Today, if something is ‘clandestine’, it’s usually something dodgy. Think clandestine drugs lab, clandestine affair, clandestine espionage… so when we saw that sixth great grandfather John Smith’s marriage to Ann Smallbone in 1726 was clandestine, we didn’t know what to think.
In the Workhouse
Great Grandfather Alfred Swain found himself in the Workhouse in Bermondsey in southeast London for a year at the age of 14. Children in the workhouse during the Victorian period experienced poor conditions, limited education and hard work.
The Newgate Prisoner
Great-grandfather Jonathan Beard came a cropper with an accusation of forgery – he went to court and ended up in London’s notorious Newgate Jail.