Unravelling the Code

by Joe Flood

What do the sinking of the Bismarck, the Monmouth Rebellion, artificial stone statues, the Battle of Algiers, revolt in Maryland, rotten borough corruption, temperance agitation, eccentric millionaires, the Victorian Poor laws, Peak Frean biscuits, boll weevil control, bell ringing, theatre criticism, pregnant dairymaids, suicidal poets, African shellfish, corrupt and treacherous nobles, lavish goldfields funerals, vagrant expublicans, escaped lunatics, and the doping of racehorses have in common? People called Coad or Coode were involved, quietly doing their jobs. This book tells the story of the ancient surname of Code and how a network of descendants unravelled the descent of unrelated Coads and their Coode cousins, who have lived as neighbours wherever the Cornish congregated. It has a comprehensive genealogy and geography of the 5000 or so people of West Country descent who have borne the name up till 1911. It gives brief biographies of thirty or so eminent or eccentric individuals.

702 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 2013

About the author

Joe Flood is a comic book author and illustrator whose work includes the Cellies series, The Cute Girl Network, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and Orcs: Forged for War. For the Science Comics series, he collaborated with author MK Reed on Dinosaurs: Fossils and Feathers and wrote and illustrated Sharks: Nature’s Perfect Hunter. He lives with his wife and daughter in New York’s Hudson Valley.