0:00:03 > 0:00:05Growing up in London, you sort of get asked all the time
0:00:05 > 0:00:08where you're from because there are so many immigrants.
0:00:08 > 0:00:12I know very little about my family.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Both my mother and father were born in Ghana
0:00:14 > 0:00:17and my father's mixed race and that's about as far as it goes.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20You know, I know that there is a European part to my history,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24hence my complexion, but beyond that, I don't really know much more.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29Reggie Yates was born in London in 1983.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31He has an older sister, Cerise,
0:00:31 > 0:00:34and half-siblings from his parents' later marriages.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40As an actor, DJ and TV presenter,
0:00:40 > 0:00:46Reggie has clocked up 23 years in radio and television - he's only 31.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53Relationships and marriage are very much in the front of my mind now
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and in Ghanaian culture there's this whole thing of a knocking,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01where my family turn up at the family of my partner
0:01:01 > 0:01:03and literally knock on the door and say,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06"Hi, we're the people that are taking your daughter."
0:01:06 > 0:01:09And as I've been with my girlfriend for two years, my mum has literally
0:01:09 > 0:01:14started knocking on my door going, "When are we going to knock on hers?"
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I was raised almost entirely by my mother.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20My mother and biological father broke up
0:01:20 > 0:01:21when I was about four years old
0:01:21 > 0:01:25and, er, my mum remarried when I was around 11.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28I know a heck of a lot about my mother's side
0:01:28 > 0:01:30because I grew up with that side of the family,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33but when it comes to my dad's side, I know not a lot.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38My father has been a very small part of my adult life.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41It sounds really ridiculous and actually kind of sad,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43but I've never met my grandparents.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46I don't know whether they're alive, I don't know where they live -
0:01:46 > 0:01:48they could live in the next street.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50I know nothing.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The logical starting point for me is with my dad.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56His family history - well, I say "his", it's mine too -
0:01:56 > 0:02:00that family history is something that I want to investigate.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38My father and I share the same name.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43He's Reginald Yates, but his full name is Reginald Jojo Yates.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45He goes by Jojo.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Reggie's parents split up when he was four
0:02:48 > 0:02:51and he's seen his father just a handful of times.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56My father's an incredibly talented musician
0:02:56 > 0:03:00which I think on some level has informed a lot of my passions.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Reggie and his dad are meeting up in north London.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Jojo Yates makes traditional West African instruments.
0:03:14 > 0:03:15Hello, hello.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Oh, yeah. Wow, wow, wow.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20- How's it going?- Very well.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22You OK? Good to see you. Looking good.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Good to see you, son. Wonderful.
0:03:24 > 0:03:26- Looking good.- Thank you. - You all right?- Yes, yes.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Wow! So what is that that you were playing?
0:03:29 > 0:03:31This is sepriwa, originated from Ghana
0:03:31 > 0:03:35and it is an instrument that I made here.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36Is that guitar strings on it?
0:03:36 > 0:03:38No, no, no, these are fishing lines.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Went to the fishing line shop and got these.
0:03:41 > 0:03:42- Wow!- Yeah.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44HE PLAYS SEPRIWA
0:03:47 > 0:03:48That's how it sounds.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50Yeah, it's beautiful.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53OK. So that's sepriwa.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57I don't remember very much and one of the things
0:03:57 > 0:03:59that Mum told me about -
0:03:59 > 0:04:03is kind of hazy because she told me when I was so young -
0:04:03 > 0:04:07was something to do with you and immigration
0:04:07 > 0:04:09and you being here in the UK
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and it becoming quite a big deal
0:04:12 > 0:04:15when the government tried to send you back to Ghana.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20So when I got here with your mum and Cerise came...
0:04:20 > 0:04:23Yeah, that's my big sister.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27..and I was arrested for overstaying in the country.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30That's when the immigration problem started.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32I remember vaguely that Mum said
0:04:32 > 0:04:35there was a "Save Reggie Yates" campaign.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Yes. I've got some...a clip of that.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41What's this magazine? What's this?
0:04:41 > 0:04:46This is City Limits. April 16th, 1982.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48That's the year before I was born.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50You guys look so young.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54You're only 26. Ah, look at that afro!
0:04:54 > 0:04:57"This week, Reggie Yates is waiting in his King's Cross home
0:04:57 > 0:04:59"to find out whether or not he is to be removed to Ghana.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03"Although he is only one of many facing deportation, his case,
0:05:03 > 0:05:04"and the reasons given
0:05:04 > 0:05:07"for refusing him permission to stay, is remarkable.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10"Yates was born in Ghana 26 years ago but his grandfather was English."
0:05:10 > 0:05:17Jojo was born in 1956, a year before Ghanaian Independence,
0:05:17 > 0:05:21in what was then the British colony of the Gold Coast.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24He would only be allowed to stay in the UK
0:05:24 > 0:05:27if he could prove that he had British heritage.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30It says here your grandfather was English, was your dad not English?
0:05:30 > 0:05:32No. My dad was born in Ghana.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35- OK. - Yeah. With an English father.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38- Have you got a picture of him? - Yeah, I have.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41There you go. Harry Philip Yates.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Your grandfather.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45- Wow!- Yeah.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- That's the first time I've ever seen...- Yeah?- ..seen him.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53He looks like he's got quite light eyes. And my mother always said,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56"Oh, yeah, your grandad had blond hair and blue eyes," and I never...
0:05:56 > 0:05:57- Yeah. She saw him.- Yeah? Wow.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00And he stayed in the house in King's Cross, yeah.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02- Really?- Yeah.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05- He's a handsome man.- Yeah.- He looks like a bit of a heartbreaker.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07- The ladies must have loved him. - Oh, yeah. Oh, yes.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09- Yeah?- Oh, yes.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12So your father, er, was of mixed race?
0:06:12 > 0:06:13Yes.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18Jojo's father, Harry Yates, was born in the Gold Coast.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22His father was English and his mother was a local woman.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25They had a customary marriage -
0:06:25 > 0:06:29a wedding ceremony recognised as legitimate, by Ghanaian law.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33Their son Harry visited the UK during Jojo's immigration battle
0:06:33 > 0:06:36to stand up for Jojo in court.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42My father stood up and said, "Look at me. Look at the mix."
0:06:42 > 0:06:44"The chairman of the tribunal,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47"a former colonial servant, made it clear in his adjudication
0:06:47 > 0:06:49"what he thought of Yates' grandfather.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52"'I find it extremely unlikely that Yates' grandfather believed
0:06:52 > 0:06:56"'that he was entering into a valid marriage with Yates' grandmother.'"
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Wow!
0:06:58 > 0:07:01"He went on to say he could not believe that Yates' grandmother
0:07:01 > 0:07:04thought it was a valid marriage if she gave it any thought at all."
0:07:04 > 0:07:05- This is unbelievable!- Yeah.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07So this man was saying this in the court at the time.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09In court, yes.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Wow! And did anybody... Was anybody offended by it?
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- Did anybody speak? - I was very offended.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18That time too, customary marriages were very taken very seriously.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21The chairman of the tribunal ruled that
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Jojo's grandparents' customary marriage was invalid
0:07:25 > 0:07:29and therefore Jojo's father, Harry, was illegitimate,
0:07:29 > 0:07:33and his British heritage was not recognised by law.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Well, that's shocking.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38- In the end they granted me... - A stay.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40..a stay in the country because I was married to...
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Your mother was a British citizen, so I was granted a stay here.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Jojo was finally granted leave to stay
0:07:47 > 0:07:49after his wife became a British citizen.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Jojo has more pictures of his father, Harry,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57taken when Harry was a much older man.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00- Huh! Oh, is that him? There he is. - Yeah, there's him there.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07And where am I?
0:08:07 > 0:08:08That's you there?
0:08:08 > 0:08:10- There.- There you are.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12THEY LAUGH Look at that.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14You even had a 'tache then!
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Was you born with a moustache? You've got one there.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19I was young, but I was just growing it.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23So your dad in this photo
0:08:23 > 0:08:28- seems like every bit the proud African father...- Exactly.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30..sat with his wife and his huge family.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32But he does look like he is of mixed race,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35- but he looks more white than he does black in this picture.- Yes.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41- And this is my...- Your mother. - ..my mother, yeah. Diana Yates.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Yeah, there's another one, when he came here.
0:08:45 > 0:08:46Your grandfather.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50His face is brilliant! It's such a cheeky face.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52- Yeah. - He looks like a bit of a character.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Hearing you talk about your dad,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59my grandfather, in past tense says to me that he passed away.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Yeah, he passed away.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05Um, he passed away 19... 2000, the year 2000,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09and he passed away in his sleep with his wife lying next to him.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11- Wow.- Yeah.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16That's really sad.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18Yeah. Mm-hm.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Is my grandmother still alive?
0:09:20 > 0:09:22She died as well.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24- So she passed away... - She passed away.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26- ..shortly after he did? - Not too long, yeah.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Of all of Harry's children, only an adopted son, JB,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33still lives in their home in Ghana.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37You have to see JB when you go to Ghana.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40- Who's JB?- My father adopted him, so he grew up with us.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42- Right. - He spent all his life with us.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44- Right.- And when we all came here,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47he spent the rest of my father's life with him.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49So he spent all the time. He knows everything about us.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52I'm really excited about getting out there now. Thank you.
0:09:52 > 0:09:53You will enjoy it.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57There is a level of sadness on my part
0:09:57 > 0:10:02because I wish I'd known, or at least met, my grandfather Harry,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and it's sad that I don't know him
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and I don't have any memories of my own about that man.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Reggie's flying to Ghana, where he hopes to find out more
0:10:22 > 0:10:25about his grandfather Harry and his background.
0:10:29 > 0:10:30As I'm getting older,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33I'm understanding the importance of family
0:10:33 > 0:10:37and, you know, at some point I hope to be a father,
0:10:37 > 0:10:39and regardless of my relationship with my dad,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42I think it's incredibly important that my children have
0:10:42 > 0:10:44a relationship with their grandfather.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51And I want them to be able to know who their family are
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and know what their history is.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01From the capital, Accra, Reggie's heading west along the coast
0:11:01 > 0:11:05to the city of Sekondi, where his father was born and raised.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17Reggie's brought with him a file of memorabilia from his father.
0:11:19 > 0:11:20It's really strange for me
0:11:20 > 0:11:23because I don't know much about this side of the family but...
0:11:23 > 0:11:29suddenly I feel that I'm one of many, which is a really nice feeling.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32My grandfather looks awesome.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34I wish I knew more about this guy.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Along with photos, the file contains documents his grandfather, Harry,
0:11:38 > 0:11:42gave to Jojo to help him with his immigration battle.
0:11:48 > 0:11:49Oh, wow!
0:11:52 > 0:11:54"In the High Court of Ghana, Western Region, Sekondi."
0:11:54 > 0:11:56This is an affidavit. This is the actual thing.
0:11:56 > 0:11:58This isn't a copy, is it? Wow!
0:11:59 > 0:12:03This affidavit is actually signed by my grandfather,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06Harry Philip Yates.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07"I, Harry Philip Yates,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10"of House Number 43/9 Fifth Street, Sekondi, Ghana,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12"make oath and say as follows...
0:12:12 > 0:12:15"One, that I am the father of Reginald Yates
0:12:15 > 0:12:18"of 82 St John's Avenue, London, NW10."
0:12:18 > 0:12:22It would appear that this document is him swearing that he is
0:12:22 > 0:12:24the father of my father,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27and that he is of English descent.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30I didn't even know my great-grandfather's name.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32George Edward Yates.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Doesn't get more English than that, does it?
0:12:35 > 0:12:40"Employed at the Broomasi Mines, now defunct, as paymaster."
0:12:42 > 0:12:43At point six it says,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45"That my mother was Mrs Dorothy Vardon,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48"that her maiden name was Dorothy Lloyd.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54"And my mother's father was EJ Lloyd, born in England."
0:12:54 > 0:12:58No way. That makes my great-grandmother mixed race.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02You know, you sort of have in your head that there are
0:13:02 > 0:13:05these mixed race relationships in the family,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08but it seems that it's not just from one generation,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13it's from two, and potentially even more than that.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20So the mix in my family started a long time ago,
0:13:20 > 0:13:21much earlier than I thought.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Reggie's grandfather, Harry Yates,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31swore that his British ancestry came from his father, George Yates,
0:13:31 > 0:13:36an Englishman working for a mining company in the Gold Coast.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39And Harry swore that his mother, Dorothy,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43also had a British father whose surname was Lloyd.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Well, off the back of this document
0:13:49 > 0:13:52it makes sense that I follow my dad's advice and head to Sekondi
0:13:52 > 0:13:55where I'm going to meet this guy, JB,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58who knows a hell of a lot about my family,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00and hopefully he's at this address.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11In the 100 years before Ghanaian independence in 1957,
0:14:11 > 0:14:14the city of Sekondi was a strategic commercial port
0:14:14 > 0:14:17at the heart of the British colony.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23British and other European businesses
0:14:23 > 0:14:26established headquarters in Sekondi.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29And the European men they employed arrived here
0:14:29 > 0:14:35before journeying on to gold mines, timber, palm and cocoa plantations.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40In the early years of the 20th century,
0:14:40 > 0:14:42a new railway came to Sekondi,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46making its marketplace one of the busiest in the region.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50It became a cosmopolitan city
0:14:50 > 0:14:54with a local elite of mixed European and African heritage.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02Sekondi's hilltop became known as European Town.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Reggie's family's house is down the hill
0:15:04 > 0:15:07in the heart of the Central Market district.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Hello. Are you JB?
0:15:13 > 0:15:16I'm JB. And that's Reggie! That's my boy!
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- How you doing? - All right, brother!
0:15:18 > 0:15:20- How you doing? You all right? - All right. I'm good.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22Hello, good to meet you. Good to meet you.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24- Nice to meet you too, yes.- I'm Dora. - Hello. Nice to meet you.- Your auntie.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Hello. Wow! Oh, wow. OK.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29I can't believe it! You're welcome.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Yes. It's good to be here. Shall we go inside?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33Come on, let's go home. Let's go home.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35- Hello, how you doing? - Yeah, all right.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38- I look like my dad? - Yes, you look like him.
0:15:38 > 0:15:39Really?
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Yeah, just a little more Twi than Fante.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44- Kitte, kitte. - Kitte, kitte.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46Come on, come on, come in, come on.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Oh, my God!
0:15:48 > 0:15:50With JB is Dora Adolphus,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53a distant relative who also grew up in this house.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Come in.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Thank you so much for having us. Thank you.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Oh, great.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00Reggie!
0:16:00 > 0:16:03My dad has told me that you are the guy to speak to.
0:16:03 > 0:16:04Heard about you too.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07This house has been in the family for a long time?
0:16:07 > 0:16:10Oh, since 1928.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13First of all, you were welcomed into the Yates family.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Yeah. The only word I think I can use is adoption.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18- Adoption, yeah.- Yeah.- Wow.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21So you've been living with the Yates family,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24and namely my grandfather, Harry, for how long?
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Er, became attached with the family when I was about,
0:16:26 > 0:16:30um, 19, 20 years, and now I'm 58.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32I was the only dark guy among the guys,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35so people call me the black Yates, you know what I mean?
0:16:37 > 0:16:40I grew up with most of the children.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44So from head to toe, I know everything about the Yates.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46So what can you tell me about my grandfather?
0:16:46 > 0:16:51Your grandfather is a very, very industrious man.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54- Right. - Very hard working person.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56What did he do? Where did he work?
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Your grandfather, hmm, that's the jack-of-all-trade.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02- The old man was a timber merchant. - Timber merchant.- Timber.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Harry Yates worked in various businesses -
0:17:07 > 0:17:10selling timber and in the sugar industry.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13Then he became a farmer.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16What do you remember about my, my grandfather?
0:17:27 > 0:17:29- He'd fix it. So he'd fix everything? - Everything.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35So for a man that looked like this, he must have stood out,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38- everybody must have known him, I imagine.- Yes, yes.
0:17:38 > 0:17:39Was he quite well known in Sekondi?
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Anywhere that he goes people call him "obruni",
0:17:42 > 0:17:43that means white man.
0:17:43 > 0:17:44Obruni, yeah, yeah.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52The term "obruni" is used to refer to white Europeans.
0:17:52 > 0:17:53Did everybody see him as Ghanaian
0:17:53 > 0:17:55or did people see him as an Englishman?
0:17:55 > 0:17:59Initially, those, you know, the local people around, you know,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01they see him as a white man,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04but he doesn't want anybody to call him a white man.
0:18:04 > 0:18:05Right.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08And the person I don't know much about is my grandmother,
0:18:08 > 0:18:09so, his wife.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12- Would you like to see a picture of her?- Yeah, please.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14Yeah, your grandmother, Mrs Diana Yates.
0:18:14 > 0:18:15Let me see.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18- Wow!- That's it. - That's Diana.
0:18:18 > 0:18:20Your grandmother, Diana.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24So how did my grandfather Harry and my grandmother Diana get together?
0:18:24 > 0:18:26Actually, it's an amazing story.
0:18:26 > 0:18:30Your grandfather, on his way going to work, he saw your grandmother,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32a sewing machine on the head, you know, it was...
0:18:32 > 0:18:35- A sewing machine?- Yeah, a sewing machine. She was a seamstress.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38According to Diana's sister, say,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42"Obruni white man, what do you want from me?"
0:18:42 > 0:18:45And he said, "Well don't worry, you, let's get to your family house.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48"When we get there, I will let you know what I want from you."
0:18:48 > 0:18:50So he follow her to the house
0:18:50 > 0:18:53and tell the parents that he wanted to marry this woman.
0:18:54 > 0:18:55Just imagine.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57There's a lot of Yates boys, isn't there?
0:18:57 > 0:19:01- A lot.- How many children did my grandfather have?
0:19:01 > 0:19:03He had 14.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05- 16.- 16, rather, yeah.
0:19:05 > 0:19:0816? Which one? Pick one. Which one was it?
0:19:08 > 0:19:0916!
0:19:09 > 0:19:15Your grandfather actually had ten solid children with Diana.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17Wow, she gave him ten? That's incredible.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Ten. That is two girls and eight boys.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Right. Wow! So 16 children with how many women?
0:19:23 > 0:19:27About five women. 16 solid children.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34When your grandfather was alive they come here.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37They were all here. They were all together.
0:19:37 > 0:19:39And that's your great-grandmother.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41- Wow!- Dorothy.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45So this is my grandfather, Harry Philip, this is his mother?
0:19:45 > 0:19:49- Yes. - And she is as fair as he was.- Yeah.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52And her surname was Vardon?
0:19:52 > 0:19:53Yes.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55So why didn't she take the Yates name?
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Initially, she was Yates.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01And then after your great-grandfather departed,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03she got married to the Vardon.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05That's why later became...
0:20:05 > 0:20:08OK. So her second husband was Vardon. I see. OK.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Reggie's great-grandmother, Dorothy,
0:20:14 > 0:20:16made her living as a market trader.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Women dominated the marketplaces of the Gold Coast.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Wives of fishermen sold the daily catch,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28and those from the countryside brought produce to urban markets.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36Dorothy built a successful business
0:20:36 > 0:20:41supplying provisions to commercial ships and became wealthy enough
0:20:41 > 0:20:43to maintain the house Reggie's visiting.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50What can you tell me about this picture of my great-grandmother?
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Where was this actually taken?
0:20:52 > 0:20:55- This very picture?- Yeah. - On this very step. This very house.
0:20:55 > 0:20:56- Just here?- Just here.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58- Can we see?- Yeah.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02That is there. That's exactly it.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06So, right here. Just here.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08- It's coming right here.- Yeah.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14What was she like, then? Do you remember her?
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Mama, that what everybody calls her, Mama tall and fat.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21Mama is a very lovely woman, big character.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24That's it - big character, you know, yeah.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32As a young woman, before she came to Sekondi,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34Dorothy gave birth to her son, Harry,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37in the gold mining settlement of Broomasi.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Harry's English father, George Yates,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45was working there as an accountant for a British mining company.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52So when my grandfather was a baby in Broomasi,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I know that he was obviously brought up by his mother, Dorothy,
0:21:55 > 0:21:57but was he living with his dad, George?
0:21:57 > 0:22:01- Yeah. When George had that malaria or fever...- So he got ill?
0:22:01 > 0:22:03Yeah, he got ill, so he have to go back
0:22:03 > 0:22:05and wanted to take Harry along with him.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08He wanted to take my grandfather Harry with him?
0:22:08 > 0:22:11- Yes.- When my grandfather was a young boy or...?
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Yes, very, very young.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16But Dorothy had only Harry, so you know,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19they're wondering what about if they take my boy away,
0:22:19 > 0:22:22you know, what's going to happen?
0:22:22 > 0:22:24So they decided Harry should stay.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28If you really want to come back, leave Harry, go and come back.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- That's why Harry...- Stayed here. - ..stayed here.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36While in the Gold Coast, Reggie's great-grandfather,
0:22:36 > 0:22:41George Yates, became so ill he had to return to England.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45I've got a story that Auntie Dora's grandmother told me.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49- Right.- Your great-grandfather left a lot of money.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53He left gold dust to be taking care of your grandfather.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55- Yeah.- You understand?
0:22:55 > 0:22:58So your great-grandfather left a lot of money.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01- And did he ever come back? - Never.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04- Wow!- So nobody knows what happened to him.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14George Yates came to the Gold Coast
0:23:14 > 0:23:17to work as an accountant for a British gold mining company.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Britain's largest supply of gold came from South Africa.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26But in the late 19th century
0:23:26 > 0:23:30there was a push to make mining in the Gold Coast more productive.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34This brought men like George Yates to the colony,
0:23:34 > 0:23:38where they sometimes formed ties with local women.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50I had no idea that my great-grandfather was not only
0:23:50 > 0:23:55an Englishman that came to Ghana and had a child, but left that child.
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Because, you know, I've been estranged from my father
0:23:57 > 0:24:00for so many years and whether I like it or not,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04the things that make him him have almost defined me,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08even though we've not been together for such a long period of time.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11There's definitely parallels there.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14So, I'm desperate to know more about George Edward Yates now
0:24:14 > 0:24:17and why he never came back and what happened to him.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21And also, the influence that might have had on Harry.
0:24:22 > 0:24:23- Hello.- Hi.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Hey. How you doing, Carina?
0:24:25 > 0:24:27Fantastic. Nice to meet you, Reggie.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29- Shall we head in? - Yeah, let's go to the reading room.
0:24:29 > 0:24:35Historian, Carina Ray, is an expert on the Gold Coast colony.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39She's been looking into Reggie's great-grandfather, George Yates.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43The history of the mixing in my family
0:24:43 > 0:24:46is the thing that I'm super interested in.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48This is an affidavit by Harry Philip Yates
0:24:48 > 0:24:51and it says that his father, George Edward Yates,
0:24:51 > 0:24:55was born of London, England in about 1870 to English parents.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00So he is an Englishman, a white man, who's found himself here in Ghana.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04I have a number of passenger lists that allow us to see him
0:25:04 > 0:25:07travelling between Britain and Africa.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Let's have a look together.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14The first record Carina's found is for travel to South Africa.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16So this is from 1902.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Although it just says "Cape,"
0:25:18 > 0:25:20we know that they're in Cape Town, South Africa.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24Right. OK.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Here are the names of the passengers
0:25:27 > 0:25:30and I think you'll see a name that looks familiar there.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Yates, there we go. Yeah.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35Yates... Is that an M?
0:25:35 > 0:25:38- It's a W.- W?- Yes.- OK.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39You're right, it's GW Yates.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41- In your affidavit we have... - George Edward.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44- ..George Edward Yates.- Mm.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48We can track a GW, or a George William Yates,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52from South Africa to Sekondi, going back and forth.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54There is no George Edward Yates,
0:25:54 > 0:25:58so we believe that the affidavit is incorrect.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59Is incorrect. OK.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02So this George W Yates was him
0:26:02 > 0:26:05and he was George W as opposed to George E?
0:26:05 > 0:26:07Yeah, so... Exactly.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09Does that say that he's married?
0:26:09 > 0:26:10Yes.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13So he was married in England before he came to Ghana?
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Yes. So in 1902 he's married
0:26:15 > 0:26:19and he appears to be travelling with his wife.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22- Wow!- And, er, there's something else below.
0:26:24 > 0:26:25That's not children, is it?
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Yes.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30- Oh, my God! OK. - They have a one-year-old son.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Let's have a look at the next one.
0:26:33 > 0:26:37It shows us your great-grandfather
0:26:37 > 0:26:42travelling in April, 1907 to Sekondi.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44The important thing about this particular document
0:26:44 > 0:26:48is that it shows him arriving by himself in the Gold Coast.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55George Yates followed the typical pattern
0:26:55 > 0:26:58for British men working in the gold mining industry.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Wives and children often went to South Africa
0:27:01 > 0:27:03but not to the Gold Coast.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06The danger from malaria and tropical diseases
0:27:06 > 0:27:10earned it the nickname "white man's grave".
0:27:10 > 0:27:13So, most British men travelled here alone.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17Would it be fair to say that
0:27:17 > 0:27:21it was almost expected of, sort of, Englishmen to find a new wife
0:27:21 > 0:27:24when they came to West Africa for long periods of time?
0:27:24 > 0:27:28Yeah. For sure, it was not uncommon for European men
0:27:28 > 0:27:32to have relationships with African women in the colony.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37This had been, you know, a very long tradition.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40George and his British colleagues
0:27:40 > 0:27:42were contracted for long stints in the colony
0:27:42 > 0:27:46interspersed with visits to their families at home.
0:27:46 > 0:27:50Carina has tracked George Yates in England as well.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59Let's have a look at a census from 1911.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03George William Yates, Ethel Rose Yates. So what's this?
0:28:03 > 0:28:06This shows the family in Middlesex.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Wow. So you've not only got my great-grandfather,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11George William Yates,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14but his wife, Ethel Rose,
0:28:14 > 0:28:18and he's got children, he's got two sons and two daughters,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22William, Rose, Douglas and another Ethel,
0:28:22 > 0:28:24Ethel Jr, look at that.
0:28:25 > 0:28:26This allows us to know
0:28:26 > 0:28:30that even after he resettled his family back in England
0:28:30 > 0:28:32and came to Sekondi,
0:28:32 > 0:28:34that he continued to go back and forth
0:28:34 > 0:28:37between the Gold Coast and Middlesex
0:28:37 > 0:28:41and continued to have children with his white wife.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44So would this be the complete family in the UK?
0:28:44 > 0:28:46No. There's more to come.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Oh, my God! What is wrong with these Yates men?!
0:28:49 > 0:28:50They just can't stop.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52- Prolific!- Yeah.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55I think if we look at the affidavit
0:28:55 > 0:29:00we see that your grandfather, Harry,
0:29:00 > 0:29:05was born in Broomasi on November 15th, 1915.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07Yeah.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12So what I want to show you is an excerpt from the Gold Coast Leader.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15It's in very fine print, so I'll just point it out to you.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17"Our good Paymaster Yates
0:29:17 > 0:29:20"was among those on the sick list last week.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24"Mr George W Yates, our chief accountant here,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27"is to leave for England on the 13th of next month."
0:29:27 > 0:29:32So this is June, 1915,
0:29:32 > 0:29:36and so he leaves in July, 1915.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Yeah. With the imminent birth of his son.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41- Right.- It's funny he got sick around that time, isn't it?
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Well, you might be surprised to see something.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46Let's look at this.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49OK. "September, 1915." This is him arriving in Liverpool.
0:29:49 > 0:29:50- No.- Is this not him?
0:29:50 > 0:29:52- This is him leaving Liverpool... - Leaving Liverpool, OK.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54..going to West Africa.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56Right. So he's come back?
0:29:56 > 0:29:59- He comes back before his son is born.- Right.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04So, you're right that he fell ill and he left during the pregnancy...
0:30:04 > 0:30:06- It was almost a little too convenient.- Right.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08But I think that puts a little bit of a different spin
0:30:08 > 0:30:11- on the idea that...- Slightly. - ..he would have been a man
0:30:11 > 0:30:14who impregnated a woman and then left.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18It says to me that he intended to be in the Gold Coast
0:30:18 > 0:30:20when his son was born.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23Reggie has heard that George got ill again
0:30:23 > 0:30:25when his son Harry was very young
0:30:25 > 0:30:28and left the Gold Coast, never to return.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32He also, according to the history, again from JB,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34he left Dorothy with some gold dust to look after herself
0:30:34 > 0:30:36and to look after her son.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39So...it's quite tough for me.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42I'm kind of torn as to... as to his motives.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46What I see is an itinerant father,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48not just to Harry,
0:30:48 > 0:30:50- but to all of his children.- Yeah.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54And it was the nature of the work that he was engaged in.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58You know, that the mining industry was a global industry
0:30:58 > 0:31:02and men had to go where they could get a lucrative contract.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07But I think that we can say that for the time that he was here
0:31:07 > 0:31:11he had a meaningful relationship with Dorothy, cared for her
0:31:11 > 0:31:13and he cared for his son.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16After he leaves the Gold Coast,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19he doesn't settle permanently in England,
0:31:19 > 0:31:23he actually takes a position in Nigeria.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26He doesn't start another family in Nigeria, does he?
0:31:26 > 0:31:29- Not that we know of! - THEY LAUGH
0:31:29 > 0:31:35And Nigeria wasn't his last stop in his mining career.
0:31:35 > 0:31:36Is that him?
0:31:36 > 0:31:40- "Death of Mr GW Yates." That's him! - Yes, that is your great-grandfather.
0:31:42 > 0:31:43Wow!
0:31:52 > 0:31:55He leaves the Gold Coast in 1917
0:31:55 > 0:31:59- and he dies in 1925. - Shortly after. Yeah, 1925.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04"The news of the death of Mr George William Yates, aged 44."
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Wow! "The greater part of the past 18 years
0:32:07 > 0:32:10"he spent abroad fulfilling appointments with gold,
0:32:10 > 0:32:14"silver, platinum and tin mining companies, first in South Africa,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17"then the Gold Coast, Nigeria and Colombia, South America."
0:32:17 > 0:32:21Wow! This is a massively well-travelled man.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24- Yes.- He's been... "While in New York..." Wow!
0:32:24 > 0:32:25"..on his journey home,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28"he contracted a chill which was followed by pneumonia.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31"He reached England and passed away on December 22nd."
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Wow!
0:32:35 > 0:32:37That's a lot to take in. That's...
0:32:39 > 0:32:42That's crazy, I now know what he looks like.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45- What did you imagine he looked like? - I don't know.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48I genuinely had absolutely nothing in my head with, um,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52my grandfather Harry being so racially ambiguous, you know.
0:32:52 > 0:32:53In some photos he looks quite mixed race
0:32:53 > 0:32:55and in other photos he looks very European.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57So if we put them together...
0:33:00 > 0:33:01Wow!
0:33:03 > 0:33:07- Yeah, he's definitely his father's son, isn't he?- Yeah.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09Sort of squinty little eyes!
0:33:09 > 0:33:13Some might say that's carried on through the family.
0:33:13 > 0:33:14Wow!
0:33:16 > 0:33:18Where do you think that left Harry,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21being here in Ghana without a connection to his father
0:33:21 > 0:33:22and his father's lineage?
0:33:22 > 0:33:26I think Harry was absorbed into his mother's family.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32The parallels in this story between Harry and myself are...
0:33:32 > 0:33:36a little scary because that's essentially what's happened to me in the UK, you know.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38My relationship with my father is distant.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41I know that at quite a young age I felt, not abandoned,
0:33:41 > 0:33:45but I felt that there wasn't a connection to my father's side
0:33:45 > 0:33:48and that history of European men.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50- That's just so fascinating to me.- Yeah.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53It's even more fascinating to me because it's my family!
0:33:53 > 0:33:55Yeah! Yeah, yeah, of course.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58And there's so much more to this story than I thought.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01- It's incredible. Thank you.- Yeah.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04- Thank you very much. - It's a pleasure.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10George Yates is someone I was a little undecided on
0:34:10 > 0:34:15because on face value it's a wealthy white man
0:34:15 > 0:34:19who's come to an African country, with a family at home,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22and started another family, then he's gone.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28But the intricacies of that story
0:34:28 > 0:34:31say a lot more about him as a man.
0:34:32 > 0:34:33I don't agree with having
0:34:33 > 0:34:37a couple of families that don't know about each other,
0:34:37 > 0:34:42but I think the fact that he wanted to take Harry back to the UK
0:34:42 > 0:34:45throws into question what his priorities were,
0:34:45 > 0:34:47how much he loved his son.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51So my feelings on my great-grandfather have changed.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02By 1917, George Yates had left Reggie's great-grandmother, Dorothy.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Their son Harry was just two years old.
0:35:06 > 0:35:08To find out what happened to Dorothy and Harry,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12Reggie's on his way to have an audience with a local chief.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Ghana's traditional hereditary rulers
0:35:18 > 0:35:21still play a significant role in Ghanaian culture,
0:35:21 > 0:35:25not least as keepers of their community's oral history.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32Reggie's meeting a chief of the highest rank -
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Paramount Chief Nana Kwabena Nketsia.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39JB will make the formal introductions.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42And look at JB, he looks amazing!
0:35:42 > 0:35:46- JB!- Yes, sir.- How you doing? - All right, bro.- You OK?
0:35:46 > 0:35:48- Yes.- Good to see you.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50Nice to see you, too. Nice to see you.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52So is he... Is Nana Nketsia ready?
0:35:52 > 0:35:55- Yeah, we're going to give him... - Right.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08Also in attendance are Nana Nketsia's mother
0:36:08 > 0:36:09and another elder.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22They must speak first through the chief's spokesperson.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Thank you. Thank you first of all for, er...
0:38:13 > 0:38:16MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY OK. OK.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21Thank you for...for finding the time to speak to me.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Um, and thank you, JB, for bringing me, as well.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Having an audience with you is really important to me
0:38:27 > 0:38:30because I'm trying to find out as much as I can about my... What's that?
0:38:30 > 0:38:33MURMURING Oh, of course.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35In a chief's court in Ghana,
0:38:35 > 0:38:37it's considered disrespectful to gesticulate
0:38:37 > 0:38:40or to give or take with the left hand.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45You see an African with that English head.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49And much as you are African,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53as soon as you stood up, your mannerisms -
0:38:53 > 0:38:55throwing your left hand around -
0:38:55 > 0:38:57I understood that...
0:38:57 > 0:39:00I was wondering which side of the divide you belong to.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04So the little things that we are showing you
0:39:04 > 0:39:09are to do with basically our culture and the way we do things here.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12HE CHUCKLES I'm learning as I go,
0:39:12 > 0:39:14so forgive me if I make mistakes.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16I'm trying to find out as much as I can about my family
0:39:16 > 0:39:19and in particular, my great-grandmother Dorothy
0:39:19 > 0:39:22and my grandfather Harry, Harry Philip Yates.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25I know very little and from the time that I've been in Ghana
0:39:25 > 0:39:27I've learnt a small amount,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29and I was hoping maybe you could add to that.
0:39:31 > 0:39:32OK.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35When I learnt that you were coming here
0:39:35 > 0:39:38and belonged to the Yates family...
0:39:38 > 0:39:41The name Yates, it's a Sekondi name.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46Most of us have even forgotten that Yates is an English name.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50We say Obruni Yates. That's "the white man Yates".
0:39:50 > 0:39:53He was more African than we could ever think about.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58You used to see Obruni Yates sitting there and he was always smiling.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02You have a very wonderful family and I think that, um,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06there's one thing about we Africans, and that is the ancestors.
0:40:06 > 0:40:07You know, they live in us.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11Can I ask about my great-grandmother, Dorothy?
0:40:12 > 0:40:14A very interesting woman.
0:40:14 > 0:40:20Dorothy came from another place west of here,
0:40:20 > 0:40:21called Dixcove,
0:40:21 > 0:40:24with her mother, called Sarah.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27But they moved to...to Tarkwa.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31As a young woman,
0:40:31 > 0:40:36Reggie's great-grandmother Dorothy moved from her home at Dixcove
0:40:36 > 0:40:38to a boom town called Tarkwa.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42Tarkwa was linked to Sekondi by a railway line
0:40:42 > 0:40:46that took men north to the gold mines, including Broomasi,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49where Reggie's great-grandfather, George Yates, worked.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56Tarkwa was the first major stop from Sekondi from the coast.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59That's where your great-grandfather, I believe,
0:40:59 > 0:41:01saw Dorothy and married her.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05Dorothy was married to George W Yates
0:41:05 > 0:41:07and he was an Englishman.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10The details of her relationship with my great-grandfather
0:41:10 > 0:41:12have almost directly affected me,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15based on the fact that it was a customary marriage.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18So, in the mind of somebody like Dorothy,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22it was a real, traditional and an authentic marriage.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28It was not acceptable for British men to marry African women
0:41:28 > 0:41:31in colonial courts or churches.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35A customary marriage, a local wedding ceremony,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38was one way a mixed race couple could legitimise their union
0:41:38 > 0:41:40in the Gold Coast,
0:41:40 > 0:41:44even if, as in Reggie's great-grandparents' case,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47the marriage would never be deemed legal in Britain.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55It is a fundamental problem brought in by colonisation.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00So, um, I always laugh that our great-grandmothers,
0:42:00 > 0:42:01and the ones before them,
0:42:01 > 0:42:03our ancestors, our shared ancestors,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06that was the form of marriage they took.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09So according to English law, we are all bastards!
0:42:09 > 0:42:11I mean, it's absurd.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14We have our own way of doing things.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18You bring English common law, which is English customary law,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21and you want to impose it on me.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25Your great-grandmother was well married.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28Well, well...your great-grandmother was well married.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31It's customary, it's accepted.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37I saw this and wanted you to read something about Dorothy Lloyd.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42This was, er, a paper that was run by Casely-Hayford.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47In January of 1919,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51Sekondi's most prominent citizens called a meeting
0:42:51 > 0:42:55and put the prohibition of alcohol on the agenda.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59The Temperance Movement was at its height in Britain and America
0:42:59 > 0:43:01and its influence was spreading.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Many at the meeting spoke out
0:43:03 > 0:43:06against importing alcohol to the Gold Coast.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11- Make sure you use your right hand. - Yes, I've made sure.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13- My left is taped to my thigh, now! - This is about liquor.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Just read somewhere here and I'll give you an explanation of it.
0:43:16 > 0:43:18- You'll see Dorothy Lloyd. - Where am I reading?
0:43:18 > 0:43:21Dorothy...Miss Dorothy. "..said Miss Dorothy Lloyd,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24"striking a note in favour of the continuance of the traffic.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27"'The discontinuance of liquor in the Gold Coast
0:43:27 > 0:43:30"'will be a great detriment to females.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32"'Liquor helps a woman a great deal after childbirth.
0:43:32 > 0:43:34"'It also helps the native doctor
0:43:34 > 0:43:36"'in preparing medicine for his patient.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39"'And as such, I say that the importation of liquor into the coast
0:43:39 > 0:43:40"'must be continued.'"
0:43:40 > 0:43:42So she's fighting for liquor to come into the area
0:43:42 > 0:43:45and she's saying it's for health reasons!
0:43:45 > 0:43:47THEY LAUGH
0:43:47 > 0:43:51- That's brilliant. - Yeah, better.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53I'll get there eventually.
0:43:55 > 0:43:57It also says a lot about my great-grandmother, Dorothy,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59and the standing that she had.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01And at this point she's still quite a young woman
0:44:01 > 0:44:04who seems to have quite a respected voice.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07She was educated. She could speak the white man's tongue.
0:44:07 > 0:44:09She was a very formidable person.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13In fact, in our own way of speaking,
0:44:13 > 0:44:18I always refer to her as a she-elephant, you know.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22So let's put it this way -
0:44:22 > 0:44:28the house that Dorothy built was in the heart of the market area,
0:44:28 > 0:44:29you know,
0:44:29 > 0:44:32and definitely, because she was one of the powerful women
0:44:32 > 0:44:36controlling commerce in this city,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40that's how formidable she was in the society.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44Can you tell me anything about Dorothy's parents, then?
0:44:44 > 0:44:47I'd love to find out more about her lineage and her family.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50Dorothy was half black, right?
0:44:50 > 0:44:54- Her maiden name was Lloyd. - Yes.- And so that's an English name.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58It seems like those Englishmen really loved our women, didn't they?
0:44:58 > 0:45:04So the mother, Sarah, right, was the wife to Lloyd.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09Dorothy came from the small port town of Dixcove,
0:45:09 > 0:45:13home to her mother, Reggie's great-great-grandmother, Sarah.
0:45:16 > 0:45:17I'm slowly but surely
0:45:17 > 0:45:21learning more about the next generation of the family.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Mm-hm.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26- OK.- You've come home. - Thank you so much.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29And you should always know that you are my son.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32And whenever you come to Sekondi,
0:45:32 > 0:45:37know that you have the right to everything in here, OK?
0:45:37 > 0:45:39- Not to my stool, though! - HE LAUGHS
0:45:39 > 0:45:42Can I have some gold to leave with? HE LAUGHS
0:45:42 > 0:45:45- I think we had better go! - Is that my birth right?
0:45:45 > 0:45:47Thank you so much.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55I think Dorothy definitely is one of those characters
0:45:55 > 0:46:01who has almost become a force of nature because she's had to be.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03As a woman of such a young age,
0:46:03 > 0:46:06it's amazing how successful my great-grandmother was
0:46:06 > 0:46:09and how well she did on her own.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14There seems to be this direct relationship
0:46:14 > 0:46:17between the British colonial history and my family -
0:46:17 > 0:46:22the actions of the British people who came to Africa and left.
0:46:27 > 0:46:28Reggie wants to know about
0:46:28 > 0:46:32his great-grandmother Dorothy's British father.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36He's meeting Carina Ray at the Sekondi Archives once more,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39to see if there are any records of Mr Lloyd.
0:46:41 > 0:46:42- Hey.- Hey.
0:46:42 > 0:46:46- Good to see you.- Nice to see you. I'll just put this away.- OK.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Let's...get to it. Right.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53So I should probably pull out this bad boy once again.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55- Yeah, I recognise that.- Yes.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58The affidavit of my grandfather, Harry Philip Yates.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01And here he talks about EJ Lloyd,
0:47:01 > 0:47:05who is my great-great-grandfather, I believe.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08- Is there any other information you've found?- Yes.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11There is, I believe, some information
0:47:11 > 0:47:14about what could possibly be your great-great-grandfather.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16And as we understand it,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19he was a commissioner in the Colonial Service.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21And in fact, we do have a file.
0:47:21 > 0:47:26However, it's for a Mr AG Lloyd, rather than an EJ Lloyd.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30It would be possible in the context of oral history
0:47:30 > 0:47:35to have the initials handed down and change over time,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37and from EJ to AG,
0:47:37 > 0:47:41one can see there's some kind of resonance there.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44And this is his pension form.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46And I'm just going to give it to you, here.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48- This is the actual document? - This is the actual document.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51- You'll feel it brittle in your hands.- Yeah.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55And it indicates where he started his career
0:47:55 > 0:47:58in the Colonial Service, and where he finished it.
0:47:58 > 0:47:59So if you look at here...
0:47:59 > 0:48:02- Sierra Leone. - ..his first post is in Sierra Leone.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04- And if you take a look... - Then to Nigeria
0:48:04 > 0:48:05and then on to the Gold Coast, yeah.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09We see his first appointment being in Sierra Leone.
0:48:09 > 0:48:14And you'll note, here, that he begins his position in 1896.
0:48:14 > 0:48:15Mm-hm.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19And he concludes it in 1899.
0:48:21 > 0:48:27We know that Dorothy was born in Dixcove in 1898,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30or we believe she was born in 1898.
0:48:30 > 0:48:33So either we've got the wrong birth date for Dorothy,
0:48:33 > 0:48:38perhaps she was born in 1900 and not in 1898,
0:48:38 > 0:48:44which would place him in the Gold Coast to have met Sarah.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46The other possibility is that
0:48:46 > 0:48:48he travelled to the Gold Cost at some point.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52What we do know is that this Lloyd that we have here
0:48:52 > 0:48:57is the only Lloyd that is employed in the Gold Coast Colonial Service
0:48:57 > 0:49:00during the time period that would be relevant to Dorothy's birth.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03- And that narrows it down, doesn't it? - It does, it does.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06And if we go through the file,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10you'll see here that AG Lloyd was in the Gold Coast
0:49:10 > 0:49:12- as a travelling commissioner.- Mm.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18Commissioners of the Colonial Service,
0:49:18 > 0:49:19like AG Lloyd,
0:49:19 > 0:49:22were Britain's men on the ground in the Gold Coast.
0:49:22 > 0:49:27They travelled to meet chiefs to recruit workers for the mines.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29They secured land for timber and farming,
0:49:29 > 0:49:30built roads -
0:49:30 > 0:49:35whatever it took to make the colony a profitable part of the Empire.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38Lloyd would have learned the local languages
0:49:38 > 0:49:40and mixed with the local people.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46So the description that is recounted in your family's oral history
0:49:46 > 0:49:50matches not only his last name,
0:49:50 > 0:49:52it also matches the position he held.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56So there are some points that suggest that he...
0:49:56 > 0:50:00- Heavily suggest. - ..he could be the right man, yes.
0:50:00 > 0:50:02Thank you so much once again.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05I think I have to go to Dixcove, then.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07Absolutely you do. Safe journey.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09Yeah, thank you.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15Reggie's heading an hour's drive west
0:50:15 > 0:50:17to the port of Dixcove,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21where his great-great-grandmother Sarah was from.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23He's hoping to learn more about her
0:50:23 > 0:50:27and how her relationship with Mr Lloyd may have come about.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Elders from Sarah's extended family live here.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44Hello.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47We are heading towards the head of the family's place.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51- I see. Hello.- Yeah.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54HE CALLS OUT AND THEY RESPOND
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Nana Kojo Mensah is the head of the family.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05Madam Ekubak knew Reggie's great-grandmother, Dorothy,
0:51:05 > 0:51:08and has heard stories of Sarah.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12- Shall we sit?- Oh, yes!- Hello.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15Thank you so much for finding time to meet us.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17So you know my dad?
0:51:17 > 0:51:20You've met Jojo?
0:51:25 > 0:51:27- They call your father Music Man. - Music man, yeah!
0:51:27 > 0:51:30Yeah, he plays music. Yeah, a musician.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21My mouth is on fire! THEY LAUGH
0:52:27 > 0:52:29It seems like you remember a lot about the family.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31You seem very happy to see me.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34Thank you for pouring libation, I appreciate it.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36And thank you for having us in the house.
0:52:36 > 0:52:39We've come here because I'm trying to find out
0:52:39 > 0:52:41as much as I can about my family.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44I've got to a lady called Dorothy who was my great-grandmother.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48How about her mother? How about Sarah, my great-great-grandmother?
0:52:48 > 0:52:52I was hoping that you might be able to tell me a bit about Sarah.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07So Sarah was a trader?
0:53:07 > 0:53:10- She worked in trading? - She was a trader.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Was she the first person in my line that mixed?
0:53:28 > 0:53:30Typical African Ghanaian.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32And her father was a Ghanaian man?
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Sarah, she doesn't have any...
0:53:34 > 0:53:37- No mix in her family line? - ..mix in her.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39What was Sarah's surname?
0:53:39 > 0:53:41Sarah Arku.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43The father's name's Arku,
0:53:43 > 0:53:46so she was named Sarah Arku.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48So she was the first person that mixed with the English...
0:53:48 > 0:53:52- First person, yes.- ..and that's why Dorothy was so light?- That's right.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55She was the first person to meet a white person.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58So that's why you are fair.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01Do they know much about the man that she married, Lloyd?
0:54:01 > 0:54:03- English man?- Yeah.
0:54:08 > 0:54:12She started a business, before she met Mr Lloyd.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17Sarah was doing her own business before meeting Lloyd.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Maybe Lloyd wanted to buy some pineapples or something
0:54:21 > 0:54:24- and they become friends and maybe they had that...- Yeah.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27..baby girl with Sarah.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29When Lloyd came and met Sarah,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31did you hear about a customary marriage?
0:54:36 > 0:54:38In those days there wasn't any weddings.
0:54:38 > 0:54:39He comes there and go.
0:54:39 > 0:54:40Comes backwards and forwards.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42- Yeah.- So they were together to create a child
0:54:42 > 0:54:45but they weren't together in a relationship? He didn't stay?
0:54:45 > 0:54:46- He left?- Yeah, he left.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51Do they know if Dorothy was really similar to Sarah?
0:54:51 > 0:54:52Was she like her mother?
0:54:56 > 0:54:58OK, OK.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00They look alike. They look alike.
0:55:00 > 0:55:05Only Dorothy is more fair than the mother.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08- So Dorothy and Sarah, they were close, right?- Yeah.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12The mother and the daughter were together,
0:55:12 > 0:55:14so they were very, very close.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17So they were like mother and daughter and business partners?!
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Business partners, yes.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22- OK. So they were really close? - They were really close.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25She was the only daughter to her.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28Only had one, yeah.
0:55:28 > 0:55:29That's her only daughter,
0:55:29 > 0:55:34so just like steel and metal, you know?
0:55:34 > 0:55:38- So they are like this. - Always together. Very close, OK.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41Well, based on the closeness of Dorothy and Sarah,
0:55:41 > 0:55:43that would make sense,
0:55:43 > 0:55:46that he wasn't there and that it was Sarah raising Dorothy.
0:55:46 > 0:55:48Thank you so much.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58I'm not a drinker.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01I never have been, but that Schnapps don't half burn your mouth!
0:56:01 > 0:56:05Geez! Seriously, I think my chest is still warm now
0:56:05 > 0:56:07and it definitely isn't the sun!
0:56:07 > 0:56:11But beyond getting a teeny bit of alcohol, um,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13I'm pretty sure I was sober enough to understand
0:56:13 > 0:56:19that my great-great-grandmother, Sarah, and Mr Lloyd were a couple
0:56:19 > 0:56:22but I don't think that Mr Lloyd
0:56:22 > 0:56:26was a part of Sarah or Dorothy's life, unfortunately.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29He essentially traded, in more ways than one,
0:56:29 > 0:56:30with Sarah,
0:56:30 > 0:56:34and my great-grandmother was a product of that.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38But what came from that was an amazing relationship
0:56:38 > 0:56:39between mother and daughter
0:56:39 > 0:56:42and it produced two very strong women.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44It's an amazing feeling
0:56:44 > 0:56:48to know exactly where that European bit of my lineage began.
0:56:48 > 0:56:51My great-great-grandmother, Sarah,
0:56:51 > 0:56:54was the first person to mix with a European
0:56:54 > 0:56:57and it seems to be a recurring theme
0:56:57 > 0:56:59throughout the generations.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03And it really does explain this!
0:57:03 > 0:57:05It explains this!
0:57:05 > 0:57:08And I've sort of known but I've never really known,
0:57:08 > 0:57:11and it's a great feeling to know for sure today.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18Coming out here on this trip
0:57:18 > 0:57:21has made me feel connected, definitely, to my father more,
0:57:21 > 0:57:22without a doubt.
0:57:24 > 0:57:29My father's side is mixed as far back as we can trace,
0:57:29 > 0:57:35and that mix, I think, has leant to the feeling of resilience
0:57:35 > 0:57:37and...I wouldn't say abandonment
0:57:37 > 0:57:40but I would say that there has BEEN abandonment.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Mr Lloyd and my great-grandfather,
0:57:47 > 0:57:50George William Yates, left.
0:57:50 > 0:57:55But my grandfather Harry stayed and looked after his children,
0:57:55 > 0:57:57all 16 of them.
0:57:57 > 0:57:58He was there for them.
0:58:00 > 0:58:03Harry seems to have been an amazing man
0:58:03 > 0:58:05that I wish I'd known, or at least met.
0:58:07 > 0:58:08But in the UK,
0:58:08 > 0:58:12myself and my siblings and my cousins
0:58:12 > 0:58:14have over the last years made an effort
0:58:14 > 0:58:16to get together
0:58:16 > 0:58:19and to build relationships and build bridges.
0:58:19 > 0:58:22And it's starting to feel more and more that we are a family.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26I feel like I'm part of something.
0:58:26 > 0:58:29And being here and learning about our history
0:58:29 > 0:58:31has made that even more real.