0:00:05 > 0:00:10Tracey Emin is one of Britain's most famous artists.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13For over 20 years, her work has shocked the world
0:00:13 > 0:00:17as she explores her most private feelings of love, loss
0:00:17 > 0:00:19and sexual adventure.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Because I work within my art,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29because I work constantly going back to my own past,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31I thought it might be quite interesting to see
0:00:31 > 0:00:33where the past actually came from.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36But now I'm really nervous about it and I'm not sure
0:00:36 > 0:00:37if I'm doing the right thing.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45The fact that I'm never going to have any children
0:00:45 > 0:00:48means that I'm the end of my line.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51After me, I stop. I'm the last of my kind. There is no more.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58If when I find out that I come from the most loving, simple,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01ordinary, lovely suburban family
0:01:01 > 0:01:03that anyone could ever want to come from,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I think I'll go and slit my wrist!
0:01:05 > 0:01:08- I think it will just drive me insane. I'd think how the- BLEEP?
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Oh, sorry. How the hell did that happen?
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Tracey's art takes many different forms.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01Over the years, she's become as much a part of the spectacle as her work,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04making her the "bad girl" of British art.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Now at 48, Tracey's first major retrospective
0:02:10 > 0:02:13has just opened in London.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I'm at a really good point at the moment
0:02:17 > 0:02:21and I have a massive museum show on at the Hayward Gallery.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25There's about 1,000 visitors a day going which is fantastic.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29For the first time in my life, I've had overall, really good reviews
0:02:29 > 0:02:32and a lot of positive response about the work.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Tracey lives and works in Spitalfields in East London.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42She knows that her mother's roots are in the East End.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46But her father, Enver, who passed away last year,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49came from further afield.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52My dad's Turkish-Cypriot.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54His grandfather was from Africa, from the Sudan,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56he was a slave in the Ottoman Empire.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00He was given his freedom in Cyprus.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03That's as far as I can go back on my dad's side.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07But, on the other hand, my mum's family, I don't know anything
0:03:07 > 0:03:10about them apart from the fact they come from the east end of London,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13and no-one volunteered information while growing up.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17You'd think a lot of people would say "Oh, your great-grandfather" or this or that,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19but there was never any information.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21My mum is so excited.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25She's beside herself because she doesn't know anything either.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28- Hi, Mum.- Hello, darling. - Quick, it's windy.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32- It's really windy out there. How are you?- Good, thanks, yeah.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Tracey's mother, Pam, now lives in Kent.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38She's visiting Tracey to help her begin her search.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40- Do you want a cup of tea? - Love one.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44I've brought photographs along.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47That's a picture of Nanny May. I thought you'd like to see that one.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51That was Nanny when she was young.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53That's a brilliant photo.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57And Mum. Fantastic, she was.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01That must have been around in the '30s, I think, cos of what everybody's wearing.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03It's very beautifully dressed.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05- Mm.- Nanny had impeccable manners.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
0:04:07 > 0:04:12- Mm. So does her daughter. - But not her granddaughter!
0:04:12 > 0:04:14I don't know about her daughter's daughter!
0:04:14 > 0:04:16But...
0:04:16 > 0:04:19- that was you and Nanny. - Yeah, that's me, Nanny and a kitten.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21You two would spend hours together, wouldn't you?
0:04:21 > 0:04:25You'd both lay in bed, she'd tell you little stories.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28You were very, very close. Very close to her.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31- But since I was a little girl I was very close.- Yes.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I think you'll like this. This is your nan's dad.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38My grandad. Harry Hodgkins.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40He was lovely.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43That's in the summerhouse at the bottom of their garden.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46- It's a sweet little house.- Yeah.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50- I'd like to know what was inside that summerhouse. - There was all sorts of things.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52He had a little bit of a workshop one end,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54and Nanny had little chairs and...
0:04:54 > 0:04:57where they used to have their cups of tea.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00- But where was it?- East Ham. - In East Ham still.- Yeah.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03Which is only about a mile and a half from here.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06- So I haven't gone very far, have I?- No.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09It took you how many years? 48 years?
0:05:09 > 0:05:1348 years to come back to where I came from! Brilliant(!)
0:05:13 > 0:05:19And this one, this is Grandad, Harry Hodgkins, and one of his sons.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23- That's when he was much younger. - Oh, gosh, yeah.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Wow! He looks handsome there.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29- He was lovely, wasn't he? - Very dapper looking.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34Mm. This is Grandad Harry Hodgkins' birth certificate.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37If you read it, they've named him "Henry".
0:05:37 > 0:05:43So he was born on the 10th May, 1877
0:05:43 > 0:05:45at 100, Parnell Road, Bow.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49And his dad was Joseph Henry Hodgkins
0:05:49 > 0:05:54and the mother was Susan Hodgkins, formerly Price.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57But I'd like to know what they did for an occupation
0:05:57 > 0:06:00and how they spent their time and how creative they were.
0:06:00 > 0:06:06The only thing I know about Grandad Harry Hodgkins,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10that he worked at Beckton Gasworks. That's all I know about him.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13- Right. Mysterious man.- Hmm.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21My mum might know more than she lets on.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24But I don't think that she does.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26My fear is that I'm opening up a can of worms
0:06:26 > 0:06:28that I shouldn't have touched.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32I might be delving into something which doesn't need to be delved into.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37Tracey has traced her East End ancestry
0:06:37 > 0:06:41back to her great-grandfather, Henry,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43and his parents, Joseph and Susan.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53We're in the East End now and I haven't gone very far from home.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56I've just gone up the road! So it's not much of a journey really.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01Great-grandfather was born here, a mile away from where I live.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06I'm expecting East End, hard, gritty, 19th century poverty...
0:07:06 > 0:07:09you know, ten people living in one room somewhere,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12just round the corner from where I live.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Tracey's first stop is the local history library
0:07:15 > 0:07:19in Tower Hamlets, East London.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22To find out more about Henry,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25she's meeting archivist Malcolm Barr-Hamilton.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28I've got my great-grandfather's birth certificate with me.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31OK, let's take a look.
0:07:32 > 0:07:39Henry Hodgkins, born 1877 in 100, Parnell Road in Bow.
0:07:39 > 0:07:44- Shall we try... Have a look at the 1881 Census, see what we can find? - Yeah, OK.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47And we'll search a year or so either side.
0:07:49 > 0:07:50Ah, um, well...
0:07:50 > 0:07:52There's no matches.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56It says there's no matches. The person's probably there somewhere
0:07:56 > 0:07:59but for some reason, it's been mis-indexed
0:07:59 > 0:08:02or the numerator's written the name down wrong.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05- We can go for a wild card search. - What's that?
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Well, we can type in "Henry",
0:08:08 > 0:08:13and we'll keep the "kins" but we'll put an asterisk first.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16- But you'll get thousands. - Ah, let's see.
0:08:16 > 0:08:22So we'll keep "1877" and "Bow", and let's see what we get.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27Ah.
0:08:27 > 0:08:33We've got a Henry Hotchkins, spelled, H-O-T-C-H-K-I-N-S,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37born about 1877, Bow, Middlesex.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39- That looks like our man. - Yeah, that's him, yeah, must be.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43Right, let's view the image.
0:08:43 > 0:08:49Here we've got him. Henry Hotchkins, age four.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52He's there with various brothers and sisters
0:08:52 > 0:08:54but they're described as "visitors".
0:08:56 > 0:09:00They're living with Henry Price, Elizabeth Price.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04- That's their grandparents. - Is that... Let's have a look.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Well, it must be because, um, er, Susan Hodgkins...
0:09:08 > 0:09:10- was formerly Price. - Yes, that's them.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14- So I wonder why they didn't live together.- I wonder why?
0:09:14 > 0:09:18Shall we try having a look for the 1891 Census,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22see if we can pick him up on there?
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Er, right.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27It's surprising how many "Henry Hodgkins" there are.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32This one's about the right date, 1878...
0:09:34 > 0:09:37..and it's some sort of institution.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39It says "Kerrison Reformatory School"
0:09:39 > 0:09:42and here we have "Inmate of Reformatory."
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Sounds like borstal.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Does sound a bit like that, doesn't it?
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Sounds like something happened by which they're trying to change his character.
0:09:51 > 0:09:52How old is he here about?
0:09:52 > 0:09:54"Age last birthday, 13."
0:09:54 > 0:09:57It's difficult to see cos it's been crossed through.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00I feel really sorry for him now.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03It's in Thorndon in Suffolk.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Sounds to me that this is a charity of some sort,
0:10:07 > 0:10:10- perhaps run by somebody called "Kerrison".- Kerrison.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Yeah. Up in Suffolk.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16So it might not be as negative as it looks at first.
0:10:16 > 0:10:17It could actually be a good thing.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21It's the word "inmate" which is a bit scary.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26Yeah, that is a bit... Negative connotations, doesn't it?
0:10:26 > 0:10:29- But maybe that was just the language of the time.- Oh, yes.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32I hope it isn't borstal, I really do.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Are you going to take yourself off to Suffolk?
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Yeah, to reformatory school!
0:10:50 > 0:10:52I feel very protective over Henry,
0:10:52 > 0:10:55especially when I realised he was 13 in this reform school.
0:10:55 > 0:11:01So I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that it was actually sort of like an education establishment,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04maybe some... this is in my wildest dreams,
0:11:04 > 0:11:07some rich patron plucked boys out of these desperate areas
0:11:07 > 0:11:11that were intelligent and tried to give them an education, that's what I'm hoping.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14The photographs of my great-grandfather, Henry -
0:11:14 > 0:11:18he looks incredibly smart and incredibly distinguished.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20So it seems like he did OK.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24He doesn't look like he come from like an East End slum.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Tracey has travelled 70 miles to Ipswich.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40She's meeting archivist Louise Clarke at the Suffolk Records Office.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46I'm hoping you can help me find out about my great-grandfather, Henry.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Well, perhaps if we just go back a little bit
0:11:49 > 0:11:53and see why Henry ended up in a reformatory.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56We've got here a copy of a newspaper.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01It's from the Stratford Express, March 28th, 1891.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04There's details here about Henry.
0:12:04 > 0:12:10"Henry Hodgkins, 13, of 12, Napper Road, East Ham,
0:12:10 > 0:12:16"and Arthur Hodgkins, 11 of 13, Napper Road, brother", as well.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19- Yeah.- "..were charged with..."
0:12:19 > 0:12:22- What?- Er, that's "stealing".
0:12:22 > 0:12:24Ohh!
0:12:24 > 0:12:28The copy goes very bad but we do have a transcript here.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Unfortunately, the brothers were accused of stealing.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Um, so we're down to there.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36"Were charged with stealing
0:12:36 > 0:12:40"since the 27th incident of an occupied house at number one,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43"Chamnon Terrace, Bonny Downs, two brass taps,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46"the property of Thomas Young..."
0:12:46 > 0:12:47Oh, it gets worse.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50"Prisoners were apprehended by Patrick Kelly..."
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Good old Patrick.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55"..Prisoners' father, having given the lads a very bad character."
0:12:55 > 0:12:59It sounds like the father didn't defend them or anything.
0:12:59 > 0:13:00I think that's probably right.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05"Mr Burton told him he seemed very anxious to get rid of the lads,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08"but he would have to pay for their support
0:13:08 > 0:13:10"if they were sent to reformatory.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14"Henry Hodgkins was sentenced to ten days imprisonment,
0:13:14 > 0:13:17"and afterwards to be sent to a reformatory until the age of 16.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20"As the younger prisoner, Arthur seemed to have had acted
0:13:20 > 0:13:24"under the influence of his older brother, he would be discharged."
0:13:25 > 0:13:29So Henry actually went to prison for ten days.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32- He did. And that's quite common. - Would that have been an adult..?
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Yeah, of course. It would be in an adult prison.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40So you can imagine a lad of 13, and actually you find lads
0:13:40 > 0:13:43of only nine and ten being sent to the adult prison.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49Juvenile crime was considered an endemic problem
0:13:49 > 0:13:52in mid-19th century Britain.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55And large pockets of what is now East London
0:13:55 > 0:13:58were notorious for child crime.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07Until the late 1840s, no distinction was made between children and adults
0:14:07 > 0:14:09by the criminal justice system.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14But as the number of child prisoners continued to increase,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18reaching over one third of the entire prison population,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22there was growing concern that mixing children with hardened criminals
0:14:22 > 0:14:25would only lead to more criminality.
0:14:27 > 0:14:32In 1854, the Youthful Offenders Act stipulated that under 16-year-olds
0:14:32 > 0:14:36convicted of a repeat offence could be sent to a reformatory school
0:14:36 > 0:14:41after a short stint of up to 14 days in an adult prison.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49The Act established Child Reform in Britain's justice system.
0:14:57 > 0:15:02The thing that really upsets me here is about Henry's father.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06- Hmm.- Er, where does it say, um...
0:15:06 > 0:15:10"Prisoner's father, having given the lads a very bad character."
0:15:10 > 0:15:14So he must have stood in court and said, "Away with them."
0:15:14 > 0:15:16- It's quite a strange turn of phrase, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20You just wouldn't expect a parent to say that.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22But there was a strange thing.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25The children didn't live with their parents when they were small.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27We read that on the earlier Census.
0:15:27 > 0:15:31- Right.- So I feel quite... I mean, where was the mother, for example?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33From this, we can't tell.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37- Yeah.- Um, perhaps if we have a look a bit more about what happened
0:15:37 > 0:15:39- to Henry in the reformatory.- OK.
0:15:39 > 0:15:43We have quite a lot of records here relating to the reformatory.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46So this is the Suffolk Reformatory admissions register,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51and it is indexed so have a look and see if we can find Henry.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Now, where is he then? Yeah, he's here, right at the top.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58If we go through and look for folio 43.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00Henry Hodgkins.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05- And this is what his character is and previous convictions, as well.- That's right.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08- So we've got, um, "read and write imperfectly".- Yeah.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10Whatever that means.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12And, um, "one..." I can't read it...
0:16:12 > 0:16:15"Once for stealing from a shop."
0:16:15 > 0:16:18- It's "once he was birched". - Birched?
0:16:18 > 0:16:21So that's "once birched for stealing from a shop."
0:16:21 > 0:16:22That means he was whipped.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26So previously he had had a run-in with the law.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29- Yeah. - And, yes, then we have his father.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34"Wall End, East Ham.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38"Four children. Dependant. Mother dead."
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Oh!
0:16:41 > 0:16:44- The mother's dead at this point, yeah.- So when did their mum die?
0:16:44 > 0:16:49Well, we do have a copy of her death certificate.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53From that, we should be able to understand what happened to the family.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56I'm now hoping to God this is a natural death.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Let's see. "15th November, 1890".
0:17:01 > 0:17:03So 1890.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07- It was only a few months... - Before he stole the taps.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12"Wife of Joseph Henry."
0:17:12 > 0:17:14And then we've got the cause of death.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18She had a collapse, and that says "postpartum haemorrhage."
0:17:18 > 0:17:21- So she was having another baby? - She died...- Giving birth.- Yeah.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23In childbirth.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The other thing which I find really shocking is could you imagine
0:17:28 > 0:17:31if now two little boys, 13 and 11,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34did a crime like that after their mum had just died giving birth.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36They'd never be sent away.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Life was obviously very hard at that point.
0:17:39 > 0:17:43I feel really sorry for him though. Poor little thing.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49I've learnt more bad news.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52It's actually gone from bad to very, very bad.
0:17:52 > 0:17:58My great-granddad, Henry, he was caught stealing two taps
0:17:58 > 0:18:01with his brother, but this was only three months after...
0:18:01 > 0:18:04three or four months after his mother had died in childbirth.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Um, their dad doesn't seem like a very nice character,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10doesn't seem to be very caring, and it wouldn't surprise me at all
0:18:10 > 0:18:13if the father hadn't put them up to it in the first place.
0:18:13 > 0:18:15It all sounds a bit Fagin, a bit East End Fagin.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22Tracey is on her way to the reformatory school
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Henry was sent to in 1891 when he was 13 years old.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31It's an hour's drive from Ipswich in the heart of the Suffolk countryside.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36It occurred to me how amazing it must have been for him.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39I know what the countryside is.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42But he must have never have seen it before in his life
0:18:42 > 0:18:45and it just must have been shocking for him
0:18:45 > 0:18:49to see this vast amount of openness and sky and space and everything
0:18:49 > 0:18:53compared to the density of like East End Victorian London.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Please God, let something positive happen today
0:18:57 > 0:19:01cos it's been so sad so far. It's just got worse and worse and worse.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Hundreds of boys from all over the south east of England
0:19:09 > 0:19:12were sent to Kerrison Reformatory.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15Reformatories lasted until the 1920s
0:19:15 > 0:19:19when they were turned into approved schools for young offenders.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23Today, the original building still stands,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25but is now a conference centre.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Tracey is meeting Doctor Lawrence Goldman,
0:19:30 > 0:19:32who's been looking into Henry's case.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37Well, Tracey, here we've got some documents
0:19:37 > 0:19:44concerning the Kerrison Reformatory where your great-grandfather, Henry,
0:19:44 > 0:19:47was based for three years,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51between the ages of 13 and 16.
0:19:51 > 0:19:57You can see here some photographs of the boys in Kerrison.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59We're not quite sure of the date of this one...
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and of the boys working in the fields.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06It's fantastic, the difference between coming from the East End
0:20:06 > 0:20:08and then coming here, just for me -
0:20:08 > 0:20:11coming from the East End coming into the countryside.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14He might not have been feeling fear. It might have been
0:20:14 > 0:20:17more of a positive thing, that good things were going to happen.
0:20:17 > 0:20:18I would hope so.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21And that was the theory of it, that good things would happen.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25That you'd take the children away from the vice of the city
0:20:25 > 0:20:27and give them a chance in the fresh air.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Reformatories were originally established in France
0:20:33 > 0:20:37and came to Britain in the 1840s.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Many were funded by local philanthropists
0:20:40 > 0:20:45who paid for the building of around 65 reformatories across Britain.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50Created as a radical alternative to prison for under 16-year-old
0:20:50 > 0:20:54boys and girls, they were described as "moral hospitals"
0:20:54 > 0:20:59and focused on teaching agricultural skills to wayward children
0:20:59 > 0:21:01from inner city backgrounds.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08The children were also given daily classes in reading,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10writing and arithmetic.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21There is a good document here, which is from a newspaper report of 1893,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23which is actually whilst he's still here.
0:21:23 > 0:21:28A little report on what it was like in the Kerrison Reformatory.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31"There are 79 boys in this school today."
0:21:31 > 0:21:33- So they're calling it a "school" which is nice.- Mm.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Cos my fear before was that it was more like a borstal or like a punishment centre.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40But now I understand, it totally is to...
0:21:40 > 0:21:42someone says these boys aren't bad.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46- Everything bad has happened to them but these boys have hope.- Yeah.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47So it's good.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52"All are in good health and look bright and thriving.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54"The lads behaved extremely well.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58"I'm glad to be able to report a steady progress.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02"The handwriting is very good.
0:22:02 > 0:22:03"Arithmetic is very well done.
0:22:03 > 0:22:07"There was excellent order and a good tone generally among boys."
0:22:07 > 0:22:11But he got, apparently, three hours of education a day.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Which is probably more than he would have had back home.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16It's probably more than I had!
0:22:19 > 0:22:24Henry's reformatory was founded in 1856 by Sir Edward Kerrison,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29a wealthy local estate owner and philanthropist who lived nearby.
0:22:30 > 0:22:36Kerrison's provided pupils with a farm in the school's grounds
0:22:36 > 0:22:39so that they could learn to look after animals.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Each of the boys also had their own garden plot to tend.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48- It wasn't all good because we've also got the punishment report book...- Oh, no!
0:22:48 > 0:22:50..I'm afraid to say!
0:22:50 > 0:22:53You can see here names, er, and the offence...
0:22:53 > 0:22:55"Lying."
0:22:55 > 0:22:57..and the punishment.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00- It's eight cuts with the cane. - Cuts? Aw!- Yeah.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05One lad I'm afraid, "pilfering other boys' pockets..."
0:23:05 > 0:23:07- Got "48 hours in a cell." - In a cell.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Wow! 48 hours in a cell. I wonder what the cell was like.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14There were cells here. I don't think he was taken to prison. But it tells you...
0:23:14 > 0:23:17- Where's Henry?- I'm glad to say that Henry doesn't appear...
0:23:17 > 0:23:21- Yay! Good! - ..for the three years he's here. As far as we can see, when he was here,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23he was a good boy.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26Are you interested now in thinking about what happens to them,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29er, as they move on in life?
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Actually, we've got some of these admissions and discharge records
0:23:33 > 0:23:35of some youngsters who were here.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39- But you haven't got...- Oh, yes, we have.- Have you? Oh, brilliant.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Oh, yes, we have actually. Oh, yes.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45And you can see some interesting examples here.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Boys from reformatory, some would go into the services,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52but many went into the navy, some into the army and so forth.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54This is a boy called Albert Lewis.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58"This lad stayed for some weeks after his term of detention."
0:23:58 > 0:24:00He was being referred to emigrate to Canada...
0:24:00 > 0:24:02That's right.
0:24:02 > 0:24:06But his father didn't want him to go. His dad wanted him to go back to Holloway.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10But if we read on, for 1894,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14something rather interesting has happened, about 18 months later.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19"Report from the commissionaire of the police added in December, 1894"
0:24:19 > 0:24:21that he actually... this guy, Albert,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25actually didn't go back to Holloway, he actually went to Canada.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28Yeah. So it looks like, some months later, he did make it to Canada,
0:24:28 > 0:24:33even though he went back to London first. Nearly 10,000 children
0:24:33 > 0:24:39who were in reformatories from the 1850s up to the First World War
0:24:39 > 0:24:43were sent to Canada to go out and farm and work there.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45So this was quite common.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52In the late 19th century, Canada was a dominion of the British Empire.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56The Government was desperate to attract immigrants who could turn
0:24:56 > 0:24:58the vast empty prairies into farmland.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04Henry, and the thousands of other boys and girls
0:25:04 > 0:25:08who'd been educated at reformatory schools, were ideal candidates
0:25:08 > 0:25:12because of their new-found skills in agriculture and working the land.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19Canada offered the chance for many children from deprived backgrounds
0:25:19 > 0:25:23to start a new life overseas.
0:25:23 > 0:25:28Between 1870 and 1925, around 80,000 young people were shipped to Canada
0:25:28 > 0:25:33to work as labourers or servants to wealthy families.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38Many of them were under 14 years old.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Some as young as nine.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44In some cases, children were sent by the Government to Canada
0:25:44 > 0:25:46without their parents' consent.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53And now we come to your great-grandfather.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57- His page looks very little.- Well, these are just copies, I'm afraid.
0:25:57 > 0:25:58They're not the originals.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00"And was sent home..."
0:26:00 > 0:26:03"Was sent home to his father on 29th May."
0:26:03 > 0:26:08"He had a wish to go to Canada but was..."
0:26:08 > 0:26:12"..persuaded out of it by his friends."
0:26:12 > 0:26:15- Mm.- Mm.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19That sounds like me!
0:26:19 > 0:26:21I get persuaded by my friends all the time!
0:26:21 > 0:26:24- Well...- But why was he persuaded? - Well, wish we knew.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26What friends? Who were these friends?
0:26:26 > 0:26:29I suppose friends from back home. Friends from East Ham.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33- No, it sounds like his horrible, horrible father.- Yeah.
0:26:33 > 0:26:34Well, do you want to read on?
0:26:34 > 0:26:38- Yeah.- OK. Cos now we go into 1894, a year later.
0:26:38 > 0:26:43Yeah. "Report from the commissioner of police was," um...
0:26:43 > 0:26:45"Arrested..."
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Oh, no. Bloody hell. That's Henry, isn't it?
0:26:48 > 0:26:49It is Henry.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56"..was arrested for burglary on 7th September,
0:26:56 > 0:27:01"sentenced to three months hard labour."
0:27:03 > 0:27:04I can't read that.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07"When arrested, he was..."
0:27:07 > 0:27:09"..residing at number three..."
0:27:09 > 0:27:12"Helman Road", East bloody Ham.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16I'm upset about that. Gets worse.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Not fair.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23- What do you think? Perhaps he should have gone to Canada?- Definitely.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25- Yeah.- Mm.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33- That's not good. - Would have been a different story for everyone if he'd gone.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35I wouldn't be sitting here, would I? But it's not good.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39I want some good news. Everything gets worse and worse, doesn't it?
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Mm. Yeah.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47I always thought the kind of devious side of my family
0:27:47 > 0:27:49was on my dad's side, you know.
0:27:49 > 0:27:54But now it's looking like it's on my mother's side.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56I don't...don't like it at all.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58Well, yeah, maybe. I'm afraid to tell you
0:27:58 > 0:28:02that three months hard labour meant going actually to an adult prison.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Cos this of course, was a boys' reformatory.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09- Yeah.- And once you get to 16, it means adult prison.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11- So which prison did he go to, do you know?- Yeah.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14It's Chelmsford Prison. Not so far from here.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17But that's where he did three months of hard labour.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Oh, good news is I know where I'm going next now. I'm going to Chelmsford Prison!
0:28:21 > 0:28:22It's terrible!
0:28:25 > 0:28:27It's really bad.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40I'm disappointed, really disappointed
0:28:40 > 0:28:44in what I found out today, cos I was hoping there was going to be a bit of light here.
0:28:44 > 0:28:49And the fact that someone's been given an opportunity for education, something fantastic
0:28:49 > 0:28:53in the Victorian era, and to see that the other boys had done so well, gone to Canada,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56done this, done that, and the disappointment in Henry
0:28:56 > 0:28:59that I'm feeling at the moment is quite devastating.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01But also his life, so sad.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08I think he had the most incredibly bad, awful upbringing.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14'I don't like Henry's father very much.
0:29:14 > 0:29:15'Intuitively, I feel that.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18'And I think Henry could have done so much better
0:29:18 > 0:29:19'if he wasn't influenced by him.'
0:29:26 > 0:29:30Today, Chelmsford is still a men's prison.
0:29:30 > 0:29:35The building has barely changed since Henry was sent here in 1894.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Tracey is meeting Professor of Criminology, David Taylor,
0:29:46 > 0:29:50to discover what life was like for Henry behind bars.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Well, Tracey, I've managed to unearth some documents
0:29:54 > 0:29:57which relate to your great-grandfather, Henry Hodgkins,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00which I think you might find of some interest.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03This is the offence that he's been charged with...
0:30:03 > 0:30:06Burglary. He breaks in at night.
0:30:06 > 0:30:07What did he take?
0:30:07 > 0:30:12If you see here, he's got packets of cocoa, a violin and a bow,
0:30:12 > 0:30:18two concertinas, but also a purse and £4 in money.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Well, the violin's pretty interesting.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25It is. I'm not sure what market there was for second-hand violins
0:30:25 > 0:30:28at the time, but it's a strange collection, isn't it?
0:30:28 > 0:30:32But also, in my family, a lot of people play guitar.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35- Right, right. - And have played musical instruments.
0:30:35 > 0:30:37Maybe he actually wanted the violin to play.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41- He might well have done, yeah. - The £4 was quite a lot of money to steal.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44That is a lot of money, when a pound a week
0:30:44 > 0:30:48was reckoned to be a good sum of money to support a family.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50And what would the hard labour have been, then?
0:30:50 > 0:30:54Well, that's right. It can take various forms here.
0:30:54 > 0:30:56It could be the treadwheel.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58This looks like some barbaric torture.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01Well, absolutely. If you think of the treadwheel
0:31:01 > 0:31:04- as a giant hamster's wheel...- Yeah.
0:31:04 > 0:31:10The wheel is set at a regular speed, it's going at 32 feet a minute
0:31:10 > 0:31:15and the men are just walking on that, which they had to work on
0:31:15 > 0:31:17for six hours a day.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22There we are, there's a similar shot and it was estimated
0:31:22 > 0:31:28that each step was the equivalent of a three foot rise, which is huge.
0:31:28 > 0:31:33And they have to do 8,640 feet in a day.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36They had two stints. Three hours in the morning.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39At the end of that three hour stint, that's the equivalent
0:31:39 > 0:31:44of climbing Ben Nevis, and you then had to do it again in the afternoon.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47Look at this chap here. He's obviously struggling...
0:31:47 > 0:31:49- Yeah, he's slipping.- ..to keep up.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52That sounds just like some sort of medieval punishment.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55It doesn't actually sound like productive work.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00It sounds like the... You know, you're really unlucky if you got that one.
0:32:00 > 0:32:06Late Victorians believed in prisons being punitive and deterrent.
0:32:06 > 0:32:07It's supposed to put you off.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11This is not an enjoyable experience.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14So hard labour, in one form or another,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16was meant to be precisely that.
0:32:23 > 0:32:29Hard labour was an everyday part of prison life in the 1890s.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32And the majority of male prisoners would have endured it.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38It took various forms depending on which prison you were sent to.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Inmates could be forced to smash rocks with a sledgehammer
0:32:42 > 0:32:44for hours on end.
0:32:46 > 0:32:52Or turn a back-breaking crank machine thousands of times.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56The treadwheel, which Henry experienced at Chelmsford Prison,
0:32:56 > 0:33:00was designed in 1818 by William Cubitt,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03specifically as a form of punishment for prison inmates.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10As well as hard labour, Henry, along with his fellow inmates,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13were subject to what was known as "the separate system".
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Prisoners were completely isolated from one another,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21to stop them forming any bonds.
0:33:21 > 0:33:24Even during the prison's church services,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27they were not allowed to make eye contact with one another.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34These practices are known to have driven some inmates insane.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45What upset me was the fact that he ended up in prison
0:33:45 > 0:33:47when so many other boys at the reform school
0:33:47 > 0:33:49went and did really good things.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51And I was hoping that he would go off and do something good.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54It takes him a little longer to do it.
0:33:54 > 0:33:56If we look through Henry's career,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59as far as we know, he never offends again.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03His experience in prison is not going to be a happy one.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07That hard labour I've just described is tough.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12But he didn't commit suicide, he didn't go mad.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15People went insane in prison.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17He came out, he didn't offend again.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20In fact, he settles down, doesn't he?
0:34:20 > 0:34:22- He marries.- Yeah.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25- My mum told me that he was such a lovely, kind man.- Yes.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28But I don't think my mum ever knew that he was in prison
0:34:28 > 0:34:31- or any of his past, you know.- Right.
0:34:31 > 0:34:33He must have kept that all to himself.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41Henry's three months in Chelmsford Prison
0:34:41 > 0:34:43were the last he ever spent in jail.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49After prison, he returned to East Ham once more.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52Six years later, he married Sarah Davis
0:34:52 > 0:34:55and worked for decades at the local gasworks.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00He stayed in the East End for the rest of his life
0:35:00 > 0:35:02and died there at the age of 85.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10Before Tracey leaves, David has some more information relating to
0:35:10 > 0:35:14another member of Tracey's family.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18We've talked a lot about Henry, but did you realise Henry
0:35:18 > 0:35:22wasn't the only one of your forebears who was in prison, sadly?
0:35:22 > 0:35:25- Oh, no!- But it might explain...
0:35:25 > 0:35:28It might actually explain some of what we have been talking about.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31- Henry's father...- Joseph. - ..was also...
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Well, I didn't trust Joseph in the slightest.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Well, isn't that interesting, cos you knew nothing about this.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39Well, here he is, if I can find him,
0:35:39 > 0:35:43here is another calendar of prisoners.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47And here's Joseph Hodgkins, a labourer,
0:35:47 > 0:35:54who has stolen 8cwt of fertiliser, sulphate of ammonia.
0:35:54 > 0:36:02He sold it to a farmer and for that, he gets 12 months hard labour.
0:36:02 > 0:36:03But this is 1881?
0:36:03 > 0:36:07- Yes.- But that's when that Census first came.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09That's when the second Census was there
0:36:09 > 0:36:12- and that's when the children lived with the grandparents.- Right.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15So we've got an explanation, haven't we?
0:36:15 > 0:36:18- Yeah. The dad wasn't there.- So Joseph is not there...- Where's Mum?
0:36:18 > 0:36:23Well, in fact, we have the Census returns which show...
0:36:23 > 0:36:27quite difficult to read... but Susan is down here.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30She has gone to live with her brother.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35So what's happened is the main breadwinner is in prison,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40no welfare state, so the burden of supporting the family
0:36:40 > 0:36:41has been shared out.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45- So his wife takes the youngest son, Arthur...- Right.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49- ..lives with her brother. - I knew there was something odd, but I couldn't understand
0:36:49 > 0:36:53why Henry was living with his grandparents. Didn't make any sense at all.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58Joseph has obviously made quite a success of his life
0:36:58 > 0:37:00cos he's a foreman at this factory.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04So he's obviously a position of some responsibility.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08But for whatever reason, he and a friend decide
0:37:08 > 0:37:12to steal this fertiliser, and we're talking large quantities.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15I mean 8cwt, half a ton.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18As we saw in the calendar, he gets 12 months.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20- I mean, that's quite a heavy sentence.- At hard labour?
0:37:20 > 0:37:22At hard labour.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25But I think that reflects the fact that he is a foreman.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29Here is a man who had a position of trust. He's breached that trust.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34I had a little bit of hope a little while ago,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37and now it turns out that it's not just my great-grandfather,
0:37:37 > 0:37:42it's also my great, great grandfather. Long line of petty...
0:37:42 > 0:37:44Actually, this isn't petty theft. This is...
0:37:44 > 0:37:48- It's a bit more substantial... - Yeah, exactly.
0:37:48 > 0:37:54But, yet again, as far as we know, he never offended again.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Here we have a copy of the relevant page
0:37:58 > 0:38:02from the Census for 1881 which shows Joseph Hodgkins
0:38:02 > 0:38:04to be a prisoner.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08"Joseph Hodgkins, prisoner, married, 32."
0:38:08 > 0:38:13He's 32 years old and he's in Illshaw, Warwickshire.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16So where did you tell me your ancestors came from?
0:38:16 > 0:38:20I don't... My ancestors come from the East End of London.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Well, apparently Joseph gives as his place of birth...
0:38:24 > 0:38:27- As Illshaw, Warwickshire. - ..Illshaw Heath in Warwickshire.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37I don't really understand it. It doesn't make sense at all.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41I'm from the East End and it's where I feel really at home.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45So I never would have imagined the middle of England
0:38:45 > 0:38:52in all of my life, and if I end up in suburbia, I will go crazy.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59I just think if I found myself in a cul-de-sac,
0:38:59 > 0:39:01a really nice, middle class area of Warwickshire,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03I'd just be going, "What's happening,
0:39:03 > 0:39:06"I don't understand, I don't understand!"
0:39:14 > 0:39:17Tracey is travelling to the birthplace
0:39:17 > 0:39:20of her great, great-grandfather, Joseph Hodgkins.
0:39:21 > 0:39:23Illshaw Heath is a small village,
0:39:23 > 0:39:2520 miles from Warwick.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32Tracey is meeting Paul Knight, a warden at St Patrick's Church
0:39:32 > 0:39:36in the parish where Joseph was born.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39- Oh, hi.- Hello, Tracey, welcome to St Patrick's.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41- Do come in, we have something to show you.- Thank you.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49- I've brought the 1881 Census. - You've got the 1881 Census.
0:39:49 > 0:39:52- Good. So... - So my great-grandfather,
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Henry's father,
0:39:54 > 0:39:56is here - Joseph Hodgkins.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00And it's said that he was born within this parish.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04- That's right.- I wondered if you had any documentation on that.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07At Illshaw Heath, yes. Shows his age as 32,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10which puts his birth round about 1849.
0:40:10 > 0:40:16Censuses are quite notorious for not having ages quite right.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20So if we look a bit before then and try and find his baptism
0:40:20 > 0:40:22in about 1848,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24that should show us his baptism here.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27Here's Hodgkins, there.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29Oh, there it is, yes.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33- Joseph, son of Joseph and Anne Hodgkins of Illshaw Heath.- Right.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37And that Joseph was your great, great-grandfather.
0:40:37 > 0:40:41In this column is always the occupation of the father.
0:40:41 > 0:40:43Besom-maker.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45- A what?- Besom-maker.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50- What's that?- The only thing I can liken it to is a witch's broomstick.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53It was a bundle of twigs,
0:40:53 > 0:40:55tied round a stale.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59- So he made witches' broomsticks! - Runs in the family!
0:40:59 > 0:41:02- Ha-ha!- So perhaps they made these besoms
0:41:02 > 0:41:06and travelled about selling them around the countryside.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08- Right.- Rather like travelling salesmen.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Look, but there's another besom-maker here, too.
0:41:11 > 0:41:16Yes. That's another part of the family - could have been cousins.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19That's Leticia, daughter of Charles and Harriet.
0:41:19 > 0:41:20Charles was also a besom-maker.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24- Maybe the whole family were besom-makers.- Yes.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27- They could have been making them for the whole area, I suppose.- Yes.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30I wouldn't imagine you would have two lots of people doing this.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35And being in Illshaw Heath, they were probably neighbours.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38- I've never heard the word besom. It's a good word, isn't it?- It is.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40My family were besom-makers!
0:41:40 > 0:41:43THEY LAUGH
0:41:45 > 0:41:48I'm absolutely thrilled and delighted
0:41:48 > 0:41:51to know that my ancestors actually made something,
0:41:51 > 0:41:56which means they had their own craft, their own skill, cottage industry,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59they didn't work for someone else, they worked for themselves.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03And I kind of like that, because I work for myself.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Tracey has traced her family back one more generation
0:42:10 > 0:42:13to another Joseph Hodgkins,
0:42:13 > 0:42:15her great, great, great-grandfather.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23Tracey wants to know more about the life of the Hodgkins family
0:42:23 > 0:42:25when they lived in Warwickshire.
0:42:25 > 0:42:28She's meeting social historian Simon Evans
0:42:28 > 0:42:31in the nearby village of Tamworth.
0:42:32 > 0:42:37I've just come from Illshaw Heath and found out that, erm,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41my great, great, great-grandfather Joseph
0:42:41 > 0:42:45and his parents were besom-makers.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47- Right.- Which is like broomsticks.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49- Yeah.- That's all I found out, really.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53And that they came from around here. So if you had more information...
0:42:53 > 0:42:57I guess your Joseph is this one here, in the 1851 Census.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01This is an extract from the Census. That's him, there, besom-maker.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Besom-maker, yeah.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07And these are all his children beneath it.
0:43:07 > 0:43:08Yes, so there's Joseph,
0:43:08 > 0:43:13Ann, Thomas, Riley, and is that Charles?
0:43:13 > 0:43:15I think it is, yes. And then over the pages,
0:43:15 > 0:43:18- there's one more, Joseph. - Joseph, yes.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20- Your great, great-grandfather.- Yeah.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24- My great-grandfather's, Henry's, father...- Yes.- Yes.
0:43:24 > 0:43:29What struck me about this was that each of the children was born
0:43:29 > 0:43:31in a different place.
0:43:31 > 0:43:32This looks like Worcester.
0:43:32 > 0:43:33Worcester, Fakenham.
0:43:33 > 0:43:35That's Worcester...
0:43:35 > 0:43:39- Somewhere different, beginning with M.- Tamworth, that's a T.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42- But maybe he was travelling with the besoms.- Exactly.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45I've got some documents here - this is from the baptism register
0:43:45 > 0:43:47for the same family,
0:43:47 > 0:43:51for the same period, and there's one of these entries for each child.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55- What about this one, then? Thomas, son of Joseph and Ann...- Yep.
0:43:55 > 0:44:00- What does this say?- That says tramper.- What's a tramper?
0:44:00 > 0:44:04Someone who tramps with their wares, moves around with their wares.
0:44:04 > 0:44:07A lot of people...a lot of small household goods were made
0:44:07 > 0:44:10by families who then moved around selling them.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14- That's what Gypsies do, it's called knocking.- Exactly.
0:44:14 > 0:44:17You knock and you say, chamois leathers, dishcloths, or whatever.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19You know, you sell housewares.
0:44:19 > 0:44:24Now, he makes brooms, which is pretty houseware type of stuff.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26I think you're quite right.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29What we've probably got is a family of Gypsies.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31Brilliant. Hee-hee!
0:44:31 > 0:44:33- Gypsies?!- Yes, Gypsies.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35In this area, there was a very high Gypsy population.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39- Real Gypsies?- Yep. I've got some photographs here.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42We think of Gypsies as living in old, horse-drawn, wooden wagons.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46- Yeah.- But in fact they didn't come about until 1870-1880.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Before that, travelling people and Gypsies were...
0:44:49 > 0:44:52- tent-dwellers, so the chances... - Tents!
0:44:52 > 0:44:55I knew you were going to say that!
0:44:55 > 0:44:58- It's come back to haunt you, Tracey. - Yeah!
0:44:58 > 0:45:01This is where it's come from!
0:45:01 > 0:45:05- It's brilliant!- Erm... And these are the kind of tents they lived in.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09Bit like a Native American tepee. It's got a fireplace and chimney.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11That is so beautiful.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15And you see they're living in woodland settings,
0:45:15 > 0:45:20which provides the raw materials for things like besoms and small crafts.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22That is amazing.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30Here's another one of a woodland worker, besom-maker.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37- That is a besom-maker, isn't it? - Probably, this is the brush...
0:45:37 > 0:45:41- Which is exactly what your great, great, great grandfather did.- Yeah!
0:45:43 > 0:45:47The definition of the term Gypsy has always been contentious,
0:45:47 > 0:45:51and remains disputed today.
0:45:54 > 0:45:55In the late 19th century,
0:45:55 > 0:45:58Gypsies were understood to be nomadic people,
0:45:58 > 0:46:02travelling in close-knit family groups and making an independent living
0:46:02 > 0:46:07through trades such as tin-cutting, knife-sharpening and besom-making.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13These Gypsy families would travel a circuit of countryside,
0:46:13 > 0:46:17pitching their tents in woodland clearings and washing in local rivers.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26The best known of the travelling people are the Romany Gypsies.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31They are believed to have migrated from India to Europe as early as the 11th century.
0:46:33 > 0:46:39When they first came to Britain they were mistakenly believed to be Egyptians.
0:46:39 > 0:46:42So this may have given rise to the term "Gypsy".
0:46:44 > 0:46:50What you see in these old pictures that I like is that even though it's tent dwelling,
0:46:50 > 0:46:54it's hard, it's a tough life for gypsies like Joseph,
0:46:54 > 0:46:57- but nevertheless, there's always this kind of...- Pride.- Exactly.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01And everything looks so tidy and so together and so... It's brilliant.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03I did say at the beginning of this,
0:47:03 > 0:47:07I wanted it to make some sense for me and now things make more sense.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10It's a brilliant feeling. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!
0:47:10 > 0:47:15I'm so happy. I'm so happy about this information.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17It's excellent.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21And that's the kind of romantic side of it, the freedom of the open road
0:47:21 > 0:47:26and the wind on the heath and that sort of thing. But of course, life was tough and life was hard.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29There were people living, particularly in the wintertime,
0:47:29 > 0:47:35when there was not much work to be done, you're living in your tent in the snow on the commons.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Young Joseph, even at an early age,
0:47:38 > 0:47:41probably as he was getting to puberty or just before,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44nine, ten or 11, would be there working next to his father,
0:47:44 > 0:47:49making brooms in the woods and doing all those sorts of things.
0:47:49 > 0:47:53So yesterday I was really angry with Joseph and now I see how,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56against adversity, they had to grow up and survive.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00It's the curious thing, cos although these people were an intrinsic,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03an important part of the agricultural economy,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06- nevertheless, they were still seen...- As outsiders.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10- But they still are.- Exactly. And viewed with great suspicion.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13In 1817, for instance, the magistrate issued an order.
0:48:13 > 0:48:15All Gypsies should be rounded up and whipped.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19There was constant persecution by the authorities.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22As industrialisation took hold of Britain,
0:48:22 > 0:48:29it became increasingly difficult for young Joseph's family to continue their travelling lifestyle.
0:48:30 > 0:48:35Machines had made many of their handicraft skills redundant,
0:48:35 > 0:48:38while their itinerant traditions came to be regarded as antiquated
0:48:38 > 0:48:41and unhygienic by the emerging middle class.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48By the time Joseph reached adulthood, a series of laws had been enacted
0:48:48 > 0:48:53that prohibited Gypsies from camping on commons and highways,
0:48:53 > 0:48:57marking out anyone who did so as a rogue or vagabond.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01So have you got anything else?
0:49:01 > 0:49:04Well, there's this marriage certificate of Joseph's.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Right, Joseph Henry Hodgkins.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10- This is my great-grandfather's father?- Yes.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13And he marries Susan Amelia Price.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16And so this is Henry Hodgkins' parents
0:49:16 > 0:49:18and they've got married in, in London.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22Indeed. In the parish of Bethnal Green and he was living...
0:49:22 > 0:49:25Morpeth Street?
0:49:25 > 0:49:26Yes.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29- And she was living at 10 Morpeth Street.- Yeah.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32So he didn't marry a travelling person, then?
0:49:32 > 0:49:34No. And neither is he still here.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38Yeah, he's moved, he's gone to Bethnal Green.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41So he was, in a sense, going into a completely alien world.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43So that would be very, very difficult.
0:49:43 > 0:49:45So why did he leave?
0:49:47 > 0:49:48That's a question.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52Who knows? Maybe he had to make a choice between one or the other.
0:49:58 > 0:50:01Well, the irony is that I'm actually standing
0:50:01 > 0:50:04in the middle of a field in the countryside, but it's good.
0:50:04 > 0:50:05I'm a gypsy.
0:50:06 > 0:50:09But proper, proper gypsy. Beautiful gypsies.
0:50:09 > 0:50:14Tents, travelling, broom-making, creative people.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18So, I'm delighted, I'm really, really pleased. Couldn't be better.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23And it turns out that Joseph,
0:50:23 > 0:50:27my great-great grandfather, came from this tight-knit travelling community,
0:50:27 > 0:50:30this nomadic people who lived in tents, you know?
0:50:30 > 0:50:33That's how he grew up, that was his background.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37And to go from this to go to the squalor of the East End,
0:50:37 > 0:50:41Victorian London, it must have been hell, absolute hell.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46So, I need to know why they left it.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48Their, you know, way of life.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50Was he ostracised from his family or something,
0:50:50 > 0:50:52from his gypsy family?
0:50:52 > 0:50:53What was it that made him move?
0:50:56 > 0:50:59Before Tracey leaves Warwickshire,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02she's heading to Warwick Records Office
0:51:02 > 0:51:04to meet gypsy expert Eric Trudgill.
0:51:06 > 0:51:09For the past few years Eric has been researching
0:51:09 > 0:51:11gypsy genealogy across the UK.
0:51:12 > 0:51:15So, Eric, yesterday I was given this.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19It's the marriage certificate of Joseph Henry Hodgkins
0:51:19 > 0:51:23to Susan Amelia Price and the really interesting thing for me
0:51:23 > 0:51:26is that he gets married in Bethnal Green. So for me,
0:51:26 > 0:51:28I'm kind of very confused about the leap
0:51:28 > 0:51:32from the besom-making gypsies and the travelling.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35Why would he go to Bethnal Green? What would have sent him there?
0:51:35 > 0:51:38He's come a long way from home, that in itself is very interesting.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40He's put a big distance
0:51:40 > 0:51:43between himself and his family, geographically.
0:51:43 > 0:51:44He's lying about his profession -
0:51:44 > 0:51:46he calls himself an engine driver -
0:51:46 > 0:51:49but he also lies about his father.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52If you looked without knowing he was a gypsy, you wouldn't guess.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54You'd assume he was non-gypsy, a gorger.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58This is not gypsy-like behaviour. Family is so important to gypsies.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00And loyalty as well.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02Absolutely. It's families against the world.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04It's almost the gypsy nation against the world
0:52:04 > 0:52:08because they were victimised, likely to face hostility.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11This guy is not just leaving his family by a big distance,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15he's actually abandoning them. I bet he never went back.
0:52:15 > 0:52:16And he's ashamed as well.
0:52:16 > 0:52:18I think so.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21He certainly, I would guess,
0:52:21 > 0:52:24didn't tell his offspring that he was a gypsy.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29No. I mean, nobody in my family knew.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32So my grandmother didn't know, that's for sure.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34He was obviously lying to everybody. Quite sad.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37We could ask him. Do you want to have a look at him?
0:52:37 > 0:52:40- You've got a photograph? - Yeah. There he is.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43Wow!
0:52:44 > 0:52:46How old would he have been there?
0:52:46 > 0:52:48Well, he looks pretty ancient, doesn't he?
0:52:48 > 0:52:50He lived to be 82.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53- And who are these people, then? - We don't know.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56- These could actually be... - Oh, they're family, I would think.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59- Yeah, this could be my grandmother. - Could be, yeah.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01My nan had three sisters and there's four girls here.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03So it is possible, isn't it?
0:53:10 > 0:53:13Eric has one final document he wants to show Tracey.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19So where you taking me to, Eric?
0:53:19 > 0:53:21- Here.- Here?
0:53:21 > 0:53:23I'm going to show you something.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25This. But you're going to have to help me.
0:53:25 > 0:53:26Right.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29You hold that and then walk backwards...
0:53:29 > 0:53:31and look at your family tree.
0:53:33 > 0:53:34Wow!
0:53:36 > 0:53:40Eric has traced Tracey's travelling ancestors back three generations,
0:53:40 > 0:53:42from her great-great-grandfather Joseph.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Oh, my God! That's not short, is it?
0:53:59 > 0:54:04I'm speechless, actually, that's what I am. For a change.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15It's clear from the 1820s that your Hodgkins
0:54:15 > 0:54:19are marrying into pretty elite Romany families.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21So that down here, for example,
0:54:21 > 0:54:25you've got Hesther marrying Thomas Boswell.
0:54:25 > 0:54:26The Boswell clan were famous
0:54:26 > 0:54:29and they commanded respect amongst other gypsies.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32What would an elite gypsy family be? What would make them elite?
0:54:34 > 0:54:35Birth, partly.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39Language, that their Romany would be better than non-Romany gypsies,
0:54:39 > 0:54:41who would only have a few words in most cases, probably.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Often wealth, often power.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Sometimes if you had a lot of sons then people didn't mess with you.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50- You had respect.- Yeah.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53But I think more important than almost anything was breeding.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56If you were from an old family like the Boswells,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59and certain branches of the Smiths, Bucklands and Lees.
0:54:59 > 0:55:00And the Hodgkins as well?
0:55:00 > 0:55:03The Hodgkins weren't really a very old family...
0:55:03 > 0:55:05Then what made them able to marry well?
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Were they all really sexy?
0:55:07 > 0:55:09All really good looking, that's what it was!
0:55:09 > 0:55:12- There must have been something. - And had really good parties, yeah?
0:55:12 > 0:55:16There must have been a reason that they got absorbed into major ones.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19So this is the Joseph that comes to London
0:55:19 > 0:55:21and had nothing to do with his gypsy heritage?
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Yeah.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25And marries Amelia Price?
0:55:26 > 0:55:29But when you come from this long line of gypsies,
0:55:29 > 0:55:32- and then you change your mind here...- Yeah.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35You see, something really big must have gone on.
0:55:39 > 0:55:42Joseph wasn't the only person to leave
0:55:42 > 0:55:45the traditional gypsy stomping ground of the countryside.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Many travelling people were being drawn
0:55:48 > 0:55:51to Britain's growing cities and their economic opportunities.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57In 1880, there was believed to be 2,000 gypsies
0:55:57 > 0:56:01camping in settlements across London, particularly in Notting Hill
0:56:01 > 0:56:06in the west, Wandsworth in the south and Hackney in the east.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10In some cases, whole families moved to the city,
0:56:10 > 0:56:14but it appears that Joseph came alone.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Living mainly in tents and caravans, these migrants to the city
0:56:18 > 0:56:21would survive by plying their original trades.
0:56:21 > 0:56:24They would also supplement their incomes
0:56:24 > 0:56:26by picking up casual work
0:56:26 > 0:56:29on the emerging canal and railway building projects in the capital.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35By the end of the 19th century, this kind of employment
0:56:35 > 0:56:39would have absorbed many travelling people like Joseph all year round.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44This is absolutely fascinating.
0:56:44 > 0:56:49For me, it explains a lot of my ways or things,
0:56:49 > 0:56:50intuitive things in me,
0:56:50 > 0:56:54which I never understood before, or there wasn't an explanation.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57I feel, looking at this, there is an explanation.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01And the fact that I've come from this really amazing family,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04makes me feel a much better person.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06- You feel you've come home? - Yeah, I feel good.
0:57:12 > 0:57:16There is no indication that after Joseph left Warwickshire
0:57:16 > 0:57:18he ever saw his gypsy family again.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23Joseph died in London at the age of 82.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29Before she leaves,
0:57:29 > 0:57:33Tracey is going to visit a special spot that Eric has told her about.
0:57:34 > 0:57:37Tinkers Lane is where Joseph lived with his siblings and parents
0:57:37 > 0:57:40before putting his travelling life behind him for good.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46Kind of place that I do actually find very beautiful
0:57:46 > 0:57:49and very restful and very peaceful, and the idea of leaving here
0:57:49 > 0:57:53and going to the East End right now, for me, is not even good,
0:57:53 > 0:57:56let alone how Joseph must have felt when he ran away.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02I mean, I suppose a lot of people go on this kind of journey hoping
0:58:02 > 0:58:05that they're going to be related to King Arthur or something.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09I'm really, really, really happy
0:58:09 > 0:58:12to be related to that massive Hodgkins gypsy clan.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19I wish we weren't leaving.
0:58:21 > 0:58:22That's all.
0:58:23 > 0:58:24I wish we were staying.
0:58:27 > 0:58:28It feels nice.
0:58:31 > 0:58:32That's all.
0:58:32 > 0:58:35Yeah, finish there, otherwise I'll cry. I don't want to cry.