Clare Past Forum

Hi
Just on Irish Television RTE1, http://www.rte.ie/tv/whodoyouthinkyouare/ the first of six part series on the family history of Irish personalities. Episode 1 dealt with well known RTE1 reporter Charlie Bird. The journey took him from Dublin to Macroom Co Cork, Bermuda, Portsmouth England, London and back to Macroom. Along the way some very interesting characters showed up. He had no idea of his ancestry accept he had cousins in Co Cork. I found the episode entertaining and educational .He was able to access a lot of records quickly, having the resources provided by the series makers than would be available to unknown person taking the first tentative steps to find where they came from.

Last week a program went out at the same time, 9.30pm Monday 8th Sept in three parts tracing back three families to where they were at the time of the famine. Documentary in which Eddie Hobbs, John Waters and Jasmine Guinness uncover how their ancestors survived the devastating Irish Famine of 1845-49. This is the link to RTE archive http://www.rte.ie/tv/wherewasyourfamily ... 80908.html, I am not sure if you can watch it in full on the internet overseas. But it was an excellent program, the three taking part Eddie Hobbs TV economist and Cork man, John Waters Irish Times feature writer and Jasmine Guinness model traced there families back to where they were in Famine times. Each had unique tale to tell

There are five more episodes to go on who do you think you are? And if you cannot watch it on the internet RTE usually make these documentary available on DVD when the series finishes.

Take care Michael

Hi Michael,

I watched the 8-Sep-2008 episode and was very impressed. A very moving report. Thank you for flagging it here.

After WW2 German people who lived in the vicinity of the concentration camps were often asked whether they knew what was going on there, the implied question being that if they did then why did they remain silent. In a sense in the RTÉ report there is an analogous question being put to the ghosts of those who survived the Famine. Of course, it is a question that in the majority of cases will never be answered and it is also an unfair question in the sense that the ghosts are not here to answer it and, in certain cases, defend themselves. I'm particularly thinking of the ghosts of certain local and national politicians and landlords whose complicity is well-documented.

An interesting little detail in the film: an archivist or genealogist (I can't remember which), while talking to John Waters about age differences between the 1901 and 1911 censuses, mentions that as a result of the introduction of the old age pension in 1908 ".....a lot of Irish people suddenly became older....", i.e. implying that they "adjusted" their ages upwards in official documents so as to expedite their arrival at pension age. So there's yet another explanation of why calculated dates of birth change from one document to another (other examples being "adjustment" of age to facilitate naturalisation or recruitment into the military or to avoid military service or to become eligible for an inheritance at age 21).

Paddy

People may have been pretending to be younger - To make them more attractive to employers.

When the pension was then available, they could state their true age.