In the end of 2018 and during the winter/spring of 2019 I participated as a researcher with the British BBC TV-series Who Do You Think You Are providing information for one of the episodes. This year’s series is the 16th series of the popular TV program.I have a website with articles about Swedish military history and I was contacted by the BBC team in October 2018. They were then working with one of the episodes of “Who Do You Think You Are”.The TV program is a genealogy documentary series and in each episode, a celebrity traces their family tree. More than ten international adaptations of the program have been produced.The episode I was involved in was about a British female celebrity with Swedish roots on her mother’s side. One of her Swedish ancestors had served in the Swedish Navy in the mid-1800s as a seaman. The Swedish armed forces were until 1901 organized and financed through a system called the Allotment System. This system was unique for Sweden and difficult to understand without knowledge about the principals of the system.I was asked to give a detailed account of the system and especially about how it worked in the Navy. The Navy seamen were upon employment assigned a cottage to live in when they weren’t serving aboard the ships. These cottages were called navy crofts and a seaman’s family was in safe hands there when he was on duty.I was working with this type of information for the BBC, but I was also researching navy rolls and church books.However, I handed over most of the actual genealogy research of the celebrity’s Swedish ancestors to a competent fellow genealogist, Monica Fogelqvist, since I didn’t have time for this too.
Tailor Alfred Lidman leaves Sweden for the UK
The Swede that emigrated from Sweden to the UK was tailor Alfred Lidman (1857-1922) and he left Sweden between 1879 and 1884. Alfred settled in London where he subsequently became a successful tailor on Savile Row. Savile Row is a street in Mayfair, central London known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men. Tailors started doing business in the area in the late 18th century.Alfred grew up in Halland, a province in the southern part of the Swedish west coast. He was born on 21 June 1857 in Harplinge parish near the city of Halmstad, Halland, but grew up in Carlstorp navy croft in the parish of Enslöv, Halland.
Navy seaman Gökunge
Alfred’s father was navy seaman Johan Christian Andersson, born on 3 March 1826 and died on 31 October 1909 in Harplinge. He was navy seaman No 98 Gökunge at Carlstorp navy croft in Enslöv parish. He was enlisted in 1844 and served until 1860 when he was discharged. His unit was South Halland Navy Company (Södra Hallands båtsmanskompani), attached to Karlskrona Navy Station.At the end of the 17th century, the Swedish Army and later the Navy began giving soldiers and sailors special military surnames. When a soldier or a seaman was recruited, he was assigned a special "soldier name" by the Captain of the Company. In each company, the soldiers had to have a unique last name.Johan Christian Andersson was assigned the navy surname Gökunge which means “young cuckoo” in English. The BBC team was a bit thoughtful about this name since “young cuckoo” is a derogatory designation in British English.Anyhow, Johan Christian’s navy name was later changed to Svärd which means Sword.Alfred’s mother was Anna Johansdotter, born on 29 October 1820 in Breared, Halland. She died on 19 May 1869, while Alfred still was young. Alfred’s father remarried in 1870 with Anna Johanna Nilsdotter, born in 1840.The Carlstorp navy croft doesn’t exist today. Instead, another authentic and kept navy croft was used when the BBC filmed in Halland. This croft was located in the village of Olofstorp, Valinge parish, Halland.Alfred’s paternal grandfather was a stableman at Sperlingholm Estate in Övraby parish near the city of Halmstad, Halland. At the beginning of the 19th century, he was sentenced to 70 lashes of the whip for stealing some potatoes.BBC was very sparse with information about the episode during the period of research and I was never told the name of the celebrity whose ancestors I was researching. I was also instructed not to talk about my work with people outside the project. The contacts with the BBC was kept via email but also on the phone.
Actress Kate Winslet
The British celebrity “my” episode was about was Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet and the episode was aired in the UK on Tuesday 13 August 2019. The filming on-site in Halland, Sweden was done in the middle of May 2019. Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born on 5 October 1975 in Reading, Berkshire, England to Roger and Sally Anne Winslet (née Bridges). She is of British ancestry, Irish paternal ancestry, and Swedish maternal ancestry.Tailor Alfred Lidman, who immigrated to the UK from Sweden, was Kate’s great grandfather. Kate has mentioned in interviews that her mother, who passed away in 2017, earlier asked her to find out more about her Swedish ancestry.The movie Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.The image to the right shows Kate Winslet 2014. Image Wikipedia.The BBC asked if I potentially would be interested in appearing on camera as an expert when they were filming in Halland, Sweden in May 2019. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that.However, the BBC has horned my involvement in the research for the episode by listing my name in the program’s closing credits. There is a video clip on the BBC website showing Kate’s visiting the navy croft in Olofstorp, Valinge parish, Sweden. She arrives at the croft on a bicycle. The clip shows Kate being guided in the croft. The clip is called “Kate Winslet visits a preserved 1840s croft in Sweden” and can be watched at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007m0wThe owner of the croft, Annika Ruff, was guiding Kate. The tour of the croft gave Kate a view of how a navy seaman’s home might have looked like in the 1800s, i.e. the home of her ancestor seaman Gökunge.After the Kate Winslet episode was aired in August 2019 in the UK, I was being interviewed by a Halland newspaper about my involvement in the research behind the episode.Hans HögmanAssisting a Broadway Theater in New York 2018Author with Swedish American Genealogist Genealogical Award - "Årets Eldsjäl" 2017About me
In the end of 2018 and during the winter/spring of 2019 I participated as a researcher with the British BBC TV-series Who Do You Think You Are providing information for one of the episodes. This year’s series is the 16th series of the popular TV program.I have a website with articles about Swedish military history and I was contacted by the BBC team in October 2018. They were then working with one of the episodes of “Who Do You Think You Are”.The TV program is a genealogy documentary series and in each episode, a celebrity traces their family tree. More than ten international adaptations of the program have been produced.The episode I was involved in was about a British female celebrity with Swedish roots on her mother’s side. One of her Swedish ancestors had served in the Swedish Navy in the mid-1800s as a seaman. The Swedish armed forces were until 1901 organized and financed through a system called the Allotment System. This system was unique for Sweden and difficult to understand without knowledge about the principals of the system.I was asked to give a detailed account of the system and especially about how it worked in the Navy. The Navy seamen were upon employment assigned a cottage to live in when they weren’t serving aboard the ships. These cottages were called navy crofts and a seaman’s family was in safe hands there when he was on duty.I was working with this type of information for the BBC, but I was also researching navy rolls and church books.However, I handed over most of the actual genealogy research of the celebrity’s Swedish ancestors to a competent fellow genealogist, Monica Fogelqvist, since I didn’t have time for this too.
Tailor Alfred Lidman leaves Sweden for the
UK
The Swede that emigrated from Sweden to the UK was tailor Alfred Lidman (1857-1922) and he left Sweden between 1879 and 1884. Alfred settled in London where he subsequently became a successful tailor on Savile Row. Savile Row is a street in Mayfair, central London known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men. Tailors started doing business in the area in the late 18th century.Alfred grew up in Halland, a province in the southern part of the Swedish west coast. He was born on 21 June 1857 in Harplinge parish near the city of Halmstad, Halland, but grew up in Carlstorp navy croft in the parish of Enslöv, Halland.
Navy seaman Gökunge
Alfred’s father was navy seaman Johan Christian Andersson, born on 3 March 1826 and died on 31 October 1909 in Harplinge. He was navy seaman No 98 Gökunge at Carlstorp navy croft in Enslöv parish. He was enlisted in 1844 and served until 1860 when he was discharged. His unit was South Halland Navy Company (Södra Hallands båtsmanskompani), attached to Karlskrona Navy Station.At the end of the 17th century, the Swedish Army and later the Navy began giving soldiers and sailors special military surnames. When a soldier or a seaman was recruited, he was assigned a special "soldier name" by the Captain of the Company. In each company, the soldiers had to have a unique last name.Johan Christian Andersson was assigned the navy surname Gökunge which means “young cuckoo” in English. The BBC team was a bit thoughtful about this name since “young cuckoo” is a derogatory designation in British English.Anyhow, Johan Christian’s navy name was later changed to Svärd which means Sword.Alfred’s mother was Anna Johansdotter, born on 29 October 1820 in Breared, Halland. She died on 19 May 1869, while Alfred still was young. Alfred’s father remarried in 1870 with Anna Johanna Nilsdotter, born in 1840.The Carlstorp navy croft doesn’t exist today. Instead, another authentic and kept navy croft was used when the BBC filmed in Halland. This croft was located in the village of Olofstorp, Valinge parish, Halland.Alfred’s paternal grandfather was a stableman at Sperlingholm Estate in Övraby parish near the city of Halmstad, Halland. At the beginning of the 19th century, he was sentenced to 70 lashes of the whip for stealing some potatoes.BBC was very sparse with information about the episode during the period of research and I was never told the name of the celebrity whose ancestors I was researching. I was also instructed not to talk about my work with people outside the project. The contacts with the BBC was kept via email but also on the phone.
Actress Kate Winslet
The British celebrity “my” episode was about was Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet and the episode was aired in the UK on Tuesday 13 August 2019. The filming on-site in Halland, Sweden was done in the middle of May 2019. Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born on 5 October 1975 in Reading, Berkshire, England to Roger and Sally Anne Winslet (née Bridges). She is of British ancestry, Irish paternal ancestry, and Swedish maternal ancestry.Tailor Alfred Lidman, who immigrated to the UK from Sweden, was Kate’s great grandfather. Kate has mentioned in interviews that her mother, who passed away in 2017, earlier asked her to find out more about her Swedish ancestry.The movie Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ship during its ill-fated maiden voyage.The image to the right shows Kate Winslet 2014. Image Wikipedia.The BBC asked if I potentially would be interested in appearing on camera as an expert when they were filming in Halland, Sweden in May 2019. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that.However, the BBC has horned my involvement in the research for the episode by listing my name in the program’s closing credits. There is a video clip on the BBC website showing Kate’s visiting the navy croft in Olofstorp, Valinge parish, Sweden. She arrives at the croft on a bicycle. The clip shows Kate being guided in the croft. The clip is called “Kate Winslet visits a preserved 1840s croft in Sweden” and can be watched at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007m0wThe owner of the croft, Annika Ruff, was guiding Kate. The tour of the croft gave Kate a view of how a navy seaman’s home might have looked like in the 1800s, i.e. the home of her ancestor seaman Gökunge.After the Kate Winslet episode was aired in August 2019 in the UK, I was being interviewed by a Halland newspaper about my involvement in the research behind the episode.Hans HögmanAssisting a Broadway Theater in New York 2018Author with Swedish American Genealogist Genealogical Award - "Årets Eldsjäl" 2017About me
