Tracing the family tree is a passion that began as an 11 year old schoolboy, inspired by my deputy headmaster who was a keen genealogist.  Blessed with an unusual surname, armed with a notebook and pen, I began quizzing my relatives. The story that unfolded over the years includes:

• a serial bigamist

• prison sentences

• 13 years in a lunatic asylum

• flashes of genius

To find further details of the families of each of my great grandparents listed below, click on their names.