John Bishop Who Do You Think You Are?


John Bishop

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Comedian John Bishop was born in Liverpool.

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He worked as a sales director for a pharmaceutical company

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before deciding to reinvent himself as a stand-up comic -

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a step that would change his life.

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I tried the session with a personal trainer.

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NEVER get a personal trainer.

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Never. This personal trainer had me doing a thing called lunges.

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This is a lunge.

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Coming to things later in my life has been important because

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it's meant that I have got a sense of perspective, I am very grounded,

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and the family's definitely the mainstay of that.

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Obviously, you know, my whole life has changed dramatically

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in the last five years

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but me relationships, certainly within the family, haven't.

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A temporary break-up with his wife Melanie

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prompted the change of career.

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We'd been married for six or seven years, I think, then we split up.

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So what I ended up doing was, er,

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looking for things to do that I could on me own.

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I went to a comedy club.

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I turned up. The guy said it was an open mic night

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which I didn't even know what that meant,

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but he just said that if you get up you don't have to pay to get in.

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I said, "I can't walk."

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He said, "That's cos you've been exercising muscles

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"you don't normally use."

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I said, "I'm 43, if I don't use them, I don't bloody need them!"

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After that first initial fear of 30 seconds,

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I just thought, "I want to do this again."

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Come here!

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'It was just something that I felt I had to do.

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'I couldn't imagine now how I would feel had I not made that decision.'

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I'm curious to see how far back the family goes

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in terms of its relationship with Liverpool,

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cos it is a port, so we could have come from anywhere.

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I'd be interested to see as well if anybody in my family

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in the past did anything like me, if anybody worked in show business,

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as it was, or if anybody has made those decisions in their life -

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to change their career and move in a different direction.

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What I learnt so far came from being on a quiz show

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and they did a bit of research.

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So far, I know that my dad - his dad worked as a warehouseman.

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And then his father, who would be my great-grandfather,

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Ernest Charles Bishop, worked his way up to be the head waiter

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around the pubs and hotels in Liverpool and Chester.

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My great-great-grandfather Charles Bishop,

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he's down on the Census in 1861 as a Lay Vicar,

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living at the time in Chichester.

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I really find that interesting

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because I don't know what a Lay Vicar is,

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and at some point it would have been him or his son that moved north.

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I think the year of his birth is about 1825

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in Paddington, London.

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Might find out he's a bear!

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So we've got...

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..a Charles Bishop married to Catherine Bishop,

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born about 1825

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and residence in 1861 in Chichester.

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Catherine...

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So this is my great-great-grandmother,

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is from Armagh in Ireland.

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(IRISH ACCENT) Armagh.

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Now that John has Catherine's name, he can search for a marriage record.

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Ernest was born around 1854, so if I look for a marriage certificate

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around about 1852 to '53,

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because we don't stand around in our family!

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Soon as you're married you get knocked up.

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OK.

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So that first one, 1846, no good.

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There's a second one, Charles Bishop, Catherine Evitt,

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married in 1852, Montreal, Quebec.

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That's a long way from Armagh in Ireland.

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John's great-great-grandparents' marriage record reveals

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that Charles Bishop was a Lance Sergeant in the Army

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when he married Catherine in Montreal in Canada.

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So how did he then go from there into the job

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that he's got as a Lay Vicar ten years later?

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So it's an interesting evolution.

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What I'd like to know is when he joined the Army

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and when he left the Army, because that will possibly give me

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an insight into what made him change his life and change his career.

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John has come to London to meet military historian Andy Robertshaw.

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Hello.

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Thanks for seeing me.

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Not at all.

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-Cos I've been doing some research...

-Yeah.

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..into one of my relatives, Charles Bishop.

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And what I found is that he was a Lay Vicar in the Census in 1861.

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-Right.

-But prior to that he was in the Army.

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-Yep.

-And I can't work out what happened in-between.

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Well, what we can do is use this material here.

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These are the quarterly pay lists for an infantry regiment,

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and your relative, Charles Bishop, joins as a boy soldier.

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Um, and, er, there he is.

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And he's being paid at basically fourpence a day,

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not a full rate of pay, because he's actually only 14 years old.

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And he's also only 4 foot 11 inches high.

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Where's the 4 foot 11 inches?

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Well, that's his height. 4 foot 11½ inches tall.

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He's a foot smaller than some.

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Yeah, isn't he?

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When we next find records of him,

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it was getting married in 1852 in Quebec.

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Is there anything that fills in the gap between 1838 and '52?

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Well, by 1841 the regiment's moved to Bermuda.

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Bermuda?

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So he's gone to Bermuda. And look at this one here.

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"To pay at one penny extra from the 30th June."

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Why is he getting a penny extra?

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-"Band."

-Yeah.

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-He's in the band.

-He's in the band.

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He's in the band in Bermuda.

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Yeah. Yeah.

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So what he's done, he's now not just an infantryman,

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he's now in the band.

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And obviously, the music's really important for regiment, ceremonials,

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parades, marching. He's now getting extra pay cos he's in the band.

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Do we know what he played in the band? Have you been able to find that out?

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That's one we don't know.

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We just don't know what he's doing in the band.

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He was in Bermuda, it was probably the triangle! Eh?

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Oh, leave it! What? Come on!

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No, is it that type of show? We're having a giggle.

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It could well be. I don't think it was a steel band, though.

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But then what happens is that it gets better from there,

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because he does so well that by 1849...

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I thought so, he's the lead singer!

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Ah, no.

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He goes to Corporal, OK, in the band, yeah.

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Which, again, is even more money.

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Then the unit then moves round Canada into Ontario

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and eventually up to Montreal.

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And at that point he marries a girl who was the daughter of a soldier.

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He then comes back from Canada, yeah, back to the UK.

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And the last one gives some useful information, abbreviation,

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Sergeant...

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"Leader of the band."

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Yep. He's actually the band Sergeant.

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He is now in charge of the band.

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No longer just a musician, he's the band Sergeant.

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There he is again, 1st July to 30th September,

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but you'll see his name's crossed out in red.

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-"Discharged."

-Yeah.

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"30th September on payment of £5."

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It's the equivalent of today between £8,000 and £10,000.

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He pays the Paymaster to leave the Army.

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So he bought himself out?

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He bought himself out.

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And the critical thing about that is, that he would have been

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entitled within six years to a pension.

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So he's gone...

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But that wouldn't give you more of an incentive to stay in?

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There must have been something that said that it's time to get out now.

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But it's a hell of a risk.

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There must be a reason for that.

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And as to what his wife thought, I don't know.

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She's heavily pregnant on that voyage all the way back.

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So he left the Army...

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Yeah.

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..just when he needed the security most.

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-Yeah.

-And he actually paid the bounty to do that?

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Correct.

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But we don't know why.

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The shock is that he joined the band, but obviously the band

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seemed to be the vehicle to moving forward in the ranks.

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But what I find crazy is that

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he then goes to Canada, marries Catherine,

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comes back to England, has a baby, and then a couple of months later

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pays what would have been a king's ransom to then leave the Army.

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And that's the bit that intrigues me.

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I want to find out more about what would have motivated him

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to make such a massive decision.

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The last information that I know is that in 1861 he was in Chichester,

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so I think the most sensible thing is to go to Chichester and perhaps

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look at church records and try and fill in some gaps in-between.

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John is meeting organist Alan Thurlow, to find out what

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would have brought an Army band leader to Chichester Cathedral.

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What we have here are the Chapter Minutes

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and what we managed to find is October in 1853...

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Would you like to read that?

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"Charles Bishop was admitted as a..."

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Probationer, that's...

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Oh, "probationer for the office of a Lay Vicar of this Cathedral."

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But of course Lay Vicar is a deceptive title.

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It's actually a musical job.

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He came to sing in the choir.

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So that title of a Lay Vicar means that you work within the church

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but you're not necessarily...

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Yes...

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..a religious person.

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One would hope that the people who come and sing in the choir

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-have some feeling for what they're doing...

-Yeah.

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..but the requirement of the job is a musical one,

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and it's quite a dedicated team.

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It's a small team with just six men, two altos, two tenors,

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two basses, and they're making music daily on a very high standard.

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What I'd love to do is, if it's possible,

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is to see where he actually sang.

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Yes, absolutely, that's downstairs in the Cathedral.

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Shall we go down and look at that?

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THEY CHANT EVENSONG

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The Cathedral dates back to the 11th Century,

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and Evensong is still sung daily, as it has been for hundreds of years.

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To be honest, I think that was quite an emotional experience,

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because it wasn't till I heard them sing that you realised

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not only how brilliant they are as singers but how different they are.

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You know, there were six men there with different voices,

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so he would have had to have filled the gap that was available.

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But to actually sit there and listen to the song resonate,

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and I think that he would have been singing it.

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He would have been singing like that.

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I don't know, it's like, it is... You can almost touch it.

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The lady I was sat next to said that there's a saying

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that the walls here have had 900 years of people singing

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and people laughing and people crying.

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And when you sit here it's just your turn to share it.

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And I...

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That's... That's what it felt like.

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It felt like my turn to be in the same place that he was in.

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I mean, the atmosphere in this place is gorgeous

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and I would imagine the difference is that you're a musician first,

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whereas in the Army you're a soldier first who plays music.

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And he's in the band here, you know, that's your job to be a musician.

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That was obviously what he loved doing.

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So I think that gave him that sense of following his own...

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I suppose his own passion, which is really odd

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when I think of me own journey,

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because he came to music relatively late in his Army career.

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He was in the Army for seven years before he appears

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to be in the band, and then he decides to take a big chance

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by leaving the Army to carry on being more of a musician

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than a soldier, which does mirror, to some extent, my own life.

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But there was another side to Charles' musical career.

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Alan is taking John to Chichester's Assembly Room.

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So this would have been the main place for him to come and play?

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Yes.

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It was here that Charles was able to break away from church music

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and make his mark as a popular musician and entertainer.

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The Assembly Room was at the heart of Chichester's lively social life,

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where fashionable society would gather for dances

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and to hear some of the most famous musicians of the day.

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And we know this is the place, for example, um, they had

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balls to celebrate the Battle of Trafalgar

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and the Coronation of William IV.

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It's a great social centre as well as being used for all the concerts.

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But we've got in here some documents,

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some of the concerts that Charles Bishop took part in.

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So shall we just spread those out, if we put ourselves down here.

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And this first one, Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle,

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and if you look here, there is a little bit about the concert and Charles Bishop.

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"There was a concert on Monday night.

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"Not the least pleasing feature of the entertainment was

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"the performance of two songs, on the Cornet-a-Piston,

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"by Mr Charles Bishop, the newly appointed vicar of the Cathedral.

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"The audience was not large but fashionable."

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That's a wonderful end, isn't it?

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I've done loads of gigs where the audience hasn't been large.

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-But fashionable.

-But certainly not been fashionable, either!

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And then there's another one, there's one here.

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The next one is in 1859.

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Oh, "Goodwood races closed, as usual, with a ball,

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"which was given Friday last,

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"in the Assembly Room under the most distinguished patronage.

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"Dancing commenced early and was kept up with spirit until the morning.

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"The entire arrangements were under the superintendence

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"of Mr Charles Bishop, and gave great satisfaction."

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That's rather nice, isn't it?

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Yeah, it's a better review than some of the ones I've had!

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-That is great, that, isn't it?

-Yes.

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But actually, I mean, his reputation might have been slightly wider,

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er, than that, um, because he also composed some music.

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And we've got some copies here of some of the works.

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There's The Watergate Polka, and that's the original size of it.

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"A Lay Vicar of Chichester Cathedral.

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"A professor of the cornet-a-piston."

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But what instrument is this written for?

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This is actually written for the piano.

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Oh, right. I mean, can...can we hear this?

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Do you want to hear a little extract from it?

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Let's move across to the piano.

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So this is just the opening of it.

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It starts with an introduction.

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JOLLY-SOUNDING INTRODUCTION

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And then a kind of theme that comes and goes during the piece.

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And that gives you a kind of flavour.

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It's all sort of dancey type music.

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You can imagine in this room people dancing to that.

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Yes. Yes, indeed.

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In the style of... It's a bit breath-taking,

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-because it's like hearing his voice, hearing his music.

-Yes.

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As you're listening to it,

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it's impossible not to go, # Ding, ding, ding, da-ding, ding. #

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-Yes. Yes.

-Oh, fantastic. That was beautiful.

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-Can I keep that?

-Yes.

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But the surprising thing I think, to us, is he'd moved here, he'd got his

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family and bringing them up here, and then in 1864 he moves away.

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Um, and it's perhaps slightly a mystery because the chapter minutes

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show that he was actually given his notice by the Cathedral. And...

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So he was sacked.

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And there's no reason given at all as to why.

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So we're...we're left wondering, er, what...what happened,

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why did he fall out of favour, and why did he decide to move on?

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Hm.

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Coming here has been fascinating, and to hear the music

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was brilliant, it was something to think that he put it together

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and you could see his name in the corner, Charles Bishop.

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But, like all of this, it's got more questions than answers now,

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because I've filled in that gap of what he did when he came

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here in 1853, but to leave in 1864 and to be given notice...

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Now, I don't know what that notice was served on

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and whether that was something that he wanted to happen,

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whether it was something that they...decided to get rid of him.

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I don't know. And that's the next stage, really, is to try

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and find out what happened next.

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I can't imagine that they would have upped sticks from Chichester.

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As much as anything, the job came with a house, he would have had to

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find a house, he would have had to find some other form of employment.

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Got some newspapers down here as well,

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so I'll just go and get the volume.

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John decides to search local newspapers,

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with the help of archivist Nicola Court.

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I'll just put this out here for you.

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This is the West Sussex Gazette,

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which we might be able to find something out

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about your ancestor in here. Um...

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1865.

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Yeah.

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Oh. "Mr C Bishop, having received the appointment of Lay Vicar

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"in York Cathedral, begs to announce that he will give a farewell

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"concert on Thursday, 3rd August, on which occasion

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"he will be assisted by the Lay Vicars of Chichester Cathedral."

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So that's pretty good, York Cathedral.

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Bit of a step up from Chichester, I would think. Lay Vicar at York Cathedral.

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So...he obviously left Chichester Cathedral on good terms?

0:21:130:21:19

Looks... Well, yeah.

0:21:190:21:21

If the Lay Vicars of Chichester Cathedral are going to do it...

0:21:210:21:24

And the organist, yeah.

0:21:240:21:25

..and he's giving a farewell concert, which means

0:21:250:21:28

-he obviously feels that there's an audience to say farewell to.

-Mm.

0:21:280:21:33

So he's definitely leaving Chichester with his head held high.

0:21:330:21:39

-Definitely.

-Is there any other information that we can look at as to what happened after this bit?

0:21:390:21:44

Obviously, we know now that he went up to York Minster,

0:21:440:21:47

so we could perhaps go and do, er, some searching on the internet and

0:21:470:21:50

try and pick up some newspapers for the York area and see if we can find

0:21:500:21:53

any information about what happened to him after he left Chichester.

0:21:530:21:58

So we know he went to York,

0:21:580:21:59

so it might be worth maybe searching for York Cathedral.

0:21:590:22:03

York Cathedral.

0:22:030:22:05

We know when he left, which was... August 1865, to start from.

0:22:050:22:10

Maybe give it five years, so maybe try to the end of 1869

0:22:100:22:14

or something and see if that...see where that picks up.

0:22:140:22:16

OK, '69.

0:22:160:22:17

"The Freeman's Journal under Published Amusements in Dublin."

0:22:200:22:25

Dublin?

0:22:270:22:28

"The Queen's Minstrels, the accomplished vocalists,

0:22:280:22:32

"dancers, comedians and humorous,

0:22:320:22:35

"beautifully harmonised quartets and choruses, screaming comic acts,

0:22:350:22:40

"grotesque and eccentric dances and comic songs and sayings."

0:22:400:22:45

Minstrel.

0:22:480:22:50

Minstrel!

0:22:500:22:52

These are the...ba, ba, ba... No way.

0:22:520:22:55

I don't believe it.

0:22:570:22:58

And in the bass section we've got "Mr Charles Bishop,

0:22:580:23:03

"Late Bass Profundo of York Minster and Chichester Cathedral."

0:23:030:23:09

Late. Which seems to suggest that he's left York Minster.

0:23:090:23:15

So he's 50, and he's jibbed his job to almost run away

0:23:150:23:22

with the circus to join the minstrels and get on the road.

0:23:220:23:26

Black-faced minstrels first appeared in Britain in the 1830s,

0:23:280:23:32

and were hugely popular until the turn of the century.

0:23:320:23:36

The tradition began in America,

0:23:360:23:39

with white performers blackening their faces with burnt cork.

0:23:390:23:43

But after the Civil War

0:23:430:23:44

several all-black companies toured both Britain and America.

0:23:440:23:49

The minstrel shows drew on Afro-American music,

0:23:490:23:52

as well as European jigs and reels.

0:23:520:23:55

Although the shows caricatured life on the slave plantations, some of

0:23:570:24:01

the traditions came from the slaves making fun of the plantation owners.

0:24:010:24:06

Shows would feature stock comic characters,

0:24:060:24:09

female impersonators and wild novelty acts.

0:24:090:24:14

Oh, hang on, there's more here!

0:24:170:24:20

December 13th, 1867, Theatre Royal, Hull,

0:24:200:24:24

where I've actually gigged.

0:24:240:24:26

Oh, there's another one. "Sam Hague's Minstrels.

0:24:280:24:31

"This clever company of Negro minstrels enters upon

0:24:310:24:35

"the second week of their engagement at St George's Hall."

0:24:350:24:39

I've gigged there as well!

0:24:400:24:42

Wow. "Yesterday evening, there was a very full house."

0:24:430:24:49

There was when I was there! "From first to last, the audience

0:24:490:24:53

"is kept well-entertained." Can't say the same when I was there!

0:24:530:24:56

"And the songs by Mr Charles Bishop

0:24:560:24:59

"and Master Pearson were much applauded.

0:24:590:25:03

"Mr Sam Hague's minstrels are certainly deserving of a visit.

0:25:030:25:08

"They are probably the best as well as the most numerous troupe

0:25:080:25:12

"that has been seen in Bradford."

0:25:120:25:14

Blinking heck, Charlie!

0:25:160:25:18

He is in a travelling minstrels' show!

0:25:190:25:22

This is a man who was a boy soldier, and when he gets to his 50s, thinks,

0:25:220:25:27

"No, I now want to be part of a Negro minstrel group."

0:25:270:25:32

That was it... He got blacked-up and sung on the stage!

0:25:320:25:36

I think that's just unbelievable!

0:25:360:25:39

I wasn't expecting any of that, I've got to be honest with you.

0:25:390:25:42

That's a complete curveball!

0:25:420:25:45

I had this view of Charles Bishop as a stern...

0:25:450:25:49

When we were playing his music and getting a view of his life,

0:25:490:25:54

I almost thought if he walked down the street I would recognise him.

0:25:540:25:58

I wouldn't if he was doing this! Not a chance! I wasn't expecting that!

0:25:580:26:03

Top boy. Well done, Charlie!

0:26:030:26:06

How you lived your life!

0:26:060:26:08

I don't know how I'll explain this to me kids.

0:26:090:26:12

Or me dad!

0:26:140:26:15

John is on his way to St George's Hall in Bradford,

0:26:200:26:24

a theatre where he and his great-great-grandfather,

0:26:240:26:27

Charles Bishop, have both performed.

0:26:270:26:29

The weird thing about coming to Bradford is...

0:26:290:26:34

take the next link in the chain with Charles Bishop's life to find out

0:26:340:26:38

what his life would have been like as this performing minstrel.

0:26:380:26:43

And whether it was a good position to be in.

0:26:430:26:46

I'm looking forward to filling in those gaps, really,

0:26:460:26:50

and just getting a better sense of him as a man.

0:26:500:26:54

This Victorian theatre has changed very little

0:26:540:26:57

since Charles Bishop appeared here in the 1870s.

0:26:570:27:00

I've gigged here and I've loved it.

0:27:010:27:03

Every time I've come, it's just so brilliant.

0:27:030:27:06

This is one of the first big theatres

0:27:060:27:09

when I kind of like made the breakthrough.

0:27:090:27:11

I remember saying to my tour manager,

0:27:110:27:13

"You're not going to beat that for a gig."

0:27:130:27:15

To think that he was there, performing, is just mind-blowing.

0:27:150:27:19

This is dressing room number one in St George's Hall in Bradford.

0:27:210:27:25

So I've sat there, at those seats, prior to going on the stage

0:27:250:27:29

and performing, and, er, for all we know,

0:27:290:27:33

Charles Bishop could have sat there as well, in exactly the same seat.

0:27:330:27:37

The backstage may have changed,

0:27:370:27:40

dressing room one definitely would have been the same.

0:27:400:27:43

But definitely to go from dressing room one to get on the stage,

0:27:430:27:46

you walk straight out that way,

0:27:460:27:48

which is I think where we should go, and follow definitely his footpath.

0:27:480:27:52

Up here.

0:27:540:27:56

There we go. Look at that.

0:28:050:28:09

John is meeting theatre historian Jim Davis.

0:28:110:28:14

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-What a beautiful place.

0:28:140:28:18

Staggering, isn't it?

0:28:190:28:21

So, I believe, Jim, you know a little bit of what

0:28:210:28:25

my great-great-granddad's life as a minstrel might have been like?

0:28:250:28:29

What would the show have been structured like?

0:28:290:28:32

Well, it would have been a good family entertainment evening

0:28:320:28:35

first of all, and it would have been incredibly lively.

0:28:350:28:39

So for Charles Bishop to join a minstrel group,

0:28:390:28:43

he would have definitely had a black face when he was singing?

0:28:430:28:46

Yes. And I've got a picture here which you might be interested in.

0:28:460:28:52

-It's a picture of Sam Hague's Minstrels.

-Oh, right.

0:28:520:28:54

-And I think you can take this book away with you.

-Oh, can I?

0:28:540:28:57

He's probably somewhere in there, within that picture.

0:28:570:29:01

The troupe is represented,

0:29:010:29:02

and he would have been a member of that troupe.

0:29:020:29:05

So that gives you a bit of an idea of...

0:29:050:29:07

That is brilliant! That's better than some of my tour posters!

0:29:070:29:11

-And he's mentioned in the book as well.

-In this book?

0:29:110:29:14

Yes. There we are.

0:29:140:29:16

Ah! OK. In the year 1880... 1880!

0:29:160:29:20

So he was still at it in 1880. He was born in 1825.

0:29:200:29:24

So he's 55 years of age.

0:29:240:29:27

"Charles Bishop, a powerful basso profundo.

0:29:270:29:32

"His favourite battle horse was the old song of

0:29:320:29:36

"Every Bullet Has Its Billet...

0:29:360:29:38

"..who remained with the company for many years."

0:29:400:29:42

So he was still with the company after 1880?

0:29:440:29:47

Sounds like it.

0:29:470:29:49

Would that have been a good career move?

0:29:490:29:51

I think it probably was, actually.

0:29:510:29:54

Er, because people think of minstrels as being, er,

0:29:540:29:57

-rather like music hall performers...

-Yeah.

-..as itinerant performers,

0:29:570:30:02

but the best minstrel troupes in the 19th century,

0:30:020:30:05

the best British minstrel troupes were actually highly respectable.

0:30:050:30:10

They were one of the few forms of popular entertainment

0:30:100:30:13

that clergymen would take their wives and families to.

0:30:130:30:16

-Oh, really?

-Children were taken.

0:30:160:30:18

The better minstrel acts were considered highly respectable,

0:30:180:30:21

and there's no vulgarity, as there was in music hall, in their acts.

0:30:210:30:25

So he's performing to the higher end of society.

0:30:250:30:28

Would that have meant that he was getting well paid?

0:30:280:30:30

I think it would.

0:30:300:30:31

It was probably one of the best ways for anybody with singing talent,

0:30:310:30:35

um, and musical talent to make a living outside the concert hall

0:30:350:30:39

or the opera stage.

0:30:390:30:42

So I suspect it was a much more lucrative profession

0:30:420:30:45

than working for the Church.

0:30:450:30:48

You might also be interested in this picture, which actually shows

0:30:480:30:51

Sam Hague's Minstrels performing in St James' Hall in Liverpool.

0:30:510:30:54

Oh, St James'!

0:30:540:30:56

And Sam Hague's troupe based itself in Liverpool for many years

0:30:560:31:01

in the latter part of the 19th century.

0:31:010:31:04

That may well explain the next stage in my family's heritage.

0:31:040:31:09

That's the thing I've not understood

0:31:090:31:11

all the way through this process.

0:31:110:31:13

I was expecting just to have a long line of...

0:31:130:31:16

of people leading to Liverpool from Ireland

0:31:160:31:19

or...I was not expecting to have a Lay Vicar turned minstrel.

0:31:190:31:25

But the minstrel path is what took him to the city of my birth.

0:31:250:31:29

It was probably a very good place to live in this period.

0:31:300:31:34

It still is.

0:31:340:31:35

Liverpool in the 1880s was one of the wealthiest

0:31:390:31:42

and most important cities in the world.

0:31:420:31:45

As the British Empire's second largest port,

0:31:450:31:47

it was the gateway to America and beyond,

0:31:470:31:49

and had a vibrant entertainment scene to rival London.

0:31:490:31:53

Its theatres drew huge international crowds passing through

0:31:540:31:57

the city, who in turn brought musical influences

0:31:570:32:01

from Italian opera and sailors' sea shanties

0:32:010:32:04

to Irish ballads and Negro spirituals.

0:32:040:32:07

For anyone with a love of music, it was the place to be.

0:32:070:32:10

John knows that Charles Bishop first came here with

0:32:130:32:16

Sam Hague's Minstrels.

0:32:160:32:18

He wants to discover if this was

0:32:180:32:19

when the family put down roots in Liverpool.

0:32:190:32:22

He's come to the Victorian Playhouse Theatre

0:32:220:32:25

to meet local historian Frank Carlyle.

0:32:250:32:28

And I have a couple of play bills, and here they are.

0:32:300:32:34

This was the most-seen show in Liverpool,

0:32:340:32:39

and you had a full orchestra, you had up to 60 chorus people,

0:32:390:32:45

so it was a very spectacular event.

0:32:450:32:48

"Messrs Ferguson and Mack in their Irish eccentricities."

0:32:480:32:54

So they might have been the first Riverdancers.

0:32:540:32:59

-We don't know, do we?

-We'll never know.

0:32:590:33:02

That might have been their Irish eccentricities!

0:33:020:33:05

And also here as well, "Professor Evans

0:33:050:33:07

"and his wonderful performing dogs, goats and monkeys."

0:33:070:33:12

Yeah, well, I'll just show you them, John, they're up at the back here!

0:33:120:33:15

But exactly, this is what kind of a show...

0:33:150:33:19

So it was a proper family show.

0:33:190:33:21

It was family-orientated,

0:33:210:33:23

and everything was geared up to entertain.

0:33:230:33:25

And if you have a look, just there, see?

0:33:250:33:28

Oh. "Bass Song. Rocked In The Cradle Of The Deep, Mr C Bishop.

0:33:280:33:34

"Special attention performance on New Year's Day at 3 o'clock."

0:33:360:33:41

Well, this is it, it was a matinee.

0:33:410:33:42

You know, there was no holidays for these people.

0:33:420:33:45

They must have been absolutely shattered.

0:33:450:33:48

But that's just the way it is.

0:33:480:33:50

It is, though, you're working when everyone else is out,

0:33:500:33:53

-but that's obviously the life he chose.

-Yeah.

0:33:530:33:58

How long was he with Sam Hague's group, do you know?

0:33:580:34:02

Well, he was under contract for 14 years.

0:34:020:34:07

However, by 1882, he actually went to America to tour.

0:34:070:34:13

Touring?

0:34:130:34:14

Touring in America in 1882.

0:34:140:34:16

John has come to Liverpool Library to see

0:34:180:34:20

if he can find any information about Charles' American tour

0:34:200:34:23

and whether he then settled in Liverpool.

0:34:230:34:25

Roger. John Bishop.

0:34:250:34:27

He's being helped by researcher Roger Hull.

0:34:270:34:30

New York passenger list.

0:34:390:34:42

Charles Bishop,

0:34:420:34:43

arrival date into New York was the 12th September, 1882.

0:34:430:34:48

He was aged 57.

0:34:480:34:50

These are some reviews of the minstrel company in America.

0:34:510:34:55

-Hague's?

-Yeah.

0:34:550:34:57

"British Operatic Minstrels opened a week's engagement last night.

0:34:570:35:01

"The entertainment furnished by this company is somewhat

0:35:010:35:04

"different from that which is usually given by minstrel troupes

0:35:040:35:07

"and free from jokes of a questionable character."

0:35:070:35:12

Questionable character!

0:35:120:35:14

"The music is of good order." That's good!

0:35:140:35:16

"And the solos are well rendered.

0:35:160:35:18

"And in the choruses the voices blend harmoniously."

0:35:180:35:22

So he was over there as one of the singers with the Americans,

0:35:220:35:26

in New York.

0:35:260:35:29

Big Charlie went to break America.

0:35:290:35:32

Top lad.

0:35:320:35:33

Finally, we've got his obituary here in another paper.

0:35:350:35:38

He obviously had an interesting life,

0:35:400:35:43

so I'll leave you to read through that.

0:35:430:35:45

-All right, thank you.

-Bye.

-Thanks a lot, Roger.

0:35:450:35:48

He was 74, and he was obviously very well-respected.

0:35:500:35:55

"General regret amongst a large circle will be created

0:35:550:35:59

"by the announcement of the death in Liverpool,"

0:35:590:36:02

so he came back from America,

0:36:020:36:05

"the death in Liverpool of Mr Charles Bishop,

0:36:050:36:07

"long and honourably identified with music in various phases

0:36:070:36:11

"as a bass singer of considerable power.

0:36:110:36:15

"Latterly, he settled in Liverpool and has been a welcome guest

0:36:150:36:19

"at musical gatherings besides being attached to the choirs

0:36:190:36:22

"of St Margaret's and St Dustin's churches."

0:36:220:36:25

Yeah.

0:36:290:36:30

He had a good life.

0:36:320:36:34

John is on his way to the Great Western docks,

0:36:370:36:41

where Charles would have travelled from.

0:36:410:36:44

Performing was the big thing that he was after and also what's

0:36:440:36:48

great for me is the fact that he was doing it in his advanced years.

0:36:480:36:52

You know, I came to my life, this life late,

0:36:520:36:55

and I always wondered how long my career would be,

0:36:550:37:00

but it's nice to think that when he was in his 60s he was still at it.

0:37:000:37:04

I've got a real sense for him now as an adventurous bloke

0:37:040:37:07

and fun-loving.

0:37:070:37:10

You've got to say he had... he had something about him,

0:37:130:37:15

that definitely I can relate to. Definitely.

0:37:150:37:19

I always thought I was the first person in our family

0:37:190:37:21

to go into show business, and I clearly wasn't.

0:37:210:37:25

And to be fair, you know, I didn't...I haven't done it

0:37:250:37:28

as long as he's done it and to the level that he's done it.

0:37:280:37:31

I think that's been an education.

0:37:310:37:33

That's opened the doors to me.

0:37:330:37:35

Because it's made me think that, yeah,

0:37:350:37:37

that feeling that I get on the stage of thinking, this is where I was

0:37:370:37:40

meant to be, was obviously exactly the same feeling that Charles got.

0:37:400:37:44

And that's why he kept on changing his path to follow his dreams,

0:37:440:37:47

which is brilliant.

0:37:470:37:49

I wish I'd have met him. I think we could have had a laugh.

0:37:490:37:54

Now I know why Charlie brought the family to Liverpool.

0:37:540:37:57

I know that his kids then stayed, particularly my dad's granddad,

0:37:570:38:01

Ernest, he was the one who really established them in Liverpool.

0:38:010:38:04

What I don't know is my dad's grandmother, Ernest's wife,

0:38:040:38:08

I don't know what the link is there and what the Scouse connection is.

0:38:080:38:11

And that's the next stage of the journey, really, trying to tie that up.

0:38:110:38:14

John is now interested in looking at the other side of his father's

0:38:150:38:19

family and finding out where his great-grandmother,

0:38:190:38:22

Elizabeth Beaton, came from.

0:38:220:38:24

He returns to London to meet Roy Stockdill

0:38:280:38:31

at the Society of Genealogists.

0:38:310:38:33

We've got here the birth certificate of your great-grandmother,

0:38:370:38:41

Elizabeth Beaton.

0:38:410:38:43

I think you'll find it interesting, so I want you to have a look at it.

0:38:430:38:46

And if there's anything you'd like to ask me about it,

0:38:460:38:49

-I'd be delighted to see if I can help you.

-OK.

0:38:490:38:53

She was born in 1862, Landport, Southampton.

0:38:530:38:57

Mother's name's Elizabeth. Thomas Beaton was her father.

0:38:570:39:00

I'm trying to find out what brought her to Liverpool.

0:39:000:39:07

Well, bearing in mind that her father was in the Navy,

0:39:070:39:11

there is a possibility that Portsmouth was a huge naval base

0:39:110:39:15

and Liverpool was a port as well, maybe that's where the connection is.

0:39:150:39:19

Can you explain what this says here?

0:39:190:39:21

-Ah, that is her father's occupation.

-Occupation.

0:39:210:39:25

-He was a stoker on Her Majesty's Ship Pigmy.

-Oh.

0:39:250:39:29

What would I do if I want to get some further research?

0:39:290:39:32

Well, I think possibly what you need to do is go online,

0:39:320:39:35

look at various websites that have the, you know, naval records,

0:39:350:39:39

Royal Naval records, and see if you can find him in those.

0:39:390:39:43

Ah, there he is.

0:39:500:39:52

Thomas Beaton.

0:39:530:39:55

"We've examined the before-mentioned boy as to

0:39:550:39:59

"his fitness for Her Majesty's Navy.

0:39:590:40:02

"He is a well-grown, stout lad of perfectly sound

0:40:020:40:07

"and healthy constitution and intelligent,

0:40:070:40:11

"and we consider him fit in all respects."

0:40:110:40:15

John has discovered that, as Charles Bishop had joined the Army as a boy soldier,

0:40:150:40:19

Thomas Beaton also joined the Navy young, when he was just 17.

0:40:190:40:23

Look at that. Look at that.

0:40:240:40:28

That's his mark.

0:40:280:40:29

Oh! He received a medal, a Crimea Medal.

0:40:330:40:39

He was in the Crimean War serving on a ship called "Harpy".

0:40:390:40:44

Medal was delivered on board to Thomas Beaton.

0:40:440:40:47

Don't know what it says he's got the medal for.

0:40:470:40:50

Mm.

0:40:500:40:52

Well, it looks here that on this ship,

0:40:550:41:00

on the Tiger,

0:41:000:41:02

he was court-martialled for something.

0:41:020:41:06

April '55 is the date of the court martial.

0:41:060:41:11

He's on a ship called Tiger

0:41:120:41:14

and then he has a court martial for which he goes to prison.

0:41:140:41:19

But why?

0:41:190:41:21

That'll be worth looking into.

0:41:210:41:23

What I find quite interesting with these two stories is Charles

0:41:260:41:32

went into the army at 14

0:41:320:41:35

and seems to have worked through the ranks and is clearly,

0:41:350:41:39

by the time he's an adult man, he's educated.

0:41:390:41:42

Thomas signs with an X, so to me it appears that he was

0:41:420:41:48

a man of little choices or didn't feel he had any choices.

0:41:480:41:51

But that's a story to find, isn't it?

0:41:510:41:54

John has come to Portsmouth to meet naval historian Andrew Lambert on board HMS Warrior.

0:41:570:42:03

He hopes to find out more about Thomas' life as a stoker in the Victorian Navy.

0:42:030:42:08

-Ah, Andrew.

-John.

-Hiya.

-Good to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

0:42:100:42:14

-Thank you. Lovely ship.

-Yeah, it's magnificent.

0:42:140:42:17

So I wanted to meet you because I'm looking into my great-great-granddad, Thomas Beaton.

0:42:170:42:21

I've got some of his service records.

0:42:210:42:24

The thing that stood out to me, really, he's got a court martial

0:42:240:42:29

and then spends a period of time in prison.

0:42:290:42:31

So I wanted to try and understand what had gone on there

0:42:310:42:34

and also, really, what his life would have been like on a ship,

0:42:340:42:38

cos he's listed down as being a stoker.

0:42:380:42:40

I mean, my impression, in all honestly, is he's joined the Navy

0:42:400:42:45

because he didn't have much else to do in terms of options.

0:42:450:42:49

Is that a fair assessment, or was joining the Navy a good...

0:42:490:42:52

a good opportunity for somebody?

0:42:520:42:54

This is going to be a really aspirational thing to do.

0:42:540:42:57

First of all, it's going to teach him to be a sailor, then it

0:42:570:42:59

teaches him to be a stoker, which is a skilled and very demanding job.

0:42:590:43:03

To be a working-class man in the mid-19th century,

0:43:030:43:05

a skilled man in the Royal Navy, is about as high as you'll get.

0:43:050:43:09

This ship, it really sums the whole thing up.

0:43:090:43:11

This is a ship that he would have seen during his service career.

0:43:110:43:14

-We can go below and have a look at where they live.

-Oh, brilliant, yeah.

0:43:140:43:18

Thank you.

0:43:180:43:19

So we're going down now into the stokehold,

0:43:210:43:25

and when Thomas comes on duty, coming down this way,

0:43:250:43:28

he'd have found that the heat would be rising up from the engines.

0:43:280:43:31

You've got a huge amount of coal being burned.

0:43:310:43:33

Why would you pick to do this, then,

0:43:330:43:35

cos this seems like the most grimmest job on the ship?

0:43:350:43:39

-Extra money, shorter shifts, it's got potential.

-Oh.

0:43:390:43:43

And here we are. This is the stokehold.

0:43:430:43:46

-Wow!

-The sheer scale of it, you know, you've got ten boilers,

0:43:460:43:50

six in this boiler room, four in the back boiler room,

0:43:500:43:53

each of them with two fronts, and they're using so much coal

0:43:530:43:57

they need these mechanical hoists to get the coal out of the bunkers

0:43:570:44:00

fast enough for the stokers to ram it into the stokehold.

0:44:000:44:04

Working the ship's engines was intensive and back-breaking work,

0:44:040:44:09

shovelling coal in stifling heat for hours at a time,

0:44:090:44:13

and with the risk of serious burns.

0:44:130:44:15

There was no ventilation in the stokeholds, and the temperature

0:44:160:44:20

of the furnaces could soar to 100 degrees, causing men to pass out.

0:44:200:44:24

But coal-fired steam propulsion gave the Royal Navy's warships a military advantage.

0:44:250:44:30

No longer dependent on prevailing winds, they could now take

0:44:300:44:34

direct routes with increased speed and manoeuvrability.

0:44:340:44:37

Stokers like Thomas were at the heart of this new technology.

0:44:370:44:42

So how many men would work in a space like this?

0:44:450:44:49

40 men, stoking.

0:44:490:44:51

And stoking's basically shovelling coal in?

0:44:510:44:55

It's a combination of getting the coal in there

0:44:550:44:57

and then making sure it burns efficiently.

0:44:570:44:59

So you've got this huge grate area here

0:44:590:45:02

and the air is coming in the bottom, it's going through the coal

0:45:020:45:05

and the hot air is then heating the water up here.

0:45:050:45:08

So this is your boiler, this is very hot.

0:45:080:45:10

You don't want to be touching this when the boiler's running.

0:45:100:45:13

It's about 120 degrees Fahrenheit down here

0:45:130:45:15

when everything is running at full speed.

0:45:150:45:17

-I'm going to do what me great-great-granddad did?

-Yeah, absolutely.

0:45:170:45:20

-I mean, just doing that...

-Yeah.

0:45:260:45:28

-How long would he be down here doing this?

-Shift, four hours.

-It's a hell of a workout, innit?

0:45:310:45:36

So for Thomas and making that decision to be a stoker,

0:45:380:45:42

and to join the Navy, has it been a positive step up?

0:45:420:45:45

Yeah, absolutely. He's joined the most important military organisation in the world

0:45:450:45:50

and he's made a choice to move from being a sailor, old technology,

0:45:500:45:53

to being a stoker, new technology. So he's...he's going with the flow.

0:45:530:45:57

But then I've still got this... this blip on his career

0:45:570:46:01

when he's had this court martial and put in prison.

0:46:010:46:03

Have you got any... any explanation for that?

0:46:030:46:06

Um, I think there's a good place we can look

0:46:060:46:08

and we might be able to get to the bottom of that,

0:46:080:46:11

because the Navy's pretty good at keeping records.

0:46:110:46:13

-So we'd better head for the library.

-Oh, OK.

0:46:130:46:15

Shall I turn the fire off?

0:46:180:46:19

So, this is the Crimea at the time of the Crimean War,

0:46:230:46:28

and while it's called the Crimean War, it only actually

0:46:280:46:31

happened down here, this little bit around the Naval base at Sevastopol.

0:46:310:46:35

In 1854, the Crimean War began when Britain and France

0:46:350:46:40

declared war on Russia in an attempt to hold back Russian expansion.

0:46:400:46:44

Thomas Beaton was serving at the time on HMS Tiger,

0:46:460:46:49

one of the ships sent as part of the mission to capture Russian ports in the Black Sea.

0:46:490:46:55

But things did not go according to plan.

0:46:550:46:59

The Tiger, with two other ships,

0:46:590:47:01

had been sent from the fleet to put a blockade on Odessa.

0:47:010:47:06

Now, I think things start to go badly wrong when they get here.

0:47:060:47:10

-Why?

-Why?

0:47:100:47:12

The ship was lost.

0:47:120:47:15

So our man is in a major naval disaster, he's in a shipwreck.

0:47:150:47:21

They'd run aground in a thick fog, they were under a high cliff

0:47:210:47:24

so they're in a very bad position, they could be fired down on

0:47:240:47:27

and they desperately needed to get off that beach as soon as possible.

0:47:270:47:30

But the problem is the Russians are going to be along pretty soon

0:47:300:47:34

and critically, um, this is the account of Alfred Royer,

0:47:340:47:39

he was the senior surviving officer of the ship.

0:47:390:47:41

And you can see here.

0:47:410:47:45

"A small boat with two oars pulled across our bows,

0:47:450:47:48

"close along shore towards the city, evidently intent upon giving

0:47:480:47:52

"notice of the catastrophe, while just above, on the cliff,

0:47:520:47:56

"through the slowly disappearing fog, we could discover

0:47:560:47:58

"the well-known figure of a Cossack on horseback..." What an image!

0:47:580:48:03

"..with long lance in hand, galloping off to announce the news

0:48:030:48:07

"to his superiors of the grounding of a steamer on the coast."

0:48:070:48:11

"To increase, if possible, the interest of the scene,

0:48:110:48:15

"we could discern two ladies with pink parasols,

0:48:150:48:18

"promenading in their garden, which reached the edge of the cliff."

0:48:180:48:22

What an image!

0:48:220:48:24

I mean, that just gives you such a...

0:48:240:48:26

such a sense of what was going on.

0:48:260:48:29

This idea of a Cossack with a lance in hand who just happened

0:48:290:48:32

to be riding around, and there's ladies with pink parasols,

0:48:320:48:35

whilst downstairs Thomas would have been

0:48:350:48:40

working his socks off along with everybody else

0:48:400:48:43

-under the constant threat that they'd have been targeted.

-Yep.

0:48:430:48:48

And then we've got a contemporary Illustrated London News recap of the scene.

0:48:490:48:55

Here's the Tiger, hard aground under the cliff.

0:48:550:48:58

This is probably the house of the garden of the ladies with the famous pink parasols.

0:48:580:49:03

The Russians brought up an artillery battery onto the cliffs,

0:49:030:49:06

they opened fire and before the sailors on the ship could

0:49:060:49:10

get the ship off the ground and away, the ship was badly damaged.

0:49:100:49:14

The captain was mortally wounded, several other men were killed

0:49:140:49:17

and they had to lower their colours and surrender.

0:49:170:49:19

Why would being in a shipwreck mean that you get a court martial?

0:49:190:49:24

In the Navy, if you lose your ship, you have to account for it.

0:49:240:49:28

A court martial is a standard procedure at which the survivors

0:49:280:49:32

of any shipwreck have to account for the loss of their ship.

0:49:320:49:36

So let's just have a look. So...

0:49:360:49:37

"The rest of the crew, about 200 in number, remained prisoners

0:49:370:49:41

"and taken to Odessa, where they were treated with great respect."

0:49:410:49:45

News accounts of the time tell a dramatic story.

0:49:450:49:48

Captured, and then released in exchange for Russian prisoners,

0:49:480:49:53

Thomas was still facing court martial

0:49:530:49:55

when he was ordered into the Naval Brigade.

0:49:550:49:57

These brigades were detachments of sailors who supported the army on land.

0:49:570:50:01

Thomas found himself in the middle

0:50:010:50:04

of one of the most notorious battles of the 19th century.

0:50:040:50:09

So what we've got here is the French forces in blue,

0:50:090:50:12

the British forces in red, and in the middle of the British position

0:50:120:50:16

is the sailors' camp.

0:50:160:50:18

So our man is now at the siege of Sevastopol.

0:50:180:50:22

He's in the sailors' camp, he's building batteries and he's

0:50:220:50:25

helping to man and fire heavy artillery, bombarding Sevastopol.

0:50:250:50:29

So it's a big camp. It's not just a couple of them, is it?

0:50:290:50:32

Well over a thousand men, about 1,400 men at most.

0:50:320:50:34

And were they regarded as making a valuable contribution?

0:50:340:50:38

The Naval Brigade was absolutely essential to the siege of Sevastopol.

0:50:380:50:41

Without their guns, without their skills and their fire power,

0:50:410:50:44

Sevastopol would not have been taken.

0:50:440:50:47

So he sees all of this through from the autumn of 1854

0:50:470:50:51

to the late spring of 1855.

0:50:510:50:54

It's just a critical phase with the Crimean War.

0:50:540:50:56

-And it was for this period that he received his medal?

-Yeah.

0:50:560:51:01

-So you've been effectively a prisoner of war...

-Yeah.

0:51:010:51:04

..released, you come and then spend the year fighting the enemy,

0:51:040:51:11

laying siege, winning, but then when you sail home

0:51:110:51:16

you face a court martial for losing the ship.

0:51:160:51:19

And the court martial is held in Portsmouth.

0:51:190:51:22

That's a nice return, isn't it?

0:51:230:51:26

It seems a little bit harsh.

0:51:260:51:28

It's quite interesting, really, because what today's taught me

0:51:310:51:34

is that Thomas was serving on a ship and, through no fault of his own,

0:51:340:51:38

it would appear the ship ran aground.

0:51:380:51:40

He ends up being a prisoner of war and then ends up in the...

0:51:400:51:45

in the Naval Brigade, fighting the war in the Crimea,

0:51:450:51:49

which I didn't actually even know that the Navy did that.

0:51:490:51:53

So, he was amongst a thousand men in a significant siege.

0:51:530:51:57

And it just gives you a sense that that commitment that they made

0:51:570:52:02

when they joined the Forces was...was total.

0:52:020:52:04

What I, as yet, don't understand is what actually happened during the court martial.

0:52:040:52:10

Because by all the reports and all accounts

0:52:100:52:13

him and the others stokers performed well.

0:52:130:52:16

John is on his way to meet Portsmouth curator Matthew Sheldon on board HMS Victory,

0:52:180:52:25

Admiral Nelson's famous flagship from the Battle of Trafalgar.

0:52:250:52:29

It has also played its part in Thomas Beaton's story.

0:52:290:52:32

Matthew. Thanks for seeing me.

0:52:360:52:38

-John, welcome aboard HMS Victory.

-Thank you.

0:52:380:52:40

We have here, um, a document that shows that he was on board.

0:52:400:52:44

Thomas Beaton, stoker, and he's here with lots of his mess mates,

0:52:440:52:47

awaiting trial by court martial for the loss of HMS Tiger.

0:52:470:52:52

So I thought perhaps I'd show you where he would have lived while he was on board.

0:52:520:52:55

-Yeah, if you could, please.

-If we go on down...

0:52:550:52:58

-Impressive ship, isn't it?

-It is fantastic.

0:52:580:53:01

Three full gun decks, and he was on the lower gun deck.

0:53:010:53:03

So I have to take you all the way down.

0:53:030:53:06

How many people would live on here?

0:53:060:53:08

-It would have been about 800 people on here.

-Oof!

0:53:080:53:11

Absolutely crammed in.

0:53:110:53:13

-So this is... would have been his quarters?

-Yeah.

0:53:140:53:18

This is the lower gun deck, this is basically where the men ate

0:53:180:53:23

and slept and lived on board.

0:53:230:53:24

How many would have been here when he was here?

0:53:240:53:27

So he'd have been here with about 300 to 400 men.

0:53:270:53:29

-400 men?

-Yeah.

0:53:290:53:32

You got, I think, 14 inches to sling your hammock and you had to

0:53:320:53:35

do everything here - you had to eat, you had to do your washing,

0:53:350:53:38

get up at six in the morning, get to work, clean the decks.

0:53:380:53:42

And so, in terms of his life here, how long was he here?

0:53:440:53:47

He was here for six weeks.

0:53:470:53:49

Six weeks, and this is all waiting for this court martial?

0:53:490:53:52

It is, yeah.

0:53:520:53:54

-So, what is this?

-This is a great cabin.

0:53:540:53:59

This is where the court martial would have taken place.

0:53:590:54:02

I mean, this was the quarters of Nelson when he was on board.

0:54:020:54:06

So they would have been brought in here.

0:54:060:54:08

Presumably this would be the first time they'd seen anything like this?

0:54:080:54:12

-Yeah, this was the most formal, most important part of the ship.

-It's impressive, innit?

0:54:120:54:15

Yeah, it is. Um, it was literally a court.

0:54:150:54:18

You'd have had about ten captains all assembled

0:54:180:54:21

and formal charges would have been read and so on.

0:54:210:54:24

But this is the thing for me that I can't get my head around -

0:54:240:54:27

he's a stoker, I can't understand why he's getting court-martialled

0:54:270:54:31

for something that's completely beyond his control.

0:54:310:54:33

He wasn't deciding the direction of the ship, so why is he getting a court martial?

0:54:330:54:37

You had to inquire into what happened

0:54:370:54:39

so that he might have known some details of what happened.

0:54:390:54:42

But the people who were really responsible were the master,

0:54:420:54:45

who had to navigate, and the lieutenant.

0:54:450:54:48

So fairly quickly the court decide

0:54:480:54:50

that no blame was imputable to any of the prisoners.

0:54:500:54:54

So Thomas is acquitted.

0:54:540:54:56

The other thing that doesn't make sense to me then

0:54:560:54:59

-is on his service records it's got listed that he was in prison.

-Mm-hmm.

0:54:590:55:03

But not for this?

0:55:030:55:05

Not for this incident. For something that he alone did.

0:55:050:55:08

Um, and we've got some documents that will show us exactly what he got up to.

0:55:080:55:13

We've got him here, Thomas Beaton.

0:55:170:55:19

And this is a time when he's gone back out to the Mediterranean

0:55:190:55:24

on a merchant ship,

0:55:240:55:26

and we can see here he spends a period in Corradino Prison.

0:55:260:55:30

Where's that?

0:55:300:55:32

It is actually out in Malta, which was the headquarters of the fleet.

0:55:320:55:37

This is Malta at the date that he was there.

0:55:370:55:41

Oh! Oh, it's a proper picture.

0:55:410:55:43

Pull it all the way out.

0:55:430:55:46

Wow!

0:55:460:55:48

You can see this is called "Ricasoli to Corradino",

0:55:480:55:51

so right at the far side here is Corradino.

0:55:510:55:55

And that's where they built the prison.

0:55:550:55:58

Do we know why he was in prison?

0:55:580:55:59

What's most likely is, it's just when he's gone out to Malta,

0:55:590:56:04

and he probably was distracted by the delights of a run ashore.

0:56:040:56:08

Went ashore in Malta, maybe had too much to drink

0:56:090:56:12

and then was days late reporting back.

0:56:120:56:15

And the captain can award up to 28 days, and he does that,

0:56:150:56:19

and he then spends his time in this prison.

0:56:190:56:22

So did this have a detrimental effect on his career, then?

0:56:220:56:25

Cos I know that he stayed in for a long time afterwards.

0:56:250:56:27

Yeah. I don't think it did.

0:56:270:56:29

We've got his latest service career here

0:56:290:56:32

and he's serving on the Victoria and Albert.

0:56:320:56:34

And, as that sounds, it was the Royal yacht.

0:56:340:56:36

-Oh.

-Still a stoker.

0:56:360:56:39

She's a paddle ship, you can see, she had engines on board,

0:56:390:56:42

but a very smart vessel.

0:56:420:56:44

Well, that's a surprise.

0:56:440:56:46

And the kind of turnout of the crew was really important.

0:56:460:56:49

So you have an image here of what the crew looked like.

0:56:490:56:52

They're in really quite smart gear.

0:56:520:56:54

-Yeah.

-You know, they have kind of square rig whites as it were.

0:56:540:56:59

I don't think we've got Thomas in the picture here,

0:56:590:57:01

but this is absolutely the same date as this ship was being sailed.

0:57:010:57:05

We know that the date that he was on board, September 1868,

0:57:050:57:09

Queen Victoria and her family actually do come on board.

0:57:090:57:12

That's fantastic.

0:57:120:57:14

-So he finished at the top.

-Mm.

0:57:150:57:19

Well done, Tommy!

0:57:190:57:20

It's been an interesting journey, because I started off

0:57:210:57:25

wanting to find out where our family link with Liverpool came,

0:57:250:57:29

and that obviously came via Charles Bishop going there in his career as an entertainer.

0:57:290:57:34

And then if you look at both men, Thomas and Charles,

0:57:340:57:40

living as they did in the 1840s, '50s and '60s

0:57:400:57:42

when there was lots of changes going on in society,

0:57:420:57:45

and they basically had a better life than what was allotted to them.

0:57:450:57:49

They both became educated by joining the Forces,

0:57:490:57:52

they were both at the top of their game.

0:57:520:57:54

I mean, the fact that Thomas served on the Royal yacht,

0:57:540:57:57

he couldn't have got a better job.

0:57:570:57:59

And from Charles' point of view, he followed his dream,

0:57:590:58:03

he found his love of music, he then developed that into a career

0:58:030:58:06

as a Lay Vicar, and to be good enough to then tour in America.

0:58:060:58:12

You know, the lesson I've learned from it is it doesn't matter

0:58:120:58:14

where you're from, what matters is to make the most of your life.

0:58:140:58:17

None of us are here forever, so you've just got to try and be the best that you can,

0:58:170:58:21

and I think in their case they both definitely did it.

0:58:210:58:24

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