Gulliver Travels Again

A Journey to find the Gulliver Ancestors

 by Susan E Clarke  ISBN 978-1-4389-6486-7  2011

The task of discovering ones ancestors is generally met, given good fortune, with the reward of finding that they interacted with social customs or perhaps the law in some unsettled times in the past.  To get back to the mid-1600s is usually regarded a worthy achievement.  Here, perhaps through the good fortune of having a not particularly common name to work with - Gulliver - Susan Clarke finds highly probable ancestors at the time of the Norman Conquest, the name then being Golafre originating in the little French village of La Goulafriere which I presume says 'The Brotherhood of Goula'.  Knowing the early French connection and some details from 18th and 19th centuries allowed research to proceed from both ends.  This is what gives the book a fascination, for the author makes links to some, at first sight, improbable personalities, for example Bram Stoker and Lily Langtry and because of the early aristocratic importance of the Golafres there are links to many other important English families. 

The cover picture is part of an oil painting by Peter Newcombe, a Northamptonshire boy born in Blisworth.  As he grew into his profession he frequently drew or painted an old wooden cart stored in farmer Fred Gulliver's barn.  He later bought the cart and has incorporated it into some of his iconic country scenes that are widely collected.  Blisworth is accustomed to its heritage in Peter Newcombe and will welcome, as an addition, this achievement of Susan Clarke's.
                                                                                                                                                       Tony Marsh September 2011