Genes Reunited Blog
Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!
- We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
- The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
- In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
- The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.
Official Blogs
The British Newspaper Archive
Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?
Emilia Fox on Who Do You Think You Are?
I really enjoyed last night's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? Emilia Fox's story was so interesting, what a talented family! Silent witness star Emilia Fox was 8 months pregnant when filming for the show. She was disappointed she knew so little about her ancestors and their lives, so wanted to delve deeper into her family history as a gift for her first born child.
It was clear to see throughout the episode that her family were full of colourful characters ranging from actors and actresses, to mill workers and inventors. She quickly discovered that her acting roots went back a lot further than she first thought.
The story of Hilda and her big sister Lily was beautiful! The bond between them was so lovely to hear about. I can't believe how far Lily's acting career took her as she went on to become one of the most famous actresses of the time . Both Lily and Hilda ended their acting careers in 1905. Emilia's journey then took her to Cornwall where she met up with Great Aunt Mary Fox, who Emilia found in the 1911 census and her sister Pam. What great characters they were! As they went through a lovely collection of old photographs, Emilia learns more about Lily and Hilda and soon realises Hilda always lived in Lily's shadow and her career never really took off as an actress. Hilda married the first Fox of the family, Arthur William Fox, in 1905 but this ended as Mary quoted, ‘Willy ran off with an American tart!'. Unfortunately, another sad ending to discover Lily died 2 days after child birth.
We then heard the story of Willy's father, Samson Fox, who went from a young apprentice working in the textile industry, to becoming the famous inventor of the corrugated boiler flue. Now that's an achievement to be proud of! The surprised look on Emilia's face as she discovered more about her Great Great Grandfather said it all. Who knew a family member would go on become the Mayor of Harrogate.
Emilia wanted to find out how far her family's acting roots went. I think we all discovered the talent runs in the family. We heard the beautiful story of Hilda and Lily, she discovered fame and fortune from her great great grandfather, Samson Fox who made one of the most important inventions of the 19th century. And congratulations to Emilia on the birth of her newborn baby, Rose. With such an interesting and exciting history in Emilia Fox's family, I'm sure you agree that finding out the lives and stories of your ancestors is a truly rewarding and exciting thing to do, and it can really help you find out who you are and inspire you to think of what stories future generations might find out about your life!
Could there be another generation of actors in the Fox family? Or will Samson's genius invention rub off on the next generation?
Comments
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What a waste of time and space, just a preci of the program which was very good.
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I am sorry I disagree with what the member above has written. If a member missed the programme, for whatever reason, it is nice for someone to write a precis of it. It might also be useful to others who will read the precis, see what they could be missing and what they could learn from these programmes and maybe want to watch it in future. This particular programme was excellent and my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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