Birth Name: John Whitaker Straw
Place of Birth: Buckhurst Hill, Essex
Date of Birth: 3 August 1946
Ethnicity: English
Jack Straw is an English politician.
He is of English descent.
He has frequently stated that a maternal grandparent or great-grandparent of his was Jewish (from either a German Jewish or Eastern European Jewish family). This does not appear to be accurate. No Jewish ancestry appears on family trees of Jack’s mother. In his book autobiography, Last Man Standing: Memoirs Of A Political Survivor (2012), Jack states that his maternal grandmother, Olive Bill, was from an Eastern European Jewish immigrant family. This is not accurate. Her family was of non-Jewish English descent, and one of her recent English ancestors was born in Sri Lanka (as part of English colonialism).
Jack’s paternal grandparents were Arthur Whitaker Straw (the son of Walter Straw and Ann) and Louise Josephine Inman (the daughter of George Woollen Inman and Sarah Ann Ladbrook). George was the son of George Inman and Elizabeth Woollen.
Jack’s maternal grandparents were Ernest John Gilbey (the son of John Clayden Gilbey and Elizabeth Ann Haggar) and Olive Ethel Bill (the daughter of Thomas Henry Bill and Cecelia Charlotte Hall/Halls). John was the son of Thomas John Gilbey and Martha Burling. Elizabeth was the daughter of Joseph Hagar and Mary Rogers Cooper. Thomas was the son of Henry Edward Bill, who was born in Sri Lanka, of English parentage, and Amelia Keane. Cecelia was the daughter of Richard Gibbs Halls and Lavinia Mary Jane Vaughan.
Photo by Ministry of Justice