WDYTYA is back

Celebrities from film, TV, theatre, modelling, music, cookery and news feature in the current, 12th series of Who Do You Think You Are? – the genealogy show which first introduced many a budding family historian to the fascinating subject of family tree research. The series is currently being broadcast on BBC One every Thursday until 15 October.

This series delves into the roots of Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood, modelling legend Jerry Hall, Last Tango in Halifax stars Sir Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, actress Jane Seymour, choirmaster and broadcaster Gareth Malone, stage and television actress Frances de la Tour, news reporter Frank Gardner, actor and writer Mark Gatiss and television presenter Anita Rani.

In a series that crosses four continents and covers a period of history stretching back nearly a thousand years, it allows us to witness the 10 stars as they delve back into their family history. Moving from the Tower of London to the Highlands of Scotland, from Tunisia to Tasmania, from the Punjab in India to the Wild West of America, this year’s collection of famous personalities sets out to dig deep into their family history and share their discoveries with us. On the way they will be uncovering a host of hidden pasts and shocking revelations that should entertain viewers.

According to the producers we can expect to see moments of heartbreak, laughter, intrigue and surprise, as each episode captures every step of this series celebrity’s journey back through their family tree. The series promises to reveal stories from new-born babies spirited away under cover of darkness to convicts transported to the other side of the world; from sisters separated by the Holocaust to the battlefields of North Africa; from laudanum-addicted socialites to paying the ultimate price for treason in Tudor England; from music halls to tales of vampires. On these pages we look at some online records which can help explore some of the celebrities’ stories from the episodes broadcast so far.

PAUL HOLLYWOOD

Celebrity baker and chef Paul John Hollywood was born in 1966 in Wallasey, the son of bakery proprietor, John F Hollywood and Gillian M Harman. We can find records for his birth at TheGenealogist.co.uk by entering his details into the Master Search and selecting the Births and Baptisms. Paul’s parents’ marriage took place in Wallasey and is also in the marriage records at the site.

Paul knew that his beloved grandfather had served in North Africa during World War. He was also aware that his grandfather had spent some time in Italy, including the Anzio landings, but he didn’t know much more.

BBC/Wall to Wall Media/Stephen Perry

Norman Harman (pictured) served with the 90th LAA Royal Artillery Regiment from 1940 to 1945 with some of the time being spent in Tunisia and Italy. He was part of the landing force that became trapped on the beaches at Anzio for four months, surrounded by Germans and all the while under constant aerial bombardment. In May 1944, and thanks to Norman’s regiment’s extraordinary efforts, the stalemate at Anzio was broken.

We know from records on TheGenealogist that Norman Harman was born the son of James J S Harman and Margaret Christina Mckenzie. James was born in 1880 and was an upholsterer by trade. He married Margaret Christina McKenzie in 1903 whose family line can be followed up to the Highlands of Scotland. Her father, Alexander McKenzie, was a wood turner who had come down to Liverpool from his native Glasgow.

His father in turn, Donald McKenzie, was a Highland postman with quite extraordinary stamina. Not being able to afford a horse with which to cover his rounds delivering the mail for 30,000 people, Donald simply ran the 120 miles with the mail every week. Paul’s story revealed some very tenacious ancestors in his family tree!

JANE SEYMOUR

Jane Seymour OBE was born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg in 1951 and originally appeared on the stage as a ballet dancer. She then turned her attentions to acting – playing a number of successful TV roles before heading off to the US in search of the bright lights and leading roles. She adopted her current name at the age of 17.

She is the daughter of John Benjamin Frankenberg, a London obstetrician and Mieke Coert Van Trigt, a nurse originally from Holland. We can find her birth record within the Births & Baptisms at TheGenealogist.co.uk. Her father was an English Jew whose family was originally from Poland, and her mother was a Dutch-born Christian, who had been a Japanese prisoner of war during WWII. Jane’s father was born in London on 8 May 1914 and served in the RAF in World War II.

Jane’s paternal grandfather, Leon Frankenberg, had come to Britain after his family had fled persecution in Eastern Europe. His sister Jadwiga, by now married to obstetrician Herman Temerson, ended up in the Polish ghettos set up by the Nazis to contain the Jews. The family managed to make their escape through a building to the so-called Aryan side and gain shelter among the Poles.

Jane’s grandparents were lucky in that their Polish Jewish family had emigrated to England years before. Her father’s parents were Leon Abraham Jacob Frankenberg and Sarah Zaions. Interestingly we can find them both in the 1911 census, before they were married, living under the same roof on census night. Using the newly added Jewish Synagogue Seatholder records at the site, we are able to find several entries in the 1920s and 1930s for an L Frankenberg of Stoney Lane, London EC as a seatholder and financial representative of the Great Synagogue. Looking in the site’s Trade Directories, we find a Lewin Frankenberg in the 1936 London Kelly’s directory listed as a General Merchant at 37 Houndsditch, but crucially he also occupies numbers 45 & 47 Stoney Lane.

SIR DEREK JACOBI

Sir Derek George Jacobi’s story is one of contrasts. Sir Derek’s father, Alfred Jacobi, was descended from immigrants to England from Germany and became the manager of a department store. Derek was the only child of Alfred Jacobi and Daisy Masters, a secretary, and had an idyllic childhood. When he was just four years old, his parents took him to a pantomime performance of Cinderella at the London Palladium where Jacobi was one of several young audience members selected to go up on stage. He was in awe of the experience and so began his love of the stage.

We can find his birth in the index records for the District of Essex South Western, which covered Walthamstow at that time. By using the one click link for ‘Parent’s Potential Marriage’ from TheGenealogist.co.uk’s transcriptions, we are able to see that his parents had married two years earlier in 1936 and that they were named Alfred G Jacobi and Daisy G Masters. TheGenealogist provides easy access to census transcripts with its unique search tools and original images, from 1841 to 1911. With this resource we are also able to find that Sir Derek’s grandparents lived at 21 Poplars Road, Leyton where his grandfather, Henry William Jacobi, carried on the trade of boot maker.

In contrast to this modest background, further research has found that his ancestors have a connection to the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV of France. One of Sir Derek’s ancestors was Joseph de la Plaigne, a financier and French Protestant from Bordeaux who had to conceal his religious beliefs from his monarch in order to remain in favour with the Catholic Louis XIV. In 1701 de la Plaigne was found out to be a Protestant and incarcerated in prison at Loches in the Loire Valley. Making his escape he, like many Huguenots, made his way to England.

We have been able to find his will in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills collection on TheGenealogist, where we can see the image of the actual will (right). In the document Joseph states that he was born at Bordeaux and was living in the Parish of St Anne’s, Westminster.

Issue 029 / September 2015

TV

Nick Thorne welcomes the return of the popular genealogy TV series, and does some digging of his own

A day at the museum

Art benefactors in the frame

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