Blog | Tracing Ancestors In The UK

Explore the Past – at Worcestershire

Posted on June 21, 2018 by Ros

Discover Your Past If you have Worcestershire ancestors, or are particularly interested in Worcestershire history or archaeology, then consider yourself lucky. The Worcestershire Archives (at The Hive ), have an excellent service, Explore the Past, to help you work out what documents you need and where to find them. Added to that, they have produced a very handy introduction to the sources held at the archives, also called Explore the Past.

Explore the Past is downloadable in pdf form for a small fee and takes you through all the most commonly used types of sources held at the archives, with information about what each type of source can help you.

The Contents Section at the beginning shows you clearly all the different sections of the guide, and each one is clickable so you can go straight to the page you are interested in. Once there, the pages are clearly laid out, with interesting images and concise information about that source. There is also information on how you find and order the relevant documents either on the website or at the archives in person.

The guide also includes a section for Frequently Asked Questions, a handy glossary of terms, and a contacts page.

I found the guide was very clear to read, with bullet-point lists and large print, plus there are links to the relevant sections of the Worcestershire Archives website.

Finding your way around county archives is not always easy, and for the individual just starting out on any historical research, the range of different sources can be overwhelming. The Explore the Past guide goes a long way to making the process as easy and stress-free as possible. All other archives take note!

You can buy the guide HERE.

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Tracing Your Ancestors in the UK – My new eBook

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Ros

For all you people out there who are struggling to get started with your ancestry, my new eBook, downloadable on Amazon Kindle, may be just the thing to help get you going, and avoiding some of the pitfalls of amateur genealogy. The book is called Tracing Your Ancestors in the UK – A Step by Step Guide for Beginners and, as the title suggests, it takes you through the initial steps on your genealogical journey.

The book is in three parts. The first part introduces you to the practice of genealogy – its history and uses, the origins of surnames and some of the things you need to look out for when searching. There is nothing to stop you diving into Part 2 straight away – but I do recommend that you read this introduction at some point.

The second part is the step-by-step guide, taking you from the very first actions you need to take when you start tracing your ancestors, through to all the sources you need to search for, providing links and explanations to how to search for and use them. I will explain some of the little tricks I use to get the best out of the search engines, and how to avoid the common mistakes that people make when using the relevant websites and documents. I will also include my own personal experiences of searching for my own family, and as a professional genealogist.

In the third part, I will help you to dig a little deeper, using more advanced sources and documents to find out more about your family, or to help you when you have hit a brick wall. This part should only be read once you have gone through the steps in Part 2.

At the end I provide a comprehensive list of books and websites so you can delve deeper into specific subjects that may interest you (such as military records or Scottish ancestry, for example).

If you have read and found my book useful, please use the comment box to add some feedback – or if you have any questions about the book, please ask!

My New Historical Novel – Isobel Brite

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Ros

You probably know that I am a writer as well as a genealogist, and so I am happy to post here that I published my new historical novel, Isobel Brite, just before Christmas.

It’s been a long time in the making. I first had the idea a very long time ago after finishing my OU degree. As part of a final dissertation on local entertainment in the Daventry area, I had researched a local travelling theatre company via a bundle of letters held at Northamptonshire Record Office. The characters in this company intrigued me, and I felt that the characters, and the life of travelling actors, could very well form the basis of a historical novel.

I started writing Isobel Brite, with the eponymous main character being my own creation, a determined, talented and self-centred young woman who matures throughout the book as she struggles to deal with the ups and downs of theatrical life and the choices she makes.

The two men in her life are my fictional creations, but many of the characters in the novel are based on real people, particularly, her good friends Henry and Caroline Hartley, who were members of that travelling theatre company I researched. Henry was a prolific letter writer, and so I was able to glean much about his character, as well as the life of a travelling actor in the early Victorian period.

I also had fun creating little cameo roles for other theatricals (based on real people) Isobel meets along the way.

The book was put on a back-burner while I got distracted by other projects, and other stuff, like earning a living. But every so often, Isobel would come and tap on my shoulder and demand my attention. I finally decided I had to commit myself to finishing it a year ago, and was determined it would be out in 2017. I just about managed it!

But I enjoyed writing it, and Isobel took over and sometimes showed me the way herself. The themes of the novel developed as I wrote. It is a novel about growth, friendship and the consequences of the choices we make in life. Isobel is better at making career choices than she is making romantic choices, and the two will affect each other in very profound ways…

Isobel Brite can be bought at Amazon HERE

Posted in Writing | Tagged historical novel | Leave a comment

The International Genealogical Index – What is it and how do you use it?

Posted on October 2, 2017 by Ros

Once upon a time, before the internet, when you had laboriously gone through the original parish registers at the local record office, and found your ancestor missing, your next port of call would be to look at the International Genealogical Index (IGI) on microfiche to see if you could find them nearby. Very often the County Record Offices only had the fiches for their own and nearby counties, but the IGI could be very useful if your missing ancestor had come from a neighbouring parish. If you found them on the IGI, then you would then look at the relevant parish to get the original record.

Since the internet, and since the IGI is now online, I can see that the approach to the IGI is very different to what it used to be. In fact, when I am searching specifically for IGI records, I am aware that probably most people do not even realise that they are searching the IGI, or even that it is an index.

For one thing, if you use a programme like Ancestry to search for baptisms, the results will be a mixture of original parish register copies, and the IGI – which will not give you the original copy. But do people actually realise this? I have a feeling that people use IGI information as if it was an original source. This is dangerous, and can lead to wrong information. My purpose in this post is to clarify exactly what the IGI is, and how to use it professionally, to eradicate error.

What is the IGI?

The IGI is a computerised project run by the Church of the Latter Day Saints which was first published in 1973. It is compiled by its members in order that their ancestors can be baptised. The index is available for anyone researching their family history, and you can access it online at www.familysearch.org and also on Ancestry.co.uk.

The IGI is an index of mainly parish register entries – mostly of baptisms and marriages (and a few burial records), arranged by county and then alphabetically by surname. However, with the search engines on the above websites you can now search by name first (in the old days you had to load the fiche for the county, and scroll through the lists of names).

FamilySearch.org is the free website where you can search the I.G.I. It is easy to search for an individual’s baptism or marriage by place or county, or even the whole country (although, if it is a very common surname, the more specific you can be the better, otherwise it could prove impossible).

While extremely useful, the IGI is just an index, so it should not be used as an original record. Once you have found entries on the IGI that look like they might be your ancestors, you should then search the original parish registers by visiting the county record office, hiring a genealogist, or finding out if the registers have been published online. Another option is to contact the relevant county record office and applying for a photocopy of the record. Most CROs do this for a reasonable fee.

Important Notes about the IGI

The main drawback of the IGI is that it is not comprehensive. There are still many parishes that are under-represented. So, if you do not find your ancestor on the IGI it does not mean that they were not baptised, it just means you need to look at other resources.

The IGI should never be used as conclusive evidence. While it is an extremely useful tool, and often a way of finding ancestors that you cannot find elsewhere, any information you find should always be backed up by following up the original resources.

This is partly because the IGI can be inaccurate, but also because it is not complete. You might find an entry who you think might be your ancestor, and because it is the only result, it might be easy to believe that you have found the right one, but it is possible that your actual ancestor was baptised in a nearby parish, one that has not been included on the IGI.

How to Use FamilySearch

When you go to www.familysearch.org hover over the Search tab at the top and then click on Records. This will bring you to the main search engine.

You need to put in a first name and a surname, and then any other details that you have. If you are searching for a birth/baptism, put in the birthplace, if known, the birth year range, and the names of the parents, if known. For a marriage, enter the place, if known, and the spouse’s name, if known.

You can then search by country and county. If you still can’t find your ancestor in the county they should be in, try doing a search of all counties, then look at the search results to see if they were baptised in a neighbouring or nearby county. This can often happen especially if the family lived close to the border of a county.

If you know exactly where your ancestors came from, it can sometimes be of benefit to search by the exact location (see the right section of the search page). This can be useful if, for example, you wanted to see all instances of a surname within a certain location.

Posted in Indexes | Tagged IGI, international genealogical index | Leave a comment

Brick Walls – 5 Actions to take when you have too many results

Posted on July 28, 2017 by Ros

brick wall This is a problem that is all too common when you have an ancestor with a common name. Unless you have extra information that might help you to pinpoint your ancestor out of a long list of possibilities, this can be really infuriating. One of those ‘John Smith’s is your great-grandfather, but you have no way of knowing which one he is! The problem is even more complicated if you have an ancestor with a name that can be easily shortened or changed (think how many variations of Elizabeth there are: Betty, Betsy, Lizzie, Liz, Eliza….)

It is not always possible to find out which, of all the many possibilities, is your ancestor. However, there are some strategies you can try which may lead you to the right one. The following actions are what I usually try when attempting to break through this particular brick wall:

Research other known family members. Do you know of any brothers or sisters who might have a more traceable name (for example, Nicholas is a lot less common than John)? Are there any people named as witness on your ancestor’s marriage who might be siblings, parents, uncles or cousins? Are there any visitors or boarders in the census household who could be relatives (they are not always described as a relative, even though they often should be). A careful perusal of all documents you have for your ancestor may given you some relatives you can trace, which might at least give you an idea of the area your ancestor came from.
Eliminate as many as possible. Sometimes, if there are just a few possible candidates for your ancestor, you may be able to shortlist them by a process of elimination. For example, let’s say you have found three possible baptisms for your ancestor, James Brown, all born in Warwick in 1812, who might all be your ancestor. You have three sets of parents. Note down their names, and find the names of all of their children. Do you see any naming patterns? Might your ancestor have named some or all of his children after his parents and/or siblings? Check burial records to see if you can ‘kill off’ one of the candidates – burial records for children usually give the parents’ names, so this is often a way of eliminating baptisms from your searches. Can you find any marriages for any of them, that you can definitely say is not your ancestor (be careful though – it could be a previous marriage that you did not already know about).
Do Further Research on the Shortlist. Sometimes, when you end up with two or three candidates, it is worth researching back on each family to see if there are any similarities of occupation, naming patterns and familiarity with places your ancestor lived.
Look for Wills or other documents. Make sure you check for any wills, not only for your direct ancestor where he might name siblings, but also any wills in the area with the same surname within his lifetime. If he is named as a relative, then you will have identified his family. Also, check documents such as apprenticeship records, where the father is often named, or land records (if the family owned property) which might given detailed of lands/property gifted to children.
Keep Going. In the case of too many possibilities, there are often just too many results to carry out the above, unless you have lots and lots of time and patience! But it might be something you can keep coming back to while you work on other lines of your family tree. Make a shortlist of the most likely individuals and find out what you can about them, eliminating where you can, making notes until you have a list of possibles. One of them might just jump out at you. However, it is likely in this case that you are never going to be 100% certain, and often we have to live with a probable rather than a definite. Just make sure you have stated that this is not a proven ancestor in any notes or histories you write.

Posted in Brick Walls | Tagged brick walls | Leave a comment

The Life of a Victorian Actress

Posted on May 24, 2017 by Ros

The article below is one I recently published on my writing website at RosamundeBott.com – but I thought it would be of interest to anyone with theatrical ancestors too!

The novel I am currently working on, and which should be out in autumn, is set in the theatre world of the 1830s to 1850s, and tells the story of my fictional character, Isobel Brite, a shoemaker’s daughter who leaves the restrictions of her ordinary life to join the theatre, where she finds a freedom as an actress that the vast majority of women of the time would never experience. There will, of course, be many challenges for my heroine to face, and I’m not going to give away any spoilers here! However, as a little taster of the kinds of themes I explore in my novel, I thought I’d write a bit about what it was like to be a Victorian actress^.

Victorian actress — Scene from “The Princess”, The Olympic Theatre 1870

In a time when women were more or less the property of men, actresses, and other female entertainers, had a rather unique place in society. Following a ‘profession’, the kind of career choice that was barred to most women, gave the actress an autonomy that has more similarities to a woman of the late 20^th century than those of her own age.

While this sounds like rather a pleasant position to be in, it was, of course, a bit of a double-edged sword. To many people who lived within the social mores of the period, the actress was a monstrosity. They threatened the general beliefs about female capabilities, which were that women were unable to work in any job that required physical, intelligent or creative activity, which were seen as the masculine domain. Acting demanded all three of these, and in the twisted logic of Victorian values, therefore, these women were not truly women, but a kind of curious inhuman being whose morals were not to be trusted.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the word ‘actress’ was often synonymous with the word ‘prostitute’. Some of those men who went to see their favourite actress on the stage either viewed her as some kind of mystical goddess, or as a person of easy virtue who they might fraternise with in a slightly more dignified way than a visit to the local whorehouse.

Because of her lifestyle, an actress was not seen, by the outside world at least, as a fit person to be a wife and mother, and so if an actress married, she was often expected to leave the stage behind her completely in order to lead a respectable life. Astonishingly, this was not always limited to marriages outside of the business. During my research I have read accounts of actors who expected their actress wife to give up the theatre. The American actor, George Parks, threw himself into the river and drowned himself when his actress wife refused to give up her career. This was probably an exceptional case, however. In one travelling theatre company in the Midlands (where I have my heroine learn her trade), most of the acting company were children of the management, married to other actors in the company.

While I am sure that there were many actresses who did deserve the reputation they had, I think that, on the whole, the belief that actresses had extremely low morals was an erroneous one. Many may have had affairs (e.g. Ellen Ternan who had a long-standing affair with Charles Dickens), or co-habited without marriage, but these situations are far (in our 21^st century eyes at least) from prostitution. But I think many did lead quite virtuous lives. One of the books I have been reading as part of my research is the diaries of Fanny Kemble, a member of one of the best known acting families of the early 19^th century. She is an example of a truly intelligent, sensible and thoughtful woman who also wrote plays (another activity usually confined to men), and there is no hint of any scandalous behaviour! She did give up the stage when she married, and later campaigned against slavery America where her husband owned plantations. After her marriage ended (rather inevitably) she returned to the stage.

If you were happy to be single, or marry within the business, and were tough enough to ignore the views of those who might consider you no more than a prostitute, then there was the challenge of earning enough money to be comfortable. For the provincial actress, touring in a traveling theatre company in the early days of the 19^th century, this could be tough, but you had the companionship of your fellow actors as you travelled by foot from theatre to theatre, and the occasional benefit night, where the profits were given to the actor or actress whose benefit night it was, would often help see you through difficult times. In these companies you would also be expected to muck in with setting up the scenery, making your own costumes and other practical matters, as well as being an all-rounder: singing and dancing would be part of your repertoire.

If you were lucky enough to find work in one of the big London theatres, then your salary could be extremely good for the times, especially if you were the leading actress. An actress at the Haymarket Theatre, one of the major London theatres in the 1850s, could bring in £20-25 a week. But for most jobbing actors and actresses the wages were much less than that, and could be as low as £2 – still well above the national average. For all actors, whether male or female, the career was a precarious one – as it always has been – and once you fell out of favour, it could be a slippery slope to poverty and obscurity. While there were some theatrical charities that could offer some help, there was no welfare state or national insurance, and no doubt many ended up in the workhouse.

Still, despite all of the above, I think the life of a Victorian actress was often an enjoyable and interesting one, as long as you were not too keen on being a wife and/or mother, and as long as you could shrug off the way the world saw you, and as long as you could stay in work and earn enough money to keep you comfortable in your old age.

Life on the stage for a woman was certainly not for the faint-hearted. But for many it provided an alternative to the restrictions of ‘normal’ Victorian life, and it provided a vehicle for self-expression that most women were not allowed.

Posted in Occupations | Tagged Victorian occupations | 4 Comments

Visiting Your Ancestors

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Ros

Alton, Staffordshire

When you are next thinking about where to go on holiday, why not try an ancestral trail, and visit the homes and places where your ancestors lived and worked? If you have done a lot of research, and have some idea of where they lived and what they did, visiting your ancestors can give you a richer understanding of their lives, as well as a real emotional connection to them.

PLAN YOUR TRIP

Before setting off on your trip, you need to do a bit of planning first. First of all, you want to find out whether the houses they lived in still exist. For the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, specific addresses can be found on most of the later census records, on birth, marriage and death records, and on electoral registers. Earlier addresses may not always be so easy to find unless the place they lived in was a large, well-known house, a pub, or a farm. Continue reading →

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Brick Walls: Unknown Birthplace

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Ros

Unknown birthplace One of the most frustrating brick walls in genealogy is when you cannot find an ancestor in the local baptism registers, and they have died before the 1851 census when specific places of birth were given. You might even have found that in the 1841 census they are described as ‘not born in county’, which is about as helpful as a chocolate teapot. This is especially difficult when the name is a common one.

While this can sometimes be an almost impossible brick wall to break through, there are some strategies you can carry out to make sure you have turned over every stone. Here are a few that I use:

Check the Marriage

From 1837, marriage records give the father’s name, which can help considerably, but is still a problem with common names as, for example, there will be several hundred William Collins, son of John, born in about 1790 throughout the country.

From 1754, marriages in the parish registers have the signatures of two witnesses. Make a note of these witnesses. Often they are relatives of the bride or groom, so they are worth following up. If you can find these on the census, or other records, you may be able to get some idea of where they were from, and therefore, particularly if they are siblings, where your ancestor is from.

Poor Law

If you think your ancestors were poor, then it is very worth while checking the Poor Law Records in the local record office (or do a search on the National Archives Discovery search engine). If your ancestors were receiving parish relief they may have had to make a statement to prove why they were eligible for relief in that parish. In some cases, they and their family may have been removed back to a parish where they were born. These are known as Settlements and Removal Records. These records can be extremely useful where you have no other records to tell you where they came from, and often give detailed accounts of the person’s family and circumstances.

Wills

On the other hand, if your ancestors were wealthy, then you should always check any wills indexes (Ancestry, National Archives – plus local record office indexes). If your ancestor left a will, he may not mention where he came from but the places where he has property may be a clue, and also you can look at all the relatives he mentions in the will (particularly any siblings, cousins or older relatives) and you then then research them and find out where they are from. Also look for any wills who might be relatives of your ancestor to see if they mention your ancestor. You can then get further information about your ancestors’ family, and where they might be from.

Apprenticeship Records

If your ancestor had a trade, then it is worth checking to see if he was an apprenticed to a master when he was younger. FindMyPast has a good collection of these. Sometimes apprenticeship records give the name of the apprentice’s father, and some cases the master is the father, so they can be useful to identify a parent, and hopefully from there a place of residence.

Newspaper Records

This is unlikely unless your ancestor was involved in some sort of incident, or was important enough to warrant an obituary, but it is always worth checking newspapers and see if your ancestor has been mentioned for any reason. FindMyPast has a good collection of newspaper archives – and you can also try the BritishNewspaperArchives. This is a bit hit and miss, but you never know, and an article or obituary may just mention where the person was born.

Once you have exhausted these possibilities, and you still have not found your ancestor, then the chances are you will have to leave this one for a while, and hope that something else comes to light at a later date. I never like to totally give up on an ancestor, but sometimes you do have to let go – at least for a while!

Posted in Brick Walls | 2 Comments

Short History of Immigration in the UK and how to search the records

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Ros

In the light of recent political events, immigration is a subject that has been very much on my mind lately. While not wishing to get on any kind of political soap box here, as a professional genealogist I am very aware that many, if not most, of us are the descendants of immigrants, without, perhaps, even realising it.

Jewish refugees – Liverpool 1882

Some of us, in fact, owe our very existence to those brave souls who left their homes behind to escape war, discrimination or famine, and make a new life in this strange, rather wet and cold new land, having to face the problems of finding work, fitting in, and learning a new language, not to mention being looked on with suspicion by the local natives. Most of them would never see their homeland, or those they left behind, again.

My own ancestry includes several Irish immigrants, most likely escaping the potato famine that swept Ireland in the 1840s and 50s and caused thousands of families to die of starvation. I also have an ancestor who came from the United States of America, who himself was descended from early 17th century settlers in Massachussets, originally coming from Lincolnshire in the UK. My best friend has ancestors who came from Prussia in the early 19th century, possibly political or religious refugees.

Britain’s culture has evolved and been created by immigration from its very dawn of existence right up to the present day. Some of the things we think of as being inherently British were in fact introduced by immigrants. Fish and chips, for example. You can’t get more British than that can you? In fact, fried fish was introduced by Spanish Jews in the 19th century, and first sold with chips in the first fish and chip shop in London, by Joseph Malin, a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe.

Wherever you look, much of our British culture has been introduced from outside the UK.

1963 Mini

Tea, of course, was introduced from China, Christmas trees from Germany, curry from India. The Mini – probably the most iconically British car – was designed by a Greek assylum seeker. Our own Royal Family of course have a heady mix of European blood.

Here is a brief chronology of immigration into the UK, starting with the Romans:

1st Century BC: Romans invade Britain, settling and creating many of our place names.
5th to 7th Centuries: Anglo-Saxon invasion sees migration of Germanic peoples into Britain.
8th to 11th Centuries: Viking invasions bring people from Scandinavia who settled in much of East Anglia.
11th Century: The Norman Conquest of 1066 brought much of the French aristocracy into Britain, and with them the beginnings of many of our surnames.
11th Century onwards: Jews, often fleeing persecution, settled in the East End of London.
17th Century: Huguenots – French protestants fleeing persecution settled in North and East England, the East End of London and elsewhere.
17th to 21st Centuries: Indians seeking work, many settling in Port towns and London
18th to 21st Centuries: Africans, originally brought in slave ships. Later on fleeing from war, and in recent years many have come seeking work.
18th to 19th Centuries: Germans, often political or religious refugees, settled in the North of England and elsewhere.
19th century: Russian Jews fleeing persecution, setted in East London.
19th century: Irish immigrants fleeing from famine. In fact, the irish have steadily arrived in Great Britain throughout history, but the early 19th century was the largest wave, when they settled in Manchester and London.

Huguenot Weavers’ Cottages, Canterbury

There is no such thing as pure British blood. We are truly global citizens. Immigrants have not only enriched our blood, but have enriched our culture. We would not be who we are without them.

If you are searching your British ancestors, then you are very likely to come across at least one ancestor who came from elsewhere in the world. Whether they were Irish, Jewish, Huguenot, or other, there are genealogical sources that will be of some help. For example, there are the Huguenot Society and The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain.

Census records can sometimes give you the country, or if you are lucky, the town, of origin. Make sure you check every census your ancestor was on to see if any of them give more specific details. From there you should search any available immigration records such as passenger lists or natualization records. These are available to search on websites such as Ancestry.co.uk and FindMyPast.co.uk.

For baptisms and marriages outside of the UK, your first port of call should be the FamilySearch website, which is made up mostly of the International Genealogical Index. Not every country, or every area of a country, is covered, though. So if you can’t find your ancestor indexed on that site, you may need to seek expert help.

Some Irish records can be searched online (although Irish records can be patchy because so many were destroyed in a fire), but other countries are not always so easy, especially if their websites are only in the language of that country. Once you have exhausted the searches you can do online, then you will need to consider contacting a genealogist in the country of origin of your ancestor and find out how feasible further searches would be in that country.

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Posted in History, Immigration | Tagged immigration | Leave a comment

Brexit, Trump and Pandora’s Box – some thoughts on 2016

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Ros

Pandora

This is a little bit of a deviation from the usual subject matter of genealogy here. But in the aftermath of the American Election, I felt the need to put pen to paper and post it somewhere. However, it does have a link to history – in that we don’t want to repeat it. So – here it is:

I have never thought of myself as a particularly political person, and I admit that I do not always understand political systems and the nitty gritty of party policies. I don’t know everything, and I don’t pretend to. But I do know about integrity, decency, compassion and love, and when I see any politician or party ignoring or opposing these basic human essentials, then I usually grumble and sign petitions and vote and perhaps have the occasional political discussion with like-minded friends, but on the whole I don’t put my head above the parapet, and usually am just happy to get on with my own life and hope that things will get better.

Then along comes 2016.

The whole strange grimy mess of this year appears to have started on the day that David Bowie left the planet. A whole host of beloved celebrities followed him, and following that we had Brexit, and the long drawn out terror of the American Election. It really did feel to me as though Pandora’s Box had been opened, and all the evils of the world flown out. Did those celebrities know something we didn’t?

With Brexit and the American Election, suddenly, I’m a raging, ranting Ms. Angry Person, posting and sharing on social media, shocked and dismayed by the seemingly sudden upsurge of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, misogyny and stupidity that have gone hand in hand with the UK vote to leave the EU, and the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States (I still can’t believe I’m actually writing those words). I am not by any means saying that everyone who voted to leave the EU, or vote for Trump, is a racist or any of the above. However, one cannot help but notice that there is a deep correlation between racism and those particular votes.

I can fly off the handle at times; I will say what I feel at the time. On the morning of Brexit, and in the last few hours on the morning of Trump’s triumph, I posted some bleak and generally ‘pissed off’ posts.

It is easy to feel angry with the world when things do not go the way we feel it should.

But I am also a philosopher, and after stomping around and throwing my toys out of the pram, I tend to sit down and have a think about things, and being a positive optimist at heart, I like to pick out the silver lining. I like to try and work out what’s going on, and why. And what we can do about it.

To go back to Pandora’s Box, in the myth, when Pandora managed to close the box, what was left inside was Hope. There are several interpretations of why Hope was left – some of them pessimistic (i.e. Hope was left behind, therefore the world is hopeless) – and what was Hope doing amongst all the evils anyway? But there are some more optimistic readings, in the sense that Hope was left for the human. Let us in this instance go for the more optimistic reading.

If those liberal open-minded humanists among us can let go of all the anger and hurt many of us are feeling right now, we might be able to begin to see the positive sides of all this. Let’s calm down and review the situation. It is what it is. The worst has happened. What can we make of it all? What can we hope for?

Firstly, what we have seen this year is a huge protest both in the UK and the US – a kind of bloodless revolution, if you like. It’s a protest against the establishment, a protest from people who feel left out and unheard. Unfortunately, the only people who appear to have been listening are the kind of politicians who believe that a modern Fascism is the answer, and sadly, they have fed them more fear and discontentment, blaming the problem on immigrants, Muslims and other groups. The same thing happened in Germany in the 1930s – but then the problem, according to Hitler, was Jews.

Many of us may believe that they are misguided and misled by these right-wing politicians and tabloid newspapers (don’t get me started on that one), and if we do, then perhaps it’s time the rest of us started listening, so that we can provide a better answer. In a democratic country, we should all be listening.

And if we listen, we then have to start to understand the reasons behind what they think. This is a wake-up call for the rest of us. If, instead of reacting with anger and despair, we approached the problem with compassion and understanding, we might go some way to heal divisions. It seems to be that large sections of our society are not quite ready to be global citizens, to embrace other cultures or come to terms with changes they see as elitist, damaging or irrelevant in their world.

It’s as if someone somewhere has put the brakes on. We thought we were going one way, towards a more unified and tolerant world, but there are more people than we thought that don’t want to go that way, and they are currently calling the shots. They have stopped the train.

The main cause of this revolution is fear – and a fear that has been fuelled by the likes of the Farages, Trumps and Daily Mails of this world. If we do not address this fear through compassionate listening, a more intelligent media and education, then this train is not going to get started again for a long time. Being angry and ranting on social media does not change anything, and generally creates more division. I’ve seen the slanging matches, and they’re not pretty. Nobody comes out looking good.

Something far more profound and long-term must be put in place. Saying that of course is a lot easier than actually doing it. How, exactly, do we address the fear, anger and disillusionment that has created the rise of far-right politics in the UK, US and now possibly France? How do we address violent racism and hatred towards minority groups, without being heavy handed and/or patronising, and while the politicians in power seem to either be joining them, or at best, ignoring the problem?

So, to get to the Hope part. Some great things can come out of hard times. Perhaps, if we can be optimists, we can see the Brexit vote and the election of Trump as a wake-up call to change. It’s a bit like getting a severe pain, which makes you go to the doctor to see what’s wrong, and only by finding out the problem behind the pain can we then find out what the cure is. Though we probably shouldn’t leave it too long…

There are intelligent campaign groups, such asthe UK’s Hope not hate, and Global Justice Now, which give you the opportunity to take action in the world and your local community. Joining groups like this can make us feel less helpless in the face of growing divisions and prejudices. They also aim to educate and spread love and compassion. We can all feel better doing that.

Those writers, artists, musicians and filmmakers amongst us can use our art to express how we feel as well as educate. I feel that perhaps new protest movements, such as there was in the 60s, are about to grow again. I’d feel proud to be part of that, because I was a little too young for the first one.

If I can go back to the comparison with Hitler’s Germany again. In the 1930s much of the world ignored what was going on hoping it would go away, or didn’t know, because not enough people were talking about it. This lack of action against a dangerous state led to WWII. In today’s world things are thankfully different. I believe there are enough recognising what is happening, and hopefully it is enough to stop it escalating to similar consequences.

So, if 2016 was the year the alarm went off, perhaps 2017 will be the year we get up and start going to work to get that train moving again.

And as for Pandora’s Box. Poor Pandora. She wasn’t a bad girl – she was just curious, like all humans. Perhaps it is human nature to shake the world up a bit just to see what will happen. Well, the world is certainly shaken right now – let’s see what happens. Perhaps – just perhaps – it may not be as bad as we thought. Let’s Hope so.