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Essex family tree discovery shows link to inventor Guglielmo Marconi

JASMINE MARTIN Jasmine White next to her grandad Derrick MartinJASMINE MARTIN
Jasmine White and her grandfather Derrick Martin, found out they were related to Guglielmo Marconi's assistant Percy Paget.

A woman who researched her family tree was amazed to find she was linked to a Nobel prize winner who broadcast the first transatlantic radio signal.

Jasmine Martin, 22, from Chelmsford, Essex, made the discovery with her grandad Derrick Martin, 91.

She found out her great great uncle, Percy Paget, was an assistant to Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi.

Mr Marconi came to Chelmsford in 1898 and helped develop machines to send messages in Morse code.

The family's search started when Ms Martin was 16 and her grandfather, from Hornchurch, found some information about Mr Paget.

Ms Martin said it had been "amazing to find out everything" but she "didn't have a clue" who her relative was at first.

JASMINE MARTIN Jasmine Martin wearing a blue jumperJASMINE MARTIN
Jasmine Martin and her grandfather Derrick White worked hard to uncover a hidden truth about their family history

"From that moment when I found out that he was someone who was really significant. He had such an impact on the wireless telecommunications I thought maybe I should be more interested."

She started to research her relative and found audio clips and images of Mr Paget in Chelmsford Museum.

"I think it's a legacy worth cherishing because it had such an impact on the research for wireless telecommunications going forward," she added.

"It's amazing, I think Chelmsford should be proud."

Mr Marconi opened a factory at the former silkworks on Hall Street, Chelmsford which was the world's first wireless radio factory.

He invented a system to send messages via radio waves and was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1909 and shared it with Professor Karl Braun.

Mr Martin said his uncle probably started off as an "apprentice in electrical engineering" in Mr Marconi's first factory in Hackney, east London.

JASMINE MARTIN Derrick Martin sitting on a sofaJASMINE MARTIN
Derrick Martin said the search began with his aunt who passed on the information

He said finding the family link had bought him "a lot of satisfaction" and added: "There were rumours in the family - they used to talk about these things and the names stuck in my head but I didn't know who they were.

"When we started doing this research, it all fell into place."

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