0:00:03 > 0:00:05- Jean...- Tony.
0:00:05 > 0:00:06No.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07Tony!
0:00:07 > 0:00:08Jean...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10- No?- No.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Anne Reid is one of Britain's best-loved actors.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Her breakthrough role was in the '60s...
0:00:23 > 0:00:25with Coronation Street.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29She's starred on stage and screen,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32most recently as Celia
0:00:32 > 0:00:35in the popular TV drama Last Tango In Halifax.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40I was an inconvenience for 50 years. 50 years!
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Well, he's dead now, so...
0:00:42 > 0:00:46God, I've made better coffee than this is in the microwave!
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Anne is the youngest of four siblings in a close-knit family.
0:00:53 > 0:00:57All I remember of the Reids being together was laughs
0:00:57 > 0:00:59and music and dancing.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01And I don't really remember
0:01:01 > 0:01:04a very serious conversation taking place ever.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09I mean, my family liked to drink, that's all I remember...
0:01:09 > 0:01:10when I was young.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14We loved getting together and we had so many laughs, you know.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18They'd all got great senses of humour, and I just think I'm
0:01:18 > 0:01:21so lucky to have had a family like that.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23But beyond her immediate family,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Anne knows very little about her ancestry.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31If you dig up a few murderers, I'm not going to be shocked.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34You know, that's other people's lives.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36I don't think I'm going to get terribly weepy.
0:01:36 > 0:01:41I just think I'd like to be related to colourful ancestors, yes.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20I was born on the 28th of May, 1935, in Newcastle on Tyne,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24where my father worked on the Newcastle Chronicle.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27My father and all my brothers became journalists.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33And my grandfather worked on the Bolton Evening News.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35He had a column on cycling.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Anne knows lots about her grandfather, Thomas David, and
0:02:41 > 0:02:45her father, Colin, through the paper trail of writing they left behind.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Pretty amazing collection, isn't it, really?
0:02:51 > 0:02:53SHE CHUCKLES
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I need to go through it all.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58But the Reid men weren't
0:02:58 > 0:03:02so forthcoming about their own family history.
0:03:02 > 0:03:03I mean, my father was full of tales.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07He used to say they were ministers of the Kirk of Scotland
0:03:07 > 0:03:09or they were lawyers.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12That's all I know.
0:03:12 > 0:03:13It's a bit of a dead end, that,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16because my father didn't talk about it much.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19And I never asked any questions.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23Anne has recently done a bit of digging for herself,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27helped by a researcher, and now has a lead she wants to follow up.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33We got back to Scotland, to somewhere where my...
0:03:33 > 0:03:37great-grandfather lived. They managed to trace that.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47Anne's heading to Scotland to begin her search.
0:03:47 > 0:03:53I was told that my great-grandfather, Thomas, lived in a house
0:03:53 > 0:03:59called Easter Forret, somewhere in Fife, with his grandparents,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03not with his mother and father. And, um...
0:04:03 > 0:04:05I want to know why.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16Thomas Reid was one of three children.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21In 1842, when he was just five years old, he and his siblings lived
0:04:21 > 0:04:26with their maternal grandparents - David Husband and his wife Isabella.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Anne's arrived in Fife to pay a visit to the home
0:04:43 > 0:04:46of the Husband family, Easter Forret.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51The house is now owned by James Lindsay.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53DOG BARKS
0:04:57 > 0:04:59Good morning.
0:04:59 > 0:05:00Hello. We're intruding!
0:05:00 > 0:05:03- No, not at all. I'm James Lindsay. - Do you know the story?
0:05:03 > 0:05:06- Well, I heard that... - Is it your house?- It is, yes. I...
0:05:06 > 0:05:09- Yeah, my great-grandfather lived here.- And when was that?
0:05:09 > 0:05:13- 18...- 1850, 1840? - Something like that, yes.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16- Yeah. And is this the first time you've been up here?- Oh, yes. Yeah.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Oh, excellent. Well, welcome to Easter Forret anyway.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20- It's quite remote, isn't it? - Do you feel that?
0:05:20 > 0:05:23- I think it's got a lovely feel because it is remote.- Hello.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Who's that? Come and join us.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28- Come and join us. Is this your son? - Archie, come and say hello.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30- Hello, Archie. Are you Archie? - Archie, this is Mrs Reid.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33- Hello. I'm Annie. Hello.- Hello.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Did I see you at the station? No.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38- Hector, come and say hello. - No, I...- And Hector.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41- This is Hector.- Oh, we had a Hector! - My younger brother.- Did you?
0:05:41 > 0:05:43- There was a Hector, yes... - In the family as well?- Yes, yes.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46- Hector, say, "How do you do?" - How do you do?- Hello, Hector.
0:05:46 > 0:05:53- My great-grandfather lived in this house. Isn't that exciting?- Yeah.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05They must have had some money, mustn't they, I would think?
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Doesn't look poverty-stricken, does it?
0:06:13 > 0:06:19Thomas, little soul, his father and mother, John Reid
0:06:19 > 0:06:21and Margaret Reid, I don't know where they were.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Daddy used to say they were ministers of the Kirk of Scotland, you know.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29DOG BARKS
0:06:29 > 0:06:34Had they died or...? I wonder why he was living with his grandparents.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Anne now wants to find out what happened to Thomas'
0:06:43 > 0:06:46absent parents, John and Margaret.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51She's heading to the tiny hamlet of Logie,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56a mile from Easter Forret, to meet local genealogist Alison Murray.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00- Alison?- Hello. How nice to meet you. - Hello. I'm Annie Reid.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Alison's been searching for John and Margaret in the church records.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05You managed to get up here?
0:07:05 > 0:07:07So here we are in the churchyard.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15And this is a death record. Can you make this out here?
0:07:15 > 0:07:17- What does that say?- Husband.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21- Husband, yes. Margaret, yes. - Margaret, wife...
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Wife of John Reid.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Oh, that, that was his father.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27My great-grandfather's father was John Reid.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31- And that's his mother. - And Margaret. Yes.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36- And she died... - August 4th, 18...- '39.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41So, Thomas, he was living with his grandparents.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44- So he was an orphan?- Well, he may not have been an orphan.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47Well...where was his father, then, if his mother died?
0:07:47 > 0:07:48Well, this is the thing.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52We haven't found any records of John Reid having died here
0:07:52 > 0:07:53or round about the local area.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58But you can see from the record that John Reid was a schoolmaster
0:07:58 > 0:08:01at Logie, which is here.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06Yeah, right. That's my grand... great-great-grandfather.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08You get a bit dizzy with the greats.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Great-great-grandfather was a schoolmaster.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12- You can do. It can be very confusing.- In Logie?
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Yes. Just round the corner was where the school was.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17He would have taught just here.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20- Would you like to have a look? - Of course I would!
0:08:23 > 0:08:27So this area here, the school would have been at the bottom here.
0:08:27 > 0:08:31Right. So there isn't a school building left now?
0:08:31 > 0:08:33It's gone a long time ago. It was demolished.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36But this area at the bottom here would've... The building
0:08:36 > 0:08:39would've been there and there would've been some garden ground
0:08:39 > 0:08:40for the children to play in.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44The church and the school worked hand-in-hand as far as looking
0:08:44 > 0:08:47after the welfare of people who lived around here,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51- and the church had quite an important part to play.- Yeah.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55The Kirk here kept recordings of events and things that went on
0:08:55 > 0:08:59and we've actually found quite a lot about John Reid.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02- You've got a very mysterious look on your face...- Well, we've...
0:09:02 > 0:09:05..as if you know something that you're not telling me.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07We do know something.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Would you like to come into the church here?
0:09:12 > 0:09:16The school in Logie, where Anne's great-great-grandfather John taught
0:09:16 > 0:09:22in the 1830s, was run by the Church of Scotland, also known as the Kirk.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26The Kirk dominated every aspect of religious
0:09:26 > 0:09:28and social life in the village.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Oh, my goodness, what's this place?
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Well, this used to be the church,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38but it's now a bit of a building site.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41Someone's taken this on as a project.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45- I have some information regarding John Reid.- Right...
0:09:45 > 0:09:48John was expected to uphold high standards,
0:09:48 > 0:09:53and the Kirk elders recorded his every move over a 12-year period.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57- These are quite difficult... - Have to put my glasses on.- ..to read.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02- Wait a minute.- They've been transcribed, so that'll help you.
0:10:02 > 0:10:03Oh, right. Oh, thank you.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06So, there's a bit about John Reid.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10"John Reid, presently Parochial Teacher of Logie,
0:10:10 > 0:10:15"was in the year 1829 appointed assistant to the late
0:10:15 > 0:10:21"John Rintoul, then Parish Teacher, and after Mr Rintoul's death, which
0:10:21 > 0:10:27"happened in January, Mr Reid was elected to the vacant office."
0:10:27 > 0:10:29The parochial teacher.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32He became the teacher here at Logie.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35Now we move on to this minute.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40"Your petitioners are sorry to state Mr Reid has not,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44"at least for several years past, discharged the duties
0:10:44 > 0:10:47"incumbent on him as Parochial Teacher satisfactorily."
0:10:47 > 0:10:48Oh, dear!
0:10:48 > 0:10:53"And that the educational interests of the parish have suffered
0:10:53 > 0:10:54"much in consequence."
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Ooh, heavens, I don't like the bad news.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01"For three or four years last past, you have recently
0:11:01 > 0:11:04"and at various times, without proper cause, absented
0:11:04 > 0:11:07"yourself from your school, leaving your school to be taught by the
0:11:07 > 0:11:14"scholars themselves or by your late wife, on which occasion the greatest
0:11:14 > 0:11:19"disorder prevailed in the school and the boys attending it were known
0:11:19 > 0:11:25"to contend amongst themselves which should be teacher for the day."
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Oh, my goodness, he didn't behave terribly well.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I wonder if he was down the pub!
0:11:31 > 0:11:32Gets curiouser and curiouser.
0:11:32 > 0:11:40"During the year 1838, you, the said John Reid, wrought as a labourer in
0:11:40 > 0:11:43"the village of Logie and elsewhere, when houses were in the course
0:11:43 > 0:11:47"of being built or erected for you..."
0:11:47 > 0:11:51- Mm-hm.- He was building houses for himself. What a naughty man.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57"..assisting the tradesmen employed thereat to the
0:11:57 > 0:12:00"neglect of your school and scholar and further..."
0:12:00 > 0:12:04He'd decided to turn himself into a businessman, had he, presumably?
0:12:04 > 0:12:05It looks very like it, doesn't it?
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Yes. He wasn't a fool, though, was he, really?
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The children were probably fine. This...
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Sorry, I know it's not funny.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15"You, the said John Reid,
0:12:15 > 0:12:21"were grossly intoxicated on several occasions..."
0:12:21 > 0:12:26"particularly upon the 11th February, 1837,
0:12:26 > 0:12:30"or upon the 11th day of November, 1838,
0:12:30 > 0:12:32"when you continued drinking..."
0:12:32 > 0:12:35I'm sorry, I know this is not funny.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39"..until about four o'clock next morning."
0:12:39 > 0:12:41He certainly made a good job of it.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Oh, dear! Yes, well, it's in the family, dear.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46I mean, it's fine.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50"And also in or about the month of December, when you continued
0:12:50 > 0:12:55"drinking till the morning of the following day, which was Sunday."
0:12:56 > 0:12:59I'm sorry, this is so funny.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02Poor... Well, he was unhappy, wasn't he,
0:13:02 > 0:13:04cos he'd lost his wife, hadn't he?
0:13:04 > 0:13:07- Um, at that point...- At that point.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11- ..er, she was still alive at that point.- Oh, really?
0:13:11 > 0:13:16- This is in 1838...- And she died... - ..and she died in 1839.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20- Oh, this is awful.- Mm.- Well...
0:13:20 > 0:13:23And she was often looking after the schoolhouse while he was...
0:13:23 > 0:13:26We do... The Reids do like a drink or two, I have to say.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28We don't drink that much
0:13:28 > 0:13:32but he seems to have excelled at it, actually.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Oh... That's hilarious.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40- I mean, he was obviously drunk for days, wasn't he?- Mm.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42Oh, I'm getting to love this man.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46"During barley seed time in the year 1840, you, the said John Reid,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51"went to the house of John Angus at about ten o'clock at night
0:13:51 > 0:13:55"and by your riotous and disorderly conduct..."
0:13:55 > 0:13:59SHE GIGGLES
0:13:59 > 0:14:01"..disorderly conduct,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04"insisting to get into your house,
0:14:04 > 0:14:08"you occasioned great disturbance and annoyance to the persons
0:14:08 > 0:14:15"in the house, to the neighbourhood and made use of very abusive...
0:14:18 > 0:14:21"..and unbecoming language.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24"And on another occasion more recently,
0:14:24 > 0:14:29"you went to the house of John Angus when he and his..."
0:14:29 > 0:14:32THEY LAUGH
0:14:32 > 0:14:37- "..when he and his family were in bed..."- Oh, dear!
0:14:37 > 0:14:40"..and threatened to break open the door,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45"also on this occasion making the use of more improper language."
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Oh, dear. He was really wild, wasn't he?
0:14:53 > 0:14:55Well, it sounds a bit like it, doesn't it?
0:14:55 > 0:14:56Yes, I can see where it all came from now.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I wish my father and my brothers were alive...
0:14:59 > 0:15:00I think they'd quite enjoy the story.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02They would have found that hilarious.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05They would've laughed and laughed and laughed.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Oh, I hope it hasn't got a sad ending.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12"In consequence of speculation engaged in by you,
0:15:12 > 0:15:17"the said John Reid, you contracted debts..." Oh!
0:15:17 > 0:15:22"..and was imprisoned for the same within the jail of Cupar.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25"You were again imprisoned in the said jail on the 29th day
0:15:25 > 0:15:30"of the month of May last at the insistence of the Procurator Fiscal
0:15:30 > 0:15:36"of Fife on a charge of forgery and still remain in said jail to the
0:15:36 > 0:15:41"previous neglect of your school and duties as a schoolmaster."
0:15:41 > 0:15:42What did he forge?
0:15:42 > 0:15:44That you'll have to find out.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Well, this was clearly why his son
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and children were living up at Easter Forret, I would think.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53I would think so too. Yeah.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Because they couldn't...
0:15:55 > 0:15:58they couldn't trust him to look after them.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06By 1841, John was in serious trouble.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11He'd contracted debts and was in jail, awaiting trial, for forgery.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18Anne's come to Edinburgh to find out more about the case against him.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21She's formed some firm opinions about his accusers.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24I don't want to offend the people of Logie,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28but I have this picture of the villagers of that time
0:16:28 > 0:16:31all dressed in their black bombazine
0:16:31 > 0:16:35with their buns and their bonnets and all being terribly disapproving
0:16:35 > 0:16:41of this rebel who is sort of going, "Oh," you know, "Get lost!"
0:16:41 > 0:16:45I just have this vision of my grandfather, you know,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49standing there with a bottle of whisky, telling them all to go and...
0:16:49 > 0:16:51you know, do whatever.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56And lines of people frowning at him and looking terribly disapproving,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59and I think he would get more and more rebellious.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01Well, I would.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12Anne's meeting legal expert Professor David Nash.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15He's found John Reid's case amongst the trial documents
0:17:15 > 0:17:18in the National Records of Scotland.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21- I'm getting a bit nervous now.- Right.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24- I don't like the look of this. - All will be revealed soon.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29So if we start just down here.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32- If you'd like to...- Shall I read that?- ..see what it says.
0:17:32 > 0:17:40"John Reid, Schoolmaster of Logie, lately prisoner..." Mmm!
0:17:40 > 0:17:45"..accused of the crime of forgery and also..." "Wickedly", is that?
0:17:45 > 0:17:49- Wickedly.- Oh, please! "..and wickedly and..."
0:17:49 > 0:17:51Feloniously.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56- "..feloniously using..." What's that?- "As genuine."
0:17:56 > 0:17:59- "..any forged bill of exchange." - Right, that's interesting.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03A forged... A bill of exchange is basically a sort of very
0:18:03 > 0:18:08sophisticated IOU, which has got a number of people's signatures.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11- Right.- And, of course, the more signatures you get,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15- the more trust someone has in that bill of exchange.- Yes.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19- And would he have a few, then? - There's quite a few signatures.- Yes.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22- "Having thereon..." - "..thereon any forged..."
0:18:22 > 0:18:25- Forged... Subscription is signatures.- Right.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28"Knowing the same to be forged."
0:18:28 > 0:18:29SHE GASPS
0:18:29 > 0:18:31He meant he forged the signatures?
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Well, this is certainly the indictment charge.
0:18:36 > 0:18:37Oh, my goodness.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41So this is basically the first stage of legal proceedings against him.
0:18:41 > 0:18:48The next stage from that is to actually look at this, which is...
0:18:50 > 0:18:53This is actually the bill of exchange.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Oh, good heavens!
0:18:56 > 0:18:59That he actually...?
0:18:59 > 0:19:02- This is ostensibly what he "wickedly and feloniously"...- Poor man.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05- And this is his writing?- Yes.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07It's like my father's writing.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09And it's like my brother's writing.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13- 49...- 49 pounds, 19 shillings.
0:19:13 > 0:19:1519 shillings.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19John was accused of forging a signature on a bill of exchange.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23He could then use the bill to raise money to clear his debts.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28So, ostensibly, what your ancestor has done is,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30once he's got the signatures on here,
0:19:30 > 0:19:33he's gone somewhere to sell this.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37What he would have done is, he would have sold it for less than £49.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41So, you know, a bank or a business would have bought this for, say,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44perhaps £40 or even £30, and...
0:19:44 > 0:19:46They would have given him the money then.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49They would have given him £30 and they... For them, it's
0:19:49 > 0:19:52a useful business transaction because they can of course turn up
0:19:52 > 0:19:59- later and get the £49 for having only paid out 40 or 30.- Right. Gosh.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03So there was quite a trade in these, which also indicates why
0:20:03 > 0:20:06people were prepared to forge them.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11- See, my family were never any good at money.- Ah, well...- Never.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Anyone whose signature appeared on the bill would be expected to
0:20:15 > 0:20:18pay up when it was finally cashed in.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Among the signatures is a familiar name.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25David Husband. This is the forgery.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Oh, John. Oh, dear.
0:20:30 > 0:20:36So he forged the signature of his wife's father, who was quite
0:20:36 > 0:20:39a money man cos he had this nice house.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Er, well, that's the signature on there.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47But in his sworn testimony, John maintained his innocence.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49And here we can see...
0:20:51 > 0:20:56"Mr John Reid, teacher, Logie, declared that the whole..."
0:20:56 > 0:21:00- Names.- "..names on the said bill are genuine."
0:21:00 > 0:21:01Is that what he's saying?
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Yes, he's saying people signed it in good faith.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07That, basically, they signed it in exchange for...
0:21:07 > 0:21:09- They weren't forgeries, is what he's saying.- Yes.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11- He's standing in court saying... - Right.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13..you know, this is a bona fide transaction,
0:21:13 > 0:21:15those signatures are genuine.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Right.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20The next stage from that is to actually look at this.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28And here we go. This is David Husband, his testimony.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30- This is his father-in-law?- Yes.
0:21:30 > 0:21:38"David Husband, farmer at Easter Forret, age 68.
0:21:38 > 0:21:45"I have just now seen a bill bearing to be for 49 pounds, 19 shillings
0:21:45 > 0:21:47"dated Logie, 8th January, 1840."
0:21:47 > 0:21:50- There's no doubt it's this.- Yes.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55"And, being interrogated, declares that he never subscribed said bill."
0:21:55 > 0:21:57That's what David Husband is saying, yes.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00- Yes, so he's saying, "That's not my signature."- Yes.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05This is actually a sort of court receipt that people sign to
0:22:05 > 0:22:07say that this is the item in question.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10A document signed by David Husband, witnessed in court,
0:22:10 > 0:22:13provides evidence of what really happened.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14If we look at this...
0:22:14 > 0:22:16David Husband, yes.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20..and see what it looks like in relation to this signature here.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30- If you'd like to compare those two signatures...- Yeah, well, it's...
0:22:30 > 0:22:33No, it is not the same, is it? No.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47I mean, really, I could forge that easily. No problem whatsoever.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Why didn't he do a better job of it?
0:22:51 > 0:22:57It's beginning to look a bit... not very nice.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00I hope this is not going to end really sadly.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13Anne's next stop is the Supreme Court, where John's case was tried.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22In 1842, the law was coming down heavily on financial crime.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Forgery was considered so serious that it was dealt with here,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29in the highest court in the land.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40While his trial was in progress,
0:23:40 > 0:23:44John was incarcerated in a tiny basement cell below the courtroom.
0:23:46 > 0:23:52So this is the cell where he was held.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55And it's all changed, it's all been done up since then,
0:23:55 > 0:24:01but this is actually what he would have looked out at...
0:24:01 > 0:24:04while waiting to hear his fate.
0:24:04 > 0:24:09Must have been all dark in here then. And cold.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17He would have been so scared.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19I hate in life to feel trapped
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and to be forced into doing something I don't want to do.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27And this is where he would've gone up...to the court.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Ohh!
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Those are the steps that he would've gone up.
0:24:34 > 0:24:39Well, I'd just want to kill everybody if I'd been him.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01This is courtroom number three,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04which is the actual court in which John was tried.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06And was it like this then?
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Well, obviously, there's a significant number of improvements
0:25:09 > 0:25:12but, er, the essence of it is still here.
0:25:12 > 0:25:17As you can see, this is where the judge would've sat and presided.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22And over there is the defendant, who would have been stood...
0:25:22 > 0:25:24He would've been standing here?
0:25:24 > 0:25:26Yes. And/or seated.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30- This is where he would have sat? - Yes, this is the dock.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40And here we have the verdict.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42If you'd like to have a look...
0:25:45 > 0:25:50"Mr Patton addressed the jury on behalf of the panel."
0:25:50 > 0:25:52"The panel" - what does "the panel" mean?
0:25:52 > 0:25:55The panel is the defendant, it's the Scottish phrase for the defendant.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56Oh, I see.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00"The jury unanimously finds the panel guilty as libelled.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06"In respect of the verdict above recorded, the Lord Commissioners
0:26:06 > 0:26:10"of Justiciary discern and adjudge the said John Reid to..."
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Oh, my God!
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Oh, my God!
0:26:21 > 0:26:29"..to-to be transported beyond the seas for the period of seven years,
0:26:29 > 0:26:33"and ordained him to be detained in the prison
0:26:33 > 0:26:40"of Edinburgh till removed for transportation. James Moncrieff."
0:26:40 > 0:26:42That's appalling!
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Taking him away from his children.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I didn't think they still sent people.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51He was a convict.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55Well, for 50 or so years earlier, the death penalty would've been
0:26:55 > 0:27:00available for this offence or publicly to be whipped.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06But both of those sentences more or less completely died out
0:27:06 > 0:27:10by this period and transportation is still hanging on.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12What horrible people.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20Oh! I hope they all died horrible deaths!
0:27:22 > 0:27:25Well, what this society believes it's doing is it believes it's
0:27:25 > 0:27:28removing, um, a disreputable source...
0:27:28 > 0:27:33He only forged a signature, for God's sake! Oh, please!
0:27:33 > 0:27:36I wonder what he'd ever done in his life.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Oh, people are so awful.
0:27:43 > 0:27:44So he went.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46Where did he go to?
0:27:46 > 0:27:48This is the prison record.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54I don't believe this, I just feel... This is incredible.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Can you see him down here? John Reid.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00"John Reid, forgery," yes.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04- How sad.- And this last section is crucial.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07That's VD... VDL.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Which is...Van Diemen's Land.
0:28:13 > 0:28:14Tasmania.
0:28:16 > 0:28:17Australia?
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Oh, good Lord!
0:28:21 > 0:28:24So he went on one of those horrible convict ships.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Good Lord! I really...
0:28:30 > 0:28:32Well, I've made jokes, actually,
0:28:32 > 0:28:37to my niece in Australia about convicts, but I never
0:28:37 > 0:28:44imagined for a minute that one of my relatives would have been a convict.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46How very weird.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49David Husband would've been in this court, wouldn't he,
0:28:49 > 0:28:51- watching this procedure. - It's distinctly possible.
0:28:51 > 0:28:54I can just see the man.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56Pompous idiot.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01I've got pictures of all these people now.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08And Isabella, doing what she was told, being a dutiful wife.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12I feel very weird cos I want revenge, you see,
0:29:12 > 0:29:16and these people are all dead now, so I can't get revenge.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20But that's what I'm... I'm a revengeful person,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22I don't think I would forgive them.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Maybe his life continuing at the other side of the world
0:29:27 > 0:29:30- is the best revenge of all.- Yes.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34I hope he survived.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36I do hope he survived and did well.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Cos some of them did well, didn't they, the convicts.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54From Edinburgh, John Reid was sent south to London to be held
0:29:54 > 0:30:00in a prison hulk, a floating jail ship docked in the River Thames.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04These hulks were notoriously over-crowded and disease-ridden.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13Nine months later, in the autumn of 1842,
0:30:13 > 0:30:18he sailed for Tasmania on the transport ship the Earl Grey.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23He was one of over 5,000 convicts sent to the island that year,
0:30:23 > 0:30:28part of a ruthless system to rid Britain of its criminal population -
0:30:28 > 0:30:30some as young as ten.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Following in John's footsteps, Anne's come to the other side of the
0:30:42 > 0:30:48world, to Tasmania, an island 150 miles south of mainland Australia.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57In John's day, the island was a wild and lawless place.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00White settlers, greedy for farmland,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04had all but wiped out the indigenous Aboriginal population.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10What few roads and buildings did exist had largely been built
0:31:10 > 0:31:14by the convicts under a brutal regime of hard labour.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17John was arriving into what was -
0:31:17 > 0:31:22even by the standards of the day - a notoriously wicked colony.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33I feel so connected to him, that's the weirdest thing.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38This man who I didn't know anything about, I feel totally connected to.
0:31:40 > 0:31:41How was he treated?
0:31:42 > 0:31:47Um, there's so much I want to find out about the journey
0:31:47 > 0:31:49and about actually arriving.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53And whether he ever got back home to see his children.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01Anne's in Hobart meeting historian Trudy Cowley.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03And is this where he arrived?
0:32:03 > 0:32:06He did, if you...
0:32:06 > 0:32:07This actual place?
0:32:07 > 0:32:11- This is Sullivans Cove...- Yes. - ..and he arrived here.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14The ship would have been anchored just out here.
0:32:14 > 0:32:17How long did it take to get to it from England?
0:32:17 > 0:32:19101 days.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22And how many people would the Earl Grey have held?
0:32:22 > 0:32:25- 283 convicts.- Right.
0:32:25 > 0:32:31I've got...a record of when they arrived here.
0:32:31 > 0:32:35- Right.- The officials took down details about them.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39We have all these wonderful convict records that give us information
0:32:39 > 0:32:43about what the convicts were like, including what they look like.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45- So here is the one for John. - Oh, my goodness.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48Oh! Oh, gosh! Ahh!
0:32:48 > 0:32:52- My great-great-grandfather. - So they come on board
0:32:52 > 0:32:55and they take down all these details for each one of the convicts.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00- So this is a description... - Oh, look at that! Ohh!
0:33:00 > 0:33:04"John Reid, schoolmaster, five feet..." What? "..seven and a..."
0:33:04 > 0:33:05Eight and a quarter.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08"..eight and a quarter, age 49.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11"Complexion: Fresh.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14"Head: Large."
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Oh, I said I wasn't going to cry on this programme!
0:33:17 > 0:33:19THEY LAUGH
0:33:19 > 0:33:23It's amazing. "Hair: Brown. Visage..."
0:33:23 > 0:33:24- Long.- "..long."
0:33:24 > 0:33:26He had a long face.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29That's right, that's a Reid face.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32- "Forehead: High."- Yes.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34"Eyebrows: Light.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38"Eyes: Grey." And he's short-sighted.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41Yes. So I wonder whether he had glasses?
0:33:44 > 0:33:49How amazing. Oh, gosh, I wish my dad was here.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53- So you can get a picture of what he was like.- Yeah.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55Suddenly, I'm meeting him.
0:33:55 > 0:33:58Now, when he came out on the ship,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02- every convict ship had a Surgeon Superintendent...- Right.
0:34:02 > 0:34:07..that was responsible for the welfare of the convicts,
0:34:07 > 0:34:09both discipline and health.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11What a task.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13And Colin Arrott Browning was
0:34:13 > 0:34:16- the Surgeon Superintendent on the Earl Grey.- Browning?
0:34:16 > 0:34:17Browning, yes.
0:34:17 > 0:34:21And so Browning basically had all of the power over the convicts.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23Not the captain of the ship or not the armed guard,
0:34:23 > 0:34:25it was the Surgeon Superintendent.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29So if you made a good impression on the Surgeon Superintendent,
0:34:29 > 0:34:31life could be a little bit better.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33And he made your great-great-grandfather
0:34:33 > 0:34:35the Inspector of Schools.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38- Oh, I see!- And that is...
0:34:38 > 0:34:40So he did well on the boat, then?
0:34:40 > 0:34:43That's the most important position a convict could hold on the ship.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52John's role as Inspector of Schools on the Earl Grey was
0:34:52 > 0:34:54an important one.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57The authorities were keen to reform as well as punish the convicts,
0:34:57 > 0:35:02and they were given lessons in writing, reading and Bible study.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Over two thirds of the convicts could neither read nor write
0:35:06 > 0:35:07at the start of the voyage.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11By the end of it, only one remained illiterate, according to the
0:35:11 > 0:35:16Superintendent Surgeon's records, later published as a diary.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Browning's diary also has several accounts
0:35:19 > 0:35:22written by the prisoners themselves.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25What's really remarkable is that here
0:35:25 > 0:35:30we have a letter written by your great-great-grandfather, John.
0:35:30 > 0:35:31So these are his words.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35Oh, gosh! How amazing.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40"My prayer to God will now be to make me useful in some degree,
0:35:40 > 0:35:43"according to the limited..." Oh!
0:35:43 > 0:35:46"..according to the limited power bestowed on me.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50"Good health and perseverance, I believe...
0:35:53 > 0:35:55"..being all that I possess,
0:35:55 > 0:36:01"more than any other of my equals."
0:36:01 > 0:36:06This is what we all have, this - touch wood -
0:36:06 > 0:36:09good health and doggedness.
0:36:09 > 0:36:10I'm like that.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14Not brilliant, just dogged, and my dad was the same. And...
0:36:16 > 0:36:21"Until Providence is pleased to restore me again..." Oh!
0:36:21 > 0:36:27"..again to my infant orphaned family,
0:36:27 > 0:36:29"now scattered and dependent."
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Oh, that's SO sad.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43"JR."
0:36:45 > 0:36:46Oh, God.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50It's just heart-breaking.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55See, that's what I think, to be separated from his children...
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Mm. So difficult.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02So, he's here, he's well thought of, they can't just turn him
0:37:02 > 0:37:06into an ordinary convict and building things, surely?
0:37:06 > 0:37:10If he had arrived up to three years earlier, it would've been
0:37:10 > 0:37:13under the Assignment System, and because he had such a good,
0:37:13 > 0:37:16glowing recommendation by the Surgeon Superintendent,
0:37:16 > 0:37:21he would've been given a comfortable billet for the rest of his sentence.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24But he hasn't arrived in the Assignment System.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28He's arrived in the Probation System, three years after it begun.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30And the Probation System was introduced
0:37:30 > 0:37:34so that all convicts would be treated equally when they arrived.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39What absolute nonsense!
0:37:43 > 0:37:46The Convict Probation System was a new innovation
0:37:46 > 0:37:48when John arrived in 1843.
0:37:48 > 0:37:52It broke the convict's sentence into two stages -
0:37:52 > 0:37:55first, punishment, then rehabilitation.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58The eventual aim was to move convicts into employment,
0:37:58 > 0:38:02but first they had to endure at least two years of imprisonment
0:38:02 > 0:38:06and hard labour in a camp known as a Probation Station.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11So they were removed from the ship
0:38:11 > 0:38:14and they were marched up the streets here to the penitentiary to stay
0:38:14 > 0:38:19overnight in an outbuilding - all 283 men crammed into an outbuilding.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23He was allocated to a probation gang and, the next morning,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26he would've been sent off to one of the Probation Stations,
0:38:26 > 0:38:30which were mostly in remote locations out in the bush,
0:38:30 > 0:38:33- walking through the bush to get to them.- It's insanity.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38And the ship's surgeon...wouldn't have had any say in that whatsoever?
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Apart from what he's written on the report...
0:38:56 > 0:39:02John Reid, now 49, was marched 50 miles through the bush
0:39:02 > 0:39:04to the southeast of the island.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06He was to become part of a labour gang,
0:39:06 > 0:39:09forced to build what's now known as the Convict Road.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Anne's meeting historian Geoff Ritchie at the eastern end of it.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23- You're Geoff?- Geoff.- Yes, I'm Annie. Hello.- Lovely to meet you.
0:39:23 > 0:39:25- How are you?- And you.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32- Why is it called the Convict Road? - Well, quite simply,
0:39:32 > 0:39:34it was actually constructed by the convicts themselves.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38- Oh, this, they made this road? - They made this road.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41- Are there snakes here? - No, you'll be fine.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45The convicts were basically set up in Probation Stations
0:39:45 > 0:39:48and put on to building roads, building bridges.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50Right. Wasn't much of a road.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54They didn't do a very good job, did they, if I may so?
0:39:54 > 0:39:57Well, I think it would probably have settled and eroded over time.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59It's fairly...very, very old now.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Right. Can I take your hand a minute? Thank you very much.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09Sorry, Anne, we might just sit down here perhaps, shall we?
0:40:09 > 0:40:13- This log?- A nice little seat. - Oh, OK.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16I hope there's, I hope there's nothing living in it.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18- You'll be very right there.- I hope it doesn't get up and walk away!
0:40:18 > 0:40:20It's not going to walk over you.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28In temperatures reaching as high as 40 degrees,
0:40:28 > 0:40:30the convicts hacked out stone
0:40:30 > 0:40:34to build the road running from Buckland to Prosser's Bay.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39This was to be part of a road network linking penal colonies
0:40:39 > 0:40:41throughout the island.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48In the thickly wooded, rocky terrain,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51the convicts also built the probation station
0:40:51 > 0:40:54where they'd live for the next two years.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00This is basically a schematic plan of one of the two stations
0:41:00 > 0:41:02that were on this road.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04- Because...- Yes.- ..coming out to the new station,
0:41:04 > 0:41:07cos they're going to have to build these places that are on this road.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10So when they came here they had to build their own accommodation
0:41:10 > 0:41:13- because there was just this. - There's nothing here.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16- Scrubland.- Nothing here.- Right, OK.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20And each of these stations probably housed 250 to 300 people in cells.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22The Lockup Hole, the Watchman's Hut.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25- Yes.- Assistant Superintendent,
0:41:25 > 0:41:26the oven, the bake house, right.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28Doctor's quarters, cookhouse.
0:41:31 > 0:41:32A chapel.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35I love the way they have a chapel.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Treating these people in the most un-Christian way...
0:41:40 > 0:41:43..but they still went and prayed on Sunday, right.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47And how would they have spent a day, do you think?
0:41:47 > 0:41:48Is there any record of that?
0:41:48 > 0:41:50They'd be out at the crack of dawn.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53They'd be out there breaking rocks, as we've seen along here,
0:41:53 > 0:41:54it's very rocky around this area,
0:41:54 > 0:41:56so they'd be breaking up those rocks
0:41:56 > 0:41:59to use them in the construction of the road.
0:41:59 > 0:42:01I mean, in this case, where they're coming through the bush,
0:42:01 > 0:42:04they'd have to clear the area, clear the logs, clear the trees,
0:42:04 > 0:42:06they were constantly on the go.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17They'd march back to the station in the evening.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20- Like the chain gang sort of thing. - Yes. Yeah.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22There'd be soldiers around them,
0:42:22 > 0:42:24armed soldiers around them all the time
0:42:24 > 0:42:25to make sure they didn't...
0:42:25 > 0:42:27didn't try to abscond.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32The backbreaking work was brutal.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36But the discipline imposed on convicts like John
0:42:36 > 0:42:38was equally severe.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41A contemporary account describes what could happen.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45This is a little interesting something here
0:42:45 > 0:42:46that you might like to see.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48It just gives you a little taste of what it would have been like
0:42:48 > 0:42:51in the station itself.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53"Then commenced the course of government
0:42:53 > 0:42:56"and discipline, to which I have been subjected.
0:42:56 > 0:43:01"The triangle was erected, the horrid cat."
0:43:01 > 0:43:02What was the triangle?
0:43:02 > 0:43:07The triangle was basically, as it states, a triangle of timbers.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09And the person was strapped to the...
0:43:09 > 0:43:10- Tied to it.- Tied to it.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12"The horrid cat."
0:43:12 > 0:43:13Short for cat-of-nine-tails.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17"I saw with grief and pain, flourished about the station
0:43:17 > 0:43:20"by a fellow prisoner, appointed flagellator."
0:43:20 > 0:43:23I mean, that must have been hard for them, mustn't it?
0:43:23 > 0:43:26"Transportation is a terrible evil
0:43:26 > 0:43:29"to be dreaded above all temporal evil.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33"Under such circumstances the strongest mind becomes dejected
0:43:33 > 0:43:35"and the spirit broken.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39"Oh, that men and women would take warning
0:43:39 > 0:43:41"and shun the commission of crime
0:43:41 > 0:43:46"which entails upon the offender such indescribable misery."
0:44:06 > 0:44:09The stones are still here that they cut.
0:44:09 > 0:44:12Found a little regular shaped stone.
0:44:13 > 0:44:14Who knows?
0:44:14 > 0:44:17Maybe my great-great-grandfather cut that.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20Anyway, he would have stood somewhere here
0:44:20 > 0:44:22and seen the same hills
0:44:22 > 0:44:26and I feel a great sense of...
0:44:26 > 0:44:28being with him, his presence here.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32I would think he hated not to be free.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46But once the hard labour was over, there was hope for John.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50Two years into his seven-year sentence
0:44:50 > 0:44:52he became eligible for a pass.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54This was a document of parole,
0:44:54 > 0:44:58allowing him to work for a local settler under certain conditions.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03If he broke those conditions his pass would be revoked.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16Anne's meeting historian Hamish Maxwell-Stewart
0:45:16 > 0:45:19to discover what happened to John after he left the Convict Road.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26There is a notice in the Hobart Town Gazette dated August 16, 1844,
0:45:26 > 0:45:30and it's a huge list of convicts who are coming out of probation,
0:45:30 > 0:45:33and it tells you where they went.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36And there we have John Reid down there.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39- It says, "John Reid..." - "Earl Grey..."- Yes.
0:45:39 > 0:45:42- "..to Joseph Hayton, Iron Creek." - Yes.
0:45:42 > 0:45:44That would mean he would be sent to that house?
0:45:44 > 0:45:49It means that he signed a contract to work with that settler.
0:45:49 > 0:45:55- So he's moved from working in a road gang to a settler.- Right.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58And as a pass holder working for a settler
0:45:58 > 0:46:00he'll be on a small wage as well.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Then something very interesting happens,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05and so we have little advertisements that start appearing
0:46:05 > 0:46:09in the newspaper for the Carlton District.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11Can you see who that is?
0:46:11 > 0:46:12John Reid.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16"The Carlton Agricultural Society.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18"The members, but especially the directors,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22"are requested to meet at Carlton Inn on Thursday evening,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25"the seventh instant, at six o'clock to audit the accounts
0:46:25 > 0:46:29"and to consider what means shall be adopted to carry out
0:46:29 > 0:46:33"the object of the society in a ploughing match..."
0:46:33 > 0:46:35ANNE LAUGHS
0:46:35 > 0:46:37"..to come off early this season.
0:46:37 > 0:46:43"By order of the committee, John Reid, Clerk and Secretary."
0:46:43 > 0:46:47And that was September 1st, 1840...?
0:46:47 > 0:46:49Yes, that one is 1848.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51'48.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53So they organise this annual ploughing competition...
0:46:53 > 0:46:56- Yeah.- ..where people assembled their plough teams
0:46:56 > 0:46:58- and their best ploughmen.- Right.
0:46:58 > 0:47:03And we have here other notices that are very much like this.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07And what I particularly like about this one is that, um,
0:47:07 > 0:47:09John Reid's promoted himself.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12He's now Secretary. He's... The Clerk has dropped.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16- That's the 1st September, this is only the 18th September.- Yes!
0:47:19 > 0:47:22But you would have no indication that he was a convict
0:47:22 > 0:47:23serving a sentence.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26No. Great.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29In 1849, when John was 55,
0:47:29 > 0:47:36his name appeared on a muster roll - a census of all Tasmania's convicts.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38So this is the page that John Reid is on
0:47:38 > 0:47:41and he's right down, down the bottom.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45So he's down here, and then it says at the end,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48I don't know if you can read that there.
0:47:48 > 0:47:50- Free.- Free.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53So by 1849,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56he's been provided with a certificate of freedom.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00So...
0:48:00 > 0:48:04He was sentenced in '43, came over in '43
0:48:04 > 0:48:07- and what date, what year is this? - This is 1849.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11- So it's six...- So he served six years. Yes.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15So he's out before his official time would have expired.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17So time off for good behaviour.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20So free to go anywhere that he wants to go, within the British Empire.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23- He can travel anywhere. - Well, would he go back home?
0:48:23 > 0:48:26- Well, some convicts do. Only a small number.- He's got children.
0:48:26 > 0:48:31Now, the problem with this is the cost of the passage back.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33You had to pay that passage yourself.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36And it was very, very expensive.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38- So...- How much would they need?
0:48:38 > 0:48:42Oh, between £30 and £40, which, you know,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44it doesn't sound like a lot in current money,
0:48:44 > 0:48:49- but then that was a labourer's entire annual salary.- Right.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53So it was actually much, much more expensive than a current air fare.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56So it was, you know, a considerable barrier.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59Maybe he didn't want to go back and see them any more
0:48:59 > 0:49:01cos they'd been taken over by his father-in-law,
0:49:01 > 0:49:05David Husband, whose signature he'd forged and...
0:49:05 > 0:49:08- Well, let's have a look and see what happens next.- Yes, please.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10Now, where we next find him...
0:49:12 > 0:49:14..is in court,
0:49:14 > 0:49:16which is not a promising start, is it?
0:49:16 > 0:49:18In court?
0:49:18 > 0:49:22But, unlike before, he's not in the dock.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24It's because he's prosecuting somebody else.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28And it turns out that he is a licensed trader.
0:49:28 > 0:49:32And somebody steals goods off him worth £15.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36One of them, I kind of like the detail, it's a little silver comb.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39You know, quite clearly he's able to acquire...
0:49:39 > 0:49:41- Possessions.- Possessions. So, luxury items.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45What exactly is his job? What exactly is he doing?
0:49:45 > 0:49:47He's described as a hawker.
0:49:47 > 0:49:52But I think that that's, you know, a little bit demeaning.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55The picture that I get is that he's a general trader.
0:49:55 > 0:49:57He does a lot of different things.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01Much better to actually see him as an entrepreneurial figure
0:50:01 > 0:50:05who is very much at the heart of a little agricultural community.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09Entrepreneurial is not a word I would have thought of
0:50:09 > 0:50:13in the Reid family, so this is very interesting.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16The thing that I find really interesting about this
0:50:16 > 0:50:21is that the records indicate that he's earning the kind of money
0:50:21 > 0:50:24that would have allowed him to buy a passage
0:50:24 > 0:50:26to go anywhere that he wanted to.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34During Tasmania's 50 years as a penal colony,
0:50:34 > 0:50:3875,000 people served time there,
0:50:38 > 0:50:40the vast majority never returned home.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45With over half the island's population made up of current
0:50:45 > 0:50:48or former convicts, having a criminal record
0:50:48 > 0:50:51carried none of the stigma it would have done back in Scotland.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58But knowing how keen John was to see his children,
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Anne wonders whether he ever made it back home.
0:51:04 > 0:51:07I'm thrilled that he did so well,
0:51:07 > 0:51:10but I'm sort of dreading finding out how he died.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12I hope he went home.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15I'd love him to have gone back to see my great-grandfather...
0:51:16 > 0:51:19..and have it out sort of with the family.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21But I don't think he did that.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24BLEATING
0:51:27 > 0:51:31Oh, boy! The things I've got to tell you, dear.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35To help her find out how John's story ended,
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Anne's invited her niece, Karen Disney, to join her.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42You won't believe about your great-great...
0:51:42 > 0:51:45Your great-great-great and my great-great-grandfather.
0:51:45 > 0:51:49Karen's lived on mainland Australia for 40 years
0:51:49 > 0:51:51but grew up with Anne in England.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58They've been in touch with researchers
0:51:58 > 0:52:00at the Tasmanian Archives in Hobart
0:52:00 > 0:52:02who found some new information.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Thank you.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07Thanks. Do you want to take that one?
0:52:07 > 0:52:09And you... Take that one.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11- What are these?- There we go.- Right.
0:52:17 > 0:52:19Oh, here we are.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21"Deaths in the district of..."
0:52:21 > 0:52:23What's that? Clarence...
0:52:23 > 0:52:26- Plains.- Plains. - Wherever that is.
0:52:26 > 0:52:30- Right.- You tell me if you see anything, tell me.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32John Reid.
0:52:32 > 0:52:33Right there.
0:52:34 > 0:52:36On the 15th November, 18...
0:52:36 > 0:52:38'61.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40- "The said John Reid..."- Yes...
0:52:40 > 0:52:43"..on the 15th November, 1861, in a..."
0:52:43 > 0:52:48"..a certain arm of the sea called Barilla Bay
0:52:48 > 0:52:51"in the district of Clarence."
0:52:51 > 0:52:53"In the said island, was found dead..."
0:52:53 > 0:52:56- "..and that..."- "And that..." - "..the said John Reid..."
0:52:56 > 0:53:02"..the said John Reid had no marks of violence on his body,
0:53:02 > 0:53:04"but by..." What's that?
0:53:04 > 0:53:06"Visitation of God."
0:53:06 > 0:53:09Visitation of God, right.
0:53:09 > 0:53:10Oh, Lord.
0:53:10 > 0:53:12"Visitation of God in a..."
0:53:12 > 0:53:13"..natural way..."
0:53:13 > 0:53:17"..natural way by apoplexy." How would they know that?
0:53:17 > 0:53:21So he was found dead in Barilla Bay and I think...
0:53:21 > 0:53:23But what age though?
0:53:23 > 0:53:25It was up there, I just caught a glimpse of...
0:53:25 > 0:53:27Oh, yes, what's that say?
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Aged about 60 years.
0:53:31 > 0:53:34So '48, he had ten years...
0:53:36 > 0:53:38- ..living here.- Yeah.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40How sad.
0:53:40 > 0:53:42Oh.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45I wanted him to go back home.
0:53:45 > 0:53:47Aw, no. He didn't make it, did he?
0:53:48 > 0:53:50But what about John's children?
0:53:50 > 0:53:54Anne's great-grandfather, Thomas, was only five
0:53:54 > 0:53:57and already living with his grandfather, David Husband,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59when John was transported.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03Anne is curious to know how much he knew.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06So the next thing is...
0:54:06 > 0:54:09And I think you better open that.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14Let's see what we find in here.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16Oh, that's a death certificate.
0:54:16 > 0:54:18Well, no, an entry of marriage.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24December 26th, 1864.
0:54:25 > 0:54:28Thomas Reid, that's his son.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30Ah, look! Elizabeth Evans.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34Elizabeth Evans, right.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36- Bachelor...- And spinster.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40- And he was a clerk.- He was a clerk. - Yeah.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42- At Everton...- Yeah.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46Father's name - John Reid. Aw.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48What does it say John Reid was?
0:54:48 > 0:54:51Rank or profession of father - clergyman, deceased.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53A clergyman.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56- How did that happen?!- You see, that's why my father kept saying
0:54:56 > 0:55:00- we were descended from the ministers of the Kirk of Scotland.- Yes.
0:55:01 > 0:55:05- But that Thomas Reid...- Yes. - ..was the one who called his son,
0:55:05 > 0:55:11my grandfather, Thomas David Husband Reid
0:55:11 > 0:55:14- after the grandfather.- Yes.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17- The maternal grandfather who brought him up.- Mm.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22- Well...- Maybe Thomas was never ever told cos he was only tiny
0:55:22 > 0:55:24when his father became a convict.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43Anne's come with Karen to Barilla Bay
0:55:43 > 0:55:47where her great-great-grandfather John died in 1861.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Finally, she's uncovered the truth,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55a story suppressed within her family for generations.
0:56:02 > 0:56:07The shame of being a convict would have been unbearable
0:56:07 > 0:56:10and I'm quite sure that that's why his son Thomas
0:56:10 > 0:56:12described his father as a clergyman.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17He didn't do anything very spectacular, Thomas, did he?
0:56:17 > 0:56:22Except call his child after the man who ruined his father.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28Maybe John Reid wanted to lead a different life
0:56:28 > 0:56:31and maybe that's the life he got here
0:56:31 > 0:56:33because he didn't go back to school-teaching here.
0:56:35 > 0:56:39I mean, he seemed to make the choices he wanted to make.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43And it's a beautiful island, it's a beautiful place,
0:56:43 > 0:56:45so I can only hope he was happy.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50And I feel that John Reid and I
0:56:50 > 0:56:52would have actually got on very well together.
0:56:58 > 0:57:04I'm enormously proud of being the ancestor of a convict.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06That's mad, isn't it? I really am.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08I'm terribly proud of it.