My grandfather Cecil (shown in the photo above) made no secret that he was a “10 Pound Pom” and that he came here in the 1920’s. He only went back for a couple of visits in the late 70’s and early 80’s at the insistence of my grandmother. He never spoke about England, his childhood, his parents or anyone else for that matter. The only thing he ever said was”Oh yes, we are related to the Redgraves. The actors are part of our family”. The Redgraves were a famous family - we didn’t believe him!

Pop died in 1990 and the stories died with him, but after watching an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? I decided to start my journey into my roots.

Where do I start? I have traced my family back to 1774 and hope to still go further. My family were all Londoners. I managed to confirm Pops’ statement - I am indeed a Redgrave, Cornelius Redgrave was my 3x great grandfather! My family lived and worked at The Royal Theatre Drury Lane.

Pop never talked about his father (shown in the photo below) because he was a bit of a scoundrel. At 18 he married a 65 year old woman, was tried for manslaughter of a child, but found not guilty, as well as a couple of other indiscretions. I’m sure my Pop knew nothing of these as they were before he met Pops’ mother.

Pop had 9 brothers and sisters, before his father abandoned the family and had two children with another woman. I would love to know how much Pop knew or didn’t know. I have made contact with family in the UK, Canada and recently have written to new found family in the U.S.

I have found all of this through Ancestry.com.au. How people did this before computers is beyond me. I started this three years ago, my tree has grown to over 1000 people and still I find new mysteries and new connections every day. I am now a member of a genealogy website where we chat with people from all over the world and have written a book about my family history.

I am now also researching my wife’s tree as well as helping a cousin with his. I have been dubbed “The Family Archive”, and get all sorts of family heirlooms sent to me for safe keeping. I have a filing cabinet full of certificates and documents. I am well and truly hooked and don’t look like stopping soon.

Duane Broughton