I've always been interested to know what my ancestors did in the past, especially as my
Dad's side of the family is full of Reiver surnames. I was brought up to be proud of
being Scottish, as three of my grandparents were Scottish. Despite having been born and
brought up in England I always felt Scottish probably because my mum drilled it into my
head that I was Scottish, but also because my English grandmother had a Scottish
surname and was also from a small town less than 5 miles from the border.
Since studying my family I have found out that I am actually 40% Scottish, 30% English
and 30% Irish. My Irish roots came as quite a surprise to me, I can say that I may owe
exisitance to one of the greatest disasters in Irish history, the Great Famine, or as
my friend's dad use to joke, when "the Irish forgot where they'd planted their potatoes"!
This explains a lot when ever I watched international competitions such as Football I
always felt empathy towards all the countries of the British Isles (although not so
much Wales) I guess it was my blood calling to me.
Unfortunately I am only able to trace my Irish ancestors back about 200 years as the
Irish accidentally burnt most of their census and parish records in the 1920's. The
majority of my ancestors worked the land, but quite a few were Butchers, making them
upper working class, some were weavers, others mariners, there is the odd tailor,
dressmaker, household servant, mason, blacksmith, warriner and husbandman. My mum did
mention to me that my paternal grandmother thought she was descended from the middle
class, surprisingly she wasn't wrong! The Atkinson branch of my family were Innkeepers,
the most interesting fact being that my great great great grandfather William Atkinson
was the proprietor of the Stenhouse Arms in Crosscanonby and could boast Charles
Dickens as one of his customers.