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I've written that as "international condemnation | 0:00:06 | 0:00:08 | |
-"and outrage and scepticism." -Yeah. | 0:00:08 | 0:00:10 | |
Family's incredibly important to me. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
We need another sort of thought just to round all that up. | 0:00:13 | 0:00:16 | |
I grew up in Richmond, | 0:00:16 | 0:00:19 | |
my parents are still in the house that I grew up in. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:21 | |
And I go back there the whole time. | 0:00:21 | 0:00:23 | |
My family is very central to everything I still do. | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
-So if we use that in the head and then in the screen as well. -Yeah. | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
OK, looks good. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:31 | |
Journalist and broadcaster Sophie Raworth | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
is best known for presenting the BBC News. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:36 | |
That's two minutes. Two minutes to air. | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
I first started being interested in our ancestors, | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
where we'd come from, years ago. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:45 | |
Almost 20 years ago now. | 0:00:45 | 0:00:47 | |
And I found some names, but I don't know anything about them. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:49 | |
And it's really frustrating - as a journalist, | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
you want to be able to create a picture | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
and to know more about those individual people. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
And yet I couldn't. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:56 | |
-OK? -Yeah. -Lovely. | 0:00:56 | 0:00:58 | |
I'd love to know more about who these people were | 0:00:58 | 0:01:02 | |
and what kind of lives they led. | 0:01:02 | 0:01:03 | |
15. | 0:01:03 | 0:01:04 | |
One of the reasons I really want to look at it now | 0:01:04 | 0:01:06 | |
is because I have three children who are very young, | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
my parents who are both in their 70s, | 0:01:09 | 0:01:11 | |
and it sort of feels like pulling it all together. | 0:01:11 | 0:01:14 | |
Ten. Nine. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:15 | |
I don't know where this is going to take me. | 0:01:15 | 0:01:17 | |
My instinct is always to be prepared for what's ahead, | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
and for the first time in my life, I think I'm not. | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
Three...two... | 0:01:23 | 0:01:25 | |
one - and cue Soph. | 0:01:25 | 0:01:27 | |
Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six. | 0:01:27 | 0:01:29 | |
Sophie's starting in Richmond, where she grew up. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:09 | |
-Hi, Mum. -Hello. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:11 | |
-Hello, darling, hello. -What is Dad doing? | 0:02:11 | 0:02:15 | |
-Dad is always up a ladder. -Always up a ladder. -Hi, Dad. | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
Lovely to see you. | 0:02:18 | 0:02:20 | |
Her parents Richard and Jenny have lived here since Sophie was five. | 0:02:20 | 0:02:25 | |
My parents have been in the same house for more than 40 years | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
and they have created this beautiful garden around it. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
It's their shared passion - | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
it's also something that really brings our family together. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
-Can we go and have a cup of tea? -Have a cup of tea? -I'd love one. | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
Or coffee. | 0:02:38 | 0:02:39 | |
I've always been very interested in my father's side of the family, | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
and in our family kitchen are all these photographs of our ancestors. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:47 | |
I'd love to be able to find out their stories and know who they are. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:51 | |
I grew up around this kitchen table, I spent my whole childhood here - | 0:02:52 | 0:02:56 | |
but with all these portraits. | 0:02:56 | 0:02:57 | |
Where did they come from? Where did you get them from? | 0:02:57 | 0:03:00 | |
Well, we inherited a lot of them. | 0:03:00 | 0:03:02 | |
People come in here and they stand and look at them | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
and of course they're all such a talking point, you know. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
I know, but we don't actually know who half of them are! | 0:03:08 | 0:03:10 | |
No, we don't. | 0:03:10 | 0:03:12 | |
But it just looks nice, I think. | 0:03:12 | 0:03:13 | |
I love these pictures of Granny. | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
That's Grandpa. | 0:03:17 | 0:03:18 | |
That is your father and then that's your mother, Granny. | 0:03:19 | 0:03:24 | |
She was wonderful - she was so glamorous, wasn't she? | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
Edna Crowder was her maiden name, wasn't it? | 0:03:27 | 0:03:29 | |
She was a Crowder, because Amy Mott... | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
-Mott? -My grandmother. -Yeah. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
Married Edgar Cussons Crowder. | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
Is he on our wall, are there any pictures of him? | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
Yes, he's over there. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:40 | |
-Oh, is that him? -That's him. | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
So that's Edgar Cussons Crowder, who is my great-grandfather? | 0:03:42 | 0:03:47 | |
Well, he's a very fine gentleman, isn't he! | 0:03:47 | 0:03:49 | |
Smart. And that's the family, | 0:03:49 | 0:03:52 | |
with him in the middle. | 0:03:52 | 0:03:54 | |
He is a bit of a mystery. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:56 | |
On one piece of paper we're told that he was a travelling salesman... | 0:03:56 | 0:04:01 | |
but my cousin also says that he worked at some time at Kew Gardens. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:06 | |
-No way! Doing what? -I don't know. It's a complete mystery. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:11 | |
If your grandfather really was at Kew Gardens, who would have thought? | 0:04:11 | 0:04:16 | |
That would be incredible, wouldn't it? | 0:04:16 | 0:04:17 | |
Maybe you got all your green fingers from this man. | 0:04:17 | 0:04:20 | |
Sophie's also curious | 0:04:22 | 0:04:23 | |
about her great-grandmother's side of the family. | 0:04:23 | 0:04:26 | |
-The Motts. -So who is this? That must be Amy Mott, | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
who is my great-grandmother. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:31 | |
Amy Mott is the daughter of Henry Isaac Mott. | 0:04:31 | 0:04:33 | |
The slightly naughty-looking man with the pipe. | 0:04:33 | 0:04:37 | |
The one with the wonderful beard? | 0:04:37 | 0:04:39 | |
Right, so this is Henry Isaac Mott. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
So, my great-great-grandfather. | 0:04:41 | 0:04:43 | |
-Yeah. -I think he's wonderful. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
-Twinkle in his eye. -Total twinkle in his eye. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:48 | |
He rather liked the ladies, I think, don't you think? | 0:04:48 | 0:04:50 | |
You know that for a fact, do you?! | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
He just looks like that! | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
Henry Isaac Mott was the son of Isaac Henry Mott. | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
-Gosh! -Just to make it complicated. | 0:05:00 | 0:05:02 | |
And Isaac Henry Mott was a piano maker... | 0:05:02 | 0:05:05 | |
-Really? -..and a musician, | 0:05:05 | 0:05:06 | |
and created the Sostenente piano. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:08 | |
Wow. And they've got this wonderful thing here, written, | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
I've never actually read this. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:12 | |
So Isaac Henry, his father, my great-great-great-grandfather, | 0:05:12 | 0:05:17 | |
three times grandfather, Isaac Henry Mott, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
"the inventor of the 'Sostenente' action was a resident of Brighton, | 0:05:20 | 0:05:23 | |
"played in the King's band and accompanied George IV..." | 0:05:23 | 0:05:27 | |
I think there is a Sostenente piano in Brighton Pavilion. | 0:05:27 | 0:05:31 | |
Oh, which you've written about here, Royal Pavilion, Brighton. | 0:05:31 | 0:05:33 | |
-Yeah. -I'm fascinated, actually, | 0:05:33 | 0:05:35 | |
because nobody's really spoken about this side of the family - | 0:05:35 | 0:05:37 | |
and I think Brighton is quite a good place to start. | 0:05:37 | 0:05:40 | |
I'll need to go and find that piano! | 0:05:40 | 0:05:42 | |
I'm amazed to hear there is some rumour that Edgar Cussons Crowden, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
my father's grandfather, worked at Kew Gardens, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
which, for our family, would be extraordinary. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:53 | |
First, though, I'd love to find out more about the Motts. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
Sophie's come to Brighton to investigate a family legend | 0:05:59 | 0:06:02 | |
that she's descended from an illustrious piano maker. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
From the back of that photograph, it says Royal Pavilion, Brighton. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:10 | |
Where the piano is that was made by my great-great-great-grandfather, | 0:06:10 | 0:06:14 | |
by all accounts, and I'd love to find out more about that. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:18 | |
The Royal Pavilion was built in 1815 as a seaside pleasure palace | 0:06:18 | 0:06:22 | |
for George IV, then the Prince Regent. | 0:06:22 | 0:06:25 | |
Wow! | 0:06:26 | 0:06:28 | |
The extravagant prince | 0:06:28 | 0:06:29 | |
collected the most fashionable art and musical instruments... | 0:06:29 | 0:06:34 | |
The piano! Wow! | 0:06:34 | 0:06:35 | |
..including a piano made by Isaac Henry Mott. | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
So this is it? It's rather splendid, isn't it? | 0:06:39 | 0:06:42 | |
Sophie's meeting historian Marie Kent. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:45 | |
So this was made by Isaac Mott? | 0:06:45 | 0:06:48 | |
Yes, that's right. This was made by Messrs Mott and Co. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:51 | |
-Right. -In about 1820. | 0:06:51 | 0:06:53 | |
For George IV. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:55 | |
And this was the must-have object of the day. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
It combined the latest technology, music and fashion. | 0:06:57 | 0:07:01 | |
Much like the iPhone today, except that... | 0:07:01 | 0:07:03 | |
-Like the iPhone! -Yes! Everybody wanted it! | 0:07:03 | 0:07:05 | |
In the 1820s the piano was a sought-after luxury item, | 0:07:06 | 0:07:11 | |
and no upper-class home was complete without one. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:14 | |
Each piano was handmade by specialist craftsmen, | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
and London alone was home to 200 piano workshops. | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
Isaac Mott and his business partner Julius | 0:07:24 | 0:07:26 | |
catered for at the top end of the market. | 0:07:26 | 0:07:29 | |
Their Sostenente piano had a unique, sustained sound | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
and cost 250 guineas - | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
£11,000 in today's money. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:37 | |
"IHR Mott, JC Mott and Company. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:44 | |
"92 Pall Mall." | 0:07:44 | 0:07:45 | |
Yes, that's their head office, if you like, in London. | 0:07:45 | 0:07:49 | |
-Where I got married. -Is that right? | 0:07:49 | 0:07:51 | |
-Yeah! -Wow. | 0:07:51 | 0:07:53 | |
-Well, there we go. -Funny, small world. | 0:07:53 | 0:07:55 | |
Isn't it! Most of the piano trade was centred in Soho, | 0:07:55 | 0:07:59 | |
but Isaac Henry Mott had the genius idea | 0:07:59 | 0:08:02 | |
not to bury himself among the other piano makers, | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
he was going to place himself right up there | 0:08:06 | 0:08:08 | |
with the royalty and the gentry. | 0:08:08 | 0:08:10 | |
So he found premises a few doors away from the Prince Regent. | 0:08:10 | 0:08:13 | |
So if you want to sell to the Royal Family, | 0:08:13 | 0:08:15 | |
go and move next door to them? | 0:08:15 | 0:08:16 | |
-Exactly. -So what I want to know is, | 0:08:16 | 0:08:18 | |
am I allowed to play a couple of notes, or not? | 0:08:18 | 0:08:21 | |
-I'd love you to. -How amazing. | 0:08:21 | 0:08:23 | |
So, there you go, my ancestor's piano. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:25 | |
Oh, wow! | 0:08:25 | 0:08:26 | |
SHE PLAYS PIANO | 0:08:26 | 0:08:28 | |
Wow. | 0:08:34 | 0:08:36 | |
Oh! That's amazing. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:38 | |
So, on our wall at home we've got a picture of the son of this man, | 0:08:39 | 0:08:43 | |
who made the piano, and it says on the back of this photograph | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
that Isaac played with the king. | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
Indeed, Isaac Henry Robert Mott did that - | 0:08:49 | 0:08:52 | |
but unfortunately, he's not the gentlemen you're thinking of. | 0:08:52 | 0:08:56 | |
-Oh, no! -I'm so sorry! | 0:08:56 | 0:08:58 | |
-That's all right, don't worry. -Close, but no cigar! | 0:08:58 | 0:09:00 | |
Definitely a family member. | 0:09:00 | 0:09:01 | |
-Right. -But not your direct ancestor. | 0:09:01 | 0:09:05 | |
-Wow, OK. -So, here we have the census of 1861. | 0:09:05 | 0:09:09 | |
And here at the bottom | 0:09:09 | 0:09:11 | |
is your actual three-times great-grandfather. | 0:09:11 | 0:09:14 | |
So Henry Isaac, is that the "I" for Isaac? | 0:09:14 | 0:09:17 | |
Correct, yes, Henry Isaac Mott. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
What relationship is he, then, to the piano maker? | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
Well, I've got some more documents to show you there. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:23 | |
-Shall we see? -I'd love to see. | 0:09:23 | 0:09:25 | |
Sophie's discovered that there has been a case of mistaken identity. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
Her three times great-grandfather is not Isaac Henry Mott, | 0:09:31 | 0:09:35 | |
as the family believed, but the similarly named Henry Isaac. | 0:09:35 | 0:09:39 | |
But Sophie is related to the eminent piano makers | 0:09:40 | 0:09:43 | |
through Henry Isaac's father. | 0:09:43 | 0:09:46 | |
Her four-times great-grandfather, Samuel Mott. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
To help Sophie understand the connection, | 0:09:51 | 0:09:53 | |
Marie has drawn up a family tree. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:55 | |
So, Samuel Mott here is my four-times great-grandfather, | 0:09:56 | 0:10:01 | |
married to Ann. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
And Samuel's younger brother is Julius Caesar Mott. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:07 | |
Yes. Who was in partnership with Isaac Henry Robert Mott. | 0:10:07 | 0:10:12 | |
So these two are cousins and they go into business together. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
All these piano makers! | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
-Yes! -They're all in pianos! | 0:10:18 | 0:10:19 | |
-They are! -And presumably they all worked together? | 0:10:19 | 0:10:23 | |
Yes, indeed. Samuel Mott, your four-times great-grandfather, | 0:10:23 | 0:10:27 | |
did work for his brother, Julius Caesar Mott, and his cousin, Isaac. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
So Samuel is a pianoforte hammer coverer, | 0:10:31 | 0:10:36 | |
which doesn't sound quite so glamorous as makers. | 0:10:36 | 0:10:40 | |
As a piano hammer coverer, | 0:10:40 | 0:10:42 | |
Samuel Mott held a lowly position in the family business. | 0:10:42 | 0:10:46 | |
While his entrepreneurial brother and cousin | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
rubbed shoulders with royalty, | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
Samuel did skilled but repetitive manual labour in the workshop. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:56 | |
We've got a letter here that tells us a bit more | 0:10:56 | 0:10:58 | |
about the arrangement that they had. | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
How incredible to have something like this! | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
"1829. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:04 | |
"Dear Julius, I came up to London to see about Samuel, | 0:11:04 | 0:11:08 | |
"who has been writing to sister Mary Mott for money, as usual, | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
"and making great complaints about Isaac." | 0:11:12 | 0:11:16 | |
Isaac is Samuel's cousin. | 0:11:16 | 0:11:17 | |
The piano maker, that's right. | 0:11:17 | 0:11:18 | |
-Yes. -Yes. -Right. "To know the truth, I called on Isaac | 0:11:18 | 0:11:22 | |
"to know the reason he could not employ him | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
"and I find that Samuel was so dissatisfactory, | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
"and made the men so, | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
"that Isaac could not have him in the workshops any longer, | 0:11:30 | 0:11:33 | |
"and therefore got rid of him." | 0:11:33 | 0:11:35 | |
These are my relations! | 0:11:35 | 0:11:37 | |
So he's fired him, effectively? | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
Yes, it's pretty sensational, isn't it? | 0:11:40 | 0:11:43 | |
I wonder what happened. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
-We have another letter to show you! -A "but"! | 0:11:45 | 0:11:47 | |
So, now we're going to actually go back in time two years. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:52 | |
This is to Julius again. | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
So, this is two years before. | 0:11:54 | 0:11:56 | |
"Samuel Mott wrote to me some time ago pressing his old petition..." | 0:11:56 | 0:12:00 | |
On and on it goes. "..of money, to get into business. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
"Which I refused. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
"He has nothing to do and also he is in debt for rent | 0:12:06 | 0:12:10 | |
"and liable to have his goods seized." | 0:12:10 | 0:12:13 | |
They could take all his possessions off him? | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
Yes, the bailiffs are at the door. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
And then it says here, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
"He's such a mule of a chap | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
"that I'm totally at a loss | 0:12:23 | 0:12:24 | |
"to know what can be done with anyone in his situation, | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
"unless it be to the workhouse or Van Diemen's..." | 0:12:27 | 0:12:32 | |
Van Diemen's Land was a penal colony. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:34 | |
It's now Tasmania. | 0:12:34 | 0:12:36 | |
So, effectively, they're saying he's fit for the workhouse | 0:12:36 | 0:12:39 | |
or transportation. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:40 | |
Wow, they've really... | 0:12:40 | 0:12:42 | |
They've really given up on Samuel, haven't they? | 0:12:42 | 0:12:44 | |
Mmm. So they've obviously decided not to lend him money, | 0:12:44 | 0:12:48 | |
but they will try and reform him with a job. | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
So Samuel's been given a job and then lost it. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
He's in debt, he has children, so then what happens? | 0:12:55 | 0:12:59 | |
Where does he go from there? | 0:12:59 | 0:13:00 | |
So I came to the Royal Pavilion | 0:13:01 | 0:13:03 | |
thinking I was related to Isaac Mott, | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
the piano maker who made pianos for the king | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
and played with the king when he played the cello - | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
and I discover, actually, | 0:13:10 | 0:13:12 | |
I'm directly related to his cousin who was "a mule of a chap"! | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
It's not quite the same, is it? | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
But what about Samuel Mott? | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
I'm not quite sure | 0:13:21 | 0:13:22 | |
how he fits into this extraordinary musical Mott family. | 0:13:22 | 0:13:25 | |
He's obviously really struggling, he's got no money at all. | 0:13:25 | 0:13:29 | |
I mean, what happens to him next? | 0:13:29 | 0:13:30 | |
Did they send him to the workhouse? I don't know! | 0:13:30 | 0:13:33 | |
By the time he was fired from the family business in 1829, | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
Samuel Mott was a married man in his 40s with children to support. | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
Sophie wants to know what happened next | 0:13:46 | 0:13:49 | |
to her four-times great-grandfather. | 0:13:49 | 0:13:51 | |
She's come to meet genealogist Laura Berry. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:53 | |
What I have now discovered is that Samuel Mott, | 0:13:57 | 0:14:01 | |
my four-times great-grandfather, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:04 | |
was kicked out of the family business in 1829, | 0:14:04 | 0:14:07 | |
but I don't know what happened to him. | 0:14:07 | 0:14:08 | |
Well, I've been looking into what happened | 0:14:08 | 0:14:11 | |
and I've found an insurance policy - this dates from 1834. | 0:14:11 | 0:14:16 | |
So it's five years later. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
This shows him renting a place in London. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:21 | |
Not just London. Wow! | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
On a house at 72 Regent Street. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:25 | |
"In tenure of Samuel Mott. | 0:14:27 | 0:14:29 | |
"A coverer of the hammers of the pianofortes in Regent Street." | 0:14:29 | 0:14:34 | |
That is about as smart as you can get. | 0:14:35 | 0:14:37 | |
Yeah, it's very fashionable. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:39 | |
How can he afford to do that? | 0:14:39 | 0:14:41 | |
Last time I saw, he didn't have any money | 0:14:41 | 0:14:43 | |
-and was begging all his relatives. -Well, that's a good question... | 0:14:43 | 0:14:47 | |
and one I'm not able to answer, I'm afraid. | 0:14:47 | 0:14:49 | |
But this is from 1834, | 0:14:49 | 0:14:50 | |
so, seven years later is the first census from 1841, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:54 | |
and I've found the family, but they're not in London now. | 0:14:54 | 0:14:58 | |
Island of where? Jersey? | 0:14:58 | 0:15:00 | |
He's gone to Jersey? | 0:15:00 | 0:15:01 | |
St Helier. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:04 | |
And it's Kensington Place, they're living in Kensington Place, | 0:15:04 | 0:15:07 | |
which sounds rather smart? | 0:15:07 | 0:15:08 | |
Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as nice as it sounded. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
It was a bit of a rough part of Jersey. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:12 | |
Oh, really? | 0:15:12 | 0:15:15 | |
So there's Ann Mott, so this is Samuel's wife, who's 55. | 0:15:15 | 0:15:20 | |
Three children, but no Samuel. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
-Where's Samuel? -Well, that's what I wondered, as well. | 0:15:24 | 0:15:26 | |
I did a search of the Jersey archives | 0:15:26 | 0:15:29 | |
and there's a newspaper report dating from 1838. | 0:15:29 | 0:15:32 | |
So that is nine years after he's kicked out of the family business. | 0:15:32 | 0:15:37 | |
"On Tuesday morning of this month Mr Mott, | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
"resident at Kensington Place, | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
"had for some time been showing symptoms of insanity." | 0:15:42 | 0:15:45 | |
Oh, no! | 0:15:46 | 0:15:47 | |
"At ten in the morning he went upstairs | 0:15:49 | 0:15:52 | |
"and locked himself in his room. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:54 | |
"He then killed himself. | 0:15:54 | 0:15:57 | |
"The gentleman's wife found her husband in a pool of his own blood." | 0:15:57 | 0:16:01 | |
Oh! | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
-Oh, it's so detailed, this, isn't it? -Mmm. -Poor Samuel! | 0:16:03 | 0:16:06 | |
-Oh, how awful. -It's really shocking, I think. | 0:16:06 | 0:16:09 | |
How awful. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
God. | 0:16:12 | 0:16:14 | |
Oh, I was hoping for a happy ending for Samuel. | 0:16:15 | 0:16:17 | |
I'm sorry. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:19 | |
I was hoping something was going to come good. | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
He must've been so desperate to do that. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:24 | |
My great-great-great-great- grandfather. | 0:16:25 | 0:16:27 | |
What happened to him, | 0:16:27 | 0:16:29 | |
and why did he end up so bitter that he took his own life? | 0:16:29 | 0:16:33 | |
Having found this in Jersey, | 0:16:33 | 0:16:35 | |
we did a comprehensive trawl of the archives, | 0:16:35 | 0:16:37 | |
and haven't found anything else about this stage of Samuel's life. | 0:16:37 | 0:16:40 | |
So I think, in order to perhaps understand better | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
exactly why Samuel became so desperate, | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
I think the only real option now | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
is to go back to the beginning of his life. | 0:16:47 | 0:16:49 | |
So I think maybe your next step would be to go to Birmingham, | 0:16:49 | 0:16:51 | |
-where the family came from originally. -Birmingham? | 0:16:51 | 0:16:54 | |
Birmingham. And see if you can find anything there for the family. | 0:16:54 | 0:16:57 | |
So, Birmingham might hold the key. | 0:16:57 | 0:16:59 | |
I found that really shocking, | 0:17:04 | 0:17:07 | |
reading that account. | 0:17:07 | 0:17:08 | |
Because it's so brutal. | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
What fascinates me is the contrast between Julius and Samuel. | 0:17:12 | 0:17:17 | |
Julius, the great entrepreneur, the great success, | 0:17:17 | 0:17:21 | |
and Samuel, the older brother who has made a mess of his life. | 0:17:21 | 0:17:24 | |
What happened early on? What happened to those two brothers? | 0:17:26 | 0:17:29 | |
Was there an event that put them on separate paths? | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
And maybe Birmingham will hold some of the answers. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:35 | |
When the Motts lived here in the 1790s, | 0:17:39 | 0:17:42 | |
Birmingham was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution. | 0:17:42 | 0:17:46 | |
The town was a hub of engineering, manufacturing and invention. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:51 | |
The Silicon Valley of the 18th century. | 0:17:51 | 0:17:53 | |
Sophie's arranged to meet historian Emma Major. | 0:17:58 | 0:18:01 | |
-Hi, lovely to meet you. -Very nice to meet you. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:03 | |
-Come in. -Thank you. | 0:18:03 | 0:18:04 | |
So, Emma, I'm trying to find out more | 0:18:09 | 0:18:11 | |
about my four-times great-grandfather. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
I've got a family tree here. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:15 | |
Just so you can see where he fits in. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
So there he is, Samuel Mott. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:19 | |
Here is his father, William Mott. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:21 | |
Now, I do know that William Mott was from Birmingham. | 0:18:21 | 0:18:25 | |
Yes. The Mott family lived in this area, | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
as you can see from this lovely Birmingham directory from 1791. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:32 | |
The Pyes Birmingham Directory. | 0:18:32 | 0:18:33 | |
What's this, a sort of Yellow Pages of the 1790s? | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
-Absolutely. -Let's find... Must be down there, Mott. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:40 | |
Mott. Mott! William Mott. | 0:18:40 | 0:18:41 | |
-There we go. -A plated buckle maker. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:44 | |
Ha! He lives in Fleet Street. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
Which is just round the corner from here. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:48 | |
Wow. Could they have worshipped here at this church? | 0:18:48 | 0:18:51 | |
They didn't. They took a different path. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
Right. "The congregation of the New Church | 0:18:55 | 0:18:59 | |
"signified by the New Jerusalem, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:01 | |
"births and baptisms." | 0:19:01 | 0:19:03 | |
Hang on, where are we? Samuel Mott. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:06 | |
-Here he is. -Yep. -That's my Samuel? | 0:19:06 | 0:19:09 | |
Yeah. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:10 | |
There's Julius Caesar. | 0:19:10 | 0:19:12 | |
There he is. But these are all his other siblings. | 0:19:12 | 0:19:15 | |
So, they're all baptised on the same day? | 0:19:15 | 0:19:18 | |
Mm. | 0:19:18 | 0:19:19 | |
April the 15th, 1792. | 0:19:19 | 0:19:23 | |
Samuel was eight. | 0:19:23 | 0:19:25 | |
I mean, they're all quite old, weren't they, | 0:19:25 | 0:19:27 | |
when they were baptised? | 0:19:27 | 0:19:28 | |
But what was the New Jerusalem? | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
The New Jerusalem Church was the dissenting church, | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
so it's not part of the Church of England. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
Dissenters were Protestants who had rejected the Anglican mainstream | 0:19:37 | 0:19:41 | |
and did not recognise the king as the head of their church. | 0:19:41 | 0:19:45 | |
But their independent thinking was seen as a threat to the status quo, | 0:19:45 | 0:19:50 | |
and dissenters were denied many civil rights. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:53 | |
They could not join the Army, take public office, | 0:19:53 | 0:19:56 | |
or even go to university, unless they renounced their beliefs. | 0:19:56 | 0:20:00 | |
-So here we've got the five Mott children. -Mm-hm. | 0:20:02 | 0:20:05 | |
Samuel among them. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:06 | |
-But where are the parents? -The parents are on the next document. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:11 | |
So, this is 1791. | 0:20:11 | 0:20:16 | |
Oh, there you are, Martha, Mrs Martha Mott. | 0:20:16 | 0:20:19 | |
So, oh, on Christmas Day! | 0:20:19 | 0:20:21 | |
She's baptised on Christmas Day. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
Where's her husband? 1792. | 0:20:24 | 0:20:29 | |
There he is. So, there's William Mott. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:31 | |
So, Martha Mott gets baptised first. | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
Four months later, her five children are all baptised together... | 0:20:35 | 0:20:39 | |
and then it's another month until her husband follows suit | 0:20:39 | 0:20:42 | |
and joins the rest of the family. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:44 | |
-So it's Martha Mott leading the way here. -Mm. | 0:20:44 | 0:20:47 | |
Why would she be so drawn to this? | 0:20:47 | 0:20:49 | |
I think that Martha's attracted to this church | 0:20:49 | 0:20:52 | |
because it presents itself as a new church of hope, | 0:20:52 | 0:20:56 | |
of future, of improvement. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
The New Jerusalem was the newest dissenting church in Birmingham, | 0:20:59 | 0:21:03 | |
spreading a message of optimistic spirituality. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:06 | |
Its worshippers believed in free will, | 0:21:06 | 0:21:10 | |
and that humankind could be improved through hard work, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:13 | |
piety and education. | 0:21:13 | 0:21:15 | |
But what has she converted from? | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
So, we think that they belong to a different dissenting sect | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
called the Baptists, | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
which is a much more traditional, established denomination - | 0:21:24 | 0:21:27 | |
but the New Jerusalem is a cutting-edge denomination | 0:21:27 | 0:21:30 | |
that sees itself as shaping the future, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:32 | |
and she's going to be part of that future with her family. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:35 | |
-So it was a really bold thing to do? -It was a bold thing to do. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:38 | |
-She's my five-times great-grandmother. -Mm. | 0:21:38 | 0:21:42 | |
I get a real sense of a very strong woman, | 0:21:42 | 0:21:46 | |
who was sort of before her time, really. | 0:21:46 | 0:21:49 | |
I'm still really confused, though, how Samuel, | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
who comes from this very strong mother, | 0:21:52 | 0:21:54 | |
I still don't quite understand what has gone wrong for him. | 0:21:54 | 0:21:57 | |
That's a really good question - | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
because six months before she is baptised | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
into the New Jerusalem Church, | 0:22:01 | 0:22:03 | |
things are just beginning to change in Birmingham. | 0:22:03 | 0:22:06 | |
There are big riots targeting dissenters. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
-Oh, really? -Yes, the Priestley Riots, as they became known. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
The Priestley Riots? | 0:22:13 | 0:22:14 | |
Birmingham had long been a magnet for dissenters | 0:22:16 | 0:22:19 | |
attracted by the town's reputation for tolerance and opportunity... | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
..but in the 1790s, | 0:22:24 | 0:22:25 | |
faultlines appeared when dissenters tried but failed | 0:22:25 | 0:22:29 | |
to have the laws which discriminated against them repealed. | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
With the French Revolution gathering pace across the Channel, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
the dissenters' push for equality | 0:22:37 | 0:22:39 | |
was now seen as politically dangerous. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:42 | |
In Birmingham, this volatile situation was made even worse | 0:22:44 | 0:22:48 | |
by an outspoken dissenting minister, Joseph Priestley, | 0:22:48 | 0:22:52 | |
and on the 14th of July, 1791, the town exploded into violence. | 0:22:52 | 0:22:58 | |
Mobs turned on Birmingham's dissenters. | 0:22:58 | 0:23:01 | |
Martha converted to this cutting-edge New Jerusalem Church | 0:23:03 | 0:23:08 | |
just six months after the riots against the dissenters. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:13 | |
So I wonder what impact that could have had, | 0:23:13 | 0:23:16 | |
not just on Martha and William, but also on the children. | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
I'd to love to find out. | 0:23:20 | 0:23:21 | |
The funny thing about Martha Mott is, | 0:23:24 | 0:23:26 | |
it almost deepens the mystery that surrounds Samuel. | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
This little boy who is being led by a very strong mother. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:34 | |
And yet his life ends in complete tragedy. | 0:23:34 | 0:23:36 | |
Samuel ended up committing suicide. | 0:23:37 | 0:23:40 | |
What happened to Samuel? | 0:23:40 | 0:23:41 | |
At the time of the Priestley Riots, | 0:23:44 | 0:23:46 | |
the Motts were part of Birmingham's dissenting community, | 0:23:46 | 0:23:49 | |
but had not yet converted to the more radical New Jerusalem Church... | 0:23:49 | 0:23:53 | |
..but in the riots, any dissenter was a target. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
Sophie's meeting historian Jonathan Atherton | 0:24:00 | 0:24:03 | |
in the centre of Birmingham. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:04 | |
-You must be Jonathan. -I am indeed. -Very nice to meet you. | 0:24:04 | 0:24:07 | |
Nice to meet you, Sophie. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:08 | |
Now, what I want to know is all about the Priestley Riots, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:10 | |
and also how those riots affected my family, the Motts. | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
We're meeting here on Newhall Street. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
As you can see, this is a busy, bustling street, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
just as it would have been in the 18th century. | 0:24:17 | 0:24:20 | |
Just down there would be Fleet Street. | 0:24:20 | 0:24:22 | |
That is the street where the Motts lived and worked. | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
This is also the street where the New Jerusalem Church was located. | 0:24:25 | 0:24:28 | |
Here?! Was it?! | 0:24:28 | 0:24:29 | |
-Indeed, here. -Really? Right here? | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
And this is also the street where the Priestley Riots took place - | 0:24:31 | 0:24:34 | |
and I have a very brief account for you. | 0:24:34 | 0:24:37 | |
So this is "An Authentic Account of the Dreadful Riots in Birmingham." | 0:24:37 | 0:24:42 | |
"The mob have been marking and pulling down houses the whole day. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:46 | |
"And the riot is greater than ever. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:49 | |
"We are in very great apprehension | 0:24:49 | 0:24:51 | |
"that every dissenter's house in Birmingham will be destroyed." | 0:24:51 | 0:24:56 | |
Large crowds are moving through the streets of Birmingham, | 0:24:56 | 0:24:59 | |
attacking dissenting meeting houses and the homes of dissenters. | 0:24:59 | 0:25:04 | |
That must have been terrifying. | 0:25:04 | 0:25:06 | |
What happens to the Motts in all of this? | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
It's a really good question, and it's something I can help you with - | 0:25:09 | 0:25:12 | |
-but it might be best to go inside, where it's warm. -Let's go. | 0:25:12 | 0:25:15 | |
The Priestley Riots were some of the most violent of the 18th century. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:23 | |
For three days and nights, | 0:25:24 | 0:25:26 | |
Birmingham's dissenters were under attack. | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
The homes of 27 dissenting families were destroyed. | 0:25:29 | 0:25:33 | |
I've got this with the Motts on it, and they've got five children. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
So if we have a look down at the dates of birth, | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
they might have had a particular reason | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
to be even more concerned than normal. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:43 | |
'84, '86, '88. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:45 | |
'91. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
July 23rd, 1791. | 0:25:49 | 0:25:51 | |
I had missed that. That's literally ten days after the riots. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
It's ten days after the riots began. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
So, Martha Mott is heavily pregnant with her fifth child | 0:25:57 | 0:26:00 | |
-when these riots are taking place. -Yes. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:02 | |
-It must have been frightening for them. -It really must have been. | 0:26:02 | 0:26:05 | |
So she gives birth just after those riots. | 0:26:07 | 0:26:10 | |
But even so, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:13 | |
despite that, despite the fear, despite what was going on, | 0:26:13 | 0:26:16 | |
she still converts to this church. | 0:26:16 | 0:26:18 | |
-Yep. -Six months later. | 0:26:18 | 0:26:20 | |
That's a really brave thing to do, isn't it? | 0:26:20 | 0:26:22 | |
It's a very brave thing to do. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:24 | |
I mean, the New Jerusalem Church | 0:26:24 | 0:26:26 | |
is one of the more radical dissenting denominations. | 0:26:26 | 0:26:29 | |
In many ways, by making that move, | 0:26:29 | 0:26:30 | |
she is bringing herself in more danger. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:33 | |
She's not going to be cowed. | 0:26:33 | 0:26:34 | |
Martha Mott is not going to be cowed. | 0:26:34 | 0:26:36 | |
Incredible woman. | 0:26:38 | 0:26:39 | |
The riots changed Birmingham fundamentally. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
It would had been a very tense atmosphere in the aftermath. | 0:26:43 | 0:26:47 | |
Dissenters continued to be subjected to violence. | 0:26:47 | 0:26:50 | |
The New Jerusalem Church, where the Motts would have worshipped, | 0:26:50 | 0:26:54 | |
was attacked in 1793 - it was firebombed. | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
The poor Motts. What happened to them? | 0:26:58 | 0:27:00 | |
Do we know what happened to them? | 0:27:00 | 0:27:01 | |
Well, we have some insight into what the Motts are thinking at this time, | 0:27:01 | 0:27:05 | |
and what they do next - | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
and I have a letter for you. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
A letter? Who's it from? | 0:27:10 | 0:27:12 | |
William Mott. | 0:27:14 | 0:27:16 | |
I can't believe, I can't even read it, | 0:27:18 | 0:27:20 | |
I can't believe we have a letter. | 0:27:20 | 0:27:22 | |
This is, what, my great-grandfather times five? | 0:27:22 | 0:27:26 | |
"The 18th of June, 1793. | 0:27:26 | 0:27:29 | |
"I have been conversing with Mr Foster, one of my intimate friends, | 0:27:29 | 0:27:33 | |
"settled in the American business. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:36 | |
"Mr Humphreys' two sons, who were sufferers in the late riots, | 0:27:36 | 0:27:40 | |
"sailed from England on the 28th of March. | 0:27:40 | 0:27:43 | |
"They speak favourably of the country. | 0:27:43 | 0:27:45 | |
"I have thoughts of fixing in or near New City. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:50 | |
"My boys are coming up daily now. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
"I hope to settle them somehow | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
"so that their minds may expand themselves | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
"and learn, with others, to be happy | 0:27:58 | 0:28:00 | |
"in any country where peace, liberty and plenty is found." | 0:28:00 | 0:28:05 | |
William Mott is going to America? | 0:28:05 | 0:28:07 | |
He is indeed. | 0:28:07 | 0:28:10 | |
Wow! | 0:28:10 | 0:28:11 | |
I cannot... | 0:28:14 | 0:28:15 | |
That's amazing, I can't believe that. | 0:28:15 | 0:28:17 | |
Wow! | 0:28:17 | 0:28:18 | |
Where's New City? | 0:28:20 | 0:28:21 | |
-New York. -They go to New York? | 0:28:21 | 0:28:23 | |
They go to New York. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:24 | |
They go to New York. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:28 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
That's incredible! | 0:28:30 | 0:28:31 | |
They went to New York. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:34 | |
So, I mean, this bit, | 0:28:34 | 0:28:36 | |
"My boys are coming up daily now," they're growing up, | 0:28:36 | 0:28:38 | |
"their minds may expand themselves in any country | 0:28:38 | 0:28:41 | |
"where peace, liberty and plenty is found." | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
That's what they want. That's what he wants for his family - | 0:28:44 | 0:28:47 | |
peace, liberty and plenty. | 0:28:47 | 0:28:48 | |
The reference to peace and liberty I think is very significant, | 0:28:48 | 0:28:51 | |
because it's almost saying that we no longer have that in Britain. | 0:28:51 | 0:28:55 | |
-No, it's totally saying that, isn't it? -Yep. | 0:28:55 | 0:28:57 | |
I can't imagine doing it. | 0:28:57 | 0:28:58 | |
I've got three children of my own, | 0:28:58 | 0:29:01 | |
I can't imagine picking my three kids up and saying, "Right, | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
"we're going to some place I know so little about, | 0:29:04 | 0:29:07 | |
"but we're going to have to risk everything | 0:29:07 | 0:29:09 | |
"because this is what I have to do for you to give you a future." | 0:29:09 | 0:29:13 | |
The courage that they show, and the determination to pursue | 0:29:14 | 0:29:19 | |
what they think is right. | 0:29:19 | 0:29:21 | |
I think the family is extraordinary. | 0:29:24 | 0:29:26 | |
I'm shaking, you can see the letters moving! | 0:29:26 | 0:29:29 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:29:29 | 0:29:30 | |
But there are still... | 0:29:30 | 0:29:32 | |
It still leaves so many more questions, | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
because I know certainly Samuel came back here, Julius came back here. | 0:29:36 | 0:29:42 | |
Something's happened to Samuel along the way, | 0:29:42 | 0:29:44 | |
something has happened to him... | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
and I still don't know what that is. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:48 | |
In 1793, | 0:29:53 | 0:29:55 | |
New York was the second city | 0:29:55 | 0:29:57 | |
of the newly independent United States of America. | 0:29:57 | 0:30:00 | |
Just ten years earlier, | 0:30:02 | 0:30:04 | |
America had defeated Britain in the War of Independence - | 0:30:04 | 0:30:07 | |
and, in 1789, elected their first President, George Washington. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:12 | |
I love these Motts. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:14 | |
They are a family looking to the future. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
There they were, the American Revolution had just happened, | 0:30:17 | 0:30:22 | |
the French Revolution was underway, | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
and the Motts decide that they want those freedoms. | 0:30:25 | 0:30:27 | |
I've got so many questions about what happened to the Motts. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:32 | |
What was the New City, as William Mott calls it in his letter, | 0:30:32 | 0:30:36 | |
what did the New City looked like? | 0:30:36 | 0:30:38 | |
It certainly didn't look like this. | 0:30:38 | 0:30:40 | |
People who can just go against the grain, | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
risk everything for what they really believe in, I really admire them. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:50 | |
I think they're an extraordinary family. | 0:30:50 | 0:30:53 | |
Sophie's four-times great-grandfather, Samuel, | 0:30:56 | 0:30:59 | |
was just nine years old when the Motts landed in America in 1793. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:04 | |
To find out what this young democracy held for the family, | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
Sophie's meeting historian Brett Palfreyman. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
-Hello. You must be Brett. -Hi, Sophie, how are you? | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
Very well. Lovely to meet you. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:15 | |
-Welcome to New York. -Thank you very much. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:17 | |
Now, I've got so many questions for you. | 0:31:17 | 0:31:19 | |
So the Motts, they get off the ship, and what happens? | 0:31:19 | 0:31:22 | |
And they would have arrived right here where we are standing, almost. | 0:31:22 | 0:31:25 | |
Right at the East River docks in Lower Manhattan. | 0:31:25 | 0:31:28 | |
In fact, this gives you the flavour of it, | 0:31:28 | 0:31:31 | |
the feel of what it would have been like to step off the boat. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:34 | |
It gives you the sense of the energy, the bustle, | 0:31:34 | 0:31:37 | |
the movement that characterised the port at this moment. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:41 | |
And that's the way we're looking, is it? | 0:31:41 | 0:31:44 | |
-Correct. -And where would they have lived? | 0:31:44 | 0:31:46 | |
I mean, they come off the ship, do we know where they lived? | 0:31:46 | 0:31:48 | |
-As a matter of fact, we do. -Oh! | 0:31:48 | 0:31:50 | |
Is this their address? | 0:31:53 | 0:31:54 | |
Oh, look at this! | 0:31:54 | 0:31:56 | |
"The New York Directory and the Register for the Year 1794." | 0:31:56 | 0:32:00 | |
Mott, where are you? Mott, Mott, Mott... | 0:32:02 | 0:32:05 | |
Here they are! William Mott, merchants, 240 Water Street. | 0:32:05 | 0:32:10 | |
-Which is where? -This is Water Street right here. | 0:32:11 | 0:32:13 | |
And we imagine 240 would have been right where those red cars are. | 0:32:13 | 0:32:18 | |
-Water Street, there it is! -Yeah. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:20 | |
240 Water Street. | 0:32:20 | 0:32:22 | |
-Isn't that wonderful? -You can tell how much a part of his life | 0:32:22 | 0:32:25 | |
-the port was. -He's right there. -He's right here on the water. | 0:32:25 | 0:32:28 | |
This is the beating heart of New York City in the 1790s. | 0:32:28 | 0:32:31 | |
When the Motts arrived, New York was a city of around 40,000 people, | 0:32:31 | 0:32:37 | |
clustered around the southern tip of Manhattan. | 0:32:37 | 0:32:40 | |
New York had sustained heavy damage during the War of Independence, | 0:32:41 | 0:32:45 | |
but just ten years later, the city was booming, | 0:32:45 | 0:32:48 | |
as new trading routes opened up | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
and vast fortunes were made in finance and commerce. | 0:32:51 | 0:32:54 | |
It was a money town in the 1790s, and it's a money town still. | 0:32:54 | 0:32:58 | |
It's a place of opportunity and a place of promise. | 0:32:58 | 0:33:01 | |
A place where someone with initiative, like William, | 0:33:01 | 0:33:03 | |
could have come and started a business very quickly. | 0:33:03 | 0:33:06 | |
It's a real chance for a better, more secure future - | 0:33:06 | 0:33:09 | |
not only for him... | 0:33:09 | 0:33:11 | |
but for the next generations, too, for his children as well. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
Because William writes about how he wants to find somewhere | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
for his sons, | 0:33:17 | 0:33:18 | |
a country where they can have peace, liberty and plenty. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:24 | |
We in America, I mean, we love to talk about an American dream. | 0:33:24 | 0:33:27 | |
And the actual concept, the term "American dream," | 0:33:27 | 0:33:30 | |
doesn't really come too much later on, | 0:33:30 | 0:33:32 | |
-but you can hear it right there, almost... -Yes, you can! | 0:33:32 | 0:33:35 | |
..in William's voice, in his words. | 0:33:35 | 0:33:37 | |
It's wonderful, isn't it? William Mott, | 0:33:37 | 0:33:39 | |
an early pioneer of the American dream. | 0:33:39 | 0:33:41 | |
Yeah. Well, there's certainly more I'd like to show you. | 0:33:41 | 0:33:43 | |
-Why don't we step inside? -Even more? -Yeah, there's more. | 0:33:43 | 0:33:46 | |
-SHE LAUGHS -Go on, then. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:48 | |
For immigrants like the Motts, | 0:33:48 | 0:33:50 | |
New York promised not just economic opportunity, | 0:33:50 | 0:33:53 | |
but also religious liberty. | 0:33:53 | 0:33:55 | |
Freedom of worship was guaranteed | 0:33:56 | 0:33:58 | |
by the newly written Constitution of the United States. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:02 | |
We actually know a little bit about the Motts' religious life | 0:34:03 | 0:34:06 | |
in early New York City. If you look closely at this document. | 0:34:06 | 0:34:10 | |
What is this? I'm going to have to stand up to see it. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:13 | |
Oh, the New Jerusalem again, here we go! | 0:34:15 | 0:34:18 | |
Right, so this is a record of the New Jerusalem Church, | 0:34:18 | 0:34:22 | |
put together a little later on. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
OK, "In the year 1793, Mr and Mrs Bragg came from Birmingham, England, | 0:34:24 | 0:34:30 | |
"to reside in New York. | 0:34:30 | 0:34:32 | |
"They found not a single member of the New Church there, | 0:34:32 | 0:34:35 | |
"but in a short time came Mr Mott and family from Birmingham. | 0:34:35 | 0:34:41 | |
"And one poor man whose name is not remembered." | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
-Who was this? -Poor man! | 0:34:44 | 0:34:47 | |
"These persons met at Mr Bragg's house for worship." | 0:34:47 | 0:34:51 | |
They are the pioneers of the New Jerusalem Church here. | 0:34:51 | 0:34:54 | |
The First Amendment guarantees religious freedom in America, | 0:34:54 | 0:34:57 | |
and William Mott, Martha Mott, are absolutely in great position | 0:34:57 | 0:35:00 | |
to take place of this relatively new legal freedom. | 0:35:00 | 0:35:04 | |
And they're all meeting and worshipping in Mr Bragg's house. | 0:35:04 | 0:35:07 | |
It seems clear that they'd be interested | 0:35:07 | 0:35:10 | |
in more than a private group of ten, worshipping together - | 0:35:10 | 0:35:13 | |
and New York City is a place where there's enough people out there, | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
there's enough religious fervour for them to see potential opportunities | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
to build a church, | 0:35:20 | 0:35:21 | |
to build the community that they were looking for. | 0:35:21 | 0:35:24 | |
It says here, "Mrs Bragg..." | 0:35:24 | 0:35:26 | |
What happened to Mrs and Mr..? What?! | 0:35:28 | 0:35:31 | |
"Mrs Bragg, having buried her husband and three children..." | 0:35:31 | 0:35:34 | |
They all died! "..returned in 1796 to England. | 0:35:34 | 0:35:38 | |
"What became of the other families?" | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
I wonder what happened to them, | 0:35:45 | 0:35:46 | |
-and I wonder whether the Motts were involved as well. -Right. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
Could it be that the Motts went back quickly as well? | 0:35:52 | 0:35:54 | |
I know for sure that at least two of the children, my direct ancestor, | 0:35:54 | 0:36:01 | |
Samuel, and his brother Julius, | 0:36:01 | 0:36:03 | |
were definitely back in England by the 1820s. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:07 | |
I wonder whether something happened to Samuel whilst they were here. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:10 | |
Did something happen to the family? | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
STILL so many questions. | 0:36:13 | 0:36:15 | |
I need some more answers. | 0:36:16 | 0:36:17 | |
I am alarmed by the reference to Mrs Bragg | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
losing her husband and three children | 0:36:24 | 0:36:27 | |
and returning very soon after she arrived here. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:30 | |
So, clearly something has happened. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:32 | |
I really hope it doesn't end badly for William and Martha Mott. | 0:36:33 | 0:36:37 | |
They've given everything up that they know. | 0:36:37 | 0:36:40 | |
I can't bear the idea that it goes badly for them. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:42 | |
-Hi. -Hi. Great to meet you. -Very nice to meet you. | 0:36:52 | 0:36:56 | |
Sophie's come to meet historian Kathryn Olivarius | 0:36:56 | 0:36:59 | |
at New York City's Municipal Archives. | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
She wants to know what happened to the Bragg family, | 0:37:04 | 0:37:07 | |
and whether the Motts were also affected. | 0:37:07 | 0:37:09 | |
So, a good place to sort of start looking for the answer to this | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
are in the city newspapers from the time. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:14 | |
This is an article which might shed some light on what was going on. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
"August the 31st, 1795. | 0:37:19 | 0:37:22 | |
"The epidemic fever, | 0:37:22 | 0:37:24 | |
"which has of late affected the upper part of Water Street..." | 0:37:24 | 0:37:28 | |
Oh, that's where they lived. | 0:37:28 | 0:37:30 | |
This epidemic was yellow fever, which is a tropical disease, | 0:37:30 | 0:37:34 | |
spread by mosquitoes, | 0:37:34 | 0:37:36 | |
and the modern analogue I would use to describe it is akin to Ebola. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:40 | |
The common symptoms are delirium, bleeding from the gums, eyes, | 0:37:40 | 0:37:44 | |
and then vomiting black blood. | 0:37:44 | 0:37:46 | |
And where they live in New York | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
is just prime territory for this terrible disease. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
In Lower Manhattan, where the Motts lived, | 0:37:52 | 0:37:55 | |
ships from around the world | 0:37:55 | 0:37:56 | |
constantly reintroduced infected mosquitoes | 0:37:56 | 0:37:59 | |
into the port's hot and packed streets. | 0:37:59 | 0:38:03 | |
The perfect breeding ground for an epidemic. | 0:38:03 | 0:38:05 | |
Do we know what happened to the Motts? Did they survive? | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
There is a register of people that died of yellow fever in 1795. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:12 | |
Give it to me. | 0:38:12 | 0:38:13 | |
I've been dying to find out. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:15 | |
Oh! | 0:38:21 | 0:38:23 | |
Oh, no, how many of them survived? | 0:38:26 | 0:38:29 | |
Oh, I can't bear it. | 0:38:29 | 0:38:30 | |
William Mott. | 0:38:33 | 0:38:35 | |
How sad. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:39 | |
Oh, there's John Bragg. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:42 | |
That's the husband of the woman who goes home. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:45 | |
But there's no record of the other Motts in here? | 0:38:46 | 0:38:48 | |
-There's no record. -So they survived? | 0:38:48 | 0:38:50 | |
Well, if you take a look at this... | 0:38:50 | 0:38:53 | |
Is this another letter? | 0:38:53 | 0:38:54 | |
Another letter! | 0:38:54 | 0:38:55 | |
"Birmingham, 26th of March, 1798. | 0:38:57 | 0:39:02 | |
"My brother, William Mott, and his wife..." | 0:39:02 | 0:39:05 | |
Oh, no, Martha, too! | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
"My brother, William Mott, and his wife both died at New York. | 0:39:08 | 0:39:13 | |
"Julius and Patty are with my brother, Robert Mott, in Sussex. | 0:39:13 | 0:39:17 | |
"Jemima and Samuel at present are with Mr Sherwood of this town. | 0:39:17 | 0:39:23 | |
"The youngest, a girl named Mary, is with me." | 0:39:23 | 0:39:27 | |
Oh, so the whole family is split up. | 0:39:27 | 0:39:29 | |
Oh, the poor Motts. | 0:39:31 | 0:39:33 | |
William and Martha came in search of their American dream, | 0:39:33 | 0:39:36 | |
and two years later they're dead. | 0:39:36 | 0:39:39 | |
Their children completely split up. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:43 | |
Everybody else has been settled with members of the family, | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
but Samuel and Jemima go and live with Mr Sherwood. | 0:39:48 | 0:39:52 | |
Who is Mr Sherwood? | 0:39:52 | 0:39:53 | |
We don't know very much about who Mr Sherwood was, | 0:39:53 | 0:39:55 | |
but what we do know, I think you can probably find here. | 0:39:55 | 0:39:59 | |
"1796...bankrupts. | 0:40:01 | 0:40:05 | |
"Jonathan Sherwood of Birmingham." | 0:40:06 | 0:40:08 | |
So, Samuel is sent to live with somebody who is bankrupt. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:13 | |
Poor Samuel. He's only 11. | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
Oh, he's been through a lot in that very short life, hasn't he? | 0:40:21 | 0:40:23 | |
Riots in Birmingham, | 0:40:24 | 0:40:27 | |
a really perilous journey across the Atlantic... | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
..and then he's lost both his parents. | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
I mean, you would have been made, by this, | 0:40:35 | 0:40:38 | |
he would have been made to feel like a complete outsider, wouldn't he? | 0:40:38 | 0:40:40 | |
This orphan, living on the extremities of his family. | 0:40:40 | 0:40:45 | |
I understand it now. I understand what happened to Samuel. | 0:40:45 | 0:40:49 | |
The family call him "a mule of a chap," | 0:40:49 | 0:40:52 | |
and they're really damning about him, | 0:40:52 | 0:40:54 | |
and actually you just want to go to the rest of the Motts and say, | 0:40:54 | 0:40:56 | |
"Give him a break, give him a chance!" | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
-He really did draw the short straw. -Mm-hm. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:03 | |
My view of Samuel has completely, completely changed. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:11 | |
And now I just feel so sorry for him. | 0:41:11 | 0:41:13 | |
He was 11 years old. | 0:41:13 | 0:41:14 | |
He was 11. That's the age of my oldest child. | 0:41:14 | 0:41:17 | |
William and Martha brought those children here | 0:41:19 | 0:41:22 | |
in the hope of a better life, | 0:41:22 | 0:41:23 | |
and, actually, completely the opposite happens, | 0:41:23 | 0:41:26 | |
they end up as orphans - and as a parent, | 0:41:26 | 0:41:28 | |
that's, for me, my ultimate nightmare | 0:41:28 | 0:41:30 | |
is leaving my children, leaving my children behind. | 0:41:30 | 0:41:33 | |
I've travelled a very, very long way, full of hope... | 0:41:36 | 0:41:39 | |
..and I've found a tragic ending. | 0:41:41 | 0:41:44 | |
I have been enchanted by the Motts, actually. | 0:41:55 | 0:41:57 | |
Like hands reaching out from the past, they really came alive. | 0:41:58 | 0:42:01 | |
To read people's fears and hopes and great dreams from the 1790s | 0:42:03 | 0:42:08 | |
is something I never thought I'd be able to do, never. | 0:42:08 | 0:42:12 | |
There's a spirit in the Motts | 0:42:13 | 0:42:15 | |
that I can still see filtering through to my own family now - | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
my grandmother, my sister, my dad. | 0:42:18 | 0:42:21 | |
I'm in awe of what they did, the risks they took. | 0:42:23 | 0:42:28 | |
And I'm very proud to be one of their descendants. | 0:42:30 | 0:42:33 | |
Back in England, Sophie's come to Kew. | 0:42:46 | 0:42:49 | |
What I now want to find out about is my great-grandfather, | 0:42:50 | 0:42:53 | |
Edgar Cussons Crowder. | 0:42:53 | 0:42:55 | |
There is some rumour that he worked at Kew Gardens. | 0:42:55 | 0:42:59 | |
The particular reason I'd like to know about the Kew connection | 0:42:59 | 0:43:02 | |
is because gardens, for my family, are everything. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
My parents have spent 40-plus years | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
creating this garden where I grew up. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:10 | |
Horticulture is so central to our family. | 0:43:11 | 0:43:14 | |
To find out that that went back generations would be incredible. | 0:43:14 | 0:43:18 | |
Sophie's meeting head of horticulture Tony Kirkham | 0:43:19 | 0:43:22 | |
in the archives of Kew Gardens. | 0:43:22 | 0:43:24 | |
So, Tony, this is Edgar Cussons Crowder, | 0:43:26 | 0:43:29 | |
who is my great-grandfather. | 0:43:29 | 0:43:30 | |
My question to you is, what, if anything, did he do at Kew? | 0:43:30 | 0:43:35 | |
OK, well, we have an incredible archives department here, | 0:43:35 | 0:43:38 | |
and we have found a file. | 0:43:38 | 0:43:40 | |
Oh, there he is! | 0:43:41 | 0:43:42 | |
"Edgar Cussons Crowder, date of application 21st of October, 1891." | 0:43:44 | 0:43:49 | |
So he was applying to what? | 0:43:49 | 0:43:51 | |
To become a student gardener. | 0:43:51 | 0:43:53 | |
To be a student at Kew! | 0:43:53 | 0:43:54 | |
We have students from the Gardens working at my parents' garden! | 0:43:54 | 0:43:57 | |
Well, there you go. | 0:43:57 | 0:43:59 | |
There is a link, then. | 0:43:59 | 0:44:00 | |
How funny! So, he was 22, it says here. | 0:44:00 | 0:44:04 | |
"The wages are 18 shillings per week." | 0:44:04 | 0:44:07 | |
So, 18 shillings would have been equivalent | 0:44:07 | 0:44:10 | |
to just over £50 per week today. Which wasn't a lot of money. | 0:44:10 | 0:44:13 | |
We have a photograph here. | 0:44:13 | 0:44:16 | |
-Of him? -Well, we don't know. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:17 | |
This is the class of 1892. | 0:44:17 | 0:44:20 | |
You brought this photograph, | 0:44:20 | 0:44:21 | |
and it would be really interesting to see if we can find him on there. | 0:44:21 | 0:44:25 | |
-Oh, that looks like him! -I think you're right. | 0:44:27 | 0:44:30 | |
There he is. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:31 | |
But what will he have been doing at Kew, day to day? | 0:44:31 | 0:44:34 | |
We've got this book here, this will tell us where he worked. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:37 | |
'90,'92... | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
-Crowder, there we go. -Palm House! | 0:44:42 | 0:44:44 | |
He worked in the Palm House. | 0:44:44 | 0:44:47 | |
I love the Palm House. I've been in the Palm House so many times. | 0:44:48 | 0:44:50 | |
It is an iconic building, isn't it? | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
It's wonderful. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:53 | |
I mean, it is probably one of the most famous buildings in Kew. | 0:44:53 | 0:44:56 | |
Yes, probably one of the most famous buildings in horticulture, actually. | 0:44:56 | 0:45:00 | |
So he's working in the Palm House. | 0:45:00 | 0:45:02 | |
-Yes. -And then he leaves. -So it could well be that he needed more money. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:06 | |
As you saw, the salary's quite low, | 0:45:06 | 0:45:09 | |
and it appears that he's dropped out of horticulture from about 1900. | 0:45:09 | 0:45:14 | |
Oh, what a shame. He probably got married by then. | 0:45:14 | 0:45:17 | |
However, I have come across the name Crowder before. | 0:45:18 | 0:45:21 | |
There is a dictionary of botanists and horticulturalists | 0:45:21 | 0:45:25 | |
in the reference collection here, | 0:45:25 | 0:45:26 | |
and I certainly think it's worth having a look in there | 0:45:26 | 0:45:29 | |
to see if there are any links through the Crowders. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:32 | |
It's extraordinary to think that my great-grandfather worked here. | 0:45:43 | 0:45:47 | |
I have been here so many times over the years. | 0:45:48 | 0:45:50 | |
I literally grew up a mile away from here, | 0:45:50 | 0:45:53 | |
and I've been brought here by my parents as a child, | 0:45:53 | 0:45:55 | |
I've brought my own children here over and over and over again, | 0:45:55 | 0:45:58 | |
and none of us had any idea. | 0:45:58 | 0:46:01 | |
I'll never think of this place in the same way again. | 0:46:03 | 0:46:06 | |
Before leaving Kew, | 0:46:08 | 0:46:10 | |
Sophie wants to investigate | 0:46:10 | 0:46:11 | |
if there are any more horticultural connections in the Crowder family. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:15 | |
"Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists." | 0:46:16 | 0:46:21 | |
Right, Crowder. | 0:46:26 | 0:46:28 | |
Crowder. | 0:46:29 | 0:46:30 | |
Crowder, lots of them. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:32 | |
"Abraham Crowder, Anderson Crowder, Henry Crowder, Michael Crowder, | 0:46:32 | 0:46:37 | |
"Rowland Wood Crowder, William Crowder..." | 0:46:37 | 0:46:39 | |
Wow! So, this dates right back to 1734. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:45 | |
I don't quite know where I fit into this, | 0:46:46 | 0:46:48 | |
but I think I need to go and have a look - | 0:46:48 | 0:46:51 | |
and they are mostly in Doncaster, actually. | 0:46:51 | 0:46:53 | |
That must be the best place to start. | 0:46:53 | 0:46:55 | |
Sophie's on her way to Doncaster | 0:47:05 | 0:47:07 | |
to investigate a potential line of green-fingered ancestors. | 0:47:07 | 0:47:10 | |
I mean, my family have got this huge connection with gardens, | 0:47:11 | 0:47:14 | |
I now present the Chelsea Flower Show. | 0:47:14 | 0:47:16 | |
It's almost too strange to be true | 0:47:16 | 0:47:19 | |
that this deep-rooted horticultural connection | 0:47:19 | 0:47:22 | |
possibly dates back centuries to the 1700s. | 0:47:22 | 0:47:25 | |
Can it be in your DNA? | 0:47:25 | 0:47:27 | |
I'm fascinated to see what's ahead, though. | 0:47:27 | 0:47:29 | |
As is my father, who keeps texting me saying, "What have you learned, | 0:47:29 | 0:47:32 | |
"what have you learned? How far back does it go?" | 0:47:32 | 0:47:34 | |
Oh! Now, that is a beautiful house. | 0:47:40 | 0:47:43 | |
She's arranged to meet garden historian Stephen Smith | 0:47:43 | 0:47:47 | |
at Cusworth Hall, | 0:47:47 | 0:47:48 | |
a stately home near Doncaster which dates back to the 1700s. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:52 | |
So, I have found this at Kew Gardens, | 0:47:54 | 0:47:57 | |
and this is a list of all the Crowders. | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
I don't know who's connected to me, I don't know who my ancestors are. | 0:48:00 | 0:48:04 | |
I'm presuming one of them. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:06 | |
Definitely. And it's actually this one here. | 0:48:06 | 0:48:07 | |
-The first one? -The first one, Abraham Crowder. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:10 | |
He is one of your ancestors. | 0:48:10 | 0:48:12 | |
He is your great-grandfather times five. | 0:48:12 | 0:48:16 | |
He's gardener to a local landowner in the Doncaster area. | 0:48:16 | 0:48:20 | |
Being a gardener was a very prestigious activity. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
It was a prestigious activity? | 0:48:23 | 0:48:25 | |
Oh, absolutely. It's not just somebody pulling a few weeds, | 0:48:25 | 0:48:27 | |
he's actually somebody who is probably the equivalent | 0:48:27 | 0:48:30 | |
of the butler on the outside staff. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:32 | |
-Why was that? -Because the garden is where your wealth is shown off. | 0:48:32 | 0:48:37 | |
And when you come through the front gates, | 0:48:37 | 0:48:39 | |
that's the first impression that people are going to have | 0:48:39 | 0:48:42 | |
of you and your standing in society. | 0:48:42 | 0:48:43 | |
So we're talking about somebody | 0:48:43 | 0:48:45 | |
who's right at the very top of his profession | 0:48:45 | 0:48:47 | |
to be employed by one of the landed gentry. | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
Abraham was also a nurseryman. | 0:48:50 | 0:48:52 | |
So he was working in somebody's garden, | 0:48:53 | 0:48:55 | |
but he also had his own nursery? | 0:48:55 | 0:48:56 | |
That's right, that's right. | 0:48:56 | 0:48:58 | |
So he's producing plants for sale for these gardens, | 0:48:58 | 0:49:02 | |
and the sort of thing that he's producing, we might find here. | 0:49:02 | 0:49:07 | |
-What is this? -This is an invoice that's been sent by Abraham Crowder. | 0:49:07 | 0:49:11 | |
-Look at that. -There's his signature at the bottom there. | 0:49:11 | 0:49:14 | |
"December, 1783. | 0:49:15 | 0:49:18 | |
"To William Wrightson, from Abraham Crowder. | 0:49:18 | 0:49:22 | |
"For four trained morello cherries." | 0:49:23 | 0:49:27 | |
We're actually talking about plants here, the actual trees. | 0:49:27 | 0:49:29 | |
-That's right. -"Four figs at three shillings each." | 0:49:29 | 0:49:33 | |
What does that say? 18... | 0:49:33 | 0:49:35 | |
Something, what does that say? | 0:49:36 | 0:49:38 | |
-Pine... -It does say that. -Pines. "18 pines." | 0:49:38 | 0:49:40 | |
-What, as in trees? Or no, can't be... -No, it's not. | 0:49:40 | 0:49:43 | |
The pines that he's talking about are pineapples. | 0:49:43 | 0:49:47 | |
-Pineapples?! -Pineapples, yes, yes. | 0:49:47 | 0:49:50 | |
Your ancestor is supplying William Wrightson with pineapple plants. | 0:49:50 | 0:49:55 | |
That is extraordinary. | 0:49:55 | 0:49:57 | |
William Wrightson is who? | 0:49:57 | 0:49:59 | |
William Wrightson was the owner of this house. | 0:49:59 | 0:50:02 | |
-This house here? -This house here. | 0:50:02 | 0:50:04 | |
-What? This one? -This is the house that William Wrightson lived in. | 0:50:04 | 0:50:06 | |
-Oh, wow. He supplied pineapples here? -He did indeed. | 0:50:08 | 0:50:11 | |
Right, my great-grandfather times five | 0:50:11 | 0:50:13 | |
was a pineapple grower in Yorkshire - | 0:50:13 | 0:50:15 | |
now, that I would never, ever have guessed! | 0:50:15 | 0:50:18 | |
First grown in Britain around 1715, | 0:50:19 | 0:50:23 | |
the exotic pineapple was a coveted status symbol | 0:50:23 | 0:50:26 | |
throughout the 18th century. | 0:50:26 | 0:50:28 | |
A pineapple centrepiece at a party | 0:50:28 | 0:50:30 | |
showed off the wealth and sophistication of the host. | 0:50:30 | 0:50:34 | |
They could be rented for a guinea apiece, | 0:50:34 | 0:50:37 | |
with an extra guinea to pay if it was eaten. | 0:50:37 | 0:50:38 | |
For high society, | 0:50:40 | 0:50:41 | |
the aspiration was to cultivate pineapples on their estates. | 0:50:41 | 0:50:44 | |
Sophie's five-times great-grandfather, Abraham Crowder, | 0:50:46 | 0:50:49 | |
was one of the few gardeners in the country with the specialist skills | 0:50:49 | 0:50:53 | |
to grow this desirable fruit. | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
They are very difficult to grow, because they are tropical plants. | 0:50:57 | 0:51:01 | |
They needed a hot and damp climate. | 0:51:01 | 0:51:03 | |
-How did they create that here? It's freezing. -So here we are, | 0:51:03 | 0:51:06 | |
here's the sort of house that they would have been grown in. | 0:51:06 | 0:51:09 | |
-This is what we call a pinery vinery. -Great name, pinery vinery. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
It's brilliant. | 0:51:12 | 0:51:13 | |
There were two methods of heating for a pineapple house. | 0:51:13 | 0:51:16 | |
There was a stove, which would have supplied hot air. | 0:51:16 | 0:51:19 | |
And also we've got something called tanner's bark. | 0:51:19 | 0:51:22 | |
It gives off a steady heat so you've got a real steamy tropical house, | 0:51:22 | 0:51:26 | |
just right for the pineapples to root in. | 0:51:26 | 0:51:28 | |
I mean, they are such great fruits. | 0:51:28 | 0:51:30 | |
Already, you get a pineapple and you think, "That's a bit of a treat." | 0:51:30 | 0:51:33 | |
But 200 years ago... | 0:51:33 | 0:51:35 | |
Pineapple culture was really at the top of the tree | 0:51:35 | 0:51:37 | |
-when it comes to horticulture. -Oh, that's amazing. | 0:51:37 | 0:51:40 | |
I'm going to have to get my dad to follow the family footsteps | 0:51:40 | 0:51:43 | |
and put some pineapples in the conservatory at home! | 0:51:43 | 0:51:46 | |
The ruins of the pinery are still in Cusworth's gardens. | 0:51:49 | 0:51:54 | |
Oh, isn't that beautiful? | 0:51:54 | 0:51:56 | |
Oh, that is a proper walled garden. | 0:51:56 | 0:51:58 | |
So this is the remains of the pinery. | 0:51:58 | 0:52:00 | |
This is the exact spot | 0:52:00 | 0:52:01 | |
where your forbear would have brought those cuttings. | 0:52:01 | 0:52:04 | |
So this is where the pineapples would have been grown? | 0:52:04 | 0:52:08 | |
Absolutely. And if you look, I'll show you here, this is the flue, | 0:52:08 | 0:52:12 | |
which would have brought the hot air in, | 0:52:12 | 0:52:14 | |
which came from the other side where there was a boiler. | 0:52:14 | 0:52:17 | |
It's such a shame, though, isn't it, that there is so little left of it. | 0:52:17 | 0:52:20 | |
There is a place in the north of England which still has a pinery, | 0:52:20 | 0:52:25 | |
and that's Tatton Park. | 0:52:25 | 0:52:26 | |
Tatton Park? I've got to see a proper pinery vinery. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:30 | |
Hi, Dad. | 0:52:33 | 0:52:35 | |
I've got the next instalment for you. | 0:52:35 | 0:52:38 | |
I love it, I love it. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:39 | |
I've always felt I've come from a gardening family, | 0:52:39 | 0:52:41 | |
I just never realised it went back that far. | 0:52:41 | 0:52:44 | |
It does feel like something that's in the DNA. | 0:52:44 | 0:52:46 | |
It's lovely. It's a bond with us, | 0:52:47 | 0:52:48 | |
you feel like you are touching the past, | 0:52:48 | 0:52:50 | |
you ARE touching the past. | 0:52:50 | 0:52:52 | |
TEXT TONE | 0:52:52 | 0:52:54 | |
From my dad, I only spoke to about five minutes ago! | 0:52:54 | 0:52:58 | |
"See if you can bring back suckers or slips." Cuttings. basically, | 0:52:58 | 0:53:01 | |
"They look easy to grow as long as frost-free. | 0:53:01 | 0:53:03 | |
"Can be grown in pots and brought in. It's on. Dad." | 0:53:03 | 0:53:07 | |
Didn't take him long, did it? | 0:53:07 | 0:53:09 | |
There are just two surviving pineries in the country, | 0:53:13 | 0:53:16 | |
and Sophie's come to Tatton Park | 0:53:16 | 0:53:18 | |
to see how her five-times great-grandfather | 0:53:18 | 0:53:20 | |
would have cultivated pineapples. | 0:53:20 | 0:53:22 | |
Head Gardener Simon Tetlow has hands-on experience | 0:53:24 | 0:53:28 | |
of growing pineapples. | 0:53:28 | 0:53:29 | |
What better place to kind of come and see | 0:53:29 | 0:53:32 | |
a little view of the Caribbean? | 0:53:32 | 0:53:35 | |
So this is a real pinery. | 0:53:35 | 0:53:37 | |
Ah, there is a pineapple! | 0:53:37 | 0:53:38 | |
There's one growing. Oh, yeah! Lurking amongst there. | 0:53:38 | 0:53:41 | |
I was just looking at the plants, and there is actually a pineapple. | 0:53:41 | 0:53:44 | |
That little pineapple there | 0:53:44 | 0:53:46 | |
is the first pineapple I have ever seen grow - | 0:53:46 | 0:53:49 | |
and I'm in Cheshire, and my ancestors grew them in Yorkshire. | 0:53:49 | 0:53:53 | |
-It's amazing. -I mean, how ridiculous is that? | 0:53:53 | 0:53:55 | |
I know, but in the 1780s, you may as well have come from Mars. | 0:53:55 | 0:53:59 | |
It was just kind of, "Wow," you know. | 0:53:59 | 0:54:01 | |
What do you think it was like for Abraham in those days? | 0:54:01 | 0:54:03 | |
Just phenomenally hard work. | 0:54:03 | 0:54:06 | |
To produce a Caribbean climate in the middle of Yorkshire... | 0:54:06 | 0:54:09 | |
It just sounds silly! | 0:54:09 | 0:54:10 | |
That in itself, you take your hat off to him. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:13 | |
He's probably spent half his life shovelling coal, | 0:54:13 | 0:54:16 | |
but he's also, you know, for a gardener, a nurseryman, | 0:54:16 | 0:54:18 | |
it's that kind of intuitive knowledge | 0:54:18 | 0:54:21 | |
of light, temperature and humidity. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:23 | |
You know, this is the days before any kind of monitors or meters. | 0:54:23 | 0:54:26 | |
He's got a feel for it, he knows how things are growing. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:28 | |
The question I have to ask you on behalf of my father, | 0:54:28 | 0:54:32 | |
now he's discovered his ancestors grew pineapples, | 0:54:32 | 0:54:35 | |
is how difficult it's going to be to grow one, | 0:54:35 | 0:54:37 | |
because he determined he's going to do it! How difficult is it? | 0:54:37 | 0:54:39 | |
Well, would you like to start off? | 0:54:39 | 0:54:41 | |
Would you like a pine slip to take him? | 0:54:41 | 0:54:43 | |
You know what, I didn't dare ask, but if you're offering, | 0:54:43 | 0:54:45 | |
-I would love one! -Go for it. Come on through. | 0:54:45 | 0:54:47 | |
-Go on, then. -I'll show you how. | 0:54:47 | 0:54:49 | |
Now then, I've got a couple of these what we call slips here. | 0:54:51 | 0:54:54 | |
-Slips are cuttings, aren't they? -Yeah. The key is a lot of drainage. | 0:54:54 | 0:54:58 | |
Just get some crocks in the bottom, there. | 0:54:58 | 0:55:00 | |
There's nice old clay there you can take him. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
We'll just fill some of these here. | 0:55:03 | 0:55:05 | |
You take that, Sophie. | 0:55:06 | 0:55:07 | |
So, literally, you are just putting it on the soil? | 0:55:07 | 0:55:09 | |
Yeah, yeah, this is the smooth, cultivated version. | 0:55:09 | 0:55:13 | |
I say smooth, you know, it's still quite a spiny little devil, | 0:55:13 | 0:55:16 | |
and there's still little spines down here and here. | 0:55:16 | 0:55:19 | |
Abraham's plants would have been like barbed wire, you know? | 0:55:19 | 0:55:22 | |
There would have been bristles all the way down here. | 0:55:22 | 0:55:25 | |
A lot of cursing and cussing as he was kind of moving plants around, | 0:55:25 | 0:55:28 | |
-as well, I dare say. -Repotting them. | 0:55:28 | 0:55:30 | |
They were much harder plants to manage than this. | 0:55:30 | 0:55:32 | |
I wonder if Abraham, my great-grandfather times five, | 0:55:32 | 0:55:35 | |
is looking down from above and laughing, | 0:55:35 | 0:55:37 | |
thinking, "What is she doing?!" | 0:55:37 | 0:55:39 | |
-He'd love it. -It just makes me smile. | 0:55:39 | 0:55:41 | |
Every time I see a pineapple now, I just smile. | 0:55:41 | 0:55:43 | |
You can some home-grown ones... | 0:55:43 | 0:55:45 | |
You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to give one of these | 0:55:45 | 0:55:48 | |
to my father and I'm going to give one to my son, who's eight, | 0:55:48 | 0:55:50 | |
who already loves doing this. | 0:55:50 | 0:55:52 | |
He pots up stuff with my mum and dad. | 0:55:52 | 0:55:54 | |
He can have one of these, look after it. | 0:55:54 | 0:55:56 | |
-Is that about right? -That's lovely. | 0:55:56 | 0:55:57 | |
-That is brilliant! -Before you go, | 0:55:57 | 0:55:59 | |
I've got a little bit more information about Abraham for you. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:02 | |
-Have you? Even more? -Yeah, indeed. | 0:56:02 | 0:56:04 | |
We've found his obituary from the Doncaster Gazette. | 0:56:04 | 0:56:07 | |
-Have a good read of that. -Thank you so much! | 0:56:07 | 0:56:10 | |
Oh, that's wonderful. I'll be back. | 0:56:10 | 0:56:11 | |
-I'll let you know about my pineapples. -You must do. | 0:56:11 | 0:56:14 | |
-Whether or not they grow! -Put it on the news for us. | 0:56:14 | 0:56:16 | |
-Thank you so much. -Bye-bye. | 0:56:16 | 0:56:17 | |
"Mr Abraham Crowder, nurseryman, in the 98th year of his age." | 0:56:25 | 0:56:31 | |
He lived till 98! | 0:56:31 | 0:56:33 | |
Wow! | 0:56:33 | 0:56:34 | |
"To the lovers of flowers and plants he was a great favourite. | 0:56:34 | 0:56:39 | |
"And he closed his long, kind and simple life respected, | 0:56:39 | 0:56:44 | |
"beloved and lamented by all to whom he was known." | 0:56:44 | 0:56:49 | |
Oh, what a wonderful obituary! | 0:56:49 | 0:56:51 | |
It's really funny, there's Abraham Crowder, | 0:56:53 | 0:56:56 | |
pioneering nurseryman of the late 1700s, | 0:56:56 | 0:56:59 | |
and yet it's still continuing, | 0:56:59 | 0:57:00 | |
and horticulture, gardens, plants is so central to our family. | 0:57:00 | 0:57:05 | |
I really hope that I will be able to continue that, actually, | 0:57:05 | 0:57:09 | |
and keep that going through the generations. | 0:57:09 | 0:57:12 | |
From the tragedy of yellow fever and suicide | 0:57:12 | 0:57:15 | |
to pineapples and pianos - | 0:57:15 | 0:57:18 | |
but there's been one theme that has pulled all of these people together, | 0:57:18 | 0:57:23 | |
and that has been a real drive and passion. | 0:57:23 | 0:57:26 | |
I'm very proud of them as ancestors. | 0:57:28 | 0:57:30 | |
I think they're wonderful ancestors to have, | 0:57:30 | 0:57:32 | |
and great examples to follow. | 0:57:32 | 0:57:34 |