From the wilds of the Scottish Highlands to the comfortable home counties ...
... David Mitchell digs into his farming ancestry.

Cambridge-educated actor/comedian David Mitchell is best known as the neurotic Mark Corrigan from Peep Show, but David is not as English as he seems. On Who Do You Think You Are?, he learns that one side of his family were dedicated Highland sheep farmers. His great, great grandfather, William Mitchell, had 13 children even though his wife complained in her diary that she'd lost him to sheep!

In Skye, home of his paternal grandmother's side of the family, David
finds a line of scholarly, Gallic speaking clergyman and teachers. His
great, great grandfather, John Forbes, was a pillar of the community
and a popular minister in the 1850s. During famine and disease,
Reverend Forbes helped educate the poor and campaigned to rescue
girls sent to work in appalling conditions in factories in England. If you
have a clergyman in your family, they may be recorded in the
Crockford's Clerical Directory.

Visiting Forbes' old house, David learns from the 1861 census that
he has more relatives he's never heard of. Find entire households
using the full Scottish census records.

Finally a distant cousin emerges to give David another view of Forbes. He shows a copy of the will in which Forbes left nothing to his wife, accusing her of 18 years of 'intemperance, disobedience and general waywardness'. He also requested very little drinking at his funeral. Wills can give a fascinating insight into a person! Find out more about your ancestors last words by searching our collection
of Wills.