0:00:04 > 0:00:10I think that if you're adopted, you can't help but feel,
0:00:10 > 0:00:15somehow or other, deep, deep, deep down inside, that, um...
0:00:17 > 0:00:19..that you don't belong.
0:00:19 > 0:00:26It makes you feel like you've got a question mark inside you, somehow.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30I mean, I was just told that my mother had had a baby
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and she wasn't able to look after me. That was it.
0:00:34 > 0:00:40And I thought maybe if I did know where I was from,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43that, somehow or other, perhaps there was some sort of answer there.
0:00:45 > 0:00:51I know about my birth mother, but I know nothing, nothing,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55nothing, nothing about my father. And...
0:00:58 > 0:01:04..at my grand old age, I think actually I would like to know.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07I really would like to know where I'm from.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40How many shots are we actually going to be doing?
0:01:40 > 0:01:42- Er...- Has it has been broken down, you know...- Yeah.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44..all of the wedding stuff? Has it has been...?
0:01:44 > 0:01:47Best known for starring in detective show Scott And Bailey,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50and with roles in dramas like Doctor Who and Cranford,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Lesley Sharp's varied stage, screen and TV work
0:01:54 > 0:01:58has earned her a reputation as an accomplished and versatile actress.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Lesley was born in Manchester in 1960
0:02:03 > 0:02:06and adopted when she was just six weeks old.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11My adoptive mum suffered throughout my childhood with depression.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16So, my relationship with her was tricky
0:02:16 > 0:02:21because there was a degree of unreliability
0:02:21 > 0:02:23about whether or not she was...
0:02:23 > 0:02:26she was going to be well, and, if she was well,
0:02:26 > 0:02:28how long that was going to last.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35She died when I was 15, so it was me and my adoptive father, Jack,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39and I absolutely adored him, I worshipped him.
0:02:39 > 0:02:46Very, very calm and very, sort of, clear.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50So, he was kind of like this brilliant port in a storm.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55In 1990, Lesley traced her biological mother,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59using the limited information that her adoptive parents had been given.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02This is my Birth Certificate.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07My name at birth was Karen, my mother's name is Elsie Makinson.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11When I made contact with my mum,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13I was really nervous.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18You don't know who you're going to meet,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21you don't know who you're going to find, you don't...
0:03:21 > 0:03:23You've got no idea at all.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Um...it's scary, it's really scary.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33Picture of my mum - there she is, looking quite neat.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36What she did tell me was that
0:03:36 > 0:03:40she had an affair with a man that she was working with,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44but the problem was that he was married and he had children.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48And then she got pregnant, by accident, and they decided that
0:03:48 > 0:03:52it would be for the best if the baby was given up for adoption.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57And she breast-fed me right up until the moment
0:03:57 > 0:04:02that she handed me over, and... it was pretty harsh.
0:04:02 > 0:04:03She took these.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11These are the little baby booties
0:04:11 > 0:04:16that I was wearing the last time she ever held me in her arms,
0:04:16 > 0:04:21as a baby, she took these off my feet and kept them.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25My Auntie Margaret gave me these when my mum died.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30My mother told me my father's name,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and it's a very unusual name - surname.
0:04:33 > 0:04:38His first name was Norman, but his surname is Patient.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41A few months after my mother and I had met,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43I'd bought a Sunday newspaper
0:04:43 > 0:04:49and they had these two old guys in Didsbury, in Manchester,
0:04:49 > 0:04:50playing bowls.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54One of the names underneath was Norman Patient.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58And I looked at this picture of this man and I saw this...
0:05:01 > 0:05:07And I thought, "Oh, my god! Oh, my god! That's my father!
0:05:07 > 0:05:09"Is that...? Is that my father?"
0:05:12 > 0:05:16I picked up the phone, I rang my mum, I said,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19"I think I've just seen a picture of my father in the newspaper, is it?"
0:05:19 > 0:05:22And she had the same newspaper and she said, "Yes, it is."
0:05:22 > 0:05:29And...I looked at this picture and I felt very angry.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33There he was in the sunshine, enjoying a game of bowls,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37and my mum had had to go through all of that on her own.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39So I didn't want to trace him.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Now, my birth father is dead.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48I wonder - did he manage to keep me a secret?
0:05:48 > 0:05:52And, if he did, did anybody guess, did he have that thing about him?
0:05:52 > 0:05:58Did he behave or look like a man who would cheat on his wife?
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Lesley is on her way to Manchester, where she was born.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13She wants to try to uncover the truth about her birth and adoption.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19"I'd like to welcome those of you who've joined us at Milton Keynes Central
0:06:19 > 0:06:22"for this Virgin train through to Manchester Piccadilly."
0:06:22 > 0:06:2522 years after tracing her birth mother, Elsie,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29Lesley has decided to make contact with her birth father's family,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31for the first time.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33She's used an adoption charity
0:06:33 > 0:06:36to get hold of her original adoption file.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40So, this is my adoption file, with...
0:06:42 > 0:06:44..various forms in it.
0:06:44 > 0:06:50The first one is an application form to the Adoption Society.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53"Full name and registration number of child's parents."
0:06:53 > 0:06:59So, "Baby's mother - Elsie Makinson. Baby's father - Norman Patient."
0:06:59 > 0:07:05And then, in brackets, next to his name - "Married."
0:07:05 > 0:07:07"Has either parent any other children?"
0:07:07 > 0:07:10"Father - one boy, one girl."
0:07:13 > 0:07:17"Does the father consent to the adoption? Yes.
0:07:17 > 0:07:18"If not married to the mother,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22"is he liable to contribute to child's maintenance?"
0:07:22 > 0:07:26There's a "Y" that's been crossed out and then, "No".
0:07:27 > 0:07:30"Why is the child offered for adoption?"
0:07:30 > 0:07:34And written here is, "For financial reasons and best for the baby."
0:07:37 > 0:07:38There you are.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49It's kind of weird thinking that all these years that I've been alive
0:07:49 > 0:07:52that there's been a half-brother and a half-sister out there somewhere
0:07:52 > 0:07:57and that it's only, kind of, now that, um, hopefully...
0:07:57 > 0:07:58that we're going to meet.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01And I... And I really hope
0:08:01 > 0:08:06that having found out that I exist hasn't been too traumatic for them.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10I really hope that they're not angry with me.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14But before Lesley finally meets her half-brother and sister,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17she wants to find out more about her father.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21She's going to visit her mother's sisters, Margaret and Nancy,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23to see what they can tell her about the circumstances
0:08:23 > 0:08:25that led to her adoption.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28She first met her aunts when she made contact with her mother,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30over two decades ago.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35I'm now on my way to see, erm, my two aunts -
0:08:35 > 0:08:40Nancy, who was a couple of years older than my mum,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44and Margaret, who was 15 years younger than my mum.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47I'm really interested to know whether or not
0:08:47 > 0:08:50they've got any information about my father, Norman.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54I mean, I know that my mum felt very passionate about him.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Be nice to see if Nancy's got anything to say about that.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Yeah, it'll be nice to see her.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16- Hello, Lesley.- Hello.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18- Aw!- How nice to see you.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21- Hello, darling.- Aw, lovely.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24- Hello, Margaret.- Hello, darling.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25How lovely to see you.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27LAUGHTER
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Cos this is my favourite photograph of her.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33- Nancy tells me she was about 17. - Yeah.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37- And I love that.- Lovely.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40So, ladies,
0:09:40 > 0:09:46do you remember Mum coming home and talking to you
0:09:46 > 0:09:50about the fact that she was pregnant and telling you what had happened?
0:09:50 > 0:09:53- Yes.- So, can you tell me about that?
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Well, I was living at my nana's at the time,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01and she came round to tell me that she was pregnant. She said,
0:10:01 > 0:10:06"And I can't tell my mum." She said, "Will you break it to her for me?"
0:10:06 > 0:10:10- And I did, and... - What did my grandmother do?
0:10:10 > 0:10:14Well, she was shocked at first. She was really shocked.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17But my mum stood by her all the way through, but nobody knew,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20- only the immediate family.- Right.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24I mean, when it all actually started...
0:10:24 > 0:10:26Do you remember what happened?
0:10:26 > 0:10:30I remember being left out, I remember not being talked to,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35I remember walking in rooms and people stopping speaking.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Because it was like, to a certain extent, like I didn't exist,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42and I realise now that they weren't going to discuss it
0:10:42 > 0:10:44- with a 12-year-old.- Right.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48So, I knew things were going on and I knew everybody was upset,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50especially Elsie.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54When she did go out, Nancy was telling me,
0:10:54 > 0:10:59she had to wear a big coat and sneak round the back avenue
0:10:59 > 0:11:02- so the neighbours...- Wouldn't see. - ..wouldn't see her.- No.
0:11:02 > 0:11:08At that time, it was unheard of, really, you know,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10to have a child out of marriage.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15Do you think that she had any expectation or hope,
0:11:15 > 0:11:21while she was pregnant, that Norman might come good, in terms of...
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- ..I mean, do you...?- I didn't get that impression myself.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Elsie had no job, and she had no support off him.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33- Did she ask him for money, do you know?- No.- No.- No, she...
0:11:33 > 0:11:36- And he didn't offer any?- No, no.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41No. I mean, he'd never been in touch or supported her,
0:11:41 > 0:11:43else she wouldn't have given you away.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48She wouldn't. She wouldn't have had you adopted, I know.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50I can vouch for that.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54And then, you know, when you weren't going to be kept,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56she went to the mother and baby home.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00For me, it was more about when she'd actually given you up
0:12:00 > 0:12:02- and she came back home.- Right.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04- And...that's when we would talk. - Right.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07And that's when, um...
0:12:07 > 0:12:11- That was a really sad time...- Yeah. - ..and distressing time.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15And she was upstairs and I could hear her crying.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18So I went up the stairs
0:12:18 > 0:12:22- and asked her where the baby was. - Oh, dear.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26- And, um...- Did she tell you? - She told me, yeah,
0:12:26 > 0:12:29that she'd had the baby and she'd had to give it up.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33That was a really sad time. She was very, very distressed.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38- Crying... Oh, it was really, really heartbreaking, but...- It was.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40..you were never off our minds.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Yes, every year on your birthday, out came the booties.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47And each year, we'd wonder where you are and what you were doing
0:12:47 > 0:12:50and how you were growing up.
0:12:50 > 0:12:56And I think then, when you did finally, um, get in touch...
0:12:56 > 0:12:58- She always had that guilt feeling... - I think that was...
0:12:58 > 0:12:59..of what she'd done.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02I know, I did feel that sometimes, her guilt about it,
0:13:02 > 0:13:08which I always thought was so not what she should have felt, at all.
0:13:08 > 0:13:14- No.- Um, it grieved me that she felt so guilty.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16- That's...that's what, yeah... - And I think it's a shame that
0:13:16 > 0:13:19- she found it so difficult.- Yeah. - Because she'd got an opportunity
0:13:19 > 0:13:24to have such a great experience with you in her life.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27But I think that was a bit too hard for her to deal with.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31- Very hard. And did she...? - And it was always there.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Did she ever see Norman again, after that?
0:13:35 > 0:13:38- No, not to my knowledge she didn't, no.- No.- But I did.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- You did? Did you?- Mm.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43- You saw him?- I worked for him.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49I worked as his secretary for about 18 months,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51but I didn't know he was your father.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55- When did you find out that it was him?- Years and years later.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- So she didn't tell you that..? - I didn't know.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01But she knew that you were working for him, and he must have known.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03This is the bit that I can't figure out.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07And he must have known, but I didn't know.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11My god, Margaret, what was he like?
0:14:11 > 0:14:13He was a very nice man.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16- Did... So you liked him?- Yeah.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Goodness me! What are the chances of that?
0:14:22 > 0:14:28I have no more understanding about my father
0:14:28 > 0:14:34and what his feelings were about my mother
0:14:34 > 0:14:36and what he was doing.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40I'm absolutely no clearer with that,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45and I'm actually slightly nervous about meeting Doris and Tommy now,
0:14:45 > 0:14:48because, by the sounds of things,
0:14:48 > 0:14:51what happened with my mother was something that he kept secret,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55and he went back to his life and he went back to his marriage
0:14:55 > 0:14:59and he went back to his children, and maybe grandchildren - who knows?
0:14:59 > 0:15:03And he carried that secret that he, you know, that he...
0:15:04 > 0:15:06..that he didn't tell them about.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13Lesley is on her way to meet her half-brother, Tommy,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16and half-sister, Doris, for the first time.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20We're in an area of Manchester that I've never been in before,
0:15:20 > 0:15:22and we've just driven past where Tommy and Doris,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25my half-brother and sister, are.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28And I'm going to go now and meet them,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32and, actually, I feel a bit weird about it.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35And I feel vulnerable about it,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and I feel vulnerable about meeting them.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42I think it's really important my initial meeting with them
0:15:42 > 0:15:47should be off camera, so, um...
0:15:47 > 0:15:51I shall see you after I've said, "Hello."
0:15:59 > 0:16:01After making their introductions,
0:16:01 > 0:16:06Lesley and her new family are happy to continue talking on camera.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09So, um, are you OK?
0:16:09 > 0:16:12- Yes, we're fine, yeah. - Yeah, yeah, sound, yeah.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Yeah, we are fine now. It was a shock.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19It was, yeah, because... I can never understand
0:16:19 > 0:16:23why my dad never wanted us to know.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Well, I suppose I can understand,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27because he didn't want my mother to know.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30But, in later years, why didn't he tell us?
0:16:31 > 0:16:35You know, I just can't understand that.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39I think for him not to have anything to do with you,
0:16:39 > 0:16:44I thought was out of character, it wasn't like him, yeah.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46If he'd have told me, you know,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49on the quiet, when we used to go out for a pint,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52- it wouldn't have bothered me, you know.- Mm.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56- I'd have loved to have met you earlier, if he'd have told me.- Yeah.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58- Yeah.- But unfortunately...
0:16:58 > 0:17:02- He never.- ..he didn't, you know. - ..never spoke to any of us about it.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04- How old were you when I was born, do you know?- I was 20.
0:17:04 > 0:17:05And what about you, Doris?
0:17:05 > 0:17:08- Were you at home?- I was... Well, I was married then.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10Oh, when did you get married? How old were you?
0:17:10 > 0:17:13- I was 21.- When you got married? - In 1960.- Right.
0:17:13 > 0:17:19That's me, in February, 1960, and my dad giving me away.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20- That's you getting married.- Yeah.
0:17:23 > 0:17:24Yeah.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Sweet photograph.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33When I got married, I was expecting Stephen.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36- Was that the reason that you got married?- Yes, yes.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38- So you told your parents that?- Yes.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43- And what happened when you told..? - Oh, my dad went absolutely crazy.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47- He went really spare, he played up hell.- Yeah.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50But everything turned out all right, as they do in the end.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54- What date in February?- The 27th.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58- Elsie would have been...- Five weeks. - ..at the mother and baby home.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01Whether he had a conscience that day, I don't know.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04- Hm.- Yeah.
0:18:04 > 0:18:05February.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09Yeah, and Stephen was born in the August.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13And is that Norman?
0:18:14 > 0:18:17- That's Norman.- That's Norman, yes.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19- That's...that's...- Grandad.- Yeah.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21- Yeah.- That's Dad, or Norman.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30That's weird, that's... And, you know, I kind of...
0:18:31 > 0:18:34..you know, that there he is being a grandad and not a dad.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36- Yeah, yeah.- Yeah, yeah.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39- Um, but do you know what, it's... I mean, it's fine.- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:18:39 > 0:18:45Yeah. It must, I'll not say hurt you. Well, it must do a little.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47- Yeah.- Deep down.- Well, I don't, I...
0:18:52 > 0:18:57- That was when he stopped his tram or trolley bus.- OK.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59So this is from the deputy general manager
0:18:59 > 0:19:02- and traffic superintendent...- Mm.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04- ..to "Driver Patient."- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08"I have received a report that about 8.45am on the 18th instant,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13"you were observed to leave your bus and go to the assistance
0:19:13 > 0:19:17"of an elderly blind man who had difficulty in crossing the road.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21"This action on your part was seen and appreciated.
0:19:21 > 0:19:24"19th of September, 1947."
0:19:24 > 0:19:27- Yeah, yeah.- Good for him. That's brilliant.- Yeah.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31One of the big things about meeting you,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33and maybe seeing photographs and stuff,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37- was obviously to do with physical resemblance.- Yeah.- Yeah, yeah.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Because, you know, obviously this nose is, um, big.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43- Yeah.- Yeah.- And, um, you know, you kind of go, "Well, I wonder."
0:19:43 > 0:19:45Yeah, well, I'm not behind... I'm not behind the bush!
0:19:45 > 0:19:48- Yeah.- No, yours is a good size as well.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50- But it's the shape, too.- Yeah...
0:19:50 > 0:19:54- And, I think, cos you're... - Yours is like mine. It bends a bit.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56But, er, now you're here, sis.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59LAUGHTER
0:19:59 > 0:20:03- Eh?- He's soppy you've come in contact.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07You'll leave here saying, "What the bloody hell, that pair?!"
0:20:07 > 0:20:09- "Who are they?!"- You know?
0:20:11 > 0:20:17My father was this blank figure who basically left my mum,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19did a runner.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21He had this thing about illegitimacy.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23It obviously kind of triggered something,
0:20:23 > 0:20:27so my mother getting pregnant with me, that was it.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30But actually, you know, there's this whole picture of him
0:20:30 > 0:20:33as this guy who stopped trams for blind people,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36was very involved with his grandchildren.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40You know, there's a proper picture that I've been given
0:20:40 > 0:20:44of a human being rather than this kind of two dimensional,
0:20:44 > 0:20:50and slightly bad guy, that he, you know, maybe has been in my head.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55The other thing is Nor... is the surname, this surname,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Patient, which is a really unusual name,
0:20:59 > 0:21:04and I'm...I've always wondered where it has come from.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15Tommy told me that he'd received a letter in the '90s from a guy
0:21:15 > 0:21:19called John Patient, who told him
0:21:19 > 0:21:24about the Patient family in Great Easton, in Essex.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27So I'd really be keen on finding out more about that.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Having reconnected with her birth father's family,
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Lesley wants to dig deeper into the Patient roots.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45She's travelled 170 miles south, to the county of Essex.
0:21:45 > 0:21:50Ah, pretty! It's pretty round here.
0:21:50 > 0:21:51Isn't it beautiful?
0:21:53 > 0:21:59Everything so far has been so northern and so Manchester-centric,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03so it's lovely to be in a completely different landscape.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20John Patient is a distant cousin of Lesley's.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24He's spent more than a decade exploring the family genealogy.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26- Hello.- Hello, Lesley.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29- Are you John?- I'm John. - How do you do?- Very nice to meet you.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31- Very nice to meet you, too. - Very nice.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Lesley and John's first common ancestor
0:22:34 > 0:22:38is their great-great-grandfather, Charles Patient.
0:22:38 > 0:22:43So we've drawn up a little chart here and this shows...
0:22:43 > 0:22:45- Norman.- ..your father, Norman.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48- Yeah. Thomas, my grandfather. - Your grandfather.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52- Thomas, again, my great-grandfather. - Grandfather. That's right.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54- And then, Charles Patient. - That's right.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56My great-great-grandfather.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58This is the first document.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03- Marriages? 1847.- Mm-hm.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08So, "Charles Patient and Hannah Bush.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11"Residence," both of them, "Tilty."
0:23:11 > 0:23:14- That's correct.- So they were married in the Parish Church,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16- that's this.- That's here. So they would have walked down
0:23:16 > 0:23:18- this very aisle...- Wow!
0:23:18 > 0:23:22- ..in front of this lovely surroundings.- Aw.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25So, I'm going to show you another document, here.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Oh, right. So this is baptisms
0:23:29 > 0:23:32in the Parish of Tilty.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37Right, I can't see Patient, but what I can see is Hannah Bush.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42And that's William, son of Hannah Bush.
0:23:42 > 0:23:43Hang on a sec...
0:23:45 > 0:23:46..she's down here -
0:23:46 > 0:23:49"Quality, trade or profession" is "Single woman."
0:23:51 > 0:23:53- Yes, I think you've...- Hang on.
0:23:53 > 0:23:59October the 14th. They got married on October the 16th.
0:23:59 > 0:24:00That's right.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04- So this child was baptised...- Mm-hm. - ..two days before
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Hannah walked up this aisle.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12So was William Charles' son?
0:24:12 > 0:24:19Or is this yet another illegitimate child
0:24:19 > 0:24:23that is going to have to, you know, um..?
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Oh, it's so...
0:24:28 > 0:24:32- It's almost history repeating. - Almost?!
0:24:32 > 0:24:34John! HE LAUGHS
0:24:34 > 0:24:38- There is this recurring theme.- Mm-hm.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40No, we can't do that.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Lesley has discovered that her great-great-grandmother,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Hannah Bush, gave birth to a son called William
0:24:49 > 0:24:53shortly before her marriage to Charles Patient.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55But what isn't clear is whether Lesley's
0:24:55 > 0:24:59great-great-grandfather, Charles, was William's father.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04- Throws up more questions than answers, doesn't it?- Yep.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07This is a Census in 1871.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11So this, again, is Great Easton.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13- Charles Patient.- That's right.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15He's the head of the household.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20Hannah, his wife, 41, and then there he is - William Patient,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24aged 25, still at home.
0:25:24 > 0:25:31George, 21, Thomas, his son, 17, Charles, is that..?
0:25:31 > 0:25:37- 15, I think.- 15, Eliza, 13, Frederick, 11,
0:25:37 > 0:25:42Mary, 9, Harry, 7,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Sarah, 5, and is that Walter?
0:25:45 > 0:25:49- Walter, that's right.- One. Cor, so they kept going, didn't they?
0:25:49 > 0:25:5240, so Hannah was 40.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55- Yes.- And she was still giving birth.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Ten kids. Great.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59Good, I'm glad.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01I'm glad...I'm glad he had all his children with him.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05And very nice to see that that infant, William,
0:26:05 > 0:26:09who was there when they got married, is there as their boy.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12What would be terrific would be to find out
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- whether or not William was Charles' son.- Mm-hm.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Or whether he was Hannah's son by another man
0:26:18 > 0:26:21- that Charles totally took to his heart and family.- Mm-hm.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Great. Thanks ever so much, John.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28- That's OK.- Thanks ever so much, John Patient.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31- Cousin.- Cousin Patient. THEY LAUGH
0:26:37 > 0:26:40Well, it's fascinating to me that we're here
0:26:40 > 0:26:45in this beautiful English landscape,
0:26:45 > 0:26:49and, you know, it's a world away from
0:26:49 > 0:26:53the red-brick, industrial north.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58But, in spite of that, there are these common themes
0:26:58 > 0:27:00that keep coming up -
0:27:00 > 0:27:06women who had illegitimate children and got on with it.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09And then, suddenly, you know, in the middle of this tale
0:27:09 > 0:27:13that we've heard today, there's this boy, William.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Charles kept that boy there.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18That boy has his surname.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Don't know whether it is his child or not,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23but he's there.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Lesley wants to find out whether William was Charles Patient's son.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33She has come to the nearby town of Great Dunmow
0:27:33 > 0:27:36to meet historian Professor Eddie Higgs.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39So, what have we got here?
0:27:39 > 0:27:46"1871 - marriage solemnized at the Parish Church
0:27:46 > 0:27:50"in the Parish of Great Easton, in the County of Essex.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55"October the 21st..." Oh, "William Bush"!
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Oh, "Father's Name and Surname" is down as Charles Patient.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02So, the f... Right.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05So what would that mean then, Eddie?
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Well, he seems to regard Charles Patient as his father.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11- Yes.- But he's not using his name.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14- No.- So, it indicates that he's probably not his biological father.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16He couldn't have fudged that issue?
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Legally, he would have had to have put what his...
0:28:19 > 0:28:21- Legally...legally he could have done.- Right.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23- But he chose not to.- Right.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26So...which is further evidence that actually
0:28:26 > 0:28:30- he's not the son of Charles Patient, I think.- Right.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33So how unusual was it in this day and age
0:28:33 > 0:28:37for a man to take on another woman's child?
0:28:37 > 0:28:42- That's quite an unusual thing, I think...- Right.- ..at this period.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45But what is special about Charles, I think,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49is that not only does he wed her, just after she's had a baby,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52- but he's obviously courting her while she's heavily pregnant.- Yeah.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57And yet, he still does the honourable thing and marries her.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01But to do it in these circumstances I think is quite exceptional.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04- He seems quite an interesting guy...- Yeah.- ..all in all.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11- Another document to show you - it's a Census in 1911.- OK.
0:29:12 > 0:29:18There he is, Charles Patient - "Head of the household, aged 85."
0:29:18 > 0:29:20- Good age.- Yeah, great age.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24He was married, um, "Complete..."
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Oh, so he's been married for 22 years.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31- That's correct.- To Jane Patient, who's now 72.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36So, she's died, Hannah. That's very sad.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39- But that's great, isn't it? He was married to Hannah.- Yeah.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43It's terrible that she died, but he's gone on to have
0:29:43 > 0:29:47- another 22 years of happy marriage with this woman, Jane.- Yeah, yeah.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50- Yeah. He was a sticker. - Yeah. Yeah, he was, wasn't he?
0:29:50 > 0:29:56And then, blimey, there's two little kids there
0:29:56 > 0:29:58with different surnames.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02George Maybury - aged 11, William George Keen.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04They're not from Essex.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07George Maybury is from Sheffield, Yorkshire,
0:30:07 > 0:30:11and William Keen is from London, Custom House.
0:30:11 > 0:30:13One of them's six.
0:30:13 > 0:30:19- These two children with Charles and Jane, now aged 85 and 72...- Yeah.
0:30:19 > 0:30:24..you don't see many instances like this, do you?
0:30:24 > 0:30:26- No, it's quite unusual, really. - Yeah.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29I mean, for a six-year-old boy to be in a house headed by an 85-year-old.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31So, what do you think might have happened then, Eddie?
0:30:31 > 0:30:33Do you think that..?
0:30:33 > 0:30:35I don't really know.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38- It'd be interesting to find out how they ended up with him.- Yeah.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42Is there any way of finding out any more about these two boys
0:30:42 > 0:30:44and why they're there in the first place?
0:30:44 > 0:30:46There may be records.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49- From the 1870s onwards, you've got compulsory education.- Yeah.
0:30:49 > 0:30:50So they'd been at school.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53So the best bet is perhaps to go to the Essex Record Office
0:30:53 > 0:30:56and look at some of the records there,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59which might give you an insight into who they are
0:30:59 > 0:31:03and why they were living with Charles Patient.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05Yeah. Thank you so much.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07It's been amazing, thank you.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13There's something really noble about the way that Charles
0:31:13 > 0:31:15appears to have conducted his life,
0:31:15 > 0:31:20and wonderful about the way that he raised a family.
0:31:20 > 0:31:26And this boy, William, who wasn't biologically his,
0:31:26 > 0:31:28is happy to call him Father.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32He's a man who loves his family, it seems,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35and they love him. They want to be with him.
0:31:36 > 0:31:42Charles was able to pick up a child out of wedlock
0:31:42 > 0:31:45and make it part of his family.
0:31:45 > 0:31:47The same's not true of Norman,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49because the circumstances in which,
0:31:49 > 0:31:55you know, he fathered, um, a child out of wedlock, me,
0:31:55 > 0:31:59meant that for him, that was an impossible thing
0:31:59 > 0:32:01to get his head around.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03I'm really glad that Hannah found Charles,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06because she could have been on her own and destitute
0:32:06 > 0:32:08and ended up in a work house.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Or she could have found someone really horrible
0:32:11 > 0:32:14who'd not wanted
0:32:14 > 0:32:18to include her first baby, you know.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20Brilliant that she met Charles.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27I'd quite like to find out about those two little boys.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29Particularly, actually, George Maybury,
0:32:29 > 0:32:33coming all the way from Yorkshire to Essex,
0:32:33 > 0:32:37and why they were living with my great-great-grandfather, Charles.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Lesley knows that George Maybury and William George Keen
0:32:46 > 0:32:49must have attended school nearby.
0:32:49 > 0:32:51She has come to the Essex Record Office
0:32:51 > 0:32:55to see if there are any surviving records from the local school.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Right, so,
0:33:02 > 0:33:07got a log book for Great Easton School.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11That's 1889, 1893...
0:33:12 > 0:33:16"The 30th - Several children absent with sore throats."
0:33:20 > 0:33:22January the 17th...
0:33:24 > 0:33:27"Dr Barnardo children being called in."
0:33:28 > 0:33:32"Monday - Only fair attendances, the rest of the week far better,
0:33:32 > 0:33:33"except Friday.
0:33:33 > 0:33:39"Admitted ten children, six boys, from Dr Barnardo's Home in London."
0:33:39 > 0:33:43Barnardo children were orphans,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46and from what I've picked up,
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Great Easton was a place
0:33:50 > 0:33:54where Barnardo's sent their kids.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59"July 13th - Attendance is about the same as last week.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02"Several of the eldest children in the upper class coming badly.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05"Three more of Dr Barnardo's boys left for Canada"!
0:34:07 > 0:34:081905...
0:34:10 > 0:34:13"Five Barnardo's boys have been admitted."
0:34:14 > 0:34:15So, maybe...
0:34:17 > 0:34:21..George Maybury and William George...
0:34:23 > 0:34:28..were Dr Barnardo's children who got taken in by Charles.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31If Charles Patient did take on Barnardo boys
0:34:31 > 0:34:35when they were tiny, he'd have been very old.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38So that's an incredibly generous thing to do.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42He obviously loved children and, um...
0:34:44 > 0:34:45..and...
0:34:48 > 0:34:50..he was obviously a really lovely man.
0:34:53 > 0:34:54Really lovely.
0:35:02 > 0:35:07Dr Thomas Barnardo came from Dublin to London in 1866,
0:35:07 > 0:35:09and found a city struggling to cope
0:35:09 > 0:35:13with the impact of the Industrial Revolution.
0:35:13 > 0:35:18In just 50 years, London's population had doubled in size.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22Thousands of children were living in terrible poverty,
0:35:22 > 0:35:26and one in five died before their fifth birthday.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32An Evangelical Christian, Barnardo was so appalled by what he saw,
0:35:32 > 0:35:37he decided to dedicate his life to rescuing destitute children.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42In 1870, he opened his first children's home.
0:35:42 > 0:35:48By the time Barnardo died, in 1905, his charity ran 96 homes,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51caring for more than 8,500 children.
0:35:52 > 0:35:57Having seen the school register, I'd like to find out a bit more about
0:35:57 > 0:36:02those two boys ending up living with my great-great-grandfather.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08I'd like to see if they were indeed Barnardo's boys.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11Lesley has come to the Ragged School Museum in East London
0:36:11 > 0:36:15to meet Barnardo's archivist, Martine King.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17I've had a look in the archive and in our records,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20and we have managed to identify both the boys
0:36:20 > 0:36:22- as having come in to Barnardo's care.- Wow.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24- I can give you some limited information.- Yes.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26This is one of our admission books.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Every child that came into Barnardo's care
0:36:29 > 0:36:30would have been listed in this book.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35So, as you can see, first of all we have George Maybury.
0:36:35 > 0:36:40- He was admitted to Barnardo's at the age of four.- Age four.- OK.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42"On the 1st of May, 1903."
0:36:42 > 0:36:45- Yes, that's when he came into Barnardo's care.- OK.- OK.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48- This is William. - "William George Keen."
0:36:50 > 0:36:55This next column is "Boarded out" and I see near George, here,
0:36:55 > 0:36:59- if you go along, that it says he went to Tilty...- Yes.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01..which absolutely makes sense
0:37:01 > 0:37:03in terms of what I found out about him.
0:37:03 > 0:37:10So he went there on the 28th of July, 1903.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14George Maybury, um, on the Census was 11,
0:37:14 > 0:37:19but age four, in there.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22- So he must have been with Charles for a while.- Yeah.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24Well, seven years.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Which... It would have been quite common for a child
0:37:26 > 0:37:30to remain with a foster carer for most of their childhood.
0:37:30 > 0:37:37But isn't it unusual that on that Census there's those two very young children with this...
0:37:37 > 0:37:40- I mean, he's an old man. I mean, even by today's...- Yeah.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42..standards he's...he's old.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Barnardo's were quite keen,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48when they recruited foster carers, to take older couples
0:37:48 > 0:37:51because they felt that their life experience was greater.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55- Right.- And they'd already looked after their own children.- Yeah.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57And seen their own children go off into the world.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00- So they had the time, the patience... - So they had the time
0:38:00 > 0:38:03and the patience to nurture these children.
0:38:03 > 0:38:09Dr Barnardo began his system of boarding out, or fostering, in 1887.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13This practice, of sending children from care homes in the cities
0:38:13 > 0:38:17to be brought up by families living in the country,
0:38:17 > 0:38:20became central to Barnardo's philosophy.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24By the time Charles Patient was fostering George and William,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28thousands of children were boarded out all over the country.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32- This book that I wanted to show you...- Night And Day.- Yeah.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36This is one of our Barnardo publications. This one's from 1888.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39- And this is the original, is it? - This is the original book, yeah.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44And here, Barnardo talks about how the foster carers were employed.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47As you can see, we have an undertaking.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49So this would have been the document
0:38:49 > 0:38:51- that would have been sent to your great-great-grandfather.- Ah.
0:38:51 > 0:38:53- You want to..?- Yeah.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55So, "This is an undertaking by the foster parent
0:38:55 > 0:38:57"for the boarding out of the child.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01"In consideration of my receiving the sum of five shillings per week,
0:39:01 > 0:39:04"for the lodging, maintenance, washing, school fees,
0:39:04 > 0:39:07"clothing and care of such child,
0:39:07 > 0:39:11"do hereby undertake that the said child shall be brought up carefully,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14"kindly" - that's nice - "and in all respects,
0:39:14 > 0:39:16"as one of my own family.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18"The foster parent should be Christian people
0:39:18 > 0:39:20"belonging to the labouring class,
0:39:20 > 0:39:22"should be fond of children
0:39:22 > 0:39:25"and should have an assured income from other sources.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28"To restore the said child to any person sent by Dr Barnardo
0:39:28 > 0:39:32"to receive it, on getting one fortnight's notice of removal
0:39:32 > 0:39:35"or equivalent payment."
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Oh, so you had a fortnight, if you had a child.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40That must have been hard if you'd bonded.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44What I would be interested to know is what happened to those two boys.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47Unfortunately, because you're not directly descended from them,
0:39:47 > 0:39:49I can't give you their personal information.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51- But all of that information would have been recorded?- Yes.
0:39:51 > 0:39:57I saw in the school records that some of the children,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00some of the Barnardo's children, went to Canada.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03How would it be possible to find out
0:40:03 > 0:40:07whether or not that's what happened to William and George?
0:40:07 > 0:40:09If you want to look further into this,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11then there are genealogy sites,
0:40:11 > 0:40:14- where you can look at passenger sailing lists to...- Oh.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18- ..find out if they were migrated. - Right.
0:40:20 > 0:40:27Barnardo didn't just send children willy-nilly to places, you know.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30There were these stringent checks and measures that were taken
0:40:30 > 0:40:35before children were placed with families - really strong criterion.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39And, um, and Charles fitted the bill.
0:40:39 > 0:40:44So, I have high hopes that Charles was a warm and loving man.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50Lesley is searching ship passenger lists.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52She begins with William George Keen.
0:40:53 > 0:40:56Says "Zero good matches".
0:40:56 > 0:41:02OK, so I will see if there's anything for Mr Maybury.
0:41:02 > 0:41:03George...
0:41:07 > 0:41:10..Maybury, and his birth year.
0:41:11 > 0:41:141900.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20Oh, wow! George, there he is.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22Birth, about 1900.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Departure - Liverpool, England.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28So, let's have a look.
0:41:30 > 0:41:31Here we are.
0:41:31 > 0:41:33So he was on the Tunisian.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37"Search the ship, view the Tunisian in the..."
0:41:37 > 0:41:40So I can have a look at this original record here.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44Wow!
0:41:45 > 0:41:48He's the oldest one there by the look of it, age 12.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52The rest of them are all eight, nine, ten and 11.
0:41:54 > 0:41:59Goodness, this is a kiddie transportation ship.
0:41:59 > 0:42:04I wonder if he's still got family living in Canada.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08George may well have spoken at length about his early life,
0:42:08 > 0:42:12so there may well be some information about Charles.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17And who knows what these children had with them when they left,
0:42:17 > 0:42:20whether they were given something precious, you know,
0:42:20 > 0:42:25like that pair of booties that I showed you on that very first day
0:42:25 > 0:42:28that Elsie kept of mine, you know.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31Um, it would be amazing to find that out.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Lesley has discovered that, at the age of 12,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41George Maybury was taken from her great-great-grandfather's home
0:42:41 > 0:42:44and sent halfway across the world to Canada.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47George was one of thousands of children that Dr Barnardo
0:42:47 > 0:42:49transported from his homes
0:42:49 > 0:42:52and foster families in England to the colonies.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58To cope with the huge numbers of children being shipped abroad,
0:42:58 > 0:43:03Barnardo's ran a special train service from London to the docks at Liverpool.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07From here, the children embarked onto ships.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10The majority were sent across the Atlantic to Canada.
0:43:12 > 0:43:17To try to understand why Charles and his foster son were separated,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22Lesley has come to Liverpool, the city George sailed from in 1912,
0:43:22 > 0:43:25to meet historian Professor Stephen Constantine.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30What you get, of course, is a lot of these kinds of images.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34The children here, clearly, are all in a form of uniform.
0:43:34 > 0:43:37This is one of the parties that would be sent,
0:43:37 > 0:43:42with some overseer from Barnardo to see that they are cared for on the way.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44They would arrive in Canada
0:43:44 > 0:43:48and then be distributed from one space to their futures.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50Can't even sit up straight. This is...
0:43:50 > 0:43:52And look at their little faces.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56So, this is processing them for a better future.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58And then this is the man himself.
0:43:58 > 0:44:00And then Dr Barnardo often came to see them off.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04He did this quite regularly, seeing his parties go.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06And here is another one.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08Oh, God.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14Look at him, just a baby.
0:44:18 > 0:44:19But I think you'd like this one as well.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24This is... This is 1904. This is an original Barnardo's document.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27- Goodness me.- It's called A National Debt, and what you find...
0:44:27 > 0:44:30- This is an original document? - Yes, that's right.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32But I think this is the particularly interesting bit.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35"Some results already attained. Look on this picture."
0:44:35 > 0:44:37"Look at this lad:
0:44:37 > 0:44:42"turned out on the streets by a cruel and drunken stepmother."
0:44:42 > 0:44:43And then, here we go,
0:44:43 > 0:44:47"The pariah of the streets has now become a good-looking,
0:44:47 > 0:44:50- "hard-working young man..."- Mm.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53"..with a considerable and increasing balance at the bank.
0:44:53 > 0:44:54"What is better still,
0:44:54 > 0:44:58"he's found week-by-week engaged in Sunday school work,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02"telling to others the secret which has so changed his own life."
0:45:02 > 0:45:07A total of around 80,000 children are going to Canada before the First World War.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11So it's worth thinking about George's own experience.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13- He would almost certainly be sent to work on a farm.- Right.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17Farmers are keen to get hold of the children - they are cheap labour.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20Because they're young, their wages would be low,
0:45:20 > 0:45:23and therefore they would become a useful asset.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26And then to be placed with people who are not your parents,
0:45:26 > 0:45:32or new adults, and then to be told that this is your role...
0:45:32 > 0:45:36I'd really love to be able to find out more about what happened to George.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39I'd love to find out where he went.
0:45:39 > 0:45:45I hope that he went somewhere where there was kindness shown to him.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48Well, I think I may be able to help you on this.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50I have been able to trace through online records,
0:45:50 > 0:45:52so I've not made the contact personally...
0:45:52 > 0:45:57But online records say that there is a George Maybury,
0:45:57 > 0:46:01- grandson of your George Maybury... - Wow!- ..been located.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04- That number's in Canada?- Yes.- Wow!
0:46:04 > 0:46:08So George has descendants living in Canada,
0:46:08 > 0:46:12- and there you have a contact number for him.- Wow!
0:46:12 > 0:46:19I wonder if George's grandson knows about my great-great-grandfather.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21That would be interesting.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25That would be interesting, and it would be very interesting for...
0:46:27 > 0:46:31- ..a Maybury to meet...- It would.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35..a Patient again, after all these years.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39You know, I was adopted and, um, my great-great-grandfather,
0:46:39 > 0:46:40Charles Patient,
0:46:40 > 0:46:47what he did for George Maybury is what my adoptive parents did for me.
0:46:47 > 0:46:51- Right.- So, um... So there you are.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54I can understand very strongly why you would want to know more.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57- Yeah.- Yeah.- Yeah. - Good luck, good hunting.
0:46:57 > 0:46:59Thank you, thank you.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03PHONE DIAL TONE
0:47:08 > 0:47:09'George Maybury speaking.'
0:47:09 > 0:47:13Oh, hello, George Maybury, my name's Lesley Sharp.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17I'm calling you because my great-great-grandfather
0:47:17 > 0:47:21was called Charles Patient, and that I believe your grandfather,
0:47:21 > 0:47:26also George Maybury, um, stayed with him for a while.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29I mean, this is a long time ago, it's like 1911.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33'Yes, yeah, I am aware of that from the information we have, yes.'
0:47:33 > 0:47:39Well, I'd be really delighted if you would feel able to meet me
0:47:39 > 0:47:42and maybe talk to me about George.
0:47:42 > 0:47:47'Oh, certainly. I know from our family records we do have
0:47:47 > 0:47:50'some documentation of the time and some pictures from his time
0:47:50 > 0:47:54'before he came to Canada. So, absolutely,
0:47:54 > 0:47:56'if you're thinking of coming to Canada to discuss this further,
0:47:56 > 0:47:59'I would more than welcome the opportunity to share with you
0:47:59 > 0:48:02'what we have, where George was involved with your family.'
0:48:02 > 0:48:05That would be brilliant. I'm really looking forward to meeting you,
0:48:05 > 0:48:09so I'll see you in a couple of days.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12- 'That'll be great, I look forward to it.'- OK, take care, George.
0:48:12 > 0:48:14'Thank you very much, Lesley.'
0:48:14 > 0:48:16- Bye-bye.- 'Bye-bye now.'
0:48:21 > 0:48:27It would be amazing to go and meet George Maybury and see
0:48:27 > 0:48:32if George Maybury, who was looked after by Charles Patient,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35ever told him any stories about what happened to him,
0:48:35 > 0:48:38and about how he felt about going to Canada.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41And if George Maybury Jr has any
0:48:41 > 0:48:46recollections about his grandfather's experience in Tilty.
0:48:46 > 0:48:51I mean, what I hope it might be possible to find out from George
0:48:51 > 0:48:56is that George Sr had a happy experience.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09100 years after her great-great-grandfather
0:49:09 > 0:49:13and his foster son George were separated, Lesley has followed
0:49:13 > 0:49:18George's trail to Toronto to meet his grandson, George Maybury Jr.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23- Hi, Lesley.- Hello, George. - George Maybury.- How do you do?
0:49:23 > 0:49:25- Nice to meet you. - Really nice to meet you too.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27Yes, yes, thank you for coming all the way over.
0:49:27 > 0:49:31George is taking Lesley to the town where his grandfather
0:49:31 > 0:49:34was sent to work after he arrived in Canada.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38We're down in an area of southwestern Ontario now.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43We're on our way today to Dresden, Ontario, and Dresden is one
0:49:43 > 0:49:48of the little communities that has the farms that George was sent to.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50George coming over from what he experienced beforehand
0:49:50 > 0:49:53was a definite sense of family, and coming out
0:49:53 > 0:49:56to something like this would have to feel fairly isolated.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09As he is a direct descendant, Barnardo's have agreed
0:50:09 > 0:50:13to give George Maybury Jr all the information they have
0:50:13 > 0:50:14about his grandfather,
0:50:14 > 0:50:18including a record of George's admission in 1904.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22We can start off at a time when George first came into
0:50:22 > 0:50:26the Barnardo orphanage, and this is a picture taken of him on the day
0:50:26 > 0:50:30that he was taken in, by Barnardo's, the day that he was dropped off.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34Poor little thing, he looks such a scrap.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38He does, doesn't he? Not looking like a very happy day for him at that particular point.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42It really doesn't, and he doesn't look particularly well-fed,
0:50:42 > 0:50:47and he doesn't look as if he's in the cleanest of clothes.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51And this is something we've had blown up.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55"Height - two foot 11 inches.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58"Chest measurement - 19 inches.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01"Weight - 34lbs.
0:51:01 > 0:51:04"Right internal squint.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08"Mother died in childbirth, September, 1901.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12"Children have since been maintained by the father's mother,
0:51:12 > 0:51:15"who was about to send them to the workhouse."
0:51:15 > 0:51:22William, aged ten, Elsie, aged seven, and George, aged four.
0:51:22 > 0:51:23Oh, my goodness.
0:51:23 > 0:51:28"The children have often been short of food and are destitute."
0:51:28 > 0:51:33Yeah. This is the actual intake photo of the three children.
0:51:33 > 0:51:34SHE GASPS
0:51:37 > 0:51:41Ah, the Maybury group. God.
0:51:44 > 0:51:47How did you feel when you first saw that photo?
0:51:47 > 0:51:50- It's a very haunting picture... - Isn't it?- ..for me, to look at that.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54These are children, there's no smiles on their faces.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57There's no hope, there's just three children being dropped off
0:51:57 > 0:52:01some place to go to a completely unknown future.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05I mean, you know, the sister, Elsie, the look on her face
0:52:05 > 0:52:08and her matted hair, it's just...just rings of..
0:52:08 > 0:52:10- Heartbreaking, isn't it? - Heartbreaking, yeah.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13I tell you what, though, George, the thing that does give me,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16sort of, a bit of comfort about this picture is the way that
0:52:16 > 0:52:19she's leaning in to baby George. There's a bit of affection there
0:52:19 > 0:52:22- and he's leaning his cheek on her head.- Mm-hm.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27There's a bit of comfort to be had from his older sister, if nowhere else in the world.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30- Yeah, very good observation. - Thank goodness.- Yes, exactly.
0:52:30 > 0:52:36George has also found two photos of his grandfather that were taken
0:52:36 > 0:52:40while he was living with Lesley's great-great-grandfather in Essex.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43While he was with your great-grandfather,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46they arranged to have some pictures taken of George.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49These were a few years later, taken in Dunmow.
0:52:49 > 0:52:50SHE GASPS
0:52:50 > 0:52:54- And it's showing how much he's come along.- Aw, look at him!
0:52:54 > 0:52:58- They got him spectacles. - They did get him some spectacles.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00Odd little spectacles. I have them here.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08- That's so...sweet.- We've kept these in our family a long, long time.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10SHE GASPS Goodness me, look at those.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12So, those are over 100 years old.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16And that was something that Charles obviously did for him.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19- Absolutely, this is all in the care of Charles. - Got sorted for him, yeah.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26Yeah, I mean, I know there's a difference in age,
0:53:26 > 0:53:31but there's just something about the self-possession of this boy
0:53:31 > 0:53:35in this photograph and the way that he's looking
0:53:35 > 0:53:37straight down the lens there,
0:53:37 > 0:53:43that there's an air of...confidence and...
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Mm-hm. It was more than just a boarding out here.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49- I think there is a family that developed from this.- Yeah.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52I do know that, um, you know, from time to time,
0:53:52 > 0:53:55Barnardo's also went to the foster parents,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57- to their location, and they would do a site visit.- Yeah.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00- To find out how things were going. - Yeah.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03And, this here, this would have been shortly before George was
0:54:03 > 0:54:07- sent to Canada, and this was a site visit to your ancestors.- Oh, OK.
0:54:07 > 0:54:12So he was visited on February 22nd, 1912.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15"Clothing, good stock.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17"School attendance, good.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21"George is thin and small for his age but reported quite healthy and well.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24"The boys seem well looked after and cared for.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26"Has been a kindly home."
0:54:26 > 0:54:30That's nice to see written down, because they don't go... I mean,
0:54:30 > 0:54:37these documents and this time doesn't go in for sentimentality,
0:54:37 > 0:54:44so that one sentence actually has a whole story within it.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48But it's divine that it's written there - "Has been a kindly home."
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Good, I'm really glad.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53- And it's a good thing he met your family.- Mm, yeah.
0:54:53 > 0:54:58Cos your family is obviously key... key to what he became.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02- That came from Charles and Jane, nobody else.- Mm.
0:55:02 > 0:55:06His family, his mother and father, would have been your family.
0:55:08 > 0:55:09That's all he knew.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15- Who did George marry? Your granny, who was your granny?- Mary.- Mary.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19Mary Martha Jane, from the final farm Barnardo's placed him on.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23And he actually fell in love with the farmer's daughter and ended up
0:55:23 > 0:55:26marrying the farmer's daughter in a small community here in Ontario.
0:55:26 > 0:55:31That's wonderful. You know, my great-great-grandfather, Charles,
0:55:31 > 0:55:37seemed to me to be a man who loved children, who loved the idea
0:55:37 > 0:55:40of family, and obviously, you know,
0:55:40 > 0:55:47little George, who wasn't wanted, was welcomed with open arms,
0:55:47 > 0:55:51- because he still had a bit left... - Something more to give.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55- ..that he wanted to give. Which is... Which is lovely.- Mm-hm.
0:55:55 > 0:56:00I'm very glad that George was on the receiving end of that.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11There was something in me that very much wanted to find out
0:56:11 > 0:56:16where I was from, you know, who these people were - Elsie and Norman.
0:56:17 > 0:56:21I made a decision on my own to find my mother.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25The thing about finding my birth father
0:56:25 > 0:56:31was potentially something else, because he had this other family.
0:56:34 > 0:56:39My great-great-grandfather, Charles Patient, was a delightful character.
0:56:41 > 0:56:46His imperative was to make a family,
0:56:46 > 0:56:52and the ties that he forged, he was very faithful to.
0:56:52 > 0:57:00And Charles' family included taking on board a child that wasn't his.
0:57:02 > 0:57:09I feel an incredible warmth towards him, and...sort of feel very proud,
0:57:09 > 0:57:14actually, that, you know, I'm...I'm of... I'm of him,
0:57:14 > 0:57:18that I'm from someone with that generosity of spirit.
0:57:18 > 0:57:19That's wonderful.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25One of the things I found most awkward is referring to
0:57:25 > 0:57:28Norman as "my father".
0:57:28 > 0:57:33Genetically, he is, but my feeling...
0:57:35 > 0:57:42..about who my father is, was, is not Norman.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46It was my dad, it was Jack.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50He was my dad, and...
0:57:52 > 0:57:54..even though Jack's dead, I...
0:57:58 > 0:58:03I'd hate him to think that in any way I was betraying that.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07Because he WAS my dad.
0:58:11 > 0:58:15Depending on who you're adopted by,
0:58:15 > 0:58:19I think it can have a profound effect on your life,
0:58:19 > 0:58:22for good or bad, and, um...
0:58:24 > 0:58:25..I got very lucky.
0:58:27 > 0:58:29And I think George did too.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd