London Stories: Personal Lives, Public Histories - Hilda Kean

Who Am I? Where do I come from? Who were my ancestors and what were their lives like? These are all questions we my have pondered upon time to time whilst some of us have actually gone out and dug around in archives and graveyards to discover more about their family history. Fueled by the success of programmes like “Who Do You Think You are, is one of the most popular forms of research amongst amateur historians. There is one main problem with genealogy ...
...uncle Percy was a one legged coal miner with 5 kids and a wife in the workhouse but how important is it ion the bigger scale of things? Oxford lecturer Hilda Kean addresses this problem in her book “London Stories: Personal Lives, Public Histories”

“London Stories” is based on Kean's quest to trace her East End family roots It was inspired by Ken sorting through her partisan's possessions and documents when her mother was moving to a ... more

Who Am I? Where do I come from? Who were my ancestors and what were their lives like? These are all questions we my have pondered upon time to time whilst some of us have actually gone out and dug around in archives and graveyards to discover more about their family history. Fueled by the success of programmes like “Who Do You Think You are, is one of the most popular forms of research amongst amateur historians. There is one main problem with genealogy , it maybe fascination to you that great great great uncle Percy was a one legged coal miner with 5 kids and a wife in the workhouse but how important is it ion the bigger scale of things? Oxford lecturer Hilda Kean addresses this problem in her book “London Stories: Personal Lives, Public Histories”

“London Stories” is based on Kean's quest to trace her East End family roots It was inspired by Ken sorting through her partisan's possessions and documents when her mother was moving to a retirement home after an accident It is a book about the lives of ordinary working class people mostly in East London's districts of Bethnal Green, Bow and Hackney.

The book is divided into seven chapters with each one detailing a different generation and branch of her family the Keans, Sallnows, Eickes and the Mankelows. The first three chapters explore the roots of the family moving from an illiterate silk weaver in Bethnal Green to a brick maker/farmer in the Kent countryside and further afield to farmers in the Black Country of Staffordshire, Shropshire borders. These chapters concern themselves with broader themes in 18th and 19th century English history such as the birth of the industrial revolution, philanthropy and living standards in London's East end and migration to the industrial cities whilst examine the individual stories and how they fitted in. to the family tree. These chapters were less satisfying as there was less evidence of who the people were, as individuals,(although there is a lovely story about a great grandmother whose kiss tasted of raspberries) as the evidence is mostly confined to official records such as censuses and parish records.

I found the remaking chapters in a way more interesting, as the lives of the individuals concerned are less shadowy due to oral stories passed down to Hilda and also photographic and material evidence such as the chairs Kean's grandfather carved that are now in her possession. Chapter five was particularly interesting because it dealt with the “skeletons in the family closet”, the family members that were not talked about or acknowledged due to deviant behaviour of disability and illness. I found the attitudes to disability and mental health particularly interesting and how they have changed over th century. At work due to political correctness we call the disabled entrance the accessible entrance Compare this with an event for disabled children and adults ran by a church in early 20th century Hackney called the Cripple Parlour. There would be outrage nowadays if that term was used. I was also interested to read about the grandparents in chapter six who lived in a tied cottage next to the Workhouse, as the grandfather was the engineer for the institution. This was as late as 1930 when there was state provision for old age and unemployment.

Chapter 6 grandparents, working in the workhouse. Weird to thin k runnong in 20th century even though OAP started in first decade. Chapter seven was touching as it dealt with the courtship and marriage of Kean's parents alongside their involvement in the non conformist church (Methodism and Congregationalist churches)

The style of writing is semi academic due to Kean's credentials as a lecturer of public history. Thus sociological and historical concepts and theories are used to analyse and explain the evidence and conclusions Kean makes. I found myself having to concentrate in parts to grasp Some of the points she was making especially about the interaction of the public and the personal histoires. How stories and artefact's can be personal to a person but can also be public due to documents exisitting inn an archive for example. However don't let that put you off, as it is an interesting book that most people interested in modern urban history would enjoy.

One thing I found was that I got confused about who was who, which side of the family they were on and where they fitted. There is an appendix with family, names and places but it is written. For ease of reference a family tree in diagram form would have been useful, so I could work out where everyone fitted easily.

I am not sure how easy this book is to find, as it is a semi specialist publication. I borrowed my copy from my local library but it is available from amazon for £12.99. t 180 pages 9without the index, bibliography and index) its a nice size book , as it covers bra broad enough period of time without being too much of a tome. The various photographs,. illustrations and maps were a nice touch yo see the people and places mentioned in the book.

“London Stories” is not a step by step guide to researching your family tree. However it does touch on the various methods Hilda Kean used when discovering her ancestors. I think it would be an inspiring read for those interested in genealogy or the history of the East End of London.

 

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