0:00:08 > 0:00:11I love Coronation Street and I love working.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13Many people say when are you going to retire?
0:00:13 > 0:00:15I just say that's not an option.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Eighty-year-old actor William Roache
0:00:18 > 0:00:22has been on British television screens almost continually
0:00:22 > 0:00:26for over 50 years in his role as Ken Barlow in Coronation Street.
0:00:30 > 0:00:32I don't think you understand, Ken.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35I want you to walk out of that door and out of our lives.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37He is now the world's longest-serving actor
0:00:37 > 0:00:39in a drama serial.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41- Hi, Bill. - Hello.
0:00:41 > 0:00:42How's it going?
0:00:42 > 0:00:47'I never expected fame, nor did I go into it to be famous.'
0:00:47 > 0:00:50So, the usual full make-up.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54I just wanted to be a good actor and I wanted work, I wanted to work.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56The strength and determination, if I got it from anybody,
0:00:56 > 0:00:59I got it from my mother.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04She's a lovely person, my mother, but she had a tough childhood.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Her father, Albert, drank.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11And she hated her father, she just hated him.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15But her mother, my grandmother, was a lovely person. She was called Zillah.
0:01:15 > 0:01:21All I remember of her was a very lovely, kind, wonderful woman.
0:01:21 > 0:01:22'Loved to have known her better.'
0:01:22 > 0:01:25I would love to know more about her background.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02My mother's name was Hester Vera, but we called her Essie.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07She wasn't a tactile loving mother, but I knew she loved me,
0:02:07 > 0:02:09and cared for me and would look after me.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13She talked very little about her own childhood.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Only when things would crop up and I could piece things together.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20But she wouldn't deliberately talk about the past at all.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32To discover more about his mother Hester's childhood,
0:02:32 > 0:02:33and to find out about
0:02:33 > 0:02:35his grandparents Albert
0:02:35 > 0:02:36and Zillah Waddicor,
0:02:36 > 0:02:37Bill is travelling back
0:02:37 > 0:02:40to the area where he grew up.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48I'm coming back to my roots, as it were, in Derbyshire,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52to visit Peggy, the widow of my cousin Geoffrey.
0:02:52 > 0:02:53Who knows what she has there.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59I certainly have no pictures of my grandparents
0:02:59 > 0:03:03on my mother's side, Zillah and Albert. None at all.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Bill's cousin Geoffrey died two years ago.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16He left an archive of family material with his widow, Peggy.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20Hello, Bill!
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Peggy. Lovely to see you.
0:03:22 > 0:03:23Come in, love.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24Ah!
0:03:24 > 0:03:25It's a long time since I saw you.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27- It is, isn't it? But lovely to see you.- Yes.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Thank you.
0:03:32 > 0:03:33Now, Bill, there's...
0:03:33 > 0:03:34Ah, is that Zillah and Albert?
0:03:34 > 0:03:36And Albert.
0:03:36 > 0:03:37- Wow.- Yes.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42Now, this is the first picture I have ever seen of Zillah and Albert.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44Look at Albert as a young man.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46- Yes, they were handsome. - Very dashing.- Yeah.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48I remember him as an old man,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51but I never remember having a conversation with him.
0:03:51 > 0:03:52Mmm.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54You get the feeling his daughters didn't like him.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56I know my mother didn't like him at all.
0:03:56 > 0:03:58Never heard anything mentioned at all about him.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00No, they didn't talk about him.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04There were certainly no loving comments ever, anything at all.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07- He wasn't a doting father, was he? - No. No, he wasn't.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10- Now then. - Isn't that a lovely photo?
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Oh, it's a beautiful picture. The three daughters.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Yeah.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Flo, my mother Essie and May.
0:04:17 > 0:04:18Yes, that's right.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21I've never seen a picture of them together like that.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26You know, it's marvellous to see my mother as a young girl, almost.
0:04:26 > 0:04:27Yes.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30- Cos my mother was the youngest, wasn't she?- Yes.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32I don't know if you ever heard, Peggy, but I heard there was
0:04:32 > 0:04:36something - one of the sisters was not the full child.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38I have a feeling it was Auntie May.
0:04:38 > 0:04:40No, I didn't hear that.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43No. There's no evidence of this and I can't remember the detail. Who knows?
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Now, this is lovely.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48- That's an interesting one, isn't it? - Mmm.
0:04:49 > 0:04:50Is that Albert? He looks like Albert.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53He does.
0:04:53 > 0:04:54So that must be Albert's father.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Yes.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59But he looks to be a man of means.
0:04:59 > 0:05:00Yes.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02This is later years, of course.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Oh, boy! Albert and Zillah.
0:05:04 > 0:05:05Yeah.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07That's at Alton Towers.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08It is, yes.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10- That was taken at Alton Towers. - Yeah.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13I remember Zillah started the Alton Towers Cafe which was her business.
0:05:13 > 0:05:14That's right.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16Doing dinners and weddings.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Yes. She was a very astute businesswoman, yes.
0:05:19 > 0:05:25As a child, I went there, and I can only remember little bits of it.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27Well, I have some pictures of Alton Towers.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29- Oh, have you? All right. - Old ones.
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Wow!
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Wow, that's it, that's Alton Towers. Look at the building, it's amazing.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35Yes.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37It was massive, wasn't it?
0:05:37 > 0:05:40It was a fabulous place to go, wasn't it?
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Oh, wonderful. And that was their home.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45- As you know, it's a theme park now. - Yeah.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47But how nice to have that, you know,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50just milling around in your own back garden at Alton Towers.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52Yes!
0:05:53 > 0:05:58This is interesting. These are holidays that Zillah used to go on.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59Look, Paris.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01Oh, the Sacre Coeur.
0:06:01 > 0:06:02Yeah, 1930, look.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04"Lugano, Switzerland."
0:06:04 > 0:06:09She was quite a gadabout. I'd no idea she was a well-travelled woman.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11But she never took Albert with her.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Yes, he's not in any of them, is he?
0:06:13 > 0:06:15He's not on any photograph at all.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Yes, that's right.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20She must have had a fair bit of money to go on these trips.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23I wonder where she got all her money from, then?
0:06:23 > 0:06:26- Well, yes.- We need information, don't we, Peggy?- Yes.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28Thank you so much. Thank you.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30Pleasure, Bill. It's a real pleasure.
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Seeing Alton Towers, that brought back memories for me,
0:06:35 > 0:06:39and I'm really intrigued about my grandmother, Zillah.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41All these exotic holidays she went on.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44But how? Where did the money come from? I don't know.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46I need to know more about that.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48She ran the business.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52So I what I would really love to do now would be to go to Alton Towers.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00I remember this massive building.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03I mean, it's lovely to think it was the family home
0:07:03 > 0:07:05during that period between the wars.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07I hope it hasn't changed too much.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21In my day it was all grassland and parkland.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Little bit different with people.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37The actual building, I'm glad to see it's there.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Alton Towers is now a theme park
0:07:43 > 0:07:47famous for its white-knuckle roller coaster rides,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51but was once one of the grandest country estates in Britain.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Bill hasn't been back since he was a child in the 1930s,
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and came to visit his grandparents
0:07:59 > 0:08:02when they lived in rooms in the house.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06To find out more about the cafe
0:08:06 > 0:08:09that his grandmother Zillah once ran there,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Bill has arranged to meet local historian Dr Gary Kelsall.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Hello, Bill. I'm Gary. Nice to see you.
0:08:15 > 0:08:16Oh, hi, Gary. Lovely to see you.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Welcome to Alton Towers.
0:08:18 > 0:08:19Oh, thank you.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24The mansion has been uninhabited and derelict since the late 1940s.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29I used to come as a child.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32I remember oak panelling and I remember very broad floorboards
0:08:32 > 0:08:33that I would pedal on my little tricycle.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37And I remember a suit of armour I used to pedal past as well.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40So you remember actually pedalling around this room?
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Yeah. Yeah, it's funny, cos I was here as a child
0:08:43 > 0:08:46and my family were running it, I feel quite possessive.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49I feel everybody's an intruder, all the people out there.
0:08:49 > 0:08:50Wow.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Well, Zillah's operation was called the Alton Towers Cafe.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54Yeah.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57But it was far from just a cafe, actually. It was a good restaurant.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59I just thought she did a few little weddings and teas.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Well, let me just show you this, Bill.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04A guidebook from the 1920s, when Zillah would have taken over.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Gosh.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09And then if we look inside, on the very first page...
0:09:09 > 0:09:11There's Zillah Waddicor, Proprietress.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Seating accommodation for 1,000 people.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Cos when I was here as a child, it would be in the season
0:09:19 > 0:09:24when it wasn't operating, so I'd no idea it was on such a big scale.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Yes, she would have occupied quite a few of the rooms.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29Wow, look at that! "Dine In The Mansion".
0:09:29 > 0:09:33So that would have been the big appeal, that people could have
0:09:33 > 0:09:36actually come and occupied a space that was formerly an ancestral seat.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45For over 500 years, Alton Towers had been the country seat
0:09:45 > 0:09:50of the Earls of Shrewsbury, one of the oldest and most distinguished aristocratic families in Britain.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56But the rapid growth of industry during the 19th century
0:09:56 > 0:09:59had shifted power and wealth towards the cities,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and the introduction of death duties meant that many ancestral homes
0:10:03 > 0:10:05were being sold off, or even demolished.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16By the 1920s, the 20th Earl of Shrewsbury could no longer afford
0:10:16 > 0:10:20to run his country estate, and was forced to sell up.
0:10:21 > 0:10:22Oh!
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Here would have been their main room. This is the Great Dining Room.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29- It's the biggest room. - Wow.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32So this would be the main banqueting room?
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Yeah, indeed. And this is how it would have looked in Zillah's time.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Look at that! Look at all the staff.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42- She must have run a staff of hundreds.- Yeah.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45That's wonderful to see it. How she actually did it.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48I can imagine people coming in and dining here
0:10:48 > 0:10:50feeling like kings and queens.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53This is a nice one. It's looking from the other angle.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Oh, they've got a bar. And a minstrel gallery.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59There'd be a minstrel gallery up there.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Yeah, that's right.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05I'd no idea how grand and luxurious it was.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10It's a shame that none of that is left now,
0:11:10 > 0:11:12the difference is quite stark, isn't it?
0:11:12 > 0:11:13Absolutely. Yeah.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16But that is marvellous to have these photographs.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20And, to think, my grandmother would have organised the whole thing!
0:11:20 > 0:11:22She travelled a lot, I've just discovered.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24She went on all sorts of exotic holidays,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27so presumably she brought back ideas and things,
0:11:27 > 0:11:30so she obviously loved exotic places, and this is.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Absolutely.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34And do we know how long she ran this for?
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Well, that brings me on to an interesting document. Take a seat.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44This is a licensing document that relates to Alton Towers.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48"Register of Alehouse Licences. Alton Towers Cafe.
0:11:48 > 0:11:53"Name of the licensee, Mary Zillah Waddicor, 1925."
0:11:53 > 0:11:55So she got her licence in 1925.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Yeah.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00So when did it move from the hands of the Earl of Shrewsbury?
0:12:00 > 0:12:02When did they sell? Do we know that?
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Yeah, in 1924.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09Oh, right. No sooner had he sold it than Zillah zoomed in and grabbed it.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17When it was sold in 1925, Alton Towers had fallen into disrepair
0:12:17 > 0:12:19and its famous gardens were neglected.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26The consortium of local businessmen who bought it from the Earl
0:12:26 > 0:12:28quickly set about restoring the gardens
0:12:28 > 0:12:32back to their former glory to attract paying visitors.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38And the new owners leased several of the mansion's grandest rooms
0:12:38 > 0:12:41to Zillah Waddicor to run her restaurant.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46What were the typical sort of person who would visit here?
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Well, this is an example.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51Oh, that's amazing! Look at the crowds.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53You can hardly find a gap on the lawn.
0:12:53 > 0:12:54That's right.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Many of them would have been just ordinary working class folk, really.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02They all wear hats, really quite formal.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05And they're feeling that they're going to the ancestral home of
0:13:05 > 0:13:09the Earl of Shrewsbury, they felt they'd got to put their Sunday best on.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10But it's packed, isn't it?
0:13:10 > 0:13:14The number of people that actually visited here per summer
0:13:14 > 0:13:19is estimated at being upwards of a quarter of a million people.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22To cater for that number, even today with modern facilities,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24would be pretty demanding.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27So the organisation that she had to have to deal with that
0:13:27 > 0:13:29was extraordinary, wasn't it?
0:13:29 > 0:13:33We've got various menus offering varieties and packages.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38"Cold lunch - ham, tongue, bread and butter, tea and cake."
0:13:38 > 0:13:39"Two shillings a head."
0:13:39 > 0:13:43So you've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight,
0:13:43 > 0:13:44nine...ten choices.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47For all different sorts, not only all different sorts of tastes,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50but all different sorts of pockets and all different sorts of budgets,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52so if they were feeling particularly flush...
0:13:52 > 0:13:55There's a four-shilling lunch.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Wait a minute, let's have a look at this one.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59"Soup, kidney or tomato." A choice of soup.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03"Roast beef or lamb." You're getting a choice here.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08"Potatoes and vegetables in season. Sweets, cheese and biscuits."
0:14:08 > 0:14:10Wow, a four-shilling banquet.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13And the thing is as well, there would have been various sittings,
0:14:13 > 0:14:14so that there may have been
0:14:14 > 0:14:17quite a number of thousand on any particular day,
0:14:17 > 0:14:20that would have come in here for one sitting and gone. The next would
0:14:20 > 0:14:23have come in, and so she would have catered for a thousand at a time.
0:14:23 > 0:14:24Wow!
0:14:24 > 0:14:25So, in a day time...
0:14:25 > 0:14:28I had no idea it was so vast!
0:14:36 > 0:14:39The crowds that flocked to Zillah's restaurant at Alton Towers
0:14:39 > 0:14:41were part of a new generation of day-trippers.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47Trade Union pressure had led to the introduction of half-day
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Saturdays, so for the first time it became possible
0:14:50 > 0:14:52for working people to take weekend breaks.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Alton Station platform had to be extended to accommodate
0:15:01 > 0:15:04the large groups of workers arriving on special trip trains,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07often organised by their employers,
0:15:07 > 0:15:12who saw visits to historic buildings as self-improving for their staff.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20During the holiday season,
0:15:20 > 0:15:24thousands of people visited Alton Towers every weekend.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29Now, she must have earned quite a lot of money while she was up here.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31I would say so. What is this, then?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33"Alton Towers Cafe", that's Zillah's business here.
0:15:33 > 0:15:34Who's it to?
0:15:34 > 0:15:36It's actually to...
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Ah, the Surveyor, Council Offices, right.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42"Referring to The Old Mill Buffet, Alton."
0:15:42 > 0:15:46Oh, was that something else she ran? Something down in the village?
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Another little restaurant? Cor!
0:15:48 > 0:15:50- You see the date.- 1933.
0:15:50 > 0:15:531933, So she'd been up at the Towers since 1925.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55Right.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58And then she must have decided, "I'll stay at the Towers,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01"but in the meantime we'll do something else."
0:16:01 > 0:16:05She bought the Old Mill opposite the train station, and converted it.
0:16:05 > 0:16:06These are the plans that she drew up?
0:16:06 > 0:16:09- Yeah. And here, this is the building.- Wow.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12From 1933 she was running this...
0:16:12 > 0:16:15- And she was running... - ..and she was down there, too.
0:16:15 > 0:16:17Good grief!
0:16:17 > 0:16:20Right opposite the station, so people get off the train,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23first thing they see is that, let's go and have a meal at old Zillah's.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Such an enterprising woman, wasn't she?
0:16:25 > 0:16:27She was, yeah, absolutely.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32In many respects, it shows her as one of the leisure entrepreneurs
0:16:32 > 0:16:35of the period. She had a definite eye for an opportunity.
0:16:35 > 0:16:37God, wow! What a woman!
0:16:39 > 0:16:42But what about poor old Albert? Where does he feature?
0:16:42 > 0:16:44We can't find any mention of Albert.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46Nothing at all?
0:16:46 > 0:16:51We've looked, and her name seems to be associated with everything.
0:16:51 > 0:16:52It's always her, isn't it?
0:16:52 > 0:16:53It's always her.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57She's the licensee, she's the proprietress and she was the owner of this place.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Yes, and she's applying for all the alternations to be done.
0:17:00 > 0:17:01Yeah, Mrs Waddicor.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03As there's no mention of your grandfather,
0:17:03 > 0:17:05obviously she ran the show.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07She had the idea, she saw the opportunity,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09she made the most of it.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11That is very, very interesting.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15She was totally the matriarch,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18and Albert was well and truly kept in his place.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27There are certain mysteries that have come out of this.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Poor old Albert didn't appear on anything.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33He wasn't the licensee, he wasn't the proprietor,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35he was absolutely nothing.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38I know he was there. What was he doing?
0:17:41 > 0:17:44But I am so impressed and so proud
0:17:44 > 0:17:47of my grandmother Zillah, I can't tell you.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52The massive size of the empire that she ran on her own,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56and made it into a really big and successful business.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02She made money. I mean, amazing. But then, how did she begin here?
0:18:02 > 0:18:08So the mystery is filling in those years prior to Alton Towers.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18To find out more about Zillah and Albert and where they came from
0:18:18 > 0:18:21before they arrived at Alton Towers, Bill has come to
0:18:21 > 0:18:25the William Salt Library in nearby Stafford,
0:18:25 > 0:18:29where he's meeting historian Dr Nicola Phillips.
0:18:29 > 0:18:30Bill, hello. Good to meet you.
0:18:30 > 0:18:31Good to see you.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34- Would you like to come through? - Thank you.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36This way.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Well, Nicola, I've got some photographs to show you here.
0:18:41 > 0:18:42This is Zillah and Albert.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45My grandmother Zillah was a businesswoman,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49she ran the Alton Towers Cafe in the early 1920s.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53We've got all this documentation of Zillah being the proprietress.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56My grandfather is just totally absent.
0:18:56 > 0:18:57It's all in her name.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00For a woman at this time, this was pretty unusual, wasn't it?
0:19:00 > 0:19:01It is unusual.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05I mean, we know of very few women in business in this period.
0:19:05 > 0:19:11In fact, it's known as a bit of a black hole for women in business.
0:19:11 > 0:19:13They were lone figures in a male world.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Just a few years before Zillah started her business,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22World War I had moved women into the workplace in great numbers.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26But when the soldiers came home,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29they were expected to return to their families.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Marriage bars were reinforced, excluding married women
0:19:34 > 0:19:37from many occupations, to ensure that men were re-established
0:19:37 > 0:19:39as the primary earners.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43And by 1920, the number of married women in work
0:19:43 > 0:19:47had fallen to record lows of under 14%.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53So, running a family business like Zillah's was one of the few ways
0:19:53 > 0:19:55for a married woman to make her own living.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01What's different about her is the size and extent of her business.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03- It was an amazing big business, wasn't it?- Yes.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06And also the fact that her husband was kept well out of it, wasn't he?
0:20:06 > 0:20:07Yes.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10I mean, well out of it. He appears nowhere.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12So she could have held all the money.
0:20:12 > 0:20:13Quite separately, yes.
0:20:13 > 0:20:14Quite separately.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18And because the married women's property laws said that women
0:20:18 > 0:20:22could actually hang on to their own separate property, their earnings.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26And, most importantly, profits from their own businesses.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Although social pressures kept most married women at home,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35the few who did manage to earn their own money, like Zillah,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38could take advantage of the Married Women's Property Act.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44This series of laws, which were extended in 1926, gradually put
0:20:44 > 0:20:49a stop to husbands having control over their wives' financial affairs.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53So a generation before, say,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Zillah wouldn't have been able to keep all the money.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Yes. In the 19th century, a wife lost her independent legal identity,
0:21:01 > 0:21:07and effectively, husband and wife become one, and the husband can
0:21:07 > 0:21:12take, appropriate all the profits and earnings from the business.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15He could drink it away, he could gamble it away,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18he could give it away and there would be very little
0:21:18 > 0:21:19she could do about it.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23So Zillah's benefitted from the feminist campaigns
0:21:23 > 0:21:26that led up to the gaining of the vote in 1918.
0:21:26 > 0:21:27Yes.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30And that in itself gives women a confidence.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Yes. There's no doubt about it, she had a towering personality.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36She had these photographs.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38They are exotic holidays. Look at that.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40That looks like Italy or somewhere.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42She went only with her daughters and womenfolk.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Albert is again significant by his absence.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49So not only is she making money, she's using it for herself.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51- Good for her. - Yes.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54She's living the high life. This is luxury travel.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Yeah. But no mention of Albert.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00Now, is there any way of finding out anything about Albert?
0:22:00 > 0:22:03Well, I have a marriage certificate here.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Ah.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Of his daughter, in 1928.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12"The marriage between William Vincent Roache and Hester Vera Waddicor."
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Well, that's my mother and father's marriage certificate.
0:22:15 > 0:22:21And Albert Waddicor, my grandfather, is referred to as a gentleman.
0:22:21 > 0:22:22Mmm.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Now what did that mean? A gentleman!
0:22:25 > 0:22:28To be a gentleman, you couldn't be in trade.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30You had to have an income, either from land, or...
0:22:30 > 0:22:32And being in trade was not the thing to do.
0:22:32 > 0:22:33No, absolutely not.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Albert, to me, was someone they didn't speak about.
0:22:36 > 0:22:37I heard he drank a lot.
0:22:37 > 0:22:39Yeah.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41But I've seen photographs of him as a young man,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44very well dressed in expensive clothes, and he did have a presence.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46And here he is described as a gentleman.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47Yes.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Must have been a man of means.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53Gentleman is also a very aspirational status.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56It covers up a multitude of other things.
0:22:56 > 0:22:57Right.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00In that it means that he's not working.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Yes. That is very interesting.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07That's the first indication I've had of anything about Albert.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Do you have any more evidence of Zillah and Albert before...?
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Yes, there is. Just this way.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17We're going to have a look at some Census records. So, if you take...
0:23:17 > 0:23:18OK.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22I'm not brilliant. I'm not high tech, you'll have to help me.
0:23:22 > 0:23:23That's all right.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27Now, the most recent one we can look at is the 1911.
0:23:27 > 0:23:28In order to find the family,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31use Zillah's name, because it's so unusual,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33I think it might find it faster.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35I think that helps, yeah.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37So put her first names in.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Zillah.
0:23:39 > 0:23:40Waddicor.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44There we go.
0:23:45 > 0:23:51OK. So we have Albert Waddicor, head. This is 1911, of course.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55"Age 35, married to Mary Zillah Waddicor,"
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and Hester, my mother, was ten.
0:23:58 > 0:24:04"Occupation - Ices and Temperance Drinks." Wow!
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Now there we are, he did have an occupation.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09He did. Do you know what Temperance Drinks are?
0:24:09 > 0:24:11- Well, presumably, non-alcoholic. - Yes.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13Ironic, given what you know!
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Yeah, what we know. He likes the heavy drinks.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18But, obviously, in his early days he had a business,
0:24:18 > 0:24:21so what was the address of that?
0:24:21 > 0:24:25Now then, look at this. "4 Princess Street, Blackpool."
0:24:25 > 0:24:30I assume that was the home that Albert and Zillah lived in
0:24:30 > 0:24:32before Alton Towers came on the scene.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34Yes.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38On the marriage certificate,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41his occupation is described as gentleman,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45but on a Census in 1911 he was described as
0:24:45 > 0:24:48a seller of ice cream and temperance drinks -
0:24:48 > 0:24:51what we would call ice cream and soft drinks now.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53So he wasn't a true gentleman,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56because gentlemen did not have a trade.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58I don't like to think anybody's all bad,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02and hopefully there's some good in the background of Albert.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05So I need to find out more about this shop
0:25:05 > 0:25:06and where they lived in Blackpool.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13This is Blackpool.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17I've never actually stayed here on a holiday,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21but I did in fact switch on the illuminations a couple of times.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39To find out more about Albert and Zillah's life in Blackpool,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Bill has arranged to meet Blackpool historian Professor Vanessa Toulmin.
0:25:45 > 0:25:46Hello!
0:25:46 > 0:25:48- Lovely to meet you. - Lovely to meet you.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50Professor Vanessa. Bill, hello.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Right. Now I gather my grandparents had a shop somewhere around here.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55- Actually here. - Actually on the location!
0:25:55 > 0:25:57- On this corner here. - Wow!
0:25:57 > 0:26:00- I've got a photograph to show you. - Yeah?
0:26:00 > 0:26:04- And there it is.- Oh, amazing! Waddicor's, there.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06Blackpool rock, lemonade.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08- And it was actually here? - Yeah.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10- This is it? - This is it.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Wasn't exactly a great property.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18No. It's what we call a shanty shop, literally, literally. A pop-up.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21- It was really just a front, wasn't it?- Yeah.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23- I mean, how deep back did it go into here?- Six foot.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25- Just into...- Yeah.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Yes. So you'd get all the punters coming down here,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31and there, and you get all the punters coming on there.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34But to be on the front, you know, selling lemonade and ice cream
0:26:34 > 0:26:35was a good business site, wasn't it?
0:26:35 > 0:26:38I can show you a photograph of how many people would have seen them.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40Oh, wow, look at that!
0:26:40 > 0:26:42This is Blackpool Carnival in 1923.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Now, look at the people, absolutely solid. Wow!
0:26:45 > 0:26:46Incredible.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49What was interesting, on that photograph,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Albert Waddicor's is the only big sign there.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Was this just the beginning of Blackpool as a popular resort?
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Well, in the '20s there was about eight million people coming a year,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01- three times more than any other seaside resort in the UK.- Really?
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Yeah. And this area became known as the Golden Mile, because of
0:27:04 > 0:27:08the quickness of time it took to put a property up and take money.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Right. Not only did they pick the right place,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13- they picked the right place within the right place.- Yes.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20At the time Albert and Zillah were running their stall,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24Blackpool was the fastest-growing holiday resort in Britain.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Blackpool kept one step ahead of its rivals,
0:27:29 > 0:27:34and attracted increasing numbers of tourists with the latest in modern
0:27:34 > 0:27:40entertainment, like the Pleasure Beach fairground completed in 1905.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50The world-famous illuminations began as early as 1879,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52when Blackpool became the first British town
0:27:52 > 0:27:54to have permanent electric street lights.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00By the turn of the century, all three piers
0:28:00 > 0:28:03and the Blackpool Tower were complete,
0:28:03 > 0:28:08creating the Golden Mile Promenade where the Waddicors had their stall.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Imagine the fairground. That's what the Golden Mile was like.
0:28:10 > 0:28:11Yeah.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15Alongside your family stall, you would have had freaks,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19giants, um, girlie shows, you would have had the whole range.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22It's really, really interesting, because my grandmother went on
0:28:22 > 0:28:26to run a business within Alton Towers to do with catering,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29so the fundamentals of all that they would have learned here, wouldn't they?
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Yeah. This was their training ground. The family learnt how to make money in Blackpool.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35Yeah, that is very true, because you've got to learn the basics.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Just selling something, selling ice cream and entertaining.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42I have a feeling it was pretty much Zillah who was the driving force.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45Albert possibly owned this and he was the man,
0:28:45 > 0:28:47but I think Zillah was the force behind it.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49But we don't know.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Yes. Women in this kind of business were always incredibly
0:28:52 > 0:28:54- entrepreneurial, it allowed them the opportunity.- Right.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01To find out how the Waddicors began their stall, Bill
0:29:01 > 0:29:04and Vanessa have come to Blackpool Central Library which holds
0:29:04 > 0:29:09information about local businesses dating back to 19th century.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14The play where we took you today was known as Central Parade then.
0:29:14 > 0:29:15OK.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19So this is a list of all the shops on Central Parade in 1924.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21Just before they went to Alton Towers.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Is it just saying what businesses were on Central Parade?
0:29:24 > 0:29:25Yes.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29Like Lee's Amusement Arcade and so... I see. Er, auctioneer.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33They were mainly just ordinary businesses, weren't they?
0:29:33 > 0:29:38Ah, 41, Waddicor, Temperance Bar. So this is 1924.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40It was the year that they went to Alton Towers.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43But it doesn't give the dates of how long they'd been there
0:29:43 > 0:29:45in the directory.
0:29:45 > 0:29:48Can we find out when he started?
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Well, let's go back to the 1890s.
0:29:50 > 0:29:52To see how long they'd been...
0:29:52 > 0:29:54This is the Trade Directory from 1898.
0:29:54 > 0:29:55About 26 years earlier.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57So let's have a look.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59There's Central Parade again.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02It's not alphabetical, is it?
0:30:02 > 0:30:03No.
0:30:03 > 0:30:09Waddicor is at the end. Waddicor. He's now called "a herb beer maker".
0:30:09 > 0:30:13So we know that he was there, then, in 1898.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17Having only had "gentleman" after his name when they were at Alton Towers,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21I'd understood that he was a kept man, in a sense, by Zillah.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24But here... No, it's his business, all right, isn't it?
0:30:24 > 0:30:25Yeah.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27"Albert Waddicor, herb beer maker."
0:30:27 > 0:30:30And he's there for 26 years, that's right.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33But who was the power behind the throne?
0:30:33 > 0:30:35Well, let's try an earlier one.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38This is 1896, so it's a couple of years earlier.
0:30:38 > 0:30:40Let's have a look if there's any Waddicors in this book.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42OK.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45"Central Parade. Waddington..."
0:30:45 > 0:30:48"Waddicor, J. Medical... No, that's not it."
0:30:48 > 0:30:51"Waddicor, J, medical electrician."
0:30:51 > 0:30:53Is that Albert's father, then?
0:30:54 > 0:30:58"Waddicor, J, medical electrician, Central Parade" -
0:30:58 > 0:31:01I should have carried on -
0:31:01 > 0:31:06"Central Parade." That is this shop in 1896, two years earlier,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09and it was a medical... He was...
0:31:09 > 0:31:13Albert's father, J, was a medical electrician.
0:31:13 > 0:31:14What does that mean?
0:31:14 > 0:31:17I think they used to use electricity for treatment, didn't they?
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Was he...? That's very interesting.
0:31:20 > 0:31:26So he had this little shanty shop, started out as a medical electrician
0:31:26 > 0:31:30with his father, and Albert turned it into a herb beer temperance bar.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Yeah. I did find something else about Albert Waddicor.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39It's a bit fragile.
0:31:39 > 0:31:40It is, isn't it?
0:31:40 > 0:31:41Yes.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Blackpool Herald in 1894.
0:31:45 > 0:31:46Have a look on here.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48Yeah.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50"A serious kicking affray."
0:31:50 > 0:31:53"An excitable sandwich man breaks a youth's ankle."
0:31:53 > 0:31:54Yes.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56It sounds comical.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59"On Wednesday afternoon, as one of the sandwich men was proceeding
0:31:59 > 0:32:04"through Foxhall Square, his board was struck by a marble."
0:32:04 > 0:32:07"Conceiving that the missile came from the hand of a youth
0:32:07 > 0:32:09"named Albert Waddicor..."
0:32:09 > 0:32:12A youth called Albert Waddicor!
0:32:12 > 0:32:15"..who was standing outside his father's shop..."
0:32:15 > 0:32:17So it was his father's shop.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19"..he rushed at him."
0:32:19 > 0:32:23"Waddicor was knocked down, and as he lay there, his assailant
0:32:23 > 0:32:27"administered a kick which broke his ankle in two places."
0:32:27 > 0:32:32Wow! This is 1894. So, Albert's about 18,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35what was he doing throwing marbles at sandwich men?
0:32:35 > 0:32:40He must have had a little bit of a sort of vandal in him somewhere.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44However, he got his ankle broken in two places for it.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47So Albert might have been helping his father in the shop.
0:32:47 > 0:32:48Yeah.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Can we get any more information about Albert's father, J Waddicor?
0:32:51 > 0:32:55Now we've got the initial, we can try and find him on the Census.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58- We can trace him further, can we? - On the Census. And this is the 1881 Census.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00Ah, now, 1881.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03And this is your great-grandfather.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06James Waddicor, who was 32.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11Alice would presumably be the wife, and Albert, the son.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15There's my grandfather Albert. And then Albert was five.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17James' rank and profession.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19What's that word? Quarterly...
0:33:19 > 0:33:21Quarry.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26Oh, quarry! That's quarryman from Darwen in Lancashire.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31So he was just a quarryman.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35So James Waddicor, my great-grandfather, at the age of 32,
0:33:35 > 0:33:37worked in a quarry, hacking bits of stone,
0:33:37 > 0:33:41before he started this strange electrical medical thing in Blackpool.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46Well, yeah, but at some point in between 1881 and 1894.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50Yeah. So how did they get from Darwen to Blackpool?
0:33:50 > 0:33:53The 1890s was Blackpool's boom period.
0:33:53 > 0:33:54Yeah.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Blackpool was developing as the major English seaside resort,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01so people were coming to Blackpool from all over the country.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03Ah, so he was attracted by the knowledge
0:34:03 > 0:34:05that this was a burgeoning place.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12Bill has discovered that his great grandfather, James Waddicor,
0:34:12 > 0:34:17came from the industrial town of Darwen, 30 miles outside Blackpool,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21and arrived some time after the 1881 Census was taken
0:34:21 > 0:34:26and before 1894, when his Promenade stall is first recorded.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33The arrival of the railways in the 1840s had made it possible
0:34:33 > 0:34:37for working-class people to reach Blackpool.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41And by the 1880s, it had grown from a small seaside village
0:34:41 > 0:34:44into a flourishing consumer town.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52The holidaymakers who arrived from the mills and factories
0:34:52 > 0:34:56had more disposable income than ever before to spend on leisure.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01The promenade and beach were soon lined with street entertainers,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05stallholders and hawkers, all vying to cash in on the tourists.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11It's a bit like the gold rush in the Wild West, isn't it?
0:35:11 > 0:35:13Yeah, it is, that's a perfect way of describing it.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15And that it's called the Golden Mile,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17he took them to where money could be made.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21James Waddicor, the one who got the family, moved them out.
0:35:21 > 0:35:22He's the one who made the leap.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26And really, at that time, that's kind of middle aged.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29Well, he's 32, yes. An older age than it is today, isn't it?
0:35:29 > 0:35:30Yeah.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34So it looks like James Waddicor was, again, quite entrepreneurial.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38I'd like to know more about this electrical medical business
0:35:38 > 0:35:40that he started in Blackpool.
0:35:45 > 0:35:47Well, what I've found out today is,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49it wasn't Albert who actually started the shop.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54It was my great-grandfather, James, who started the business,
0:35:54 > 0:35:58and it was as a medical electrician, which I find very intriguing.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09I think it took a lot of courage and a lot of guts to uproot everything
0:36:09 > 0:36:11and go out and try something new.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16So I want to find out more about James.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24To see what he can discover about his great-grandfather James,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26and his occupation as a medical electrician,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28Bill has come to the Blackpool Tower,
0:36:28 > 0:36:33to meet historian of science, Professor Iwan Morus.
0:36:33 > 0:36:34- I'm Iwan Morus.- Hello.- Hello.
0:36:34 > 0:36:40Now, my great-grandfather had a shop literally just down the road there
0:36:40 > 0:36:43and he was doing something strange. He was called a medical electrician.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45I'd like to know a bit more about that.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48Oh, I can tell you all about medical electricity.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52- Good, good.- I think your great-grandfather's a one-off. - Oh, really?- As far as I'm aware.
0:36:52 > 0:36:55Medical electricity in the 1890s
0:36:55 > 0:36:59is quite common, but I've never actually come across anybody else setting up a stall.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01Selling it to the general public.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04- Exactly. I've got an example of the kind of apparatus...- Oh, wow!
0:37:04 > 0:37:09..that your great-grandfather would probably have used.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11Would you need any training to be able to operate it?
0:37:11 > 0:37:13You wouldn't really need any training at all.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17It's a very simple piece of apparatus. There's a magnet there.
0:37:17 > 0:37:18Yeah.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21And then there are coils of wire here, and I'm spinning this
0:37:21 > 0:37:25so that the coil is spinning in front of the magnet.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28That's what makes it produce electricity.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31It's a very basic electric generator.
0:37:31 > 0:37:32Yes. I mean, that's exactly what it is.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35So was this medically accepted?
0:37:35 > 0:37:39Medical electricity was very much a sort of late-Victorian medical fad.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42The basic idea is that the electricity is meant to cure
0:37:42 > 0:37:45a range of what the Victorians would describe as "nervous diseases".
0:37:45 > 0:37:47Nervous diseases!
0:37:47 > 0:37:50That covers everything, pretty much.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53Yes, the Victorians were obsessed by nervous disease.
0:37:56 > 0:37:59Medical electricity was a popular cure for what Victorians
0:37:59 > 0:38:01thought of as nervous diseases,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05a catch-all term that covered a wide range of ailments.
0:38:08 > 0:38:10Since the late 18th century,
0:38:10 > 0:38:13scientists had established that electricity could be
0:38:13 > 0:38:16conducted through the body to produce muscular contractions.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19And by the mid-19th century,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23electricity seemed to offer a modern way to jolt the sick back to health.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27Many doctors began using electrodes to pass currents
0:38:27 > 0:38:31through the afflicted areas of their patients' bodies.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37Portable machines, like the one James used, were widely advertised
0:38:37 > 0:38:41and bought by both professional doctors and middle-class families
0:38:41 > 0:38:44who used them to treat a variety of complaints.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52With no National Health Service,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56most of the working-class people passing by James Waddicor's stall
0:38:56 > 0:39:00had little access to professional medical treatment.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02James offered them a chance
0:39:02 > 0:39:06to try out this latest innovation for themselves.
0:39:08 > 0:39:11Medical electricity - he's bringing something to the people
0:39:11 > 0:39:14walking up and down outside this tower
0:39:14 > 0:39:19that they probably wouldn't really get an opportunity to experience.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22They certainly wouldn't have electricity in their homes.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25In their homes. So it would be quite exciting.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28They've got the illumination, which is why they came here,
0:39:28 > 0:39:32but to actually go in and actually feel electricity for the first time,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35you can understand them paying a few pennies for that.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37Do you fancy a go?
0:39:37 > 0:39:41I don't know. Are you going to electrocute me, then?
0:39:41 > 0:39:46- Well, if you hold those...- OK. - ..I'll be happy to see what I can do.- What voltage goes through it?
0:39:46 > 0:39:50- We're talking about relatively small currents.- I hope so.
0:39:50 > 0:39:52- So, if you're ready?- OK.
0:39:52 > 0:39:54Tell me when you want me to stop.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06Oh yeah, yeah, I've got a tingling. Yeah, I can feel it, a tingling.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08It's going up my arm.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10HE CHUCKLES
0:40:10 > 0:40:14So that will have cured me from my hysteria, will it?
0:40:14 > 0:40:16That will have cured your hysteria,
0:40:16 > 0:40:19that will have cured your neurasthenia.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22But although he was doing this really as a thing on the front
0:40:22 > 0:40:25to make a bit of money, they couldn't really harm anybody, could they?
0:40:25 > 0:40:27He couldn't really damage anybody.
0:40:27 > 0:40:32But I suspect that the real skill that your great-grandfather had was something of a showman.
0:40:32 > 0:40:38People would be coming up to his stall, they'd be paying a few pence
0:40:38 > 0:40:41- for a go on the electrical machine. - Yeah, yeah.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45He must have had a sort of persuasive personality, mustn't he?
0:40:45 > 0:40:49A sort of salesmanship to lure people in.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51Whether it was good for them or not was beside the point.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55If he could get them in and get them out and get the money, that was it.
0:40:55 > 0:40:56That's the name of the game.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59I've got another document here I think might tell you a bit more
0:40:59 > 0:41:02about what your great-grandfather was doing as well.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06- This is a Census form from 1891. - OK. Where are we?
0:41:06 > 0:41:09James Waddicor, my great-grandfather,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11who was 42 at the time.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13That's quite old.
0:41:13 > 0:41:17- Yes. And read here. This is his profession or occupation.- Ah!
0:41:17 > 0:41:22He was a phrenologist and medical electrician.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24A phrenologist.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27So when he's not giving his customers a little jolt of the electric...
0:41:27 > 0:41:30He was feeling the bumps on their head.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32He was indeed. That's what phrenology's all about.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35I mean, I've got a phrenological head...
0:41:35 > 0:41:36- Oh, wow!- ..down here.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40The idea is that brain is divided into different organs
0:41:40 > 0:41:45and that you can read somebody's character by reading the bumps on their head.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48So if you've got a big bump here, then according to this,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51that's the organ of intuitive reasoning.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54So you can tell somebody that if you've got a bulging forehead,
0:41:54 > 0:41:57that means you're clever, or whatever you think
0:41:57 > 0:42:00that your paying customer would...
0:42:00 > 0:42:03And then electrocuting them, so they'd go out feeling really good.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06So from a particular bump on the head...
0:42:06 > 0:42:08One there says "'selfish sentiments".
0:42:08 > 0:42:13Here. I've got quite a bump there! Have I got selfish sentiments?
0:42:14 > 0:42:18I mean, was there some foundation to phrenology?
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Well, during the early decades of the 19th century,
0:42:20 > 0:42:24phrenology was very popular amongst the middle classes
0:42:24 > 0:42:29- and this is a 19th-century cartoon that takes the mickey out of phrenology.- Oh!
0:42:29 > 0:42:34A middle-class family would ask for phrenological advice before hiring servants,
0:42:34 > 0:42:36so they could have some indication
0:42:36 > 0:42:39of whether they were likely to run away with the family silver or not.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43"If this science be cultivated, the time will come when,
0:42:43 > 0:42:48"on hiring a servant, an examination of the organic manifestations
0:42:48 > 0:42:53"of the mental faculties will supersede the necessity of further enquiry into character."
0:42:53 > 0:42:54By the end of the 19th century,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57when your great-grandfather has his stall here,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59phrenology is a very long way away indeed
0:42:59 > 0:43:02from anything like respectable science,
0:43:02 > 0:43:06and in a lot of ways is regarded as a quite disreputable activity.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Right.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12As you can see, if you take a look at this document from 1898.
0:43:12 > 0:43:14So this is a letter
0:43:14 > 0:43:18from the Blackpool Company House Proprietors' Association
0:43:18 > 0:43:21saying, "That no permission be given by the Corporation
0:43:21 > 0:43:27"for the carrying on of any of the following occupations upon the Foreshore."
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Phrenology is number one.
0:43:29 > 0:43:34"Phrenology, palmists, quack doctors." Quack doctors!
0:43:34 > 0:43:38So phrenology is banned on the Foreshore in 1898.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40That's right, yes.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43Phrenologists are clearly part of a culture
0:43:43 > 0:43:46- that Blackpool Corporation didn't want in their town.- Yeah.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48I wonder what he would move on to afterwards.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02Just around the corner from where his family had their stall,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05Bill has arranged to meet genealogist Mike Tringham,
0:44:05 > 0:44:07who has some information for him about what happened to
0:44:07 > 0:44:11his great-grandfather James after the ban on phrenology.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15- Hello, I'm Bill.- How do you do? I'm Mike.- You're Mike. Hi, Mike.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19Now, I gather my great-grandfather had a little shack shop
0:44:19 > 0:44:21at the end of this street.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24Yes. We are standing at the corner of York Street and Coop Street.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30What I have here is a rate book from 1898 that tells us
0:44:30 > 0:44:34- who owned certain properties in this area of Blackpool.- Oh, right.
0:44:34 > 0:44:36- Well, there's a Waddicor.- Yes.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38Is that J Waddicor?
0:44:38 > 0:44:40- It is indeed, yes. - Yeah. 15 Coop Street, is it?
0:44:40 > 0:44:42Coop Street.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46And the name of the occupier. Oh, so that is the name of the...
0:44:46 > 0:44:49Oh, so what he's done, he's rented it out, has he?
0:44:49 > 0:44:50That's right.
0:44:50 > 0:44:51Can you see underneath as well?
0:44:51 > 0:44:5617. Oh, that's still Waddicor. So, two properties.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Ah, Waddicor again.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02Number 43 York Street.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05And right behind you is 43 York Street.
0:45:05 > 0:45:06This was one of his?
0:45:06 > 0:45:11- Yes, this one and the next two. Number 17 Coop Street.- Yeah.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Right here, and the far building is number 15.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17So he must have made a bit of money while he was doing his phrenology
0:45:17 > 0:45:20and electrical... medical electricity and things.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22He must have done.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25- To buy the properties. - We're talking about late 1890s,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28and he probably picked them up fairly cheaply.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31Yeah, because the town was only beginning to grow, wasn't it?
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Exactly, And very rapidly the value of them would have...
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Zoomed.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39A canny investor could have made an awful lot of money
0:45:39 > 0:45:42in a very short space of time, I would imagine.
0:45:42 > 0:45:45Good, good man. Oh, well, that makes me feel more comfortable.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48- I was getting worried for him, actually.- Yes. Oh, were you?
0:45:48 > 0:45:51He was 47, he's got a family, he'd been into precarious, dodgy things
0:45:51 > 0:45:54on the front, they were passing phases,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57so I'm glad he's now gone into something
0:45:57 > 0:45:59- that's really secure at a good time. - Yes.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02My grandfather, Albert, who was James's son,
0:46:02 > 0:46:05- described himself as a gentleman. - Gentlemen.
0:46:05 > 0:46:07And they were men of means, weren't they?
0:46:07 > 0:46:10So he could have been living off the investments of this property.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13So, in a sense, he was right to call himself a gentleman.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16That's quite possible. It was a common term used when...
0:46:16 > 0:46:17You didn't have to work.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20..a person was of independent means.
0:46:20 > 0:46:22Do you have any record, you know,
0:46:22 > 0:46:26when things changed from James's hands to Albert's?
0:46:26 > 0:46:30- Come on, let's go inside.- Let's go and find somewhere dry and warm.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Now, this is the will of your great-grandfather, James Waddicor.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39He died in November 1904,
0:46:39 > 0:46:42just a few years after the dates of those rate books.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44He'd only be quite young, wouldn't he?
0:46:44 > 0:46:46Only be in his 50s, would he, or...?
0:46:46 > 0:46:48Yes, he was a relatively young man.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51Poor old guy.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55So the value of his estate was £4,792,
0:46:55 > 0:46:58which was quite a lot in those days, wasn't it?
0:46:58 > 0:46:59Well, in today's terms,
0:46:59 > 0:47:05the estate would be valued at between £300,000 and £500,000.
0:47:05 > 0:47:07Yeah. I mean, really pretty good.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10- Quite easily. He was a wealthy man. - He was a wealthy man.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13So, this is the will that's been transcribed so it's easier to read.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16"I appoint my wife, Alice and my daughter-in-law,
0:47:16 > 0:47:20"Mary Zillah Waddicor..." Zillah has suddenly appeared on the scene.
0:47:20 > 0:47:25They're to be the executors of the will, totally disregarding Albert.
0:47:25 > 0:47:26You had two women
0:47:26 > 0:47:30basically controlling quite a substantial estate.
0:47:30 > 0:47:34What is very unusual is that he's appointed his daughter-in-law
0:47:34 > 0:47:38as one of the executors. We're talking about late-Victorian Age.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40Yeah.
0:47:40 > 0:47:45And it would be very unusual to exclude one's son
0:47:45 > 0:47:49in preference to the daughter-in-law.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52The picture I have of Albert, from my mother,
0:47:52 > 0:47:57is that he was a pretty unsavoury guy, in many ways. He was a drinker.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01Not very reliable, and maybe James saw this
0:48:01 > 0:48:04and trusted his daughter-in-law more than he trusted his own son.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09I think you've hit upon something, because look at the next part of the will.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12"..Shall pay the surplus or net unto
0:48:12 > 0:48:18"and profits thereof to my son Albert during his life
0:48:18 > 0:48:24"and subject thereto and the life interest of my said wife."
0:48:24 > 0:48:27So, to summarise, your great-grandfather James
0:48:27 > 0:48:33has left his estate in trust to his widow, Alice, and on her death,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36only the rental income from those properties
0:48:36 > 0:48:41- would go to your grandfather, Albert Waddicor.- Yeah.
0:48:41 > 0:48:48He had to wait for his mother, Alice, to die before he inherited only the profits.
0:48:48 > 0:48:49But was unable to touch any of the capital.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52He's not trusted with the ownership.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54It must have been very frustrating for him.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57He obviously would be able to live well...
0:48:57 > 0:49:00- As a gentleman, like he described himself.- Exactly.
0:49:00 > 0:49:05- ..but without getting his hands on those three properties.- Wow.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08So there must have been some big reason why Albert was excluded,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11not just he wasn't liked or a bit unpopular, for him to do that.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15- Definitely. It's almost unique, I would say.- Oh, right.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18- I've never come across this situation before.- Yeah.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22That he'd leave his only son
0:49:22 > 0:49:26- out of any controlling influence on his estate.- Yeah.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31And he did it expertly, taking very unusual, unconventional steps
0:49:31 > 0:49:37- to protect the wealth that he'd accumulated from his work.- Yeah.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40So, the question of who he left it to, then.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44"I direct my trustees to stand possessed of all my real
0:49:44 > 0:49:47"and personal estate in trust for my granddaughter,
0:49:47 > 0:49:54"Lavinia Alice May Waddicor, daughter of my son, the said Albert."
0:49:54 > 0:49:59That's my Auntie May. Why was it left to her?
0:49:59 > 0:50:04This must have been done before my mother and my other aunt were born.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08Well, the will's actually written in 1901.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12- So...- Well, my mother was born in 1900, I think.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15Do you remember exactly when she was born?
0:50:15 > 0:50:19- Yes, she was born on December 9th 1900.- Right.
0:50:19 > 0:50:21So she was born then.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23And there's another?
0:50:23 > 0:50:26- Another daughter, Flo, Florence. - Right.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29- But they're not mentioned. - They're not.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37I don't understand that at all. There's something strange there.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40I would have thought if he was going to leave it to the grandchildren,
0:50:40 > 0:50:43it would be to all of them, equally divided.
0:50:43 > 0:50:45Yes. That's very strange.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Bill has learnt that his great-grandfather James
0:50:50 > 0:50:54left his entire estate in trust not to his only son Albert
0:50:54 > 0:50:59but to just one of his three granddaughters, Bill's Auntie May.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04To try and discover why she was singled out,
0:51:04 > 0:51:07Bill and Mike are checking through Census records for May,
0:51:07 > 0:51:11whose full name was Lavinia Alice May.
0:51:11 > 0:51:13This is the 1901 Census.
0:51:13 > 0:51:17We'll just have a look and see if there are any Lavinia Waddicors.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Lavinia. Waddicor.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Search.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25Result - complete negative.
0:51:26 > 0:51:30But let's not worry too much about that.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34We'll run through the names. Let's try Alice. Second name...
0:51:37 > 0:51:41Oh! Yes. James Waddicor - head.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43Alice - wife.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47And then Alice M - daughter.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51Now, the only M is May, and she's four.
0:51:51 > 0:51:53So that figures with Auntie May.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57- So she lived with her grandparents. - Yes.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00- Really, that should say granddaughter.- Yes.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03- But it doesn't, it says daughter.- Yes.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06I knew she was special, er, or had to be special,
0:52:06 > 0:52:11for him to have left all his property to her, there had to be a reason.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13So, whether adopted or what...
0:52:14 > 0:52:18..she's living with James and his wife Alice.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22- Yes.- Now, that's the mystery I've been wanting to solve.
0:52:24 > 0:52:27One of the daughters was different.
0:52:27 > 0:52:28And it's obviously Auntie May.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32- So she was brought up by her grandparents.- Yes.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37But we don't know why she was in this position.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40It must have been a very, very powerful reason, mustn't there?
0:52:40 > 0:52:43Maybe the grandparents were protecting their children.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46- Yes.- But they're not... My mother isn't there.
0:52:46 > 0:52:47No. I think we can only speculate.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49I can only speculate at this stage.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52Let's look at your grandfather's family.
0:52:52 > 0:52:57That might give us a better insight into what's going on. So your grandfather is Albert...
0:52:59 > 0:53:01Ah, right.
0:53:01 > 0:53:03- Albert Waddicor - head.- Yeah.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07Mary Zillah, his wife. Flo, that's my eldest aunt.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09And that's it.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14- But where... What year is this? - This is 1901.
0:53:14 > 0:53:18Well, my mother was born in 1900. So why wasn't she on that?
0:53:19 > 0:53:23One would expect perhaps to find your mother with her grandparents.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25Yes. Though she isn't.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29- She's not there either.- No.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32Let's see if we can find her somewhere else.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34What was your mother's name?
0:53:34 > 0:53:36My mother's name was Hester Vera.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39Hester. Hester Waddicor.
0:53:42 > 0:53:46- Hester Waddicor.- There she is.- Yeah. Aged three months, that's right. - Yeah.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49- That figures.- Born in Blackpool. - Born in Blackpool.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Born in Blackpool. Who's that? Who are these?
0:53:52 > 0:53:55Elijah Stanier and Thomasina.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03So, my mother was brought up by somebody else, as well...
0:54:04 > 0:54:06..it would seem.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09Have you noticed the relationship?
0:54:09 > 0:54:13- His niece.- Thomasina...- Yeah.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16..and your grandmother were sisters.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21So your mother spent her early life with her aunt.
0:54:21 > 0:54:25Where did they live? Leigh, in Staffordshire.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27We're not talking about round the corner, down the road.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29No. Leigh, Staffordshire, was some distance.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35When my mother was only three months...
0:54:35 > 0:54:39She was taken away from the family home for some reason.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42Yes. Now, the only reason would be Albert's drinking
0:54:42 > 0:54:45and violent behaviour, which my mother did talk about.
0:54:45 > 0:54:51And a picture is emerging that Albert
0:54:51 > 0:54:55is a drunken, violent, horrible man
0:54:55 > 0:54:58and the minute he has a child it is taken away -
0:54:58 > 0:55:01because social services didn't operate then -
0:55:01 > 0:55:03and they're brought up by somebody else.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07Apart from Flo, who seemed to stand the... She was the first born,
0:55:07 > 0:55:12probably was able to look after herself a bit better, I don't know.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14Yeah, I think you're right.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16We can only look at the facts as they were recorded
0:55:16 > 0:55:19and we can only interpret what we see.
0:55:19 > 0:55:21Yeah, but honestly, I really feel for my mother there.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25- I feel quite emotional, actually, about this.- I can understand.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29She was a lovely person but she never showed love,
0:55:29 > 0:55:31as I said, never self-pitying.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33- It does explain a lot, doesn't it? - It does, actually.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37Going back to the will and the way the children were farmed out.
0:55:37 > 0:55:39Maybe your grandmother could cope...
0:55:39 > 0:55:40With one.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42- ..under those circumstances.- Yes.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59The most shocking thing for me was that my mother, at three months -
0:55:59 > 0:56:03- three months, probably still being breast fed by Zillah -
0:56:03 > 0:56:09was ritually wrenched from her and went to live with Zillah's sister.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18I remember my mother as being not tactile and affectionate,
0:56:18 > 0:56:22but having understood what she had to go through,
0:56:22 > 0:56:26I think she didn't know how to be more openly loving.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31I would say that I love her even more now,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34and I would like to have told her that.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47That was a really sad situation.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51To find that the three sisters, my mother, my Auntie May
0:56:51 > 0:56:53and my Auntie Flo, didn't live together.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56My mother was separated from them.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00And why were the two of them so quickly taken away
0:57:00 > 0:57:03and given to somebody else?
0:57:03 > 0:57:06We don't really know the answer to that,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09but I do believe the root cause,
0:57:09 > 0:57:12without any doubt really, in my mind, was Albert.
0:57:13 > 0:57:18I could understand why my mother hated Albert.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23I was looking for redeeming features for him, but there aren't many.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25But he really paid the price for what he was.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29He didn't love anybody, so consequently he wasn't loved.
0:57:31 > 0:57:36But in spite that, what is inspiring and encouraging is the strength
0:57:36 > 0:57:41of my great-grandfather, James Waddicor, who moved from Darwen
0:57:41 > 0:57:44into Blackpool, a burgeoning place. He was very entrepreneurial.
0:57:44 > 0:57:48He made some money and steered the money around Albert.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52And that money went right through the family and carried on.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56And what a towering personality Zillah was.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58She lived in a man's world,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02but she didn't go under because of Albert. On the contrary,
0:58:02 > 0:58:05she was a successful business woman, entrepreneur.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08She really made a good life for herself.
0:58:10 > 0:58:15I've got colossal respect for Zillah's guts and determination.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17She was amazing.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd