Ever wondered what accent your ancestors had?

[LizzieW]

I was listening to the Jeremy Vine Show today - which I rarely do - and there was a cab driver on who said he'd been born in Bethnal Green and that he was a Cockney.

Now my mysterious g.grandfather was apparently born in Bethnal Green, so I guess he was a Cockney too, but more interesting was hearing the cabbie speak.  Does anyone know if the accent from the Bethnal Green area of London has changed over the years, or would my g.grandfather born about 1857 (died 1936 in Hull) have had a similar accent?

I've never thought of the accents of my ancestors until hearing this programme, has anyone else?

[avm228]

I find this a fascinating topic too.

The British Library maintains a collection of audio recordings for posterity, and in fact when they had an exhibition about the English language a couple of years ago they invited everyone who attended (or visited the website) to contribute an audio recording of their speaking voice using a sample text.  They took details of birthdate, where you lived etc to put the recordings in context.

Here are some of the older recordings:

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Survey-of-English-dialects

If you look under Middlesex- Hackney the audio file may be of interest, though the person won't have been born as early as your g-grandfather (just checked - they have his birthdate as 1888).

[LizzieW]

Thank you for that link.  Interestingly the Hackney man sounded rather posher than the cabbie on the radio today.  I wonder if today's cockneys exaggerate their accent somewhat.

I also listened to the Kingsley, Cheshire accent which is just as I remembered the normal people in Cheshire speaking and also the Cartmel, Lancashire accent to see if it was any different to the Manchester, Lancashire accent.  It wasn't really, it was more the dialect that has changed than anything else. 

[Mike in Cumbria]

Not just accents - I'd love to know which of my ancestors around the Shropshire/Wales borderlands were Welsh speakers and which were English speakers.

Mike

[iluleah]

I have to say, no I have never thought about their accents, however I suppose you would also take into consideration their 'class' and education as well which would have then been more important then, than now.

Although born/brought up in Leicestershire I have never had a Leicestershire accent, certainly one or two words I say are very 'Leicester'  but only Leicester people would pick up on those

[LizzieW]

As I don't know anything about my g.grandfather, apart from what is on the 1891-1911 census (and my gran and her siblings' birth certs), I don't know his class.  His mother's name was supposed to be Da Costa, but I can't find any birth certificate for a George William Wright with that name on - maybe his birth wasn't registered.  My theory is that he was illegitimate and taken in by another family.  I have various ideas, one of which would probably mean he had a well spoken accent, but then as he moved to Hull as a fisherman that doesn't make much sense.  As he lived in Hull from at least 1884 until his death in 1936, it's possible he picked up a Hull accent.

[ThrelfallYorky]

Just listened to the "Marshside, Lancashire" snippet online - almost impenetrable to understand for me, even though it's only 50 years back. I think if I ever met up with those long-lost ancestors of far earlier days, from that area via a time machine, of course, I'd either not be able to make them understand the questions I'd love to know the answers for - or, even worse, not be able to understand their answers! Oh dear, what a horrid thought. Fascinating site.

[iluleah]

Here are some of the older recordings:

http://sounds.bl.uk/Accents-and-dialects/Survey-of-English-dialects

Just listening now to Leicestershire accents, it took me 25% of the time to 'tune in' before I could understand anything at all, once I was 'tuned in' I can understand it but the accents sound very 'broad' to my ears

[smudwhisk]

My maternal grandparents were born and grew up in the Poplar area and so were technically cockneys (born within the sound of bow bells) and lived there until they got married, but neither I would say had a cockney accent of any form.  My grandfather's siblings remained in the area for most of their lives and definitely had more of a pronounced accent but I wouldn't say it was what I'd call cockney.  Neither family was particularly well off so it doesn't follow that if they were born in the East End, they sounded like a stereo typical cockney.  My other grandmother grew up in Shoreditch and she didn't have a pronounced accent either.  In fact my cousins who grew up near Tunbridge Wells both have a worse accent that any of my grandparents.

Mind you if anyone suggested to my maternal grandmother she was a cockney, she used to get very upset about it ... but then she was a bit of a snob a times.