If you could shout at someone from the past....

[LizzieW]

Not shout "at" ..... but a shout "out" to whoever it was who decided that from 1855 all births marriages and death records in Scotland had to include all the names of most relevant people,

Exactly, having found my grandfather's death record on Scotlandspeople, I saw that it gave his parents' names, including his mother's maiden name.  It didn't give my gran's name though, - nothing like husband of x - as he was killed in a motorcycle accident in Scotland whilst his wife and family were in Manchester and someone else was the informant.  However, his mother's maiden name opened up a whole new avenue for me.  I didn't need my gran's name I knew who she was as she lived until I was about 10.

[River Tyne Lass]

Gillyg, I don't blame you about wanting to remonstrate with the judge about the extremely harsh sentence passed on your ancestor.  This is such a sad story about Dennis.  I think he may have been a good hearted boy just wanting to help his poor and perhaps very hungry  family.  I think we cannot judge anyone for theft by todays standards as who knows what any of us might have done if we had lived during those harsh times.  No food banks then sadly.  What a dilemma a lot of people must have had .. not enough money and starving .. should they steal or go to the workhouse and have the family split up.  Workhouse conditions were often quite bad too and people risked their lives going in.. constitutions broken down through hard labour and scant poor diets.

Seeing that photo of little Dennis makes you just want to reach back in time and rescue the poor mite.

I would like to remonstrate with the judge too and ask him if he felt absolutely sure he would not have done the same in Dennis's circumstances. 

[Maiden Stone]

I'd have a serious conversation with a relative of a daughter-in-law of 4x great-grandparents about his plantation and his slaves in Jamaica. He must have died by 1793; his widow re-married then. My concern would probably mystify him. 

Interesting, would you also talk to the native Africans who captured and sold their fellow countrymen to the white traders in the first place?
People seem to forget native cultures had been enslaving their neighbours all over the world for centuries that is how the world developed.
There were very few societies that did not embrace slavery at on time or another.
That does not make it right but we must be very careful in judging the past using today's values.
Cheers
Guy

The difference is that I have a name for the plantation owner. I know who he was, where he lived and the names of his slaves.
Note that I said "I would have a serious conversation with",  not that I would upbraid him and I realise that he would be unlikely to understand my point of view. However, some of his contemporaries were anti-slavery and upheld what might be called modern values.

[sharonmx5]

I would politely ask my Great Grandmother if she could please pass on through the generations the story of her birth and life in India and her Indian/British ancestors, nothing of which is known to us.

[Ayashi]

Since we are shouting out a few people, I'd like to add Shute Barrington to the mix!

I'd like to sort out all of the Brady's in Cornhill, as I think they are all one big family at the time, back to the marriage of William BRADY to Isabel. Isabel who I shall never know. Also the mother of my 4th great grandmother on that line who may always be in my tree as Margaret the Widow. Like others, I also have one child born in my tree where as I recall the person writing forgot to add both the name and the sex...

Off the top of my head I can think of a few people on mum's side whose records have frustrated me but nobody whose actions would cause me to reach through time and slap them.

[River Tyne Lass]

If I could I think part of me would want to shout out to various people in the past to warn them about things.

Amongst those included would be my Grandfather's cousin who in the late 1800s married quite a violent man and judging from the newspapers she became a victim of domestic abuse for quite a number of years.  She did leave him at one point but then returned.  She likely got a brief respite during the Great War when her horrible husband went off to fight but he was one of those who survived and came back.  They stayed together till her death.   I have seen a photo of this man in the Police mugshot album at the archives and I must say he gives me the chills.  The only thing is if it was possible for me to warn her and stop the marriage I would also be stopping the existence of all their descendants who I know of to this day.  It would be quite a dilemma as I would not want her to suffer as she did but I would also not want to prevent others' existence.

[Mike in Cumbria]

I might shout "Duck!!!!" at JFK.

[River Tyne Lass]

On the subject of presidents .. 

I might shout out "Cancel the theatre tonight!" to Abraham Lincoln .

[Guy Etchells]

On the subject of presidents .. 

I might shout out "Cancel the theatre tonight!" to Abraham Lincoln .

These last examples show why time travel would be very risky if possible.
Think of the unexpected consequences if we could go back in time and actually change something, we could be the cause of a world war or something like penicillin not being discovered, through tampering in the course of history.

For example an anti-bomb protestor could go back and prevent the atomic bomb being developed (perhaps a worthwhile achievement), but possibly resulting in the world being totally destroyed by chemical weapons.

Cheers
Guy