Sebastian Coe Who Do You Think You Are?


Sebastian Coe

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-COMMENTATOR:

-'320 metres to go. Warren leads for Britain, Russia second.

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'And Coe coming up!'

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Sebastian Coe was one of the most successful athletes Britain has ever produced...

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'Sebastian Coe in second place, looking very comfortable.'

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..winning silver and gold medals at the Olympics in 1980 and again in 1984.

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'And Coe gets through! And what a comeback for Sebastian Coe!'

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Today, he is better known as Chair of the 2012 Olympic Committee.

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-Hello.

-Nice to meet you.

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-Good to see you.

-How are you doing?

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-Are you going round the park this afternoon?

-Yes.

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COE: 'My broad understanding of my family is actually quite narrow.'

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When you are buried in competition and you are focusing on, you know,

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"How do you go quicker?" - which tended to be for the first 25 years of my life.

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I suppose my natural inquisitiveness was not being remotely challenged at that time.

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Sebastian Coe was born in London in 1956, but grew up in Sheffield.

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I can see a lot of massive changes.

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I'm probably at that stage of life where I'd like to know what shaped me.

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Most of it has ceased to be a construction site now...

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'I mean, all families are black and white and all sorts of grades of colour in between'

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and I guess that's what I'm going to find out.

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Seb wants to explore his mother's side of the family.

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His knowledge only goes back as far as his grandmother, Vera,

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who he knew when he was a child.

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The one thing I always remember about Vera,

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she was always impeccably dressed.

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She had a sort slight air of Margaret Thatcher about her,

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but with none of Margaret's political beliefs!

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She always used to talk about her family,

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that they'd all come from a long line of minor aristocracy.

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You were always left with the opinion that the background was quite grand,

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but I always sort of thought this was, you know, sort of Granny going off on one.

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Both of Seb's parents are dead, and so he's on his way to see

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his cousin Anna who's researched the family history to find out more.

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I have...two photographs here of Vera.

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Striking looking.

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It's very elegant, isn't it?

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-Yes.

-That wonderful reflection in the mirror.

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-I know, it is.

-That's probably taken during the war and that was obviously taken at the same time.

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-Yes, very elegant.

-Mmmm.

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She did dance, I think, in her early years.

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Yes, she did. She was a bit of a tearaway.

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-Good!

-But she was quite, quite the naughty girl.

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So this would have been beginning of the 1920s, so it was the Roaring '20s.

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Yeah. So, what do we know about Vera's parents?

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Well, I have her birth certificate here.

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So, 1st June, 1905. Vera Frances.

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Born in Bath, I didn't know that, to Edwin Swan.

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-So, Edwin was Irish? No.

-Yes, part Irish.

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Right. OK. Mother, Gwendoline Hyde Swan, formerly Hyde-Clarke.

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So, where did they meet?

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The story goes that she and her chaperone were walking along by the Bath canal

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and were approached by a rather tall, elegant young man with a slight Irish brogue.

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-And, apparently...

-Usually works!

-Yes!

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And, apparently, he said, "Would you allow me to paint your portrait?".

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-Great line.

-It's not bad, is it?

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-Well, she did allow him to paint her portrait.

-Good girl!

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So, that is my great grandmother.

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Yes. Gwendoline was from a rather well-to-do family,

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so when she met Edwin, who was a penniless portrait painter,

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it was somewhat frowned upon because they had far higher expectations.

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So, what do we know of the Hyde Clarkes?

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Well, I think originally the Hyde Clarke family were from Cheshire.

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The family seat was called Hyde Hall.

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-Oh, I've heard of Hyde Hall.

-Have you?

-In Cheshire. Well, Hyde!

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-Well, the town of Hyde was named after the Hyde family.

-I think I had a road race in Hyde.

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-Did you?

-When I was a kid, years ago, yeah.

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And here is a painting of Hyde Hall.

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Yeah, that's very... That's very...

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The landscape I remember round there.

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-Mmmm.

-Does it still exist?

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Er, no. I think it was demolished because they found coal seams.

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So, I'm guessing...

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I'm guessing we should probably...

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I don't know, maybe we should be going north?

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I think that's sounds like a good step.

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Seb has come north to find out about the family of his great grandmother, Gwendoline.

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The Hyde Clarke connection is very interesting.

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It's a part of the world I know quite well, not a million miles from where I was brought up in Sheffield.

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I raced in and around all those towns.

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They were my sort of apprenticeship, so it'll be fascinating.

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Seb is on his way to Tameside Central Library

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where he's meeting genealogist Eileen Butcher,

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who's traced the Hyde Clarkes back to the early decades of the 19th Century.

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I'm told that is Hyde Hall.

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-That's very true, it is.

-And that's why I'm here.

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OK. The Hyde Clarkes were a very well respected family in Hyde.

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They were the local industrialists of the time.

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This is where they lived, the Great House of the area.

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But no longer in existence?

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Unfortunately not. It was demolished in about 1857.

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-Ah, right. OK.

-This is the Pigot's Directory from 1834.

-OK.

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-The Directory was a trade directory, but it had a list of residents as well as tradesmen.

-Right.

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-And this is about Hyde Hall.

-OK.

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"Hyde Hall, the seat of HJ Clarke Esq,

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"is a building of some considerable antiquity.

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"It's pleasantly situated on the River Tame,

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"but the rapid progress made in manufacturers and the introduction of machinery to a vast extent

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"and power has materially deteriorated from the beauties of the adjacent scenery".

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-OK.

-Yeah.

-Industrialisation.

-Indeed.

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That's right, yeah. Now, HJ Clarke is Hyde John Clarke, and he's your great great great great grandfather.

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-OK.

-He's in full Naval uniform as he was a retired Captain in the Navy.

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-Those epaulettes!

-He was actually Commander.

-Yes.

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That's actually a powerful painting.

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Yeah. Someone to be reckoned with, perhaps.

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-Yes.

-And I've managed to source an original newspaper of his obituary in 1857.

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Oh, my goodness!

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-Yes, OK.

-Now, then.

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And this is the Hyde and Glossop Weekly News.

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OK.

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"Captain Clarke, RN.

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"In our last week's paper we briefly noticed the sudden death of Hyde John Clarke, Esq.

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"Mr Clarke entered the Navy on the 29th June, 1791, as Captain Servant,

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"Not a menial office.

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"During the latter years of his life, Captain Clarke was not satisfied with doing nothing..."!

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I can imagine that. "And, although advanced in years, he set about carrying on that good work which

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"he had always kept in view, viz, to live for the benefit of the poor.

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"It was chiefly through the exertions of Captain Clarke the noble edifice

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"of St George's Church was erected at the time it was.

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"Captain Clarke has passed from amongst us, but the church

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"still remains a credit to the town and a lasting memorial of the man".

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Goodness!

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I mean, this is public service in its...

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Exactly. Exactly.

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A classic example of public service.

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-Yeah, that's right. And for no gain for himself.

-Mmm.

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Just for the poor of the town.

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Though Hyde Hall no longer exists, St George's Church still stands in the town of Hyde.

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When Captain Clarke was living at the nearby family estate,

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he recognised the need for a church in the rapidly expanding industrial community

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and set about securing funding from Parliament and public subscription.

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Work on the church began in 1831.

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Wonderful piece of architecture.

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It certainly doesn't lack confidence, does it?

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This is very, very familiar to me.

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My house in Sheffield was made of this stone.

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It's the stone of the landscape that I ran through.

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I did all my training in the Peak District, 30 miles away from here.

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And this is in memory of my grandfather

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Hyde John Clarke Esq, formerly of Hyde Hall, afterwards, Llangollen. Yes.

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"In the various relations of life he was eminent alike for his private virtues and his public services.

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"Now he rests from his labours and his works do follow him".

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That's quite a tribute.

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Well, I think that would do for me!

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Yeah, that's as good as it gets.

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Hyde John Clarke is clearly a man of real substance.

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I've always naturally been drawn to people who have contributed

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and I think that's clearly what I sense in this guy.

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I'm also acutely conscious that when I was trying to figure out

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how to run a little bit faster all the time,

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I was probably zoning out of conversations I shouldn't have been zoning out of,

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particularly with my grandmother, who, by the minute, appears to be less delusional.

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Seb knows Hyde John died in 1857.

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He's searching the census for details of his birth.

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Hyde John.

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Bet you never thought I'd be finding out more about you on something as devilish as this kind of machine!

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OK.

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Ah, OK.

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Bingo!

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Hyde John Clarke, head of the family.

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Born 1778.

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Captain, Royal Navy, we know.

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Where born?

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Jamaica!

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So, Hyde John Clarke is born in Jamaica.

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Right.

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Very interesting.

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Well, I guess I know where we're going!

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Why Jamaica?

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There may be a military posting, not unthinkable. More likely trade.

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And if we're talking trade then we're probably talking coffee...

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and slavery.

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Seb has discovered details of his great great great great grandfather

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Hyde John Clarke, who he now knows was born about 1778 in Jamaica.

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Seb has travelled to Kingston, Jamaica.

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He wants to find out why Hyde John was born on the island and what his family was doing there.

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I've been to Jamaica a few times.

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Jamaica, of course for me, it's the powerhouse of world athletics.

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My whole career has been surrounded by extraordinary Jamaican athletes.

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But I guess I'm going to find deeper and maybe less attractive roots.

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In the mid 17th Century Britain was rapidly expanding the reach of its Empire,

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and in 1655 seized the Caribbean island of Jamaica from the Spanish.

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For the next three centuries the small island

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remained a part of the British Empire.

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Seb has come to Registrar General's Department in Spanish Town.

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He's meeting genealogist Dianne Frankson.

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-Well, Dianne, I've brought this photograph.

-Oh!

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Well, it's a photograph of a painting, and that is Hyde John Clarke.

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A very dignified man.

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Yeah, I thought so. I thought so.

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-Well, I did some further research on your behalf.

-I bet you did.

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-And I found...Hyde John Clarke's...

-Guess I'm going to need my glasses for this, aren't I?

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..baptism record in the Trelawny Copy Register.

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Trelawny. That's where Usain Bolt was born.

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Yes, it is, actually, yeah.

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And, so we look down.

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Right, OK.

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-Ah, bingo!

-Ah-ha!

-I'm not supposed to touch this, am I?

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I'm really supposed to have my gloves on. I guess we should...

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-Well, yes, we should.

-December 15th.

-Mm-hm.

-1777.

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Hyde John Clarke.

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-OK, is that when it was regis...?

-This is when he was baptised.

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-Oh, he was baptised, so, October 31 he was born, in 1777.

-Mm-hm.

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You might have to help me here. What's that?

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What's that say?

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Illegitimate.

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-Illegitimate?

-Illegitimate son of G Hyde Clarke and Sophia Astley.

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Illegitimate son of G Hyde Clarke.

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-OK.

-And Sophia Astley.

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-And Sophia Astley.

-Yes.

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Illegitimate.

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Well, this is taking an interesting turn.

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Right. Curiouser and curiouser.

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This is actually George Hyde Clarke.

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-A very strong...

-So, this is Hyde John's father?

-Father.

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So, let's have a quick look.

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Ah, the nose.

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-Yeah, maybe, but...

-There's a slight hump on the nose.

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Yes, well, that has always run through my family!

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Interesting. Yes, you have one! Oh, yes! Oh, dear Lord!

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That's a very strong feature!

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But you can see that he's a very handsome man, which would explain

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Sophia's falling in love with him, because this is a very handsome man.

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-I'm guessing we don't know what Sophia looked like?

-No. Sadly, no.

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So, I guess I really ought to ask you what we know about George Hyde Clarke?

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-Well, George...

-George. That's a good start.

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Yes. George, at the time period in the 1700s was involved in

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-the production of sugar cane and the manufacture of sugar.

-Yeah.

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He was very likely a wealthy man.

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This, we're talking about, is when sugar was king.

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-Yep.

-We're talking the pinnacle of sugar production in Jamaica.

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We're talking the pinnacle of Jamaican wealth.

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Planters had significantly more wealth

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than the nobility and the royal family at the time.

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So, this is a man that ruled his world.

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So, what do we know about Sophia Astley?

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Sophia Astley was a young beauty from Cheshire

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and she was the daughter of John Astley, who was at the time a very famous portrait painter.

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They seem to have sparked a romance.

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-Clearly.

-And they ended up coming to Jamaica, because you can see

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in 1777 they're clearly here and he's having a son with her.

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But this must have been seriously disapproved of?

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Well, yes, because you're talking about people

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who were of a certain class, and it was not really commonplace,

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especially women of a certain class, to have children out of wedlock.

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This is actually the will of John Astley.

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-Right.

-Which is Sophia's father.

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-Right.

-Read this.

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-"And I give..."

-Devise.

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"devise and..."

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-Bequeath.

-"..and bequeath

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"unto my said daughter, Sophia Astley, our..."

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Well, this is a little difficult to read.

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I actually transcribed it for you in modern.

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Ah, good. OK.

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"I give, devise and bequeath unto my said daughter, Sophia Astley,

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"one annuity or yearly rent in charge of £100 for her life." That's...

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-That's good money.

-Not insignificant then.

-No.

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"And I do hereby expressly declare my will and mind to be that in case and during all such time

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"as the said Sophie Astley shall at any time live or cohabit with that execrable villain

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"George Hyde Clarke... "!

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That happens to be my great great great great great grandfather! Good!

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"..on the island of Jamaica or shall have any manner of criminal

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"intercourse, connections or dealings with him in any respect whatsoever..."

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I think we can conclude that he was not a happy man at this stage of his life.

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"Execrable villain" - that is a badge of honour, believe me!

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-Oh, yes.

-Right, OK.

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You can feel the vitriol and bile coming through the legalese there.

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He blamed the entire relationship on George.

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Yeah. Yeah. OK.

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Thank you.

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Seb wants to find out where George Hyde Clarke lived and whether he was a sugar plantation owner.

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He's come to the Jamaica Archives to search the property records of the island.

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Thanks very much.

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Jamaica Almanac.

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Elevation of the Sun in March.

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Jewish calendar.

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Everything you would expect in an almanac.

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Parish of Trelawny.

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So H...

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Going back... G, C, C, C, C, Clarke!

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Clarke. George Hyde Clarke.

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Swanswick.

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Right. We're absolutely...

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on the money.

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Slaves, 297.

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The statistics,

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bleak as they are in terms of the number of slaves,

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tells you that this was substantial.

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This was not, you know, this was not a smallholding.

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To find out more about his ancestor's life as a plantation owner, Seb has to travel four hours

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across the island to the Parish of Trelawny, where George Hyde Clarke owned Swanswick Plantation.

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Well, I need to find out a lot more about George Hyde Clarke.

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For a woman to have followed a man at that time to Jamaica,

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under any circumstances,

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this must have been a powerful affection to have upped sticks like that

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and decided to sail halfway, or a good third of the way, round the world.

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So, I recognise in George Hyde Clarke somebody who, probably,

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was not that bothered about the orthodoxies of the day.

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We can conclude that he is probably on the racier side of life.

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But I'm not sure that I'm yet prepared to concede the "execrable villain".

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When George was living the life of a wealthy sugar planter in Jamaica, the industry was at its height.

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Britain had developed an insatiable sweet tooth

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and plantations and sugar mills were spread across the island.

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Though Swanswick no longer exists as a plantation, the Great House,

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which has been rebuilt over the years, still remains.

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I suppose it's now just beginning to dawn on me that I'm walking on a drive

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that the directest of ancestors

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would have gone about their daily lives three centuries ago.

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That's a rather big thought.

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Clearly seen better days.

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Seb has arranged to meet Dr Jonathan Greenland of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.

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So, George Hyde Clarke lived here and I'd like you to tell me more.

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Your ancestor George Hyde Clarke was a member of the Jamaican plantocracy.

0:23:340:23:38

They basically owned most of the land in Jamaica and this is what it was all about, Seb, really.

0:23:380:23:43

This is why your ancestors were here.

0:23:430:23:46

Sugar cane. Here it's sort of a brown colour, but when it's refined it becomes white.

0:23:460:23:51

That's why it's often called 'white gold'.

0:23:510:23:53

But sugar was definitely the cash crop. It had enormous implications for England and for the wider world.

0:23:530:24:01

And it made enormous fortunes for those people who are producing it.

0:24:010:24:05

This revenue, they can either invest here, in creating very large

0:24:050:24:10

Great Houses for themselves, or they could send the money back, and this what usually happened.

0:24:100:24:15

And it's that money which was going back into their estates,

0:24:150:24:18

sometimes their estates, sometimes into race horses and gambling and drinking, which was...

0:24:180:24:24

-Or into properties like that.

-Exactly.

0:24:240:24:27

But also, importantly, a lot of the money which was being made

0:24:270:24:30

through the slave trade and also the sugar industry

0:24:300:24:34

was going back into the emerging industries back in England.

0:24:340:24:39

It wasn't just men like George

0:24:390:24:42

who profited from Britain's new sweet tooth.

0:24:420:24:46

During the sugar boom of the 18th century, Britain flourished,

0:24:480:24:53

helped by profits from the plantation economy and the slave trade.

0:24:530:24:58

Many of the country's great cities and mansions benefited from this new wealth.

0:24:580:25:03

Money poured into Manchester's factories and cotton mills

0:25:050:25:10

and funded the development of new technologies, like the steam engine.

0:25:100:25:13

The island of Jamaica, the British Empire's most valuable asset,

0:25:160:25:20

was supporting the growth of modern Britain.

0:25:200:25:24

So, we have George. He arrives here with Sophia.

0:25:250:25:29

Would they have done any physical work themselves here?

0:25:290:25:33

I doubt it. I mean, most of these estates were sort of self working.

0:25:330:25:36

I mean, they would have had a manager or overseer here, who would have lived in this house, possibly.

0:25:360:25:42

Who was doing all the work?

0:25:420:25:44

Enslaved African labour bought from Falmouth and places like this,

0:25:440:25:47

or from African Jamaicans born on the estate, born into slavery.

0:25:470:25:51

So your ancestor would have probably turned up every now and then

0:25:510:25:55

with his horse and his carriage and took a look at things to make sure everything was running well.

0:25:550:26:00

But coming to the estates must have brought them face to face with quite a lot of harsh realities.

0:26:000:26:05

I imagine they may have spent a good amount of time socialising with other people like themselves.

0:26:050:26:10

While the work on the plantations was done by enslaved Africans, the owners lived dissolute lives.

0:26:150:26:23

Away from the social constraints of England, they could spend their days

0:26:230:26:26

and nights drinking, gambling and womanising.

0:26:260:26:32

It was into this decadent world that George Hyde Clarke brought his mistress, Sophia Astley.

0:26:330:26:40

Seb and Jonathan have come to a nearby former plantation house

0:26:440:26:48

which has been restored to its past glories.

0:26:480:26:51

When your ancestor was in his relationship with Sophia, he was also married?

0:26:510:26:56

He was married to Catherine Hussey, who bore two children to him

0:26:560:27:00

and he was married probably in the 1760s.

0:27:000:27:03

So, presumably,

0:27:030:27:06

George met Sophia for the famous,

0:27:060:27:11

now scandalous, relationship

0:27:110:27:13

in England. She joined him over here,

0:27:130:27:18

but George was already married with two children.

0:27:180:27:22

Exactly. We know that all of them were here around the same time.

0:27:220:27:25

I think this document may be of interest to you.

0:27:250:27:30

This is the last will and testament of George Hyde's uncle.

0:27:300:27:33

I mean, this is actually quite hard to read.

0:27:330:27:35

We have a transcription of it.

0:27:350:27:37

"I give to my son..." Unhappy?

0:27:370:27:38

-Poor...

-"Poor unhappy..."

0:27:380:27:40

"I give to my poor, unhappy and much injured niece,

0:27:400:27:45

"Miss Catherine Clarke, nee Hussey, wife of my profligate abandoned nephew George Hyde Clarke..."

0:27:450:27:52

George does quite well in wills! He's...

0:27:520:27:57

The uncle left her £300 to enable her to come to England to see her children.

0:27:570:28:03

I think we can safely say George is now a repeat offender here!

0:28:030:28:09

The press is not good, is it?

0:28:090:28:12

In 1793, when George was 50 years old, his wife, Catherine Hussey, with whom he'd had

0:28:130:28:20

two legitimate children, took the unusual step of filing for a formal deed of separation,

0:28:200:28:27

which granted her an annual income of £700, plus profits from the sugar plantation.

0:28:270:28:33

They had been married for more than 20 years.

0:28:330:28:38

Now, as for your direct ancestor, Sophia, what happened to her?

0:28:410:28:46

Did it all end up happily ever after with them living in a cottage?

0:28:460:28:49

I have to assume that, given what we already know about George, the answer is probably no, it didn't end up

0:28:490:28:55

happily ever after in a cottage looking over at the beautiful views together.

0:28:550:29:00

Well, let's see. This is a marriage certificate, 1792.

0:29:000:29:04

-Ah, she did get her man, but not George.

-Right.

0:29:040:29:08

Mr Louis Foncier, bachelor, and Sophia Astley of the same parish.

0:29:080:29:13

-And they were married in London!

-Exactly.

-Marylebone.

0:29:130:29:17

So, for Sophia, this unmarried woman with two illegitimate children...

0:29:170:29:23

-Two? So, Hyde John had...

-A brother.

0:29:230:29:28

A brother!

0:29:280:29:30

This was probably her last chance at respectability.

0:29:320:29:35

I mean, obviously, an unmarried mother

0:29:350:29:37

was not considered to be totally respectable,

0:29:370:29:42

so this was really a very important thing for Sophia.

0:29:420:29:46

Right. OK.

0:29:470:29:50

Of course, what I don't know is when George arrived in Jamaica.

0:29:500:29:56

I don't know yet whether he came direct from England.

0:29:560:29:59

This is the parish records from Westmoreland, which is another Parish in Jamaica.

0:29:590:30:03

Now if you scan down here...

0:30:030:30:06

I'm now getting quite familiar with old script!

0:30:060:30:09

Do you see this name here?

0:30:090:30:10

Yep, George.

0:30:100:30:12

-Hide.

-Yes. It is George Hide, but spelt without the 'y'.

0:30:120:30:17

-George Hide, son of Major Edward Clarke, baptised March...

-17th.

0:30:170:30:25

March 17th, 1743.

0:30:250:30:28

So, I'm guessing born a couple of months earlier than that.

0:30:280:30:33

I think what this does tell you is that George Hyde was Jamaican.

0:30:330:30:38

-Right.

-He wasn't coming from England into the situation.

-He was here.

0:30:380:30:41

-He was born into the plantocracy.

-Right.

0:30:410:30:44

So we're now going back another generation that had been here.

0:30:440:30:48

Well, there's clearly a lot to absorb about George.

0:30:570:31:03

You can place him very much as a man of his time and plantation life in Jamaica.

0:31:030:31:09

But there is an uncomfortable elephant in the room, which is inescapable.

0:31:110:31:16

Because every time we look at the plantation ownership

0:31:160:31:22

there are slaves.

0:31:220:31:23

This was a forced labour force.

0:31:230:31:26

The lavish and indulgent lifestyle enjoyed by men like

0:31:280:31:32

George Hyde Clarke was underpinned by an industry that was to shape the development of the modern world.

0:31:320:31:39

The trade and exploitation of enslaved Africans.

0:31:400:31:45

Seb wants to know what it would have meant to be a slave on his ancestor's plantation.

0:31:550:32:01

He's meeting historian Dr Aleric Josephs, a specialist in 18th century Caribbean society.

0:32:100:32:16

There is a human story here.

0:32:160:32:19

Yes, there is one.

0:32:190:32:22

It was typical of the Caribbean, English speaking Caribbean,

0:32:220:32:26

French Caribbean, and all the Caribbean areas

0:32:260:32:28

to have what we now refer to as a slave society.

0:32:280:32:32

Slave labour was considered the best labour

0:32:320:32:36

because of the availability of a large number of enslaved persons to work the plantation.

0:32:360:32:43

And when you look on any estate inventory you come to understand the value of slave labour.

0:32:430:32:49

This was the most costly part of producing sugar.

0:32:490:32:54

George Hyde Clarke was a typical planter.

0:32:540:32:57

He could not have carried out his economic activities without them.

0:32:570:33:01

And if you look at, for instance, this inventory

0:33:010:33:04

you can see the different types of slaves, how they were used.

0:33:040:33:08

So, this is Swanswick? This is the inventory?

0:33:080:33:13

-Yes, this is the inventory for Swanswick.

-Meticulous detail.

0:33:130:33:17

So look, we have a Newton, 60 years of age,

0:33:170:33:23

-value 60, and we guess pounds.

-Yes.

-And...

0:33:230:33:27

Let's compare him with, say, Boyle.

0:33:270:33:30

His value.

0:33:300:33:32

-90.

-And he's 40 years. He's younger, so he's more expensive.

0:33:320:33:36

-So he's...

-It's relative to his age.

-Yeah. And there's more productivity.

0:33:360:33:41

Yes. That could be the case.

0:33:410:33:42

So, actually, if you move on you've got a 13 year old here.

0:33:420:33:47

-Yes.

-Hector.

-Ready for work.

-Ready for work.

0:33:470:33:51

-And he has a value of 50.

-Yes. He's young.

0:33:510:33:54

-Yeah.

-The slave was property, it was a commodity.

0:33:540:33:58

The slave was classed just like any other estate stock,

0:33:580:34:02

mules, cattle.

0:34:020:34:05

At the time this Swanswick inventory was written in 1768 the slaves on the estate

0:34:120:34:17

were valued at over £10,000, nearly £700,000 in today's money.

0:34:170:34:23

Plantation owners could purchase new slaves in local slave markets.

0:34:270:34:33

Here, traders could offload their cargoes of enslaved Africans,

0:34:340:34:38

who would then be sold in lots to the highest bidder.

0:34:380:34:42

Once on the plantation, some slaves were treated well.

0:34:450:34:50

But the work was brutal and violence was common.

0:34:500:34:53

Punishments included lashing with a whip,

0:34:570:35:00

flogging with a stick, chaining in manacles, mutilation,

0:35:000:35:06

and even castration and blinding.

0:35:060:35:09

Women could add sexual abuse and rape to the ill treatment they may have had to endure.

0:35:090:35:15

But despite the horror many people faced, benevolent relationships

0:35:180:35:22

could be formed between the ruling class and the African Caribbeans.

0:35:220:35:27

Plantation society was built on contradictions.

0:35:280:35:32

These contradictions seemed to be played out in the life of George Hyde Clarke.

0:35:320:35:37

Some planters would have a wife to fit the English norm.

0:35:370:35:42

They would have coloured mistress likely and...

0:35:420:35:49

And that would have been from the plantation household more likely?

0:35:490:35:53

In some instances, this woman might never have been enslaved.

0:35:530:35:58

George Hyde Clarke, based on his will, seemed to have a coloured mistress by the name...

0:35:580:36:03

Well, I'm not smiling at the circumstances, I am smiling at

0:36:030:36:07

the nature of looking yet again at a will, because this is the third will.

0:36:070:36:10

-OK.

-The first will was by the father of Sophia Astley,

0:36:100:36:16

who was his mistress.

0:36:160:36:18

Then there was the will of an uncle

0:36:180:36:21

who was making provision for George's wife, Catherine Hussey.

0:36:210:36:28

Those two wills were not really PR made in heaven for George.

0:36:280:36:32

In his will he indicated that there was this other woman in his life - not the two you mentioned earlier -

0:36:320:36:38

-in his life.

-Yeah. This was a full time occupation for George!

0:36:390:36:43

Well, he was a typical West Indian man, white man, I should say.

0:36:430:36:47

Yes, I think you do need to say that.

0:36:470:36:49

Right, so, bequeathed unto Sarah Lee.

0:36:490:36:54

So, Sarah Lee is a new name.

0:36:540:36:56

-Yes.

-And Sarah Lee is clearly, and as you've said, the other woman,

0:36:560:37:00

or the other, other, other woman!

0:37:000:37:03

-Well, it's difficult to read.

-It is.

0:37:030:37:05

It's the handwriting from the 19th century, so let me show you a typed script.

0:37:050:37:09

OK. "I give and bequeath unto Sarah Lee, now residing with me, all my

0:37:090:37:14

"household furniture and household table and bed linen and every other kind of property except money

0:37:140:37:19

"and securities, for money and except books, bookcases, the chair..."

0:37:190:37:23

He's really gone into detail here.

0:37:230:37:25

"And if I shall survive the said Sarah Lee, let I give and bequeath

0:37:250:37:30

"every matter and thing herein before given to her to my reputed natural daughter,

0:37:300:37:34

"Elizabeth Lee Clarke, by the said Sarah Lee

0:37:340:37:39

"who is now between 14 and 15 years of age".

0:37:390:37:43

-So, Elizabeth Lee is the daughter of Sarah Lee.

-Yes.

0:37:430:37:49

The product of the relationship with George Hyde Clarke.

0:37:490:37:53

This is, at the very least, the third recorded illegitimate child.

0:37:530:38:01

Well, as I said earlier, he was typical.

0:38:010:38:05

He was typical of having this mistress and...

0:38:050:38:08

He's still not coming out of this as an Eton chorister, though.

0:38:080:38:11

I'm not trying to make his image clean.

0:38:110:38:14

I'm just saying that he was like so many other planters.

0:38:140:38:20

The better planters made provision for those children

0:38:200:38:25

because it would not have been easy...

0:38:250:38:27

So the best we can say is at least he's making provision.

0:38:270:38:29

-He's making provision, yes.

-And quite substantial provision, too.

-Yes.

0:38:290:38:33

Records show that George became involved in a relationship with Sarah Lee,

0:38:390:38:44

a mulatto or mixed race woman, who it's likely he met in Jamaica.

0:38:440:38:48

In his will, he states that Sarah was living with him at Hyde Hall in Cheshire.

0:38:480:38:54

He'd fathered their daughter, Elizabeth, when he was 65 years old,

0:38:560:39:01

15 years after his separation from his wife, Catherine Hussey.

0:39:010:39:06

I can't go that far at the moment and say that I like George.

0:39:170:39:24

There are odd contradictions because with the horror

0:39:280:39:32

of all that went with enslaved labour

0:39:320:39:35

and clearly the brutality of the everyday existence

0:39:350:39:40

on those plantations,

0:39:400:39:42

you occasionally got glimpses of redemptive features.

0:39:420:39:46

The way he made provision for Sarah Lee and her child, their child.

0:39:460:39:52

But you also recognise a man in a setting where there is little or no moral compass.

0:39:520:39:59

How would I feel if I were living on the inherited wealth of the sugar industry?

0:40:020:40:08

It's an easy answer actually, of course, because I know I'm not, and that's a bit of a cop out, I suppose.

0:40:080:40:15

But, no, I don't think I would be that comfortable if I knew that that was the basis

0:40:150:40:21

of the wealth accretion,

0:40:210:40:24

and was impacting upon my current circumstances.

0:40:240:40:28

Mercifully, it's not. I don't have to enter that moral maze.

0:40:280:40:32

George's will reveals that he had at least six illegitimate children

0:40:350:40:39

with four different women, in addition to his two legitimate sons.

0:40:390:40:45

George Hyde Clarke died at the age of 81 in 1824,

0:40:450:40:51

ten years before slavery was abolished in Jamaica.

0:40:510:40:56

Seb knows from the baptism record that George Hyde Clarke

0:41:030:41:06

was born in Jamaica in 1743,

0:41:060:41:11

the son of Major Edward Clarke.

0:41:110:41:13

But what he still doesn't know is how his family came to be in Jamaica running a sugar plantation.

0:41:200:41:27

-James!

-How do you do?

0:41:320:41:34

He's meeting historian Dr James Robertson

0:41:340:41:37

at the former colonial garrison Fort Charles, outside Kingston.

0:41:370:41:42

-Well, James, what I know is that George Hyde Clarke was born in Jamaica and lived here.

-Mm-hm.

0:41:430:41:48

His baptism record reveals that his father was Major Edward Clarke,

0:41:480:41:55

and that is as far as my trail leads.

0:41:550:41:58

I can take you one stage further back.

0:41:580:42:02

I have a portrait of Major Edward.

0:42:020:42:05

-Ah!

-I'm not sure about the uniforms, but clearly a spiffy red coat.

0:42:050:42:11

What is so remarkable about this is, we've got the portrait record,

0:42:110:42:14

son, father and grandfather, just, you know, there they are.

0:42:140:42:19

You are atypical in that. There's few families that can do it.

0:42:190:42:22

This is not a nice island for paintings.

0:42:220:42:26

What the hurricanes and the fires miss, the beetles eat.

0:42:260:42:29

-So, when did Edward actually arrive in Jamaica?

-Plus or minus, early 1740.

0:42:290:42:37

He's here with colonial regiments that are out in the West Indies from the North American colonies.

0:42:370:42:42

-And he meets his wife here?

-Almost certainly.

0:42:420:42:46

She's a widow from Westmoreland, which is the far west of the colony.

0:42:460:42:51

-It's next to Trelawny.

-Next to Trelawny.

0:42:510:42:54

As an officer, he'd have far more of a social life.

0:42:540:42:57

He can come ashore, he can to Kingston, he can probably go to

0:42:570:42:59

Spanish Town, which is where there's a social network, a social season.

0:42:590:43:04

In Spanish Town you have banquets, you have taverns,

0:43:040:43:08

there's dances, there's certainly the races

0:43:080:43:12

and, there, a Westmoreland widow is actually quite tasty.

0:43:120:43:17

Major Edward Clarke's marriage to Elizabeth Guthrie, the widow of a plantation owner introduced

0:43:170:43:23

the Clarke family into the profitable world of sugar production and the plantation lifestyle.

0:43:230:43:29

When they met in the early 1740s Edward Clarke was serving with the North American Colonial Regiments,

0:43:310:43:39

which were fighting alongside the British in a campaign against the Spanish in the Caribbean.

0:43:390:43:46

So, Edward came down from America?

0:43:460:43:48

-Yes.

-What on Earth is he doing serving in an American regiment?

0:43:480:43:52

He's born in America. He's born in New York.

0:43:520:43:55

He's born in New York when it is a British colony.

0:43:550:44:00

And the next stage is an older genealogical text,

0:44:000:44:04

the History of the Commoners, and it gives you who his dad is.

0:44:040:44:10

Edward Clarke, yes.

0:44:100:44:13

Marries Elizabeth Guthrie.

0:44:130:44:16

And then you go back...

0:44:160:44:18

Espoused George Clarke Esq, who was the Lieutenant Governor of

0:44:180:44:23

the Province of New York, son of George Clarke Esq of Swanswick in Somersetshire.

0:44:230:44:29

So Swanswick in Trelawny...

0:44:290:44:32

So there is a Swanswick, Somerset?

0:44:320:44:35

Yes. He's playing himself as English in the choice of name, rather than using a colonial name.

0:44:350:44:40

So, Edward's father is Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New York.

0:44:400:44:46

It's odd. As with most things on this journey, this has been an extraordinary story and things

0:44:460:44:50

have come out of left field rather quickly actually on occasions.

0:44:500:44:54

So, I don't quite know how to react to this, but, I thank you all the same!

0:44:540:45:00

You've posed probably as many questions as you've answered, but thank you.

0:45:000:45:05

That's, I suppose, the great thing about history.

0:45:050:45:08

That's what happens when you get stuck with an academic!

0:45:080:45:12

Seb has traced his family back to his seven times great grandfather,

0:45:130:45:17

George Clark,

0:45:170:45:18

who was Lieutenant Governor of New York in the 18th century.

0:45:180:45:23

To find out more about his illustrious ancestor,

0:45:280:45:31

Seb is heading to New York City.

0:45:310:45:33

It's exciting to have one set of grandparents born in Jamaica.

0:45:500:45:54

You find the next one up the tree is born in America.

0:45:540:45:58

And then to find out that his father was Lieutenant Governor of this city!

0:45:580:46:04

Yeah, this is an interesting family. I'd like to find out why he was here,

0:46:040:46:08

what his background was.

0:46:080:46:10

Was it military, was it political, was it patronage?

0:46:100:46:14

Probably a mixture of all three. And I'd like to understand the time leading up to massive change

0:46:140:46:19

in this country, because this was really in the infancy of this extraordinary city.

0:46:190:46:24

In the early 18th century, the state of New York was part of Britain's North American colonies.

0:46:320:46:37

George Clarke arrived in New York from England

0:46:400:46:43

and in 1736 was appointed to the position of Lieutenant Governor.

0:46:430:46:48

At the time of his appointment, New York City was a small settlement,

0:46:510:46:56

barely a few miles square, on the southern tip of what we know today as Manhattan.

0:46:560:47:03

There was little in the way of important trade or commerce,

0:47:030:47:06

and in the late 1730s a population of less than 11,000 people.

0:47:060:47:11

Seb is on his way to meet historian Professor Graham Hodges.

0:47:130:47:18

This is your great grandfather seven times over, Lieutenant Governor George Clarke.

0:47:220:47:29

It's amazing that, yet again we have another portrait.

0:47:290:47:32

He becomes Lieutenant Governor and it's a culmination of a lifetime

0:47:320:47:36

of hard work, tough politicking in New York colony.

0:47:360:47:41

New York at this time is not the great metropolis by a long shot.

0:47:410:47:45

It's a town where the air is redolent with horses, pigs run everywhere, chickens, too.

0:47:450:47:52

There are people who have farms in the backyard.

0:47:520:47:54

There have been smallpox epidemics.

0:47:540:47:57

There had been a series of very tough winters,

0:47:570:48:00

and it was not a good place to be in the summertime.

0:48:000:48:04

It was fetid, frankly.

0:48:040:48:06

So, he's in charge of a colony which is small, not that prosperous, but very, very promising.

0:48:060:48:14

And your ancestor is engaged in one of the most significant events

0:48:140:48:18

of the Colonial period, the event known as The Negro Uprising of 1741.

0:48:180:48:24

I have here a document which is a report that he made back to

0:48:240:48:29

-the Board of Trade, and I'd like you to look at it.

-The Board of Trade in London?

0:48:290:48:33

Yeah. It's quite extraordinary.

0:48:330:48:35

I think you'll find quite a bit revealed there.

0:48:350:48:37

"The fatal fires that consume the buildings and the fort did not happen by accident,

0:48:370:48:44

"as I first apprehended,

0:48:440:48:46

"but was kindled by design in the execution of a horrid conspiracy

0:48:460:48:51

"to burn it and the whole town and to massacre the people.

0:48:510:48:58

"How many conspirators there were we do not yet know.

0:48:580:49:01

"Every day produces new discoveries".

0:49:010:49:03

-And what, in essence, does that mean?

-In March of 1741 there are a series of fires.

0:49:030:49:09

One of them destroys Fort George, where Clarke was living when he was in town.

0:49:090:49:15

Two black men were apprehended and asked about what was going on.

0:49:150:49:21

Eventually, they confessed that, not only were they trying to burn down the fort,

0:49:210:49:28

but also to burn down the entire city, killing as many white people as possible,

0:49:280:49:34

with the enslaved people then taking roles as the leaders.

0:49:340:49:38

In 1741 New York's economy was in trouble.

0:49:390:49:44

Unemployment was rising and money was scarce.

0:49:440:49:48

As in Britain's other colonies in North America, the owning of

0:49:480:49:52

slaves from Africa and the Caribbean was part of daily life.

0:49:520:49:57

But as the recession deepened, it was these enslaved people who suffered the most.

0:49:570:50:04

Slavery is part of the economy and the society.

0:50:040:50:09

The slaves lived with you, you knew them for a long time.

0:50:090:50:13

Servitude is the condition for about 20% of the population.

0:50:130:50:18

And they're not all that happy about it,

0:50:180:50:20

and were looking for the best opportunity which would gain their freedom.

0:50:200:50:24

-An inexorable move for freedom.

-Absolutely.

0:50:240:50:26

And if they had to do it violently, they were going to do it.

0:50:260:50:29

So, Clarke is right in the middle of this.

0:50:290:50:32

He's the Crown Governor, so he has to find out what happens in this conspiracy

0:50:320:50:36

through whatever means, then he has to prosecute

0:50:360:50:41

the people who are involved and, ultimately, to find a way to end it.

0:50:410:50:48

Over the next few weeks, further arson attacks panicked the city.

0:50:480:50:53

As the Crown representative, Clarke had to calm the fearful population.

0:50:530:50:59

New York's future as a colony was in the balance.

0:50:590:51:03

Arrests were quickly made and, within weeks,

0:51:050:51:08

the first public executions of alleged conspirators took place.

0:51:080:51:12

Does this immediately calm the situation?

0:51:150:51:18

No. The situation remains volatile.

0:51:180:51:22

The trials were ongoing.

0:51:220:51:24

There are more and more exposure of their plans.

0:51:240:51:28

More connections are being made.

0:51:280:51:31

People are more and more scared.

0:51:310:51:35

Executions were continuing on and there are a lot of people thrown in jail.

0:51:350:51:40

So, Clarke, as a Crown official, felt it was important to try to end it.

0:51:400:51:45

At this point, more than 25 have already been executed,

0:51:450:51:51

so the blood has run through the streets of the city.

0:51:510:51:53

It's a pretty terrible time.

0:51:530:51:55

Clarke had hoped that the swift punishment of the conspirators would be enough to quell the uprising.

0:51:550:52:03

But this strategy failed.

0:52:030:52:05

So, Clarke offers rewards to whites.

0:52:050:52:10

He offers emancipation to enslaved people who would come forth, with also a cash bounty.

0:52:100:52:16

They were really buying their way out of this.

0:52:160:52:19

Yes. They were very, very anxious about this.

0:52:190:52:23

And so, for him to make an open call like this, is extraordinary.

0:52:230:52:27

I mean, this is an opportunity of a lifetime for any enslaved person.

0:52:270:52:31

And the £100 is more than double,

0:52:310:52:36

maybe triple the annual wage of any skilled artisan.

0:52:360:52:40

So, again, this is a pot of gold which has being promised,

0:52:400:52:44

but the results are really quite extraordinary.

0:52:440:52:49

It was only with the offer of inducements that Clarke gained control of the situation.

0:52:490:52:55

In response to the offer, hundreds of informants came forward to incriminate others.

0:52:550:53:00

By the end of August 1741, nearly six months after the first fire,

0:53:020:53:08

the alleged leaders of the conspiracy had been caught and executed.

0:53:080:53:12

With the ringleaders dealt with, the tensions in the city receded.

0:53:140:53:19

Through the use of force, and Lieutenant Governor Clarke's shrewd tactics,

0:53:190:53:25

the end of the so-called Negro Uprising was brought about.

0:53:250:53:29

Clarke had helped to safeguard New York's future.

0:53:290:53:33

He did what he felt was absolutely necessary within the political context...

0:53:360:53:41

-To fulfil his remit.

-To fulfil his agreement,

0:53:410:53:44

and also simply the security of the colony,

0:53:440:53:47

because that was very much under question.

0:53:470:53:49

Is there any evidence of George anywhere, bricks and mortar?

0:53:490:53:53

Archives?

0:53:530:53:55

There is a very nice memorial.

0:53:550:53:58

A family estate in upstate New York

0:53:580:54:01

called Hyde Hall and I suggest that you go there.

0:54:010:54:06

I'll take your advice.

0:54:080:54:10

I think you'll be rewarded if you do.

0:54:100:54:12

In 1745 George Clarke retired to England. He was 69 years old.

0:54:140:54:22

In the years that followed, his descendants continued to prosper in the province of New York.

0:54:220:54:29

Before returning to England, Seb wants to see the family estate.

0:54:330:54:38

He's on his way to upstate New York where Hyde Hall is situated.

0:54:380:54:42

This is great today because I know America pretty well, but I've never been upstate New York.

0:54:440:54:48

I've no idea what I'm going to find when I get here.

0:54:480:54:51

I had little or no idea

0:54:510:54:54

what I was going to find when I arrived in Jamaica.

0:54:540:54:57

But at each stage the matter of fact script

0:54:570:55:01

on a birth certificate or a record of baptism or a will

0:55:010:55:06

has led and unravelled the most extraordinary personal stories here

0:55:060:55:12

in parts of the world that I had no recognition or understanding at all that I had any attachment to.

0:55:120:55:19

Coming towards the close of this journey, I didn't think that I would find bricks and mortar.

0:55:190:55:24

Oh, what a beautiful building.

0:55:390:55:41

Absolutely stunning.

0:55:420:55:44

Well, I've finally found Hyde Hall.

0:55:510:55:53

This 19th century mansion, once the Hyde Clarke seat in America,

0:56:060:56:11

is now a museum and stands as testimony

0:56:110:56:15

to the family's place in Britain's colonial history.

0:56:150:56:19

Oh, my goodness!

0:56:340:56:36

Wow!

0:56:400:56:41

Stunning room.

0:56:460:56:48

Yeah, Granny, you were right, we were wrong.

0:56:570:57:01

Huh! Well, we know you!

0:57:100:57:12

Hyde Hall was occupied by descendants of the Clarke family until the 1940s.

0:57:160:57:22

Many of the family's possessions still remain.

0:57:230:57:27

This has been a fantastic journey.

0:57:360:57:39

It's unquestionably awe inspiring.

0:57:390:57:42

You know, to see these big chunks of British history and to know that,

0:57:420:57:49

actually, your family was sitting pretty much at the epicentre of it.

0:57:490:57:53

And they're extraordinary characters. I mean, they are big characters.

0:57:580:58:03

These aren't little tweaks to history.

0:58:030:58:07

I like to think that some of the things I've seen

0:58:070:58:10

just put a few more brush strokes on a canvas that was pretty empty.

0:58:100:58:15

And I do, at this moment

0:58:150:58:20

roundly apologise to my grandmother for really zoning out very seriously

0:58:200:58:24

and thinking probably that she was a tad delusional about what clearly she did have a feel for.

0:58:240:58:31

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