We humans are fascinated by our heritage, avid to peer back through the mists of time, to learn of some romantic dalliance or dynastic marriage, a love match or mismatch that would lead, ultimately, to our being.
One way we can trace our ancestors is through censuses, taken every ten years from 1841. In January 2022, the online genealogy service Findmypast published exclusively on its website the 1921 Census of England and Wales, the most recent to be publicly available, and, in an inspired collaboration, it has paired with the National Trust to delve into the history of significant properties, to uncover the stories of individuals who lived and worked under their roofs. The result is a series of podcasts in which historian Professor Suzannah Lipscomb invites those individuals’ descendants to Step into the Past, to learn what researchers have discovered about their forebears.
Quarry Bank Mill, near Manchester, founded by Samuel Greg in 1784, was one of the great textile factories of the Industrial Revolution.
