0:00:02 > 0:00:03Oh, look!
0:00:03 > 0:00:04Ah!
0:00:04 > 0:00:09Actor and dancer Una Stubbs was born in Hertfordshire in 1937.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Today, she lives in London, as do two of her three sons.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18In a career spanning almost 60 years,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Una came from the chorus line to take on a wide variety of roles -
0:00:22 > 0:00:25from starring with Cliff Richard in Summer Holiday
0:00:25 > 0:00:29to playing Alf Garnett's daughter in Till Death Us Do Part,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31and now Mrs Hudson in the series Sherlock.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Family is all we have in the end, Mycroft Holmes.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38- Oh, shut up, Mrs Hudson.- Mycroft!
0:00:38 > 0:00:41There were no other performers in the family, apart from me,
0:00:41 > 0:00:45which is strange, but I was sent to a local dancing school,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48La Roche, in Slough,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51and because I was so hopeless at school,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53"What are we going to do with her?
0:00:53 > 0:00:55"Oh, she's quite good at dancing!" Off she went.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58It's quite exciting, it's like an adventure.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00How far back do you know?
0:01:00 > 0:01:02I've no idea about my past.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06'I feel so excited about this journey.'
0:01:06 > 0:01:09I just hope I don't blub and make a fool of myself.
0:01:10 > 0:01:17On my mother's side, I know that her grandfather was Sir Ebenezer Howard,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20the innovator of new towns,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28But what's so strange is that we knew nothing about my father's family,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31he never introduced us to his parents.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35I don't even know their names, that's strange.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39- Did he talk about...?- No, never met them, never saw them. He never brought them, he never...
0:01:39 > 0:01:43- But we never asked, I mean, we never even...- No.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47So what I'd really like to know now is about my father's background
0:01:47 > 0:01:49and why, why, why?
0:01:49 > 0:01:51I'm longing to know.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26This is an album my mother put together...
0:02:26 > 0:02:28so I should find some stuff in this.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Oh, that was my first coat.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36I was so proud of it and I was just off to work.
0:02:36 > 0:02:41Just 16 when I got into the chorus at the Palladium, with Norman Wisdom.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Look at the length of it.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46What did it look like?
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Got one all together, it would be nice.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56Oh, yes, there's one here,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59a lovely one of all of us together.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03This is my sister Claire, and my brother Paul
0:03:03 > 0:03:05and that's me - big fat tummy.
0:03:05 > 0:03:06SHE CHUCKLES
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Ah, we look really happy there.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12My father was a real family man,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14somebody who everybody adored,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18even strangers in the street would smile at him
0:03:18 > 0:03:20and just such... Somebody said to me,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23"When they were handing out fathers, you were at the front of the queue,"
0:03:23 > 0:03:25and I was.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28But my mother wasn't a very sociable woman.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31She did suffer from depression sometimes, was quite moody,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33which made it difficult for us,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37but they stuck by each other, which people did in those days.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Ah, there's my dad and me.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49It's so strange looking at this wonderful man now,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52friendly, chummy, funny.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55Why didn't we meet his parents?
0:03:55 > 0:03:57So strange.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59Oh, I hope we can find out.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Una knows that her father, Clarence, Clarry Stubbs,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05grew up in Yorkshire,
0:04:05 > 0:04:07but she knows nothing else
0:04:07 > 0:04:08about his background.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14To start her search for information,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17she is going to see the only relative she is in touch with
0:04:17 > 0:04:19from her father's side of the family,
0:04:19 > 0:04:22her cousin Jocelyn Stackhouse.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Well, I have asked Jocelyn about my father's family before,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31but she didn't come up with much, so I'm going to nail her to the wall
0:04:31 > 0:04:36and say, "Tell us more, please." She must know more than I know.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Yes, hello.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41- Hello, I don't know if your bell's working. Hello, Jocelyn.- Hello!
0:04:43 > 0:04:48Jocelyn and her husband David have invited another cousin to meet Una.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Come in. And we have our cousin Carol.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56- Carol.- Hello, Una. I'm Alwyn's daughter.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Oh, my gosh. Hello!
0:04:59 > 0:05:02David. Ah.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04- Would you like a cup of tea? - Course I would.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10Jocelyn and Carol share the same Stubbs grandparents as Una,
0:05:10 > 0:05:13but, unlike Una, they knew them well.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15What's this?
0:05:15 > 0:05:17We have started a family tree here.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20- Now, Albert is my dad.- Yes.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23And then, Clarry, your dad.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25- Yeah.- And Carol's dad.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27I see.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28There were six boys.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30God, there were a lot of them.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Annie, our grandmother, and Arthur, our grandfather.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36You know, I never met them.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38I never met Annie and Arthur.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40I didn't know that's what their names were.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42- Ah!- I had no idea.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46So it's really extraordinary,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48Annie and Arthur.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Have you got a picture of them?
0:05:50 > 0:05:51Yes.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Ah, all these photographs. Ah.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00That's our grandmother and our grandfather.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02Oh, bless them.
0:06:04 > 0:06:05What was she like?
0:06:05 > 0:06:08She was so lovely, Annie.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10I just loved being with her.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13I think there's something about her.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16She was spicy and, you know, she was unconventional
0:06:16 > 0:06:19and she loved life and lived for the moment
0:06:19 > 0:06:24and she was always regaling me about her dancing and, you know,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27she loved having a drink and all of that,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30which maybe some people might not have quite approved of.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34But she was a strong person
0:06:34 > 0:06:38- and her bairns, as she called them, were everything to her.- Yes.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40She sounds knockout, I think.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Oh, no, she was a character.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44And Arthur? What was he like?
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Granddad was just a lovely, kindly, funny chap.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52I think Annie was the boss, anyway.
0:06:52 > 0:06:53He just did what was he was told.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55SHE CHUCKLES
0:06:55 > 0:06:58- He was lovely and he adored her. - Oh, he did.- Absolutely adored her.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02So when did Annie die?
0:07:02 > 0:07:04- 1960.- Yes.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07I would have been in my 20s.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10So you were already well on your way.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Doing my bit.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14She was very proud of you.
0:07:14 > 0:07:15Oh, yes, she was.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18- Really?- Yes, yes, very.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Very. When you started out in show business
0:07:21 > 0:07:24and, you know, television and things,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27because dancing was very important to her.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31She loved dancing and I think she'd think
0:07:31 > 0:07:34that's her influence on you coming out.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37- Well, it's... Genetically, maybe. - She would have thought that.- Yes.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Ah.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44I'm just puzzled why I never met Arthur and Annie.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46- No.- I don't know why.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50No, I think your mother, actually...something to do with it.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53I think she felt they were a bit lower in her esteem.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56Ooh. Do you think that's the reason? I mean...
0:07:56 > 0:07:59I think she was shy as well, I think some of it was shyness.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Reserve.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03But I think they overwhelmed her.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07In those days, to be fair also, there was more of a stigma
0:08:07 > 0:08:10- about things that weren't quite... - Right.- Right.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13And I don't... I mean, Granny Stubbs was fantastic,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16but she'd had quite a colourful life.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20- Yeah. Well, of course, my father... - Albert.- Albert.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23- Is not Arthur's son.- Oh.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25He was born out of wedlock.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Your father is Arthur's son,
0:08:28 > 0:08:34but Annie and Arthur hadn't married when Clarry was born.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Oh. But he was definitely their son?
0:08:36 > 0:08:39- Oh, yes, absolutely, yes.- Yes, yes.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43You cannot imagine what it feels like just to see their names up there.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47- Yes.- I have no idea about anything about them.- No.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Absolutely no idea.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52So the family was from Yorkshire?
0:08:52 > 0:08:54The city of York, yes.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56- The city of York.- City of York. - Not just Yorkshire, York.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01- Yes.- So I suppose York would be the place to find out more.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12The conversation with my cousins
0:09:12 > 0:09:15was obviously wonderful to hear all those stories,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19but I'm ashamed to say I felt terrific envy, you know,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22and I'm... I felt quite moved by it, you know,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27and seeing the photographs which... Jocelyn gave me the photograph.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Seeing her little face, you know?
0:09:29 > 0:09:35I know how somebody who sees the photograph of a parent that they didn't know,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39and it has the same feeling for me of seeing a granny that I never knew
0:09:39 > 0:09:43and her sweet little face and I know I would have loved her.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46I love the sound of her character, you know?
0:09:46 > 0:09:50And a little toughie and... Aw.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54Her little wrinkled stockings and her feet jammed into these shoes.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57They probably don't fit.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59And Arthur.
0:09:59 > 0:10:00He sounds a lovely man.
0:10:04 > 0:10:09I have a clearer idea now why I didn't meet them
0:10:09 > 0:10:12and I think that maybe my mother found my father's family
0:10:12 > 0:10:14a bit overwhelming.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17You know, I'm trying to think the best possible way.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23It's quite extraordinary that I was in my 20s, I think,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25and they were still alive.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27Well, certainly, my granny was.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32And perhaps I shan't think about that too much,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34cos that's even more frustrating.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41You know, to hear that she was proud of me, and I didn't know.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54Oh.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Oh, gosh.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12Una's cousins told her that her grandmother Annie's maiden name was Robinson.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16Una's using this information to try to find out more about her.
0:11:16 > 0:11:22Yesterday, I rang the registry office to order the birth certificate for Annie,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25so we're going to start at the beginning of her life,
0:11:25 > 0:11:26which is really exciting.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32- Annie Robinson.- Annie Robinson.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33Annie Robinson.
0:11:36 > 0:11:37Oh, ho.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42- I'll give you a receipt for your money there.- And this is it? - That's it.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Beautiful, thank you very much, thank you.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Oh, I'll have a little look in here.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53So Annie was born in York...
0:11:54 > 0:11:57..mother was Eliza Robinson.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59What a romantic name, Eliza Robinson.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01SHE CHUCKLES
0:12:01 > 0:12:04No name for the father -
0:12:04 > 0:12:07it's just a dash for the father.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Maybe he's dead or... I don't know.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Una has questions about Annie's birth certificate.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20Archivist Victoria Hoyle has agreed to help her.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Was it father deceased?
0:12:22 > 0:12:28- Well, when you see a gap in the birth certificate like this...- Yes.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33- ..we would assume that Annie is illegitimate.- Oh.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36So Eliza was unmarried at the time
0:12:36 > 0:12:39and that's very common that the father is simply omitted,
0:12:39 > 0:12:43- just left off the birth certificate altogether.- Oh, that's sad.- Yes.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47And it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to trace him.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49- Really?- Yes.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50But I'm pretty certain
0:12:50 > 0:12:53we'll be able to find some more information on Annie herself.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Ah, hopefully, hopefully. Thank you.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02You can't imagine how exciting this is. And slightly nerve-wracking.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05- Yes, well, you never know what you're going to find.- No, no.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Now, we have a lot of the information we need to get started
0:13:08 > 0:13:10from the birth certificate.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12So we can have a look at a census,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15which is a very good source of information about families.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17I hate computers.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22Don't worry, it's very... It's actually quite easy to use, the search.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26So we know that she was born in 1884.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30So we would like to look at the 1891 census.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33- So she'll be six. - She'll be six years old.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38- So we'll hit "search" and we'll see what we come back with.- Yes.
0:13:38 > 0:13:39So...
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Annie Robinson, Annie Robinson.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Now, our first one, if we look at the date of birth.
0:13:45 > 0:13:481887 - so it's not right.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51- This one looks much more likely. - Yeah.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55And have a look at the original census form
0:13:55 > 0:13:59and it tells you the relationships of all the people.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Oh, wow! Annie Robinson.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04There she is, there she is.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08So if we zoom in a little bit, just so it's a bit clearer...
0:14:08 > 0:14:11- What is it?- That actually says "adopted".
0:14:11 > 0:14:14- Ah. By who?- So...
0:14:14 > 0:14:17- Joe.- Joe Horsfull.
0:14:17 > 0:14:18Who's the head of the family.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21He's the head of the family and it tells us his profession.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25It's basket-maker. And if we follow Joe's line across...
0:14:25 > 0:14:26- Blind.- Yes.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29- So Joe was blind.- Joe was blind.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32And then below is his wife.
0:14:32 > 0:14:33- Mary.- Mary.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38And then, below that, their daughter Lydia and then Annie.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40- And Annie.- Yes.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Maybe the basket-making brought in a little income,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46but it wouldn't be that much, so they couldn't be very well off.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50- I think they would have been a lower-income family.- Yes.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53But bless them for taking on little Annie as well,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56cos it couldn't have been easy.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00- Yeah.- What age do you think she was when she was adopted?
0:15:00 > 0:15:03- Unfortunately, there's no way of us finding that out.- Isn't there?
0:15:03 > 0:15:07We know that it was at some point between her birth date and six.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Ah. And do we know anything more
0:15:10 > 0:15:13about how long Annie was staying with the Horsfulls or...?
0:15:13 > 0:15:16- Well, we can look at the next census.- Yes.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19- So in 1901, there was a census.- 16.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23She would have been 16. Here we go.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Can you see her on there?
0:15:25 > 0:15:27- Annie.- Annie.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29And if you notice, it says daughter.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33- Ah.- She's been absorbed... - Yes.- ..into the family.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36But it's just these people living in the house,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39and we now see that Mary is the head.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42- Oh.- Head, so... - That means Joe has died.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44Joe is no longer with them.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49So, little Annie carries on being fatherless, because Joe's gone.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51- He had.- And her daddy...
0:15:51 > 0:15:54- Oh, bless her.- Yeah.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Another thing, Victoria, which you might not know,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01was that my cousins told me yesterday that Annie's first child,
0:16:01 > 0:16:06who is Jocelyn's father, was also born out of wedlock, like Annie.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11Well, I did find a birth certificate for her first child.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13- Albert.- Albert.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15And it tells us the date that he was born.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19October 1903, so she was 18.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21Oh, workhouse.
0:16:21 > 0:16:26Yes. She was in the workhouse when...
0:16:26 > 0:16:28- Annie!- ..Albert was born.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32- Why?- So this doesn't tell us why
0:16:32 > 0:16:35and it doesn't give us any more information
0:16:35 > 0:16:39than that she must have been at that time without any support.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Any support at all. So the Horsfulls might have died or...?
0:16:43 > 0:16:46We don't know why Annie was in the workhouse
0:16:46 > 0:16:49and what happened to her after.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51Oh, bless her.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Bless her wrinkled stockings.
0:16:55 > 0:16:56Oh.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04It's extraordinary -
0:17:04 > 0:17:06yesterday I knew nothing about her
0:17:06 > 0:17:09and now I've found out so much.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16You know, I was so shocked to see that Annie had been in the workhouse,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19and to give birth in a workhouse,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23I'd like to find out more about what went on in workhouses generally.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Um...you know, just to know how she coped while she was in there.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34The building that was once York Workhouse still exists.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Is that it?
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Ooh, it looks like a prison.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43Oh, my goodness.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47Oh, dear, imagine arriving there.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Today, the building's used as student accommodation.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55- So this is it?- This is it.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Peter Higginbotham has researched the history of workhouses.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05- I've only just found out that my granny was here in 1903.- Right.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06But I don't know why she was here.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Well, the first thing to say about the workhouse is
0:18:10 > 0:18:13that people weren't sent to the workhouse or put in the workhouse.
0:18:13 > 0:18:14Really?
0:18:14 > 0:18:17They resorted to the workhouse is probably the best way of putting it.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20- You know, when they had no other options left in the world.- No.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23You know, they would end up knocking on the door of the workhouse.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25I know that she had a baby illegitimately,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28so I don't know if that drove her to come in here.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Well, if you were pregnant, poor,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34- and, particularly, if you were single...- And not married.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37..the workhouse often was really the only option that you had.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41- Yes. And this is pre-National Health, isn't it?- Exactly, yeah.
0:18:41 > 0:18:46Right, now, the first thing we must look at is...
0:18:46 > 0:18:49the workhouse birth register. I don't know, if you look down,
0:18:49 > 0:18:54whether you can find a name you recognise. It's a bit murky but...
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Horsfull, Anne.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58Well spotted. All right, OK, so...
0:18:58 > 0:18:59Albert.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01- That's the one.- Illegitimate.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03This has got the whole page full of births.
0:19:03 > 0:19:06Oh, look at them all. Oh!
0:19:06 > 0:19:11So virtually every person on the page was illegitimate.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Would you know how long she was in here for?
0:19:14 > 0:19:20Well, we do, actually, as another interesting record tells us so.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25- So what we've got here is the date of her...- Her admission.
0:19:25 > 0:19:30- Which is...- 29th.- ..of... - Of September.- OK.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33So that was about two weeks before the birth
0:19:33 > 0:19:36and we've also, right at the end there,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38got the date of her departure.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41Which was 2nd November.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45So, altogether, she was here about five weeks,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47two weeks before the birth and three weeks after.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49- Really for the birth.- Yeah.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51By the early 20th century,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55all the major workhouses in England had medical facilities,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58often in separate infirmary blocks.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Poor people, like Annie,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03who were not long-term inmates of the workhouse
0:20:03 > 0:20:07were increasingly using these infirmaries like local hospitals.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09But unlike today,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12hospitals were not considered the best option for health care.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Rich people would have doctors treat them at home, even for surgery.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20For the rest, voluntary hospitals could provide some treatment,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24but they didn't admit unmarried pregnant women.
0:20:24 > 0:20:29Girls in this position were often forced to turn to the workhouse infirmary.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Was it the sort of hospital you'd want to come into or...?
0:20:33 > 0:20:35- It would be basic.- Yeah.
0:20:35 > 0:20:41The workhouse infirmary had probably 400 or 500 people
0:20:41 > 0:20:44in need of medical care, in Annie's day,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and looking after them, there were probably
0:20:47 > 0:20:49- about six trained, paid nurses. - Yeah.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53With a whole team of untrained pauper assistants, inmates,
0:20:53 > 0:20:58who actually got paid in kind of beer and food
0:20:58 > 0:21:01for an incentive to help with the nursing.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04- So it wouldn't be great, would it? - It wouldn't be great,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07- and because a lot of the elderly came here in their final days... - Yeah.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10- ..again, it was the only place that was open to them.- Yeah.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14The workhouse got a reputation of being the place you went to die.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18- Oh.- And that kind of rubbed off, really, generally.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21So a little girl coming here with her baby, or to have her baby...
0:21:21 > 0:21:25- must have been terrifying. - Hmm, yeah.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29But do we know what happened to Annie and little Albert next?
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Well, we lose track of them for a while in documents,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35- but we do pick them up five years later...- Oh.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39- ..on the next thing I want to show you.- Gone goosey.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44And in 1908, we find a birth certificate of Annie's second child.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49Oh. My father!
0:21:49 > 0:21:50Oh.
0:21:52 > 0:21:53Oh.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Oh, lovely.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01And you'll see 25th October.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Now, if we go further across,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07name and surname of father.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09None.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Well, none recorded, yeah,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14- which she's...finds herself in the same situation.- Yes.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17- But this time, the birth was... - Not in a workhouse.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Not in a workhouse, exactly,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23- so, presumably, things have moved on in her life.- Yes, hopefully.
0:22:23 > 0:22:29Either she had some family support, or maybe having been here once...
0:22:29 > 0:22:32- Yes.- ..anything would be better... - Would be better than that.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35- ..than coming back again. - Yeah.- Yeah.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39And so, this is where he was born, 50 Rose Street.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41That's actually not very far from here,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45- so we could maybe go and track it down.- I'd love to.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55It's only a short walk from the workhouse to Rose Street.
0:22:55 > 0:22:5728, 32...
0:22:59 > 0:23:01- There we are.- 48.
0:23:01 > 0:23:02Number 50.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06This one?
0:23:06 > 0:23:09Yeah, that's it. Number 50.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11So this is...
0:23:11 > 0:23:15- Where my father was born.- Yeah. - Ah, bless him.
0:23:17 > 0:23:23And the next bit of paper we have is a marriage certificate.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Ah. Hopefully Annie's.
0:23:27 > 0:23:28Now...
0:23:28 > 0:23:34Ah, Annie Robinson, Arthur Stubbs.
0:23:34 > 0:23:3923. And he was 19, so he was younger and he took her on.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41- Yeah.- Good old Arthur.- Yeah.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Now, we've got their residencies at the top of the marriage.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49- Rose Street.- Now, Arthur living at 50 Rose Street,
0:23:49 > 0:23:52- which was where Clarry was born. - Clarry was born.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56Annie was living at...
0:23:56 > 0:23:5745.
0:23:57 > 0:24:0245 Rose Street, which I think is actually...
0:24:02 > 0:24:03Ooh!
0:24:03 > 0:24:06- ..straight across the street.- Oh!
0:24:06 > 0:24:10So it seems as if your father was born in Arthur's house.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13Maybe he had more room.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16- Hmm.- But how sweet, they were opposite.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18That's amazing, isn't it?
0:24:18 > 0:24:21Five months after Una's father, Clarry, was born,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25his parents Annie and Arthur married,
0:24:25 > 0:24:29and Arthur also adopted Annie's first child, Albert.
0:24:29 > 0:24:34I've seen a picture of Arthur and he looks such a dear, dear man.
0:24:34 > 0:24:35Bless his heart.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39Can we follow the family on?
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Well, we can. Two years later, we've got the 1911 census.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51So the first thing we'd look at is the address, 21 Beaconsfield Street.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55And Beaconsfield Street we can actually see on the map here,
0:24:55 > 0:25:00so there's Rose Street and just...
0:25:00 > 0:25:03- There.- Literally a stone's throw away, we've got Beaconsfield Street.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06The houses were all pulled down in the slum clearance in the 1970s,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09- but very similar type of house.- Yes.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13So how long did they stay in Beaconsfield Street?
0:25:13 > 0:25:16- About 20 years, I believe.- Oh!
0:25:16 > 0:25:22- So eventually there were six sons, a daughter, a mummy and dad.- Yeah.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26- All in this little house. - Nine of them, in just three rooms.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28- Three rooms.- Three rooms really means one downstairs.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31- Tiny rooms.- And just two upstairs bedrooms.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33So it must have been really hard.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37- Well, they would have been sleeping on the floor, almost.- Yeah.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41And the costs of feeding nine mouths must have been quite a struggle for them.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45Yes. Do you know if Arthur had a profession or...?
0:25:45 > 0:25:47Well, in fact, it tells us on the census.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49His occupation...
0:25:49 > 0:25:50Confectioner.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53- And he worked for a...? - A chocolate manufacturer.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55If we go back to our map...
0:25:58 > 0:25:59..Rose Street
0:25:59 > 0:26:01and if we open it out...
0:26:04 > 0:26:05Ah.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Rowntree's factory...
0:26:10 > 0:26:12This is so extraordinary,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16cos I was the Rowntree's Chocolate Girl, Dairy Box,
0:26:16 > 0:26:22- for years and I came...- Hmm. - ..I came to the factory to visit.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25- Ah.- And I remember all of the factory workers
0:26:25 > 0:26:28- all hanging out the windows going, "Una, Una!"- Ah.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32- Yeah! But I never knew that my grandfather worked there.- Oh.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35I never knew the connection.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37How extraordinary!
0:26:40 > 0:26:42In the early 1900s,
0:26:42 > 0:26:46Rowntree's Cocoa Works was one of the biggest businesses in York,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48employing over 4,000 people,
0:26:48 > 0:26:53among them, Una's grandfather, Arthur Stubbs.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55I mean, I've been thinking about Annie all this time
0:26:55 > 0:26:59and now I'm going on to Arthur and finding about him,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01and he was such a lovely man,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06I think, for what he took on and bless him, and he was so young.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09Apparently, he worked at the Rowntree's factory, which is here,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12just round the corner from where they lived.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Today, the old factory is no longer in use,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19but chocolate is still manufactured on the site.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22- Hello, are you Alex?- Hello, I'm Alex.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25- I'm so pleased to meet you. Hello. - Lovely to meet you.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27Company archivist Alex Hutchinson
0:27:27 > 0:27:30has been looking for Una's grandfather, Arthur, in the records.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33- Now, we did find some records of your family.- Yes.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35But it was a little bit difficult,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38because as I searched for Stubbs, there was another Stubbs
0:27:38 > 0:27:41- that kept appearing hundreds and hundreds of times.- No.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45- And I can show you which one. - No, please not.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48# My girl is sent by Dairy Box
0:27:48 > 0:27:50# Sent by Dairy Box centres
0:27:50 > 0:27:53# My girl is sent by Dairy Box
0:27:53 > 0:27:55# She's a Dairy Box girl... #
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Oh, for goodness' sake.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03I must have been early 20s - 20, 21.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Our earliest commercial in the collection of yours is 1955.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10- There they are.- So in the first year of commercial television,
0:28:10 > 0:28:13- you had television adverts.- Yes.
0:28:13 > 0:28:14You were a pioneer.
0:28:17 > 0:28:18A little over the top, Una.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20# My girl is sent by Dairy Box... #
0:28:20 > 0:28:22- Oh!- We all really like them. - No, don't.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25- We play them on the television in the reception area.- Stop it.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27- Stop it!- There are loads.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33- # She's a Dairy Box girl... # - I quite like it.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34Thank you.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Rowntree's originally built their business,
0:28:37 > 0:28:42not on solid chocolate, which was expensive, but on cocoa, as a drink.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Like the other Quaker families, the Cadburys and the Frys,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48they were attracted to producing cocoa drinks
0:28:48 > 0:28:52because they offered an alternative to alcohol.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56Their Quaker values also made the Rowntrees progressive employers.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Joseph Rowntree and his son Seebohm introduced a five-day week,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03employed a works' doctor and dentist,
0:29:03 > 0:29:07and brought in one of the first occupational pension schemes.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Most radical of all, they established a works' council,
0:29:11 > 0:29:15giving employees a say in the running of the business.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Now, we've had a look for your grandfather Arthur
0:29:18 > 0:29:20and this is the company magazine,
0:29:20 > 0:29:24and this was like Facebook for the Rowntree employees.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27There would be entrants for any children they had
0:29:27 > 0:29:29or if they were married, they would send in an entry.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31If someone was promoted...
0:29:31 > 0:29:35All of life is here and so, this is from 1920.
0:29:35 > 0:29:36And this is what?
0:29:36 > 0:29:40This photograph is of the Central Works Council.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42- It was like a parliament for Rowntree's.- Yeah.
0:29:42 > 0:29:47This chap here, Seebohm Rowntree, he decided that he wanted employees
0:29:47 > 0:29:49to be able to make decisions about the future of their workplace,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52and so, there was a representative, like an MP,
0:29:52 > 0:29:55for each department in the company.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59- So your grandfather was sort of MP for the almond department.- Ah!
0:29:59 > 0:30:01- Is that him?- That's him there.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Smiling away. Ah, look at him.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06You can see my father in him.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11I can't imagine Arthur being a big spokesperson.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14No, but he was very involved in the meetings.
0:30:14 > 0:30:17- He was voted in.- Oh. - You had to be elected.- Oh.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20So he must have been a popular man, people must have very much respected him.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22He's bound to have been popular.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26I bet Annie was proud of him.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30So things were going well for Arthur, really?
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Well, they were, but things were going badly for the company,
0:30:34 > 0:30:37and by 1929, the business was really struggling.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40Now, this record here is particularly interesting.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43If you'd just like to read that first section.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47"Referring to the labour position, the company chairman said
0:30:47 > 0:30:52"that it will be necessary to discharge some 120 men..."
0:30:52 > 0:30:53Ooh!
0:30:53 > 0:30:57"This reduction of staff was owing to a changeover of the character
0:30:57 > 0:31:00"of our trades from goods requiring much labour
0:31:00 > 0:31:02"to goods requiring less labour,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05"to the introduction of labour-saving machinery."
0:31:05 > 0:31:09This must have been really sad - to work for such a wonderful company
0:31:09 > 0:31:13and then to be given the sack, and really hard for the families.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16And there was no such thing as redundancy pay in those days.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18- Nothing?- You would just simply lose your job.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23So was Arthur one of the ones that was sacked?
0:31:23 > 0:31:26We think so, we think he was among those 120.
0:31:26 > 0:31:27Oh!
0:31:29 > 0:31:31With all those children.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34However, Rowntree's wanted to be different
0:31:34 > 0:31:38and they decided that they would set aside a large sum of money
0:31:38 > 0:31:42so that they could help people who were inevitably going to be laid off.
0:31:42 > 0:31:47This is the company magazine from 1929
0:31:47 > 0:31:50and it's an article called Work For The Workless
0:31:50 > 0:31:52and it's all about some of those people who'd been helped.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56"In connection with the offer of financial aid to obtain other work
0:31:56 > 0:32:01"made to those members of the staff who left the company's service at Christmas,
0:32:01 > 0:32:06"a goodly number of our old mates have now started work." Ooh!
0:32:06 > 0:32:09"Some have gone to our London depot,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13"some to a firm of manufacturers of electrical apparatus
0:32:13 > 0:32:15"at Welwyn Garden City..."
0:32:15 > 0:32:19Ooh! "..and others have started up business in York and elsewhere."
0:32:19 > 0:32:22- Uh-huh.- Where was Arthur? - Welwyn Garden City.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Yes! Ah, my goodness.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29- So do you know Welwyn Garden City? - Yes, I do.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32My great-grandfather on my mother's side, Ebenezer Howard,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35founded Welwyn Garden City, though not many people know that,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39because I didn't...I wouldn't tell them cos he was a sir as well,
0:32:39 > 0:32:41and it seemed like showing off.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43- Cos it's a pretty big thing... - It is.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46..for a chorus girl's great-grandfather to be. Yeah.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50I knew when I started this that my father moved down
0:32:50 > 0:32:52to Welwyn Garden City,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55but I didn't realise the whole family moved down.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57How extraordinary! Oh, what a link!
0:33:06 > 0:33:08When we first started this programme,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11I didn't know anything about my grandparents.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14I'd never met them, I've never seen them,
0:33:14 > 0:33:16I didn't even know their names or what they did,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19and now I've learned so much about them
0:33:19 > 0:33:23and it's so extraordinary when you look at the photographs
0:33:23 > 0:33:28and you know the stories. You sort of fall in love with them.
0:33:28 > 0:33:29And I do love them.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32I really love them, and always will.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38And now for the extraordinary link.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42Um...I know that Annie and Arthur moved to Welwyn Garden City,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45which my great-grandfather founded,
0:33:45 > 0:33:49so now I'd like to find out about Ebenezer Howard
0:33:49 > 0:33:54and how and why he founded Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00Una's turning her attention to her maternal line.
0:34:00 > 0:34:01On this side,
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Una's great-grandfather was Sir Ebenezer Howard,
0:34:04 > 0:34:07founder of the Garden City Movement.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12Ebenezer Howard was one of a wave of late 19th-century reformers
0:34:12 > 0:34:14who set out to address the grave problems
0:34:14 > 0:34:16afflicting Victorian cities.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20Howard's radical idea was to create
0:34:20 > 0:34:23brand-new, carefully planned settlements
0:34:23 > 0:34:26that combined the best of town and country.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29His ultimate ambition was that his Garden Cities
0:34:29 > 0:34:31would lessen social divisions
0:34:31 > 0:34:34by providing a better way of life for all.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37It was a bold Utopian vision,
0:34:37 > 0:34:40but one that Howard was determined to make real.
0:34:42 > 0:34:47All I know is that he had this wonderful dream and he fulfilled it,
0:34:47 > 0:34:52but I'm ashamed to say I know nothing about the detail of his life
0:34:52 > 0:34:56and I wonder what spurred him to achieve what he did.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59I'm dying to see what I'm going to find.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03Una's hoping her sister Claire might know more than she does.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Ooh-hoo!
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Hello, darling, how are you? Lovely to see you.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13- And you too.- Come through.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16Una and Claire's beloved grandmother,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18who they called Nana,
0:35:18 > 0:35:21was Sir Ebenezer's eldest child.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23I know that Nana was very proud of her father,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26- for what he stood for, I think, mainly, than his title.- Yes.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30- He was very...- Artistic? - ..a very compassionate person.- Yes.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34- And also very proud of her mother, Lucy.- Yes.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36I think she kept the family together.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38- She was very strong.- Yes.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40So I know a bit about him,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43but I don't know where he came from or how he started.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Was he an architect?
0:35:45 > 0:35:49- All I know is that he was born in the City, City of London.- Oh.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54I did go to the unveiling of a plaque near where he was born.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56Do you know if the plaque is still there?
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Perhaps we could find out.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Ah, you've got one of those.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03I'm really impressed.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08- I think I've found it.- Oh, OK.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10It's in Fore Street.
0:36:10 > 0:36:11Brilliant. Brilliant.
0:36:14 > 0:36:15So it's right in the City.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17I'm going to go and have a look.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24In the City, Una's meeting Dr Alastair Owens,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27from the University of London.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30- Hello.- Hello!- Are you Alastair?
0:36:30 > 0:36:32- I am indeed. Una.- Lovely to meet you.- Lovely to meet you too.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34And the blue plaque is...?
0:36:34 > 0:36:37- The blue plaque, it's just over here on the wall.- Oh.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41- It's completely different.- It is, it's rather beautiful, isn't it?
0:36:41 > 0:36:43Because normally they're bright blue and round.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Why is it like that?
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Well, that's right. This particular plaque was commissioned
0:36:48 > 0:36:50by the Corporation of London,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54and Sir Ebenezer Howard was an honoured son of the City of London.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56Oh, so it says...
0:37:03 > 0:37:04In the course of his life,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07Sir Ebenezer became a respected public figure,
0:37:07 > 0:37:12but he was not born into wealth or privilege.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Today, Fore Street has changed beyond recognition,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17but at the time of Ebenezer's birth,
0:37:17 > 0:37:19it was a bustling thoroughfare,
0:37:19 > 0:37:23home to the families of tradesmen and shopkeepers.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26This is a street very much like Fore Street would have been
0:37:26 > 0:37:27in the 1850s -
0:37:27 > 0:37:31a nice commercial street that was thriving.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33You know, the shop fronts are not dissimilar.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36A mixture of different things like tailors and...?
0:37:36 > 0:37:40Yeah, all sorts. In fact, Ebenezer Howard's father was a baker.
0:37:40 > 0:37:41- Really?- Yeah.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45He ran a pastry shop, perhaps not unlike this one here.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49- Yeah.- And just imagine yourself walking along here in 1850
0:37:49 > 0:37:52and have the smell of sweet pastries wafting into the street.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54It would have been very enticing.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57So this was a world that the young Ebenezer Howard grew up in.
0:37:57 > 0:37:58Sounds lovely.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02- However, I mean, other parts of the City were rather like the street here.- Yes.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Very close to where Ebenezer Howard lived, close to Fore Street,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08were areas of London that were very poor indeed.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11I mean, it looks quite chichi here now,
0:38:11 > 0:38:15- but, of course, it was a very different place in the 19th century. - Yeah.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19These narrow alleyways, they were very cramped, they were very dark.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23Very overcrowded. These areas often had very poor sanitation,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26and within the streets, you might even encounter raw sewage.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29You know, there'd be no trees, no green open spaces,
0:38:29 > 0:38:33little fresh air, little sunlight, even, in many places.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35So it must have been very unhealthy, was it?
0:38:35 > 0:38:41- It was very unhealthy. Cities were places where disease was rife.- Yeah.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44There was a survey done in the 1850s that discovered
0:38:44 > 0:38:48that mortality rates here were double those in the suburbs.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51So cities literally killed you, and that was a big concern.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54So Ebenezer would have seen all this.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57It must have made a big impression on him, I'm sure it did.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59- Quite shocking.- Yes.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04As well as being exposed to the slums of the city,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07the young Ebenezer also experienced a very different way of life
0:39:07 > 0:39:10when he was sent to boarding school in the countryside.
0:39:10 > 0:39:17He spent his formative years moving between these two contrasting worlds.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21- Here I've got a photograph of Ebenezer.- Oh!
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Probably just after he'd left school. Clearly posed photograph.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27Yes. And he was what age?
0:39:27 > 0:39:29Well, he's only 15, actually, when he leaves school.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31Which is quite early.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34Which is quite early but for a lower-middle-class young man,
0:39:34 > 0:39:37father a baker, then it was not uncommon for them
0:39:37 > 0:39:41- to start work relatively young. - Right.- It would be very unusual
0:39:41 > 0:39:44- for somebody of that background to go to university.- And what work did he do?
0:39:44 > 0:39:48So he became a shorthand writer, a stenographer,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52so he was employed in solicitors' offices, for example,
0:39:52 > 0:39:54as a clerk, using those skills.
0:39:54 > 0:39:56I've got another photograph of him here,
0:39:56 > 0:39:58and we see him here as a man and not a boy.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01I've seen the photographs of him with his great big moustache
0:40:01 > 0:40:03- in later years.- Yes, yeah.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07That's the only pictures I've seen. I've never seen him as a young man.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10He does look very determined.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15As Ebenezer Howard forged his career as a shorthand writer in the 1870s,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18the situation in London was getting worse.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21The population of the city was growing rapidly,
0:40:21 > 0:40:25and there was great alarm at the conditions in the slums.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Cities were seen as not just unhealthy,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31but also morally corrupting,
0:40:31 > 0:40:33even inherently evil.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37There was a mounting urgency that a solution had to be found.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40The crisis was discussed at the highest level.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44Ebenezer Howard was well aware of these debates.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49- We pick up Ebenezer in the 1881 census. He's 31.- Yes.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53And he's continuing to be a shorthand writer,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56but he was now working in the Houses of Parliament,
0:40:56 > 0:41:00so he would have witnessed at first hand debates among politicians
0:41:00 > 0:41:03about what we should do with cities like London,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06which were experiencing all these environmental and social problems.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10So it's an interesting image, this man sat in Parliament,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13quietly taking notes, doing his shorthand,
0:41:13 > 0:41:15and perhaps sometimes feeling rather frustrated that,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17in spite of all that discussion and debate,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20- nothing really seemed to happen. - Was happening.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24- And, in the background, he's beginning to formulate his own ideas.- Because of what he'd seen.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27- In London, living in the city. - Absolutely.- And then, being educated in the countryside
0:41:27 > 0:41:33and then, eventually, they kind of formed into this broader notion of the Garden City.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37By the time Howard formed his idea of the Garden City,
0:41:37 > 0:41:41he had been working in Parliament for many years.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45He was entering middle age and married with a young family.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48Faced with the challenge of getting his ideas across,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51he decided to lay out his vision in a book.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56By 1891, Ebenezer Howard was beginning to write his book
0:41:56 > 0:42:00- and, you know, ultimately, he had to begin to persuade people...- Yes.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03- ..that his plans were worth pursuing.- And I wonder how hard that was.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Well, one imagines that it was quite a struggle,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08because he was a baker's son, he was a stenographer,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11he wasn't, you know, a leading thinker of the age,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14and it was a very bold idea, very radical idea, in some senses.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22It's really odd, because all I knew was
0:42:22 > 0:42:26that I had a great-grandfather and his name was Sir Ebenezer Howard,
0:42:26 > 0:42:29so it was such a surprise to find out from Alastair
0:42:29 > 0:42:31what his background was.
0:42:31 > 0:42:36And I was surprised that he didn't start on the Garden Cities
0:42:36 > 0:42:39much earlier, in his youth,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42and I think I imagined that he must have been an architectural student
0:42:42 > 0:42:45or something like that, not a stenographer.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47It is extraordinary.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52To find out more about the book Ebenezer was writing,
0:42:52 > 0:42:57Una has come to Hertfordshire archives, where his papers are kept.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02So I now know that Ebenezer was mid-40s
0:43:02 > 0:43:04and that he'd written a book.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07But whether he had it published or not, I'm not sure.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10And what was in this book, anyway? Were there little drawings of streets
0:43:10 > 0:43:13that he imagined and houses and building,
0:43:13 > 0:43:18and from there, where did he go to build a city?
0:43:18 > 0:43:20How did that come about?
0:43:20 > 0:43:22So I'm going to meet somebody now
0:43:22 > 0:43:24who I'm hoping is going to explain it to me.
0:43:25 > 0:43:27Hello, is this Mervyn?
0:43:27 > 0:43:30- Yes, hello, Una, very good to see you.- And you too.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34Dr Mervyn Miller is an expert on the work of Ebenezer Howard.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38It must be very exciting to be related to Ebenezer.
0:43:38 > 0:43:39It is. Well, yes.
0:43:39 > 0:43:44So first of all, let's have a look at the typescript draft of the book.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46So is this Ebenezer's own copy?
0:43:46 > 0:43:50Yes, his vision was mapped out in this book
0:43:50 > 0:43:53- and here, he explains what he wants to do.- Hmm.
0:43:53 > 0:43:55"Town and country must be married
0:43:55 > 0:43:59"and out this joyous union of society and nature
0:43:59 > 0:44:03"will spring a new life, a new hope, a new civilisation."
0:44:03 > 0:44:06And this was his concept -
0:44:06 > 0:44:11amalgamating, putting together the advantages of the country
0:44:11 > 0:44:14and the advantages of town life, without any of the disadvantages.
0:44:14 > 0:44:15Yes.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18This was what he called the Garden City
0:44:18 > 0:44:24- and these are some of the diagrams he drew for the book.- Oh.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27If we look at this one,
0:44:27 > 0:44:32- it's actually a slice through the middle from the centre.- Yeah.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Here we've got the central garden, yes.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37- A town hall, a museum. - That's right.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39Hospital, everything.
0:44:39 > 0:44:41All the public buildings in the centre
0:44:41 > 0:44:43surrounded by a beautiful garden.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Hmm, and this would have been
0:44:45 > 0:44:48so opposite to what he would have seen in London.
0:44:48 > 0:44:51- Each house has a garden, house and gardens.- Yes.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53House and gardens, house and gardens.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56- Completely different to what he's seen.- Absolutely.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59He wanted the very reverse of the London slums.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01Then reaching further out,
0:45:01 > 0:45:05only when we get to the edge have we got industry.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07So it's kept well away.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09That's precisely right,
0:45:09 > 0:45:14and if we go through to this next diagram, it's the Garden City,
0:45:14 > 0:45:16- the complete Garden City this time...- Hmm.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19..in its surrounding countryside.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22He wasn't going to build on that land at all.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26- So large farms.- Farms. - Forests, smallholdings.- Yes.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29- And allotments.- So people could garden in their allotments.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31Food would be produced in the farms,
0:45:31 > 0:45:38and it was sustainable development in the late-19th-century sense.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42Also, Howard wanted the profits from the development
0:45:42 > 0:45:47and the increased land values to not go just to the shareholders,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49but back to the community.
0:45:49 > 0:45:53- How wonderful.- Yes, it's a sort of mutual ownership concept.
0:45:53 > 0:45:57So his vision was really for a complete new way of city life.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01- Yes, yes.- So how was the book actually published?
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Well, he had to raise a loan from friends
0:46:04 > 0:46:06in order to get it published.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09- So his belief was really strong. - His belief was carrying him through.
0:46:09 > 0:46:14- Yeah.- And he did get the book published in 1898.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16This is a copy of the first edition.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20To-morrow: A Peaceful Path To Real Reform.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Yes, reform of society, not through revolution,
0:46:23 > 0:46:28but through cooperation between all people. And at the time,
0:46:28 > 0:46:33people were amazed that this unassuming man had brought forth this book.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37Yeah. But then how did it go from the book
0:46:37 > 0:46:40to actually having the Garden Cities built?
0:46:40 > 0:46:43Well, as soon as it got into print,
0:46:43 > 0:46:46he started crusading through the country,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49and I've got a newspaper here.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51We have enlarged it
0:46:51 > 0:46:55so you can see what your great-grandfather was doing.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57"Dundee Social Union.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01"An open lecture on the Garden City, with lantern illustrations
0:47:01 > 0:47:06"by Ebenezer Howard Esq, originator of the movement."
0:47:06 > 0:47:08- Isn't that wonderful?- Yes.
0:47:08 > 0:47:13And he would be doing that throughout the length and breadth of Britain
0:47:13 > 0:47:17and, gradually, he attracted influential men
0:47:17 > 0:47:22and men who had got money to invest in the project.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26They formed a company and eventually reached the point
0:47:26 > 0:47:31where what they had to do is to build the first Garden City.
0:47:31 > 0:47:37Oh, how exciting! What a thrill he must have been in at that stage.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41It really must have been, because nothing quite like this had been done before.
0:47:42 > 0:47:46The site of the first Garden City opened at Letchworth
0:47:46 > 0:47:48in October 1903,
0:47:48 > 0:47:51when Ebenezer Howard was 53 years old.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55It was an extraordinary achievement, but it came at a cost.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59Howard was not a man of means and the time he gave to the project
0:47:59 > 0:48:03was taking him away from his paid work as a stenographer,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07putting him and his family under financial pressure.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12Archivist Sue Flood has a letter that reveals the strain.
0:48:12 > 0:48:18- This is a letter from Lizzie Howard to her husband Ebenezer.- Oh.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21The letter is dated in October 1904,
0:48:21 > 0:48:25- when Letchworth Garden City was being built.- Oh, right.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28Up to this point, he had been earning a steady living
0:48:28 > 0:48:30from being the shorthand writer.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33He's not getting that steady income any more.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35Yes, see here, Sue, it says,
0:48:35 > 0:48:39"Do make up your mind once and for all..." - underlined -
0:48:39 > 0:48:41"..how your income is to be made.
0:48:41 > 0:48:46"There is not charm for me in sublime uncertainty of not knowing
0:48:46 > 0:48:50"how and when my housekeeping funds will be available."
0:48:50 > 0:48:54- Yes.- Poor Lizzie.- Yes, she was his rock behind at home,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57- but she was the one who had to look after the family.- Yes.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59Because her husband was an idealist.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04Ebenezer was going round the country, lecturing,
0:49:04 > 0:49:07and he was doing an awful lot of this for free,
0:49:07 > 0:49:09unfortunately, for the family.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12- Too good for his own good, isn't he? - He was, yes.
0:49:12 > 0:49:14"I may be selfish in this matter, but, if I am,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17"I fear there are lots of selfish people,
0:49:17 > 0:49:20"for surely all men and women deserve the peace
0:49:20 > 0:49:23"which comes from a settled method of living."
0:49:23 > 0:49:26- Yes.- Goodness me, what a mess they're in.- Yes.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30I know that Lizzie died at a reasonably young age.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33When was that?
0:49:33 > 0:49:37Well, sadly, this letter was written in October 1904
0:49:37 > 0:49:42- and she died in November. Just...- Oh, shortly afterwards!
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Just shortly after writing this letter.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46What a loss.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50I think it very much was for him, most definitely.
0:49:50 > 0:49:54Ah, when he should have been ecstatic,
0:49:54 > 0:49:56all this dream was finally taking off
0:49:56 > 0:50:00- and the person he was dreaming with...- Yes.- ..isn't here any more.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05- Lizzie, she'd supported him right from the very, very beginning.- Yes.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09- Cruel life.- Isn't it? - Isn't it, sometimes?- Yes.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11- So cruel.- Yeah.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15Poor Lizzie. Poor Ebenezer.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Yes, yeah, indeed. Yeah.
0:50:18 > 0:50:20He had lost his wife,
0:50:20 > 0:50:24but at last Ebenezer's Utopian vision was becoming a reality.
0:50:27 > 0:50:28His dream took shape
0:50:28 > 0:50:31as the infrastructure of Letchworth Garden City
0:50:31 > 0:50:34was created in open countryside.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38The first houses were built, surrounded by gardens and parkland,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42and new communities were formed.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45The pioneering project was hailed as a success,
0:50:45 > 0:50:48but Ebenezer Howard himself was not satisfied.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51He had always seen Letchworth as a prototype
0:50:51 > 0:50:54rather than an end in itself,
0:50:54 > 0:50:58so in 1919, at the age of almost 70,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01he set out to try to create another Garden City.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08Now I'm going to Welwyn Garden City, which is Ebenezer's second city,
0:51:08 > 0:51:10by which time he was almost 70,
0:51:10 > 0:51:14which is quite late for such an enormous project,
0:51:14 > 0:51:17so I want to know how he made it come about.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21- It's quite an age, isn't it? - Yes.- To embark on something new.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23I don't know, though.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31Look at these amazing beech hedges all along here.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35Oh, look at this.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38What a fantastic entrance into a city.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45The trees are beautiful.
0:51:47 > 0:51:48So far, so good.
0:51:50 > 0:51:52Angela Eserin is a local historian
0:51:52 > 0:51:55who has researched the history of Welwyn Garden City.
0:51:55 > 0:51:59Oh, Angela! I don't know if you know, but I'm trying to find out more
0:51:59 > 0:52:03about my great-grandfather, Ebenezer Howard,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07and I understand, obviously, that Letchworth was a great success
0:52:07 > 0:52:09and yet he still wanted to do more.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12He did indeed, because his big fear
0:52:12 > 0:52:14was that Letchworth would just be seen
0:52:14 > 0:52:18- as a kind of quirky one-off experiment.- As a one-off.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22So he determined the only way forward was to build another Garden City,
0:52:22 > 0:52:27and also, he'd already decided exactly where he wanted to build it.
0:52:27 > 0:52:32- Oh!- We know more about the story from this remarkable letter.- Right.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37Which was written by a Norwegian planner called Kristian Gerloff
0:52:37 > 0:52:40- to Seebohm Rowntree.- Rowntree?!
0:52:40 > 0:52:45Oh, my father's family worked at Rowntree's.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48- What a coincidence!- Oh, goodness.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51Seebohm Rowntree was a great supporter of Howard's
0:52:51 > 0:52:52and the Garden City Movement
0:52:52 > 0:52:56and he was also a friend of Gerloff.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58So this is Kristian Gerloff
0:52:58 > 0:53:01- explaining what happened one day in 1919.- Oh, right.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06"I was sitting at a cup of tea in 3 Gray's Inn Place with Reiss,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09"then the young chairman of the GCA."
0:53:09 > 0:53:12That's the Garden Cities Association that Howard had founded.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16Yeah. "A long-distance telephone call came through.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18" 'It's Howard,' said Reiss.
0:53:18 > 0:53:21" 'He wants to meet at King's Cross, very important.'
0:53:21 > 0:53:23"Howard arrived at King's Cross,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26"more agitated than I ever seen an Englishman.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29"He'd told us that he'd passed hours that day
0:53:29 > 0:53:32"strolling through an estate near Hatfield.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35"I understand that Howard already, for some time,
0:53:35 > 0:53:37"had had his eye on this estate,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41"but he today had discovered that it would be sold by auction
0:53:41 > 0:53:44"in a very few days, hence his agitation."
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Yes, he's been after this at the back of his mind,
0:53:47 > 0:53:49had his eye on it for years and here it is,
0:53:49 > 0:53:52- here's his chance to actually buy it.- An actual auction.- Yes.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54And here it says,
0:53:54 > 0:53:58"I knew that thousands of pounds did not daily butter Howard's bread.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02"In that poor little teashop, the sums mentioned sounded a bit unreal,
0:54:02 > 0:54:06"but Howard's willpower, decision and enthusiasm
0:54:06 > 0:54:08"shone through everything he said."
0:54:08 > 0:54:10- That's wonderful, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13A few days of frantic activity followed,
0:54:13 > 0:54:16as Howard tried to persuade potential investors
0:54:16 > 0:54:18to fund a deposit for the land.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20He only just managed it in time,
0:54:20 > 0:54:24securing the final portion on the very day of the auction.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27"Then Howard made his bid at the auction
0:54:27 > 0:54:29"and returned to 3 Gray's Inn Place
0:54:29 > 0:54:34"as a big estate owner with a personal debt of some £27,000
0:54:34 > 0:54:37"on his not-too-strong shoulders."
0:54:37 > 0:54:38That's a lot.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41- It's enormous.- Yes. - It's millions of pounds.- Yes.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Without that belief in what he was doing,
0:54:45 > 0:54:48I don't think he could ever have gone to that auction
0:54:48 > 0:54:49- and taken on that debt.- No.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52There's nothing for himself. It's all for others.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54- Nothing for himself.- Always. - Always.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56It's for the good of all the people
0:54:56 > 0:54:59who are living in slum conditions in London,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02- both then and in the future.- Yes.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04- It's the way forward for planning. - Yes.
0:55:04 > 0:55:07So Howard had managed to achieve his aim,
0:55:07 > 0:55:09he'd got the land he wanted,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12and now they had to build a second Garden City.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Which they did. Welwyn Garden City.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18- That's it, yeah.- Amazing.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24In 1921, Howard moved to his new Garden City.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28By now, his ideas were spreading abroad and his principles,
0:55:28 > 0:55:30realised in Letchworth and Welwyn,
0:55:30 > 0:55:34went on to influence new settlements across the world.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36In the final years of his life,
0:55:36 > 0:55:40Ebenezer Howard gained public recognition for his achievements.
0:55:40 > 0:55:47He was awarded an OBE in 1924 and was knighted in 1927.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51The following year, Sir Ebenezer Howard died.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54His body was taken from Welwyn Garden City to Letchworth,
0:55:54 > 0:55:58where his funeral was attended by leading public figures.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03Howard had never been interested in personal gain
0:56:03 > 0:56:06and left an estate worth only £800.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10His legacy was the idea of the Garden City.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13Oh!
0:56:13 > 0:56:18"Sir Ebenezer Howard, founder of Welwyn Garden City.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21"His vision and practical idealism
0:56:21 > 0:56:25"profoundly affected town planning throughout the world."
0:56:27 > 0:56:29What a lovely tribute.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37I knew that he'd founded Welwyn Garden City and Letchworth,
0:56:37 > 0:56:39but I didn't really know anything about the man.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43You know, that he'd seen the poverty in London and inner cities,
0:56:43 > 0:56:48and wanting to do something about it, but how long it took him
0:56:48 > 0:56:50and I suppose it was difficult
0:56:50 > 0:56:55because it always seemed so idealistic and it was, but it worked.
0:56:57 > 0:56:58I'm so proud of him.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Really proud of him!
0:57:01 > 0:57:05Not only for what he achieved, but also what he was as a man.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07I think that's what I'm most proud of.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13Following Ebenezer Howard's death,
0:57:13 > 0:57:16Welwyn Garden City continued to take shape.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Industry was attracted to the new town and more houses were built.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24Thousands of new residents were able to enjoy the full benefits
0:57:24 > 0:57:26of Howard's vision.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31Among the early settlers were Annie and Arthur Stubbs.
0:57:31 > 0:57:36I understand that this is the house that Annie and Arthur came to,
0:57:36 > 0:57:41after York, in the city that my great-grandfather founded.
0:57:42 > 0:57:43Extraordinary.
0:57:45 > 0:57:49Four years later, Una's mother, Ebenezer Howard's granddaughter,
0:57:49 > 0:57:53married Una's father, Annie and Arthur's son.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57So now, I know how both sides of my family
0:57:57 > 0:58:00came to live in Welwyn Garden City
0:58:00 > 0:58:04and although the families seemed completely different,
0:58:04 > 0:58:08like chalk and cheese, really, they came together here.
0:58:08 > 0:58:11I'm quite glad about that, otherwise I wouldn't be here.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13SHE CHUCKLES
0:58:13 > 0:58:16I've loved this journey.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20I mean, for somebody who knew so little about her past,
0:58:20 > 0:58:23I now have a much richer understanding.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28I'm absolutely thrilled to have found out so much.
0:58:53 > 0:58:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd