Where should I look to prove my mother’s Jewish ancestry?

QMy mother always told me she was a quarter English, Irish, Scottish and Jewish. It’s the Jewish element that’s eluding me. My candidates are my great grandparents Charles Carlisle and Hannah Yarham. She was born in Norfolk in 1862. Charles’ father, grandfather and great grandfather were born in Whitechapel. I believe that this area of London was 95 per cent Jewish at the time. I wondered about contacting Bevis Marks. How can I find out if they have any information that would help me? Carol Harrison

AI understand you have been told that Yarham is a Jewish name, but I see nothing in the charts you supplied to suggest Jewish ancestry. There was some movement of people between Holland and Norfolk, and some Jewish families travelled and might have settled there. However, parish registers suggest that the Yarham family were in Norfolk back to at least the 16th century, long before Jews resettled in England.

You also say in the unedited version of your letter that you have taken an autosomal DNA test and the results show that you have 98 per cent England,

Wales and North

Western Europe ancestry and 2 per cent from Norway.

If your mother was correct about being one-quarter Jewish, I would have expected your test results to show about 12 per cent Jewish ancestry. Even with a single Jewish great great grandparent, I would have expected your DNA results to show approximately 6 per cent Jewish DNA. Are any siblings of your mother still alive? It might be worth getting them – or another close family member – tested, because DNA is inherited in a random fashion and it is possible you never inherited any DNA from a Jewish ancestor.

Finally, the vast majority of people in the UK with Jewish ancestry are Ashkenazi rather than Sephardic. So for that reason, as well as your DNA results, I don’t think it would be worthwhile contacting Bevis Marks – the home of the UK’s Sephardic community – until you have more to go on. Michael Tobias