My family and the Harriott family were close friends in Jamaica. I remember his Dad Chester used to play the piano at our house in Kingston when I was a little girl. Chester used to accompany my Aunt Winnie a soprano soloist, on the piano when she performed. I knew his Grandmother Minna love and Grandfather Oscar and Great Grandmother Mother Harriott very fondly. I'm still in touch with his Aunt Marcianne and Uncle Oscar (Toffe). I love Ainsley's videos he is so much like his Grandad Oscar!
It was never going to be a jolly story, going to Jamaica and then tracing his family back to slave times. It's interesting that he talks about his ancestors being treated badly, but the more uncomfortable fact is that it's some of his own ancestors who treated others of his own ancestors badly. This is one of the most difficult things about slavery, that you can end up descended from the victim AND the victimiser.
Everyone is descended from both "victim and victimiser", moreso from victimisers if you think about it, but it's interesting to see where the focus always seems to go in these shows.
@@SirRobHiFi Where do you get the idea that everyone is descended from victim and victimiser? I don't get that impression at all from my family background.
@Danny Archer Perhaps I'm a bit dense.... are you answering an argument about us supposedly being descended from victim and perpetrator? Who is the perpetrator in a volcanic eruption? Or are you saying that we're all descended from victims? Even that's not explained by a volcanic eruption, since for us to be here at all, somehow all our ancestors must have survived at least long enough to have children, which makes us the descendants of survivors, not victims, and it makes our presence on earth a symbol of triumph over adversity, (unless we choose to identify as "victims" because many of our ancestors would have died before their time). Can you explain your point?
I can't imagine anyone fathering a child and then seeing their flesh and blood treated like property and put to hard labor. Its sick. I mean even back then people were human beings and the first thought is protecting your children. Its monstrous.
When I look at Ainsley Harriott all I see is a Joyful Man with a Beautiful Heart, a Gentle Soul and an amazing Talent who I'd admire a lot but in all seriousness I've never seen Ainsley so emotional like this literally had me in Tears 😢 💔
My experience has been that there is something to the accounts of the past by family members. They have been very reliable. I would keep looking for the Calcutta connection. It can be anything. Maybe there was a part of a city in Jamaica, called 'Calcutta' due to a high East Indian population, at that time. Perhaps the family member appeared to resemble an East Indian. There must be some kind of truth to it. Perhaps the individual travelled to Calcutta and back and told all relatives of that time there. Thanks for sharing.
I agree. I have been tracing family oral legend to Legal and Historical Records for 40 + years.. Davey or Forbes may very well have come to Jamaica via India or The British East India Company. Both a well known East India Company Family names. The Scottish Forbes are the same whose legend in the Shand Kidd of Diana Spencer being Indian and Armenian that was proven true by DNA only in 2013.
@@fiveeyes2811 Ok. You are the expert. I admire that. I don't have that much experience but if viewers investigate the family tales, they will have an enjoyable moment finding out, yes, that was true but just a little bit different than they imagined. It is great to meet or talk to a Historian who knows the time and location concerned. That will open your eyes to the past. Grandfather might have given you some great clues. Mine did.
@@fiveeyes2811 Oh wow, that’s awesome! My family has owned the Island of Saba since they landed there and Civilized the Island. I just absolutely love learning new things about My Ancestry, and the incredible Island that I’m so thankful and proud to have a piece of. I’m directLt related to the Hassles, Johnson’s, and Windfield families. Yes, I have discovered some things about my family that are seen by others that are “horrible”, such as they did own over 800 Slaves, and some were real Pirates back in the day. But I don’t think of those things as making my family Evil bc it honestly was just a Legal way of life back then pertaining to the slavery. And from my knowledge so far, my family treated their slaves very well. Anyways, good luck with your research.
You know that could be true because Davyton is a main postal district very close to Bombay, I come from Blue Mountaln which also comes under Davyton P.A. I was told by my mother that Blue Mountain use to be a slave plantation, no dought the entire area must have been and that is how the name Davy became Davytown then shortened to Davyton.I recall receiving a phone call from Ainsley about him having no water i'm a plumber the waterboard had turned it off and i saved him a callout fee.Then i met him a few weeks later at a mercs showroom in Tooting, he seemed like a nice down to earth bloke.
@@dltrenton I think that church is Davyton united penticostal my mother is one of the eldest member there's two other branches one in Blue Mountain oposite my old yard and the other up the hill past BananaGround and Cumberland a place name Bethel.Paster folks and Mark Stewart are the pasters i remember
Nothing is more exotic about India than Jamaica or the Great Omo or the Zambezi or the olive groves of Palestine or the valleys of Khyber or the shores of the Rio Grande. Be wary of exotification. We People of the World are all immaculate; many of us are traumatize, erased, and uprooted by colonialism and imperialism. Exotic doesn't matter. Exotic is a trope, and one with obvious heavy psychological consequences.
@@lloydgush and please i don't care what you find exotic, nor do i care what you think others should tolerate or celebrate or accept about british 'culture' which is a culture of erasure, colonialism, imperialism, war, theft and bigotry. i do not recognize the authority of others to placate or dress bigotry up into something tolerable or cute or cultural. its disgusting and we need to stop doing it. aesthetic racism is still racism.
@@susella646 Exactly! My family says we are Maroon Indian. I’m not sure if they meant from India or Indian as in indigenous. who were also referred to as Indian? I have no problem either way but I definitely prefer to be from Jamaica than Calcutta. No thanks.
@@Msboochie2 I agree with you...I am from India and even we don't like Calcutta...I am from South Eastern state of Odisha and I had visited Calcutta back in 7th grade...The Bengal government is completely inefficient and everything is mismanaged there... The buildings are old and crumbly..really gives a taste of Victorian architecture...It's a overly crowded city with poor administration...But the food there was really good. By the way why do you think it might have been Calcutta when it could have well been a dozen other places like Maybe Bombay or Madras.
You were meant to be on this earth without all of those people,you wouldn't be here. I already had two children when i married my husband,then we had two children. The first two children have given me Grandchildren,the other two are in their 30's now and have none. My sons Girlfriend was pregnant,but decided to abort the baby. So if neither of my youngest have no children,then this line dies. The line from my other two are still going,I have a great granddaughter on the way.
slavery was common practice the world over. it was not exclusive to one skin colour or another. just part of all our common history which we must accept without prejudice if we are to progress as a species.
