Who do you think you are...Richard Osman

A humble man.

I enjoyed it.

It's always so interesting to hear about the coincidences that are discovered.

It's fascinating to find out about coincidences in our own family histories too.

He tweeted:
"@richardosman: Thank you for all your lovely comments about 'Who Do You Think You Are?' It was a very moving experience. And remember we still blame people for their own poverty today."

After last week’s episode about Sue Perkins - the link to Lithuania and the boxing ring, this week’s about Richard Osman has also revealed some amazing coincidences. I wonder if he will feature a character called Gabriel Gillam in his next crime novel? I do like these family histories which focus on the lives of ordinary people who become involved in extraordinary events.

He just came across as a lovely gentle sincere man. Great programme.

I really enjoyed learning more about this lovely man.

I think he will incorporate much of what he has learned in his next book.
I love him.

It was interesting they ignored his father's family . He had left the family when Richard was young .

I did wonder if he would want to trace that side but no.
I can't blame him.

I haven't watched this episode yet. I think the programme is so interesting.
I loved Judy Dench.

I thought it was excellent too. He comes across as a very sincere man.
But I am slightly disappointed that we are not told how or where the researchers found what they did. (or how long it took)
I loved to see his ancestor's merchant seaman's record with the detail such as his height, complexion and tattoos. I want to see if my Gt grandfather also had one.
Mine is on the 1851 census as a 15yr old sailor.

Ancestry has a record set of apprentices indentured in the Merchant Navy between 1824-1910.

Under the Merchant Seamen Act 1823, Masters of British merchant ships of 80 tons and over were required to carry a given number of indentured apprentices. These had to be duly enrolled with the local Customs Officer. These provisions were extended by the Merchant Seamen Act 1835 which provided for the registration of these indentures. In London they were registered with the General Register and Record Office of Seamen and in other ports with the Customs officers who were required to submit quarterly lists to the Registrar General. In 1844 it was provided for copies of the indentures to be sent to the Registrar Genera. Although compulsory apprenticeship was abolished in 1849 the system of registration was maintained. Under the Merchant Shipping Act 1894 a parallel arrangement was introduced for apprentices on fishing boats.

Ancestry also holds a record set for Masters and Mates Certificates 1850-1927. The certificates and other documents were issued to merchant seamen who qualified as masters or mates aboard merchant ships.

This was a very interesting programme what a nice down to earth man Richard is. What a family history apart from his father who does not deserve research.
It took me back to being eighteen. My job after typing school was working at the Merchant Navy establishment on Liverpool docks. In between typing out boring letters and answering the old PBX switchboard. There was always a lot of interesting information to read with admiration of young and old in the seaman’s records.

CaravanSerai that's really interesting and useful, thankyou.
My ancestor was in Port Glasgow so not sure if their records were the same. The next time I see him is when he marries my widowed gt grandmother in New Zealand 18 yrs later. I found his Master Mariner's certificate NZ in the archives there (it was found for me by the archivist for a small fee). From there, his date and place of birth took me to Port Glasgow which is just down the road from me. I have been able to research his family back to Ireland in the 1700s. He has no death certificate as he disappeared at sea so it is those "missing years" I would love to see where he was..
I am on Ancestry so will definitely give the Mariner's records a try.

He came over as a very thoughtful caring man. No false tears or lovey theatrics. It would have been difficult to follow his father's family with his mother still alive maybe it was done for him in private.
One of my relations has decided to make a record book of our family,we both use Ancestry but are finding it difficult to find records of people who survived WW1 in more than one regiment.
I would like to know where they get their records from as well.
Especially the workhouse ones where the building no longer exists.

WDYTYA magazine had a fetaure in April this year about where to find workhouse records:

Few workhouse records are online, so the best place to start is often the County Record Office local to the institution. You will need to know roughly when your ancestor was in the workhouse and, if it was after 1834, which Poor Law Union their parish belonged to.

The Workhouse website is the best place to go online to find out about the history of a particular workhouse or Poor Law Union, with plenty of pictures and old maps. It also has some information about the workhouse record holdings for particular institutions.

Those Poor Law documents that have been digitised will mostly be found amongst large regional collections on family history websites. For example, Ancestry has online collections from the London Metropolitan Archives, including London workhouse records. It also has collections for Warwickshire, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cardiff.

www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/tutorials/workhouse-ancestors/

www.workhouses.org.uk/

A gentle giant

Grammaretto You might find this useful:

www.glasgowfamilyhistory.org.uk/ExploreRecords/Pages/Merchant-Seamen.aspx

Sounds like a trip to The Mitchell: Glasgow City Archives could be useful.

The book mentioned at the book of that page by Christophere and Michael Watts might give some pointers too.

Thanks very much CaravanSerai. Our county only has two record offices but I will try the nearest to the town where the Work house was. I never knew until the programme that old people could put themselves into the workhouse to prevent being a burden to their family. Others are recorded as being on Parish relief.

I spent some time today exploring crew lists. I'm not able to be sure I have found my man as he had a common name, but reading the Master's report of the voyage is so fascinating.
Wonderful that these records survive.
Thanks for pointing me to these Caravanserai

Thank you.
I have just enjoyed Richards journey, absolutely fascinating.

My father was a merchant sea man, so next time in Glasgow I will do a bit of investigating myself .
(Do I need to book ?)

Thank you all for the pointers.

Just watched, very interesting and Richard seems to be a really nice person.
It's so sad to hear about the shocking lives of the poor in those days, and how high infant mortality was.

We hear a lot nowadays about the shortage of care home places and how families should be caring for their elderly parents at home "like we did in the old days" It was interesting to hear that in the 19th century a third of old people ended up in the workhouse, with some going in voluntarily so as not to be a burden on their families. So old granny only got her comfortable chair by the fireside if you had the money.

I've read that it takes a long time to research each celeb and if there is nothing interesting they are cast aside! see below.
cut and pasted;

Before filming begins, a team of researchers spend hours and hours looking into a whole host of stars’ family backgrounds before deciding whose are the most compelling to feature.

Unfortunately, not everyone’s family history is quite TV-worthy, and that means there’s a whole lot of celebrities who haven’t made the cut for the show.