Ms Kingston said: “It has been a roller-coaster of a journey emotionally, but fantastic.”
Dr Evans said: “Alex always wondered whether there was any Jewish heritage or origin in the family’s past. Her maternal grandmother had always suggested there might have been, and we could prove she was right.”
Using material from sources that included the JC archives, Dr Evans was able to trace Ms Kingston’s Ashkenazi relatives back to their arrival in the East End in Georgian times.
The Braham family were members of Duke’s Place Synagogue, built near Aldgate in the late 17th century. Ms Kingston’s great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth, worked in a number of jobs including peddling and running a brothel, before doing well enough to buy property overlooking the newly built London Zoo in north London.
