What did you do in the war, Daddy?

I suppose many of my generation asked that question in our younger days and I suspect that the majority were fobbed off with glib answers. Which is a pity. One of the growth pastimes during the later years of the 20th century and the beginning of this one has been researching one's family history. The television programmes "Who do you think you are?" have contributed to this growth as well as being a result of it and, like me, more and more people are seeking answers. Not just to questions such as 'Who were my ancestors?' and 'Where did they come from?' but 'What were their lives like?'.

My genealogical research has reached the stage where I have thousands of names of people and dates of birth, marriage and death, but although I know the occupations of many of those people my knowledge of them and their day-to-day lives is almost non-existent. This was brought home to me even more over the last couple of weeks as a result of visits from a cousin and then my brother. I had known for many years that one of my uncles had spent time in east Africa, my assumption (or had I been told?) being that he had been in Kenya. But I had no idea what he had been doing out there or why he had returned to England. My brother confirmed that the said uncle had indeed been in Kenya but had formed the impression from something he had been told by our mother (sister to the uncle) that he had been thrown out of the country and there were hints that he may have been involved in gun running. Said uncle is still living so I have to be a little circumspect in my comments, but I learned a little more after my cousin, who is another nephew of the uncle, paid him a visit. Uncle left Kenya and spent time in Somalia where he was engaged in construction work, diving, turtle hunting and explosives. He overstayed his permit and was forced to leave, whereupon he managed to scrounge passage on an Italian cargo ship which landed him at Naples. The British consul there lent him £15 to get back to England.

I have also learned something more about my grandfather, the uncle's father. At sometime between the wars, probably in the 1920s, he served in the merchant navy. On one ship conditions were so bad that there was a mutiny, of which my grandfather was one of the ring-leaders. He and others were put ashore in India (probably Calcutta) where they were given shelter in the Seamen's Mission until they were able to sign on another ship.

Little stories like these bring to life a family history and are fascinating glimpses of past times. In the future, our descendants will find such snippets about our lives just as fascinating. How delighted my grandson will be to find I have written a potted biography full of stories of daily life - not just the dates and places that anyone can find with a minimum of effort, but things that are so easily forgotten in the hurly-burly of living. Will he (or she) be interested to know that my monthly take-home pay when I started work was about £28? Or that it had gone up to £42 by the time I married and that was enough to last us three weeks? We had to use my wife's pay to get us through the last week of the month or for any extras like holidays. I really must jot down some of these things before they are completely forgotten.