There's a strong chance that one of your ancestors chucked away the family fortune, according to one of the biggest studies of inherited wealth in Britain released today.
The odds are as high as 20 per cent that you have past family who were very much better off than you are now.
But the chances that your social status has taken a turn for the worse are only one in 10, say users of Friends Reunited's family history building website Genes Reunited.
More than 1,000 Genes Reunited members contributed to the findings. They were asked to reveal whether they had tracked down relations who were significantly better or worse off than they are now (allowing for inflation!) and whether their social status seems to have gone up or down.
Martine Parnell, Head of Genes Reunited, said: "We wanted to find out whether people who are wealthy now come from a long line of high achievers and also whether being less well off runs in the family.
"The chances of finding a rich relation are pretty high - but in fact, most of us have gone up in the world, both financially and socially."
40 per cent of those surveyed said they were social climbers and another 40 per cent said the family fortunes seemed to have stayed very much the same.
Related to a Royal mistress and Hugh Grant
Sheila Anderson Wray has discovered that her family is related to a famous actor, that their line goes back to the man who signed Mary Queen of Scot's death warrant and further back still that one of her husband's ancestors bore a former Prince of Wales two children. Sheila says: "When you do find somebody who is related, it is fascinating; you feel such an affinity with them. It's just so amazing what you can find out, but be warned it is also very, very addictive!".
From landed gentry to Sainsbury's
Tracey O'Connor, who was brought up on a council estate in Leicester and has worked at Sainsbury's for the past 22 years, is one of the minority who have discovered her family's fortunes did take a turn for the worse. She says: "I was born working class with not a hope of a servant in sight." Having traced her mother's side of the family back to 1742, she's discovered that until the late 1800s her relatives included wealthy lawyers and magistrates and a gentleman farmer. But agricultural changes meant the farm was lost and by 1891, after a move to Rutland, Tracey's ancestors were in the workhouse. Tracey says: "It seems my ancestors lived in a different world to me. I'm not envious of what they had as life pans out as it does, but I do think it would be fun to go back in time to see what it might have been like".
Married by Nelson's dad
Lynn Sharpe, a civil servant from Hornchurch, Essex, believes she is much better off than her ancestors. She has traced them back to 1787 and discovered many cousins through Genes Reunited with whom she is now in regular contact. They had mixed fortunes. Some were agricultural labourers while others were shopkeepers, in particular fishmongers and butchers. Earlier this year, she was delighted to learn that her great-great-great-grandparents were married by Lord Nelson's father Edmund Nelson. Lynn says: "It's tragic to know that some of my ancestors were orphaned and in work houses. Equally, we were thrilled to learn about our link to Nelson!"
Printing Riches
Susan Cooper, from Hertfordshire, discovered her ancestral line included a wealthy German printer who immigrated to the West End of London in the early 1800s. This ancestor printed anti-slavery pamphlets and books some of which can be found today in rare collections in the UK. He also was noted in London society as being seen with the Kaiser on the leader's visits to the city. The printing business remained in the family until a grandson, Susan's great, great grandfather, lost his right forefinger in an accident at the printing press. Thereafter, the family's fortunes waned and to this day have not been recovered to the level of wealth enjoyed by Susan's ancestor who came to London form Germany two centuries ago.
Launched in May 2003, Genes Reunited is a sister site of internet phenomenon Friends Reunited. In just over two years it has become the UK's largest family tree, genealogy and ancestry site, with over 3 million members worldwide. Internet technology has created millions of 'cyber detectives' who are harnessing the web's incredible resources and unlocking the secrets in their family tree. It is free to join and search, with a fee of £9.50 per year to make contact with other members.
Friends Reunited was launched in July 2000 by North London based husband and wife team Julie and Steve Pankhurst so that people could get in contact with their old school friends. A combination of word of mouth and immense media attention has propelled the site to phenomenon status, expanding beyond the school friends proposition to include workplaces, teams/clubs and streets. The site has over 12 million members, that's around half of the adult internet population in the UK.