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My mother used to regale us with lots of stories about famous and not so famous, family members. One was the film actress Gene Tierney who was a second cousin to my mother. The other was someone she called affectionately ‘Mad Corrigan’ who was an early aviator and a mechanic of Charles Lindbergh. This led me to start researching into the family history a lot further. I discovered that this ‘mad Corrigan’ was indeed a very famous man in America who was known as Douglas ‘Wrong way’ Corrigan. Amongst all his various exploits, such as flying upside down along the length of the Rockies, for a bet, was that he flew solo across the Atlantic in 1938 after assuring the authorities that he was just taking his plane west to California. Hence the epithet ‘wrong way’. On landing in Ireland he was greeted by the Irish President, Dr Douglas Hyde. The US Navy then sent a ship to collect him and his plane to return to the US where he was accorded a bigger tickertape welcome than Lindbergh himself.
My Mother’s family had settled in Bannockburn. Her father, a coal miner had moved there from Ayrshire to find work. Intrigued by these Ayrshire origins, I researched further, and was surprised to find that he had married into an Irish family who had themselves arrived in Ayrshire from Armagh, to escape the ravages of the Irish Potato Famine. The more I looked, the more interesting it became. The connection with Tierney and Corrigan began to unfold. Now another element was thrown into the equation concerning my identity, Ireland. I have been studying the genealogy of my family for a number of years now. I have found it extremely rewarding unlocking the mysteries of my ancestry. It somehow seems to have given me a sense of continuity but the best thing that came out of it for me was a sense of fulfilment. I am no longer torn between the English and Scots part of me. I can now proudly answer on all those forms that ask your Nationality........I am British.