Heritage Album - immigrants are blamed for so much in the UK yet how far back can you trace your family tree?

immigrants are blamed for so much in the UK yet how far back can you trace your family tree?

personally i have french ancestors.

Public Comments

Well, my grandfathers on both sides were a bit of a mystery, so I'm quite screwed there. But I am a descendant of a man called Gilbert, who lived in Devon in 1651... So I have some seriously yokel roots!
My daughter traced our family tree back to a couple of hundred years and found no trace of immigrants. I am 75 yo old and can still remember the time when there were very few, if any coloured people in England, Now I walk around some parts of Birmingham and I could be in Pakistan
My mom is a geneology freak. It is her greatest hobby since she found out she has Leukemia and can't work. She traced one side of my family back to the 1700's and the last one she traced came from Ireland. My husbands family can go back 125 years to Poland on his mothers side. His Great Grandma and Grandpa were 100% polish. That is as far as she got on that side. She will figure out how to get into international records before long I'm sure LOL.
I can trace mine back to adam and steve
good point. Didn't someone once call the English the mongrels of Europe? by the way before anyone complains. I am actually English. OK?
I was involved in my families research into our past. We got as far as 1435 and an ancestor called Frederick who was a Member of the English Parliament who once represented the town of Kidsgrove. Unfortunately the records beyond this were destroyed in a severe fire that gutted the Town Hall and all the historical records. I guess you could say that we are NOT immigrants.
I don't know anything about my background because I was adopted. I am the beginning of my family tree :)
michael w, that's ridiculous and I thought you were a smart guy. Shame. firecat - right, so all your ancestors are from here? Er... read your history. Don't you know where the cradle of civilisation was in the first place????
i can trace mine back to the Campbell clan in Scotland. my father is Campbell and his father etc, back to the time when the Romans were here and the Campbell's were murdering b*stards up there in glen coe. that's the gist, (its too late for a history lesson) i would love to look into it further. as for immigrants, peoples physical features are usually a classic sign of their heritage. genetics have a strange way of working, they can miss a generation etc etc. however, the immigration situation today bears no reflection on origins of centuries ago. its two totally different subjects.
I agree with Michael W, isn't it fantastic to have such a range of different cultures to enjoy and learn from. Immigrants are, by nature, entrepreneurial people. Who on this board would have the guts and determination to travel to a completely different country and set yourself up and succeed amongst people who weren't always so welcoming. We need more of that spirit injected in to this apathetic country. That is why people seem to frightened of immigrants, they know they've had the balls to do something they themselves couldn't even contemplate. In answer to your question never managed to get past my great great grand people - all good cockneys through and through.
On one branch 7 generations, Hungarian, but not sure where since the borders have changed :(
i've never traced my family tree. God knows what I've got lurking in the past
We traced our name back to the norman invasion. Yes 1000 years ago, my maternal family were french. Cez't La Vie!
We all have european origins even us die hard British born & bred believers I can do about 4 generations but its a known fact even us white Brits will be the result of some plundering a few 100 years back
My ancestors were cavemen who lived in what is now Wigan. Back then they kept trying to get the Neanderthals sent back to Germany... kept taking all the jobs in the stoneworks.
My dad's cousin has traced our family tree back as far as 1400's, Sir Christopher Wren married into our family... The National Trust owns the family ancestral home in Norfolk!
900 years, my ancestors were vikings from Norway.
1722 by our family Bibles I have GR.GR.GR. Grandfathers listed as " pyrates" and a g.g.g.grandmother listed as a "professional lady".
As far back as the days of the Vikings, my ancestors were Nordic raiders, so i guess you could call me an immigrant, mind you if i went back to Norway, i think they would call me a foreigner, or am i a nomad with no home ? personal i call myself British, as my Grand father fought in the 1st world war for Britain, as did my father in the 2 world war.
I traced my ancestors back to the Massacre of Glencoe (McDonalds), all cattle thieves and sheep stealers, nothing changes really.
I can trace mine back generations....years and years...... But what do you mean by your question?? Immigrants are blamed for so much.....yes , because when you ancestors came here they had no welfare state to ponce from, they had to get on with it.
In the UK: Wales, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire from 1600 In Belgium: Antwerp - from 1750
I can go back to at least 1700 without any trouble but we have snipets of info going back a further 800 years
I can go back 8 generations on my dad's side and I know my mum's family was part of clan Cameron of Locheil in the mid-1700s. My family name is very unusual but it is listed in documents dating back as far as 1296. But when it comes to immigration, you have to be fair, you have 2 different types of immigrants, especially when it comes to illegal immigrants. Immigrants need money to get here, to pay their way into the country. Which often means they are educated, reasonably well off in their own country but probably in danger from the current regime there. In many countries where you have political unrest, the first people targetted are often doctors, teachers etc. When those people come to this country they tend to blend in, get jobs and contribute to society, which is why you often don't hear of them. I know of one guy who, immediately on arrival in this country was 'headhunted' by several large companies due to his expertise. He is now able to work here and has made significant contribution already. The other group who have the money to come here have often got it by illegal means and when they arrive here they are quite happy to continue with their illegal activities - these are the ones who know all the angles, how to claim all the benefits going, and the ones who always get into trouble. They are the ones who give all immigrants a bad name. It's just a shame that people who have come here because their lives were genuinely in danger in their homelands are finding that they are increasingly unwelcome.
Immigrants have always been welcome in this country, that's not the point, it,s the Welfare State, that let people come here & claim benifits. I can trace my family back generations
My ancestors, on my Dad's side have been traced back to Ireland where there was some integration with the vikings hence the surname Agar. Some came over to England, then returned to Ireland with Cromwell in the 1600's and were rewarded with land on which they built their farms. My father is Irish (Dublin) my Mother is English (London) but 3 of my Grandparents are Irish, one is Scots. So I guess that makes me of celtic descent.
I have Scottish, Irish, Cornish and English ancestry and I can trace my family back around 7 or 8 generations. I can count myself among the part of the British population who have 95 - 97% of Y chromosomal and mitochondrial gene types from the original British "Founders", who can be traced back to the Iberian peninsula, but who pre-dated the Celts in Britain. I for one welcome legal immigrants to the UK and value their contribution to our society and economy.
All the way to William the Conqueror so i am no jonny foreigner!!
I'm South African and I can go back a few generations until all my ancestors were English, Scottish, Dutch, French and Italian. How those nations got around!
No British in my family tree at all...yet
But I bet years back they didint get loads of hand outs from the state it was make it on your own or starve
I come from a long line of village idiots.
the question doesn't make sense, first i don't blame the immigrants i blame the government, along way and so!!!!! your point
I can go back to 1692 in U.K., but I don't think that quoting dates like that is relevant. Todays' immigrants are different to those earlier ones. Years ago people invaded or fled persecution, or came for work. Now some still come for work but there's an awful lot who come here for social security handouts and free NHS treatment, and we are daft enough to give it them