Family History

[The Artist]

Anyone here found anything interesting in theirs?

I found an old newspaper clipping in my house a while ago talking about the suicide of my Grandad in 1973. Said he was a conman and some cool stuff but I did some research today and found this.


**De Silva, Charles Percival**, prom. 1947-73, Brit., fraud-suic. Originally from Ceylon, with a good education and a wealthy grandfather, Charles Percival De Silva came to England in 1947. A gracious, intelligent man, he spent a quarter of a century either defrauding wealthy, gullible society people, or spending time in jail for his scams, which he referred to as "one of my little games." Operating primarily out of London's fashionable West End, De Silva became known and respected by members of London's wealthy establishment whom he would eventually swindle out of about £3 million. In 1951, he spent his first term in jail, sentenced for attempting to swindle Selfridge's store out of more than £2,000 in nylons, a then scarce commodity. Released from jail, De Silva talked about a £200,000 plot he was involved in to supply guns for overthrowing General Francisco Franco, but a few months after these boasts the confidence man was declared bankrupt, in debt for £109,000. De Silva then found a "mug"--this was how he referred to wealthy people he could bilk--who was impressed by social connections and, getting an invitation to a party held by the prestigious Lady Dorothy Macmillan, gave her a large check for one of her favorite charities, impressing the wealthy "mug" sufficiently to get her to invest large amounts in fraudulent schemes soon after.

On another occasion De Silva met an American multimillionaire who had a penchant for young girls. Organizing a team of prostitutes, all dressed as schoolgirls, De Silva threw a party for the American, convincing him that the young ladies had been provided by the Mother Superior of a convent school; the millionaire wrote a check for £25,000 to be paid to the non-existent Mother Superior. Jailed for six years for trying to sell £700,000 worth of fictitious trawlers from Ceylon to Sweden, De Silva was also linked with the theft of three Old Masters from Amsterdam, a heist that netted £600,000, and of trying to sell forged plates for counterfeiting £1 and 10 shilling notes. In 1973, faced with the prospect of yet another trial the following month at the Old Bailey, he booked into an elegant Euston hotel under a false name and committed suicide, overdosing on drugs.

Anyone beat that?

[bikertomm]

That's pretty cool!

All I know is that my grandma's dad was an explorer and he went exploring in the amazon (A very long time ago) and he never came back.

Wish I could find out more really

Cool story bro.
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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!

[Shaun]

[Skudd]

I traced my family and found it was full of Ancestors.

In my local church I can trace on my mothers side at least 6 generations of bell ringers, also even though my dad comes from a different area, he has relatives who rang the bells in the same church at the same time.

The grave yard goes back even further

I have a hunch that I may have left myself open to some ridicule.
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[Poseidon]

I know absolutely nothing about my family beyond my grandparents (and even then, I barely know anything about my dad's parents as they died when I was quite young).

I am however hoping to rectify this situation this summer with a trip up to scunthorpe to pick my nana's brains about my mothers side and possibly a camping trip up to scotland (where my old man is from) to speak to my dad's sister about their side of the family and possibly raid the archives of the libraries/churches etc.
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1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)

[Skudd]

[Skudd]

[Rowey]

[The Artist]

[Clanger]

My Grandfather came over from Newfoundland to work in N.O.F.U Forestry Commission in Scotland, and when war broke out he joined the Army here as a Gunner.

The work he did was vital at the time, and there are a few dedicated websites such as this https://www.heritage.nf.ca/law/forestry_unit.html to recognise the work that he and his fellow Newfoundlanders did.

I found out most of the information after he died, because he was a very quiet, private man and rarely said anything to us as kids when we visited...he would only talk of the farm and the horses...nothing of his former life at all.

I have traced the rest of my family history right back to the 16th Century, and have followed some fascinating stories...some of whom were top in their chosen field of expertise; and one who was part of the fire-crew on the Titanic.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[colin1]

Nothing that dramatic, but my grandad ran the school football team that local professional footballer duncan edwards started out in. Duncan Edwards died in a plane crash along with other Man united players.

The same grandad was involved with bomber air bases during WWII and he didnt like talking about the war as it was a nasty business, but when I made a lancaster bomber from an airfix kit, he menioned an experience of his.

I dont think he liked the model much as it brought back unhappy memories, sending off young bomber crews who often didnt come back. The even he recounted was a bit more horrific and immediate though.

In order to fly in formation, the bombers all take off closely behind each other so they dont have to wait for each other before setting off. This would work fine most of the time, but one time, one of the lead bombers had a problem, and crashed before take off, and all the others ploughed into it and each other, resulting in flames possibly explosions and lots of injuries and deaths right in front of all the people who dont usually see that stuff.

He was also involved in the invasion of sicily but I didnt get to hear about that.

I did find an old diary of his that I presumed to be ww2 dunno why, but it was more facts and figures than wordy stuff, and I couldnt read much of it.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[pinkyfloyd]

My mothers grand father helped build a ship in Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. You might have heard of it. Looked a lot like this one:

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iirqWUi29xA/S8bdjme6tNI/AAAAAAAAAN8/AlZPuohAYBM/s1600/titanic5.jpg

A few days later it looked like this:

https://myfavouriteworld.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/sinking-of-titanic-wallpaper.jpg?w=1000&h=

These days it looks a bit like this:

https://www.titanicuniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Titanic2.jpg

Anyone who knows anything about this infamous ship will know that the iceberg it hit did not make a massive hole in the ship but rather it caused the rivets to break causing the 300ft long hole that sank the ole girl.

My great Grandfather was a riveter.
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
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[The Artist]

[Snodvan]

I've been doing a bit of family history over the last couple of months. I have mother's side back to 1761 - mostly agricultural labourers on her mum's side and mariners/ copper miners in Anglesy on her dad's side. On Father's side we go back to about 1790 but only on his mum's side and there they centre around Staffs area with all sorts of jobs. Dead end on his fathers side.

Interesting doing this but by heck it takes time and effort. What I have was done mostly on-line but it can get expensive because things like access to census data on-line is not free AND you need software to handle/ display what you find. Free software gets you going but soon you need to spend

Snod
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[mistergixer]

A part of our family history which we don't like to talk about - my Dad's cousin was a professional footballer, and played for Wolves and Man Utd.

Obviously, it's quite painful to know that one of your relatives was a homo and played a girl's game for a living.


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[SlimRick]

My Great, Great Grandfather was a chap called Bogong Jack - quite a famous horse thief. I have a book about him somewhere. There are tours in Australia to go and see his shack, and a town named after him:

[Llama-Farmer]

Had a family funeral yesterday and was having to get my aunt to remind me who is who in the family and how everyone's related.

Recognise everyone each time I see them. I'm damned if I can remember their names or how they fit in the family tree though.


I'm sure there's gotta be some interesting stuff in my family heritage, but nothing I can particularly think of.

[temeluchus]

My family history reveals a few characters.

Ancestors of note:
Quannah Parker
William Henry Harrison
Benjamin Harrison

Cousin of note:
Maurice Bishop (late, of Grenada)

Have Hugenots, native Americans and offspring of owner/slave interactions in there.
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[pits]

On my nans side I know that my Great Grandad was SS, but my nan wont say anything about it other than he hated Hitler and wasn't involved in the war to move away from him being SS, but we all know he was.


And on my Grandads side, his Grandad was a rather wealthy man, he owned what is now the Welsh Valley line my Great Grandad used to play with gold coins and stuff, sadly there is only one person who can claim the inheritance from it, but the catch is, it can't be claimed, been to the house of commons this matter but basically
He lived
He owned the land
The government acknowledge that he lived, he owned the land, he is obviously dead now, and know who the relatives are for the inheritance claim, however.

When they added up all the back royalties on the land they realised that the payout would bankrupt the country so they decided because he had no death certificate as it was pre death certificate they wont honour it, it is written in the family church bible, but not death cert they can't prove he died so wont pay out.

They wont pay out because the land is worth so much and what is built on it now would become technically illegally built as it was built on land that wasn't theirs to build on, and again it would bankrupt the country in royalties alone, will try and dig up some info on it and when it went to parliament, but we can't take it any further because common sense does not prevail because no death certificate he isn't legally dead

piss take eh?
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[Dragonfly]

I cant find any thing of mine
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All the breast.
Muzza on Binge:
He's too busy beating the everloving shit out of Lizzie to notice this thread has taken a turn down Drama Avenue and stopped off at the popcorn shop.

[pinkyfloyd]

[Serendipity]

Both my parents have been heavily into their genealogy for the last few years. The only really interesting thing they discovered was my paternal great great grandmother who killed her first husband in the mid 1800s.

She owned and ran a coffee shop in London while he was apparently an abusive good-for-nothing. One night they argued and she locked him out. He returned the next morning and continued the fight while she was preparing food. She threw a knife, hitting him in the neck and he expired a few minutes later. We have an article from the News of the World detailing the case and her acquittal.

Ancestral ninja skilz!

She later married again with the new fella being my great great grandfather.
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2007 CBF1000 & 2016 CBF1000F - Commuter heaven | 1994 CBR600FR - Awaiting defibrillation

[Rebel]

There is a family portrait of my great grandfather who was very fierce looking with a big long beard. He was a sea captain and was taken by pirates in the south China sea.
A great uncle was in the first wave to land at gallipoli, and was wounded and left on the beach. The Turks came down and bayonetted all the survivors but he was such a mess they thought he was already dead.
An uncle was skipper of a landing craft on D Day. Dad served in the far east but won't discuss it apart from mentioning liberating pow's and his enduring hatred of all things Japanese.
My mum watched a big German parachute mine come down in the blitz and blow her house and the rest of the street to smithereens.

[Dragonfly]

[pinkyfloyd]

The Sirrocco works was a massive metalwork place in Belfast. My Grandad worked there for a good part of his life. Oddly enough they pioneered Air Conditioning in there. Imagine that, Belfast, a city that spends most of its time cold and wet is credited for inventing the device that keeps hot houses cool!
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.