The Tidmarsh family tree is the story of a family, my family, across twelve generations, charting the historical legacy and records as closely as possible. The story celebrates the continuation of a family line that started from an Anglo-Saxon homestead in Berkshire and picks up from records dating back to the 16th Century in the Cotswolds. It follows our agricultural background, the family migration to the brutal Docklands of east London and the relocation to the bland council estates of Downham and Bellingham. It follows the story of ordinary people living through the events of English history and concludes with the story my grandfather, a most extraordinary man. In my travels to uncover my family history, I encountered mysteries, sadness, disappointments, some beautiful Churches, some lovely people and the most charming village museum. What started off as the completion of a small family tree with an explanatory narrative became an obsession to find out as much as possible about the family that came before me. The book includes anecdotes from my cousins, family trees, chronological data and an insight into how I processed the information I sourced to create a structured document, which I hope will do at least two things - help others who have an interest in genealogy and inspire someone to write volume two!