Page 13 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

fifty-year period. The horrors of the First World War (sadly known as the Great War) and the impact of the Second World War when the citizenry – as a result of aerial bombing – was drawn into the bloody contest would be felt, directly or indirectly, by all families living in England during these times. The Soothill family, while becoming more fragmented, would in a small way become drawn into events and social changes which were occurring way beyond the north of England.
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Chapter 3 focuses on the next fifty-year period, starting with a putative 1961 census, that is, a census of Soothills that I have constructed. At the start Elizabeth II had been on the throne for eight years and was, indeed, to continue as the reigning monarch throughout the next fifty years. During this period there are further vast changes at the social, political and economic levels. Internationally, the notion of the British Empire had evaporated to be replaced by the much more nebulous concept of the British Commonwealth. In terms of getting to grips with a changing world affected by technological advances, the population of England and Wales was experiencing tensions and conflicts whereby old industries were being phased out and new industries were taking root. However, such transitions are never easy and some regions had greater difficulties than others in maintaining or improving life chances.
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Chapter 4 brings the account up to the present day. The present day is currently 2013, but I take the stock-taking with another putative census, this time of 2011. There will be scope for testing how far I have got it right in 2111, when it comes into public view. This chapter discusses some interviews with members of the Soothill tribe. The respondents have been mainly the older members of the tribe, for I have wanted to try to capture some of their early memories to fill the gaps for which official records are not currently available. This is not a detective novel so I can reveal my main conclusion of Part 1. With only just over 50 Soothill males still around in England and Wales, there seems little doubt that the Soothills are an endangered species!
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Part II of the book is much more speculative. In fact, Chapter 5 considers what seems to have happened before 1861 in terms of the development of the Soothill
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