0:00:02 > 0:00:04After four. One,
0:00:04 > 0:00:05two, one, two,
0:00:05 > 0:00:06three, go.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Back step, toe, heel, wait...
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Toe, heel, four.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Quick, two, three...
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Dancer Len Goodman is known to millions as the lead judge
0:00:17 > 0:00:20on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.
0:00:20 > 0:00:21Now we point. Go.
0:00:21 > 0:00:22'There's more tension'
0:00:22 > 0:00:25in this room than there was in my nan's knicker elastic.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27It's absolutely incredible.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29LAUGHTER
0:00:29 > 0:00:32'I left school when I was 15 and in those days,'
0:00:32 > 0:00:33you had to have a trade.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36So I was a welder and I was terrible.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40A mate of mine used to go ballroom dancing.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42I used to take the mickey rotten.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46He said, "Len, come up there. It's full of girls
0:00:46 > 0:00:49"and virtually no boys. It's heaven."
0:00:49 > 0:00:51So up I went. And I loved it.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58Len found fame late in life after a successful 30-year career
0:00:58 > 0:01:00running his own dance school.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03What is fascinating about looking back on your personal history
0:01:03 > 0:01:07is the fact that I know nothing about anything, really.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12'When you're young, when you're 20, who gives a monkey's armpit about it?
0:01:12 > 0:01:14'If I'd been worried, I'd have asked my grandad,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17'who his grandad was and so on. But you don't
0:01:17 > 0:01:19'because it's of no consequence.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22'It's as you get older and there's not too much future
0:01:22 > 0:01:24'that you want to know more about your past.'
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Before I pop me clogs, I'm 66 years old, I want to know a little bit.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05We go right down Roman Road and then we do a left
0:02:05 > 0:02:06and go up past Victoria Park.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11Len Goodman has fond memories of his early childhood
0:02:11 > 0:02:15in Bethnal Green in the East End of London.
0:02:17 > 0:02:23This is typical of where I grew up. Just one huge row of terraced houses.
0:02:23 > 0:02:28All the kids were playing in every other kid's house.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33Doors were never locked. It was lovely, a true community.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36After his parents separated when he was a child,
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Len and his mother spent much of their time with her parents,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Albert and Louisa Eldridge.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45So originally my grandad had a shop just here
0:02:45 > 0:02:50and he used to have a barrow and he used to wheel it
0:02:50 > 0:02:54to Spitalfields, a mile and a half, maybe even two miles,
0:02:54 > 0:02:56load up, I used to sit on the barrow,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59I was just a little nipper.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02And he'd be pulling this barrow full of blooming vegetables
0:03:02 > 0:03:06and we'd get to here and he'd say, "Come on, son. Let's stop."
0:03:06 > 0:03:11And we'd go into Pellicci's and have a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Me and me old grandad.
0:03:13 > 0:03:19This is where all my family lived, worked, died.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20This is my area.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22This is home to me.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Both Len's parents have passed away
0:03:25 > 0:03:29and his only remaining connection to his Bethnal Green past
0:03:29 > 0:03:32is his stepmother, Irene.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38'Renie's 93 and she's still got all her marbles
0:03:38 > 0:03:40'and my son's going to be there, James,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44'so we've got my link with the past and my link with the future.'
0:03:44 > 0:03:47- Here I am.- Len! How are you?
0:03:47 > 0:03:49- I'm lovely.- Lovely to see you. James is in here.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52- Lovely.- Come and see him. - Come on then.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58We've got these first few pictures which I know are of you, Dad.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00- Oh, yes.- I'm with my mum.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03- So I'd be about nine months old there, I suppose.- Yes, you would.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07So that would be just before the end of the war.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10- Little shoes on, look. - Yeah, little ankle straps.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Look at me old mum. Bless her heart.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Len's mother was Louisa Eldridge.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21She was one of five children who were all born in Bethnal Green.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24- I have no idea what this is. - Show us. I'll probably...
0:04:24 > 0:04:26- A market man.- Oh, yes!
0:04:26 > 0:04:30That's my Grandad Eldridge! That's Albert!
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Look at him, young, with his cheese cutter hat on, come on!
0:04:34 > 0:04:35It's a beauty.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38On his stall, just serving. Look at that.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40So this was before they had a shop.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44He was the one who used to take me down to Spitalfields on the barrow.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47That's great, innit? Look at him, young.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50- They're lovely, those old photos. - Whole life ahead of him.
0:04:50 > 0:04:54- Look how good-looking he is there. - Yeah, he is a good-looking bloke.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57They were quite a good-looking family, wasn't they?
0:04:57 > 0:05:02That's where I get it from I suppose. It's got to come from somewhere.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Right, now we've got this picture.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06And that's me nan!
0:05:06 > 0:05:08- That's Nanny Eldridge. - Is it really?!
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Well, I've never seen... I'm pretty sure that's Nanny Eldridge.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15It's got writing on the back, Len.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18- "Nanny, Louisa".- Oh, yes!
0:05:18 > 0:05:19Yeah.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25That's the only photo I've ever seen of Nanny Eldridge.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27- I can imagine. - Because she died very young.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30- And she's not that kind of a woman to have photos taken.- No.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34I don't know how Granddad Eldridge met me grandma.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36- Do you?- No.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39I don't know how they met or where they could have met.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43- They both come from Bethnal Green I should imagine.- Yeah.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47- We've got something else as well here.- Now, what's this?
0:05:47 > 0:05:50It's a certificate of marriage.
0:05:50 > 0:05:51Yeah, but who between?
0:05:53 > 0:05:56This is a certificate of marriage...
0:05:56 > 0:05:59dated August 1909...
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Well, I never.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06..between Albert Eldridge, me grandad and Louisa Sosnowski, me grandma.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08How old were they then?
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Albert was 27 and Louisa was 23.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16And he was a greengrocer
0:06:16 > 0:06:21and Nanny Lou was a fancy box maker.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Well I never!
0:06:23 > 0:06:24There you are.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28Father's name... Here we go. Now this is even better.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34Albert Eldridge, my grandfather, his father...Thomas Eldridge.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37- Now, have you ever heard of him?- No.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39- Have you, Len?- No.- Neither have I.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42So really, what we've got to do now is find out
0:06:42 > 0:06:44a little bit if we can about Thomas Eldridge.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48- And, James, I want you on the old machine there.- Absolutely.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51You can sort this out for us. That's our next job.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Find out who Thomas Eldridge was.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Len has traced his mother's side back three generations
0:07:01 > 0:07:04to his great grandfather, Thomas Eldridge.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08To try to go back further,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Len and James need to search through the census records.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14First off, in here, we'd need to put...
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- Thomas.- Thomas.
0:07:17 > 0:07:18- Eldridge.- Lovely.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22- Come on.- Right, search.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26See, now, if I'd been doing this, it would have taken 20 minutes.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29I know. But you knew where the shift key was.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31- I know where the shift is. - Searching...
0:07:31 > 0:07:33Come on, machine!
0:07:33 > 0:07:35Here we go.
0:07:35 > 0:07:36There is Thomas.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39- Now that's my great grandfather.- Yes.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41OK. So we've found Thomas Eldridge.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43And he was a bricklayer.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46- Yes.- His wife was Jane and then the kids...
0:07:46 > 0:07:50- William, Albert, that's my grandad. - Henry, another son.
0:07:50 > 0:07:51It's incredible.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
0:07:53 > 0:07:59They had eight kids. This is what you got when there was no TV or radio!
0:07:59 > 0:08:04- Now, they're living... Ames Street, I suppose in Bethnal Green.- Yeah.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Bethnal Green.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07To continue their search,
0:08:07 > 0:08:11they've ordered up the marriage certificate of Thomas Eldridge.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Thomas Eldridge and Jane.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17Father's name, James Eldridge.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19- And he was a bricklayer. - He was a bricklayer.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22So we want to look up James now.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Yeah. So we're going now to 1861.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27James Eldridge.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29And here we go. Bethnal Green.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31That's the one we're after.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34So we're looking for James...
0:08:34 > 0:08:36James Eldridge! Here we go.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40So this would be my great-great-grandfather.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42Yes.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44James Eldridge.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Again from Bethnal Green.
0:08:46 > 0:08:47They lived on Camden Street
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and his wife here, Sarah, then there's one,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55two, three, four, five, six, seven eight, nine, ten...
0:08:55 > 0:08:5811 children.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00That's incredible! The amount of kids!
0:09:00 > 0:09:0411 kids, born virtually one every year.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06- All the kids had to... - Mind you, they all had to work.
0:09:06 > 0:09:08He's 17, he's a bricklayer.
0:09:08 > 0:09:1216, he's a bricklayer. 15... Look, the 14-year-old.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15The 13-year-old is a shop boy.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Even the nine-year-old.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19The only one who's not is the seven and under.
0:09:19 > 0:09:22The rest of them are all in work, from nine years old.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26So it's obvious that the Eldridge clan...
0:09:26 > 0:09:30for the last 150 years at least...
0:09:30 > 0:09:32- Have lived...- ..in Bethnal Green. - Yeah.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Len now wants to find out what life was like
0:09:42 > 0:09:45for his great-great-grandfather James and his 11 children.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49He's come to the London School of Economics in central London.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52He's meeting archivist Sue Donnelly
0:09:52 > 0:09:55who looks after the Charles Booth Collection.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Hi, nice to meet you.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00It's an archive that records living conditions in the capital
0:10:00 > 0:10:02in the late 19th century,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05when James Eldridge was living in Bethnal Green.
0:10:05 > 0:10:09- Tell me who Charles Booth was exactly and what he did.- Right.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14I've heard of him but I always get him confused with the Salvation Army Booth.
0:10:14 > 0:10:19You're not the only one. Charles Booth was a 19th century businessman
0:10:19 > 0:10:24who got very interested in why there was so much poverty in London,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27in effectively the richest city in the world.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31So he went out and he collected lots of information about rents,
0:10:31 > 0:10:33about wages, about sizes of families.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37And he then created these colour-coded maps
0:10:37 > 0:10:38looking at each street
0:10:38 > 0:10:42and working out the levels of poverty and wealth in different areas,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45what he called the social condition of an area.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50So what we have here is the Bethnal Green area in the late 19th century.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54And the thing to note from this coding at the bottom
0:10:54 > 0:10:58is that red and pink are fairly affluent areas.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02And as you move into blues and dark blues and eventually black,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05the area and the street becomes poorer.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10And at this time, Bethnal Green was officially the poorest area.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12- It was... - It was the poorest area.- Right.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16It had the densest population, both in terms of the numbers of people
0:11:16 > 0:11:18who were crammed into individual houses
0:11:18 > 0:11:23and the number of houses that were crammed onto the space available.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28Bethnal Green lies about two miles northeast of the City of London.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32It was once a rural retreat for wealthy Londoners
0:11:32 > 0:11:34and was seen as an attractive escape
0:11:34 > 0:11:36from the hustle and bustle of the city.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39But as London expanded in the 18th century,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Bethnal Green's open spaces were swallowed up
0:11:42 > 0:11:45by industry and housing.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48The construction of the railways in the 1840s
0:11:48 > 0:11:51led to the demolition of thousands of houses,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53causing acute overcrowding.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56By the time James was living there,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59it was one of the most densely populated areas of Britain.
0:11:59 > 0:12:05It was not uncommon to have more than ten people living in one house.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10So my great-great-grandfather was in Camden Street.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Right, OK. So we've got Bethnal Green Road.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16I can see it here. Look, clear as a bell.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21And that's blue which according to your scale of poverty is pretty low.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Yeah, Booth described it as being an area in a street
0:12:24 > 0:12:26that was in chronic want.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Chronic want. Well, that sums it all up, doesn't it?
0:12:30 > 0:12:34Not only are we in one of the poorest areas in London,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38we are in one of the most run-down and poorest streets
0:12:38 > 0:12:40in the poorest area of London.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43Yes, absolutely. This is pretty much the bottom of the pile.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Actually, we have got some photographs of the area
0:12:46 > 0:12:48from about the same period.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52And when you look at the conditions that these people lived in
0:12:52 > 0:12:58and you think of my great-great grandfather James with 11 children
0:12:58 > 0:13:02and they're stuck in one of these tiny little houses,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05it's just amazing that anyone almost survived.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08- Yes.- Just terrible.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11- Life expectancy was very low.- Yeah.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Particularly for children and older people.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17At the time James was living in Bethnal Green,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20life there was a struggle.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25One in every five babies died before they reached their first birthday.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30And for many of those that did survive, conditions were hard.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Almost half of the population in Bethnal Green
0:13:32 > 0:13:35lived below the subsistence level.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Outbreaks of diseases like cholera
0:13:37 > 0:13:43and smallpox added to the mounting difficulties faced by the locals.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46We have another piece of research that relates
0:13:46 > 0:13:50to your family's history from one of the local newspapers.
0:13:50 > 0:13:56This is the Eastern Argus and Borough of Hackney Times,
0:13:56 > 0:14:00Saturday September 14th, 1889.
0:14:00 > 0:14:06"Suicide in Bethnal Green Road. Between death and the workhouse.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10"Week in, week out, we have the melancholy duty
0:14:10 > 0:14:16"to record sudden surprises of suicide mania in our very midst.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21"And a case took place in Bethnal Green Road this week.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25"On Sunday morning, Police Constable Garrard
0:14:25 > 0:14:28"proceeded to number two Camden Street
0:14:28 > 0:14:30"where he found a man hanging by the neck
0:14:30 > 0:14:33"from the lintel of the door of the WC."
0:14:33 > 0:14:36I can't read that.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42"The body was identified as that of James Eldridge, aged 69,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46"a widower, who had been well known in the parish
0:14:46 > 0:14:50"where formerly he carried on business as a builder.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54"Competition and business reverses, however, appears
0:14:54 > 0:14:57"to have reduced him to such a low ebb
0:14:57 > 0:15:00"that it is alleged he was shortly to have become an inmate
0:15:00 > 0:15:04"in the Bethnal Green workhouse."
0:15:04 > 0:15:06It's bloody hopeless, innit?
0:15:06 > 0:15:12"And the fear of this step is thought to be the reason for his sacrificing his own life.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17"The jury ultimately returned a verdict of suicide by hanging
0:15:17 > 0:15:19"while in a state of temporary insanity."
0:15:21 > 0:15:24So that was my great-great grandfather.
0:15:25 > 0:15:26Yeah.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31So I suppose his wife had passed away, my great-great-grandmother.
0:15:31 > 0:15:33He was living alone.
0:15:33 > 0:15:39His children are now married and struggling to keep their own families together.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42- There's no pension. - He's worried about paying the rent.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45And he doesn't want to go into the workhouse.
0:15:45 > 0:15:46Which is the only other option.
0:15:46 > 0:15:51And there he is, virtually 70 years old and the only escape
0:15:51 > 0:15:55is to tie a rope around the blooming outside toilet
0:15:55 > 0:15:58and stand on a chair and...
0:15:58 > 0:16:00You know, it's beyond sad.
0:16:00 > 0:16:01It's so...
0:16:01 > 0:16:03terrible, really.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06It's so sad.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16My overriding feeling is one of sadness.
0:16:16 > 0:16:21The fact that Bethnal Green was the poorest area of London.
0:16:21 > 0:16:22There was no quality of life.
0:16:22 > 0:16:29They were just struggling day in, day out just to put food on the table and feed their families.
0:16:29 > 0:16:36And to realise that James Eldridge would prefer to commit suicide than go into a workhouse
0:16:36 > 0:16:41makes me wonder how bad these workhouses were.
0:16:41 > 0:16:44And really, that's what I would like to find out now.
0:16:44 > 0:16:50Exactly what a workhouse was and why everyone was so petrified to have to enter them.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Len has come to the Bishopsgate Institute in the East End of London
0:16:59 > 0:17:03to see their archives on the history of workhouses.
0:17:03 > 0:17:08Helping Len is historian and geographer, David Green.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14Well, David, my great-great grandfather, James Eldridge, committed suicide
0:17:14 > 0:17:17because of his fear of the workhouse.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22And I really want to know, what was the stigma about going into the workhouse?
0:17:22 > 0:17:28You know, was it the shame of having to go, or was it the conditions in the workhouse?
0:17:28 > 0:17:30Well it was both, really.
0:17:30 > 0:17:36If you were a respectable worker, making your own way in life, you would try to be independent
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and you would not want to fall into the workhouse.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45I mean, many elderly people, perhaps as many as a third of elderly people,
0:17:45 > 0:17:47ended up at some point in the workhouse.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52So it was the point where you could no longer work, there was nothing else for you outside,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56your children might have died, or moved away, or themselves been poor.
0:17:56 > 0:17:57That was what you had.
0:17:59 > 0:18:05Victorian workhouses were set up by the Government and paid for by local ratepayers.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09They provided somewhere to live for those who had no other means of support.
0:18:09 > 0:18:15The paupers who ended up there were made to do hard physical labour, like breaking up rocks
0:18:15 > 0:18:17for up to ten hours a day.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22The Government was determined that the workhouse should not be seen as an easy option.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25It was designed to be a last resort.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30Although inmates were free to leave, most stayed because they had nowhere else to go.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36So James Eldridge committed suicide because he was frightened of the workhouse.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41Do you know if there was anybody in the family that had actually been in the workhouse?
0:18:41 > 0:18:46No, but I do know the whole family had this morbid fear - the workhouse.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51There was always that threat, even when I was a young lad, if I did something, my mum would say,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54"We'll all end up in the workhouse."
0:18:54 > 0:19:00I can understand it, because you can trace through various documents that there is in fact a link.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Let me show you this,
0:19:02 > 0:19:08this is the marriage certificate of James Eldridge and Sarah Cecil.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11And her father, John Cecil, was a weaver.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14He would almost certainly have been a silk weaver in this district,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Bethnal Green was the centre of the silk weaving industry in London.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19Right.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22And this is the death certificate of John Cecil.
0:19:22 > 0:19:23You can see his name there.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27So he would have been James Eldridge's father-in-law.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29My great-great-great-grandfather.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34That's right, and he died in 1866 and he died of asthma.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36- In the workhouse.- Right.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41Now that was a really awful fate.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46So James Eldridge's father-in-law had been in the workhouse and he may
0:19:46 > 0:19:49have visited him there during the course of that time.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54And his fear might have been that he was going to do down the same road as John Cecil, end up dying
0:19:54 > 0:19:57in the workhouse, and that must have been a terrible fear for him.
0:19:57 > 0:19:58That's right.
0:20:00 > 0:20:06James Eldridge committed suicide 23 years after John Cecil died in the Bethnal Green workhouse.
0:20:07 > 0:20:12Throughout that time, the fear of the workhouse loomed large for the people of London.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Conditions in most workhouses hadn't improved.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Bethnal Green workhouse was regarded as one of the worst in London.
0:20:21 > 0:20:26Conditions there were so bad that they prompted several investigations by health inspectors.
0:20:29 > 0:20:34In 1866, the Lancet a medical journal, carried out a series of investigations
0:20:34 > 0:20:38into London workhouses, and one of their reports was on Bethnal Green.
0:20:38 > 0:20:44You can read what conditions were like when John Cecil died there in that year.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48It says, "The patient was covered with filth and excoriated
0:20:48 > 0:20:53"and the stench was masked by strewing dry chloride of lime on the floor under the bed.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59"A spectacle more saddening or more discreditable cannot be imagined."
0:20:59 > 0:21:02So this is 1866,
0:21:02 > 0:21:08and that's exactly when John Cecil was in Bethnal Green workhouse.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12So the chances are he's dying of asthma in exactly the same condition
0:21:12 > 0:21:14as these poor people that they're writing about.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Exactly. You can now understand James Eldridge,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22the fear that drove him to commit suicide
0:21:22 > 0:21:27and must have impacted on his entire family around him.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30That image must have been common to all the children.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33And this was the trouble.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37Nowadays, if as you get older, your children tend to look after you
0:21:37 > 0:21:40and get you into a nursing home or whatever.
0:21:40 > 0:21:46In those days, the children were so poor that they had no means of looking after their parents.
0:21:53 > 0:22:00I can well understand why my great-great-grandfather, at the age of 69, chose suicide
0:22:00 > 0:22:04to the humiliation of having to go into a workhouse at his age.
0:22:06 > 0:22:12And the thought that the connection with the workhouse caused the death of two of my relatives
0:22:12 > 0:22:15makes it even more poignant and sad.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Len has discovered his family's connection to Bethnal Green goes back
0:22:21 > 0:22:25to his great-great-great grandfather, John Cecil.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Although many of his family were employed in manual labour,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31he has discovered that John was a silk weaver.
0:22:33 > 0:22:39The thing that pleased me was the thought that my great-great-great-grandfather,
0:22:39 > 0:22:43John Cecil, he started off as a weaver.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46You know, I never imagined that in Bethnal Green -
0:22:46 > 0:22:49in one of the dirtiest and most deprived areas of London -
0:22:49 > 0:22:52that such an art would be going on.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56For me, to be able to weave silk is truly an art.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01To find out more about John Cecil's life as a silk weaver,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Len has come to the Guildhall in the City of London.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08- Mr Goodman, I presume?- It is indeed.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12He's here to meet the Clerk of the Chamberlain's Court, Murray Craig.
0:23:14 > 0:23:21Well, I have found out that one of my ancestors, John Cecil, was a weaver.
0:23:21 > 0:23:28And I had no idea that weaving went on in London particularly, especially in Bethnal Green.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33So I'm hoping you can shed a little bit of light, maybe on John Cecil and the Guild of Weavers.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37You've certainly come to the right place, Len, because we have been able to delve into our archives
0:23:37 > 0:23:42and our records and discover a couple of interesting things about John Cecil.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Now, what would happen is, John would have got the freedom of the Weavers' Company
0:23:47 > 0:23:51and then he would come across to Guildhall to receive the freedom of the city.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55Because of course, if you wanted to carry out your trade or your craft in the City of London,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59you would have to be a member of the guild and a Freeman of the city.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Right.
0:24:01 > 0:24:06And here we have the minute book of the Worshipful Company of Weavers,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09from 1st December 1818 and, look, there is John Cecil.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14"John Cecil of 153 Brick Lane, Bethnal Green.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16"Weaver.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20"Son of Daniel Cecil of 40 St John's Street, Bethnal Green,
0:24:20 > 0:24:25"citizen and weaver, made free by..."
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Patrimony. That's very important.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32Because he was actually made free by patrimony,
0:24:32 > 0:24:36which means his father was a Freeman of the city and a weaver.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40And, of course, in those days the son would follow the father's trade or occupation.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43I imagine the father would teach the son the skills
0:24:43 > 0:24:45and the mysteries of the ancient art of weaving.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50So why was it so important to become a Freeman of the city?
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Well, the freedom in essence, really, was the right to trade in the city.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58And potentially it was very lucrative, because you were being given trading rights
0:24:58 > 0:25:02within the richest part of the kingdom, the City of London.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07But you also had to guarantee standards of excellence and quality
0:25:07 > 0:25:09in the goods produced and the services provided.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13So members of the Bakers Company wouldn't give you stale bread,
0:25:13 > 0:25:16and the Vintners Company wouldn't give you sour wine,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20- the Weavers wouldn't give you cloth with holes in. - Kept the cowboys out!
0:25:20 > 0:25:25- Victorian Trading Standards, or quality control.- Right!- Yes. Keeping the cowboys out!
0:25:26 > 0:25:29When John Cecil became a Freeman of the City,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33and a Member of the Guild of Weavers at the age of 21,
0:25:33 > 0:25:37he was joining what had been a respected and lucrative profession.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41The Worshipful Company of Weavers is the oldest guild in the City.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44It was established in 1155.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47The guilds were like early trade unions,
0:25:47 > 0:25:49set up to protect their members.
0:25:49 > 0:25:55It was a way of regulating working hours, conditions, and wages.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58At Guildhall, there would be a ceremony.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01An oath would be made and the young weavers, John included,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03would have said "I so declare".
0:26:03 > 0:26:08And at the ceremony, John would have received his Copy of Freedom,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12which looks like this. This is a parchment neatly rolled up
0:26:12 > 0:26:16and this one is almost contemporaneous with John.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19They're the same today - the Freedom certificate barely changed.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21The coat of arms of the City,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24we have the Seal of the Chamberlain, which is faded.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28- The name of the king, the date, and these key details.- Right.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Now, in all probability,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33it would have been kept like this in a little pouch.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36As you can see - Copy of Freedom, City of London.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39- And the key thing, really, was it was portable.- Yes.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44You carry it about like a driving licence or passport, to prove your status as a Freeman.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48- So if somebody said, "What's going on here?" - "Prove that you're a Freeman."
0:26:48 > 0:26:51- Old John would have got it out, "Have a look at this, sunshine."- Yes.
0:26:51 > 0:26:55So for somebody like John Cecil, who was plying his trade
0:26:55 > 0:26:59in Brick Lane, Bethnal Green, to come up here and to enter
0:26:59 > 0:27:03this lavish room... It must have been the most nerve-wracking experience,
0:27:03 > 0:27:08- I would imagine.- I'm sure it would have been, yes. Yes.- Marvellous, eh?
0:27:13 > 0:27:16I can imagine, there's John and his father, Daniel,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19who's passed on all his knowledge to his son as a weaver,
0:27:19 > 0:27:25up they've come from Brick Lane in Bethnal Green, up into the City.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29And into the Guildhall and to become a Freeman of the City of London.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32How proud he must have been, not only John, but his dad.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35And what a thrill that all must have been.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38But what I would really like to find out, if it's possible,
0:27:38 > 0:27:43is how did John Cecil come from a 21-year-old
0:27:43 > 0:27:50with his future ahead of him, his heart soaring with excitement,
0:27:50 > 0:27:55to end up in absolute destitution, stuck in Bethnal Green workhouse.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09One of few places left in the country
0:28:09 > 0:28:13where the tradition of silk weaving still exists is Sudbury in Suffolk.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18To try to finally unravel how John Cecil ended up in the workhouse,
0:28:18 > 0:28:21Len has come to Sudbury to meet Richard Humphries,
0:28:21 > 0:28:23a modern-day silk weaver
0:28:23 > 0:28:26and an expert on the history of silk weaving.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31My ancestor, John Cecil, he's a weaver, he's 21 years old,
0:28:31 > 0:28:36he's just been up to the Guildhall and got his Freedom of the City and so on.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41And within a relative short time, 30 or 40 years,
0:28:41 > 0:28:45he's gone from being a weaver to being in the workhouse.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48You know, can you shed any light on that?
0:28:48 > 0:28:54I can indeed, yes. This is the will of John Cecil's father, Daniel.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56This is Daniel Cecil's will.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00Now, he has a good innings - he lives until he's 83.
0:29:00 > 0:29:03He was a man of some wealth.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08Interestingly enough, he leaves two properties to John Cecil.
0:29:08 > 0:29:15In Bethnal Green. Which really ensures that John Cecil's got a good future ahead of him.
0:29:15 > 0:29:21So there he is, Daniel Cecil passes away, his son, John,
0:29:21 > 0:29:23takes over the business, basically.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26He does. He's a Freeman of the City.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31He actually can afford to take on weaving jobs
0:29:31 > 0:29:34and you would have thought that things...
0:29:34 > 0:29:37- Yeah, couldn't be rosier. - ..would be good.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Unfortunately, the trade is in decline.
0:29:40 > 0:29:45And slowly but surely, the trade moves away from Spitalfields
0:29:45 > 0:29:49and journeyman weavers, which is what John Cecil was,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53would have been finding it more and more difficult to actually get work.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59By the time John Cecil turned 50 in 1847,
0:29:59 > 0:30:03he'd been carrying on a successful career in silk for 30 years.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06But the industry in east London was suffering from the effects
0:30:06 > 0:30:10of a range of laws, called the Spitalfields Acts.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14These were designed to regulate the wages and working conditions
0:30:14 > 0:30:17of weavers living within a 40-mile radius of London.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21In face, their effect was to paralyse the industry.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26To avoid this, weavers began to move out of London,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29to nearby towns, where they wouldn't be restricted by the Acts.
0:30:29 > 0:30:35The laws had brought about a steady decline of the silk-weaving industry in Bethnal Green.
0:30:35 > 0:30:40So old John Cecil has got two properties that his dad has left him.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43- Yes.- That were set up to be weaving cottages.- Yes.
0:30:43 > 0:30:47We assume that he'd got weavers in those cottages,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50that he could no longer offer any work to.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52So they couldn't actually pay him any rent.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55And really, it's a poisoned chalice that he's got,
0:30:55 > 0:31:00because we see in this particular document that by 1855,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04John Cecil is forced to sell his properties.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08He no longer can sustain them.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10He's not able to actually find even a job for himself.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12- And he's a Fellowship Porter. - A docker?
0:31:12 > 0:31:17- He becomes a labourer on the docks? - He's a labourer on the docks.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22And he can't get enough work at this time to be a weaver.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26In 1860, just a few years after becoming a docker,
0:31:26 > 0:31:31John Cecil's chances of returning to the silk trade were dashed.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35A treaty was introduced between the French and British governments
0:31:35 > 0:31:39to remove import and export taxes on a wide range of goods.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41For the silk industry,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44this meant the import of cheap material from France.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48A move which had a devastating effect on silk weaving in Britain.
0:31:48 > 0:31:54For John Cecil, worse is to come, because our 1861 census record
0:31:54 > 0:31:59records that he's one of ten people here in a lodging house.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04So he's lost all his property, he's on his own. None of his family here.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07And he really is in a dosshouse, basically.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10And just to give you an indication,
0:32:10 > 0:32:14this is what the lodging houses looked like of the day.
0:32:14 > 0:32:20This is an actual etching of the period of a lodging house interior.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23This is the conditions that John Cecil would have found himself in.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26You know, absolutely deplorable conditions.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30All strangers, all sleeping together.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35- Ten of them, probably in just one room.- Yeah.- No sanitation whatsoever.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37It's just incredible.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Especially when you think that it wasn't far back
0:32:41 > 0:32:44that he owned two homes and was working away...
0:32:44 > 0:32:47He was a Freeman of the City and doing very well.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50And he comes down to this degraded situation, yes.
0:32:50 > 0:32:57- And it wasn't long after this that he went from here, into the workhouse, and death.- Yes.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01And when you think his father lived to be 84, and he died in his 60s.
0:33:01 > 0:33:07- Yes.- No wonder, when you look at the conditions that they had to live in.
0:33:13 > 0:33:18Well, who'd have imagined that just going to find out a little bit
0:33:18 > 0:33:23about my grandfather, Albert Eldridge, the greengrocer in Bethnal Green,
0:33:23 > 0:33:28we would be led along a path where we came to James Eldridge,
0:33:28 > 0:33:33who committed suicide because he would rather kill himself than go into the workhouse.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38And then on to John Cecil and his story.
0:33:38 > 0:33:41How he was a weaver and how he gradually,
0:33:41 > 0:33:46through circumstances not of his own making, ended up in a workhouse.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51You know, it's tinged with sadness and in a way, pride as well.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55That they worked so hard and struggled on.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59It's just a wonderful story. It's just been marvellous.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18Having explored grandfather Albert Eldridge's side of the family,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21Len now wants to investigate his grandmother Louisa's line.
0:34:22 > 0:34:29Well, I do know that my great-great grandfather, I think, was from Poland.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33Sosnowski. And I want to find out a little bit about that.
0:34:33 > 0:34:39How this Polish person came to England and London, and what made him come over.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Len was recently contacted by a distant relative
0:34:44 > 0:34:48who has given him some information about the Polish side of his family.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51It takes Len first to Portsmouth.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57Well, a nice chap from Yorkshire, Gordon,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00kindly sent me some information
0:35:00 > 0:35:04regarding my ancestors, which we have here.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08Now, he sent me a very interesting letter.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12And in it he writes, "Our ancestor, Josef Sosnowski,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16"had probably been exiled from Poland
0:35:16 > 0:35:19and there is a memorial in Kingston Cemetery, Portsmouth,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22listing all 212 Polish soldiers
0:35:22 > 0:35:27aboard the Marianne, including Josef Sosnowski.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30So I'm going to have a look round
0:35:30 > 0:35:35and hopefully shed a little bit more light is on the Sosnowskis.
0:35:42 > 0:35:43Now...
0:35:51 > 0:35:55"Polish soldiers who arrived in Portsmouth from Gdansk
0:35:55 > 0:36:01"aboard the battleship Marianne in 1834."
0:36:01 > 0:36:05And here they're listed. Now, let's have a look down here...
0:36:05 > 0:36:06And here he is.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Josef Sosnowski.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15But then it says "Jazda Krakowska". I don't know.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18Is that the regiment? I don't know.
0:36:18 > 0:36:23Now what were they doing coming here from Gdansk in 1834?
0:36:23 > 0:36:26But there's a further plaque here...
0:36:28 > 0:36:33..which reads, "Lest we forget the kindness shown and the help given
0:36:33 > 0:36:38"by the people of Britain's premier naval port, Portsmouth,
0:36:38 > 0:36:43"to 212 Polish soldiers, members of the first Polish community in Britain,
0:36:43 > 0:36:47"who arrived in Portsmouth in February 1834
0:36:47 > 0:36:53"after having taken part in the November Uprising against Czarist Russian oppression,
0:36:53 > 0:36:59"which took place in Warsaw in 1830 and 1831."
0:37:00 > 0:37:06Well. The plot thickens and the mystery continues.
0:37:12 > 0:37:13It's incredible.
0:37:13 > 0:37:19We've got these 212 Polish soldiers suddenly landing in Portsmouth,
0:37:19 > 0:37:23because of some uprising that occurred in Warsaw.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27Now, what the uprising is about, I haven't a clue. So I am going off
0:37:27 > 0:37:31to jolly old Poland and I'm going to find out.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43Len now wants to know more about Josef's life in Poland
0:37:43 > 0:37:47and his apparent involvement in a struggle against Russia.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49He's come to Warsaw, the capital of Poland,
0:37:49 > 0:37:54and the site of the uprising mentioned on the monument in Portsmouth.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Helping him is historian Hubert Zubowski.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Now, I've learned a little bit about my great-great-grandfather, Josef Sosnowski.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10But I'm hoping you can reveal a little bit more about him, give me a bit of insight
0:38:10 > 0:38:12into what he got up to.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Now, I have...
0:38:14 > 0:38:18Josef's marriage certificate here.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21So here he is,
0:38:21 > 0:38:24but this is another strange thing, of course.
0:38:24 > 0:38:28I know him as Josef, but here he's Wincenty.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32Clearly it was the case was that he had two names.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35He was with baptised Josef and Wincenty.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40And, obviously, used one in one context and one in another
0:38:40 > 0:38:46- and that would explain a lot and make sense of what happened. - Now, was Josef born in Warsaw?
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Do you know which part of Poland he came from?
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Indeed, I have this document here.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Um, which has his name...
0:38:55 > 0:38:59Sosnowski Wincenty. Born in 1804.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03- The year before the Battle of Trafalgar.- That's right. 1804, yes.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07At a village in the Mirkow area.
0:39:07 > 0:39:13- Which is Mirkow?- Yes. Mirkow is just north of Krakow in the south of Poland.
0:39:13 > 0:39:15It's in this part here.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18And this is where he was born in 1804.
0:39:18 > 0:39:22Now, he was born in a very interesting and turbulent period
0:39:22 > 0:39:25of European history and Polish history.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30When Josef was growing up in the early years of the 19th century,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33most of Poland was under Russian rule.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38The Poles under Russian domination were allowed a degree of autonomy
0:39:38 > 0:39:41and were even allowed their own army.
0:39:41 > 0:39:46But discontent with the Russian occupation was growing.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48In November 1830,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52a group of Polish officers took up arms against the Russians in Warsaw,
0:39:52 > 0:39:56while the local population stormed the city's arsenal.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59It marked the start of a ten-month period of fighting
0:39:59 > 0:40:02known as the November Uprising.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06Now, on the memorial back in Portsmouth,
0:40:06 > 0:40:11against Josef Sosnowski's name, there is this other word,
0:40:11 > 0:40:15"Jazda Krakowska."
0:40:15 > 0:40:18Now, is that a person or a place? What is that?
0:40:18 > 0:40:22That in fact means the Krakow horsemen, riders.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25- the Krakow cavalry. - He was a cavalryman?
0:40:25 > 0:40:28- He was a cavalryman. - Oh, Josef!
0:40:28 > 0:40:33Yes, and this is what he would have looked like. They wore these white tunics.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36They were light cavalry. They had a lance, pistols
0:40:36 > 0:40:40and a sword and, what is important to bear in mind about Josef,
0:40:40 > 0:40:43is that this was a very special unit.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46And, most probably, he volunteered for this force.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50- These were not conscripted infantrymen.- Right.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Um, they were one of the best Polish units. They were cavalry,
0:40:54 > 0:40:59committed to the cause of Polish independence,
0:40:59 > 0:41:05very formidable fighters and they were used for very serious work.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10At one point, they provide the personal guard for the Polish Commander-in-Chief.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12- They were used for special missions. - Crack regiment.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17They were, they were and even Russian scholars recognised them
0:41:17 > 0:41:20as having been one of the best Polish units.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22So they were very impressive.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26I'd no doubt that somewhere in my forefathers
0:41:26 > 0:41:31there was someone brave and we've come to him at long last.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37In May 1831, when Josef was 26,
0:41:37 > 0:41:41he took part in the biggest Polish offensive of the November Uprising.
0:41:41 > 0:41:46His cavalry unit was part of a 50,000-strong Polish force
0:41:46 > 0:41:49that attacked an elite division of the Russian army.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53It was a campaign in which Josef excelled.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58This is a list of those Polish soldiers who received
0:41:58 > 0:42:04the military cross, Virtuti Militari, which was Poland's highest military cross.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06Right.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10And it has different categories.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14- There is a gold cross for higher officers and silver and there was an iron cross.- Right.
0:42:14 > 0:42:20Normally, ordinary troopers, if they were brave, they got the iron equivalent,
0:42:20 > 0:42:23but Josef received the silver.
0:42:23 > 0:42:28- Come on!- And he features here, Sosnowski, Wincenty, trooper,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31under the list of srebrny, which is silver.
0:42:31 > 0:42:37For a trooper to be decorated with a silver cross was something very special.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41And, in fact, here is...
0:42:42 > 0:42:48..an example from that period of the Virtuti Militari which he would have received.
0:42:48 > 0:42:49Ah!
0:42:49 > 0:42:53Oh, this is fantastic.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57You know, what makes me feel great is that my great-great-grandfather
0:42:57 > 0:43:01was there at this skirmish and he was only a young man
0:43:01 > 0:43:06and there he is receiving one of the highest decorations you could yet.
0:43:06 > 0:43:07How proud he must've been.
0:43:07 > 0:43:12It's just marvellous. Just to think about it makes me feel proud.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17The action for which Josef won his silver medal was a victory
0:43:17 > 0:43:22for the Polish Army, but, ten days later, their fortunes were to change.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26On the 26 May, 1831, one of the bloodiest battles of the uprising
0:43:26 > 0:43:30took place near the town of Ostralenka.
0:43:30 > 0:43:36Fighting over a bridge on the river, the Polish forces battled for control throughout the day.
0:43:36 > 0:43:41But faced with constant Russian reinforcements, Josef and the other Polish cavalry couldn't hold out
0:43:41 > 0:43:45and were forced to retreat to neighbouring Prussia.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48The November Uprising had failed.
0:43:49 > 0:43:54The question for Josef and the other Polish soldiers, what do you do?
0:43:54 > 0:43:59- Yeah.- Do you surrender to the Russians? They felt that was dishonourable.- Right.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02The alternative was to cross the border into Prussia.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06And what would their fate have been had they surrendered?
0:44:06 > 0:44:09They would have been at the mercy of the Czar and those soldiers
0:44:09 > 0:44:14who did go back were put into the Russian army for 15 years.
0:44:14 > 0:44:20- Some were put in for 25 years and then sent off to wherever the Russian army was fighting.- Right.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25So it was not a pretty fate, not something that they wanted to accept.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28And the Prussians offered an alternative.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32The Polish commander was in touch with a Prussian general
0:44:32 > 0:44:36who, in the name of the King of Prussia, offered shelter
0:44:36 > 0:44:39to the Polish Army, which by then numbered 20,000 men.
0:44:39 > 0:44:47And here we have the original documents from the 4th of October 1831,
0:44:47 > 0:44:53issued by the Polish Commander-in-Chief to the Polish soldiers
0:44:53 > 0:44:58- and this is the message which Josef and his comrades would have heard. - Right.
0:44:58 > 0:45:01We have here the English version of this text.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03So here we have it.
0:45:03 > 0:45:08It's October 4th 1831, and he says "Tomorrow, we leave our homeland
0:45:08 > 0:45:12"and will enter Prussia, that offers us a friendly shelter.
0:45:12 > 0:45:18"In the circumstances so sad, I speak once more to you, dear brothers-in-arms.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22"Let us be worthy of ourselves. Let's leave with dignity
0:45:22 > 0:45:25"and accept the cruel fate that we all share."
0:45:25 > 0:45:30So he's saying don't go out with your tail between your legs, feeling defeated.
0:45:30 > 0:45:35- Let's walk out proudly, and in a soldierly manner.- Indeed.
0:45:35 > 0:45:39That's what they did, with the standards, with all the arms, the drums playing.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41It was not an army in disarray.
0:45:41 > 0:45:42They left with pride.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46- Indeed. That was their role. - Now, there's Josef,
0:45:46 > 0:45:51a proud fighting man, and he's had to leave Poland, his homeland,
0:45:51 > 0:45:53and move into Prussia.
0:45:53 > 0:45:55What does he do?
0:45:56 > 0:46:00The one thing we have to do now of course is to follow him
0:46:00 > 0:46:05into what had been Prussia, to go where he in fact was in Prussia.
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Hubert is now taking Len to a town four hours' drive north of Warsaw
0:46:16 > 0:46:19called Grudziadz, in former Prussia,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22now in modern-day Poland.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28- Well...- It is interesting, yes. - Well, Hubert, this is a place you've brought me to!
0:46:28 > 0:46:33It's a pretty bleak place, I must be honest.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38- It's pretty grim, isn't it? - Grim?!- Absolutely grim. This is fortress of Grudziadz,
0:46:38 > 0:46:42and in November 1831,
0:46:42 > 0:46:47the Russians Czar issued an amnesty, saying that those soldiers
0:46:47 > 0:46:53- who are here in Prussia, the Polish soldiers, can return home.- Right.
0:46:53 > 0:46:58And the Prussians viewed that as an opportunity to get rid of the Polish soldiers.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02They'd outstayed their welcome and this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of them.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06Yeah, they can go back, and so on. And many of them do, most of them eventually go,
0:47:06 > 0:47:11but there was a hard core of those most defiant men,
0:47:11 > 0:47:14like Josef and his unit, the Krakowska regiment,
0:47:14 > 0:47:17the men from that unit, who refused to do that.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20By then, there were only about 1,000 left.
0:47:20 > 0:47:25So we've gone from the best part of 50,000 down to 20,000 crossing the border.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28- Yes.- Now we've got about 1,000. - About 1,000 left.- Yeah.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31And the Prussians put all kinds of pressure on them.
0:47:32 > 0:47:35Now that the Russian Czar had offered the Poles an amnesty,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38allowing them to return to their homeland,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42the Prussian government decided all the Polish soldiers should go back.
0:47:42 > 0:47:48There was a very unpleasant incident which happened at Fischau, not far from here.
0:47:49 > 0:47:54And I've got a picture here which gives you some idea of what happened at Fischau.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58- This is serious stuff.- It is. Yes. It's a French illustration.
0:47:58 > 0:48:02- The text is "the massacre of the Poles at Fischau".- Right.
0:48:02 > 0:48:08- And what you can see here are Prussian soldiers firing on the Polish.- And they're unarmed.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11They had to give up all their weapons when they entered Prussia.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14Indeed, so they are unarmed. They were fired on,
0:48:14 > 0:48:18there were many casualties, deaths and many people were wounded.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22Others were beaten with rifle butts,
0:48:22 > 0:48:29and I have here a very interesting document written by a Polish officer several years later,
0:48:29 > 0:48:30who knew Josef,
0:48:30 > 0:48:34and he wrote an account about what happened to Josef in Fischau.
0:48:34 > 0:48:40- Oh, right.- Here is an English translation of the first part.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42This is fascinating stuff.
0:48:42 > 0:48:46"He headed for Prussia with the Commander-in-Chief Robinski,
0:48:46 > 0:48:48"where he was..." Oh, here we are.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52"..where he was cruelly beaten up with rifle butts
0:48:52 > 0:48:55"by Prussian soldiers, next to the village of Fischau.
0:48:55 > 0:49:01"After that, he was dangerously ill, and had a long stay in..."
0:49:01 > 0:49:05- Grudziadz.- Here? Grudziaz. - Yes. Yes.- Yeah.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10So, he's bashed up and he's brought here to this fort.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13And were they virtual prisoners here, or...?
0:49:13 > 0:49:17Yes, they were prisoners here, and they had to do hard labour.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19Of course, once Josef has recovered from his injuries,
0:49:19 > 0:49:23- but I want to show you where they lived. - Oh, I'd like to see that.
0:49:24 > 0:49:30Josef was held captive with 500 other Polish soldiers here in the fortress of Grudziadz
0:49:30 > 0:49:35for almost 18 months, from July 1832 to November 1833.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Conditions in the winter-time could be particularly brutal.
0:49:41 > 0:49:46It was not uncommon for temperatures to plummet to minus 20 degrees.
0:49:46 > 0:49:52- Len, this is the chamber where 100 men were kept.- 100?
0:49:52 > 0:49:54And there used to be a floor.
0:49:54 > 0:49:5950 men slept upstairs, 50 men slept downstairs.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03There were animals to be kept here. There were chickens and pigs as well.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07It's here that Josef lived for over a year.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11This is where he slept, he ate, you know? This was his home.
0:50:11 > 0:50:17You know, to think that my great-great-grandfather was actually here, living here,
0:50:17 > 0:50:24throughout the winter, freezing cold, it is absolutely incredible.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28But, in a way, it's lovely that I've got this sort of connection,
0:50:28 > 0:50:32that I'm actually in a place where my great-great-grandfather
0:50:32 > 0:50:35had to put up with all these terrible conditions,
0:50:35 > 0:50:40and having to go through all this rather than bow to the will of other people.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44And it somehow brings you a little bit closer to him.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48Eventually, though, the Prussians got fed up with keeping all these men
0:50:48 > 0:50:51and they decided to get rid of them.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55- Right.- And they were put on a ship in Gdansk,
0:50:55 > 0:51:00and they were going to be sent as far away as possible.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02- Portsmouth. - That's what YOU think.
0:51:02 > 0:51:07- Yeah.- But the destination was North America.
0:51:07 > 0:51:13- That is where the ship started to go to.- No! North America?
0:51:13 > 0:51:17- So they were being deported to America.- To America.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Well, what happened? How did they get into Portsmouth?
0:51:20 > 0:51:22This is one of those little quirks of fate.
0:51:22 > 0:51:28There was a storm, and the ship had to seek shelter.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31- The nearest port was Portsmouth. - Well, I never did!
0:51:31 > 0:51:37What is amazing is how history turns on a little bit of fate, you know?
0:51:37 > 0:51:41There's my great-great-grandfather, he's on this ship,
0:51:41 > 0:51:47the Marianne, and he's heading off to North America, and he tops up in Portsmouth,
0:51:47 > 0:51:51and I suppose, eventually, he meets my great-great-grandmother,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55and because of that, here I am, and if that hasn't happened,
0:51:55 > 0:51:59he'd have been gone and everything would have been totally different.
0:51:59 > 0:52:02He was one of 212 men who were on that ship,
0:52:02 > 0:52:07and the documents which will reveal what happens to him after Portsmouth
0:52:07 > 0:52:10are to be found in Paris.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12- In Paris?- Yes, in Paris.
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Paris became the centre of the Polish immigration at that period,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19- and that is where the documents are. - Thank you so much.
0:52:19 > 0:52:21It's just been incredible.
0:52:28 > 0:52:33Len has come to Paris on the final stage of his journey,
0:52:33 > 0:52:37to uncover what happened to Josef Sosnowski after he arrived in Portsmouth in 1834.
0:52:37 > 0:52:43It's here that the detailed records of the Poles who emigrated after the uprising are kept.
0:52:44 > 0:52:49Len is here to meet an expert on Polish emigration, Dr Christophe Marklowitz.
0:52:50 > 0:52:55So my great-great-grandfather, Josef Sosnowski, he's landed in Portsmouth.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58There he is. But I know nothing from there on.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02- That's where the trail goes cold.- OK.
0:53:02 > 0:53:07- You have learned so far that Josef Sosnowski was a very brave man.- Yeah.
0:53:07 > 0:53:12He was also very, very active in political terms,
0:53:12 > 0:53:18and all of this started in Portsmouth in 1835.
0:53:18 > 0:53:23He became a member of Polish Democratic Society.
0:53:23 > 0:53:29- That's the membership list from March 1835.- Right.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31And it was one of the most important organisations
0:53:31 > 0:53:35of the great emigration after the November uprising.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42The Polish Democratic Society in Portsmouth was formed by Josef
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and the other soldiers who'd arrived on the ship, the Marianne.
0:53:45 > 0:53:50The society campaigned to persuade Britain and other European nations
0:53:50 > 0:53:54to back military action to reinstate an independent Poland.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59So, it would appear that he's really proud to be Polish,
0:53:59 > 0:54:01and he wants Poland back,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05and whether it's through fighting or through a political end,
0:54:05 > 0:54:07- that's what he wants to do. - That's right.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Then we have a small gap in the documents.
0:54:10 > 0:54:13- He's certainly moved to London. - Right.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15To eastern London, to be more precise.
0:54:15 > 0:54:21That was the part of London where usually immigrants settled in the 19th century.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26- He married in London...- Right. - ..in 1841.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31So this is a period in his biography when he's less politically active.
0:54:31 > 0:54:36- Family...- Well, he's got married. - Children. That's right. - Kids coming along.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Have we any idea how many children?
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Well, we know that he had a big family,
0:54:42 > 0:54:44and he had at least nine children.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47Oh, right! So, blimey,
0:54:47 > 0:54:51no wonder he had to stop his political workings for a while, to bring them up!
0:54:51 > 0:54:54But he revived his activity.
0:54:54 > 0:55:00In the 1860s, he became a member of the Federation of Polish Immigration,
0:55:00 > 0:55:05- and you can see his name on the list of members.- There he is.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12The Federation of Polish Immigration was a group of exiled Poles living in London.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16Joseph joined the group in the 1860s, and their main goal
0:55:16 > 0:55:19was to bring about an independent Poland.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23Although there was sympathy for the group among ordinary citizens,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26governments across Europe gave them little support.
0:55:26 > 0:55:32The London branch that Josef belonged to became affiliated to Communist organisations in the city.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38What is interesting is the fact that the London branch
0:55:38 > 0:55:44of the Federation of Polish Immigration was affiliated to the First International,
0:55:44 > 0:55:49in which Karl Marx played a pivotal role.
0:55:49 > 0:55:53So Karl Marx was a part of this organisation that Josef was in?
0:55:53 > 0:55:58- That's right. And Josef Sosnowski knew Marx personally at that time. - Right!
0:55:58 > 0:56:01Well, you've got to say, Josef Sosnowski,
0:56:01 > 0:56:06my great-great-grandfather, did have a fantastic life, eh?
0:56:06 > 0:56:11You know, from probably being a farmer and joining the army,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15and chucked into Prussia, moved into Portsmouth
0:56:15 > 0:56:19- and then onto London, it's just an incredible, incredible story. - That's right.
0:56:19 > 0:56:24And the underlying thing is, he was so supportive of Poland,
0:56:24 > 0:56:29whether it was fighting for the country physically
0:56:29 > 0:56:34or politically, he was going to try and see that Poland was restored.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37- Patriotic.- He was a patriot, that's for sure.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46Josef Sosnowski died in 1895 at the age of 91.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50He never went back to Poland,
0:56:50 > 0:56:56and passed away before it was able to regain its independence in 1918.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Len has now returned to Bethnal Green,
0:57:06 > 0:57:11where his grandparents Albert and Louisa lived their whole lives.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15I feel no different, I look no different, I am no different,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19and yet, I'm not what I thought I was.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22I thought I was truly an Anglo-Saxon, English through and through,
0:57:22 > 0:57:29part of the East End for generations and generations, but no. I'm a hotchpotch.
0:57:29 > 0:57:30A bit of this, a bit of that,
0:57:30 > 0:57:36and it's incredible how quickly the blood of your forefathers dilutes.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41My gateway into my past is via my grandparents,
0:57:41 > 0:57:45Albert Eldridge, and Louisa Sosnowski.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47My nan and my grandad.
0:57:47 > 0:57:52And if ever there was an East End family, a Cockney family, it's them.
0:57:52 > 0:57:54They were typical,
0:57:54 > 0:57:58and I just wish they were both still alive
0:57:58 > 0:58:02so I could tell my nan about Josef Sosnowski,
0:58:02 > 0:58:08and my grandad about the weavers and the great forebears that he had.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12I don't know if I've inherited any traits from my ancestors.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16I hope somewhere in me is a little bit of the braveness of Josef Sosnowski,
0:58:16 > 0:58:21and I hope there's a little bit of the hard work from the Eldridges,
0:58:21 > 0:58:25but I know that when it's my turn to go and I pass the baton on to my son James,
0:58:25 > 0:58:30I hope he's proud, as I am, of his forefathers.
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