0:00:03 > 0:00:06Actress Frances De La Tour first rose to fame
0:00:06 > 0:00:11in the late 1970s as Miss Jones in the hit sitcom Rising Damp.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12Miss Jones!
0:00:12 > 0:00:14Mr Rigsby!
0:00:00 > 0:00:00Ohhh!
0:00:17 > 0:00:21After 40 years, Frances is still playing formidable roles in theatre,
0:00:21 > 0:00:26film and television - most recently in the BBC's comedy Big School.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29So if I catch you one more time without alcohol on school property,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32I'll have no option but to suspend you.
0:00:32 > 0:00:33Now get out!
0:00:43 > 0:00:45I've always wanted to do this programme,
0:00:45 > 0:00:48basically because of my children and my grandchildren,
0:00:48 > 0:00:49so they've got a record.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51There you are. I used to play with these.
0:00:51 > 0:00:52That little teddy...
0:00:52 > 0:00:57Tamison, who we call Tammy, she's 40, she looks about 12.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59She's absolutely beautiful.
0:00:59 > 0:01:04And Josh was born three and a half years after Tammy,
0:01:04 > 0:01:06he travels the world, he's in conservation.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09# London's burning, London's burning. #
0:01:09 > 0:01:12We all live very close to each other.
0:01:12 > 0:01:17I've lived in Tufnell Park area in, in London, for about 28 years.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20We know a little bit about great-grandfathers
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and great-grandmothers, but very little,
0:01:23 > 0:01:26so I'm hoping this journey will help me to understand.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29I don't know an awful lot.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08Well, these are some really nice family photos.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13This one...is my parents.
0:02:13 > 0:02:15Dad looking very elegant.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18And that's my grandfather in the background, and my grandmother
0:02:18 > 0:02:22in a faded old mink and a hat, which you can't really see.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26And this is Mum. She's beautiful.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29And that's him, my father, around the same age.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33It's a lovely portrait. That's very, very him.
0:02:33 > 0:02:39This, er, nose, is my grandfather's nose.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41So this is a De La Tour nose.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45My parents divorced when I was eight, I think.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51I think he had a few affairs and lived his own life a bit.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53Made Mum a bit unhappy, so...
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I don't remember him around very much.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58I mean, I loved him to bits.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02And this is Simon, me and Andy.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04'My siblings.'
0:03:04 > 0:03:08Me, Simon and Andrew, I think, are actually quite alike.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12We all have the same humour, where you don't have to say anything.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14Rather like my father,
0:03:14 > 0:03:19Simon's had a very keen interest in the family history.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20DOORBELL RINGS
0:03:20 > 0:03:22- My darling bros. - Well, guess who this is.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24- Oh, no!- Guess who!
0:03:24 > 0:03:28'I don't think Andy knows more than I knew, particularly about the family.'
0:03:28 > 0:03:31I brought a bit of sun, summer sunshine with us.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35'But my grandfather did a wonderful book and a family tree,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39'gave it to my brother, my eldest brother, Simon, when he was 21.'
0:03:39 > 0:03:40What have you got there?
0:03:40 > 0:03:44A few little things to... You'll see.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46How lovely to see you, come in.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50You sit there, Simon, and you sit there, Andy.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53My older brother, Simon, and my little baby brother, Andrew.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55And the much and the much, much younger brother,
0:03:55 > 0:03:57- on this side of the table. - Not so much of the much!
0:03:57 > 0:04:01'Andy lives quite near me. He lives sort of Highgate way.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03'Simon lives in Normandy.'
0:04:03 > 0:04:08Simon, you brought this archive all the way from Northern France, right?
0:04:08 > 0:04:14In here is this marvellous family tree that Grandad Percival did.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17'De La Tours are quite well-recorded.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22'When one of them left France to come here as an emigre, really, um,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24'it was pre-revolution.
0:04:24 > 0:04:29'De La Tour means "of the tower," but I think we were Delaval De La Tour.'
0:04:29 > 0:04:33Those are Dad's siblings and there's Dad... Where's Dad?
0:04:33 > 0:04:38- There's Dad here.- Dad's there. Charles Frances Delaval De La Tour.
0:04:38 > 0:04:39That's right.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43'I can't tell you about Delaval because I don't know enough about it,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46'so I'm hoping that Simon will help me to understand.'
0:04:46 > 0:04:48What is the connection with the Delavals?
0:04:48 > 0:04:51The Delaval connection intercept with Percy's father,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54- our great-grandfather.- Right.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Edward, Edward Frederick.
0:04:56 > 0:04:57Oh, yes, well, there...
0:04:57 > 0:05:00- That's the picture of him. Yeah, they're the two pictures of him.- OK.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03- Edward Frederick that we've got here.- Yes.
0:05:03 > 0:05:10- And Edward Frederick married, um, Edith Jadis.- Right.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14And Jadis is a descendent from the Delaval family.
0:05:14 > 0:05:15The name Delaval was passed down
0:05:15 > 0:05:18from the oldest son to the oldest son.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21Tracing her family tree back three generations,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Frances has discovered that the name Delaval was introduced
0:05:24 > 0:05:29to the male line of the De La Tours by her great-grandfather, Edward.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33He took it from the family of his wife Edith Jadis,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35a descendant of the Delavals.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Um, so that's Edith Jadis there.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39And then so their father...
0:05:39 > 0:05:41- Yes.- ..is John Jadis.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45- Yes.- And then it goes through to the previous...
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Her grandfather, then, would be Henry Jadis.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49Oh, I'm with you.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53- But Henry Jadis'...- Father... - Do we want to get to this?- Yes.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56- Yeah, cos this is interesting, isn't it?- Yes, Henry Jadis' father...
0:05:56 > 0:05:59- What's his name?- ..which is a great-great-great-great-grandfather,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03is John Godfrey Maximillian - very grand - Jadis,
0:06:03 > 0:06:08who married Sophia Ann Delaval and, in brackets, Honourable.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12The earliest reference to a Delaval on her grandfather's family tree
0:06:12 > 0:06:15is Frances' great-great-great-great-grandmother,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18the Honourable Sophia Ann.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Now that's what we wanted to get to,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23was the connection with Delaval, in brackets, Honourable.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26And if you are an honourable, your father would have been a lord.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28But I'm keen to know about her
0:06:28 > 0:06:31and, actually, more about the Delavals,
0:06:31 > 0:06:33but maybe more will unfold. Very good.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37So there's obviously signs of, er, aristocracy in there and...
0:06:37 > 0:06:39- There is. - Or pretentions of, anyway.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Pretention of in those generations.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44So these, they were mixing rather well, though.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46Yes, they were mixing.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48They were keeping the blood blue.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52So you've got that bit of aristocracy floating around,
0:06:52 > 0:06:58and here's John Godfrey Maximillian Jadis' son,
0:06:58 > 0:07:02also married into the aristocracy, which is Lady Gardner nee Adderley.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Well, the masked lady.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06And the very fact that Percy, our grandad,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08wrote it like that.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12It's like he found that interesting enough not to just say that
0:07:12 > 0:07:17Henry Jadis married Maria Elizabeth Adderley.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20He wanted to add that she was also Lady Gardner.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22- Who is Lady Gardner?- Who is?
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Actually, this is a very good point.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26This is a very good point because he could have just said
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Henry Jadis married Maria Elizabeth Adderley.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32Right.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36Well, I think that's really fascinating to find out who...
0:07:36 > 0:07:40This is the mysterious lady. This is the lady in black.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46Maria Elizabeth Lady Gardner, nee Adderley,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49there's a little mystery in her,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52and she was my great-great-great-grandmother.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Yeah, that's quite fascinating who this woman was.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59To find out more about Maria,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03Frances is meeting genealogist Laura Berry.
0:08:03 > 0:08:04You must be Laura?
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Yes. Hello, Frances.
0:08:05 > 0:08:06Lovely to meet you.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08- Nice to meet you. Come on. - Here we are.
0:08:12 > 0:08:17So, after we looked at the family tree, I wrote down
0:08:17 > 0:08:21a little small version of it, just so I could understand it more.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23My grandfather could have just put,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26"Henry Jadis married Maria Elizabeth Adderley",
0:08:26 > 0:08:30so the fact that he's put in "Lady Gardner" suggests that maybe
0:08:30 > 0:08:32she was married before.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34Anyway, that intrigued me to know.
0:08:34 > 0:08:40I can tell you I have found Maria's marriage here to a Mr Gardner.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Look at this. Isn't it wonderful? Yes.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45So this is a Register of Marriages... Who am I looking for...?
0:08:45 > 0:08:47So you've got if you scroll down here, yeah,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50- we'll see a list of surnames. - Yes, there's a Gardner.
0:08:50 > 0:08:56"Captain Allan Hyde Gardner marries Miss Maria Elizabeth Adderley."
0:08:56 > 0:08:59So that explains that.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01So she was married to him, yes.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04And it says there she was Miss Maria Elizabeth Adderley,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07so we know this is her first marriage.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09- I have a picture here...- Yes.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12..of her husband, Captain Alan Hyde Gardner.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14- Very dashing, isn't he? - He is, isn't he?
0:09:14 > 0:09:19He was actually the son of Baron Gardner, although Alan
0:09:19 > 0:09:22didn't inherit that title until quite a few years down the line.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26- Oh, I see, yes.- So, at this point, Maria is just plain Miss Adderley
0:09:26 > 0:09:27and then Mrs Gardner.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Miss. And he's quite young there, isn't he? You can see.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30He is so young,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34but actually Maria was even younger because we know from other records
0:09:34 > 0:09:38that she was perhaps as young as 15 or 16 when this marriage took place.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42- Oh, my gosh, that's very... So that's a child really, isn't it?- Mm, it is.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44But, um, perhaps it could possibly have been an arranged...
0:09:44 > 0:09:45An arranged marriage.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49..society marriage because this man is clearly on an upward career path.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52- Yes, exactly, yes.- And Maria is the stepdaughter of an Earl, so...
0:09:52 > 0:09:58Yeah, yeah. Well-matched for starting a marriage and a life together,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01and then becoming more titled or, you know, more honoured and...
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Yes, an upward career.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06- So it was so it was a good, um, suited marriage.- Yes.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Maria is perhaps, you know, living the life of a typical society wife.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15Um, she would have been going to tea parties and card parties.
0:10:15 > 0:10:16- Yes. Recitals.- Mm.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Theatre. But not very fulfilled in her marriage terms...
0:10:21 > 0:10:22- No.- ..because he's away.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Alan's in the Navy, so he's spending a lot of time away at sea.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30So there he is, away doing his duties, and she's living
0:10:30 > 0:10:36the life of a society girl, but clearly from the family tree record,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40that marriage didn't last very long because...
0:10:40 > 0:10:41because she married...
0:10:41 > 0:10:46my great-great-great-grandmother, this woman, married a Henry Jadis.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50- So...- Well, yes, I was a bit confused at this to start with
0:10:50 > 0:10:52because it was possible, could he have died at sea?
0:10:52 > 0:10:55He's a naval captain, perhaps, I wasn't sure.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58But having dug around in the archives a bit,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02the next document I found did date from nine years after the marriage.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07In from The Scots Magazine, 1805.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12"In the Court of King's Bench, on the 2nd March, Captain Gardner
0:11:12 > 0:11:17"of the Navy, son of Admiral Lord Gardner, obtained a verdict
0:11:17 > 0:11:22"against Mr Jadis..." who was my great-great-great-grandfather,
0:11:22 > 0:11:27"..for criminal conversation with his wife."
0:11:27 > 0:11:33For criminal conversation with his wife. "Damages..." £1,000, is that?
0:11:33 > 0:11:35- What's that? Yes.- £1,000.
0:11:35 > 0:11:40"They were laid at £20,000."
0:11:40 > 0:11:42That's a hell of a lot of money.
0:11:42 > 0:11:43It is, isn't it? It is.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Now, I love this. Criminal conversation.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50So, in other words, he was overheard or...? No.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54What does it mean? Were they plotting to steal something?
0:11:54 > 0:11:56It does make you want to know, doesn't it?
0:11:56 > 0:11:57Mm, it does, yeah.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Cos now it is intriguing
0:12:10 > 0:12:14because it's opened up a whole can of worms here, hasn't it?
0:12:14 > 0:12:17This is my great-great-great-grandmother.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18We're quite near.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21It's like a thriller, isn't it? Cos then you want to know.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Frances has come to the Parliamentary Archives
0:12:29 > 0:12:30at the Palace of Westminster,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34which hold legal scrolls dating back to 1497.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38To find out more about what went on between Maria
0:12:38 > 0:12:43and Henry Jadis, she's meeting historian professor Joanne Bailey.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46So what is a criminal conversation?
0:12:46 > 0:12:50A criminal conversation action was a lawsuit where a husband
0:12:50 > 0:12:52could sue his wife's lover.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55So, if you have a look here at this document,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58you'll be able to find out more.
0:12:58 > 0:12:59Right.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02"So the said Henry,
0:13:02 > 0:13:07"on the First Day of March in the year of our Lord 1803
0:13:07 > 0:13:12"at London, he made an assault upon one Maria Elizabeth Gardner,
0:13:12 > 0:13:17"then and there and still being the wife of the said Alan Hyde,
0:13:17 > 0:13:23"and then and there, debauched, lay with and carnally knew her..."
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Oh, it's a little bit of how's your father going on there!
0:13:26 > 0:13:32"..whereby the said Alan Hyde for a long space of time has wholly lost
0:13:32 > 0:13:34"and been deprived of the comfort, fellowship,
0:13:34 > 0:13:37"aid and assistance of his said wife."
0:13:37 > 0:13:44That's an incredible sort of indictment and also, um, a kind of
0:13:44 > 0:13:51support for him, that he can actually take to court saying, "I have lost.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56"I have been cuckolded. I have lost my reputation. I want justice."
0:13:56 > 0:13:57Yes, exactly.
0:13:57 > 0:14:03That is trying to pin the blame on the lover, in this case Henry,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06- for seducing the wife. - Yes, for seducing.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09The blame isn't the finger isn't being pointed
0:14:09 > 0:14:12- so much at the wife as the lover, yes.- That's right.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16So, for Alan Gardner, he's also interested in his honour.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Until the mid-18th century, gentlemen,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22like Alan Hyde Gardner and Henry Jadis,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25would often have settled matters of honour through a duel.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30But by the early 19th century, men were using the courts
0:14:30 > 0:14:32to restore their reputations.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Women like Maria were treated as property, with their value
0:14:38 > 0:14:41determined by their social status.
0:14:41 > 0:14:47I want to show you this, this lovely satirical cartoon here,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51which you'll see from its title,
0:14:51 > 0:14:56Crim Con Temptations With The Prices Affixed,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59cos criminal conversations were usually shortened to crim cons.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02- Crim con. That is criminal conversation.- Indeed, yes.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04- Temptations.- Yes.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08So what they're saying is what they're worth in society's terms.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11"I am but a servant for all work,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15"then be rest assured no more than one shilling damages."
0:15:15 > 0:15:17I am...very lowest of the low, almost.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19And then this rather pompous woman seems a bit lardy,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21- but she's showing a leg.- Yes.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Surely 1,000 cannot be called excessive damages.
0:15:24 > 0:15:30Er, and now a rather big lady with a huge muff...
0:15:30 > 0:15:32hand muff.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36- I mean, they're caricatured, they're ridiculed...- Yes.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39..in one sense by exhibiting them like this,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43but, nevertheless, men beware.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46So I remember when we looked at the little thing saying that there
0:15:46 > 0:15:52was this criminal conversation, that there was an award made
0:15:52 > 0:15:58or there was a demand, as it were, for £20,000,
0:15:58 > 0:16:03which was just...unbelievable amount of money then, but he got 1,000.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Yes. There are lots of reasons for that lower award.
0:16:07 > 0:16:14As the case is reported, there is a degree of ambivalence about Maria.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18- Ah, so that does come through in the case?- Yes.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22So perhaps not quite as virtuous as she might have been.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Therefore, that will have also lowered the damages awarded.
0:16:25 > 0:16:31So, I'm just assuming now, that there was some sort of divorce
0:16:31 > 0:16:35or something, and she went off with her lover.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39But we don't know, we don't really know for sure what happened...
0:16:39 > 0:16:45either immediately or a few years down the line.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51What we know is that Alan also sued Maria.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53Sued her as well.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58So the key to the next stage will be court records.
0:17:05 > 0:17:11In terms of Gardner's position in society, he would not be a man
0:17:11 > 0:17:15if he was publicly cuckolded and didn't get some reward from it.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20But, um, it's very difficult to feel terribly sorry
0:17:20 > 0:17:25for the privileged who are damned because they're so privileged,
0:17:25 > 0:17:27and particularly if it's set up
0:17:27 > 0:17:30against a woman from the same background,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34so, in other words, equally privileged,
0:17:34 > 0:17:39but gets nothing if something goes wrong in her life.
0:17:39 > 0:17:40From that point of view,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43it would be very interesting to find out what happens to her.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49Frances has come to Mayfair,
0:17:49 > 0:17:52where Maria lived with her husband Alan Hyde Gardner.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57She's meeting historian Hannah Greig.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04What we have with us here is a copy of court documents
0:18:04 > 0:18:08and, in particular, the evidence that was given by Maria's maid,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10- Susannah, to the court saying... - They know everything.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13They do know everything, as we will see from the document.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15Yes, yes.
0:18:15 > 0:18:16In 1805, right.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19"The deponent." Is that her?
0:18:19 > 0:18:21- Yes, so that's Susannah, the maid. - That's Susannah.
0:18:21 > 0:18:25"The deponent was, as usual, in her needlework
0:18:25 > 0:18:27"in Mrs Gardner's said bedroom.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31"She was much surprised by the said Henry Jadis
0:18:31 > 0:18:35"and Maria Elizabeth Gardner coming upstairs together
0:18:35 > 0:18:38"into the said bedroom from the drawing room,
0:18:38 > 0:18:43"and particularly so at the said Maria Elizabeth Gardner
0:18:43 > 0:18:47"then sending the deponent downstairs to bring some milk."
0:18:47 > 0:18:50OK so far. Seems quite innocent.
0:18:50 > 0:18:51And then it goes on.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54"In about ten minutes after leaving the said bedroom,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57"she carried some milk into the drawing room,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00"where she then found her said mistress..."
0:19:02 > 0:19:03Plot thickens.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07"..and the said Mr Jadis.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10"Then the deponent then immediately went upstairs into the said
0:19:10 > 0:19:15"Mrs Gardner's bedroom and then found that the bed therein
0:19:15 > 0:19:21"was tumbled as if two persons had been laying thereon."
0:19:21 > 0:19:23She doesn't miss anything, does she, this maid?!
0:19:23 > 0:19:28"The deponent said that she has no manner of doubt they had
0:19:28 > 0:19:34"the carnal use and knowledge of each other's bodies on the said bed."
0:19:34 > 0:19:36They might have had a romp.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39It doesn't actually say they had sex, does it?
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Well, I suppose it implies it.
0:19:41 > 0:19:42It implies it.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45I mean, she appears to have got rid of the maid...
0:19:45 > 0:19:48- Yes, yes.- ..for a period of time and retreated to the bedroom
0:19:48 > 0:19:51with Henry Jadis, where the bed has become tumbled.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55"And during the time the said Captain Gardner
0:19:55 > 0:19:59"was absent on the said voyage to the West Indies,
0:19:59 > 0:20:04"she told the deponent that she was pregnant by the said Mr Jadis
0:20:04 > 0:20:08"and she further said that so long as there was a chance of the said
0:20:08 > 0:20:12"Mrs Gardner being delivered of the child with which she was pregnant
0:20:12 > 0:20:15"in due time, that it might be considered
0:20:15 > 0:20:18"as the child of her said husband."
0:20:18 > 0:20:22- So she confides in Susannah that she's pregnant...- That's right.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26..and pregnant with Henry Jadis, who she's been seeing regularly at home.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27That's right.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31And so what seems to be initially happening is that she is trying to
0:20:31 > 0:20:35persuade her husband and persuade the household that the child
0:20:35 > 0:20:37is his, it's the husband's,
0:20:37 > 0:20:40- so a legitimate offspring of the marriage.- Exactly.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44So in a situation like this, it might be quite common that
0:20:44 > 0:20:47the wife would feign that she was -
0:20:47 > 0:20:51if she could with the timing of it - that the child was her husband's.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53Well, she is taking a big risk.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56We know that Alan and Maria
0:20:56 > 0:20:59last saw each other at the end of January 1802.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04The maid's testimony reveals that, as the pregnancy went on,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Maria became worried that the dates might not tally
0:21:06 > 0:21:09and so changed her story.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12In the late summer of 1802, she convinced her husband
0:21:12 > 0:21:16that her swollen appearance was the effect of obstructions
0:21:16 > 0:21:18and that she wasn't pregnant after all.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23She finally gives birth in the earliest weeks of December, 1802.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27So, sort of, we're looking at ten, perhaps ten and a bit months
0:21:27 > 0:21:32between the last marital meeting and the birth of the child.
0:21:32 > 0:21:33So if you just read from here.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37"So in the night she, the said Maria Elizabeth Gardner,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41"was delivered secretly and totally unknown to the said
0:21:41 > 0:21:46"Captain Hyde Gardner, and every other person in the house,
0:21:46 > 0:21:52"except the deponent and a Mrs Burns, of a male child.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54"As soon as the child had been dressed
0:21:54 > 0:21:58"and the things got ready, she, the said Mrs Burns,
0:21:58 > 0:21:59"carried the said child
0:21:59 > 0:22:06"secretly out of the said house to be nursed by Mrs Bailey."
0:22:06 > 0:22:08Pretty convenient, isn't it?
0:22:08 > 0:22:11Have the baby, have some secret people around you.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13It's terrible, really, isn't it?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16You would give the baby to... Immediately, the moment it's born...
0:22:16 > 0:22:18Yeah.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20..to somebody, to take to somebody,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23probably been paid to look after the baby.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28I was just wondering why it wasn't possible for her
0:22:28 > 0:22:35to just go off with Jadis and have the life she wanted to have.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Well, I suppose we might presume if she's in love with Henry Jadis,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41why doesn't she just run off into the sunset?
0:22:41 > 0:22:44But in fact, in the 18th century, she has very few options.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49When a woman married, she gained status and security,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52but all of her property and wealth became her husband's.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56Maria was entirely financially dependent on Alan Hyde Gardner.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01I mean, so many of all those women
0:23:01 > 0:23:06whose stories were, if it didn't work out with the husband,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10if there was a problem, if there was a lover, if there was an issue,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13if she left, she may as well throw herself under a train.
0:23:13 > 0:23:14- Yeah, yeah.- Almost.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17There seemed to be no choice, that's the thing.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah. Oh, my goodness.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Well, at this stage, of these proceedings,
0:23:21 > 0:23:26Captain Alan Hyde Gardner still thinks his marriage is intact.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31Well, he subsequently is informed by a footman some months later
0:23:31 > 0:23:35that an affair has been taking place in his household.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40This is potentially a complete thunderbolt into his life.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44His only responsibility as a member of the peerage is to produce
0:23:44 > 0:23:47an heir himself who will inherit his estate, his bloodline
0:23:47 > 0:23:50and define the security of his family's future,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54and that's suddenly put at risk by the production
0:23:54 > 0:23:57of this illegitimate son and his knowledge about his wife's affair.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00So Alan is going to start proceedings
0:24:00 > 0:24:01in order to get divorced.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03In the early 19th century,
0:24:03 > 0:24:08divorce was only an option for the aristocracy and the very rich.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10It was expensive and every divorce case
0:24:10 > 0:24:13required a private act of Parliament to be passed.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17When Alan Hyde Gardner petitioned to divorce his wife Maria,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20he added a bastardisation clause,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23so that Maria's child would be declared illegitimate
0:24:23 > 0:24:27and have no right to inherit his title or estate.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31It sounds like he's got an open and shut case, really,
0:24:31 > 0:24:36in terms of what you imagine Parliament would think in those days.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38They would go, "Yes, this is absolutely outrageous
0:24:38 > 0:24:40"and we must give him his due."
0:24:40 > 0:24:45That would be my immediate, um, conclusion of the result.
0:24:45 > 0:24:46I may be completely wrong.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49Well, that's obviously what Alan is hoping for, you know,
0:24:49 > 0:24:50and that's obviously...
0:24:50 > 0:24:53His key motivation here is this issue about the son.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56- Yes, yes, exactly.- The divorce itself has passed through Parliament
0:24:56 > 0:25:00because it's very clear that Maria has had an adulteress relationship.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03- Yes.- But the bastardisation clause is actually removed from
0:25:03 > 0:25:06the final divorce document.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10And when the petition is reviewed in Parliament,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13the Lord Chancellor actually looks very carefully
0:25:13 > 0:25:15at the dates of the pregnancy
0:25:15 > 0:25:19and suggests there's room for doubt about whose child it is.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Which there is, yes, on the months and all that, yes, yes.
0:25:22 > 0:25:28Yeah, and it seems to have been the potential that the son
0:25:28 > 0:25:33could have been the legitimate offspring of Alan Gardner.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38Which would make him... would worry him enormously,
0:25:38 > 0:25:45Mr Gardner, because...leaving it like that, that son could be his,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50unless proved otherwise, he's entitled to Mr Gardner's estate.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03Seems to be that Maria fell in love with Jadis.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05My sympathies tend to be more with her
0:26:05 > 0:26:09because of what she went through,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12particularly the giving up of a child the moment it's born
0:26:12 > 0:26:15because it doesn't basically suit the husband.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17Who does he belong to?
0:26:18 > 0:26:21And what, you know, what's to become of him?
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Alan Hyde Gardner divorced Frances' great-great-great-grandmother
0:26:26 > 0:26:31Maria in 1805, leaving her free to marry her lover, Henry Jadis,
0:26:31 > 0:26:33that same year.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39Frances has come to St Peter's Church in Iver, Buckinghamshire,
0:26:39 > 0:26:41to meet genealogist Anthony Marr,
0:26:41 > 0:26:46who's been searching for more information on Maria and her first son.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48- Mind the step.- Thank you.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52So why are we in this rather beautiful church?
0:26:52 > 0:26:53This is a church that Maria would have known.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Her stepfather was the Earl of Buckinghamshire
0:26:56 > 0:26:58and his sister lived very close by.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01She would very, very much have known this church.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03Well, the last thing I discovered is that
0:27:03 > 0:27:07my great-great-great-grandmother, Maria Elizabeth,
0:27:07 > 0:27:13had this child and we know there was a bastardisation case.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16The actual argument about this went on for many years.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19- The son has been brought up by Henry and Maria as their child.- Yes.
0:27:19 > 0:27:22They married soon after the divorce came through in 1805.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25- Oh, they did, yes, yes. - They went on to have other children
0:27:25 > 0:27:28and this son was brought up as part of the family.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31But certainly in 1825, he chanced his arm, perhaps,
0:27:31 > 0:27:35and I'll show you some details of that in a newspaper article.
0:27:35 > 0:27:36Era.
0:27:37 > 0:27:43"The Gardner peerage case came before the House of Lords in 1825."
0:27:43 > 0:27:47Well, quite a long time after all the things we were discovering.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53"Alan Legge Gardner, the son of Lord Gardner by his second wife,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56"petitioned to have his name inscribed as a peer
0:27:56 > 0:27:57"on the Parliament Roll.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00"The peerage was however claimed by another person,
0:28:00 > 0:28:04"Henry Fenton Jadis..." Ah-ha!
0:28:04 > 0:28:08"..who alleged that he was the son of Lord Gardner
0:28:08 > 0:28:12"by his first and subsequently divorced wife."
0:28:12 > 0:28:13Oh, goodness me.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18"The decision of the House was that this claimant was illegitimate
0:28:18 > 0:28:23"and that the title should descend to the son of the second Lady Gardner."
0:28:23 > 0:28:27It's very well-described, isn't it?
0:28:27 > 0:28:30So 20 years after the events of the divorce
0:28:30 > 0:28:35and the initial court cases, this issue is still going on
0:28:35 > 0:28:38and Maria's being dragged through having to relive it all again,
0:28:38 > 0:28:39I suppose.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44Why would he want to claim entitlement from...?
0:28:44 > 0:28:49I can only speculate on the draw of peerage title, wealth, perhaps.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53And I wonder if that was supported by his mother...
0:28:53 > 0:28:57- We don't know.- ..and Jadis? Whether they said, "Yes, give it a go."
0:28:57 > 0:28:59Or whether they said, "Oh, don't go there."
0:28:59 > 0:29:01What were those family discussions like
0:29:01 > 0:29:06and were they arguing or were they in agreement about the way to proceed?
0:29:06 > 0:29:10But it is interesting, 20 years on and here we are.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13And all comes from the fact that this issue was never resolved
0:29:13 > 0:29:15at the time and left hanging.
0:29:15 > 0:29:20So what we don't know is was she...? Did it give her the sense of,
0:29:20 > 0:29:26"I'm going to see this through", or...who knows?
0:29:26 > 0:29:31I'm speculating now as to her state of mind and her state of heart.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Maria died aged 50.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Goodness me.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Henry Jadis left a permanent memorial to his wife.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51"This little tribute of the fondest affection to the memory
0:29:51 > 0:29:54"of Maria Elizabeth, the wife of Henry Jadis,
0:29:54 > 0:30:00"who died on the fourth December, 1831 is inscribed by her husband,
0:30:00 > 0:30:04"whose days of happiness gone forever
0:30:04 > 0:30:07"by the bitterness of his sorrows."
0:30:10 > 0:30:15God, there's such feeling there, isn't there? Such feeling.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25"Her gentle love for his children, her fearful sufferings
0:30:25 > 0:30:28"and resignation, these are the tender
0:30:28 > 0:30:35"and mournful recollections pressing upon his weary heart."
0:30:35 > 0:30:40So he really... He loved her, didn't he?
0:30:42 > 0:30:45- Very modern, in a way.- Yeah.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Isn't it? When you think when that was,
0:30:47 > 0:30:54that he's as a man that perhaps as a 20th century would say,
0:30:54 > 0:30:57this is hell and, you know,
0:30:57 > 0:31:02and particularly your role as a woman is not good in this society,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04and I'm going to stand by you,
0:31:04 > 0:31:06and this is going to haunt us probably all our life,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09but may not deter our happiness.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12But I'm going to protect you and support you.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15He seemed, er, very much in love with her.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18They really tell the story of what they've gone through
0:31:18 > 0:31:20- as a couple together, don't they? - Yes.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22Thank you very much for the information.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24It's very moving.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33I'm sure that plaque that her husband wrote for her says it all,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37that she suffered all her life.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41They were obviously beloved of each other, loved each other,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44and she died quite young at the end of it all.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47It's just a very moving story.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Well, when I was looking at the family tree that my brother
0:32:03 > 0:32:06brought over that my grandfather had made,
0:32:06 > 0:32:10we had at the top Sophia Anne Delaval, in brackets, Honourable.
0:32:13 > 0:32:17I really want to know all about her and really what her story was.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21If we want to understand more about ourselves,
0:32:21 > 0:32:23we have to start with her.
0:32:23 > 0:32:27The Honourable Sophia Anne Delaval, mother of Henry Jadis,
0:32:27 > 0:32:31is Frances' great-great-great-great-grandmother.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34She is the first Delaval to appear on the family tree
0:32:34 > 0:32:36drawn up by Frances' grandfather.
0:32:43 > 0:32:49I am now on the trail of Sophia Delaval,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53but I will put in her married name,
0:32:53 > 0:32:58which is Jadis, and see what comes up.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02Um, must be that button.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05We have Sophia Jadis here.
0:33:05 > 0:33:12This is a burial record and it gives us County Lincolnshire Parish,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Doddington-Pigot, date 2nd August, 1793.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18Anyway, one result,
0:33:18 > 0:33:23so we have to take it from there, presumably in Doddington.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Frances knows that Sophia Anne had the title Honourable.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37She's heading for Doddington Hall,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40the main house in the village of Doddington in Lincolnshire.
0:33:47 > 0:33:53Ah, look at this house! It's monumental.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55Look at that.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59Dying to find out more and if my family had anything to do
0:33:59 > 0:34:03with living here, in which case, why aren't I?!
0:34:05 > 0:34:07Good afternoon, Frances.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10Hello. This is very exciting.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12I'm James Birch.
0:34:12 > 0:34:13James, OK.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16- Welcome to Doddington. - Thank you. Wow!
0:34:16 > 0:34:19- What a beauty.- Well, thank you.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21Incredible. So this is your home?
0:34:21 > 0:34:23- Well, yes.- And why isn't it mine?
0:34:23 > 0:34:25It's a long story.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28But, in particular, one of the last of the Delaval females
0:34:28 > 0:34:33had an affair with my wife's ancestor and she gave it to him.
0:34:33 > 0:34:34How amazing.
0:34:34 > 0:34:35There we go.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39So, um, shall we go inside and see what there is?
0:34:39 > 0:34:40In the late 18th century,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43the Delaval family were wealthy industrialists.
0:34:43 > 0:34:48They were also landed gentry, owning four estates across the country.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52James Birch has been searching the Delaval family archives
0:34:52 > 0:34:57for any information on Sophia Anne, also known as Sophie Anne.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02..in the archives. Now we don't have a huge amount about Sophie Anne,
0:35:02 > 0:35:06but we do have two letters that refer to Sophie Anne,
0:35:06 > 0:35:09around the sort of 1778 period.
0:35:09 > 0:35:14- I think it's to her sister from Sophie Anne herself.- OK.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18"My Dear Hussey, you're all too good to me.
0:35:18 > 0:35:20"You may think what you please of me,
0:35:20 > 0:35:25"but you never shall find that I forget the great goodness
0:35:25 > 0:35:31"of tenderness that I have felt for this most horrid misconduct of mine."
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Mm, well, what was that?
0:35:34 > 0:35:36Well, I have to say, I wish I knew but I don't.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39As with many of these sort of incidents,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41it's written out of the history,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43so we have no idea what this relates to.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48The other possible clue is the second letter to Sir John Delaval.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50John Delaval was her father
0:35:50 > 0:35:54and it's from one of his employees, and there again in 1778,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57and I think that possibly is linked to the first letter in some way.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00"My wife and I are heartily sorry
0:36:00 > 0:36:03"to hear of Miss Delaval's rash marriage
0:36:03 > 0:36:09"and heartily feel for your Honour and my Lady Hussey Delaval,
0:36:09 > 0:36:14"the affliction you must have had on the occasion."
0:36:14 > 0:36:15Goodness me.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19There's a lot of upset feelings around here.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22There has been a rash marriage
0:36:22 > 0:36:25and it obviously was something that was shocking.
0:36:25 > 0:36:30I long to hear what the drama was all about...
0:36:30 > 0:36:33in this beautiful house.
0:36:40 > 0:36:45There was a great disapproving of Sophia's rash marriage.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48This horrid misconduct,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51maybe that's just an overall view of
0:36:51 > 0:36:53how a girl should or shouldn't behave,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57or maybe it was something more drastic,
0:36:57 > 0:36:58but something awful's happened.
0:36:58 > 0:37:02And all this seemed to have happened in 1778,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04and it would be good to find out.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08Frances has come to the parish church on the Doddington Estate
0:37:08 > 0:37:10to look for any records of Sophia
0:37:10 > 0:37:13in the Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17It starts in 1695.
0:37:17 > 0:37:23So what we want is 1778, marriages...
0:37:23 > 0:37:291726, ah, here we are. No, that's Christenings.
0:37:29 > 0:37:33Turn over again. Just going to go by the dates now.
0:37:33 > 0:37:381752. Ah, take my glasses off so I can look a bit closer.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42So I've come to the date I want and I'm looking for a marriage.
0:37:42 > 0:37:481778, January 19th, but it says baptism, not a marriage.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52Sophia... There's something crossed out.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58Sophia Delaval, but that's crossed out,
0:37:58 > 0:38:02and on top, underlined, is Devereaux.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Henry, son of Henry Devereaux,
0:38:07 > 0:38:11Esquire of Bordeaux,
0:38:11 > 0:38:14it looks like, in France, different name.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19Devereaux. The plot thickens.
0:38:19 > 0:38:26I need to look at my little family tree that I wrote rather roughly.
0:38:26 > 0:38:32Um, so we're talking about Sophia Anne Delaval here,
0:38:32 > 0:38:36marries John Godfrey Maximillian Jadis.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42They have a son called Henry Jadis.
0:38:42 > 0:38:44Devereaux doesn't seem to come into it.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Devereaux has been wiped out of the history books, it seems.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51But she died a Jadis because I saw from the computer,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55when I was looking it up, that the burial records tell us
0:38:55 > 0:38:59that she was a Jadis, she was married to this man here.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02So was she actually married to Devereaux?
0:39:02 > 0:39:07Was it just a liaison? And they had a child.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10I need to know more about Devereaux,
0:39:10 > 0:39:15whether... What his existence was and why they were so upset,
0:39:15 > 0:39:20but I am interested to know why she then married a Jadis.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23So, that was the chaos.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31Frances has returned to Doddington Hall to try to unravel
0:39:31 > 0:39:35the truth behind the baptism of Sophia's son, Henry.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38She's meeting historian Sarah Richardson.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43Oh, how lovely. Look at that!
0:39:43 > 0:39:48So this could have been the drawing room that Sophia sat in.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Yeah, absolutely. I think it's highly likely
0:39:51 > 0:39:54that she spent a great deal of her time in here.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Funny feeling, isn't it, to think that she walked these floors?
0:40:00 > 0:40:01Oh, my goodness me.
0:40:03 > 0:40:08I've just seen the baptism record, and the name Delaval is crossed out,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12and Devereaux has been put next to Sophia Anne
0:40:12 > 0:40:15when she's having her child baptised, Henry.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19So I just wondered why the Delaval was crossed out.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24Clearly, there's been a deliberate insertion of Devereaux.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29We've looked into the origins of a Henry Devereaux in Bordeaux
0:40:29 > 0:40:31and there's no record of him at all.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33Oh!
0:40:33 > 0:40:38So there seems to be an implication that this marriage doesn't exist.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43All we know is she has turned up in Doddington with a son.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47So is that why she's put that in at that point,
0:40:47 > 0:40:50is to prove that the child was not illegitimate?
0:40:50 > 0:40:55What's important for the family's social standing is that there is
0:40:55 > 0:41:01a husband around, so that's why they create this fictional Mr Devereaux.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05So I just wanted to show you my family tree that I scribbled,
0:41:05 > 0:41:08and we have here Henry Jadis.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11So the Henry Jadis we have here
0:41:11 > 0:41:16is in fact that child that was baptised, so it has Henry Devereaux.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20I don't know how soon after...
0:41:20 > 0:41:25the baptism of her son she married John Jadis.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28So this is really the first evidence that we have,
0:41:28 > 0:41:30a couple of years later,
0:41:30 > 0:41:36about John Jadis, which is a bill from Thomas Greene,
0:41:36 > 0:41:42who's a lawyer to Sophia's father, Sir John Hussey Delaval.
0:41:43 > 0:41:48"February 6th, attending with Mr Jadis on Proctor
0:41:48 > 0:41:53"in Doctors Commons to have licence regularly made out
0:41:53 > 0:41:57"as they propose being married in the morning.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02"February 7th, attending early on Secretary at the War Office to
0:42:02 > 0:42:09"make myself certain Mr Jadis was the person he represented himself to be."
0:42:09 > 0:42:11So what was Jadis' background?
0:42:11 > 0:42:15Well, from other sources, we do know that he was in the army.
0:42:15 > 0:42:16He was an ensign,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19so he was the lowest of the sort of commissioned officers,
0:42:19 > 0:42:24clearly sort of far below Sophia's social standing and station.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27If we look at what her sisters are doing at the same time,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31they're all being married off into the aristocracy, basically.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33She has very few options.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38She's a single mother, she has a young child...
0:42:38 > 0:42:41She's clearly not going to be able to marry well.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47Yes, again, I discovered that in this wonderfully ordered house
0:42:47 > 0:42:52and where everything is just so, that everything isn't just so.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55Cos people are people and love comes into it
0:42:55 > 0:42:57and, you know, there's waywardness.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00So did this marriage work out?
0:43:00 > 0:43:04We have another letter that Sir John, the father,
0:43:04 > 0:43:06is writing to his land agent.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10It's a draft one, so I'm going to warn you it's difficult to read.
0:43:10 > 0:43:16And what's key about this letter is the crossings out and insertions.
0:43:16 > 0:43:24"I am extremely sorry to inform you that poor Sophie has acquainted me
0:43:24 > 0:43:31"and my family of her determination to part from Mr Jadis..." Oh.
0:43:32 > 0:43:38"..upon account of a long series of very bad treatment."
0:43:38 > 0:43:41And then he's crossed out what he then said.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43Yeah, and I think the crossings out here are...
0:43:43 > 0:43:46Are really important. That he does not...
0:43:46 > 0:43:49but he does not accuse her...
0:43:49 > 0:43:53or blame her, except by saying when he
0:43:53 > 0:44:00behaved to her as he should not have done, he had always drank too much.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04Well, that's extremely sad, isn't it?
0:44:04 > 0:44:06Because she had married a drunk.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09So where did Sophia go? What happened to her?
0:44:09 > 0:44:11What did she do?
0:44:11 > 0:44:16Well, we have letters that show that, a year after the separation,
0:44:16 > 0:44:18she'd moved to London.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22The separation on its own is another scandal that has hit the family
0:44:22 > 0:44:28because Sophia is now a woman living on her own with a child.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32Basically socially ostracised and her father's in a state,
0:44:32 > 0:44:36and... So what happens? What happens next?
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Oh, I hope she doesn't rush off with her child
0:44:39 > 0:44:42to the end of a cliff or something
0:44:42 > 0:44:46because she's obviously... It's just her and her child.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51It's bad enough in this day and age, women are still ostracised.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56Very sad. I'd like to know what happens.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Well, the next sort of piece of information that we have
0:44:59 > 0:45:02about Sophia comes from this bill.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04It just says...
0:45:04 > 0:45:06That's the name Mr Fussell.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10"Mr Fussell, Apothecary." It's a chemist, that's what he is.
0:45:10 > 0:45:121790. December 5th.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20This is a bill for the Honourable Mrs Jadis.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25So she's purchased something for £57.9 shillings,
0:45:25 > 0:45:27which is a lot of money.
0:45:30 > 0:45:32Oh, what has she bought?
0:45:37 > 0:45:39Oh, God, I don't know.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45She's going to do something horrible.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Sophia's predicament is just heart-breaking.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55To be an unmarried mother with a child,
0:45:55 > 0:45:59from a family that was very high in the social strata of things...
0:45:59 > 0:46:03There was lots of aristocrats around
0:46:03 > 0:46:07and she would have let the family name down,
0:46:07 > 0:46:10so it's a horrible situation to be in.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14I'd like to find out about the apothecary bill,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17why she spent so much money at the chemist.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19I can't imagine.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27But I think there's maybe something strange afoot there.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29I can't think what it is.
0:46:29 > 0:46:31Frances has returned to London
0:46:31 > 0:46:35to visit an original 18th-century apothecary store.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38She's meeting medical historian Tom Quick.
0:46:38 > 0:46:44The last thing I saw was a really large bill for over £57
0:46:44 > 0:46:48and I wondered what she would have been buying for that kind of money.
0:46:48 > 0:46:53- Well, we have these bills from 1790 and 1791.- Right.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57So if you'd just like to take a look at those.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01OK. 32 ounces of...
0:47:01 > 0:47:04So it's laudanum?
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Yes, yes. Yeah.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Is that a kind of...? Was that for depression or something like that?
0:47:10 > 0:47:13- What was it for? - Laudanum was a tincture of opium,
0:47:13 > 0:47:18so it would be opium soaked in wine or spirits.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22It was a very versatile drug, laudanum, opium in general,
0:47:22 > 0:47:25so people would recommend it for pain,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28but they would also recommend it for what they called diseases
0:47:28 > 0:47:31- or problems with the nervous system. - Yes.
0:47:32 > 0:47:37Today, opium is used to make heroin. But back in the 18th century,
0:47:37 > 0:47:41it was widely prescribed as a medicine in the form of laudanum.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44It was used for a whole range of ailments, from a simple cough,
0:47:44 > 0:47:49to toothache, to gynaecological pain, and it was highly addictive.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54She may have started out with perhaps taking
0:47:54 > 0:47:55something of this size.
0:47:55 > 0:48:00Right, yes. And then a light ounce of the same,
0:48:00 > 0:48:04and then a quarter of the same. Ten quarts.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08Eight ounces, 20 ounces, a pint here.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11And actually very frequently as well, you know.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14- So we have...- Oh, these are of course the dates, yes.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18January 7th, lots of laudanum, February 7th,
0:48:18 > 0:48:24April, May, June, July, a quarter of laudanum.
0:48:24 > 0:48:25God! August.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28So that's... Well, that's six... Over six months.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31Oh, my God, she's completely drugged with it.
0:48:33 > 0:48:37So do we know how she proceeded from here?
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Well, there are a few other items on these bills.
0:48:42 > 0:48:47Um, oh, a "specific lotion." What's that?
0:48:47 > 0:48:48It's a very vague phrase, I know,
0:48:48 > 0:48:52but it was actually often used by physicians as a sort of
0:48:52 > 0:48:56a means of talking about treatments for venereal disease.
0:48:56 > 0:48:57Oh, God!
0:48:57 > 0:49:02So she could have had... Well, any venereal disease or syphilis, even.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Yes. One of the most common diseases, for example,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10of people who joined the army would have course have been syphilis -
0:49:10 > 0:49:12- it was incredibly rife.- Oh, my god!
0:49:12 > 0:49:16So she could have... He could, her husband could have had it.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19Potentially. She started out taking the laudanum
0:49:19 > 0:49:22to ameliorate some sort of pain and...
0:49:22 > 0:49:24Yes. Let alone the state of mind.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27So it's a combination of a great deal of things, yeah.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29What happened to her?
0:49:29 > 0:49:34Well, we do have this document from 1793.
0:49:34 > 0:49:36OK.
0:49:36 > 0:49:43Just says... This is, I think, maybe her father, has got a bill,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45a funeral bill for Sophia.
0:49:45 > 0:49:46Yeah.
0:49:48 > 0:49:49So it killed her?
0:49:50 > 0:49:54This opium and...or if it was the, you know,
0:49:54 > 0:49:57any kind of form of syphilis or anything.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02So she killed herself, basically. It was like a slow death.
0:50:02 > 0:50:08"July 26th, died, 1793" -
0:50:08 > 0:50:14so that's Sophia's date of death.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19Is there a detail of the funeral?
0:50:19 > 0:50:21Yes, if you turn to the next page.
0:50:21 > 0:50:22OK.
0:50:22 > 0:50:23Oh, my God, look at this.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26- This is all one bill?- Yes.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31£316.9 shillings and threepence,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34so that is an enormous amount of money.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38That's thousands now, isn't it? And then it goes on.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42For a hearse and four horses for ten days,
0:50:42 > 0:50:46for a mourning coach and four horses.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49I mean, this is like a state funeral with a plate, gilt plate
0:50:49 > 0:50:53with inscription engraved.
0:50:53 > 0:50:58That's £59, just that page.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01And then it goes on and on.
0:51:01 > 0:51:05Oh, it's kind of making me feel a bit ill, actually, now.
0:51:05 > 0:51:10All the expenses of this funeral were paid by her father.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13- He was obviously... - Yes, they seem to have been.
0:51:13 > 0:51:20..full of guilt and concern, but also it looks like a kind of cover
0:51:20 > 0:51:27as well of no admittance to the life she actually led or how she died.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32I hate the hypocrisy of it. Guilt covered up by gelt!
0:51:37 > 0:51:41She had basically died from the poison,
0:51:41 > 0:51:46and one could say from circumstances she had no control over,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49so there can be no moral judgment on her.
0:51:49 > 0:51:55It's a sad end to a girl who had made some wrong choices in her life.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57One could also say that the expense of the funeral,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59what the father spent on her,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03it's like saying the final picture of this woman
0:52:03 > 0:52:05will be a beautiful one
0:52:05 > 0:52:09so that our family name can retain its reputation.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16The picture of her father seems to be one of a desperate man.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19He's covering up Sophie's life.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22I don't know, I can sense that there's been such trouble
0:52:22 > 0:52:25in the family that it must reflect on him.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27I'd like to find out.
0:52:27 > 0:52:30What an amazing place.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33Frances is travelling to Northumberland,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37to Seaton Delaval, the family's main residence.
0:52:37 > 0:52:38Amazing.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48She's come to meet Helen Berry...
0:52:48 > 0:52:49- Hello, Frances. - You must be Helen.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52..an expert on the Delaval family.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55- Nice to meet you. - Welcome to Seaton Delaval Hall.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59So, Frances, what I'd like to do is show you a portrait of Sophia,
0:52:59 > 0:53:01- your ancestor.- Yes.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04- And she has the whole of life ahead of her.- Yeah.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07- It's terribly optimistic. - I know. I think it's gorgeous.
0:53:07 > 0:53:12- Isn't she lovely?- And she's so sweet and seems confident, doesn't she?
0:53:12 > 0:53:16She has a rather cheeky face, and rather sweet and young
0:53:16 > 0:53:20and full of hope. Particularly sad, obviously,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23when you know what happened to her life.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25Any family resemblance, maybe, do you think?
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Maybe in the mouth.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29I think in the mouth, yes.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31Well, let's go along and have a look at her famous father
0:53:31 > 0:53:34- that you've heard a little bit about.- Right, OK.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38So this is actually Sir John Hussey Delaval himself. Lord Delaval.
0:53:38 > 0:53:41I thought he'd be sterner looking
0:53:41 > 0:53:45because that's what I'm getting from the whole drama
0:53:45 > 0:53:50of what we've been learning about him, the family and Sophia.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53Um, so I don't know what to think about him, really,
0:53:53 > 0:53:56because I don't know what was in his heart,
0:53:56 > 0:54:01and I don't know other than the obvious thing of posh families
0:54:01 > 0:54:08covering up tragedies that don't suit their image.
0:54:08 > 0:54:14So, yes, I'd like to see, hear more about him.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18Well, if I tell you that he inherited this amazing house
0:54:18 > 0:54:21in 1771, in very unusual circumstances...
0:54:21 > 0:54:25- Oh, right, OK. - ..and he was in fact a younger son.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27Oh, he was, yes.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30So I want to introduce you to someone now
0:54:30 > 0:54:32- who was actually his elder brother. - OK.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35- So shall we go and have a look at the portrait?- Yes. Can't wait.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41So, Frances, this is Sir Francis Blake Delaval,
0:54:41 > 0:54:44the elder brother of Sir John.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48This is a man with a story and the circumstances are very unusual.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01So the thing about Sir Francis was he loved a party.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Here we are in the saloon in Seaton Delaval Hall.
0:55:04 > 0:55:05I rather like this, yes.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09And this of course was the venue for magnificent parties.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11All of these parties were very costly
0:55:11 > 0:55:14- and the money had to come from somewhere...- Yeah.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17..so the brother, Sir John, started to get a bit worried.
0:55:17 > 0:55:22Also Sir Francis was a gambler. In an age when gambling was popular,
0:55:22 > 0:55:24he really took it to the max.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28This is a letter, and it's by Sir John Hussey Delaval,
0:55:28 > 0:55:33and he's writing to his wife, Susannah, expressing his concern
0:55:33 > 0:55:36about the amount of debt that his brother Sir Francis is getting into.
0:55:36 > 0:55:42Hm-hm. "I arrived, my angel, here yesterday about three.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47"I think it will be the means of preventing my brother's ruin
0:55:47 > 0:55:51"as I hope we shall be able to secure him from any attempt
0:55:51 > 0:55:54"that may be concerted against him."
0:55:54 > 0:55:58He eventually runs up £45,000 worth of debt,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02which is about £3.5 million in today's money.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04Oh, my god, yes.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07They're having to raise a huge amount of money.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10So actually, in 1756, Sir John
0:56:10 > 0:56:15and his siblings got up a private Act of Parliament which enabled them
0:56:15 > 0:56:20to raise a mortgage of £45,000 to pay off Sir Francis' debts.
0:56:20 > 0:56:25So the effect of this act is actually that Sir John is now
0:56:25 > 0:56:28the head of the family and Sir Francis has been
0:56:28 > 0:56:33replaced by his younger brother, and that was incredibly unusual.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37- Yes.- He actually succeeded in increasing the family's fortune,
0:56:37 > 0:56:39paying off his brother's debts
0:56:39 > 0:56:42and really setting them back on course financially.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44- Yeah.- He saves the day, really.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47He does. Well, he saves his family.
0:56:47 > 0:56:52I wonder whether that casts Sophia's funeral in a different light.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55Yes, I never thought that he didn't care at all,
0:56:55 > 0:57:01I just thought he did care, and he had to also be concerned
0:57:01 > 0:57:08about the reputation of his family, which comes first, I suppose.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24I'm trying to understand the times in which they lived
0:57:24 > 0:57:27and what pressures that put on them,
0:57:27 > 0:57:31and what pressures that puts on, you know, the aristocracy now.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33But, you know, my heart doesn't lie in it
0:57:33 > 0:57:39because it's so removed from how I live and what I believe in
0:57:39 > 0:57:42and what family is to me,
0:57:42 > 0:57:47because what is primary is their position in society.
0:57:50 > 0:57:54But it's nice at least to be in touch with a part of you,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57and particularly a part that my father was so -
0:57:57 > 0:58:01and my grandfather - were so keen on passing down.
0:58:02 > 0:58:08I think they were rather proud of that aristocratic background.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14I think it's really nice to have made an entrance
0:58:14 > 0:58:19and opened a gate into more information.
0:58:20 > 0:58:22In other words, it isn't an end,
0:58:22 > 0:58:24you know, the curtain hasn't come down.
0:58:24 > 0:58:29It's like we've done an act and we've got a few more acts to go.