Wheelhouse To Kirwan In Easy Stages

This book tracks my ancestors from the female (mitochondrial DNA) line, which starts with a woman named Jane who married a gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery at Woolwich named Thomas Wheelhouse about 200 years ago, moving across eventually, by EASY STAGES, to the male (Y-chromosome DNA) line, which of course is the Kirwans. It’s full of surprises, including dashing artillery gunners, swashbuckling swordsmen who put Errol Flynn to shame, famous (mad, or at least eccentric) scientists, horse-racing and betting on a lavish scale, mysterious jockeys, exploding coachmen, soda-water patents, castles in Ireland, IRA gun-running, opera- bouffe singing, wife-beating, theatres burning down, Dickensian lamplighters and much more. There’s also a great deal of tragedy and some very, very hard times, which serves to remind me of how very very lucky we all are to be living today and not (say) 50 or 150 years ago.