0:00:08 > 0:00:13In the summer of 1728, a merchant ship from Dublin
0:00:13 > 0:00:16sailed into the Delaware Bay on the east coast of America.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24The ship was laden with goods
0:00:24 > 0:00:28and dozens of poor Irish emigrants bound for the New World.
0:00:28 > 0:00:33Amongst them was a scrawny 13-year-old boy.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39The boy's name was James Annesley,
0:00:39 > 0:00:42and he wasn't like the other children on board.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47His late father had been a baron, and James was heir to five
0:00:47 > 0:00:51aristocratic titles and numerous estates.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55That is, until he was kidnapped and sold into slavery.
0:00:57 > 0:01:02It's a tragic story of betrayal, loss and salvation
0:01:02 > 0:01:06played out in one of the great trials of the 18th century.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10It later became an inspiration for Kidnapped,
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel about a boy whose inheritance
0:01:14 > 0:01:16was stolen by his wicked uncle.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24James's extraordinary childhood took him from the privileged peak
0:01:24 > 0:01:28to the murky depths of 18th century society.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34His story opens a window onto a tumultuous age.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The 18th century heralded the rise of the British Empire,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42and the birth of the Enlightenment
0:01:42 > 0:01:47with its progressive ideas about freedom and equality.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52In this film, I will reveal that it was a century of contradictions
0:01:52 > 0:01:59tainted by the shocking exploitation of the vulnerable and the poor.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01And it had a guilty secret.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07You could kidnap a child, and it wasn't even a serious crime.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19HOUNDS BARK
0:02:22 > 0:02:27In April 1715, a son was born to an
0:02:27 > 0:02:33Irish aristocrat, Baron Altham, here at Dunmain House in County Wexford.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Little James was like manna from heaven for his doting parents.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44To have a male heir was of the greatest importance for aristocratic
0:02:44 > 0:02:49families in the 18th century, so at Dunmain there were celebrations -
0:02:49 > 0:02:52bonfires, dancing, singing, revelry.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01Under primogeniture, the oldest son inherited everything,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05land, fortune and a title if there was one.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09It was one of the foundation stones of British society.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17Young James was in line to become the Earl of Anglesea, and indeed,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19to inherit four other titles
0:03:19 > 0:03:23and many estates in Ireland, England and Wales and £10,000 a year,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26that's millions in today's money.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48For James, growing up in the Elysian Fields
0:03:48 > 0:03:50of southern Ireland was idyllic.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53The future promised so much.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58He would one day be one of the wealthiest men in the British Isles
0:03:58 > 0:04:03and hold seats in the English and the Irish House of Lords.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Like many privileged children in the 18th century,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10young Jamie lived a childhood that many boys would envy.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Dogs, horses and guns.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15And Jamie looked terrific.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20His father dressed him in a scarlet silk coat,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23a hat with gold lace and a white feather.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26And Jamie sported a sword, lovely.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31Also, his father gave him a young mare called Hanover,
0:04:31 > 0:04:34named in honour of the King, George I.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39Young Jamie was absolutely very much a little lord.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46James lived a pampered existence in this gilded world.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51If you were lucky enough to have wealthy parents,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54the Georgian era was a good time to grow up.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Increased prosperity and the rise of the middle classes
0:05:03 > 0:05:08spawned an affectionate and sentimental view of children.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13In many ways, it was when our modern notion of childhood began.
0:05:15 > 0:05:20James was born into the Anglo-Irish aristocracy.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24They'd come to power during the Protestant Ascendancy
0:05:24 > 0:05:28when English adventurers seized control of Ireland.
0:05:28 > 0:05:35# Irish blood, English heart This I'm made of
0:05:35 > 0:05:42# There is no-one on earth I'm afraid of... #
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Now, this aristocracy was very different
0:05:45 > 0:05:48to its more sophisticated English counterpart.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51It certainly behaved very differently.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56They were rough and ready characters, boisterous, earthy,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58prickly, aggressive.
0:05:58 > 0:06:04They loved hunting, shooting, boozing, living life to the full.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08And that would have a devastating effect on James
0:06:08 > 0:06:10when he was just two years old.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18Baron Altham was a rogue, rascal and a rake,
0:06:18 > 0:06:23given to gambling, boozing and womanising.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32He was said to have fathered a son with James's wet nurse,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35a maid called Juggy Landy.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40This rumour would one day come back and haunt James.
0:06:40 > 0:06:46The family home at Dunmain House is now owned by the Conway family.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Tales about James's parents are legend here.
0:06:53 > 0:06:59One Sunday in 1717, James's world was turned upside down.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05This time, it was his mother who seemed to be at fault.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09She entertained a male visitor whilst Lord Altham was out.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13He returned back to the house here,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16and he came upstairs and found her in bed with Thomas Palliser.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20And they had a big fight that night as well, of course,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24and he pulled his sword and he severed off his ear.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28- He cut his ear off?- He severed his ear off with his sword.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31A rough and ready and violent man, obviously a temper.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32He was a very bad tempered man altogether.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36He banished her from the house, he ordered her out.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37She had to pack her bags and leave,
0:07:37 > 0:07:39and she was forbidden ever to see James again.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42- So James lost his mother that night, effectively.- Yes.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50I must say, a most odd business.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54One can't help but think that the baron orchestrated the whole affair
0:07:54 > 0:07:55as a way of getting rid of his wife
0:07:55 > 0:07:57and to appear blameless.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01It says a lot about marriage
0:08:01 > 0:08:05at the time. He enjoyed her dowry.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08The marriage took place, but there was no love.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10And of course, in the end,
0:08:10 > 0:08:15the real victim of this tragic state of affairs was young James.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Baron Altham uprooted James from the family home
0:08:24 > 0:08:30and drifted around his Irish estates before ending up in Dublin in 1722.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37After all this upheaval, the Irish capital must have seemed
0:08:37 > 0:08:41like the perfect place for James and his father to make a new start.
0:08:46 > 0:08:50It was the second biggest city in the British Empire.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54The first glimmers of the Enlightenment were appearing,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57visionary ideas about freedom,
0:08:57 > 0:09:02education and reason that would come to define the 18th century.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05These ideas were expressed in bricks and mortar,
0:09:05 > 0:09:07for example here in the elegant
0:09:07 > 0:09:11neoclassical townhouses of Henrietta Street.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17I find the 18th century so fascinating because it was
0:09:17 > 0:09:24a portal between worlds, a time of tremendous change and contrast.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28We think of it quite rightly as the beginning of the modern world,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31the Industrial Revolution, new technology.
0:09:31 > 0:09:32And that's correct of course,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34this sense of it being the age of the Enlightenment.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36But that Enlightenment you must set
0:09:36 > 0:09:40against the darkness that lingered from the old world.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Fantastic contrast.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46If you think of the changes that took place after 1700,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48in that hundred years, all was transformed.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Aristocrats like James's father
0:09:55 > 0:09:58would have entertained lavishly in houses like these,
0:09:58 > 0:10:02which were the height of fashion in the first half of the 18th century.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10But there was another side to Dublin.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14It's said that everybody in Dublin
0:10:14 > 0:10:19knew everybody else and their business, which I'm sure was true.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22The trouble with the baron, his business was not good.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25He would do virtually anything but work for a living.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28That, of course, was the case with most lords and gentlemen
0:10:28 > 0:10:30in the 18th century.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33"Work, good heavens!"
0:10:33 > 0:10:36The thing about the baron, of course, is that he spent a lot
0:10:36 > 0:10:38more than his income allowed
0:10:38 > 0:10:42on...well, the usual vices.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49To fund his debauched lifestyle,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52he became embroiled in dodgy financial deals.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Altham sold rights to land,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57but the land wasn't his yet.
0:10:57 > 0:11:03He wouldn't inherit until his cousin, the Earl of Anglesea, died.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07He was playing a dangerous game.
0:11:07 > 0:11:13Let's say that the baron sells a lease for half its current value.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Here's a lease, a wonderful and compelling document,
0:11:16 > 0:11:19signed at the bottom.
0:11:19 > 0:11:24This, you might think, is a very good deal for the purchaser.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28And so it is in many ways, but they are gambling,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33gambling that the baron will outlive the Earl of Anglesea and actually
0:11:33 > 0:11:37inherit the estate that he's selling leases on.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Also, usually in these deals,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44the person selling the lease
0:11:44 > 0:11:47gets his heir to also sign the lease.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49That makes the purchaser feel a little
0:11:49 > 0:11:53bit more happy, but in this case James was too young.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56So James was something of an inconvenience for his father
0:11:56 > 0:11:58in this rather strange dealing that was going on.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00Leave the lease here and take the
0:12:00 > 0:12:04money I've got for it over here.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10The baron couldn't have been a worse father.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13It wasn't just his financial skulduggery,
0:12:13 > 0:12:17selling off James's inheritance.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22There was also his womanising...
0:12:23 > 0:12:27..which had an even more dramatic effect on James.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Altham seduced a wealthy woman called Sally Gregory
0:12:31 > 0:12:33and moved in with her.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40Was the baron attracted to Sally Gregory's beauty
0:12:40 > 0:12:43or to her bulging bank balance?
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Probably a bit of both.
0:12:46 > 0:12:52What is more certain is that Sally was a tough character.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56She hated James, she wanted him out of the way,
0:12:56 > 0:13:01probably wanted to replace him with a son and heir of her own.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03She was frightful, to be frank.
0:13:03 > 0:13:09She and her mother beat James, and eventually the baron agreed
0:13:09 > 0:13:11that James was to be put out to lodgings,
0:13:11 > 0:13:13out of sight, out of mind, out of the house.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18James had lost his mother,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22and now, aged eight, he'd been abandoned by his father.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Father, Father, where are you going?
0:13:29 > 0:13:32Oh, do not walk so fast!
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Speak, Father, speak to your little boy,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Or else I shall be lost.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Life in the lodgings was unbearable,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50and James soon ran away.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Overnight, the young aristocrat with everything
0:13:57 > 0:14:02was sleeping rough in haylofts, doorways and dark alleys.
0:14:05 > 0:14:10James now lived a cruel, harsh, feral existence,
0:14:10 > 0:14:15a shocking contrast to his privileged upbringing,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19evidence of the narrow boundary between heaven and hell
0:14:19 > 0:14:21in the 18th century.
0:14:21 > 0:14:27James's harrowing experiences in the dark and dangerous streets of Dublin
0:14:27 > 0:14:32mirror those of tens of thousands of homeless children
0:14:32 > 0:14:37whose secret sufferings and short lives have been lost to memory,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39lost to history.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49Is that trembling cry a song?
0:14:49 > 0:14:52Can it be a song of joy?
0:14:52 > 0:14:54And so many children poor?
0:14:54 > 0:14:56It is a land of poverty!
0:15:01 > 0:15:04As James wandered through these streets,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06emaciated and dressed in rags,
0:15:06 > 0:15:08he would have been seen as a vagrant,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11an idle and dangerous pariah.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Vagrancy was a growing problem in the 18th century,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21and as attitudes towards this vulnerable underclass hardened,
0:15:21 > 0:15:26the authorities decided something had to be done.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29They used the full force of the law,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32the cruel and vindictive Vagrancy Acts.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Parish authorities could use the Vagrancy Acts to round up not just
0:15:39 > 0:15:43the beggars and the vagabonds, but all who lived and worked
0:15:43 > 0:15:48in the street, the homeless, the poor, the powerless,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52those people deemed to be socially inconvenient.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Destitute children were seized in great numbers
0:15:55 > 0:15:57and made to toil in the workhouse.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00There their lives could be brutal and short.
0:16:07 > 0:16:12The first workhouses date back to the 17th century.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17By James's time, they had sprung up all over Britain.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19They were designed to clean up the streets.
0:16:19 > 0:16:24They promised children a minimal education and put them to work.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32But the workhouses were, in many cases, no more than prisons
0:16:32 > 0:16:34where children were exploited
0:16:34 > 0:16:39and subjected to the most appalling abuse.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43She beat no-one as much as Alexander Knipe.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46She beat him with a stick with her left hand first,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48and because that was not enough,
0:16:48 > 0:16:53she took her right hand and hit him with the head of the stick.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58And she hauled him upon the ground with her hand and stamped upon him.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02He was very hot.
0:17:02 > 0:17:03He groaned worse and worse.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09The next morning, I saw him dead in his bed.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20Not all abandoned children suffered the horrors of the workhouse.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24The 18th century witnessed a rise in philanthropy and the spread of more
0:17:24 > 0:17:26enlightened institutions,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30like charitable schools and foundling hospitals.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40In Dublin, King's Hospital was founded as a free school
0:17:40 > 0:17:44by King Charles II in 1669
0:17:44 > 0:17:47to provide an education to boys who had lost their fathers.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Here they would have learnt the three Rs -
0:17:52 > 0:17:55reading, writing and arithmetic,
0:17:55 > 0:17:57and then they would have been apprenticed
0:17:57 > 0:18:00to one of Dublin's many tradesmen.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07Schools like the King's Hospital were full of good intentions,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10but they couldn't do much more than scratch the surface.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17The vast majority of poor children
0:18:17 > 0:18:20fell outside the safety net provided by the philanthropists.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27James Annesley was one of them.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Desperate and alone, he finally plucked up the courage
0:18:31 > 0:18:36to go and see the one man who could save him from his life of misery.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41James tried to visit his father once.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45He knocked on the door and was treated like a common beggar,
0:18:45 > 0:18:50a vagabond. The neighbours observed this and were shocked.
0:18:50 > 0:18:52They then begged Baron Altham
0:18:52 > 0:18:56to take better care of his poor destitute son.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07There was no-one left for James to turn to.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10He had to learn to survive on his wits.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15He became a well known face on the tough streets of Dublin,
0:19:15 > 0:19:20that small, scruffy urchin who claimed to be the son of a lord.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30But what sort of man was James's father?
0:19:30 > 0:19:32How could he treat James in such a terrible manner?
0:19:32 > 0:19:37Particularly since he loved him so much earlier on.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41We simply do not know. It is one of the mysteries of the story.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45What we do know, though, is that one day James was here
0:19:45 > 0:19:47in Smithfield, the horse market,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50leading a horse around for sale, I suppose.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52And James was spotted by a butcher,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54John Purcell.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57Purcell knew a little bit about James, he recognised him,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01questioned him, found out more details about James's story,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03took pity on him and took him under his wing,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07a very important turning point in James's life
0:20:07 > 0:20:09on the streets of Dublin.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Purcell had a son of his own,
0:20:13 > 0:20:17and he was shocked to see the state of James.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23My father brought James Annesley to his house in Dublin in a very bad
0:20:23 > 0:20:29condition with hardly a shoe to his foot and a hair rope about his middle
0:20:29 > 0:20:32to keep his clothes together.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38James, now 12,
0:20:38 > 0:20:43had been given a second chance by the well-meaning John Purcell.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48He now entered the world of the Dublin artisan classes,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52hard-working tradesmen who were the beating heart of the city.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56In return for food and shelter,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58James ran errands for Purcell.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01The work was tough and the hours long,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03but it was a close-knit community
0:21:03 > 0:21:08where people looked out for each other and James felt safe.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11James had been virtually adopted by Purcell.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15He'd been saved from destitution
0:21:15 > 0:21:19and for the first time in three years had some stability,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23but just when the future looked bright,
0:21:23 > 0:21:24fate intervened.
0:21:33 > 0:21:38An extraordinary scene now unfolded in Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral.
0:21:41 > 0:21:48On November 16th 1727, James came to the funeral of his own father.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53Baron Altham had died suddenly and in mysterious circumstances
0:21:53 > 0:21:56at the age of just 38.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04James crept into the cathedral
0:22:04 > 0:22:06and found the funeral already under way.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11He mixed with the mourners who would have been gathered just about here.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13They were respectable people
0:22:13 > 0:22:16and I'm sure rather shocked by this dishevelled street child
0:22:16 > 0:22:21joining them, but of course, it was the funeral of his father,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and James had not been invited.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27As the body was carried down here,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30James could restrain himself no longer
0:22:30 > 0:22:35and cried out with tears in his eyes, "My father, my father."
0:22:37 > 0:22:41One mourner, most surprised by James's outburst,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45asked the little urchin what he meant by it.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49James blurted out, "I am Baron Altham's son,"
0:22:49 > 0:22:52and then fled from the crypt, from the cathedral
0:22:52 > 0:22:54back to the butcher's shop.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01To find out more about the baron's untimely death,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04I went to meet Kenneth Milne, the cathedral's historian.
0:23:05 > 0:23:11It starts in 1669 with a list of burials. Where's our chap?
0:23:11 > 0:23:13Our one is 1727.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15Ah, there it is.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Altham, Arthur. Fourth Lord, Baron.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21And this records him being buried here.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23He was supposed to be buried at the public expense.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26He was impoverished, he was an improvident person.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28Essentially, it was a pauper's burial,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31but he was buried in the cathedral because of his rank.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32Yes, I would have thought so.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35Ah! So we don't know where his bones are now?
0:23:35 > 0:23:37No, there's no monument.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44Maybe this solves the mystery of why the baron abandoned James.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49He was so broke that he had to make his son an outcast.
0:23:49 > 0:23:54There was, however, one mourner present who did recognise James,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58and this mourner took a very unhealthy interest in the lad,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02indeed would do all he could to destroy him.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05It was James's uncle, Richard Annesley.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12He was a brigand, a bigamist and a blackguard.
0:24:12 > 0:24:18And he had one very good reason for wanting to see the back of James.
0:24:18 > 0:24:24Now Baron Altham was dead and gone, James was due to inherit.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26But if something should happen to him,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29then one Richard Annesley would get everything.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34James's freedom, even his life, was in jeopardy.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41Here's the Annesley family tree,
0:24:41 > 0:24:46and here we see the senior member of the family in the 1720s,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Arthur, the Earl of Anglesea.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55No children at this time and probably too old to have any.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00So the title and fortune he possesses would go upon his death to
0:25:00 > 0:25:04his cousin Arthur, the next oldest male heir.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07Here we see him, Arthur, Baron Altham.
0:25:07 > 0:25:14And upon Baron Altham's death, all would go to Altham's son, James.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17But now, if James were not around,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20all would go from Altham
0:25:20 > 0:25:22to Altham's younger brother, Richard.
0:25:22 > 0:25:28All Richard has to do to become the Earl of Anglesea and to have
0:25:28 > 0:25:34millions of pounds in today's value is to get rid of James.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37You can see the temptation.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Richard dreamed up a most dastardly plan.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Three weeks after the death of the baron, Richard sent
0:25:53 > 0:25:58a message to Purcell, requesting a meeting with his nephew, James.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02The meeting was to take place at the Ormond Market,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05the butchers' market that stood here.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Purcell was alarmed by the message.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12He was very suspicious, he wasn't quite sure what Richard
0:26:12 > 0:26:17had planned, so he came here, he agreed to the meeting,
0:26:17 > 0:26:22but he came armed with a cudgel, with James clinging to his side.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Somewhere around about here,
0:26:24 > 0:26:28the pair of them saw this rather sinister figure, Richard,
0:26:28 > 0:26:29dressed in black.
0:26:29 > 0:26:33And with no more ado, Richard strode towards them
0:26:33 > 0:26:38and demanded that Purcell hand over that "thieving son of a whore".
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I threatened to knock out the brains of the first man
0:26:49 > 0:26:51that should offer to take him from me
0:26:51 > 0:26:57and said I would lose my life before I lose my child.
0:26:57 > 0:27:03The people in the market heard it, and the butchers came to assist me.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11James had escaped...this time.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21But the scheming Richard Annesley was not deterred.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28He came up with a simple but brilliant plan to get rid of his
0:27:28 > 0:27:34nephew, legally and permanently, courtesy of the British Empire.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41Richard accused James of stealing a silver spoon
0:27:41 > 0:27:44and got two constables to arrest him.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Together, they dragged him off to Dublin's port.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50James's life was about to change for ever.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01James was brought here, no doubt kicking and screaming,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04and confined in a ship bound for America.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08Richard Annesley had struck a deal with the ship's captain.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13James was to be transported 3,000 miles and sold as a servant
0:28:13 > 0:28:15to the highest bidder.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21Since the Pilgrim Fathers sailed the Mayflower to America
0:28:21 > 0:28:23a hundred years earlier,
0:28:23 > 0:28:27there had been a huge demand for labour in the New World,
0:28:27 > 0:28:32and the Old World was only too happy to oblige.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35From the 17th century onwards,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39thousands of youths like James were transported.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43They ended up as the chattels of plantation owners
0:28:43 > 0:28:45in far-flung lands.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50The popular fear of the idle classes, those rogues and vagabonds
0:28:50 > 0:28:53that cluttered the streets of many cities,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56was one motivation for human trafficking.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Another was the simple fact that getting rid
0:28:58 > 0:29:03of the ne'er-be-goods could be highly profitable business.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06- How are you?- Hello!
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Shady recruitment agents, known as "spirits",
0:29:12 > 0:29:15profited from this business.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18These characters lurked in most of the ports around Britain.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22They'd come into bars, a bit like this, I suppose, look around, see
0:29:22 > 0:29:25somebody down on their luck, alone, looking miserable.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28They'd target them. Buy them a drink or two.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31When that person was drunk, insensible,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33the legal form of indenture would be produced.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Somehow the signature of the drunken person was put on the form,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39and that was it. There was no going back.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41They'd been "spirited away".
0:29:43 > 0:29:46This demand for labour in the colonies meant that some people
0:29:46 > 0:29:52were prepared to stoop to something far more nefarious - kidnapping.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55"Kidnapping" was a word that entered the English language
0:29:55 > 0:29:58in the 17th century and means really what it says,
0:29:58 > 0:30:00the abduction of children,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03who were normally sent across the seas to toil.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07Children, well, they were easy prey. They couldn't fight back.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11They could be stowed aboard ships without too much difficulty,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13kept under control.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17This frightful trafficking in human beings was not,
0:30:17 > 0:30:19of course, confined to Ireland in the 18th century,
0:30:19 > 0:30:23but took place all across the British Isles.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32There's no way of telling just how many children were nabbed,
0:30:32 > 0:30:36never to be seen again by their parents.
0:30:37 > 0:30:44But we do know about a boy from Aberdeen called Peter Williamson
0:30:44 > 0:30:47who was abducted in 1743.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54I was playing on the quay when I was taken notice of
0:30:54 > 0:30:58by two fellows belonging to a vessel in the harbour
0:30:58 > 0:31:01employed in that villainous practice called kidnapping -
0:31:01 > 0:31:04stealing young children from their parents
0:31:04 > 0:31:07and selling them as slaves in the plantations abroad.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10Being marked out by those monsters as their prey,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12I was cajoled on board the ship by them.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38Imagine the terror.
0:31:38 > 0:31:45The children, suddenly confined in an utterly alien, wooden world,
0:31:45 > 0:31:51surrounded by things all of which were unfamiliar.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53The smell of tar,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56ropes, scuttling rats,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00bustling seamen, hunger, thirst, disease
0:32:00 > 0:32:05and, of course, far from home, far from friends,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09in all likelihood never to be seen again.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16The weeping child could not be heard
0:32:16 > 0:32:20The weeping parents wept in vain
0:32:20 > 0:32:23They stripped him to a little shirt
0:32:23 > 0:32:26And bound him in an iron chain.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40For kidnapped boys like James and Peter,
0:32:40 > 0:32:43this was the first view of their new home,
0:32:43 > 0:32:47the distant and alien land of America.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50A great wilderness.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53For Peter, well, his arrival was particularly traumatic.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56The ship bringing him ran aground on a sandbank
0:32:56 > 0:32:58as it approached the American coast.
0:32:58 > 0:33:04The crew abandoned ship leaving the cargo of children, including Peter,
0:33:04 > 0:33:05to fend for themselves.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13The cries, the shrieks and tears of a parcel of infants
0:33:13 > 0:33:16had no affect on or caused the least remorse
0:33:16 > 0:33:19in the breasts of these merciless wretches.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24The wind at length abated.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27The captain, unwilling to lose all his cargo,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29sent some of his crew in a boat
0:33:29 > 0:33:31to the ship's side to bring us onshore.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38James Annesley's arrival was less dramatic,
0:33:38 > 0:33:41but he couldn't possibly have imagined
0:33:41 > 0:33:45what terrors the New World had in store for him.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51James landed in Delaware, on the east coast of America,
0:33:51 > 0:33:55at a town called Newcastle, south of Philadelphia.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01Newcastle was the state capital, a bustling port
0:34:01 > 0:34:04and the place of entry for many indentured servants.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10Now, we all know about the way in which black Africans
0:34:10 > 0:34:14suffered the indignities, the horrors of slavery.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16But what's not so well known
0:34:16 > 0:34:21is the often almost equally bitter story of white servitude,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24and that was a world that James was now about to enter.
0:34:31 > 0:34:37Astonishingly, almost half of the estimated 300,000 emigrants
0:34:37 > 0:34:40from the British Isles arriving in the British colonies in America
0:34:40 > 0:34:43between 1700 and 1775
0:34:43 > 0:34:49were either transported convicts or indentured servants.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55For the poor and dispossessed,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58indentured servitude could offer an escape.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01They paid for their passage across the Atlantic
0:35:01 > 0:35:06by agreeing to work for nothing for a set number of years.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11Unlike slavery, once they'd served their time,
0:35:11 > 0:35:13they were free to start a new life.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17But the reality was often much bleaker.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21On their arrival, they were sold off like animals.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32I've never seen such parcels of poor wretches in my life,
0:35:32 > 0:35:36for they are used no better than many Negro slaves
0:35:36 > 0:35:39and sold in the same manner as horses or cows.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49James was bought by a farmer called Duncan Drummond.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55There's no record of how much he fetched, but Peter Williamson
0:35:55 > 0:36:00was sold for £16, which is about £2,000 today.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10I'm going to Philadelphia to meet historian Roger Ekirch,
0:36:10 > 0:36:12who has written a biography of James Annesley.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15Nobody knows more about his story.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Can you tell me what James's life would have been like,
0:36:19 > 0:36:22as far as one can tell, when he arrived in Delaware?
0:36:22 > 0:36:29Clearly, the evidence suggests his first master was very, very, brutal.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Very tough.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38His daily life consisted of felling timber
0:36:38 > 0:36:42in the backwoods of Northern Delaware.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45Daniel Defoe in the very early 18th century, in Moll Flanders,
0:36:45 > 0:36:48talks about indentured servants, doesn't he?
0:36:48 > 0:36:51And he says they should be more properly called slaves.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54There was a common saying among slaves
0:36:54 > 0:37:00that were a Negro not a Negro, an Irishman would be a Negro.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04In terms of the material conditions of life,
0:37:04 > 0:37:10one's daily existence, dress, diet, housing,
0:37:10 > 0:37:15conditions for both slaves and white servants,
0:37:15 > 0:37:19especially unskilled servants,
0:37:19 > 0:37:23they were both absolutely horrendous
0:37:23 > 0:37:26with very little likelihood, in his uncle's mind,
0:37:26 > 0:37:31that James would ever be able to return to Ireland.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34And the people responsible for the kidnapping -
0:37:34 > 0:37:37the law in Britain was quite ambiguous
0:37:37 > 0:37:40about the nature of their activity, wasn't it?
0:37:40 > 0:37:44Yes. Up until the early 19th century,
0:37:44 > 0:37:48you could be hung for stealing a horse,
0:37:48 > 0:37:55whereas the kidnapping of an individual was only a misdemeanour.
0:38:02 > 0:38:04It's a sickening thought.
0:38:04 > 0:38:07Richard Annesley would only have had his knuckles rapped
0:38:07 > 0:38:10and a fine for kidnapping James,
0:38:10 > 0:38:15while his teenage nephew slaved in this primeval landscape.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28James was put to work by Duncan Drummond on his farm...
0:38:30 > 0:38:35..toiling relentlessly with hardly anything to eat
0:38:35 > 0:38:36and constant beatings.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41All in this terrifying wilderness infested with snakes,
0:38:41 > 0:38:44wild beasts and mosquitoes.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48It must have been horrendous.
0:38:58 > 0:39:01After five years, James could take no more.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07He escaped, risking everything in the desperate hope
0:39:07 > 0:39:11that he would get back to Ireland and reclaim his inheritance.
0:39:16 > 0:39:22James must have been in an appalling situation, hacking away, fearful.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27It just shows, doesn't it, how, I suppose, frightful things were
0:39:27 > 0:39:32on Drummond's plantation, where James was treated cruelly,
0:39:32 > 0:39:36that this was a preferred option,
0:39:36 > 0:39:42to be wandering through this dangerous, elemental land.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54Newspapers of the time are full of advertisements
0:39:54 > 0:39:59offering rewards for the capture of indentured servants.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05I have some of these newspapers here.
0:40:08 > 0:40:09Ten dollars reward.
0:40:09 > 0:40:15An indentured servant named James Quinn, by trade a tailor.
0:40:15 > 0:40:21About 5ft high with black curly hair, a down look...
0:40:21 > 0:40:22HE LAUGHS
0:40:22 > 0:40:26..with thick legs and much addicted to liquor.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28Eight dollars reward.
0:40:28 > 0:40:32An Irish servant man, name - George Murphy, by trade a barber,
0:40:32 > 0:40:37of a black complexion, straight black hair, pock marked,
0:40:37 > 0:40:40a well-fed fellow, about 5ft 5in high,
0:40:40 > 0:40:4318 or 19 years old.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45All these people, of course,
0:40:45 > 0:40:50are the property, the possessions of others, of their masters,
0:40:50 > 0:40:54and I suppose, you know, a form of currency
0:40:54 > 0:40:59in what was, in many respects, a very brutal world.
0:41:03 > 0:41:08James joined a group of fugitives, other runaways.
0:41:08 > 0:41:09That was a big mistake.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13They were more easily tracked, and all of them were captured.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18James was returned to Drummond, who gave him a very severe whipping.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23Worse still, James's period of servitude was extended.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27Would he never escape this hell?
0:41:29 > 0:41:32As he toiled day in day out,
0:41:32 > 0:41:34there is no way he could have known
0:41:34 > 0:41:37he was living through extraordinary times.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Revolutionary new ideas were germinating
0:41:42 > 0:41:45that would eventually transform the world.
0:41:48 > 0:41:52These were the Enlightenment ideas for which, in many ways,
0:41:52 > 0:41:54the 18th century is best remembered.
0:41:54 > 0:41:59The triumph of rational thinking, the assertion of the rights of man,
0:41:59 > 0:42:04the heady mix of liberty and equality
0:42:04 > 0:42:08that fuelled revolutions in America and in France.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11A new generation of thinkers arose
0:42:11 > 0:42:15that challenged the very essence of the Old World.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Philosophers, like Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
0:42:19 > 0:42:24had radical new ideas on everything from politics to childhood.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27Love childhood.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31Indulge its sports, its pleasures, its delightful instincts.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35Who has not sometimes regretted that age,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38when laughter was ever on the lips
0:42:38 > 0:42:42and when the heart was ever at peace?
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Inspired by the ideas of men like Rousseau,
0:42:47 > 0:42:51the American Colonies overthrew British rule.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56They declared independence in 1776...
0:42:59 > 0:43:03..and the United States of America was born.
0:43:03 > 0:43:08The ideas of Enlightenment were taking root in the New World.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20We hold it to be a self-evident truth
0:43:20 > 0:43:23that all men are created equal.
0:43:23 > 0:43:30The rights enshrined in the 1776 Declaration of Independence are,
0:43:30 > 0:43:34of course, admirable, but the problem is that, um...
0:43:36 > 0:43:40..attitudes towards slavery and indentured servitude
0:43:40 > 0:43:43changed painfully slowly.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48The abolition of slavery went on
0:43:48 > 0:43:52to become one of the great moral crusades of the 19th century.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58By the 1820s, the trade in indentured servants
0:43:58 > 0:43:59had all but died out
0:43:59 > 0:44:02because it was no longer profitable.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06But for James, that would be too late.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15James wanted to escape his brutal existence
0:44:15 > 0:44:19and, primarily, had one thing on his mind.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23He did not want to make a life for himself in the New World,
0:44:23 > 0:44:28but get back to Ireland and battle to reclaim his birthright.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35After 13 years of abuse and exploitation,
0:44:35 > 0:44:40and on his third attempt, he finally escaped.
0:44:40 > 0:44:45He was 25 and had been in America, effectively a slave,
0:44:45 > 0:44:47for more than half his life.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52James made his way to Jamaica,
0:44:52 > 0:44:56where he enlisted as a common seaman upon a Royal Naval warship.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58Incredibly, while on that ship,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02he was recognised by an old school friend from Dublin.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05This story was so incredible, so strange,
0:45:05 > 0:45:07that it soon got back to London.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Here we have a copy of the Daily Post,
0:45:10 > 0:45:14published on February 12th 1741,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19that, indeed, contains an account of James's discovery.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Under plantation news - the admiral has ordered
0:45:22 > 0:45:26he should walk the quarterdeck as a midshipman
0:45:26 > 0:45:29till the truth can be manifested.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33So, James, well, things were looking up, weren't they?
0:45:33 > 0:45:37Recognised by the Royal Navy, or at least by the Admiral of the Fleet.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39This would do him a great deal of good.
0:45:39 > 0:45:40He was on his way back to Ireland,
0:45:40 > 0:45:44on his way back to reclaim his titles and his rightful inheritance.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56But before he could do that, he had to do battle with his nemesis,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59his uncle, Richard Annesley,
0:45:59 > 0:46:03who was now the rich and powerful Earl of Anglesea.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17In Ireland, James was welcomed back like the prodigal son.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21He'd become one of the most celebrated figures in the country
0:46:21 > 0:46:23and had won many supporters.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27The newspapers called his battle the Great Cause.
0:46:27 > 0:46:32But not everybody was pleased that James was back.
0:46:33 > 0:46:37On the 16th September 1743,
0:46:37 > 0:46:41James attended one of Ireland's leading social events -
0:46:41 > 0:46:43the Curragh races in Kildare -
0:46:43 > 0:46:47and was accompanied by one of his wealthy new friends,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49Daniel MacKercher.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53Richard Annesley was at the races, too,
0:46:53 > 0:46:55and he had one thing on his mind...
0:46:58 > 0:47:00..murder.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07Things here took a very dramatic turn.
0:47:07 > 0:47:09Even before James reached the racecourse,
0:47:09 > 0:47:13a coach drawn by six horses thundered towards him,
0:47:13 > 0:47:14nearer and nearer.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19It tried to run him down and missed by a hair's breadth.
0:47:19 > 0:47:21James and his party recognised the coachman.
0:47:21 > 0:47:23It was one of Richard's men.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28Then, incredibly, the coach stopped, turned round
0:47:28 > 0:47:32and had another go at this dramatic hit-and-run killing.
0:47:32 > 0:47:37It was an astonishing event, so brazen in front of everybody.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39All the race-goers could see this going on.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47MacKercher was outraged by this attempt to murder James,
0:47:47 > 0:47:49or at least to terrorise him.
0:47:49 > 0:47:52He spotted Richard by the winning post with his henchmen.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Very bravely, MacKercher approached Richard, they had an argument.
0:47:56 > 0:47:57During the argument,
0:47:57 > 0:48:00MacKercher was hit over the head with a butt of a whip.
0:48:02 > 0:48:04James was advised to flee.
0:48:04 > 0:48:08He got on his horse, fled the field, chased by 40 or 50 armed men.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09As he ran off,
0:48:09 > 0:48:13he could hear Richard screaming out, "Knock his brains out!"
0:48:15 > 0:48:18James turned to confront the men,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21but his horse fell and landed on top of him.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23The mob left him for dead.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32But they hadn't counted on James's resilience.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35He survived
0:48:35 > 0:48:40and was even more determined to win back his inheritance.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44It would prove to be the biggest challenge of his life.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47He was to take the fight against Richard Annesley
0:48:47 > 0:48:50to the law courts of Dublin.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58The trial was regarded as the most important of the age.
0:48:58 > 0:49:04At stake was one of the foundation stones of society - inheritance -
0:49:04 > 0:49:08the idea that title, wealth, power, property
0:49:08 > 0:49:12passed through the blood to legal heirs.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23The Irish peers who met in this splendid room,
0:49:23 > 0:49:26the Chamber of the House of Lords,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29knew that to tinker with the God-given laws of inheritance
0:49:29 > 0:49:33could undermine their very world.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43Roger Ekirch has spent two years
0:49:43 > 0:49:46studying the transcripts of this extraordinary trial.
0:49:48 > 0:49:52It centred on whether James was a legitimate heir
0:49:52 > 0:49:55to one of the Annesley estates in Ireland.
0:49:55 > 0:49:58So, Roger, why do you believe, as you clearly do,
0:49:58 > 0:50:03you're convinced, that James was indeed the legitimate heir?
0:50:03 > 0:50:09Most basically, because the circumstances are irrefutable.
0:50:09 > 0:50:15What was at issue is whether Lady Altham was his natural mother
0:50:15 > 0:50:20or instead a chambermaid by the name of Joan,
0:50:20 > 0:50:26or, as she was sometimes referred to, Juggy Landy.
0:50:26 > 0:50:32So that you had servants brought to Dublin
0:50:32 > 0:50:36from more than 20 years earlier.
0:50:36 > 0:50:42One, for example, was named Dennis Redmonds, who had been sent
0:50:42 > 0:50:45to procure a midwife
0:50:45 > 0:50:50while Lady Altham was reportedly in labour.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52"Well, then I ask you
0:50:52 > 0:50:56"whether you ever knew My Lady to be with child or not
0:50:56 > 0:50:59"during the time of your being there?"
0:50:59 > 0:51:01"I did."
0:51:01 > 0:51:02"How did you know it?"
0:51:02 > 0:51:05"Because I seen her big bellied."
0:51:06 > 0:51:09One of the most compelling reasons, I think,
0:51:09 > 0:51:13why this trial was so sensational,
0:51:13 > 0:51:17on a very sort of fundamental, visceral level,
0:51:17 > 0:51:20was that, ultimately,
0:51:20 > 0:51:27James's saga was a story of betrayal and loss.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32It's also a story of enormous resilience,
0:51:32 > 0:51:34survival...
0:51:34 > 0:51:38and had the potential, ultimately, for redemption.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44The trial lasted 12 days,
0:51:44 > 0:51:48the longest at the time in British legal history.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51James emerged victorious.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55There were wild celebrations in the streets of Dublin
0:51:55 > 0:51:58and in James's home town of New Ross.
0:51:58 > 0:52:00There was curiosity throughout the nation.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05George II invited James to an audience in London.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13Round one went to James, but victory in Dublin simply wasn't enough.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18Battle would now recommence in London.
0:52:18 > 0:52:22James had to defeat his Uncle Richard
0:52:22 > 0:52:25at the heart of the English judicial system,
0:52:25 > 0:52:27here in Westminster.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33He would have to prove that he was rightful heir,
0:52:33 > 0:52:35not just to one estate in Ireland,
0:52:35 > 0:52:38but also to five peerages across the British Isles...
0:52:40 > 0:52:43..or he would get nothing.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47This was going to prove much tougher.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51The Court of Chancery was notoriously slow,
0:52:51 > 0:52:55and Richard, of course, had in his possession the family estates
0:52:55 > 0:52:57and all the wealth that went with them.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01Also, he was more than happy to pervert the course of justice,
0:53:01 > 0:53:02if necessary,
0:53:02 > 0:53:07and, sadly, justice was more than happy to be perverted.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09Richard had in his pocket
0:53:09 > 0:53:11some of the leading lawyers of the kingdom,
0:53:11 > 0:53:15men who knew how to use and abuse the legal system
0:53:15 > 0:53:17to attain their ends.
0:53:20 > 0:53:23They used arcane legal technicalities to stall proceedings.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28The longer the case dragged on, the more they lined their pockets,
0:53:28 > 0:53:31proving the old proverb...
0:53:33 > 0:53:39"..He that goes to law holds a wolf by the ears."
0:53:39 > 0:53:43Richard knew that James's meagre funds wouldn't last for ever.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Lawyers do not, of course, come cheap.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50So, in effect, Richard was bankrupting his nephew.
0:53:55 > 0:53:59James's case became the great cause celebre of the age
0:53:59 > 0:54:02and a fighting fund was raised for him
0:54:02 > 0:54:05by leading members of Georgian high society.
0:54:07 > 0:54:09After 15 years,
0:54:09 > 0:54:13the Court of Chancery completed its examination of the witnesses,
0:54:13 > 0:54:17but by this time, James was down to his last five pounds.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21This meant that he needed the equivalent of legal aid.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24There was additional delay but, finally,
0:54:24 > 0:54:29the court announced that it would hear the case in January 1760.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35But James couldn't keep the appointment
0:54:35 > 0:54:37which promised to bring him victory.
0:54:37 > 0:54:43On 5th January, he suffered an asthma attack and died.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49He was only 44.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56Within a year, his uncle Richard was also dead.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01Ironically, Richard's son and heir was judged to be illegitimate,
0:55:01 > 0:55:06so the coveted Earldom of Anglesea was declared extinct.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13James was buried here in St Margaret's Church
0:55:13 > 0:55:15in the village of Lee in Kent.
0:55:15 > 0:55:17Hello.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20- Nice to meet you.- And you, too, yes. - Excellent.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24Well, wonderful to be here at this really splendid church,
0:55:24 > 0:55:28but my real quest is to find the grave of James Annesley.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Is it known where he's buried?
0:55:30 > 0:55:32We don't know where he's buried,
0:55:32 > 0:55:34but there's no doubt that he is buried here.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36His name is recorded in the parish register.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43But tombs of earlier members of the family
0:55:43 > 0:55:48- have survived in part and they are stored here.- How exciting.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50So, I can't pay my respects to James but I can...
0:55:50 > 0:55:52But you can to his ancestors.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02It's tragic that, after such a long and astonishing journey,
0:56:02 > 0:56:05it all came to nothing for James.
0:56:05 > 0:56:09And he, like his father, doesn't even have a known grave.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13But he did leave a will, and I've got a copy of it here.
0:56:13 > 0:56:19"This is the last will and testament of me, James Annesley."
0:56:19 > 0:56:24He states here very directly, "The only son and heir
0:56:24 > 0:56:30"of the Right Honourable Arthur, late Lord Baron of Altham."
0:56:30 > 0:56:36Here we see he proposed to leave £1,000 each to his wife,
0:56:36 > 0:56:38son and daughter,
0:56:38 > 0:56:44and £15,000 to Daniel MacKercher, Esquire.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47But none of this happened.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50James did not regain his birthright.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52He died a pauper
0:56:52 > 0:56:57and nobody - not friend nor family - received a penny.
0:57:07 > 0:57:09James's body would have been buried
0:57:09 > 0:57:12somewhere in the churchyard across the road.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20The old churchyard is wonderful,
0:57:20 > 0:57:25full of 18th-century headstones and tombs.
0:57:25 > 0:57:30I can't but feel somewhere I'll see the name of James Annesley.
0:57:32 > 0:57:37It's an incredible feeling after all my searchings
0:57:37 > 0:57:39for this chap and his story
0:57:39 > 0:57:42to be now so near his last resting place on Earth.
0:57:46 > 0:57:48James lived many lives in one.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52As a son of the nobility,
0:57:52 > 0:57:54he'd briefly tasted the fruits of privilege.
0:57:54 > 0:57:59But then he became a victim of cruel circumstance
0:57:59 > 0:58:02and felt the full force of the contradictions
0:58:02 > 0:58:04at the heart of the 18th century,
0:58:04 > 0:58:08when children were both sentimentalised
0:58:08 > 0:58:10and brutally exploited.
0:58:10 > 0:58:16It's a story that makes talk of the Enlightenment, of the rights of man,
0:58:16 > 0:58:21of human progress sound like empty rhetoric.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25With the Industrial Revolution just around the corner,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28with its exploitation of child labour,
0:58:28 > 0:58:33it was to be a long time before the basic idea was accepted
0:58:33 > 0:58:39that children also have individual and precious rights.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:56 > 0:59:00E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk