‘ I’VE TRACED MY FAMILY BACK TO THE DOMESDAY BOOK’

Kyle Ring began tracing his family history in earnest when he was a child. Two decades later, he’s discovered an amazing array of ethnic groups within a tree that is rich in stories. A visit to see the Domesday Book at the start of his journey triggered an ambition to take his British family back to this most famous of historical documents. He’s achieved it, but in a rather surprising way.

A medical doctor studying for an MA in postcolonial studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, Kyle is the third generation of his family to live in the UK. His grandparents came here from Trinidad. “I’d always known that my family were from the Caribbean and that we were of mixed heritage: Indian, Scottish, African and Portuguese. But I’ve found other things I didn’t expect.”