It was all my Dad's fault

Senior citizen, living in East Sussex. Ancestors from London, Kent, Herts, Cumbria, Somerset, Ireland and Scotland.

My Dad died in 2004 and I suddenly realised that I knew very little about his side of the family. He was born in 1920, joined the navy at the age of 16 and was pensioned at the age of 40. He rarely spoke about his experiences in the navy and talked even less about his family. I knew he was in born in Pembrokeshire and spoke with a soft Welsh accent so I assumed that my paternal background was Welsh. I was aware that he had a poor relationship with his father, which was the main reason that he joined the navy. I also knew that he had quite a few brothers and sisters, most of whom we had not met. I started to dig into his past, beginning with his naval service record and was astounded at what this revealed about his naval career (he attained the rank of Master At Arms), the ships he had served on, the battles he had been part of in WW2, his voyages across the world. I regretted that I had not pressed him for more information about his life. There were a lot of unanswered questions.

I had his birth certificate which was the impetus to get me started on researching his background. The certificate revealed the names of his parents and I started looking online for family history resources. I found the FreeBMD website and for me the rest was history - literally revealing itself.

Eventually I discovered that my grandfather was born in Islington, had spent some time in a reformatory, joined the militia as a boy, then signed up for the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. Following missions in India and South Africa the regiment returned to its base in Pembroke Dock, where my grandfather married a red-haired fiery Scottish lass. It turned out that I had no Welsh in me at all.

My grandmother bore 13 children but she died following childbirth at the age of 40, when my Dad was 10 years old. I eventually learned that my grandfather took to the booze. The youngest children were adopted, a couple sent to Barnardo's homes and the children remaining had to take care of themselves. No small wonder that my Dad found his way out of a very unhappy situation by joining the navy, where he found a sense of security, comradeship, responsibility and opportunity. He also found my Mum who was a serving Wren - but she and her family is another story.

 

What a story! I'm glad your father's part of it had a happy ending - besides giving you an addictive hobby.