0:00:04 > 0:00:07BBC journalist Frank Gardner has been
0:00:07 > 0:00:12reporting on international terrorism for nearly 20 years.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15So far, Al-Qaeda has never managed
0:00:15 > 0:00:18to attack any sensitive oil installations.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Journalism. You get driven. You want answers.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23You want to know about things.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28But on the 6th of June, 2004, Frank became the news.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30A BBC team has come under fire
0:00:30 > 0:00:34from gunmen in a suburb of the Saudi capital Riyadh.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37A BBC cameraman, Simon Cumbers, has been killed.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42The BBC security correspondent, Frank Gardner, has been injured.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45Frank was shot six times and left for dead.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48I just thought, "I've got to get word, I've got to get help
0:00:48 > 0:00:51"cos I've got to survive for the sake of my family."
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Frank did survive and, after several operations,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57returned home to his wife and two daughters.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Right, this is the blind leading the blind here, isn't it?
0:01:03 > 0:01:07Now, Frank wants to investigate his family history.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Daughter Sasha has dug out some old family slides.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13We've got to turn it on first. So, I reckon it's that.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16- Yeah! Oh, my God! - Is that you?!
0:01:16 > 0:01:20- Who is that pathetic, weedy little guy?!- That's you!- Yeah.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24My mum and dad. That must have been their wedding.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26- I've not seen any of these pictures. - They look quite shy.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28It's really sweet.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30Frank's father died in 2010.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33His mother passed away only recently.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Frank knows very little about her side of the family.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Such a lovely one of my mum.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42She looks so happy.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43Wow!
0:01:44 > 0:01:47I was really close to my mum.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50She only died a few months ago.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53So, that's a little bit raw.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56She was a hero to me.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59She was only the third woman to get into the Foreign Office
0:01:59 > 0:02:02and she had to fight a lot of sexism and prejudice.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04Oh, cool!
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Her maiden name was Grace Rolleston
0:02:06 > 0:02:08and she always told me that the Rollestons
0:02:08 > 0:02:11came over with the Normans in 1066.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13I have no idea if that is true.
0:02:14 > 0:02:20Also, I would love to discover bravery or stoicism
0:02:20 > 0:02:22that extends beyond my mum,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24because my mum was both.
0:02:24 > 0:02:25Isn't that beautiful?
0:02:28 > 0:02:30I just wish my mum was still alive.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35Mum, you're going to have to trust me on this one.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38The Rollestons are going to come out of this OK.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41I don't know what's in it, but let's just...
0:02:41 > 0:02:42It'll be fine!
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Although I've lived in a lot of different places around the world,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30every time I come down here to Hampshire,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33it does feel like coming home.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Frank's returning to his old family home where his mother lived
0:03:41 > 0:03:43until days before her death.
0:03:49 > 0:03:56My mother, Grace Rolleston, was a massive inspiration to me -
0:03:56 > 0:03:58right up to the last minute.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Her spirit is very much still here.
0:04:09 > 0:04:10Ah...
0:04:11 > 0:04:13That smell.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15That is the smell of coming home.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23This is what my mum called the breakfast room.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27And right up until last year, I'd sit here and she'd say,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29"So, tell me, what's happening?"
0:04:29 > 0:04:33She was always seeing if there was anything she could do to help.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36The really shameful thing is that my mum
0:04:36 > 0:04:39did used to speak about her ancestry when I was much younger
0:04:39 > 0:04:43and you know what? I used to switch off.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Now, I want to know
0:04:45 > 0:04:47who WERE my ancestors?
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Were they good people or not?
0:04:50 > 0:04:53But I can't ask her these things now, cos she's gone.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Frank's asked his maternal cousin, Teresa,
0:05:00 > 0:05:03to come and share her knowledge of their family history.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05- Hey, Teresa.- Hello.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Thanks so much for coming. I don't see enough of you.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12- Where have you got to? - Er, not very far.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15This is as far as I've got.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18- Our grandparents, Dr John Davy Rolleston.- Yeah.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20- And Mary Edith Waring. So, you know...- Yeah.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22- ..there is room for... - There's quite a lot, yes.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25We can go right back to the Domesday Book here,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27cos this is one of the things I want to find out.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Did you ever get told this myth that we came over with the Normans?
0:05:31 > 0:05:33With William the Conqueror, yes.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37I've always heard we are originally Norman French.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40How it went after that, I simply don't know.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42Shall we kind of rein in our ambitions?
0:05:42 > 0:05:46There's rather a large gap between then and now, yeah!
0:05:46 > 0:05:48- What have you brought? - I've got three things.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Because, you see, I've been digging a bit.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53- Oh, my goodness!- Now that...
0:05:53 > 0:05:56- That is lovely. - That's our grandfather, John.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Actually, he looks quite happy in that in that photograph,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01but I just have a thing in the back of my mind
0:06:01 > 0:06:04- that he didn't have a happy childhood.- I wonder why.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08And didn't speak about his parents.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10That's odd.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14So, what do we actually know about our grandfather's parents?
0:06:14 > 0:06:16Well, not very much.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18What I have got is something about them
0:06:18 > 0:06:22- in this obituary of our grandfather.- Wow!
0:06:22 > 0:06:25"Dr John Davy Rolleston was born in 1873
0:06:25 > 0:06:27"at Oxford where his father..."
0:06:27 > 0:06:29Here we go. "..his father George Rolleston, MD..."
0:06:29 > 0:06:33OK, so, we've got the name of our great-grandfather.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36"..was Linacre professor of anatomy and physiology."
0:06:36 > 0:06:40If he was a professor at Oxford, he's quite illustrious...
0:06:40 > 0:06:42- It's really odd...- ..so you'd think...and ALSO a doctor,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46so you would kind of think that he would speak about his parents.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49But I don't know anything about him. Do you?
0:06:49 > 0:06:52- Um... I've got something else to show you.- OK.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56That is a photograph of Professor George.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Oh, that's brilliant. He looks a right sort of bounder, actually.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02- A bit rakish.- Yes, definitely!
0:07:02 > 0:07:04And then here...
0:07:04 > 0:07:07this is Professor George's wife
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and your great-grandmother, Grace.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13Look at that. Isn't it a great photograph?
0:07:13 > 0:07:19- So, Grace is presumably after whom your mother was called.- Yeah.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21But I... This woman who is...
0:07:21 > 0:07:23knitting a chicken here,
0:07:23 > 0:07:26I'd love to know what, you know, what she did.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28She'd knit chickens and be a good...
0:07:28 > 0:07:31- goodly wife to Professor George! - Yeah.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33So, it seems to me,
0:07:33 > 0:07:38cousin, that, um, the mystery here in our family history
0:07:38 > 0:07:41is...our grandfather.
0:07:41 > 0:07:42Yes.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Why did he never ever talk about his parents?
0:07:45 > 0:07:48- It could be so many things, like, you know...- Maybe he was mean.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51- Maybe...- ..he beat the children or his wife.- I won't speculate,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53I'm going to get to the bottom of this!
0:07:53 > 0:07:54I'm a hard-nosed working journalist,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57- I'm going to have to go to Oxford to find this out.- You are. You are.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02Frank has discovered that his mother, Grace,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05was named after his great-grandmother,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08wife of Oxford professor, George Rolleston.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Frank has come to the Oxford University
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Museum of Natural History.
0:08:30 > 0:08:35He's meeting an expert on George Rolleston's career, Dr Megan Price.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40- Dr Price.- Hello.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42- Thank you for coming. - Good to meet you.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45- You, too.- Yes. - What a great office you've got!
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Isn't it wonderful, yes. It's a cathedral to science.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51And here's somebody else you might like to meet.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53Oh, my God! There he is!
0:08:53 > 0:08:56- It's my great-grandfather! - Isn't he wonderful?
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Oh, my goodness! Wow!
0:09:01 > 0:09:03That is fantastic!
0:09:03 > 0:09:06It's an absolutely amazing bust.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08You can see the sort of... No, you can't see it at all!
0:09:08 > 0:09:11- You can, you can see...- No, no, I'm joking! I look nothing like him!
0:09:11 > 0:09:13- He's kind of...- Oh, I don't know.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15- I mean he's got a Heathcliff look about him, yes.- Yeah.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Linacre Professor of Physiology.
0:09:19 > 0:09:20What is physiology?
0:09:20 > 0:09:22The study of the human body.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26But not just physiology, anatomy and zoology.
0:09:26 > 0:09:30He had professorships in three different disciplines.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33- Here at Oxford University. - Here in the Museum, in the Museum.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37- The post was created for him to work in this museum.- Wow!
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Oxford University was at the forefront of scientific
0:09:42 > 0:09:45thought in Victorian Britain.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49George Rolleston was one of its leading lights.
0:09:49 > 0:09:50I want to show you a picture here.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54- Er, there he is.- Oh, my God!
0:09:54 > 0:09:56You see he's got a skull there.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59He is taking an anatomy class.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Wow! Oh, I'm so chuffed. That is brilliant.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06George Rolleston was at the cutting edge of science
0:10:06 > 0:10:10at one of the most controversial moments in history.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15In November 1859, Charles Darwin published On The Origin Of Species
0:10:15 > 0:10:20which suggested that humans and apes shared common ancestry.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24Darwin's radical theory scandalised those parts of Victorian society
0:10:24 > 0:10:29that still believed mankind was descended from Adam and Eve.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36It even divided the country's greatest scientific minds.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38Here's a letter from one of Rolleston's friends.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Oh, my God!
0:10:43 > 0:10:46"Yours sincerely, Charles Darwin."
0:10:46 > 0:10:47Wow!
0:10:47 > 0:10:49This is a letter from Charles Darwin?
0:10:49 > 0:10:52This is a letter from Charles... And one of many.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54- To my great-grandfather?- Yes.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57"My dear sir, you are very kind in telling me not to write.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00"It is a pleasure for me to do this.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04"Your note is a real gold mine of facts and suggestions...
0:11:04 > 0:11:06"all..." underlined "..new to me."
0:11:06 > 0:11:08How wonderful!
0:11:08 > 0:11:10"With hearty thanks from favours past and to come,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13"yours sincerely, Charles Darwin."
0:11:13 > 0:11:15What do you think were these favours
0:11:15 > 0:11:17that my grandfather gave Charles Darwin?
0:11:17 > 0:11:20- They were exchanging knowledge. - Right.- They were exchanging...
0:11:20 > 0:11:23He wasn't fixing him up on blind dates or anything?! Right.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26I'll tell you what's slightly baffling me here,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29is that he was this really charismatic,
0:11:29 > 0:11:34popular, impressive guy, and yet, his son, my grandfather,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Dr John Rolleston, never spoke about him.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42- Why do you think that was? - I have no idea.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45I mean it may be, like many Victorian fathers,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49- his work was his life and perhaps... - And probably never saw his children.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53..and perhaps he didn't see his children.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55You'd think he'd have been proud of him
0:11:55 > 0:11:57and talked about him, but he never did.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04To get to the bottom of why his grandfather
0:12:04 > 0:12:06never talked about his parents,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10Frank wants to find out about George and Grace Rolleston's family life.
0:12:13 > 0:12:19So, I'm going to start by looking at the census of 1871,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22the last census before my grandfather was born.
0:12:22 > 0:12:23OK.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26So, George Rolleston was head of the house.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30So, then there's the wife, Grace.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Then it looks like there are several children here -
0:12:33 > 0:12:35George, William, Margaret, Rosmund.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39He and his wife were absolutely banging out the kids here!
0:12:39 > 0:12:41One after another.
0:12:41 > 0:12:42Heavens!
0:12:42 > 0:12:46But my grandfather wasn't born yet then.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50So, I'm going to go on now to the 1881 census, the next one.
0:12:52 > 0:12:53Oxford...
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Ah... John D Rolleston, aged eight.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59There he is.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01That's my grandfather.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Ah...
0:13:03 > 0:13:04OK.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07The really key thing here
0:13:07 > 0:13:11is that in 1881 Grace Rolleston is listed as the head of the family.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14It says, "Wife of Professor of Anatomy"
0:13:14 > 0:13:17and that's crossed out. But it doesn't say "widow".
0:13:19 > 0:13:21So, that's really odd.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27My great-grandfather's family seems to have fallen apart.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Did he do a runner?
0:13:34 > 0:13:36Wow. Maybe he did.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42Maybe that's why my grandfather never talked about him.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Like somebody going to the doctor's and getting bad news,
0:13:51 > 0:13:52I want a second opinion.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59I'm tending to think my great-grandfather was still alive,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02but he ran out on the family.
0:14:03 > 0:14:04He's just vanished.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16To try and uncover the truth, Frank is meeting Oxford genealogist
0:14:16 > 0:14:18and local historian Olivia Robinson.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Right. I'm not going to beat around the bush here.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26So, Olivia, the gap that I'm really hoping
0:14:26 > 0:14:29you're going to fill in for me is this mystery,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34- why my great-grandfather disappeared from the census.- OK.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40We're going to start with a copy of that census.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44- So, Grace Rolleston is mentioned as the head of the household.- Mm-hm.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46And it doesn't say "widow",
0:14:46 > 0:14:50- it says, "Wife of Professor of Anatomy," crossed out.- Crossed out.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52In this particular instance,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54if you look a little further down the page,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57you'll see somebody else has put her occupation
0:14:57 > 0:15:00as "Barrister's wife", crossed out.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03The enumerators used to discount "wife of somebody"
0:15:03 > 0:15:06- as being an occupation.- The crossing out doesn't mean
0:15:06 > 0:15:09- that she was separated or abandoned...- No...
0:15:09 > 0:15:13..but it still doesn't explain why Professor George
0:15:13 > 0:15:16is completely absent from the 1881 census.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21- Let me show you a letter...- OK. - ..see what you make of this.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24- It's from Grace...- Wow!
0:15:24 > 0:15:26..to her sister-in-law.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28So, this is March, 1881.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31So, a whisker, just weeks before the census. Right.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34- I'm going to use the... Your... - Please do.- ..typed sheet.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38"My dear Mary, perhaps by this time you have heard
0:15:38 > 0:15:41"that George has been sent away by his doctors
0:15:41 > 0:15:44"for complete change and rest to Italy."
0:15:44 > 0:15:47So 1881,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49the census had been and gone,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53so he's not mentioned because he's convalescing in Italy.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57- Absolutely. Shall we have a look at another letter?- Yes.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03- This is a transcript of a letter that was sent by George...- Yeah.
0:16:03 > 0:16:05..to his wife, Grace.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09"May 26th, 1881.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12"Dearest Grace, it is only today and just now
0:16:12 > 0:16:14"that I've heard of your being laid up.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18"We intend to start for Paris which is only nine hours from London,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21"and if I can do you any good by my coming, so much the better.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24"Your very loving George Rolleston."
0:16:24 > 0:16:28He's travelling back because Grace, his wife, is not well.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31"It's only today and just now that I've heard of your being laid up,"
0:16:31 > 0:16:35cos this poor woman is running this huge household without him.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37- Absolutely. - It's so full of love, this.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39OK.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Four days later, this is George dictating a letter to his sister.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48"My dear Marianne, they've put me upon oxygen to inhale
0:16:48 > 0:16:50"and they're putting a blister over my heart
0:16:50 > 0:16:52"which hope may do something for me."
0:16:52 > 0:16:54And then there's all these doctors,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58"..who think that I might alarm and disturb Grace..."
0:16:58 > 0:17:01His wife. "..by coming home sooner than I had intended."
0:17:01 > 0:17:04So, really quite a different picture being painted.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06One to reassure his wife perhaps,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10and one to explain to his sister really how he's feeling.
0:17:10 > 0:17:13It's almost like a tragic love story,
0:17:13 > 0:17:18because he clearly loves his wife still.
0:17:18 > 0:17:19They are a family.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23He is, I suspect, dying somewhere in Europe,
0:17:23 > 0:17:25trying to get back to her
0:17:25 > 0:17:27before the illness overtakes him.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32So, this is from...
0:17:32 > 0:17:37George's sister. And she's writing to George's brother.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40"George returned last Thursday..."
0:17:40 > 0:17:42To Oxford, presumably.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45"The complaint has now developed into heart disease.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48"I need not tell you
0:17:48 > 0:17:51"who has so fully always valued his love and returned it...
0:17:53 > 0:17:54"..what we're losing."
0:17:58 > 0:17:59- VOICE BREAKING:- This is so sad!
0:18:02 > 0:18:06I said I wasn't going to cry on this bloody programme! OK. Agh!
0:18:10 > 0:18:12- "I...I..." - HE SIGHS
0:18:16 > 0:18:19It's just... It's just so sad cos he's dying.
0:18:22 > 0:18:28"The world is a room... room of sickness, indeed to us.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31"For in another room lies his poor, dear little wife,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34"unconscious of the terrible sorrow awaiting her
0:18:34 > 0:18:36"if she lives even to realise it."
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Jeez, they're dying side-by-side
0:18:40 > 0:18:41in rooms next to each other!
0:18:41 > 0:18:45My grand...great-grandmother and great-grandfather.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47HE EXHALES
0:19:00 > 0:19:03I don't know why I'm so upset by this. It's... I mean,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05it's just so sad him racing back to be beside her.
0:19:07 > 0:19:08But he's dying and she's...
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Looks like she's dying in the next-door room.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13Well, just put me out of my agony here.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18Well, I have here a certificate of death for...
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Oh, God! Right.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24"George Rolleston, 51 years, contracted kidney,
0:19:24 > 0:19:28"one year, fibroid degeneration of arteries."
0:19:28 > 0:19:29Crikey...
0:19:29 > 0:19:32Imagine the determination
0:19:32 > 0:19:35if you have suffered a year of kidney failure
0:19:35 > 0:19:38to cross Europe...
0:19:40 > 0:19:43..to get home in some considerable pain.
0:19:45 > 0:19:50OK. Well, I really... I just... I really want to know about the...
0:19:50 > 0:19:52I'm desperate to know now about Grace.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55For that, you may want to have a look in an archive
0:19:55 > 0:19:58that's held in Oxford called the Oxfordshire Health Archives.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03But your serious face is not filling me with optimism here.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13I was really looking to see
0:20:13 > 0:20:18if I could discover this incredible stoicism that my mother had.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25And I've absolutely found it, I think,
0:20:25 > 0:20:28in my great-grandfather, Professor George Rolleston,
0:20:28 > 0:20:32because he came back dying to be with Grace, his wife.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37So, leave aside the whole professor of anatomy thing,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41you know, the bust to him in the museum, great,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44but what an amazing person to do that...
0:20:44 > 0:20:48and how tragic for his seven children
0:20:48 > 0:20:51that they were left without a father so young.
0:21:01 > 0:21:06To find out what happened to Grace after George's death in 1881,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Frank has come to the Oxfordshire Health Archives.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Don't I have to fill out masses of forms in triplicate?
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- No, not for that, it's just an index.- OK. I'm looking under
0:21:18 > 0:21:20the very first hospital I'm coming to,
0:21:20 > 0:21:26Warneford Hospital Admissions between 1826 and 1895.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29So, certainly in 1881,
0:21:29 > 0:21:32there is no mention of her here.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Ah, here she is.
0:21:36 > 0:21:39Admitted on the 18th June, 1884.
0:21:39 > 0:21:45So, three years after this, this weird illness. OK.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47What more can I learn about her?
0:21:47 > 0:21:50There'll be some case notes to go with the admissions
0:21:50 > 0:21:51which I can find for you.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54- Oh, can you? Brilliant. - OK. Just be a moment.
0:21:56 > 0:21:57This is really perplexing.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01It's another three years before she's admitted to hospital.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03So, what was wrong with her?
0:22:05 > 0:22:07OK, here we are. Case notes. There's an index at the front.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10- This is the original 19th century case notes?- Yes.
0:22:11 > 0:22:16Wow! I'm going to go for R for Rolleston. OK.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19Oh, wow, they were very organised!
0:22:21 > 0:22:22Here we go.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24"Rolleston, Mrs Grace.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29"Small, slight woman, about 5'2"...
0:22:29 > 0:22:32"Stubbly complexion"? Surely not!
0:22:32 > 0:22:33"Oh, ruddy complexion.
0:22:33 > 0:22:37"Hair, dark streaked with grey..." I'm not surprised.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41"History.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43"Has been a healthy woman
0:22:43 > 0:22:46"but has had previous attacks of insanity."
0:22:48 > 0:22:49Wow!
0:22:49 > 0:22:52"The first being three years ago...
0:22:53 > 0:22:57"..when she was aged 50 years on her husband's death."
0:22:59 > 0:23:00Crikey!
0:23:00 > 0:23:04This is absolutely... This is shocking. I...I had no idea.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08This poor woman, she's gone to pieces without him.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15"Since then, as each June has come round on the 16th,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17"the day of her husband's death,
0:23:17 > 0:23:22"she is described as having become lost, refused all food.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25"In the evening, she was conveyed..." Something?
0:23:25 > 0:23:28"..to the asylum." Crikey.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30And I mean she still had...
0:23:30 > 0:23:32She had seven children,
0:23:32 > 0:23:36no father and their mother was having bouts of madness.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38Can you imagine what a woman's asylum...
0:23:38 > 0:23:42or anybody's asylum must have been like in Victorian Britain?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46I think, I'm going to have to go there.
0:23:46 > 0:23:47Right, that's where I'm going next.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Warneford Mental Hospital, East of Oxford.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Well, here it is.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Today, it's an NHS hospital,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09but 135 years ago, something a bit different.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14Frank is meeting Dr Richard Barnett.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16- Richard.- Frank. Hello. Welcome to Warneford.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19- Thank you very much. - Do come inside.- Thanks.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Richard, so what would conditions have been like
0:24:32 > 0:24:34for my great-grandmother coming here?
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Grace was being treated at a time when the dominant model
0:24:37 > 0:24:39was so-called "moral therapy" or "non-restraint".
0:24:39 > 0:24:41We have a very good source for this, in fact.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43We found in the archives here
0:24:43 > 0:24:45the Warneford Asylum Rules and Regulations
0:24:45 > 0:24:48for the period in which Grace was here.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Page 50 has some interesting points on it.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54Page 50, let's have a look.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57"If you are called upon to use main force, never strike.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59"If you are a striker, you're not fit for your situation.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03"Striking a patient is forbidden in this house." Well, that's good.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05Well, this is not about violence.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08This is not about beating the madness out of patients, certainly.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Did anybody actually give her any proper therapeutic counselling?
0:25:12 > 0:25:15No. Absolutely not. Nobody is trying to understand the story behind her.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20She's been given drugs like chloral hydrate, potassium bromide,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24very simple sedatives to be submissive, essentially.
0:25:24 > 0:25:25So, what happens to her?
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Well, I've checked the records here at Warneford
0:25:28 > 0:25:30- and she isn't readmitted here. - That's good.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33- But we've found some evidence of her elsewhere.- That's bad.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37If you follow me through to the library, I'll tell you about that.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45I was rather hoping that that was it,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47and she then lived happily ever after.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54In the archives, Richard has discovered that in 1885,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Grace was admitted to another asylum in Chiswick.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01So, we can learn more about her stay at Chiswick
0:26:01 > 0:26:04by looking at the case notes relating to her time there.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08- Here we are.- I don't know if I can read this. Again, it's... Um...
0:26:08 > 0:26:11"Today refused food almost entirely.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12"Was fed by stomach tube.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16"Beef, milk, eggs and brandy."
0:26:16 > 0:26:19- Her condition is worsening.- Mm.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23It says here, "Delusions that she is covered in dynamite."
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Oh, my God.
0:26:25 > 0:26:26"She fears sitting by the fire."
0:26:26 > 0:26:30- Understandably, if you're covered in dynamite.- Yeah...
0:26:32 > 0:26:34Oh, this is interesting.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38"Was visited yesterday by her son, a boy at school."
0:26:38 > 0:26:42- That must have been my grandfather, John.- Ah.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Because he would have been 13.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49"This was without Dr Tuke's sanction or approval."
0:26:49 > 0:26:50Good heavens.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55So, he decided he was just going to come and see her.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59"She told the nurse she was a dog and a monster." Good heavens!
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Can you imagine what that would have been like
0:27:01 > 0:27:04for my 13-year-old grandfather,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08to make the journey on his own from Oxford to Chiswick,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12only to find that she's so mad, she thinks she's a dog?
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Oh, my God, no wonder!
0:27:14 > 0:27:21- I mean, this explains why he never talked about his family.- Mm. Mm.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24It's just... It's so tragic, it really is.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26Oh, my goodness!
0:27:26 > 0:27:29- "Is today transferred to private care at Sevenoaks."- Mm.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31What happens to her there?
0:27:31 > 0:27:34She stayed there until 1914.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37She lasted 28 years.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Another 28 years and she died in private care in Sevenoaks
0:27:41 > 0:27:43- at the age of 83. - Good God!
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Wow!
0:27:46 > 0:27:47I'm...I'm staggered.
0:27:50 > 0:27:51Crikey...
0:28:00 > 0:28:03Before he leaves Oxford, Frank has come to the cemetery
0:28:03 > 0:28:07to try and find the grave of his great-grandfather, George Rolleston.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Oh, my goodness.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24I was expecting to see...
0:28:24 > 0:28:26George...
0:28:26 > 0:28:28George's grave here.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30But it's his, AND Grace.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32They're buried together.
0:28:34 > 0:28:35My gosh!
0:28:39 > 0:28:41I'm so happy that they're reunited.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48It's a tale of both triumph and tragedy, really.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54I've definitely found the stoicism
0:28:54 > 0:28:58that I really hoped one of my ancestors would have,
0:28:58 > 0:29:00in George Rolleston.
0:29:00 > 0:29:06I'm very sad that his wife suffered as much as she did.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13So, these are my great-grandparents?
0:29:15 > 0:29:17So sad for their children.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22My grandfather really didn't have much of an upbringing.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26But he must have loved his mother,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29despite her insanity,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32so much that he named his only daughter Grace, my mother.
0:29:53 > 0:29:54Frank still wants to know
0:29:54 > 0:29:57if his mother's line can be traced back to the Normans.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02This is looking promising.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04He's received a letter from his cousin, Teresa.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11"When I got home, I dug out some other family papers
0:30:11 > 0:30:14"and came across this photograph of a portrait of Dorothy Burdett,
0:30:14 > 0:30:17"who was the wife of the Reverend John Rolleston
0:30:17 > 0:30:20"and our grandfather's great-great-grandmother.
0:30:20 > 0:30:22"This puts it in the mid-18th century
0:30:22 > 0:30:24"but I thought it might interest you."
0:30:24 > 0:30:26Just a little, yeah! OK.
0:30:29 > 0:30:34I'm still a long way from 1066, but that is a leap back.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Oh, wow!
0:30:37 > 0:30:40My four times great-grandmother.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45I'm going to try the internet again.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Let's have a look.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53So, I'm going to look in births, deaths and marriages
0:30:53 > 0:30:54and see what I can find.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58Dorothy Burdett...
0:30:58 > 0:31:00OK, search.
0:31:01 > 0:31:02OK, here we go.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07So, there's no picture of the marriage certificate.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09But it does give a place.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14So, they were married in 1736 in Foremark, Derby.
0:31:14 > 0:31:17Spouse, John Rolleston.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19I'd better go to Foremark in Derby.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27Frank has taken his family tree back another 150 years.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31He's discovered that Dorothy Burdett and the Reverend John Rolleston
0:31:31 > 0:31:34are his four times great-grandparents.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43Dorothy and John married in a place called Foremark.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47There's only one building there today -
0:31:47 > 0:31:49Foremarke Hall.
0:31:49 > 0:31:51Wow!
0:31:52 > 0:31:55This is something out of Brideshead Revisited!
0:32:05 > 0:32:10I have no idea what my family connection is with this place.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Downstairs? Upstairs? Lord of it or doing the...
0:32:14 > 0:32:18you know, maintaining the herbaceous border, I've no idea.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20Foremarke Hall is now a school
0:32:20 > 0:32:24and Frank is meeting its Headmaster, Richard Merriman.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27- Headmaster.- What a great pleasure to welcome you here to Foremarke!
0:32:27 > 0:32:30- Great to have you here, Frank. - Thanks very much.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Let's go and sit over this way. Perhaps we can...
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Richard is an historian
0:32:35 > 0:32:38and has spent years researching family histories
0:32:38 > 0:32:40linked to Foremarke Hall.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43So, Richard,
0:32:43 > 0:32:44what is my connection here?
0:32:44 > 0:32:49This is where your great-great-great-great-grandmother,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52Dorothy Burdett was born,
0:32:52 > 0:32:56but not in this house.
0:32:56 > 0:33:01Dorothy lived in the previous house, a Jacobean manor
0:33:01 > 0:33:03which was equally impressive,
0:33:03 > 0:33:06and it was considered to be large and convenient.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09- That's a bit of an understatement! - Absolutely.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11Richard has a surprise for Frank.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Using records from the school's archives,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18- he's traced Frank's family back even further.- And here we have...
0:33:18 > 0:33:21Oh, this is brilliant! This is amazing.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23- It... It is fascinating.- Yeah!
0:33:23 > 0:33:26- And, let's look down here at the bottom here...- Yeah.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29- ..is your John Rolleston... - Yeah...- ..and...- Dorothy Burdett.
0:33:29 > 0:33:34- And her parents, Robert Burdett and Elizabeth Tracy.- Fantastic.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37And this takes you back to a name
0:33:37 > 0:33:41which is particularly important in Nottinghamshire -
0:33:41 > 0:33:43a very significant name -
0:33:43 > 0:33:46and that is the name of Stanhope.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Mm-mm. And when would this have been? What kind of period?
0:33:48 > 0:33:53We are now back into the time and reign of Henry VIII.
0:33:53 > 0:33:54No way!
0:33:54 > 0:33:57- Marrying Ann Rawson.- Rawson.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Crikey! Tudor times.
0:34:00 > 0:34:03- Absolutely.- This is very Wolf Hall. This is great. I'm loving this.
0:34:03 > 0:34:10OK, so, we've gone back to my ten times great-grandparents now...
0:34:10 > 0:34:11- Yes...- In the 1500s.- Absolutely.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Fantastic! And where would he have lived and why is he a "Sir"?
0:34:15 > 0:34:19- Why is knighted?- I have no knowledge of the reason behind his knighthood.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23But the Stanhopes were a very big landowning family
0:34:23 > 0:34:25up in north Nottinghamshire.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28Ah! So, you reckon that's where I've go to go next, Nottinghamshire?
0:34:28 > 0:34:30Next county along, across the River Trent.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34- I've got to go and find out who he was, this guy.- Good luck.- Yeah!
0:34:36 > 0:34:40Frank has pushed his family tree back another 200 years,
0:34:40 > 0:34:42to Sir Michael Stanhope.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Sir Michael lived during the reign of Henry VIII
0:34:45 > 0:34:49at a time when knighthoods had to be earned.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Michael Stanhope was here in Nottinghamshire
0:34:56 > 0:35:00and I'm really curious to know how did he become "Sir"?
0:35:00 > 0:35:01How did he get knighted?
0:35:06 > 0:35:08Frank has come to Rufford Abbey
0:35:08 > 0:35:11where he's hoping Dr Jonathan Healey can provide some answers.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13- Jonathan.- Hi, Frank.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15- Thanks for doing this. - Pleasure.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18So, what would Michael Stanhope have been doing
0:35:18 > 0:35:21here in Nottinghamshire, to make his mark?
0:35:21 > 0:35:23Well, Stanhope, he's a relatively new man.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27He's someone who is not amongst the richest in Tudor society,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30but he's someone who is kind of on the make a little bit.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33And this landscape here is where he made his name.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36It's a place which had a pivotal role in one
0:35:36 > 0:35:41- of the most contentious decades in English history, the 1530s.- Wow!
0:35:41 > 0:35:43And Henry VIII has just broken with Rome
0:35:43 > 0:35:46and he wants to do a massive land grab on the English Church, so he...
0:35:46 > 0:35:49- A kind of Tudor Mugabe? - Absolutely.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52In 1536,
0:35:52 > 0:35:56the new head of the English Church, King Henry VIII,
0:35:56 > 0:35:57decided that the wealth
0:35:57 > 0:36:02of the nation's 900 or so religious houses belonged to him.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05He seized their assets and dismantled their buildings -
0:36:05 > 0:36:09an act of destruction that proved deeply divisive.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13In Nottinghamshire's neighbouring county, Lincolnshire,
0:36:13 > 0:36:18nearly 20,000 men gathered in open revolt against the Crown.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Local gentry are making the decision -
0:36:21 > 0:36:24do they go with the rebels or do they stick with the government.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26And this is the decision
0:36:26 > 0:36:31which Michael Stanhope had to make in 1536.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33And which way did he go?
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Well, we have a document which might shed some light on that.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39It's a letter from the Earl of Shrewsbury to Henry VIII.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43"Please it your Noble Grace, to assemble and gather my servants,
0:36:43 > 0:36:46"tenants and friends to apprehend
0:36:46 > 0:36:50"and take the said captains of this, their insurrection."
0:36:50 > 0:36:54And then there's a load of names of people including Michael Stanhope.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57So, Michael then was part of this cabal
0:36:57 > 0:37:00- which is essentially trying to shore up the Tudor monarchy?- Yes.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04So, immediately a group of local people formed a rapid reaction force
0:37:04 > 0:37:06and Michael was part of that force.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10So, they nipped the insurrection in the bud here in Nottinghamshire?
0:37:10 > 0:37:11They did, yes.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15It was the decisions of people like Michael which saved the Crown.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20King Henry VIII dispensed gifts of land and positions of power
0:37:20 > 0:37:23to those who had supported him.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26Men like Michael Stanhope.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30Show me what you've got.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34Well, and this is as you can see, one of the exciting things.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37- Who is this?- Michael Stanhope. - (No way!)
0:37:37 > 0:37:39Oh, my God!
0:37:40 > 0:37:42Wow!
0:37:42 > 0:37:43- Look at that.- Mm.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49- I am his ten times great-grandson. - Yeah.- Wow!
0:37:49 > 0:37:52He's kind of fingering these medallions.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55- Do you think, by then, he's already knighted?- Possibly, yes.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57So, how did he get his knighthood?
0:37:57 > 0:38:01Well, he does crop up in a document from 1545.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03He's being sent to Hull to fortify the town.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06"Michael Stanhope to the Council.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09"On 6th of Feb was seen riding off Flamborough Head
0:38:09 > 0:38:13- "two Scottish top men-of-war..." Ships, presumably.- Mm, yes.
0:38:13 > 0:38:15- "..with two French pinnaces." Also ships, yeah?- Yes.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18So, this is a reasonably strong sort of mini-fleet.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25In the 1540s, England was embroiled in a series of wars
0:38:25 > 0:38:28with Catholic France and Scotland.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34Hull was a strategically vital port, a target for French invasion.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39If Hull could be taken, so might England.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Michael Stanhope was now on the front line.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48"Two French pinnaces chased ships of Hull and Beverly...
0:38:48 > 0:38:50"into Scarborough Road, but were put off by gunners
0:38:50 > 0:38:55"sent thither by Stanhope himself, who shot out of the castle at them."
0:38:55 > 0:38:58- Is this how he gets his knighthood?- Yes. Yeah.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02- From overseeing the defence of Hull against enemy shipping?- Yes.
0:39:02 > 0:39:07- He then becomes Sir Michael. He gets his knighthood.- Wow!
0:39:08 > 0:39:11- Is this the pinnacle of his career now?- Um, no.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16- In 1547, Henry VIII dies. - That must be huge for him.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Yeah. The new king is Henry's nine-year-old son, Edward.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22Edward VI is obviously young,
0:39:22 > 0:39:27so he needs some kind of management by a major servant of state.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Have you heard of Edward Seymour?
0:39:31 > 0:39:34- Anything to do with Jane Seymour? - Yes.- Right.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37But also, um...
0:39:37 > 0:39:41- Michael's half-sister's husband. - Oh, my God!
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Sir Michael Stanhope's half-sister Anne,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50married courtier Edward Seymour.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54His sister, Jane Seymour, was the third wife of Henry VIII.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59She died soon after giving birth to the King's only son, Edward.
0:40:00 > 0:40:03The nine-year-old Edward VI was now king.
0:40:06 > 0:40:09His uncle, Edward Seymour, became the most powerful man in England.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12He was declared Lord Protector
0:40:12 > 0:40:16and made himself First Duke of Somerset.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Sir Michael Stanhope was now part of the greater royal family.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Frank has come to London to discover what these changes meant
0:40:27 > 0:40:30for his ten times great-grandfather.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33- Thanks for coming. - Great to meet you.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35He's meeting historian John Murphy,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38who's researched Michael Stanhope's life in detail.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42So, John, I never knew that such a beast existed
0:40:42 > 0:40:46as an expert in Michael Stanhope, but I've found one in you!
0:40:46 > 0:40:50What happened when he came down from Hull and got here to London?
0:40:50 > 0:40:52Well, he gets a very important job.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55But it's a little bit of a surprise though, I suppose.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Have you ever seen one of those before?
0:40:58 > 0:41:03- Um, it looks like an incredibly plush toilet.- It is.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06That's got to be the most comfortable
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Tudor khazi that was...ever created!
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Well, kings can spend a great deal of time sitting on that.
0:41:11 > 0:41:15- Whole roast swans would pass through that!- Pass through it happily!
0:41:15 > 0:41:18It's kept in the King's bed chamber,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21and it's looked after by a man called the Groom of the Stool.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23- HE LAUGHS - You're kidding!
0:41:23 > 0:41:26- That really existed, that title? - Yes. That title really existed.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29And it is to that appointment
0:41:29 > 0:41:32- that your ancestor Sir Michael Stanhope...- Oh, come on...!
0:41:32 > 0:41:35- No.- No, no.- Yes, yes.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37- Yeah. And not only that... - So... Wait, wait, wait.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40- No, back the truck up here.- Yeah.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Stanhope - you know, he's defended Hull,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45he's put the artillery in the right places,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47- he's seen off the French and Scottish fleets...- Absolutely.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50- ..and he's put in charge of sewage, essentially?- He's the King's...
0:41:50 > 0:41:53- The King's effluent.- He's put in charge of the King's effluent
0:41:53 > 0:41:57because the King's effluent is where the King is.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00I mean, this is... this is a hammer blow, John.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03This is one of the most important jobs
0:42:03 > 0:42:06- in the royal court at this time. - You're not selling it to me.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10And he is the man who alone can go into the bed chamber of the King
0:42:10 > 0:42:14and you can't see the King, speak to the King,
0:42:14 > 0:42:15put a message across to the King
0:42:15 > 0:42:18without first going through Sir Michael Stanhope.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22He's, in every sense, a sort of father-figure to the King.
0:42:22 > 0:42:27So, how did Stanhope become the closest confidante of the Boy King?
0:42:28 > 0:42:32He gets this job, um, really through Somerset, Edward Seymour,
0:42:32 > 0:42:34who is the King's uncle,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37and by giving it to Stanhope,
0:42:37 > 0:42:39who is his brother-in-law, effectively,
0:42:39 > 0:42:43it keeps the King and access to the King in the family.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45But Somerset does have his enemies,
0:42:45 > 0:42:47and the biggest enemy he has,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51a man called the Earl of Warwick, general bad guy.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53He's waiting for his chance.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57He's circling the court in this period, a bit like a vulture,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00waiting for his opportunity to do down Somerset.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04As tensions between the rivals escalated,
0:43:04 > 0:43:06Somerset made a major mistake.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10He handed his rival, the Earl of Warwick, control of the army,
0:43:10 > 0:43:15ordering him out of court of suppress a rebellion.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18But Warwick returned a hero,
0:43:18 > 0:43:21at the head of a devoted army.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24He was now the most powerful man in the country.
0:43:25 > 0:43:28Warwick displaces Somerset.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32Somerset loses his position at court
0:43:32 > 0:43:35and your man Stanhope
0:43:35 > 0:43:37loses his job in the privy chamber.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39(Oh, God!)
0:43:40 > 0:43:44Sir Michael Stanhope's job was handed to one of Warwick's men.
0:43:48 > 0:43:51The Earl of Warwick wasn't content with simply ousting his rivals...
0:43:52 > 0:43:54..he wanted to destroy them.
0:44:02 > 0:44:04I have a very bad feeling,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08I don't know why, that something bad is going to happen to my ancestor.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10Well, this is the King's diary
0:44:10 > 0:44:14and I'd like you to have a look at this entry here.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17"Mr Banister and Mr Vaughan
0:44:17 > 0:44:21"were attached and sent to the Tower and so was Mr Stanhope."
0:44:21 > 0:44:26- So, my ancestor was carted off to the Tower of London?- Yes.
0:44:26 > 0:44:28This is really serious.
0:44:28 > 0:44:33But there is always a chance that you can make a case in a courtroom.
0:44:33 > 0:44:34But he is in deep doo-doo.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38And he is in very deep doo-doo, there's no question about that.
0:44:38 > 0:44:40Can I open this? I really want to know...
0:44:40 > 0:44:42- Yeah. I think you should open it. - ..what happens next.
0:44:42 > 0:44:47After his arrest, Stanhope was brought before a closed court
0:44:47 > 0:44:50to hear the allegations against him.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53This is called the "bag of secrets"
0:44:53 > 0:44:55for very secret state trials...
0:44:57 > 0:44:58..of which this is one.
0:44:58 > 0:45:02My God, look at this.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07This is all in legal Latin, but we have here a translation.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10"Michael Stanhope, late of Beddington
0:45:10 > 0:45:12"in the county of Surrey. Knight.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14"Not having God before their eyes
0:45:14 > 0:45:16"but led by diabolical prompting
0:45:16 > 0:45:20"to feloniously take, imprison, and murder
0:45:20 > 0:45:22"the most noble John, Duke of Northumberland,
0:45:22 > 0:45:24"then Earl of Warwick." Oh, heavens!
0:45:24 > 0:45:27He's been accused of plotting against Northumberland
0:45:27 > 0:45:29and others of the Council.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32But since 1549, that has been treason.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35- Right.- It's as if he was plotting against the king.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38OK. I am dying to know, how does he defend himself?
0:45:38 > 0:45:41How does my ancestor get out of this...this hole?
0:45:41 > 0:45:44Well, let's see... Let's see where he enters his plea.
0:45:46 > 0:45:49- And so can you see here? - I can. Just right there.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51That's it, Michael Stanhope.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54And you can see above, they've entered in his plea.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Have a look here.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00"Michael Stanhope, late of Beddington in the county of Surrey.
0:46:00 > 0:46:01"Knight. He pleads not guilty."
0:46:01 > 0:46:05He denies it strenuously.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09- So, the jury has been assembled. - Yeah.- What do they decide?
0:46:09 > 0:46:13Well, let's see. So, if you go from that line there...
0:46:13 > 0:46:16"And so came the jury for this case.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18"Before the said Justices at Westminster,
0:46:18 > 0:46:23"say it upon their oath that the said Michael Stanhope is guilty."
0:46:23 > 0:46:28"It's ordered...Michael Stanhope should be hanged."
0:46:30 > 0:46:31He's been sentenced to death!
0:46:31 > 0:46:35- He has been sentenced to death and...- On what evidence?
0:46:35 > 0:46:37This is the word of his enemies against his.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41So, my ancestor has been found guilty of conspiracy
0:46:41 > 0:46:44against his king with no proof of anything against him
0:46:44 > 0:46:48- other than the word of other people? - That's right.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50Hearsay. Sworn hearsay.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53Was he, in your mind, guilty?
0:46:53 > 0:46:56I think Stanhope is innocent.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59- I think they were all innocent men, and that's...- It's a fit up.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02..and that's how Tudor justice works, I'm afraid.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05It doesn't sound like justice to me.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Is it now an inexorable passage to the gallows?
0:47:10 > 0:47:14It is now a matter that will be very much in personal hands of the King.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28This story has taken a really dark turn.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30I'm not happy about it at all.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33He is my ancestor, Sir Michael Stanhope,
0:47:33 > 0:47:37and he's facing execution and his life, his fate,
0:47:37 > 0:47:42rests in the hands of a 13-year-old boy, King Edward VI.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44This is not a good position for him to be in.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59Sir Michael Stanhope was sent to the Tower.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03He entered across the drawbridge used by members of the royal family.
0:48:08 > 0:48:13He was imprisoned alongside three of the other alleged conspirators.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Imagine being brought in here under heavy guard.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26There's no escape. And you're facing execution.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32It must have been beyond terrifying.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Frank wants to discover if the 13-year-old king
0:48:38 > 0:48:41saved his ancestor from the hangman.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44- Stephen.- Hello.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47He's hoping Professor Stephen Alford can tell him.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51Forgive this, um, slightly strange contraption.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57This would have been a massive come-down for Sir Michael Stanhope,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59- wouldn't it?- Absolutely.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03- Would he have been in a room like this, a kind of stone room?- Yes.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05Any heating? Would he be allowed a fire?
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Yes, fire, braziers,
0:49:07 > 0:49:09but he would have paid for it himself.
0:49:09 > 0:49:12But he hasn't got any money left. It's all been taken away from him.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Yeah, which explains our first document. We can look...
0:49:15 > 0:49:19- Oh, neatly segued.- ..at a document here which is a warrant.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22- So impressive.- Here...- Brilliant.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24So, we've got a translation here.
0:49:24 > 0:49:25Just down there.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27"Warrant to the Exchequer:
0:49:27 > 0:49:30"To deliver to the Lieutenant of the Tower
0:49:30 > 0:49:32"56 pounds 13 shillings and 4 pence
0:49:32 > 0:49:35"to be distributed unto Sir Thomas Arundel,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37"Sir Michael Stanhope," et cetera.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40- So, these are the four alleged conspirators.- Yes.
0:49:40 > 0:49:42But is this the king, King Edward who's ordered this?
0:49:42 > 0:49:45It's the council and I think we can assume
0:49:45 > 0:49:48that Edward is somewhere behind it.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51Is that a glimmer of hope that maybe there's a suspicion
0:49:51 > 0:49:54- that they're not guilty?- Well, there's a degree of clemency here.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58So, after weeks of being on tenterhooks,
0:49:58 > 0:50:01- he must either get executed or pardoned?- Mm.
0:50:01 > 0:50:02Which is it?
0:50:02 > 0:50:04It's executed.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08But it's not hanged.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11- It's beheaded.- Oh, Christ!- Yeah.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13HE GROANS
0:50:13 > 0:50:15That sends a shiver down my spine,
0:50:15 > 0:50:20particularly as we're, we're sitting here in the Tower
0:50:20 > 0:50:22where he was incarcerated, unfairly.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26I was honestly expecting this to be a happy meeting.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28I thought you were going to say,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32"The King's piled in, intervened, and let him off."
0:50:32 > 0:50:38Beheading is some nods in the direction of mercy.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42It was a better, speedier death than hanging.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44- But it would have been public? - Yes.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Oh, absolutely, yes. Out... Out there.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49- Just yards away from where we are now?- Yeah, absolutely.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52Which takes us to another document.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55An account of the execution.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57Oh, my God...!
0:50:57 > 0:50:58"Friday, the 26th of February.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01"At nine of the clock in the forenoon..."
0:51:01 > 0:51:03- So, nine in the morning.- Mm.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05"..Sir Michael Stanhope and Sir Thomas Arundel
0:51:05 > 0:51:08"were beheaded on the Tower Hill...
0:51:09 > 0:51:12"..all which took on their death that they never offended
0:51:12 > 0:51:16"against the King's Majesty nor against any of his council."
0:51:16 > 0:51:21- So, they maintained their innocence right till the last.- Yes.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26That's shocking. That is shocking.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31I don't care that it was half a millennium ago, it's just a...
0:51:31 > 0:51:32an absolute travesty.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37Beheaded, for something he hadn't done!
0:51:38 > 0:51:41This is a guy who's served his country well.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44He was wrongly accused, wrongly convicted,
0:51:44 > 0:51:47and went to his death with dignity.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49That's an ancestor I can be proud of.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13I set out on this quest trying to find some element of stoicism,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16some steel, some fibre in my ancestors,
0:52:16 > 0:52:17because my mum had it in spades.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21I didn't know if it existed. But it did.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25There's Professor George, the ground-breaking Victorian scientist
0:52:25 > 0:52:30and there was Sir Michael Stanhope, who was wrongly convicted,
0:52:30 > 0:52:33and yet, he went to his death with dignity.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37Something that both myself and my mum would have been proud of.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43The one thing I haven't found out on this trip
0:52:43 > 0:52:47is just how far back I can trace my mum's lineage.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50I'm really chuffed that I've got as them far back as Tudor times.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53Can I get them any further?
0:52:56 > 0:52:58Frank has come to the College Of Arms,
0:52:58 > 0:53:01which has been verifying family trees since the 15th century.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07- Peter.- Hello. How do you do?
0:53:07 > 0:53:09Peter O'Donoghue is one of the college heralds.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11- Shall we go through?- Yeah.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14So, Peter, my mother said,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17"We're descended from the Normans in 1066."
0:53:17 > 0:53:20I've no idea if this is true or not.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23- Did my ancestors come over with them?- OK, well, I think we have
0:53:23 > 0:53:26got a manuscript which should help us go a bit further back.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29I feel I'm about to be served a kind of historical banquet here.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32- Yeah, that's right. A genealogical feast!- Yes!
0:53:32 > 0:53:36This is a collection of pedigrees created in the early 19th century.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39And if we look at the index...
0:53:39 > 0:53:42Oh, there's Stanhope! Straightaway, yeah.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44Pages 145...
0:53:44 > 0:53:47This is beautiful paper, isn't it?
0:53:47 > 0:53:48Yeah.
0:53:48 > 0:53:53So, here we are. Sir Michael Stanhope. OK. Shelford.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55Beheaded, 1552.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59And then behind that, is Scrope...
0:53:59 > 0:54:01Yeah.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06..into 1347, Earl of Gloucester.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11And we go back as far as Joan Plantagenet of Acre.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16And so, her father was King Edward I.
0:54:16 > 0:54:17Oh, my God!
0:54:19 > 0:54:20(Wow!)
0:54:22 > 0:54:28- So, am I a direct descendent, then, of King Edward I?- Yeah, exactly.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32That's exactly what this document is showing us.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34I think it's time to claim my kingdom.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38- I'm going to boot out these people in...Buckingham Palace.- Exactly.
0:54:38 > 0:54:39So...
0:54:39 > 0:54:4318, 19, 20... 23, 24...
0:54:44 > 0:54:47So, there are just 24 generations
0:54:47 > 0:54:50- of direct descent between me and King Edward I?- Exactly.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52And actually, when you think about it,
0:54:52 > 0:54:5524 people is very, very few people.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59That's just...that's a bus queue of your direct ancestors.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02But I mean, you must get a lot of people coming in here
0:55:02 > 0:55:04who descended from royalty?
0:55:04 > 0:55:06It may be the case that many of us
0:55:06 > 0:55:08have royal ancestors somewhere along the way,
0:55:08 > 0:55:11but being able to show it, generation by generation,
0:55:11 > 0:55:14THAT is unusual and that is a wonderful thing.
0:55:14 > 0:55:18I mean, of course I have to ask, who was his father?
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Right. Well, I think that's where we should move on
0:55:21 > 0:55:23- to another manuscript if we can. - This is fantastic.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27Just move this one...out of the way.
0:55:27 > 0:55:28I'm sad to see it go now.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Yeah!
0:55:30 > 0:55:34So, now, this is quite an interesting manuscript.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37- How old is this?- This is, I think, 14th or 15th century.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40And here he is. I think you can read that.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43- Yeah, "Le Roy Edward". King Edward. - Exactly.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47And then above him in red, it says: "Le Roy Henri."
0:55:47 > 0:55:52- Henry III, King John, Magna Carta John?- Precisely, yeah.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55So, these are all your direct ancestors, of course.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57I can't get my head round this.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59This is so weird.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Looking at these pictures,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04this...this chain of kings,
0:56:04 > 0:56:07- and these are my direct forbears? - Yeah.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11So, above him is Henry II.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15- That's right.- And above him? what have we got here?
0:56:15 > 0:56:16So, hang on...
0:56:16 > 0:56:18So, above Henry I...
0:56:20 > 0:56:24- ..William II.- William II, exactly. - "Le Roi William Rufus".
0:56:24 > 0:56:25And then...
0:56:26 > 0:56:29- That's William I though, isn't it? - That's it, yeah. So, that is...
0:56:29 > 0:56:31- That's William the Conqueror? - ..your direct ancestor.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36My God...!
0:56:37 > 0:56:39Didn't just come over with the Conqueror.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42- You're descended from the Conqueror. - He WAS William the Conqueror.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46It is just incredible.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49Wow!
0:56:49 > 0:56:53So, 26, 27, 28, 29...
0:56:53 > 0:56:58So, William the Conqueror is my 29 times great-grandfather.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00That's exactly right, yeah.
0:57:00 > 0:57:03Which...is not that many people.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06If you think of all your ancestors standing in that bus queue,
0:57:06 > 0:57:1033 of them perhaps, or whatever it is, 31 of them,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13um, the first eight of them were kings.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16FRANK GASPS
0:57:16 > 0:57:19So, they'd probably be quite grumpy about being in the queue. But, um...
0:57:19 > 0:57:21- Yeah. They want their own private queue.- Yeah.
0:57:24 > 0:57:26Wow!
0:57:31 > 0:57:34I mean I always suspected there may be a grain of truth
0:57:34 > 0:57:36in my mum saying we came over with the Normans.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42I feel ashamed that it's taken me so long to do this.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46I think, um...
0:57:52 > 0:57:54I think my mum would be, would be...
0:57:54 > 0:57:56just so happy,
0:57:56 > 0:57:59so pleased that we've done this.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04I wish she'd known about it. Maybe she's looking down on this now.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06Maybe she is up there.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10And I can just see her saying,
0:58:10 > 0:58:13"Yes! We've traced it all the way back!
0:58:13 > 0:58:16"We really did come over with the Normans.
0:58:16 > 0:58:19"Our ancestor WAS William the Conqueror."
0:58:20 > 0:58:23So, she'll be pleased.