There has always been a great deal of confusion surrounding David Suchet’s family history. A series of name changes on both sides of the family have taken place over the years, so David embarked on a journey around Europe to get to the bottom of the mystery.
David started in England by discovering more about the ancestors of his maternal grandmother Elsie. David has always loved boats, and he was therefore fascinated to learn that Elsie’s grandfather was a master mariner. Further digging at the National Maritime Museum led him to uncover the story of a terrible storm, a shipwreck, great tragedy and heroism.
Turning to the other side of the family, David headed to London and Paris to find out more about his great-grandfather, a 19th century photographer. He then journeyed across Eastern Europe in search of his grandfather’s birthplace and the roots of his unusual surname.
You will find merchant seamen's records, including registers of seamen's tickets and the alphabetical registers of masters on microfilm and microfiche at The National Archives in Kew - these records are not available online. If you know that your ancestor went to sea with the Royal Navy, you may be able to look at their service record.
You may be able to find records of ancestors travelling in and out of English ports in the passenger lists. If they went on to settle in England you might find details of their naturalisation and registration. You should then be able to find them in census records.
If an ancestor changed their name, you may be able to find a record of this at The National Archives. However, it is not a legal requirement to change a surname without drawing up any formal record. Many people who changed their name did not wish to draw attention to the fact, and it may be very difficult, even impossible, to get a definitive answer from the records.
If you need to find details of other archives in the UK or overseas, look at the ARCHON directory.
France and Germany both have national archives, as do many European countries.
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