In a fascinating book, Laura Trevelyan charts the history of her family, who made a major impact on 100 years of British life. She tells Women's Editor Sarah Foster about going back to her roots.

WHENEVER people hear her name, Laura Trevelyan is used to seeing their expression change. They eye her curiously, then ask the question that is playing on their mind: "Are you one of the Trevelyans?" She answers 'yes', but now admits that not so long ago this meant nothing.

Laura's ancestors, whose family seat was the pile of Wallington, in rural Northumberland, took centre stage in one of Britain's greatest eras, from the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s. They served as leading politicians, helping to shape the big reforms and made their mark on the civil service. They married wisely, accruing wealth and stately homes, and mixed with all the greatest minds. Not content with what they did, they even set it down, becoming famous as historians. By anyone's standards, the Trevelyans were unique, so why did Laura feel so distant from her past?

"I grew up in London and my parents divorced when I was quite young," begins the 38-year-old. "My dad's father, Humphry, was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and he worked at Bletchley during the Second World War and translated the Enigma code, but his brother Theo died when he was four and I think my grandfather felt like the brilliant one had died. My grandfather reacted against all of this (the family history) so he passed that on to my dad, who didn't really talk about it much."

Yet as she went through life, she found the past would seek her out. It was while working in Northern Ireland that Laura realised its force. "When I was working as a BBC reporter in Northern Ireland in the 90s people would drop to their knees and sing me this song called Trevelyan's Corn, and that was about Charles Edward Trevelyan, who's my great great great grandfather," she recalls. "He was responsible for administering famine relief to Ireland during the potato famine in the 1840s and many people feel he was too stingy with the relief. One person I met who was from Sinn Fein said to me 'how can you be driving around South Armagh when you've got the blood of the Irish on your hands?'"

Unsurprisingly, this prompted Laura, now a UN correspondent in New York, to seek the truth about the claims. She found things weren't so black and white. "I discovered that Charles Edward's story had been demonised," she says. "He was a civil servant and he introduced competitive entry - he's best known for that and for his role in the famine. Some people say he was a providentialist - that he believed it was the will of God that people died during the Irish famine - but he actually worked incredibly hard to relieve the distress."

She next heard talk of one of her forbears when she came to work with politicians. "Once I started to work as a political correspondent at Westminster I found out about Charles Philips because he was the first secretary of state for education, so Labour MPs would expect me to know about him," she says archly. "I also found out about George Otto, who was a Liberal cabinet member under Gladstone and also a historian, so it all sort of gradually began to come together, but only the outline, not much more than that."

A turning point came when one of Laura's colleagues suggested a broadcast about her ancestry. She admits that at first, she wasn't sure. "A BBC producer called Elaine Thomas said 'there's all this interesting radio archive stuff of your ancestors speaking - some of it is 100 years old' and she said 'why don't you make a programme about it?'" says Laura. "I said 'are you sure that's a good idea? Won't it be a bit self-serving?' and she said 'I think it would be good. They were interesting and important'."

So the radio show was made and Iradj Bagherzhade, of IB Tauris publishing, just happened to hear it. He loved the story - and instantly saw it as a book. "He rang me up and said 'how about it?'" says Laura. "I agreed to do it and he said 'how quickly can you do it?' I was pregnant with my second child at the time so I said 'I can do it in six months'. It's actually taken four-and-a-half years to get round to it."

Once Laura started on the project, she found a wealth of information. Her first recourse was a trip to Newcastle. "I came to Newcastle University, which is where the family archives are held," she says. "I spent a happy couple of weeks going through all the letters and other material that's there. Then I went to Wallington to interview anyone who was still alive and who had any memories of these people."

Though she had been to her ancestral home while in her 20s, the second trip held much more meaning. It's now run by The National Trust, but one old relative remains. "Patricia Jennings lives in a flat in the house - she's the daughter of Charles Philips and she's in her 90s now," says Laura. "She remembered her grandfather, George Otto. She remembered going to tea with him when he was in the house and that he had a horse and carriage and servants. She remembered this person talking about politicians like Benjamin Disraeli, whom he had met and knew, and she remembered her father having these big political gatherings at Wallington.

"After the Miners' Gala in Durham every year the main speaker would come back to stay at Wallington, so she remembers (the NHS founder) Nye Bevan, Jennie Lee, who was Nye's wife, and Hugh Gaitskill, who was the Labour Party leader in the 50s and early 60s. In the 40s and 50s, Wallington was a political centre of the North-East."

During the course of her research, Laura met another family member whose path in life was less auspicious. "When Charles was 72, he had a child out of wedlock with his secretary at Wallington and the child of that relationship, Martin Bulmer, is still alive and in his 60s, so I met him and talked to him," she says. "He was brought up on the estate but he wasn't acknowledged as a member of the family, although he knew who his father was. I think he wanted his story to be told."

Towards the end of the 20th Century, as egalitarianism took hold, the Trevelyans found their influence waning. The houses were sold, the lavish lifestyles abandoned, and they were left to earn a living as best they could. Having gained an insight into their world, I wonder if Laura feels she knows them, if she wishes Wallington could be home. "I love to be able to come and visit," she says good-naturedly. "We live different lives these days. But I do feel more connected to it now I know about its history."

One thing Laura will admit to is her regret at missing out on the politicians. "I would have loved to have gone to one of Charles Philips' political picnics and met Nye Bevan and Jennie Lee," she says.

All in all, she's pretty happy with her lot, and feels she's lucky that for her, the family name was not bound up with expectations. She says it's nice to see her relatives from afar. "I think they were an impressive lot, although I think they were probably a difficult lot to know personally," she says.

l A Very British Family, The Trevelyans and Their World by Laura Trevelyan (IB Tauris, £18.99)