth entry is for Welwyn.
So, how does Hinckley fit in?
I also prefer Mark doing the narration.