Robson Encyclopaedia

November 1, 2007

The final outcome of the 'Robson Encyclopaedia' study conducted by scientists at the Centre for Life has now been published.

In May 2007 The Centre for Life opened Our Origins, a gallery looking at the evolution and migration of modern humans. The exhibits illustrate the different types of evidence used to build up our understanding of where we came from. Historical records, such as census data, only go back a couple of centuries and archaeology can provide general information that goes back a little further, but the amount of information and level of detail falls off over time. By contrast DNA contains an unbroken historical record. We each contain a record of our personal ancestry, and comparing the DNA of individuals can tell you something about their relationship to each other. To illustrate this, we commissioned our own genetic research project.

In our culture there are two things that are passed down the male line of inheritance: surnames and y-chromosomes. We wanted to take a group of men with the same surname and investigate whether they carried a similar y-chromosome, which would indicate a common ancestor. We chose Robson as it is one of the prominent names of the region, with a strong history and some well known members. 100 male Robson volunteers come to the Centre and a cheek-swab was taken to collect a sample of their DNA. These were analysed anonymously and compared to see to what degree the individuals were related.

The main findings were that there were two main groups within our results, plus quite a few individuals. As DNA mutates with each generation, some variation would be expected, so it is possible to estimate when a common ancestor might have lived. The Robsons were a Border Reiver clan, originating over 400 years ago. About a seventh of our sample group appeared to share a common male ancestor from that time. About a quarter had a common ancestor 800 years ago and almost half shared a common male ancestor around 2000 years ago, before the Robson name existed.

A summary of the research findings can be downloaded here

The DNA samples from our volunteers were anonymised to protect individuals from any uncomfortable findings, so we cannot identify the individuals who are most closely related or the precise geographical origins of the name. . If you are interested in finding out about your family’s genetic links to the Robsons, our tests were carried out by a non-profit company called Northgene (see http://www.northgene.co.uk/). They can do individual testing, but they will need to charge for this service.

The final output of the project, a 3-miute film called “Robson Encyclopaedia” is on permanent display in “Our Origins”.