London Migration

It is human nature to take written facts of names and places, dates and occupations, however sparse, and use them to build a picture our ancestors and of the lives they led.   My husband was born in London, as were his parents, grandparents and all but two of his great-grandparents.   Of the sixteen in the generation previous to that only two were London born – twelve others had, between 1826 and 1872, migrated into London from all corners of England:  Devon, Warwickshire, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridge, Suffolk, Essex, and Kent.

Of these twelve, three couples had married and had at least one child before migrating (two marrying spouses from adjoining countries), and three males met and married their wives in London, their birthplaces bearing no relationship to those of their spouses.

The two couples of this generation who remained in the county of their birth were a stonemason and his wife (both Shropshire-born) and a carpenter and his wife (both born in Devon).

For this series of London migration prints, both country and city ‘portraits’ were produced for each migrating ancestor.   As in life, the juxtaposition of sixteen disparate people failed to present a unified image, therefore these were variously combined and allied to relevant texts in order to create a harmonious composition.


London migration I combines of country ‘portraits’ for each of the sixteen ancestors known to have migrated into London, with maps and place names of where they originated.   The decision to move from one’s birthplace might be prompted by dreams of success or by harsh economic necessity.


 
London migration II combined city ‘portraits’ for each of the sixteen ancestors known to have migrated into London with the street names of their first known address; further information is also embedded within the image.

 
London migration III Names, birthplaces and occupations have been worked into this image.   As well as commenting on the difficulties of unravelling such information when tracing London-born ancestors, it underlines the need to reappraise conclusions in the light of new evidence.

London migration IV is the final piece in this series and attempts to comment on dislocation and loss of identity, and the fact that while some families go on to achieve financial success, others most definitely do not.

From censuses it was seen that the fortunes of at least three families improved, since they became employers, but that one might have been better staying where he was, at least in terms of habitation.   For all but one it would have been necessary to come to terms with living, and raising a family in a crowded and rapidly-expanding city while losing both family support and the possibility of solitude amidst natural beauty;  that the one who migrated from the equally thrusting city of Birmingham was also by far the most financially successful might be little more than coincidence, but might not.

(All images measure 40cm x 40cm 15¾” x 15¾”, etching with soluble graphite on 250 gsm Somerset Satin)

This piece was written for the 9th issue of Language>Place> blog Carnival

 

Plotting ancestors

In 2009, as part of an exhibition entitled 'Plotting ancestors' I attempted to comment on my husband's sixteen great grandparents who had emigrated into London from various counties of England.

City ‘portraits’ were produced for each person.   By combining, by overlaying, the plates for husband and wife an 'image' of their marriage was produced.   Where this was less than visually successful, the back of the plate was used as a ‘wildcard’ (the plates having been cut from a larger plate which had held a family history image), adding an interesting extra dimension.   It is, of course, impossible to say whether or not the marriages themselves were as successful.

This image is for Thomas and Mary Ann Goodfellow - Thomas migrated from Birmingham and was probably the wealthiest of all my husband's ancestors since he was a silversmith and electro-plater with a business in Hatton Garden, and at one time owned some thirty properties in London.   All sold after a dispute over a will.

19/03 Great great grandparents

I knew their names, their parents’ names, the dates of their respective births and deaths and the date of their marriage.

I had stood at the front door of the house they occupied in the latter years of their life.
I had photographed their grave, read the sad litany of names of their dead daughters.
I knew that Susanna had been sufficiently highly thought of to be invited to a civic tea to commemorate the winning of the Crimean War, and that John loved cricket, was ‘greatly esteemed’ on the Bradford Wool Exchange and had suffered from asthma for much of his life.
But until I found this photograph, anonymous amidst a collection of cartes de visite, I had no idea what they looked like.

I am more grateful than can possibly be imagined that they took the trouble to visit a Blackpool photographic studio, sometime in the early 1870s, to stiffly pose for  their photograph.

This post began life as a response to today's Thinking Ten prompt 'Posing for a photograph' and is just one of the ways I have been time travelling this week.   Action in my current novel takes place in 1971, with some ten year flash-backs, and I have been remembering that time too.