Service runs deep in the blood of Martyn Guy’s family. His relatives have engaged in key moments in military history, and served alongside legendary admirals and a future field marshal. Martyn lives in Herefordshire, and is a retired Royal Air Force squadron leader who briefly served in Afghanistan.
“I began researching my family history in the 1980s, and enjoyed visiting record offices and seeing the tomes in the General Register Office at St Catherine’s House in London,” he explains. “I didn’t know much of our family history, although my father Kenneth told me we had Irish roots.
“I joined the Society of Genealogists (sog.org.uk) and began looking for the Guys in its library. It was there that I had my first light-bulb moment.
I could chart Richard's voyages by referring to the ships' logs
“I traced the family back, and discovered an 1811 marriage record for a sailor called Richard Feltham Guy who. His wife was Ann Bacon, an apothecary’s daughter from Cork in Ireland. They were my 3× great grandparents.
