0:00:04 > 0:00:06'Life's but a walking shadow...
0:00:08 > 0:00:12'..a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage...
0:00:14 > 0:00:16'..and then is heard no more.'
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Sir Ian McKellen has been one of Britain's leading actors
0:00:21 > 0:00:24for over 50 years.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Since his breakthrough in the 1960s,
0:00:26 > 0:00:32he's enjoyed a glittering career on stage, television and screen,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34with roles like the wizard Gandalf
0:00:34 > 0:00:36in The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit
0:00:36 > 0:00:38bringing him worldwide fame.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43I was born in North Lancashire,
0:00:43 > 0:00:46and my youth was in Bolton.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50My mother died when I was 12 - breast cancer.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Probably got a bit introverted and certainly got shy.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57I was a shy child.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00But in the 1940s and '50s,
0:01:00 > 0:01:02there were three professional theatres
0:01:02 > 0:01:05in a town with only 150,000 people.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09By the time I was early teens, I was going on my own.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11I would stand in the wings,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14see the performers getting ready to go on
0:01:14 > 0:01:18and then stepping out of the dark into the light onto the stage.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20And that seemed to me the most magical thing
0:01:20 > 0:01:22I'd ever seen in my life.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26Alongside his acting career,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Ian is also one of the UK's leading campaigners
0:01:29 > 0:01:34for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36People say, "When did you first know you were gay?"
0:01:36 > 0:01:39And I say, "Well, when did you first know that you weren't?"
0:01:40 > 0:01:44But don't forget, at that time, it was a silent territory.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45Nobody talked about it.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49And by the time I might have plucked up courage to broach it
0:01:49 > 0:01:52with my dad, he too was dead.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55He died when I was 24.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59And my sister Jean died a few years ago
0:01:59 > 0:02:02so, now, I am the last of the McKellens.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04The last of my line.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08I'm not producing any children with my name.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10I suppose that's the point to be made.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13So I'm just left with some photographs, really.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18And there's no-one left for me to ask about the people in them.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23I'm intrigued by my paternal grandmother, Alice McKellen.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Known as Mother Mac.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28She died two years before I was born.
0:02:28 > 0:02:29But when I was growing up,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33everyone talked about her as a real star of the family.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Alice was apparently a wonderful singer,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38but I don't know where she'd come from.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40I don't know, really, anything about her family.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44So if I come out of this knowing more about my grandmother,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48who clearly made such an impact on everyone she met,
0:02:48 > 0:02:49and I didn't meet her,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52so perhaps I can now get to meet her a little more.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34To find out more about his paternal grandmother, Alice,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Ian is heading north to Cheshire,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39where she lived with her husband, William McKellen.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43'..ask you to sit back, relax, and enjoy your journey to Manchester Piccadilly. Thank you.'
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Born Alice Murray, after her marriage,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Ian's grandmother became known to all as Mother Mac.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53When my grandmother died, Mother Mac,
0:03:53 > 0:03:55her son - my father, Dennis -
0:03:55 > 0:03:58made this. And it is just a collection of letters
0:03:58 > 0:04:03that were written to the family and here is a tribute to her.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06"Mrs McKellen, Mother Mac,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09"had an excellent mezzo-soprano voice."
0:04:09 > 0:04:13The story I was told was that my grandad, Mr McKellen,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17met his future bride because he had enjoyed her singing.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23There's another little bit written by Reverend Will Powicke.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27"She is associated in my mind with many happy and serious experiences
0:04:27 > 0:04:31"in the old Christian Endeavour Society at Hatherlow."
0:04:33 > 0:04:35Mother Mac and her husband William
0:04:35 > 0:04:38were both active members of a religious movement
0:04:38 > 0:04:41called Christian Endeavour,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44which aimed to improve the lives of inner-city workers
0:04:44 > 0:04:47during the early 20th century.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50They lived just outside Stockport for over 40 years
0:04:50 > 0:04:53and worshipped here at Hatherlow Church.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57- Hello. How are you?- Hello, Ian.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Religious historian Martin Palmer
0:05:00 > 0:05:03has been researching Ian's family history.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05- Are we going in?- Please, come on in.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11So, Ian, welcome to what is in a sense your dynastic church.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16This is a record going back to 1846
0:05:16 > 0:05:20of the baptisms that took place here.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27August 20, 1939. Why is my name in here?
0:05:27 > 0:05:30- Because you were baptised here. - I was baptised here?!- Yes.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33And we even have the font at the front there
0:05:33 > 0:05:37- that you were baptised in.- Well!
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Does that mean I'm going to heaven?
0:05:39 > 0:05:41- Yes, I'm afraid so.- That's fine.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44So this was our family church.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47When Mother Mac was here, she was a huge figure
0:05:47 > 0:05:50in the Sunday school and the choir - particularly the choir.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Well, the family story is that Grandad McKellen heard her singing.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Well, in 1902, the Christian Endeavour Movement
0:05:58 > 0:06:01held a huge gathering in Manchester.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04The main event at which your grandmother sang
0:06:04 > 0:06:08was at the Free Trade Hall, which held 10,000 people,
0:06:08 > 0:06:13and this is the programme
0:06:13 > 0:06:14for this event.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Oh! Secretary, Mr WH McKellen.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22So this is my grandfather.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26- It's a funny feeling, seeing your own name.- Yeah.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31Mr McKellen. Because I'm the only Mr McKellen I know! But..
0:06:31 > 0:06:35And this is the opening grand ceremonial event.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38May 17, 1902, Free Trade Hall.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41Well, there's a hymn and then there's a prayer.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Solo, Miss Murray...
0:06:47 > 0:06:49- ..my grandmother. - And let's put that in context.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53You probably had 1,000 churches sent people to this event.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Each of them would have had a choir, 30 or 40 strong.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58Each of them would have had someone who thought that they were
0:06:58 > 0:07:01the bees' knees as far as singing.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04The fact that your grandmother was chosen to give the solo,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07this is Britain's Got Talent circa 1902.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10She must have had some notes, mustn't she?
0:07:10 > 0:07:12She certainly must've done.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Anything else you know about Alice?
0:07:15 > 0:07:18I have found her birth certificate.
0:07:19 > 0:07:20Alice Beatrice, yes.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23August, 1879.
0:07:23 > 0:07:263 Barton Road, Stretford.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29- Central Manchester, isn't it? - Yes, edge of inner-city Manchester.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33Her father was William Whyte - with a Y - Murray.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39And her mother, also called Alice, was formerly Lowes.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41You mentioned the Lowes.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Well, I've found a little bit more about them.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46This is the 1871 census.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49Here is your great-grandmother, Alice Lowes.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51This is Mother Mac's mother.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53- That's right.- Age 21.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57And just above, her older brother, I suppose, Frank.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Aged 24.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Occupation...
0:08:01 > 0:08:04- Actor?!- Yes.- Oh, stop it!
0:08:04 > 0:08:06MARTIN LAUGHS
0:08:06 > 0:08:07- Actor?- Yes.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Actor.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14So Mother Mac's uncle Frank...
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Was a professional actor.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Oh, stop it!
0:08:18 > 0:08:20You're not the first.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Your great-great-uncle beat you to the stage.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25Well, that's all right.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30It all sort of fits together, doesn't it?
0:08:30 > 0:08:32Mother Mac was a performer,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35but no-one mentioned to me that she shone so brightly
0:08:35 > 0:08:37in the Free Trade Hall.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40And then to discover that her Uncle Frank...
0:08:42 > 0:08:46..her mother's elder brother Frank Lowes
0:08:46 > 0:08:48is down in the census as an actor.
0:08:49 > 0:08:50Well!
0:08:50 > 0:08:53But where was he acting?
0:08:53 > 0:08:54What was he acting?
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Ian has discovered that his great-great-uncle
0:09:00 > 0:09:02was a professional actor
0:09:02 > 0:09:03called Frank Lowes.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10In the 1860s, Frank had just begun his theatrical career,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13and was living with his family in Manchester.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19To find out more, Ian's come to the city's central library
0:09:19 > 0:09:24to meet theatrical historian Dr Anne Featherstone.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26- Hello, love. How are you? - Lovely to meet you.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31The library's theatrical records stretch back over 250 years.
0:09:33 > 0:09:34Right, Ian. Here we are
0:09:34 > 0:09:37in the bowels of Manchester Central Library.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39I'm going to have to climb up this ladder.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41- Off you go.- Right. - And I'll help you.- Thank you.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45So these are full of programmes, are they?
0:09:45 > 0:09:47They're full of posters.
0:09:47 > 0:09:48- That's the one.- Goodness.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51- Steady on.- Here we go.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55- Right. I think you will love this.- OK.
0:09:55 > 0:10:00So here we have the playbills for the Queen's Theatre in Manchester.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Oh! How beautiful.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06And we have here True Steel.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08What year are we here?
0:10:08 > 0:10:09We're 1876.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12And a list of characters. Oh!
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Ohhh...ever since I heard about him, I've been thinking about him.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22Mr Frank Lowe plays Charles Williams.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27Let's show you another.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30I've only just discovered that there's another actor in the family.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33- Ah!- But a little confusion.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37On the census, his name is not Lowe but Lowes, with an S.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39- Yes.- Are we sure we've got the right man?
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Yes, absolutely. He has just cut to Frank Lowe.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47And then I'm going to turn over again.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Always Ready. "A North Country Story."
0:10:49 > 0:10:51That's the important bit, I think.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53"With north country actors" like, look here...
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Frederik Lauder played by Mr Frank Lowe.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01This is a sensational melodrama.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05It's about money, it's about morals and virtue and seduction.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09And these start to arrive in the 1850s and '60s.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11I'm sorry. I've just seen in the next play -
0:11:11 > 0:11:15they did two plays on same day - he is playing a leading part.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18- Yes.- The Rev Mr Webb is played by Mr Frank Lowe.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21Yes. This is really quite a plum part for him.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23He'd be only 30 now.
0:11:23 > 0:11:24And he is top of the bill.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27What more can you tell me about him? Anything?
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Well, we have a review of the play from The Era,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33the Bible of the profession.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35- The Era.- Yes. - Yes, I've heard of that.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37Huddersfield Theatre Royal.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39- Arrah-na-Boyne... - Arrah-na-Pogue.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Oh. "Arrah-na-Pogue was produced here on Monday
0:11:41 > 0:11:44"by the company from the new Queen's Theatre, Manchester,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46"and has been favourably received during the week.
0:11:46 > 0:11:51"Miss Lillian Harris plays the heroine with great pathos.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55"Mr Frank Lowe, however, deserves the laurels
0:11:55 > 0:12:01"for his masterly conception of the sneak, Michael Feeny.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05"He looks and acts the character to the life."
0:12:05 > 0:12:09- You know, you could not have a better review than that.- Nope.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14Frank Lowe's early career coincided with a theatrical boom
0:12:14 > 0:12:16in the north of England.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19By 1875, Manchester theatres alone
0:12:19 > 0:12:22were selling over 15,000 tickets a night.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27But acting was still a very precarious way to make a living.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31And catching the eye of one of the region's powerful theatre producers
0:12:31 > 0:12:34was essential if you wanted to climb up the bill.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38So Frank is picking up work regularly.
0:12:38 > 0:12:43He's made a name for himself, but in order to move his career on,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45he needs a bit of a... He needs a break.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47- Don't we all(?)- Yes.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49One of the things I wanted to show you
0:12:49 > 0:12:54was an advert, again from The Era, from 1875.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58"The two orphans. Mr J Pitney Weston..."
0:12:58 > 0:13:02In big letters, "has selected the following artists."
0:13:02 > 0:13:04So we've got Frank Lowe...
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Oh, wait a minute... "Mrs Frank Lowe."
0:13:07 > 0:13:10- That must be Frank Lowe's wife. - That's right.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13But it is the Two Orphans which is the big break.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18- I see.- Mr Pitney Weston bought the rights to The Two Orphans,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20a successful London production,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24and was going to produce it across the north.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28And of course, we know where Mr Weston is based.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34Bolton! He's based in Bolton?
0:13:34 > 0:13:36- Mmm.- Where I used to live when I was a teenager.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38Theatre and Opera House...
0:13:38 > 0:13:39Ooh!
0:13:39 > 0:13:41The Two Orphans.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45"And Mr Frank Lowe gave an excellent impersonation
0:13:45 > 0:13:48"of the Minister of Police."
0:13:48 > 0:13:52So Frank lived in Bolton for a time, or stayed in Bolton, in digs,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55I suppose. Well, well, well, well, well.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04I first came to this street when I was three years old
0:14:04 > 0:14:07to see Peter Pan at the Opera House just down there.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09But now I know
0:14:09 > 0:14:13that the Free Trade Hall was where, in 1902,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16my grandmother, Mother Mac, sang.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18But just here now I realise...
0:14:19 > 0:14:22..the Theatre Royal, Bolton, 1845,
0:14:22 > 0:14:25was just the sort of theatre that Mother Mac's uncle,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28Frank Lowe, actor, would have performed.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32So I'm seeing this street with new eyes.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41As a fellow professional, I wonder what life was like for Frank.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43Did he do all his acting in the north?
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Was he earning enough money, and where did his career lead to?
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Well, it certainly took him to Bolton,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52which is where I spent my youth, so it's a bit spooky
0:14:52 > 0:14:57to think that I didn't know that I had a great-great-uncle,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59professionally acting in my hometown.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Ian's family moved to Bolton when he was 11,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09and he gave his first performance here as a young amateur actor
0:15:09 > 0:15:11in the 1950s.
0:15:12 > 0:15:14This is the grandeur of Bolton.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16The grandeur of the north of England.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Of course, the streets all look a little bit different.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24Market square where the fair used to come twice a year -
0:15:24 > 0:15:25I used to love that.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29This is where the two theatres were.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31The Grand Theatre,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33which was a variety theatre,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36and then the Theatre Royal, which took in touring companies.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41They were beautiful, beautiful, intimate theatres.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Why did they pull them down?
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Ian knows that his great-great-uncle Frank Lowes
0:15:47 > 0:15:51also performed here in Bolton in 1876.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55To find out more about Frank's time here,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59he's come to meet theatrical historian Professor James Moran.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01- Ian, great to see. - Very nice to see you.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04- Welcome back to your old stomping ground.- Thank you very much.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09In the 1870s, there were three large theatres in Bolton
0:16:09 > 0:16:12run by the impresario James Pitney Weston.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17Today, The Octagon is the town's only professional theatre.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19Frank is in this play which you know about.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22- Two Orphans, yeah. - And James Pitney Weston,
0:16:22 > 0:16:26this big character in Bolton's entertainment industry,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28acquires the rights to tour it outside London
0:16:28 > 0:16:31and recruits Frank to be in that production.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34So a job that lasted a long time?
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Well, I'll give you a document that gives you some indication of that.
0:16:37 > 0:16:38Yeah, OK.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43This says "Mr Frank Lowe."
0:16:43 > 0:16:45I love it when they call actors "Mr", don't you?
0:16:45 > 0:16:49"Mr Frank Lowe as Count De Linieres
0:16:49 > 0:16:53"in Two Orphans for the 150th time."
0:16:53 > 0:16:55So is this a little ad he's put in the paper?
0:16:55 > 0:16:59This is an advert that Frank himself has put into a theatrical newspaper.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02Most of the actors at this time are touting for business.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06This may been a very canny way of him telling theatre managers
0:17:06 > 0:17:09that he's had this lovely run of 150 performances.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11I see!
0:17:11 > 0:17:15- I see.- The play itself, The Two Orphans, is a melodrama,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18so it's a drama of heightened emotion.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20Yeah. Has anyone ever read it?
0:17:20 > 0:17:22- Does it exist?- I have a copy here, would you like to...?
0:17:22 > 0:17:25Of course I would. Of course I would!
0:17:25 > 0:17:27In fact, would you like to try it on the stage?
0:17:27 > 0:17:31- All right. First read-through.- Sure.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33So what is Frank's part?
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Frank's playing the French nobleman,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38and the count suspects that his wife has this terrible secret,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40and I will read in the part of your nephew,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43who is a noble young man who wants to prevent you from
0:17:43 > 0:17:45ruining yourself and your family. OK.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Now, Chevalier, speak out.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50What did the Countess say?
0:17:50 > 0:17:51I desire to know all.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53- Monsieur...- I beg of you.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57- I command!- I have really nothing to say, monsieur.
0:17:58 > 0:17:59Very well, monsieur.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04Twice in this one day have you opposed my orders, my entreaties.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Nevertheless, I shall discover the mystery
0:18:07 > 0:18:09which you refuse to unveil.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11Monsieur, you shall read no further.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14- Who will hinder me? - Count, I will.- You?!
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Rash fool!
0:18:18 > 0:18:20So there you go.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24You are reading the lines that Frank read here in Bolton...
0:18:24 > 0:18:27- Oh, stop it. - ..over 140 years ago.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Wow. Why did nobody in my family ever tell me
0:18:29 > 0:18:32that we had an actor in the family?
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Either they didn't know or they weren't very pleased about it.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40So I think The Two Orphans is
0:18:40 > 0:18:43probably a great gig for Frank to get.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Because it's a steady income
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and he's been engaged by James Pitney Weston.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53The problem is, Weston is very, very ambitious
0:18:53 > 0:18:58and emigrates to the USA, so that's potentially a real blow
0:18:58 > 0:19:02for Frank, who has lost someone who's been supporting his career.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Yes. So when Weston went off to States...
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Frank is out of work, or... What happens to him?
0:19:10 > 0:19:14I've got a record that I found from 1884 in Coventry.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Coventry, it's where I had my first job acting
0:19:17 > 0:19:19for the first time professionally.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24"Theatre Royal. Somewhat meagre attendances this week
0:19:24 > 0:19:28"but notwithstanding the depressing effect of small audiences,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31"the artists play with considerable spirit.
0:19:31 > 0:19:36"Mr Frank Lowe plays Bob Garfield, the village blacksmith,
0:19:36 > 0:19:38"very artistically."
0:19:38 > 0:19:40So I think he's struggling with a pretty terrible part
0:19:40 > 0:19:42in a fairly fourth-rate play.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45I afraid that is probably the case.
0:19:45 > 0:19:47By now he is late 30s,
0:19:47 > 0:19:49so he's been in the business for quite a while
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and the records that we do have from the 1880s
0:19:52 > 0:19:55show him in productions of what we might say was
0:19:55 > 0:19:57really very variable quality.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02So obviously, pickings are rather thin, but do you know anything else?
0:20:02 > 0:20:06He's married. He might have had children by this time.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Well, I do have a census return from 1891
0:20:09 > 0:20:12which gives some information about Frank and his wife
0:20:12 > 0:20:14and their domestic circumstances.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18This is from Wavertree. that's Liverpool, isn't it?
0:20:18 > 0:20:23- That's right.- Frank Lowe, head of the household by this time.
0:20:23 > 0:20:2643, actor,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Ellen Lowe, wife.
0:20:30 > 0:20:32So his wife is called Ellen.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34Doesn't give her an occupation.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38So it looks as though Frank and Ellen don't have children.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40No. And they're living in Liverpool.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43This is Ellen's hometown
0:20:43 > 0:20:48and I think she's probably living with Frank and her extended family.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50I see.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52And Frank goes missing from the archive entirely
0:20:52 > 0:20:57between 1886 and 1889. I couldn't find anything about him.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01So I think it might be a good idea perhaps to go to Liverpool
0:21:01 > 0:21:02and see what you can find there.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06- Well, thank you very much. I will.- You're very welcome.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13However successful or unsuccessful Frank was,
0:21:13 > 0:21:18I do like the idea that he contributed to
0:21:18 > 0:21:23the gaiety of things by being in a show.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28You know? And touring round, bringing entertainment to people.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30That's what my mother apparently said.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33"If Ian decides to be an actor,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37"it's a good job because it brings pleasure to people."
0:21:37 > 0:21:41And my sister, who was an amateur actor to the day she died,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44would have loved to know this about Frank Lowe.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47As much as I do. But I feel I'm sort of on my own,
0:21:47 > 0:21:48a bit of an orphan.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54So there is a bit of melancholy going on...
0:21:54 > 0:21:56HE LAUGHS
0:21:56 > 0:21:59..in the midst of the thrill of discovery.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Ian has travelled to Liverpool,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16where his great-great-uncle Frank Lowes
0:22:16 > 0:22:19lived with his wife Ellen in the 1890s.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24To discover what happened to Frank's career as an actor,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26he has come to the city's Central Library
0:22:26 > 0:22:30to meet theatrical historian Dr Caroline Radcliffe.
0:22:30 > 0:22:37In the census of 1891, Frank Lowe is down as living here in Liverpool.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Anything you know...
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Well, I've got this document. It's very small, so...
0:22:42 > 0:22:45- The amusements in Liverpool.- Yeah.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47We're looking at 1892.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51And now the Paddington Palace Of Varieties.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53"Here as usual, tempting fare
0:22:53 > 0:22:56"has been fully appreciated by large audiences.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59"Mr Frank Lowe, with company."
0:22:59 > 0:23:03Oh, can you explain this? The Palace Of Varieties.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Variety was just a posh name for music hall,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10- and it was trying to compete with the legitimate theatres.- I see.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14But for a professional actor like Frank Lowe,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16it was a real drop down -
0:23:16 > 0:23:18to be in a music hall was something
0:23:18 > 0:23:21which he probably wouldn't have chosen.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24He is at the bottom of the bill now in a musical hall,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27in a rather rough area of Liverpool.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32By the 1890s, the new variety palaces
0:23:32 > 0:23:35had started to replace the more traditional music halls
0:23:35 > 0:23:40and were competing with the dramatic theatre for audiences.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44To gain respectability, they added plush theatre-style seating,
0:23:44 > 0:23:46banned alcohol and smoking
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and employed actors like Frank Lowes
0:23:49 > 0:23:52to perform short dramatic sketches
0:23:52 > 0:23:55alongside more traditional music-hall acts.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Now we know that Frank was performing drama
0:23:59 > 0:24:02because he is listed with a company,
0:24:02 > 0:24:04but they could only perform a short scene.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08- So these would be extracts? - Yeah.- Famous plays?
0:24:08 > 0:24:10Yes, you had Shakespeare
0:24:10 > 0:24:14or you had the latest big production from London.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17And then that would be interspersed with people singing?
0:24:17 > 0:24:23That would be mixed with musicians, and conjurers, dog orchestras.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Oh, dear.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Now, the Palace Of Varieties where he was performing,
0:24:28 > 0:24:30would this be a season?
0:24:30 > 0:24:33No, a music hall ran a week of entertainment.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36And then the company would...
0:24:36 > 0:24:39They'd move off and they'd have to find some other engagement.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42It was extremely unreliable and precarious.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46So he's not quite on his uppers even when he is in employment.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Actually, this is the last record that we found of him
0:24:50 > 0:24:53performing on stage - on any type of stage.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55Oh, do you know anything more?
0:24:55 > 0:24:57What he did instead?
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Well, we do have another document.
0:25:05 > 0:25:06What is this book?
0:25:06 > 0:25:10This is the admissions book to the Liverpool workhouse.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13No! Dear, oh, dear.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16And this is in 1893
0:25:16 > 0:25:21which is the year just after the Paddington Palace Of Varieties.
0:25:21 > 0:25:25No. Frank,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29he's down as an actor, not as a performer or a comic or anything.
0:25:29 > 0:25:37Married. And he was admitted by his wife Ellen.
0:25:37 > 0:25:44It's odd. Ellen's address is given here in pencil - 4 Mill Row.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49Where he slept last night was at 8 Moore Place.
0:25:49 > 0:25:51Well, what we see is that Ellen at this time
0:25:51 > 0:25:53was living at a different address,
0:25:53 > 0:25:57and he had spent the night obviously somewhere else.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01We don't know how long they had been separated for.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05All we know is that they were separated, at that time.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07And in the last column,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11it gives us an indication of what was wrong with him.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13- And what?- "Bronchial."
0:26:13 > 0:26:16So he had bronchial problems.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19Oh, Frank.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24Well, at that time, there was no hospitals, no insurance.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27So if you were an actor on very little money,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31the workhouse was the last resort to get help.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33And do we know how long he stayed?
0:26:33 > 0:26:35We do.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38This is the death certificate.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40- Of who?!- For Frank.
0:26:43 > 0:26:45Ohhh!
0:26:45 > 0:26:49"Frank Lowe, 47 years,
0:26:49 > 0:26:55"actor", and he died on January 2, 1894.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58At the Liverpool workhouse.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02The cause of death...phthisis?
0:27:02 > 0:27:05It's another word for TB or tuberculosis.
0:27:05 > 0:27:06Oh!
0:27:07 > 0:27:10And exhaustion.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12But he would have been pleased, I suppose,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16that he was defined by that occupation, actor.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25I don't know many actors - and I wasn't one of them -
0:27:25 > 0:27:27who thought, "Oh, I'm going to become an actor
0:27:27 > 0:27:30"because I'm going to be rich and famous."
0:27:30 > 0:27:32And you know, so many of my own friends,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34and so many actors I've admired...
0:27:36 > 0:27:39- HE SIGHS - ..didn't have very easy lives.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Didn't make a lot of money.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47And that is the fact about being an actor, that...
0:27:48 > 0:27:52..the few of us who are lucky enough to be in work constantly
0:27:52 > 0:27:57and rewarding work and varied work, I mean, we are the exceptions.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02But I would like to know what the Lowe family thought.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Maybe they just said, when they heard over in Manchester
0:28:05 > 0:28:09that he'd died in the workhouse in Liverpool, separated from his wife,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11"Well, there you go.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14"That's what happens when you go into the theatre."
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Ian knows that, as a young man,
0:28:21 > 0:28:24Frank lived with his family in Manchester,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28and that his father was a clerk called Robert Lowes,
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Ian's great-great-grandfather.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37To find out more about Robert, Ian is heading back to Manchester.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Professor Martin Hewitt has been looking into
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Robert Lowes' life in the city,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49And has asked Ian to meet him at Salford Old Town Hall.
0:28:49 > 0:28:50Ian, good to meet you, Martin.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52- Very nice to see you. - Welcome to Salford.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54I hear that you're interested in finding out
0:28:54 > 0:28:56- something more about Robert Lowes.- Yes.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59I found him in the census in 1841.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01- Right.- He was working as a clerk,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05but he had quite strong connections with this building here,
0:29:05 > 0:29:07- which is the Salford Town Hall. - I see.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13So this is from the Manchester Times in 1843.
0:29:13 > 0:29:15Salford Lyceum.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18"The first and second of a course of lectures
0:29:18 > 0:29:23"on humour and pathos by Mr RJ Lowes."
0:29:24 > 0:29:25So this is our Robert?
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Absolutely. And that lecture was given here in this building,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31- the Salford Town Hall. - I don't know what year this is.
0:29:31 > 0:29:331843.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36So Robert would have been 27 - he's still a young man.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39"Each lecture was concluded with a dramatic illustration,
0:29:39 > 0:29:42"the characters in which were creditably sustained
0:29:42 > 0:29:44"by amateurs and members
0:29:44 > 0:29:47"connected with the classes of the institution."
0:29:47 > 0:29:48Now, what institution?
0:29:48 > 0:29:50That would be the Salford Lyceum.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54And Lyceum, is that from the same root as "lycee" in French?
0:29:54 > 0:29:56It means teaching of some sort.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00The Lyceums were all about making more of yourself,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03building your education, reading, writing.
0:30:03 > 0:30:04Perhaps literary classes.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07- Getting on and improving yourself. - Yeah, absolutely.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10It was that classic Victorian thing, rational recreation,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13which is obviously about enjoying your leisure time,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17but to make sure that it's done in a way which is improving.
0:30:17 > 0:30:18Robert worked as a clerk,
0:30:18 > 0:30:21but he was one of the directors of the Lyceum
0:30:21 > 0:30:24and would have been very much involved
0:30:24 > 0:30:27in the government of the institution.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30Wow. Who would come to these lectures?
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Middle classes? Lower-middle, working classes?
0:30:32 > 0:30:35Working class or very lower-middle class.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38So after a heavy day in the factory you'd come along here?
0:30:38 > 0:30:40And that's the big challenge.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43You've got to try and fit this education and this leisure
0:30:43 > 0:30:47into a week which is already full of very long days.
0:30:47 > 0:30:48Six days a week, or...?
0:30:48 > 0:30:51They would at this stage have been working six days a week
0:30:51 > 0:30:55and that was also a challenge that Robert decided
0:30:55 > 0:30:57that he was going to have to take on.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59By the 1840s,
0:30:59 > 0:31:03Manchester was the largest industrial city in the world.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07The textiles produced by its mills and factories
0:31:07 > 0:31:10were housed in hundreds of giant warehouses.
0:31:10 > 0:31:11Thousands of warehousemen
0:31:11 > 0:31:16were employed across the city to move stock in and out.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19And warehouse clerks like Robert Lowes
0:31:19 > 0:31:21kept records of business.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25With no trade unions, a working day in the warehouse could last up to
0:31:25 > 0:31:2815 hours, 6 days a week.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32This is from the Manchester Courier,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35from the start of September 1843.
0:31:35 > 0:31:41"A public meeting of salesmen, clerks..." Which Robert was.
0:31:41 > 0:31:47"..warehousemen and others at which upwards of 1,000 persons attended.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49"Mr RJ Lowes."
0:31:49 > 0:31:53Robert. "..honorary secretary,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55"having read an address to the employers
0:31:55 > 0:31:59"praying their consent to the closing of warehouses
0:31:59 > 0:32:01"on Friday afternoons."
0:32:01 > 0:32:05- So what is this about? - It's about a half holiday.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08- They want a half holiday. - Yes. One half day a week.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11The suggestion here I think is that it should be Friday.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16What Robert is trying to do is to persuade 300 or 400
0:32:16 > 0:32:19of the leading merchant princes of Manchester to allow the clerks
0:32:19 > 0:32:22and warehouseman to have a half holiday
0:32:22 > 0:32:24without any reduction in pay.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27The kind of thing that no other workers at this time would have had.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30So this is something quite new, really, quite radical.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34Did this sort of pressure...
0:32:34 > 0:32:35yield fruit?
0:32:35 > 0:32:39Recreation is a really controversial question in this period.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43This kind of activity could very easily be associated with some of
0:32:43 > 0:32:46the more dangerous radical movements,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48which could backfire on him personally.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52- Absolutely.- It's going to take a slick operator to pull this off.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58By 1843, driven in part by the city's appalling working conditions,
0:32:58 > 0:33:03Manchester had become a hotbed of political radicalism.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07And those pressing for social reform were often viewed with suspicion by
0:33:07 > 0:33:09the authorities.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13But Robert Lowes and his committee of clerks and warehouseman
0:33:13 > 0:33:17pressed ahead with their campaign to persuade their employers
0:33:17 > 0:33:20to grant them half a day off every week,
0:33:20 > 0:33:22changing their initial request from a Friday
0:33:22 > 0:33:25to a Saturday half day holiday.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32Professor Hewitt has brought Ian to the chief librarian's office
0:33:32 > 0:33:34at Manchester Central Library.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39- Ian, come in.- Lovely.- Come in.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43- Thank you.- I've brought you here because I got a document here
0:33:43 > 0:33:45that I think you are going to be very interested in.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47Take this out.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49It's a little bit fragile.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53- Oh, I see.- You unroll it and I will weigh it down.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55It's, as you can see, a scroll.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59And you can begin to see...
0:33:59 > 0:34:02"Names of the committee,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06"for obtaining the half holiday.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09"Robert J Lowes."
0:34:09 > 0:34:11- What does that say? - It says honorary secretary.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16- Secretary.- And here are the bosses.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19"We the undersigned bankers, merchants,
0:34:19 > 0:34:24"manufacturers and calico printers of Manchester at the respectful
0:34:24 > 0:34:28"solicitation of those in our employment agreed to close
0:34:28 > 0:34:33"our places of business at one o'clock every Saturday afternoon
0:34:33 > 0:34:36"and to allow our servants to leave for the day."
0:34:38 > 0:34:42- Wow.- These are the Merchant Princes of Manchester.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46Between 300 and 400, all individually signed.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48These are the people they are petitioning.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51These are all the people who have agreed...
0:34:52 > 0:34:57..to grant the half holiday that Robert Lowes asked for.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00So the first Saturday half holiday
0:35:00 > 0:35:05anywhere in Britain to which these 400 merchants agreed to grant,
0:35:05 > 0:35:10was given the 10th of November 1843.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12Good Lord.
0:35:12 > 0:35:13Well, I can't...
0:35:13 > 0:35:15I mean...
0:35:15 > 0:35:18- Astonishing.- And it is achieved by Robert Lowe.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21My great-great-grandfather.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24- Absolutely.- Wonderful.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Wonderful.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32I'm very, very impressed with what Robert did.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35This guy is in public life.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37He talks in public.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41The world changes because somebody has an argument with somebody,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43and a discussion, and then an agreement,
0:35:43 > 0:35:45and you get people on your side.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50And I know that from being involved in my activism.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54One initiative like this doesn't change the world,
0:35:54 > 0:35:55but it certainly helps.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01Robert Lowes and his committee's success in cutting the working week
0:36:01 > 0:36:04for Manchester's clerks and warehouseman
0:36:04 > 0:36:06from 6 to 5½ days
0:36:06 > 0:36:09was a significant breakthrough.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11But they were only a small percentage
0:36:11 > 0:36:15of Manchester's vast industrial workforce, who were otherwise
0:36:15 > 0:36:19still excluded from the new half-holiday agreement.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27To find out what happened next to his great-great-grandfather,
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Robert Lowes, Ian has come to meet social historian
0:36:30 > 0:36:31Dr Amanda Wilkinson.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34- Hello.- Hello, Ian. Amanda. - Nice to see you.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37Welcome to Manchester's famous 19th-century retail area.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40- Yep.- Shall we go and get a cup of tea?- Yep.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51So after the success of Robert's half-holiday campaign, what next?
0:36:51 > 0:36:53Can you fill in the blanks?
0:36:53 > 0:36:59In 1845, Robert gives up his job as a clerk and he sets himself up
0:36:59 > 0:37:01as a publisher and a printer.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06He runs it as a business but he also begins to print this -
0:37:06 > 0:37:09the Lancashire Witches Holiday Herald.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13This is his means to expand campaigning for the half holiday
0:37:13 > 0:37:15- through this...- Magazine.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20Yes. It's a collection of stories, political articles, poems,
0:37:20 > 0:37:24campaigning for the half holiday to be extended to the needlewomen.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26OK. So these women are...
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Needlewomen in the 1840s
0:37:29 > 0:37:35are amongst the most exploited and put-upon workers in Britain.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39These girls worked in the most horrific conditions in rooms
0:37:39 > 0:37:43often in the back of shops, poorly lit, very little ventilation.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46They're preparing all these beautiful, beautiful gowns.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48These amazing hats, for the shops at the front,
0:37:48 > 0:37:49for the rich women to buy.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52And they're working up to 19 hours a day.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55- Even really quite young children. - 19 hours.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59There are reports of them working up to 19 hours a day with nothing
0:37:59 > 0:38:01but a bucket in the corner for their toilet.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03They work every day.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05And they get paid a pittance.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08These are the women that Robert is now campaigning for
0:38:08 > 0:38:11to try and get them some holidays, to try get them a break,
0:38:11 > 0:38:12to get them out in the fresh air,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15to give them a chance to better themselves.
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Tell me that Robert Lowes made a difference.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23This is the Manchester Times in 1845,
0:38:23 > 0:38:28and here is a speech by Robert Lowes.
0:38:28 > 0:38:33Ah. "To the principals in the retail millinery,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36"dress and straw bonnet-making establishments of Manchester.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38"Ladies and gentlemen,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41"we call upon the whole body of employers to listen to the painful
0:38:41 > 0:38:45"outcry of human suffering, to respect the sympathy of the public
0:38:45 > 0:38:48"and to agree upon such steps as would check the growth of these
0:38:48 > 0:38:52"destructive evils and yield to those who suffer by them
0:38:52 > 0:38:58"a brief period of healthful breathing time and rest."
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Oh, I can hear him saying this.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05"No! Justice to our own consciences,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09"to the laws of God and to the established uses of society,
0:39:09 > 0:39:13"demand its discontinuance!"
0:39:13 > 0:39:16And it is signed by RJ Lowe, chairman.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Now, he was secretary of the previous initiative.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22- Now he is chairman. - Running this outfit.
0:39:22 > 0:39:24He is, at 29.
0:39:24 > 0:39:27So what success did he have with speeches like this?
0:39:27 > 0:39:30Well, a month after the speech was given there was a response here
0:39:30 > 0:39:32in the Manchester Courier.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37"The result has been that 160 establishments signed an agreement
0:39:37 > 0:39:40"to close on the Saturday afternoon.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43"This noble example has been followed
0:39:43 > 0:39:45"by the wine and spirit merchants,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47"saddlers, the Crown plate-glass company,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50"the ironmongers have nearly agreed
0:39:50 > 0:39:53"and the tailors have already gained their holiday."
0:39:53 > 0:39:55Oof!
0:39:55 > 0:39:57This is a staggering result.
0:39:57 > 0:40:01The news of the half holiday spreads like wildfire across the country.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04We have cities like Bradford and Norwich
0:40:04 > 0:40:08very rapidly commencing their own half holidays
0:40:08 > 0:40:11based on the principles of Robert Lowes and his committee.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15By the 1870s, the needlewomen in London have their half holiday.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20And we start to see the evolution of the weekend as we understand it now.
0:40:20 > 0:40:25So we can say that not only is Robert Lowes your great-great-grandfather,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29but he can also be viewed as the grandfather of the modern weekend.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31HE LAUGHS
0:40:32 > 0:40:35Well, the negative side of that is that actors
0:40:35 > 0:40:38have to work at the weekend, because everybody else is not.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44Thank you, Robert. But anyway, look, that's wonderful news.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48- Does that mean it's the end of the campaigning?- No.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51Robert and his committee carried on campaigning
0:40:51 > 0:40:55right the way through the 1850s, 1860s.
0:40:55 > 0:41:00The original campaign fund that was set up for the warehousemen and clerks keeps going.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04But Robert and his committee are making charitable donations
0:41:04 > 0:41:07to all sorts of other worthy causes.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08I see.
0:41:08 > 0:41:14And they make their final donation in the year of 1868.
0:41:14 > 0:41:19"..£4,000, which has been raised in aid of the building fund of the
0:41:19 > 0:41:25"Manchester District Warehousemen And Clerks' Orphans' School
0:41:25 > 0:41:27"at Cheadle Hulme."
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Amanda, I know that school!
0:41:32 > 0:41:34Because my grandfather,
0:41:34 > 0:41:38William H McKellen, went to this school.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48I'd always known that my grandfather, WH McKellen,
0:41:48 > 0:41:52had been to a school for orphans in Cheadle Hulme,
0:41:52 > 0:41:58and now I discover that this school was founded through the efforts of
0:41:58 > 0:42:04Robert, the grandfather of the woman he was going to marry, Mother Mac.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08Ian is the first person in his family
0:42:08 > 0:42:11to discover this extraordinary coincidence -
0:42:11 > 0:42:13that in 1868,
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Robert Lowes and his committee
0:42:15 > 0:42:19helped to fund the building of the school that Ian's grandfather,
0:42:19 > 0:42:21William McKellen, later attended as a pupil.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25William never knew Robert,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29but later met and married Robert's granddaughter, Alice.
0:42:29 > 0:42:32Joining the Lowes and McKellen families.
0:42:37 > 0:42:42148 years later, Cheadle Hulme School, as it's now known,
0:42:42 > 0:42:43is still going strong.
0:42:45 > 0:42:50Last year, Ian was invited to speak to students here on behalf of Stonewall -
0:42:50 > 0:42:55the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights pressure group
0:42:55 > 0:42:59which he helped to set up in 1989.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02- Well, I didn't think I'd be back so soon.- Welcome back.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05School librarian Kay Smith has been looking into the school's link
0:43:05 > 0:43:09with Ian's great-great-grandfather, Robert Lowes.
0:43:11 > 0:43:15As you now know, Robert Lowes contributed £4,000
0:43:15 > 0:43:18to the school's building fund.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21And just to put that in some sort of context,
0:43:21 > 0:43:25the original estimate for this building was £7,603,
0:43:25 > 0:43:2716 shillings and tuppence.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30It made it possible for the school to go on and prosper.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33Did you have to be an orphan to come here?
0:43:33 > 0:43:35Orphan in our sense meant the loss of one parent.
0:43:35 > 0:43:39- I see.- And to come here on a free place as an orphan
0:43:39 > 0:43:43you would have to have had somebody in the family paying a subscription to the school.
0:43:43 > 0:43:48I've got the annual reports for 1869 and in it,
0:43:48 > 0:43:52there is a list of all the people who were actually subscribing
0:43:52 > 0:43:53to the school at that time.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57- Robert Lowes, that's him. - Yeah. That's him.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59And he's contributed a guinea.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02And that was the standard subscription at the time,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06which would enable his children - should he or his wife die
0:44:06 > 0:44:09or become incapacitated - to have a guaranteed place at the school.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13There may well be a very specific reason why Robert decided
0:44:13 > 0:44:16to subscribe to the school in the first place.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19Well, this is a death certificate.
0:44:19 > 0:44:201868...
0:44:22 > 0:44:23..in January.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26So that's around the time of the donation.
0:44:26 > 0:44:27Jane Lowes...
0:44:29 > 0:44:32..aged 48, wife of Robert Lowes.
0:44:32 > 0:44:33Robert was now a widower,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36and he would have been left with seven children to look after.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38Seven children, wow.
0:44:38 > 0:44:43So possibly this event concentrated Robert's mind that he might
0:44:43 > 0:44:45need to make provision for his younger children,
0:44:45 > 0:44:46should anything happen to him.
0:44:46 > 0:44:51Yes, yes. So do we know if any of his children came here as students?
0:44:51 > 0:44:53They didn't, actually.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57He only subscribed until the following year, 1870.
0:44:57 > 0:44:59And then suddenly stopped.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02There could been a number of reasons for this.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04Possibly financial hardship.
0:45:04 > 0:45:06- Seven children.- Yes.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08He may not have been well himself.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11Oh, tell me more.
0:45:11 > 0:45:16If you would like to perhaps take a look at that document.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19- Oh. Well, this is his death certificate.- Yeah.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23Robert Jack Lowes,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25aged 56.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28Cause of death, emphysema.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31I see.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36You might find a little bit more about Robert's death here.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38That's his obituary.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42"Manchester City News lately recorded the death of Mr RJ Lowes" -
0:45:42 > 0:45:45that's our man - "of Hulme, age 56."
0:45:45 > 0:45:48"He was a native of Carlisle," up north,
0:45:48 > 0:45:55"and a son of Mr James Lowes, the engraver of Hutchinson's History Of Cumberland.
0:45:55 > 0:46:01"Mr Lowes' eventful and active life closed on the 17th of last month.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05"It is gratifying to add that his last moments were observed
0:46:05 > 0:46:10"by the kind benevolence of many old friends."
0:46:10 > 0:46:13Robert obviously died in strident circumstances,
0:46:13 > 0:46:15but what he did achieve throughout his life,
0:46:15 > 0:46:17and through the half holiday committee,
0:46:17 > 0:46:18had made an immense difference.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22And, in fact, just five years after Robert died,
0:46:22 > 0:46:26your own grandfather was elected to the school as a pupil.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28- Just five years later? - Five years later.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32See how these things all fit together.
0:46:32 > 0:46:34Yeah. Amazing coincidence.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40You have to admire Robert's achievements.
0:46:40 > 0:46:45If this school hadn't been endowed by my great-great-grandfather,
0:46:45 > 0:46:49my grandfather, WH McKellen, wouldn't have had an education.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51Probably at all.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57What I'd always hoped was true about
0:46:57 > 0:47:01the McKellens, and people they married,
0:47:01 > 0:47:03was an attitude to life.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06Doing good and helping other people.
0:47:07 > 0:47:13And this bright, radical-thinking clerk
0:47:13 > 0:47:16stood up and changed the world.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19I am... That is the word, proud.
0:47:27 > 0:47:32Ian has decided to explore one last story in his family tree.
0:47:32 > 0:47:36He now knows from Robert Lowes' obituary that Robert's father
0:47:36 > 0:47:39was an engraver called James Lowes,
0:47:39 > 0:47:41and that during the late 18th-century,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44the Lowes family were based in Carlisle
0:47:44 > 0:47:47in the County of Cumberland, now called Cumbria.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53Ian's travelling north to Cumbria to find out more about James,
0:47:53 > 0:47:57his great-great-great-grandfather.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01It's an area that he knows well from his childhood.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04I came to the Lake District before I can remember.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08My family was typical of many Lancastrian families.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10We went to it often.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12Walking.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15My dad was a climber with ropes and special boots,
0:48:15 > 0:48:17going up the mountains that way.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20I've only ever scrambled up them, sometimes on all fours.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26There is a close relationship for Lancastrians
0:48:26 > 0:48:29between the dark Satanic mills
0:48:29 > 0:48:32and the utter beauty of the hills and the fells of the Lake District.
0:48:35 > 0:48:40Ian's come to Carlisle, where James Lowes lived and worked in the 1790s.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46He's arranged to meet curator Melanie Gardner
0:48:46 > 0:48:49at the city's Tullie House Museum,
0:48:49 > 0:48:52to find out more about James.
0:48:52 > 0:48:53- Morning.- Morning.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56- Pleased to meet you, Ian. - Very nice to see you.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58Lovely to welcome you to Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02- Thank you very much indeed. All right. What a day!- It's fantastic.
0:49:02 > 0:49:03- Is it always like this in Carlisle?- It is.
0:49:03 > 0:49:08Tullie House holds an original copy of Hutchinson's History Of Cumberland,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11which James Lowes helped to illustrate.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14This is the History Of Cumberland.
0:49:14 > 0:49:16It's in two volumes.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20And if we open up... the frontispiece.
0:49:21 > 0:49:26"The History of the County of Cumberland, and some places adjacent."
0:49:26 > 0:49:30The book was published here in Carlisle in 1794.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32- It's the standard history of the county.- I see.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34It's a very important book.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38And James Lowes produced many of the engravings in this book,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41and they really are the crowning achievement.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43Oh, I say, look at that.
0:49:43 > 0:49:44Carlisle Castle.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Beautiful.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51And I love the details of the weather, the clouds.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53These images were important, of course.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56If you think, it's the late 18th century,
0:49:56 > 0:49:59the Lake District had been discovered, tourists were visiting,
0:49:59 > 0:50:01looking at the picturesque scenery.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05And this book was so important that it was distributed in London,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08so that it was widely available to the middle classes
0:50:08 > 0:50:10as a very attractive book to purchase.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13It would almost be like a coffee-table book.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16And here is the illustration of Bassenthwaite.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19Oh, but hang on! It says,
0:50:19 > 0:50:23"J Lowes sculpt."
0:50:23 > 0:50:27- Sculped it, or...? - Yes, he engraved it.- Engraved it.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29He was a young man at this time,
0:50:29 > 0:50:32developing his skills as an engraver.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34- Beautiful, aren't they?- Yes.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39- Oh, look. Druid Monument.- Yes!
0:50:39 > 0:50:42So do you think he would necessarily have to have actually been
0:50:42 > 0:50:45to a scene like that before he engraved it?
0:50:45 > 0:50:46Not necessarily.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49Because he could've been copying another artist's work.
0:50:49 > 0:50:51But if we look at this one...
0:50:52 > 0:50:53Oh, I say. How beautiful.
0:50:55 > 0:50:59"The west view of Lanercost Priory."
0:50:59 > 0:51:01"J Lowes."
0:51:01 > 0:51:03And what does it say after that? "DD"?
0:51:03 > 0:51:07- D-E-L. Del. - Delineated, maybe.- Yes.- OK.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11And over here it says "and sculpted".
0:51:11 > 0:51:16Yes, he not only engraved this west view of Lanercost Priory,
0:51:16 > 0:51:17but he drew it.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20So he was there. He was on the spot.
0:51:20 > 0:51:23At that time, sort of late 18th century,
0:51:23 > 0:51:27artists are exploring the landscape for the first time,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30and Cumbria was in a very important place for that
0:51:30 > 0:51:32because of the beauty of the Lake District.
0:51:34 > 0:51:39Ian has decided to head into the Lake District to Bassenthwaite Lake,
0:51:39 > 0:51:42which his great-great-great-grandfather -
0:51:42 > 0:51:44the artist James Lowes -
0:51:44 > 0:51:46depicted in the 1790s.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50He is meeting up with Professor Keith Hanley,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52an expert on the history of the Lake District.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Keith, you look like the hermit of Bassenthwaite.
0:51:57 > 0:51:59I am!
0:51:59 > 0:52:01- Hello, nice to meet you. - Are you well?
0:52:01 > 0:52:03- Welcome to Bassenthwaite Lake. - I've never been.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05Well, here you are in the footsteps
0:52:05 > 0:52:07of your great-great-great-grandfather,
0:52:07 > 0:52:13James Lowes, who stood in 1794 on this spot
0:52:13 > 0:52:16when he drew the lake.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19- And it's not changed, has it? - Hardly at all.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21- Look at his engraving of it.- Yes.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24You can see all the main features exactly as they were.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27He slightly exaggerated the reality,
0:52:27 > 0:52:32because this rather exciting mountain is there a rather domestic hill.
0:52:32 > 0:52:35But this...feels...
0:52:37 > 0:52:40- ..what it feels like to be here.- Right.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42So what he's got is the feeling.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46- And that's being an artist, isn't it?- It is an artist, that's right.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Your great-great-great-grandfather,
0:52:49 > 0:52:51he had a modest role in a major drama,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55whereby this whole region was developed from being
0:52:55 > 0:52:59a relatively neglected provincial backwater,
0:52:59 > 0:53:02to becoming what it is today,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05which is really one of the leading cultural landscapes in the world.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10Wordsworth, of course, who was born at Cockermouth just five miles from
0:53:10 > 0:53:13here, wrote about it being for everyone
0:53:13 > 0:53:16with an eye to see and a heart to feel.
0:53:16 > 0:53:18And he didn't much approve the railways coming here?
0:53:18 > 0:53:21He didn't. Very much later he was very much against it.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23They should get out of their carriages and bloody well walk!
0:53:23 > 0:53:24That's right.
0:53:24 > 0:53:28When we come to the romantics, of course, and especially Wordsworth,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31they are much more interested in real experience,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33the real encounter with nature.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36Would James Lowes have been aware of Wordsworth's views
0:53:36 > 0:53:38and perhaps shared them?
0:53:38 > 0:53:39We actually know he did,
0:53:39 > 0:53:44because he took out an advert in the Carlisle Journal in 1802
0:53:44 > 0:53:46explaining his principles.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48How old would he be now?
0:53:48 > 0:53:50- About...- 28.- 28?- Yeah.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53"September 25, drawing school at Mr Jollie's.
0:53:53 > 0:53:58"J Lowes, teacher of drawing."
0:53:58 > 0:54:01- By this date, he's been engraving for nine years...- Yeah.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05..and he's now advertised his services as a drawing master.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10"To delineate faithfully
0:54:10 > 0:54:15"and elegantly the tints and proportions of nature,
0:54:15 > 0:54:20"to catch her veiled forms as they are found to strike the eye
0:54:20 > 0:54:23"is the object of landscape.
0:54:23 > 0:54:25"But how is this to be done?
0:54:25 > 0:54:30"Not surely by shutting ourselves up and copying after a copy
0:54:30 > 0:54:37"but by observing nature's self and seeing her living features.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40Get out the house, put your boots on,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43take your brushes or your pencil.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46- Exactly, yeah.- And be inside nature.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48- Yeah.- That's wonderful.
0:54:48 > 0:54:51But, you know, there's another side to the romantic north.
0:54:51 > 0:54:56This is only part of the story, the picturesque landscape, and so on.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59There's also the dark north,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01there are a lot of Druid circles,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04and particularly the one that he depicted here,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07which is the Druid's Monument at Keswick.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09It's wizard country, this.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11It's something that should really interest you.
0:55:11 > 0:55:14Yes. Well, I'm going to romance.
0:55:14 > 0:55:17This man - he's got a hat on, and a pair of britches,
0:55:17 > 0:55:20- and he's got a staff.- He has.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24I think it's a little self-portrait that James has popped in.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26That could be. Yes, that could be James.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28- Yes, why not. - But it could be you, too.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30IAN LAUGHS
0:55:32 > 0:55:34To end his journey,
0:55:34 > 0:55:39Ian has decided to retrace his great-great-great-grandfather's footsteps,
0:55:39 > 0:55:42to the ancient stone circle near Keswick,
0:55:42 > 0:55:46which James Lowes engraved 220 years ago.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53"October 5, walked up the Penrith Road two miles or more
0:55:53 > 0:55:58"and, turning into a cornfield to the right, called Castlerigg,
0:55:58 > 0:56:01"saw a large Druid circle of stones."
0:56:02 > 0:56:04"They are 50 in number.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07"Most of them stood erect.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09"The biggest not eight feet high.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14"It is not improbable that the head Druid, with his colleagues,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18"did inform their rites, their divinations, in these places."
0:56:19 > 0:56:23"Know that thou standst on consecrated ground."
0:56:24 > 0:56:28"The mighty pile of magic planted rock.
0:56:28 > 0:56:30"Thus ringed in mystic order,
0:56:30 > 0:56:35"marks the place where but at times of holiest festival,
0:56:35 > 0:56:38"the Druid leads this trail."
0:56:46 > 0:56:48Sort of inevitable, isn't it,
0:56:48 > 0:56:53that James should have loved places like this and recorded them,
0:56:53 > 0:56:55and encouraged other people to come.
0:56:55 > 0:57:00I wonder if James' son, the radical Robert, came up here.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06And I do feel that I can almost touch these people.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08I feel happy in their company.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12They've done remarkable things, and they're talented.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16HE SIGHS
0:57:16 > 0:57:20And part of the world, not...
0:57:20 > 0:57:21Not loners.
0:57:23 > 0:57:28It doesn't matter, really, to me, that I'm the last of the McKellens.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30That's all right.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36But I do feel just a little bit more secure as a person.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45Yes, I think, probably I'll never be quite the same.
0:57:45 > 0:57:46But in a good way!