Tracing Your Roots is the series that helps put branches on your family tree.
Each week Sally Magnusson follows the ancestral trail back in time to uncover colourful stories and hidden slices of social history. Resident genealogist Nick Barratt is on hand with tips and inspiration to help you explore your own family's lineage.
Programme details
27 August 2008
Tracing Jewish Roots
This week we advise those tracing their Jewish roots, including singer Barbara Dickson who was surprised to find Jewish ancestors in her Liverpool-based family tree.
Dr Anne Kershen, Director of the Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary, University of London, joins Sally and Nick to explore waves of Jewish migration and what they reveal about chapters in Jewish and British history.
Stories in this week’s programme…
Jewish tailoring families in London’s East End
Anne Freeman-Wright knew nothing of her Jewish roots until she told her husband the name of one of her ancestors, Solomon Davies. Naturalisation Papers held at the National Archives in London revealed his place of birth and his occupation as a tailor. Dr Kershen takes Anne to Bethnal Green to see the former site of her ancestors' business and hear the story of the Jewish tailoring industry in 19th century London.
Letters between London and Vienna
Move to the 20th Century and the Second World War when sixty thousand Jewish refugees, including ten thousand children, came to the UK. Annie Corbleet’s mother was one of these children and her story is told through a series of letters which recently came to light. They reveal how an English family brought Annie’s mother and her three young siblings to the UK from their home in Vienna.
Tracing Your Roots is the series that helps put branches on your family tree.
