0:00:02 > 0:00:04Could you turn it up a little bit?
0:00:05 > 0:00:10Pop star Cheryl is a multi-platinum selling artist and performer.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14# We gotta fight, fight, fight Fight for this love... #
0:00:16 > 0:00:20Performing, for me, has always been a huge part of my life.
0:00:20 > 0:00:25My mother always said to me that I came out of her knowing
0:00:25 > 0:00:27what I wanted to do, and who I was.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32Cheryl rose to fame on the TV talent show Popstars: The Rivals,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34winning a place in the band Girls Aloud.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41After a series of top ten hits, Cheryl joined the judging panel
0:00:41 > 0:00:44on The X Factor and launched her solo career.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Now, as one of the most photographed women in the world,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53she's graced the covers of magazines like Vogue.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59I'm quite extrovert in the performance side
0:00:59 > 0:01:03and the show business side, I guess. That's where I let loose,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06but in my private, everyday life I'm quite reserved.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09I'm quite shy in a lot of ways.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Born Cheryl Tweedy in 1983, Cheryl grew up
0:01:14 > 0:01:17on a Newcastle council estate in a large family.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22There was five kids in the house, so it was always crazy.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25And it was always nice being one of many, you know,
0:01:25 > 0:01:27you felt like a little gang, a little team.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31I was always at dance class,
0:01:31 > 0:01:36which was just a tiny little dance studio above the Co-op, actually.
0:01:36 > 0:01:37But I absolutely loved it.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40I was there, like, three or four days a week,
0:01:40 > 0:01:42from tiny, from three.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Nothing, like, glamorous, if you like, just hard work.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49Cheryl now lives in London,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52but is proud of her roots and wants to know more about
0:01:52 > 0:01:54her family's history.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Over the years, as you get a bit older you start to wonder, right,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00where do I come from?
0:02:00 > 0:02:03I feel like I should be deeply rooted to the north-east.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05I would think so.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07I feel that way.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11Me dad, I think, is Geordie to the core,
0:02:11 > 0:02:14and has been for centuries.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18My mother's side of the family always feels a bit more mysterious,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21for some reason. I just would really like to have
0:02:21 > 0:02:24those questions answered once and for all.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28That sounded really good.
0:02:28 > 0:02:29No more.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31One more? One more for luck?
0:02:31 > 0:02:32- Yeah, why not?- OK.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Cheryl's family still live in Newcastle,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14so she's decided to start her search there.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19Her youngest brother, Garry,
0:03:19 > 0:03:21is giving her a lift back to their old neighbourhood.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27This is just, literally, where I grew up, all these roads.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29That's the church, which used to be the bingo.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31- Church?- Yeah.- There's no bingo?
0:03:31 > 0:03:33The bingo has moved into the church.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36- What?- They've done a swap. There's Heaton Bingo Club, in the church.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39- You're joking? - They have swapped around.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41- For what reason? - And now the church is the bingo,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44- and the bingo is the church.- That's crazy.- It's so random, isn't it?
0:03:44 > 0:03:46I used to work in that cafe.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48JJ's. It's still called JJ's.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Cheryl's parents separated when she was 11.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Her dad, Garry Snr, still lives in the same area.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Cheryl wants to find out what he knows about the family history.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12Dad!
0:04:18 > 0:04:21- Hi, sweetheart.- You all right? - Aye, come in.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24- I haven't seen you for a while. - I know.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29I've got a few photos I want to show you.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32Well, I know him.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35- Well, that would be me. - God, how old are you on there?
0:04:35 > 0:04:37- I'm 17.- 17.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40- Yeah.- I've got your face shape on there.
0:04:40 > 0:04:41I'm a proper Tweedy, like, aren't I?
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Yeah. That's your grandad, with Uncle George.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Garry's father, Brian Tweedy, died in 1980
0:04:49 > 0:04:52when Garry was just 17 years old.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55We lost our dad at the age of 39.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58- Do you remember him, Da? - Yeah, sure, yeah.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01As much as you can remember somebody for 17 years.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04I know, it's crazy. It's mad now that I'm, like, in my 30s,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08to think he's just a few years older than me when he died.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11That's your great-grandad.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15- What's his name?- William.
0:05:15 > 0:05:16- William Tweedy? - Billy, he used to get.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20He was a crane driver in the shipyards.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22So we've been here for at least three generations?
0:05:22 > 0:05:28At least, yeah. And that's Nora, that's your great-gran, with Bill.
0:05:28 > 0:05:30So she was your nana?
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Yes. My nana, your great-gran.
0:05:33 > 0:05:34- Nora?- Nora, yeah.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35What a nice name.
0:05:35 > 0:05:36- Nora.- Nora.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41And the last one I've got is Nora's mam.
0:05:41 > 0:05:42- Nora's mam?- Yeah.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45So your great-gran?
0:05:46 > 0:05:48So that's my great-great-gran?
0:05:48 > 0:05:50- That picture?- Yes.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52- Kelso.- Kelso?
0:05:52 > 0:05:56That was her name then, yeah. Kelso. Mary Kelso.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58Aye, Mary Kelso.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00It's amazing to have photographs though,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02not just names.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04They've all got good teeth.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13- What's that?- Well, I've got hold of a copy of a family tree,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16and it's mainly to do with me dad's side.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20From me, moving up the Tweedy side, coal miners.
0:06:20 > 0:06:21Coal miners.
0:06:22 > 0:06:28And we move up through the Kelsos, and particularly this...
0:06:28 > 0:06:30I know nothing about that.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Mariners, sailors.
0:06:32 > 0:06:33- No way.- Yeah.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37So there's James Laing, mariner.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39John Wood Laing, mariner.
0:06:40 > 0:06:41Wife, Caroline.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47And then the father of those is also a mariner.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52- Yeah.- So that's two generations. I didn't see that coming at all.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Not at all. Coal miners, yeah, maybe.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58And I really love that idea, but mariners...
0:06:58 > 0:07:01That's a different thing altogether, isn't it?
0:07:01 > 0:07:05See, it's interesting, because I hate the sea.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07I've always been afraid of it.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10And I used to have really bad dreams when I was little
0:07:10 > 0:07:14about drowning in the sea, being an old woman with her headscarf on,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and I was the old woman.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21- Well, there you are then. - Isn't that weird?- Mm-hmm.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Very funny. So I hope you've got your sea legs.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Cheryl's discovered that on her father's side she's descended from
0:07:30 > 0:07:33a family of mariners called the Laings.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42She wants to know more about her seafaring ancestors.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50She's come to the Discovery Museum in Newcastle to meet Carolyn Ball,
0:07:50 > 0:07:51who runs the archives.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02- Hi.- Hi, so I was wondering if you could help me a bit?
0:08:02 > 0:08:03I can try.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09I've brought over this family tree, which is basically, at the moment,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11- all I have.- OK.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14And I was looking through it all, but I'm really focused,
0:08:14 > 0:08:18and want to know more about these three mariners up here.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20OK.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22John Wood's quite an unusual sort of name.
0:08:22 > 0:08:26So what we found is what's called a mariner's ticket,
0:08:26 > 0:08:27which we've got here,
0:08:27 > 0:08:29which is what they would need to go to sea.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32- Right.- So if I just take it very carefully out of that for you,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and if you want to have a look.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40So it says John Wood Laing, born...
0:08:41 > 0:08:44..North Shields, 1826.
0:08:44 > 0:08:4530th of January.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50It looks as though he went to sea as a mariner's apprentice.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55How old was he? He was... 1845, so he was 19.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Oh, wow. Super young.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01- Five foot six.- He wasn't particularly tall, five foot six.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Nothing changed there then.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07"Brown hair. Fair complexion.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10"Marks on person - cut on forehead."
0:09:12 > 0:09:13Wow, that's his signature.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Yeah. This is what allowed him to go on board ship,
0:09:17 > 0:09:19and to actually sail around the world.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22It was his permit, if you like, to work.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27It's crazy to think that I'm holding it, and he used to hold it.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28- Yeah.- Isn't it?
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Yeah, and it would be a really important document for him as well.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33- So it was crucial... - It gives you the chills.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40Cheryl's four-times great-grandfather, John Wood Laing,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43started work as an apprentice mariner in the 1840s.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49By this time, Britain was a powerful seafaring nation,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52and ruled an empire that stretched from North America to India.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Trade was its lifeblood,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01and mariners like John in Britain's expanding merchant service
0:10:01 > 0:10:05were crucial to transporting goods and people across the world.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09It was a career that offered adventure and opportunity.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14We did find something else about John Wood Laing.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16- Right.- So we wondered whether you would like to have a look at that?
0:10:16 > 0:10:18- I'd love to.- OK.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21I'm not going to tell you what this is.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24Perhaps you'd like to open it and have a look.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33Oh.
0:10:33 > 0:10:34Wow.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38- That's him?- That's him.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Wow. And is that Caroline?
0:10:44 > 0:10:45Yeah, that's Caroline.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49He's amazing.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51He's so handsome.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56This is quite an unusual pose for a photograph.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59- Unusual?- Yes. If you look, you would usually expect Victorians
0:10:59 > 0:11:02- to be quite formal in a photograph. - They are quite relaxed.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06Quite relaxed, you can see she's touching his thigh,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08and he's got his hand on her shoulder.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Though it's probably not their wedding photograph,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14they were married before this type of photograph was developed.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17There is something special about it.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20You just get, like, a real sense of,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22almost like they were crazy about each other.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- It does look like it, doesn't it? - Doesn't it?
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Like a real sense of affection.
0:11:27 > 0:11:29Like he's being protective and she's being...
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I've never seen one so informal.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33He's so cool.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35He's ahead of his time, like by a few centuries.
0:11:36 > 0:11:37Yeah.
0:11:39 > 0:11:40- Thank you.- That's all right.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42I almost don't want to give you it back.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44I'm going to have to take it back, I'm afraid.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47But, because it's such a special thing,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50we thought you might want to take a copy of it away with you.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Wow. Thank you so much.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01John and Caroline were married in 1849 in North Shields.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05Cheryl wants to know more about their life there.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08So obviously we've worked out that John Wood Laing was in
0:12:08 > 0:12:12North Shields, so the obvious thing to look at would be the 1851 census.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17And this is the one for North Shields, which includes...
0:12:17 > 0:12:20Caroline? That's her, right?
0:12:20 > 0:12:22That's her.
0:12:22 > 0:12:29They lived in 2 Gibson Bank, and then Mary Jane, daughter.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33- There's somebody missing.- John.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35- John.- She's the head of the family.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37But it doesn't say she was widowed.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40- Maybe he's at sea. - Perhaps he was at sea.
0:12:41 > 0:12:42I hope so.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46So everything points back to...
0:12:47 > 0:12:52..North Shields. I guess that's where I've got to go next.
0:12:52 > 0:12:53I think so.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Cheryl's heading to North Shields,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59just a few miles up the coast from Newcastle,
0:12:59 > 0:13:01at the mouth of the River Tyne.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10She's arranged to meet historian Dr Dan Jackson at the North Shields
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Registry Office, to find out more about John and Caroline.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Cheryl, so if you look out this window here, you get a really good
0:13:19 > 0:13:21sense of the geography of North Shields.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25That's amazing. I've got a copy of a photograph of my
0:13:25 > 0:13:28great-great-great- great-grandparents.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32- Fantastic.- John Wood and Caroline.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35- And he was a mariner? - He was a mariner, yeah.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Mariners were known to be really snappy dressers.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39That's what I said, he looks amazing.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42They had a lot of swagger about them, it's what they were known for.
0:13:42 > 0:13:46And then I got this census from 1851.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50They are living at Gibson's Bank.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Which is just there, can you see where the greenery is?
0:13:53 > 0:13:55- No way.- That was the bank itself.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59But they lived on these stairs, because the land, as you can see,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01is quite a steep bank.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05So you had these precarious houses, kind of clinging to the river bank
0:14:05 > 0:14:07where all of these people lived on top of one another.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09- Wow.- This was known as the Low Town,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12and that's where the sort of working class people lived.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15This was the place where all the spit and sawdust pubs would
0:14:15 > 0:14:18have been, cos you can imagine all these sailors coming in to the Tyne.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Yeah, of course.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23And the sort of things that sailors like to spend their money on was all
0:14:23 > 0:14:24catered for down on the Low Road.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27So it was the sort of place you had to have your wits about you.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30- Right.- It was known to be quite a violent place at times.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32And up on the high ground was called the High Town,
0:14:32 > 0:14:34and that's where the posher houses were, where the big houses were,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Dockwray Square and Northumberland Square, and places like that.
0:14:37 > 0:14:39So there is a very obvious difference between...
0:14:39 > 0:14:42- Class.- Yeah, a class divide in the town.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45So they would have lived in, like, a small house here.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Yeah, there's a report from the time that says people in Gibson's Stairs
0:14:48 > 0:14:51were living in about four to a room.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55- Oh, wow.- And there's all sorts of industries, there is everything
0:14:55 > 0:14:59you can think of - shipbuilding, sailmaking, mast-making,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02anchor smiths, you've got roperies where women used to work.
0:15:02 > 0:15:03So it was incredibly busy.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09When John and Caroline lived here, North Shields was a thriving port.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15The town's location at the mouth of the River Tyne meant easy access
0:15:15 > 0:15:17to the north-east's coalfields,
0:15:17 > 0:15:20which were fuelling Britain's Industrial Revolution.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Coal was loaded onto ships and sent down the coast to London,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30and also as far afield as the Baltic and North America.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Sometimes men were at sea for two or three years at a time.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38- Two or three years?- Yeah, depending on where they were going.
0:15:38 > 0:15:44So I guess the women then had to be quite confident, tough, independent,
0:15:44 > 0:15:47if their men are away at sea for two or three years,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and they are living in an environment like that,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53you'd have to be a tough woman.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56Absolutely. And the women of North Shields are known to look out
0:15:56 > 0:15:59for each other as well, to support each other.
0:15:59 > 0:16:04Can you tell anything from this photo?
0:16:04 > 0:16:05He looks like he's doing well.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08He's probably qualified, or his apprenticeship is over.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10I would have thought, just judging by the clothes he is wearing,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13if nothing else. And he's got his cap at a jaunty angle,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15he's got the expensive watch chain.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17It looks like a velvet waistcoat as well.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19All pretty expensive gear.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22- Really?- Yeah. He's doing well, and his wife's dressed smartly as well,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25by the looks of things. That's a brilliant photograph.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Isn't it? Fascinating.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30A useful place to go next would be to find out about his career at sea,
0:16:30 > 0:16:32see where he went.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46I'm really getting a sense of John Wood Laing and Caroline,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49more so the fact that I've seen a picture,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53and I'm aware of how they actually looked,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55how they dressed, where they lived.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01There's definitely a strong sense of tough,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03northern, Geordie women starting...
0:17:04 > 0:17:09..with Caroline. So that tradition seems to have carried on,
0:17:09 > 0:17:13and I'm proud of the fact that they were strong, tough and hard working.
0:17:16 > 0:17:21Cheryl's meeting maritime historian Dr Helen Doe at the nearby
0:17:21 > 0:17:25Old Low Light Museum to find out about John's career at sea.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29So I have this photograph
0:17:29 > 0:17:33of my great-great- great-great-grandparents.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34That is a wonderful photograph.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36- Isn't it?- It really is lovely.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41So far what I do know is that he had an apprenticeship ticket,
0:17:41 > 0:17:45and that he lived on the Bank there in North Shields.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Your ancestor, John, finished his apprenticeship...
0:17:50 > 0:17:52..and he then became a second mate,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56which is actually quite a good step up on ships.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59And he was working in the coal trade.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02This is the first document I've got for you which tells you
0:18:02 > 0:18:04something about him.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07So this is...a report of character.
0:18:09 > 0:18:111851.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14John Wood Laing - very good.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Oh, wow, so on this page he's the only one that has a very good
0:18:18 > 0:18:20- for his conduct.- Yes, indeed.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22What does that say? Sobriety.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Sobriety, very good. So he wasn't really a drinker, I guess.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29That's right. That was important on ships.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33- I'm sure, yeah.- So you've got one "very good", which is your ancestor,
0:18:33 > 0:18:36two "goods", and this gentleman here who's just got "middling".
0:18:37 > 0:18:41So this ship is the Brack, and at the end of the voyage
0:18:41 > 0:18:45the master would give them their discharge papers,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47which would show how well they've done.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Reputations could be made over a long time,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53but equally could be lost quite quickly.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Have a look at this one that I found for you.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Now, this is a ship called The Spirit Of The Deep.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04Right. "Date of the occurrence entered with day and hour."
0:19:04 > 0:19:06So there was an occurrence?
0:19:06 > 0:19:07- Mm-hmm.- Oops.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11So you've got the location...
0:19:11 > 0:19:12- Hong Kong?- Yeah.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14James Laing.
0:19:17 > 0:19:18That's his brother.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23So he's on another ship but in Hong Kong.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Oh, wow.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28James Laing was seven years younger than Cheryl's four-times
0:19:28 > 0:19:29great-grandfather, John,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32and had followed in his big brother's footsteps to sea.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37And what does that say? He's badly behaved?
0:19:37 > 0:19:41- Yes.- What did he do?
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Went ashore without leave.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47So he's gone AWOL, basically.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50And that was in December, on the 21st.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53And then Monday the 22nd...
0:19:55 > 0:19:58"James Laing returned..."
0:19:58 > 0:20:00"Onboard unfit."
0:20:00 > 0:20:01"Unfit for the...
0:20:02 > 0:20:04"..remaining of the day."
0:20:04 > 0:20:06Yeah.
0:20:06 > 0:20:07- Until...- The 29th!
0:20:07 > 0:20:09What the hell was he doing?
0:20:09 > 0:20:12So from the 22nd to the 29th he was unfit.
0:20:14 > 0:20:15And it doesn't specify?
0:20:17 > 0:20:18Maybe he was drinking?
0:20:18 > 0:20:20Perhaps he was drunk.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22For four days, five days?
0:20:22 > 0:20:23A week.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Now if we go down a little bit further, there's a little more here.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29So we've now got one month later,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32we've gone from Hong Kong to Singapore.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35And we've got 11.30am...
0:20:35 > 0:20:36"James Laing..."
0:20:36 > 0:20:37"Called me..."
0:20:39 > 0:20:41"A bloody snot."
0:20:41 > 0:20:42Yeah.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44- What does this say? - "And struck me..."
0:20:44 > 0:20:45And struck me?
0:20:45 > 0:20:48- "..in the face."- Oh, wow.
0:20:48 > 0:20:49This is the mate,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51and he's saying, "He struck me in the face,
0:20:51 > 0:20:53"for which I put him in irons."
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Then, the next day, you've got James Laing again,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02this time he's taken before the master,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05found guilty and he's fined...
0:21:06 > 0:21:09- ..for the offence.- That's a big contrast to his brother.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12But, again, quite an intriguing character.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16And obviously liked...
0:21:16 > 0:21:18a bit of the naughty side.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22- Shall we go back to John?- Please.
0:21:22 > 0:21:23Now, look at this.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26A certificate.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28He was a master? He became a master?
0:21:28 > 0:21:33Was he then, like, second, or next to the captain?
0:21:33 > 0:21:35He IS the captain.
0:21:35 > 0:21:36Oh, he is the captain?
0:21:36 > 0:21:41Yes. Master mariner means you have the ability to be the captain
0:21:41 > 0:21:43of a ship. He's done it.
0:21:43 > 0:21:44That's incredible.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53John became a master mariner in 1855, at the age of 29.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58By this time, the merchant service had introduced tough exams
0:21:58 > 0:22:01to ensure only the most qualified men became masters.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06John would have needed to be able to read and write,
0:22:06 > 0:22:08as well as navigate by the stars.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Masters were also responsible for delivering the cargo
0:22:13 > 0:22:17to its final destination, and bringing the payment back.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Ship owners were desperate to find men they could trust,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and John would have been in demand.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Turn over, have a look on the other side.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35114 Church Way, North Shields.
0:22:35 > 0:22:36Yeah.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40That address shows that he's really come a long way.
0:22:40 > 0:22:41Church Way is...
0:22:42 > 0:22:44- ..up there, High Town.- Oh, wow.
0:22:44 > 0:22:49So he's now living in a more salubrious area.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52I feel really, really proud of him, actually.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54- He's done so well. - And you should be.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57He's got a better life for his wife and his children.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00She's certainly now got status as well.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02- Really?- Hmm.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04Can we go back to your photograph a moment?
0:23:04 > 0:23:06- Yes, absolutely. - We'll have a look at that
0:23:06 > 0:23:08in a slightly different light now.
0:23:08 > 0:23:10I wonder if by now he was already a master.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14It's quite possible that was taken to celebrate this great big step.
0:23:14 > 0:23:16Wow.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18And no wonder they are looking so proud.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21This is a photograph showing status.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24And that's probably why it was taken.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26It makes complete sense now.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32And the first ship that he became master of was called La Belle.
0:23:35 > 0:23:36Isn't that nice?
0:23:36 > 0:23:39And here is the final document I've got for you.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44"Agreement for foreign going ship, La Belle."
0:23:46 > 0:23:47The 19th of August...
0:23:49 > 0:23:50..1857.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55So he's going from Conwy, and it's going to Quebec.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58That's him away from home, I guess, for...
0:23:58 > 0:23:59Months at a time.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Several months by the time he's got across.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05And as captain, as the master of the ship,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09he is in charge of selecting the crew.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12And this is the crew that he had from Wales.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Not James? Oh, God.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19- James Laing.- Oh, he is.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22- He's here.- He's got his brother. - Oh, dear.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Maybe he behaved for his brother.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29James has been in trouble on the Spirit Of The Deep,
0:24:29 > 0:24:33and you can see it shows here that the last ship he was on was
0:24:33 > 0:24:35the Spirit Of The Deep.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37So he obviously hasn't had any work in between.
0:24:37 > 0:24:42I'm actually not surprised that he recruited his brother, James.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47- Why's that?- It's just typical Geordie mentality to always
0:24:47 > 0:24:51keep your family involved. I mean, I'm sure any other master
0:24:51 > 0:24:54wouldn't have wanted James aboard given his...
0:24:54 > 0:24:57Given his background.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02But, no, I reckon that John could have kept James in check,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05and he would have liked to give him another opportunity,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07a chance to earn some money.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09I suppose, and that's very typical still, now,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11of the Geordie mentality.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22It feels really nostalgic, actually, coming back here.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25I haven't been back here for a long time.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29We used to come here as children and play on the rocks,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33pick sea snails, build sandcastles.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35This is real childhood stuff for me.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37This is real memories.
0:25:41 > 0:25:46John Wood Laing and Caroline probably came here.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49They probably knew this exact spot.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03When I first started off researching about John Wood,
0:26:03 > 0:26:09I was finding out that he lived in a poor area and he wasn't really
0:26:09 > 0:26:12in a good way for his wife, and having a young baby,
0:26:12 > 0:26:14so I was a bit concerned about that.
0:26:14 > 0:26:19And what happened thereafter, and to find out that actually, it improved,
0:26:19 > 0:26:25is such an amazing thing to witness and to discover.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30And I feel like, in a way, that's kind of what happened with me.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32So I relate to the fact that you have to...
0:26:32 > 0:26:34You know, hard work pays off.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39When we were younger, if, you know, a friend or family member
0:26:39 > 0:26:42got into trouble, you'd say, "You little toerag."
0:26:42 > 0:26:46So James, to me, seems to be that member of the family.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I kind of like him. I've got a little bit of a soft spot for him.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Cheryl knows that John and James set sail for Quebec in Canada
0:26:56 > 0:26:58in August 1857.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02It was a journey that could take several weeks.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07She's searching local newspapers for information about their voyage.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11Oh, here we go.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13OK, here we go.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17The 6th of March, 1858.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23"The La Belle, Laing master, sailed from Quebec on the 10th of November
0:27:23 > 0:27:28"for London, was spoken on the 14th of November between Gross
0:27:28 > 0:27:32"and Crane Islands and has not since been heard of."
0:27:36 > 0:27:37Wow.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39"Was spoken on"?
0:27:39 > 0:27:41It's hard to understand the meaning.
0:27:42 > 0:27:43"Has not since been heard of."
0:27:48 > 0:27:50There's obviously a...
0:27:52 > 0:27:55..problem there. A big one.
0:28:00 > 0:28:01On La Belle's return voyage,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04John and his brother James would have sailed
0:28:04 > 0:28:08up the St Lawrence River, past Gross and Crane Islands
0:28:08 > 0:28:10and out towards the North Atlantic.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Cheryl's arranged to meet Dr Simon Wills,
0:28:14 > 0:28:18at the Watch House Museum near North Shields to find out
0:28:18 > 0:28:20what the newspaper report means.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24So I have this cutting from the newspaper.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28Which is quite concerning, really.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30I don't understand all of the language,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33which I was hoping you can help me with.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37Well, "was spoken on", in Victorian times, ships' captains,
0:28:37 > 0:28:41when two ships passed each other, they'd hail each other.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44And so Captain Laing would have shouted out,
0:28:44 > 0:28:48"La Belle from Shields, heading for London."
0:28:48 > 0:28:50And the captain of the other ship would make a note of that,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54and when he got to port he'd report that he'd seen La Belle.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57- Right.- It was just a way of keeping track of ships in those days,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00because there wasn't any other way of communicating,
0:29:00 > 0:29:01no radio or anything like that.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04I've got something to show you here.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10This is a list, a crew list of everyone who was on
0:29:10 > 0:29:12that voyage of La Belle.
0:29:14 > 0:29:15Yeah. OK.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19So this says Port of Shields.
0:29:21 > 0:29:22"Count of crew,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26"foreign going ship to be delivered at the end of the voyage.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29"John Wood Laing, James Laing."
0:29:31 > 0:29:33It says "deaths" at the top.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38- So they all died? - They did, I'm afraid.
0:29:40 > 0:29:44What happened is the insurance company usually decided,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47after a period of time, that the ship would be written off,
0:29:47 > 0:29:51and that's when the men would be formally declared as dead.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56Some of them are so young as well - this chap, Robert Roberts, only 17.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00So your ancestor was pretty much the oldest person on board, at 32.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03- Very sad.- My age.- Yeah.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09- So sad.- We don't know exactly what happened to La Belle.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14This particular part of the coast of Canada was very dangerous,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16it was the winter, November time,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19there's lots of ice floating around in the St Lawrence River,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21lots of other ships.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25There was fog, storms would suddenly blow up from nowhere.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28And ships would just disappear.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30And they just vanished?
0:30:31 > 0:30:34How long would a ship take to sink like that?
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Or would...? I don't...
0:30:36 > 0:30:37Depends on what happened.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41It could be as little as 15 minutes, half an hour.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44Really?
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Even if they were thrown overboard or managed to get off the ship,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50the waters that time of the year would have been freezing cold,
0:30:50 > 0:30:53so they wouldn't have lived very long.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01La Belle was the only ship John ever captained.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04It disappeared while on its return journey to England.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09John, James and the entire crew were lost.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13In the mid-19th century, being a mariner was a treacherous job.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19There were over 800 shipwrecks a year off the coast of Britain alone,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24and transatlantic voyages such as La Belle's were even riskier.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Ships could be blown hundreds of miles off course,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30and many, like La Belle, were never heard of again.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37Caroline was left a widow with no financial support
0:31:37 > 0:31:39and a young family to bring up.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44Caroline would have only been 29.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47And on the family tree I have,
0:31:47 > 0:31:53my great-great-great-grandfather is another John Wood Laing,
0:31:53 > 0:31:58but I don't know, obviously, when John was born.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01I've got something that can help you here.
0:32:04 > 0:32:05This is a birth certificate.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10Yeah. John Wood, boy - father, John Wood Laing.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16Mother, Caroline, in 1858.
0:32:16 > 0:32:17May.
0:32:18 > 0:32:24La Belle left England on the 19th of August 1857.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28So she was actually pregnant the whole time.
0:32:28 > 0:32:29Wow.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33And John never saw his little boy.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35- I know.- That's so sad.
0:32:37 > 0:32:43I now really wonder about Caroline and what she went on to be and do.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47Well, we know from the 1861 census that Caroline went on
0:32:47 > 0:32:50- to become a charwoman. - You know that?
0:32:50 > 0:32:52- Yes.- What's a charwoman?
0:32:52 > 0:32:54Well, sort of like an odd-jobs lady, really.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58She'd take in sewing and do laundry for people, cleaning.
0:32:58 > 0:33:04So it was quite a comedown, for her, having been a captain's wife.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07At the bottom of the ladder really, in terms of income at the time.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11She actually came from poverty,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14and then I guess she went back to poverty.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16I've got something else to show you.
0:33:16 > 0:33:17This is a memorial card.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24"In affectionate remembrance of John W Laing."
0:33:25 > 0:33:29Would this have belonged to Caroline?
0:33:29 > 0:33:32Yes, I think she would have had that made.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34It's a very expensive thing to have made as well,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36at a time when she had very little money.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38It's been so well-kept.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42"In the ship La Belle he went to sea,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45"And thought not what his end might be.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47"Now he lies buried in the deep,
0:33:47 > 0:33:49"And has left his wife and children to weep.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53"Though the raging sea o'er his body roll,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56"Do thou, Lord Jesus, receive his soul."
0:34:12 > 0:34:17I was hoping that he had a long and successful career
0:34:17 > 0:34:20because of how hard he'd worked to get there,
0:34:20 > 0:34:22and that the kids would have been OK,
0:34:22 > 0:34:24and set up for life, and Caroline would have been good.
0:34:26 > 0:34:27Yeah, I just feel...
0:34:29 > 0:34:30I feel sad now.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37I feel like I got to know John and Caroline.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41I feel like I did get a sense of them, even as a couple,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44the way she's holding him, the way he's holding her.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48I just sense that they were really, really, madly in young love,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51and it's a lovely feeling.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08Cheryl now wants to find out about her mother's side of the family,
0:35:08 > 0:35:10and she's back in Newcastle to see her mum, Joan.
0:35:12 > 0:35:18My mother is very much a friend, I can confide in her about anything.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22It just feels a bit more mysterious on that side of the family -
0:35:22 > 0:35:25I never heard stories, I never heard tales.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29I think she had a lot of questions herself when I was growing up.
0:35:29 > 0:35:30- Hello.- Hello.
0:35:32 > 0:35:33- You all right?- Yeah.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Joan was born in Newcastle.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43Her parents were Joseph and Olga Callaghan.
0:35:43 > 0:35:49Olga was born in 1932, and grew up with her twin sister, Rene,
0:35:49 > 0:35:51but Joan's always had questions
0:35:51 > 0:35:53about the rest of her mother's family.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56Even with me it was all hush-hush, it was.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Like there was a hidden...
0:35:58 > 0:36:00There was a secret or something?
0:36:00 > 0:36:03You weren't allowed to ask questions, or know anything.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07It was, "Mind your own business, you should be seen and not heard."
0:36:07 > 0:36:09You used to say that to us when we were little.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11- No, I didn't.- Yes, you did.
0:36:11 > 0:36:12Well, I can't remember that.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20I just remember me mam telling me once that she's got a big family,
0:36:20 > 0:36:22there's about 11 of them.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24But most of them are adopted.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27- 11 of them?- 11 on her side.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30But I never, ever met any of them.
0:36:30 > 0:36:31Never seen any of them.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34- Do you not think that weird? - I think it's very strange.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38I do have a couple of old photographs I can show you.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Hopefully they'll lead somewhere.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45That's my mam and dad getting married.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48He's quite handsome, isn't he, me dad?
0:36:48 > 0:36:50You look the double of your mam.
0:36:50 > 0:36:51Really? Do you think?
0:36:51 > 0:36:53Yeah, I do.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55So this is...
0:36:56 > 0:36:59..Auntie Rene's wedding.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01So, there is Auntie Rene, obviously.
0:37:01 > 0:37:02You can see...
0:37:03 > 0:37:08..me mam, and this is my nana, your great nana.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12- Oh, God.- She was called Edith Annie.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16- Which is...- She looks happy on her daughter's wedding day.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18Doesn't she? Yeah.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24- Wow.- What is very strange is I never knew the grandad,
0:37:24 > 0:37:29whether he had passed away, or what happened, whether they divorced.
0:37:29 > 0:37:31I don't know what went on.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33It was never spoken of,
0:37:33 > 0:37:40so I would really be interested to find out who me grandad was.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44This is all I've got of the older photographs.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46- That's it?- That's it.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49That's it? What am I...?
0:37:49 > 0:37:53Well, the only thing I've really got to go off of is me nana
0:37:53 > 0:37:55and her sister's name.
0:37:55 > 0:37:56So, do you know their maiden name?
0:37:56 > 0:37:58The maiden name was Ridley.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04Joan believes that her mother, Olga, came from a large family,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06but doesn't know anything more about them.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10Cheryl wants to get to the bottom of this,
0:38:10 > 0:38:13so she's ordered the marriage certificates for her grandmother
0:38:13 > 0:38:16and her grandmother's twin sister to find the name
0:38:16 > 0:38:19of her great-grandfather.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24OK, so here we've got the certificate for me nana,
0:38:24 > 0:38:27in 1954.
0:38:27 > 0:38:34Father's name and surname - Joseph Ridley, deceased.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38So Rene's marriage was in '52,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40and he was deceased by then.
0:38:40 > 0:38:42Joseph Wilson Ridley.
0:38:44 > 0:38:49So I'm going to now see if I can find Joseph Wilson Ridley.
0:38:55 > 0:38:56Here we go.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01OK, so this is the 1911 census.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04"Name and surname, Joseph Wilson Ridley,
0:39:04 > 0:39:05"head of the family.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09"Age, 29."
0:39:09 > 0:39:14So his occupation was a grocery warehouse man.
0:39:14 > 0:39:15So he worked at the Co-op.
0:39:17 > 0:39:18OK.
0:39:18 > 0:39:20Mary Ann Ridley.
0:39:25 > 0:39:26Wife.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31Me mam said her name was Edith Annie.
0:39:33 > 0:39:35So...
0:39:35 > 0:39:36something's off here.
0:39:40 > 0:39:41Something's off here.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48Cheryl's discovered that her great-grandfather
0:39:48 > 0:39:50was called Joseph Wilson Ridley.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54He lived in County Durham, not far from Newcastle.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59She's also found out that in 1911 he had a wife called Mary Ann,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03and they had three children together. Cheryl's not sure
0:40:03 > 0:40:06how her great-grandmother, Edith Annie, fits in.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12She's also found Joseph in Army Service Records online.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16"Name - Ridley, Joseph Wilson.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19"Regiment, Durham, LI.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24"Your service records from the 15th of the 12th, 1914.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26"Place, France."
0:40:28 > 0:40:30So he must have gone to France.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Cheryl's learnt that Joseph served with the Durham Light Infantry
0:40:39 > 0:40:40during World War I.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46He volunteered to join up soon after war broke out at the age of 33.
0:40:49 > 0:40:52Cheryl wants to know more about Joseph's service and has decided
0:40:52 > 0:40:54to follow in his footsteps.
0:40:56 > 0:41:01I find it pretty amazing that my mam's grandfather
0:41:01 > 0:41:03has been completely forgotten,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07considering he fought in the First World War.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10You would think there would be tales and stuff like that passed down,
0:41:10 > 0:41:13but nobody seems to know anything.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16A distant relative Cheryl doesn't know has sent a letter
0:41:16 > 0:41:19with some more information about Joseph.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22So I have this letter...
0:41:24 > 0:41:25..that I'd like to read.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35Oh, wow.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41So handsome, again.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51"Dear Relative, I am also a descendant of Joseph Wilson Ridley.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55"He was my grandfather,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58"married to my grandmother, Mary Ann,
0:41:58 > 0:42:06"and they had eight or nine children together before she died in 1930.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09"Joseph was never really discussed in our family,
0:42:09 > 0:42:14"other than referenced in rather derogatory terms as Old Man Ridley.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21"It seems after the death of my grandmother, a Mrs Burton
0:42:21 > 0:42:23"was brought in as a housekeeper...
0:42:25 > 0:42:27"..to look after the children,
0:42:27 > 0:42:30"and then she fell pregnant with the twin girls."
0:42:35 > 0:42:36That's my great nana.
0:42:39 > 0:42:40Wow.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45"It created quite a scandal in the community.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48"A Ridley trait is that most of us have a quick temper,
0:42:48 > 0:42:53"and from what I've been told, Grandad Ridley was no exception.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57"Some in the family say he was troubled and volatile,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01"and his temper would often be fuelled by excessive drinking.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08"But he also bore other Ridley traits - undying generosity,
0:43:08 > 0:43:10"and was, at times, quite fearless.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17"When his photographs surfaced I felt a bit sorry that he seemed
0:43:17 > 0:43:20"to have become sidelined and forgotten.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22"There he was, in a soldier's uniform,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24"and he must have fought in World War I."
0:43:26 > 0:43:33Wow. That actually explains so much of why he was never talked about.
0:43:33 > 0:43:34So interesting.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39And he had, in the end, 11 children,
0:43:39 > 0:43:41which is what me mam said.
0:43:41 > 0:43:45Me great nana must have been the young housekeeper that...
0:43:48 > 0:43:49..got involved with...
0:43:51 > 0:43:52..Mr Old Man Ridley.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57When Cheryl's great-grandmother, Edith Annie Burton,
0:43:57 > 0:44:02had the twins in 1932, Joseph was a widower with a large family,
0:44:02 > 0:44:04and a war veteran.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11To find out more about her great-grandfather's war experience,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15Cheryl's meeting military historian Dr Helen McCartney.
0:44:16 > 0:44:20In 1915, Joseph was sent to the Western Front,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23where the British and their allies were fighting the Germans.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30By early 1916, Joseph's battalion was here near Ypres in Belgium.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35Something I do know is that he joined the regiment in Durham.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38But I have no idea what he did
0:44:38 > 0:44:41or anything else, really, other than that.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45He joins the 11th Battalion, and the 11th Battalion is quite interesting.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48It's a different kind of unit than he trained with -
0:44:48 > 0:44:50it's a pioneer unit.
0:44:50 > 0:44:51And this...
0:44:53 > 0:44:56..is a badge that he would have worn.
0:44:56 > 0:44:57Wow.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01What does that actually mean?
0:45:02 > 0:45:06This here is a pick, this one here...
0:45:06 > 0:45:09- Is a gun.- Yes, a rifle.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12And that kind of sums up what the pioneers did.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17They were mainly a labour unit, but they were also trained as infantry,
0:45:17 > 0:45:19so they were also soldiers.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23And that's what this represents, labour and fighting?
0:45:23 > 0:45:25- That's right.- Wow.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30When Joseph arrived on the Western Front he joined a war
0:45:30 > 0:45:31that had reached stalemate.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37The flat, bare landscape of northern France and Belgium offered
0:45:37 > 0:45:42little cover, and both sides were forced to dig down for protection.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45The British Army realised they needed to build
0:45:45 > 0:45:47an extensive network of trenches,
0:45:47 > 0:45:52so established specialist Pioneer battalions like Joseph's.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55They were trained to fight, but also to dig.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59Joseph was expected to work throughout the night and in
0:45:59 > 0:46:03all weathers, often in open ground in sight of enemy snipers.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09If you have a look down here,
0:46:09 > 0:46:11you can see that they are actually quite narrow.
0:46:11 > 0:46:13Yeah, very narrow.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17And they are lined with these corrugated iron boards.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20This is the kind of thing Joseph would have been making
0:46:20 > 0:46:23and putting in to shore up the sides of the trench.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28Cos it's pretty wet round here and it gets very flooded,
0:46:28 > 0:46:32so a lot of the trenches would fall in,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35and he would have to keep digging out these trenches.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39That was one of the main things they were doing around here.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44It's very small, considering they would have been quite big men,
0:46:44 > 0:46:48I would think. How many men would there have been lined up in here?
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Working parties were anything between 50 and 150 men.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54All in this trench?
0:46:54 > 0:46:57All in these trenches, either digging them or digging them out,
0:46:57 > 0:47:02repairing them. You can see that the trenches are kind of zigzagged -
0:47:02 > 0:47:05part of the reason for this is if a shell falls in one section
0:47:05 > 0:47:08of the line, it doesn't reverberate along the rest,
0:47:08 > 0:47:12and so the unfortunate people in that get affected by the shell,
0:47:12 > 0:47:14- but not the rest of the line.- Right.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20As well as digging trenches, Pioneers liked Joseph had to build
0:47:20 > 0:47:24railways, roads and bridges to keep the British Army moving.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32For their skilled work, Pioneers were paid an extra 2p a day
0:47:32 > 0:47:34on top of their infantry wages.
0:47:38 > 0:47:39One of the reasons
0:47:39 > 0:47:42the 11th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry
0:47:42 > 0:47:47turns into a Pioneer battalion is because it's full of miners,
0:47:47 > 0:47:52and it's estimated right at the beginning it's about 95% miners.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55And that gives them a huge advantage because they've been used to
0:47:55 > 0:47:58hard physical labour. But Joseph isn't a miner,
0:47:58 > 0:48:01he's a grocer, and I want to show you a diary entry from later
0:48:01 > 0:48:05in the war which shows you how some members of the battalion
0:48:05 > 0:48:08viewed people who didn't come from the same background as them.
0:48:10 > 0:48:11Have a look at this here.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15OK. "Draft of 52 men arrived,
0:48:15 > 0:48:19"only three of these men were suitable for Pioneer Battalion.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22"Grocers, agents, musicians, etc,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25"are not fitted for the hard work of pioneering."
0:48:26 > 0:48:32So that guy's not happy about people that are not miners or...
0:48:32 > 0:48:34That's right, Joseph's going to have to work really,
0:48:34 > 0:48:37really hard to prove himself.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45You know, I always heard about trenches and how they were used,
0:48:45 > 0:48:49but I never really thought about how they were actually made.
0:48:49 > 0:48:56And knowing that Joseph was part of the labour of that is a big deal.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59Helping the soldiers survive.
0:49:01 > 0:49:06Reading that diary entry I think he was maybe struggling a little bit to
0:49:06 > 0:49:13fit in. He probably had a bit of a tough time trying to prove himself.
0:49:13 > 0:49:19In July 1916, Joseph's battalion was ordered south towards the Somme
0:49:19 > 0:49:23in France, where a major offensive by the Allied army to break through
0:49:23 > 0:49:26German lines had already begun.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32The first day of battle had claimed more than 60,000 casualties,
0:49:32 > 0:49:36and by the time the fighting ended months later, that number would rise
0:49:36 > 0:49:37to over one million.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42The Battle of the Somme would prove to be
0:49:42 > 0:49:45one of the most devastating campaigns of the war
0:49:45 > 0:49:48and Joseph was heading straight into the middle of it.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55It's actually pretty amazing to think I'm taking the same route
0:49:55 > 0:50:01as Joseph would have been 100 years ago, exactly, more or less.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04He would have been leaving the Belgium-France border,
0:50:04 > 0:50:08headed to the Somme, which is where I'm now on the way to,
0:50:08 > 0:50:10to prepare for battle.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13He must have been absolutely terrified.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18Cheryl's meeting battlefield guide Paul Reed
0:50:18 > 0:50:20outside the village of Guillemont.
0:50:20 > 0:50:23My great-grandfather was on the Belgium-France border,
0:50:23 > 0:50:28so I don't know what he did when he left there and came here for battle,
0:50:28 > 0:50:30and I was hoping you could help me with the rest.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32Sure. He would have marched down to the Somme.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36When you say march, though, you don't mean like, march? Oh, you do.
0:50:36 > 0:50:40Yeah, when they marched down from Belgium, where you've come from,
0:50:40 > 0:50:42they literally marched, they marched for an hour at a time.
0:50:42 > 0:50:44It must have been for days?
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Yeah, it would have taken days to get down here.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49And when he got here the Battle of the Somme was two months old.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51So they'd been fighting in that direction,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55the beginning of the battle in July, and over two months, gradually,
0:50:55 > 0:50:59they'd pushed the Germans back to a point where the artillery
0:50:59 > 0:51:01had smashed this landscape to pieces.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03It was just a lunar landscape.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06When you look at photographs like these that show you the utter
0:51:06 > 0:51:08devastation of this area.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12This is the village of Guillemont, that we are standing close to now,
0:51:12 > 0:51:14- as you can see, there's just nothing left.- Wow.
0:51:14 > 0:51:15Everything's destroyed.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20By occupying Guillemont, the Germans were able to prevent the British
0:51:20 > 0:51:23and French front lines from advancing together.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28The British had already launched three failed attempts to take
0:51:28 > 0:51:31the village at a cost of thousands of lives.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36Now Joseph's battalion were ordered to prepare the ground
0:51:36 > 0:51:37for one final push.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43His battalion came from the edge of the wood over there towards here,
0:51:43 > 0:51:46and they were coming forward to dig advanced trenches here,
0:51:46 > 0:51:50so there was a shorter distance for the lads to move out
0:51:50 > 0:51:51- across open ground.- Right.
0:51:51 > 0:51:56So that meant, for him, he was then exposed himself, standing there
0:51:56 > 0:52:00digging a trench in the open to enable others to get cover.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03- That's...- A massive responsibility, a huge job.- It is.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07So on the 3rd of September 1916, his battalion was involved in an attack
0:52:07 > 0:52:11across this ground from the edge of the woods, across what is now
0:52:11 > 0:52:14these wheat fields, all very innocent today, but, of course,
0:52:14 > 0:52:17in 1916 these were killing grounds with the Germans dug in here
0:52:17 > 0:52:19with machine guns.
0:52:21 > 0:52:26As his battalion advanced, Joseph had to march over ground
0:52:26 > 0:52:28littered with the dead from previous battles.
0:52:30 > 0:52:33And the resistance he faced when they reached the German defences
0:52:33 > 0:52:34was ferocious.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41After a bitter struggle, the British captured Guillemont
0:52:41 > 0:52:44at a cost of almost 2,000 casualties.
0:52:45 > 0:52:48But there was no rest for Joseph and the Pioneers.
0:52:51 > 0:52:55His job was to assist in defending this village,
0:52:55 > 0:52:57cos once you'd captured it the Germans would attack
0:52:57 > 0:52:59- and try and take it back again.- Right.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02So you needed to put up defences, barbed wire, to stop them getting
0:53:02 > 0:53:06back in, build machine gun positions, shelters for the infantry
0:53:06 > 0:53:09and officers and so on. So he's out there, doing all that.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13The Pioneers stayed there for days and days doing the work.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Theirs is a task really that never ends.
0:53:17 > 0:53:18And they're exposed.
0:53:18 > 0:53:19Very exposed.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23- He was a brave man. - Brave man, yeah.
0:53:24 > 0:53:26So in the fighting they lost some of their leaders,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29so your great-grandfather was suddenly promoted.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32- Oh, wow.- He was given promotion to Lance Corporal,
0:53:32 > 0:53:36that's one stripe on his uniform.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40He would have had to have proven himself, and worked hard to do so,
0:53:40 > 0:53:44and I find it really, actually, quite lovely
0:53:44 > 0:53:46under the circumstances.
0:53:46 > 0:53:47I'm really proud of him.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52It's actually surreal to think that we're stood here, like,
0:53:52 > 0:53:57100 years later with the luxuries we now have because of their sacrifice.
0:53:57 > 0:53:58Exactly. Exactly.
0:53:58 > 0:54:01I mean, the Great War is one of those things that it's about
0:54:01 > 0:54:04ordinary people, like your great-grandfather,
0:54:04 > 0:54:06in extraordinary circumstances.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09When we look at a battlefield like this 100 years later, I mean,
0:54:09 > 0:54:12it looks, to all intents and purposes, as if it's recovered.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15But the reality is, it's never really recovered.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18Human remains are still uncovered every single year.
0:54:18 > 0:54:20Oh, my God.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22So, I mean, look in any direction now,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25and you are looking to a place where there are still soldiers out there.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30And it's one great big cemetery, really.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Back in them days nobody knew about post-traumatic stress
0:54:45 > 0:54:50or really understood, or even cared about the after-care
0:54:50 > 0:54:52for soldiers that survived.
0:54:52 > 0:54:57So I'm really not surprised that he was drinking excessively.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00He probably needed some form of escape,
0:55:00 > 0:55:04and I'm sure that you would become quite an angry person after you'd
0:55:04 > 0:55:06experienced some of the horrific things they did here.
0:55:12 > 0:55:17The war dragged on for another two years of bloody fighting,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20finally coming to an end in November 1918.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24It took months to bring the troops home,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27and Joseph returned to the UK the following summer,
0:55:27 > 0:55:29having spent nearly four years on the Western Front.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34He had seen the war through from start to finish.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Joseph went back to work at the Co-op,
0:55:38 > 0:55:42and had a further four children with his wife, Mary Ann,
0:55:42 > 0:55:43before her death in 1930.
0:55:45 > 0:55:50Two years later, when Joseph was 50, Cheryl's great-grandmother,
0:55:50 > 0:55:54Edith Annie Burton, gave birth to their twin daughters.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57Joseph and Edith Annie were never married.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00Joseph died in 1951,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03eight years before Cheryl's mother Joan was born.
0:56:04 > 0:56:09Joan never knew anything about her grandfather, not even his name.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15Before she leaves France, Cheryl's visiting the nearby
0:56:15 > 0:56:19Pozieres Memorial to pay her respects to some of the soldiers
0:56:19 > 0:56:22of the Durham Light Infantry who never came home.
0:56:24 > 0:56:25It really makes sense now,
0:56:25 > 0:56:29it all comes together as to why nobody really spoke about Joseph,
0:56:29 > 0:56:31and he was kind of a mystery in the family.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34He may have had a bit of a reputation afterwards of being
0:56:34 > 0:56:38a little bit disturbed, and he probably didn't want to talk
0:56:38 > 0:56:39about his war stories.
0:56:39 > 0:56:42I think there was a lot of men that didn't really talk about
0:56:42 > 0:56:45their experiences, and therefore, nobody else did either.
0:56:47 > 0:56:48And I would guess,
0:56:48 > 0:56:53part of it was because my great-grandma was his housekeeper,
0:56:53 > 0:56:54and in those days,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58having children out of wedlock was seriously frowned upon.
0:56:58 > 0:57:03So he was always a mystery, and now I can put a man to that mystery.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09Before I set off on this journey I always had a great sense
0:57:09 > 0:57:11of the north-east, and I always had a great...
0:57:11 > 0:57:15instinct that I was rootedly from there.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19This whole experience has really told me that it's true when they say
0:57:19 > 0:57:21Northerners are made of tough stuff.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24There's just a great sense of resilience and strength there,
0:57:24 > 0:57:28and the fact that I'm from the north-east...
0:57:29 > 0:57:33..all that time ago on both sides just is proof to me
0:57:33 > 0:57:36that what I thought and what I felt was the truth.