Who Do You Think You Are - Marvin Humes 6th Aug

[kiterunner]

On BBC1 at 9 p.m., and repeated on Tuesday night at 11:20 p.m.

[Margaret in Burton]

Nodded off I think in places but that’s more to do with me not sleeping well recently than the content of the programme. I enjoyed what I saw, I have recorded it so will watch again tomorrow.

[Olde Crone]

I wasn't very interested to start with, haven't a clue who he is, but I perked up when the Jamaican historian made the point that it wasn't just rich white people who traded or owned slaves, there were black slave traders and owners too. As she said - it's not a simple matter. The shame and blame is universal.

His mother's side was less interesting and as usual, full of assumptions. "Deserted" didn't always mean exactly that on an official document but it was a useful device for making sure your sickly child was properly cared for if you couldn't do that yourself.

OC

[kiterunner]

Episode summary:

Marvin Humes, aged 33, lives in Essex with his wife Rochelle and their two children. His father Colin is black; his mother Sharon white. Marvin went to visit his parents in Essex, along with his father's brothers Peter and Dalbert, who told him that their parents, his grandparents, were Robert aka Randall Humes and Ruby. Robert and Ruby left Jamaica in 1955 and 1958 respectively, with Colin being born in 1959. Robert never knew his father Joseph Humes, who left Robert's mother Mabel nee Williams when Robert was a baby. Mabel was ill and Robert went to live with her brother, his uncle, John Williams when he was young. John Williams had a son called Dockary Williams.

Marvin went to Crawl Farm (John Williams's old farm) in Jamaica to meet Dockary, who still lives there. Dockary said that Joseph Humes had an affair with John Williams' neighbour and they had a baby together, and that Mabel had "brain problems" which caused her to go into Bellevue Mental Hospital, and that she never really recovered. Mabel's father, Solomon Elias Williams, was a teacher.

Marvin went back to Kingston, Jamaica, and met a psychiatrist who showed him Mabel's death certificate. She died on the 18th Jul 1940, aged 52, at the mental hospital (or lunatic asylum as it was known.) The case of death was acute encephalitis. The psychiatrist told Marvin a bit about what mental hospitals were like at the time, but said that there were not many surviving records pertaining to Mabel. The Bellevue hospital still exists, and Marvin went to have a look at it.

Marvin then went online to look for information about Solomon Williams. He found his baptism record, which showed that he was born at Comfort Hall in Mar 1862, the son of John Brown Williams and Caroline. Solomon's marriage certificate showed that he married Mary Drusilla McQueen in 1887 at Comfort Hall, with his occupation shown as planter, but the birth certificate of their daughter born 9 Apr 1896 at Comfort Hall said he was a school master. Marvin went to Mico College in Kingston and met an historian, who said that "planter" would have meant that Solomon had a small farm, and that it wasn't unusual for black farmers to become teachers after the abolition of slavery in 1834. Mico College was a teacher training college. The historian showed Marvin a map from 1874 which showed that Comfort Hall was a farm of 20 acres belonging to John B Williams. Dockary, who used to work at Comfort Hall, went there with Marvin and told him that it is now about 80 acres and still belongs to one of the Williams family, but is not actively farmed.

Marvin went to St John's Church, near Comfort Hall, and met an historian who showed him John Brown Williams' baptism record from that church, which showed that he was born 2 Jan 1839, the son of John and Emily Williams, abode Comfort Hall. John Williams married Emily Brown on the 28 Dec 1828, also at St John's Church. Emily's baptism record, dated 30 Nov 1828 (just four weeks before her marriage), gave her colour as "Sambo", which meant that one parent was black, the other mixed race. The historian also showed Marvin a document dated 28 Sep 1835 which stated that John Williams, owner of Comfort Hall,was awarded £53 3s in compensation for 2 slaves who were freed when slavery was abolished.

Marvin met another historian at a former sugar plantation and looked again at Emily's baptism record, which showed that her parents were Edward Brown and Mary Lake. A list of slaves belonging to the Henriquez family in 1817 included "Ned, alias Edward Brown", age 30, and a document from the following year showed that Abraham Quizano Henriquez freed Edward Brown on payment of £160 from Sarah Davis, a free coloured woman. Researchers had not managed to find out any more about Sarah Davis.

Marvin then returned to Essex and met up with his mother to start on her side of the tree. Sharon's mother died about 9 years ago. Sharon's grandparents were Caroline McKenzie and Frederick George Buckingham, known as "Old Man Buckingham", a seaman, born in Chelsea about 1890. Marvin looked online for records of Frederick Buckingham and found Chelsea Workhouse records which showed that he was discharged from the workhouse age 1 1/2, with mother Mary 28 and sisters Ellen 7 and Mary 3. Another record showed that he was admitted again age 2, and discharged to the Infirmary. Records from Margate Metropolitan Infirmary showed that he was admitted 5 Aug 1896 (aged about 6). Marvin went to Margate and met an historian who told him that children from the city who suffered from scrofula (TB) were sent to Margate Metropolitan Infirmary as the sea water and air helped them recover. Records showed that Frederick was discharged, age 9, to North Hyde School, an orphanage, and North Hyde School records stated that he was "deserted" by his parents.

Marvin was then shown Frederick's Royal Navy service records from 1910 to 1914, which showed that he had received various punishments for bad conduct. Court records from Jun 1914 showed that he was charged with being drunk and disorderly, and assaulting his mother, Mary Ann Buckingham. There was also a report on this in the West London Observer. Researchers had not managed to find records for Frederick in the next few years, but found that he served in the Merchant Navy some years later. His records showed that he was a fireman on a ship called the William Caldwell in 1928, and served on various ships up until 1940, when he served on a tanker called the Caroni River, which exploded and sank. He then served on more ships, including the King Orry, which took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. Marvin went to Dunkirk to meet a naval historian who told him that the King Orry was hit by artillery fire at Dunkirk with many casualties, but made it home, and showed him a local newspaper report on Fred Buckingham's return home. He also showed Marvin the medals which Fred would have received for his WW2 service.

[kiterunner]

I wonder what Frederick Buckingham did in WW1?

[kiterunner]

Here is Frederick Buckingham on the 1901 census, in an orphanage:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7814/MDXRG13_1184_1186-0860/6849054?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk %2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3f_phsrc%3ddNx1263%26_phstart%3dsucc essSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26dbid%3d7814%26gsfn%3 dfred*%26gsln%3db*ck*n*m*%26gsfn_x%3d1%26gsln_x%3d 1%26cp%3d11%26msbdy%3d1890%26msbdy_x%3d1%26msbdp%3 d2%26qh%3dqSRVwjHIfeQKl6szxyg11w%253D%253D%26new%3 d1%26rank%3d1%26redir%3dfalse%26gss%3dangs-d%26gl%3d%26gst%3d%26hc%3d10%26fh%3d20%26fsk%3dBED mZmYIgAAehgA7jO4-61-&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

In 1891 with his parents and sisters:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/6598/LNDRG12_64_67-0161/10018473?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.u k%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3f_phsrc%3ddNx1266%26_phstart%3dsucc essSource%26usePUBJs%3dtrue%26dbid%3d6598%26gsfn%3 dfred*%26gsln%3db*ck*n*m*%26gsfn_x%3d1%26gsln_x%3d 1%26cp%3d11%26msbdy%3d1890%26msbdy_x%3d1%26msbdp%3 d2%26qh%3dqSRVwjHIfeQKl6szxyg11w%253D%253D%26new%3 d1%26rank%3d1%26redir%3dfalse%26gss%3dangs-d%26gl%3d%26gst%3d%26hc%3d10%26fh%3d10%26fsk%3dBED mZmYIgAAZxgA1SnU-61-&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults

[kiterunner]

This could be Frederick's mother in 1901, with a son William age 9:
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7814/LNDRG13_80_82-0032?pid=21561536&treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=dNx1278&_phstart=successSource

She is down as married, but her husband isn't there.

[kiterunner]

Mary Ann Buckingham birth registered Oct-Dec 1887 Chelsea, MMN Madden, and William David Buckingham Oct-Dec 1891 Chelsea, MMN Madden.
But if that's the right family, I can't find a birth registration for Frederick.
Edit - it does look likely to be the right family as there is a possible Frederick George Buckingham / Mary Ann Madden marriage Jan-Mar 1883 Chelsea.

[Ann from Sussex]

The military historian who handed over some WWII medals at the end didn't ACTUALLY say they were Fred Buckingham's did he? What he said was they were the medals Fred WOULD have earned for serving in the Merchant Navy and that immediately appeared to be morph into them having been Fred's. I don't think what he said and what was then implied are necessarily the same thing. If they were Fred's, I wonder how they got hold of them? Otherwise, it was a good one. I didn't expect to be very interested in Jamaican family history but I ended up being, mainly because of the explanations of the complicated contortions of description you get into when you try to categorize people according to ethnicity. Like OC I was pleased it was pointed out that not all slave owners were white.

[kiterunner]

The military historian who handed over some WWII medals at the end didn't ACTUALLY say they were Fred Buckingham's did he? What he said was they were the medals Fred WOULD have earned for serving in the Merchant Navy and that immediately appeared to be morph into them having been Fred's. I don't think what he said and what was then implied are necessarily the same thing. If they were Fred's, I wonder how they got hold of them?

It reminded me of the Robert Lindsay episode where he was shown a sword similar to the one his ancestor would have used, and he thought it was the actual one.

[kiterunner]

This is Frederick's seaman's ticket on FMP:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBOR/BT364/040/114&parentid=GBOR/MERNAVSEA/BT364/25465&fulfillmentTypeKey=7638
They showed this on the programme.
Also the long list of ship numbers:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBOR/BT364/040/113&parentid=GBOR/MERNAVSEA/BT364/25463

And although there is a discrepancy with the date of birth, this must be his Royal Navy record as the tattoo descriptions match with the above:
https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM/ADM188/883/0/0250&parentid=GBM/ADM188/235563

It looks as though he was still in the Royal Navy during WW1 but not serving on ships.

[Guinevere]

Forgot to check in on this one. I really enjoyed it, he seems like a lovely chap with a genuine interest. This series seems to have more assumptions than ever, though.