Paul has returned home to England having learnt about his grandfather's wartime
experiences he now wants to push his ancestry further back my family really
don't have much you know knowledge about our ancestry at all my uncle s which is
my mom's brother I did do a little bit of work to try and find out what was
going on and came up with the McKenzie family tree now this lady here is
Margaret McKenzie which is my my granddad's mother migrated now just
actually looked like my mother it goes back as far as Alexander
Mackenzie and that's it that's not that's a whole family I did hear a story
which my uncle has told me about about Alexander and apparently used to play
piano in Liverpool and it used to like his drink
so they'd always pay him in beer that learn all the beers up on top of the
pianos he was taking away on the ivories now that would if he was a big drink
here which from that side of the family from my granddad side the family a very
Christian teetotal never drank we found had never drank it would make sense that
Brenda's mother Margaret would have grown up seeing her dad drinking a
heavily so therefore there was a big she hated drink which then passed now she
was quite strict passed that down to my granddad which then I then understand
where he's coming from now I mean it's great to have this as some sort of point
of reference to put my family in this group but it's got no dates
it's got no places it's got nothing so what I really need to find out is where
Alexander is actually from and then see if we can go back from there
I'm on a genealogy website here let me just see I'm gonna punch in Alexander's
name Mackenzie Blanca sure which would have been Liverpool I found two results
think that this is definitely the guy
let's get some more info Wow okay okay Alexander Mackenzie he's the head of the
family woodturner
Glasgow fantastic I've got somewhere to start
Paul has discovered that his great-great-grandfather Alexander
Mackenzie who lived in Liverpool was born in Glasgow he now hopes to find out
who Alexander's father was
Paul has arrived in Glasgow and has come to the old docks to meet historian dr.
bill Knox
I wonder if we could start by showing you this birth certificate a
great-great-grandfather 1856 births in the District of Clyde Alexander
Mackenzie Kenneth is that Kenneth yes Alexander's father Kenneth Mackenzie
okay and I want to show you this other document and this is a marriage
certificate Kenneth Mackenzie police officer yes
what's that next word Glasgow so Kenneth Mackenzie was a police officer in
Glasgow yeah you might wonder how he ended up in the police and how did the
police come about because he's quite new that Alaska police were around since
1800 they were the first city in Britain to have a professional paying police for
its 29 years before Sir Robert Peel set up the Metropolitan Police in London now
Kenneth is a policeman would have been operating in mid 19th century in Glasgow
and Glasgow that time was described by one politician as a nearest suburb to
hell it was shockingly polluted was overcrowding disease you name it poverty
in Glasgow had it no here's a photograph it might give you some idea of the
environment in Glasgow at this time wow it almost looks like one the Lowry
paintings isn't there that must have been quite a rough job
then it was a rough job it's a difficult job
the Glasgow police force was the first in Britain it was set up and paid for by
the middle classes who were afraid that the poor would revolt over their squalid
living conditions
men like Kenneth were recruited for their lack of education making them more
willing to take orders and accept low pay
the other thing was that they want physically imposing specimens so we're
gonna look at another document which might give you some idea of why Kenneth
was recruited kevin satchel police record registry city of Glasgow police
force Catholic NZ is that farm servant yes
age 29 five-foot-ten that's the same height as me place of birth
Raja yeah he came from the highlands Eastern Highlands and Highlanders are a
much stronger and fitter than men and Glasgow to the Glasgow population the
seemed like Giants the average high Glaswegian male in mid 19th century
would give a 555 so there was an opportunity for them to come to Glasgow
and find regular work so the police officers of the time would they have
lived in it in almost a separate area to the rest of the people was just
integrated with everybody no they had to live in the area of their beat on
Kenneth had one of the most difficult beats in Glasgow that was the doc here's
the docks were notoriously difficult to police as they had a reputation for
drunken violence theft gambling prostitution and smuggling
Kenneth had to keep his wits about him during 10-hour shifts every night of the
week
they must have been quite a tough group the police officer as a group was more
brawn than brain none taken bill on behalf of my great great great
grandfather okay he was a bit of a meathead that came down from the
highlands but did a good job I'd like to think he did a good job for Glasgow well
lots of a look at another part of the police record that you haven't seen yet
dates of reports against remarks in favour of August 31st 1852 found
drinking in public house he was fined yep what's wrong with her on duty I want
you t assault of a prisoner in his charge improper conduct when on duty now
what does that mean committed easy and the last one is worse
of liquor receiving full pennies as a fee dismissed the service what he was
chucked out yeah
this missile was a common occurrence in the police force I mean you had about
just over a third of the police would leave in any one year you know drinking
a public-house assault of a prisoner improper conduct went on GT and then
with some liquor three of the for a drink related and
probably the last one is as well well it doesn't surprise me because drink drink
culture was endemic in Scotland in the 19th century maybe it still is the other
thing was that alcohol was preferable to watch off because until you got clean
drinking water it was about giving children viewer but it was given them
water see this is what he's thinking and is thinking I totally understand that
because he didn't trust the water and because he came from the highlands he
could drink from a stream he comes here he comes here he has a drink
he's doing exactly what everyone would have done I mean actually dismissed a
lot see do you know what happened to him after that what he decided was to move
to Liverpool so Kenneth's move down to Liverpool he
took Alexander with him and then stayed down there no in later life Kenneth's
actually returns another part of Law School and that's what I'd like to tell
you next lead um
you
we've got one final document which I want to show you which points to Calais
last days and could I direct you to this line here
he died in the poorhouse on the 9th of the 4th 1893 this was his last resting
place in government prayer house and this is where Kenneth ended his days to
come here he must have been incredibly desperate because only destitution in
the 19th century was recognized as poverty so he had no resources no one
had rely on nothing and wrong so he came here about act of desperation what is
this just as statements of particulate this is an application he's put in for
poor relief 10 a poor house now the day of the notice is the 7th of April 1893
yeah he died in the poorhouse on the 9th two days later he tried to get in got in
and then died two days later yeah the other thing it's valuable as
document is the fact that you can push your generation even further back
because here that tells you the parents names Donald Mackenzie a crafter is that
a peasant yeah a peasant I'm his place of birth Paul you parish of gala Roche
so we can take it back yeah another generation yep it's so sad
I mean Kenneth at the end of the day hasn't set a good example for his kids
we know Alexander was an alcoholic and it seems he's got it from his father
that's two generations of the war because a drink
thank goodness for me grunting does put his back on the straight and narrow good
ol ground this does it again
you