Why I’m Writing This Family History
One image that has stayed with me since childhood is William Hogarth’s Gin Lane (1751), which is depicted above. I remember first seeing it at school and being shocked by its confronting detail. At the time, I had no idea that this chaotic, brutal vision of London’s slums depicted the kind of world in which my great-great-great-grandparents, Hannah Brown and Thomas Marslin, had lived. Hogarth’s engraving was meant as a stark warning about the dangers of vice and moral collapse. It presented the urban poor not just as victims of hardship but as people beyond reform.
Looking back now, it is sobering to realise how people like Hannah and Thomas were once viewed, not simply as struggling individuals, but as morally degenerate and a threat to society’s fabric.
Over the past months, I have been thinking and reflecting on my ancestors. I have spent many hours researching, writing, and building this website. Somewhere along the way, I found myself losing sight of why I began this project in the first place. I became caught up in the many decisions—how many chapters to write, what the website should look like, whether it needed to be “professional,” and how much to post on Facebook. It all became a bit overwhelming.
So I stepped back and asked myself a simple question: What is this really for?
After this reflection, I have decided that this family history is, first and foremost, a personal project: for myself, for my family, and for those who came before us. It is not just about collecting names or building a tree. It is about giving voice to people whose stories might otherwise be forgotten. Most faced hardship and had to make difficult choices in life. But all of them shaped the generations that followed, and I want to honour that.
I have now decided to write a narrative account of the Mazlin, Anthony, and Poulton families which will be just a genealogical record or an academic history, but something readable and more grounded, with enough research to ensure accuracy, and enough space to reflect on what it all means.
I am lucky to have known some of my grandparents personally. This work helps me understand them better and preserves a part of their world for others to see. I also want to understand how their grandparents lived.
The first chapter of the narrative introduces Hannah Brown and Thomas Maslin, my great-great-great-grandparents on my maternal side. Further chapters will be added as they are completed.
If you would like to read the first chapter, Convict Origins, it is now available here:
I welcome your thoughts, questions, or reflections—feel free to get in touch.
