0:00:03 > 0:00:07When we live in a house, we're just passing through.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09People have occupied it before us,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13others will take our place when we leave.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17100 human dramas played out in every room.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Every house in Britain has a story to tell,
0:00:22 > 0:00:27but in this series I'm going to uncover the secret life of just one.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29A single townhouse, here in Liverpool.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39A city that rivalled New York in the late 19th century.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Yet, 100 years later, was one of the poorest places in Europe.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49In many ways, 62 Falkner Street is an ordinary house.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51But as I'm going to show you,
0:00:51 > 0:00:53in reality, it's an amazing treasure-trove.
0:00:53 > 0:00:59Cos he leaves them not just £100, but also number 62 Falkner Street.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02In March 1885, again, in this house,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05he grabbed her by the throat and assaulted her.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09The life that you can see recorded in these old documents
0:01:09 > 0:01:10is extraordinary.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12Delving into the archives,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15I'll use the personal histories of the residents of this house
0:01:15 > 0:01:20to reveal the story of Britain over almost 200 years.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24It's a period of seismic social change.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27From the early years of Victoria's reign...
0:01:28 > 0:01:30..right through to the present day.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37In this episode, we look at the house from the 1890s to the 1940s
0:01:37 > 0:01:41when its residents struggle with technological revolution.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45"We have nothing to fear from motor carriages."
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Two world wars changed the house forever.
0:01:48 > 0:01:49The bombs fell right here.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And the building descends into shabby lodgings.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56I'm going on the ultimate detective hunt,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00to uncover lives that haven't been recorded in the history books,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04but which can tell us a new version of our nation's past.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08A new history of Britain, hidden within the walls of a single house.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Welcome to 62 Falkner Street.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Today, it's home to a 21st-century family.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Gaynor and her two children, Rosie and Tom.
0:02:40 > 0:02:41- GAYNOR:- Good idea!
0:02:41 > 0:02:43SHE LAUGHS
0:02:43 > 0:02:47Built in the early 1840s as a merchant's residence,
0:02:47 > 0:02:52by the late 1880s it had become an up-market lodging house...
0:02:53 > 0:02:57..run by landlady Catherine Robertson.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05Now it's 1890, and she's selling the house to new residents.
0:03:05 > 0:03:06But who are they?
0:03:09 > 0:03:13To find out, I'm delving deep into the archives.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17And hunting through official records.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21So I've called up a page from the 1891 census,
0:03:21 > 0:03:26and that tells us that the new residents of 62 Falkner Street
0:03:26 > 0:03:27are the Snewing family.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31William Snewing, who's 48 years old.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35And under profession or occupation it says, "saddler,"
0:03:35 > 0:03:37which means that he's a manufacturer
0:03:37 > 0:03:40of saddles and harnesses and bridles for horses.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43To afford 62 Falkner Street,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48William Snewing was clearly more than just a jobbing saddle-maker.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Perhaps he even ran his own business.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54He's married, his wife is Fanny Snewing,
0:03:54 > 0:03:58and I think it says a lot about the way women's work was regarded
0:03:58 > 0:04:02in the 19th century that under occupation there's nothing.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04She doesn't have an occupation, according to the census,
0:04:04 > 0:04:07and yet, the couple have six children.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10There's a 13-year-old, 12-year-old, ten-year-old, seven-year-old,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12three-year-old and an eight-month-old baby.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15So she's not exactly living a life of leisure.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19The other resident is a 19-year-old domestic servant.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21The fact that they can afford a domestic servant
0:04:21 > 0:04:23and they can afford to live here
0:04:23 > 0:04:26means that they're probably not rich, but they're certainly
0:04:26 > 0:04:27going to be a comfortable,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30relatively well-off middle-class family.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38In the basement of 62 Falkner Street
0:04:38 > 0:04:39was the kitchen
0:04:39 > 0:04:41and a bedroom, where we THINK
0:04:41 > 0:04:43their domestic servant lived.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46On the ground floor, at the rear,
0:04:46 > 0:04:49a day room, where the Snewings lived on a day-to-day basis.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56At the front, the dining room, used only for entertaining guests.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02On the first floor was the parlour, the grandest room in the house.
0:05:02 > 0:05:03Just for best.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Across the way, the main bedroom.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Used by William and Fanny.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Then, on the top floor, were bedrooms.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19Most likely shared by the six Snewing children.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26Inside the house you can begin to imagine what it must've been like
0:05:26 > 0:05:29when it was the family home of the Snewings.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32You wonder - what were the sounds that echoed around
0:05:32 > 0:05:34these corridors and these rooms?
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Did they have a piano, like many people did?
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Did the children sit in this room and have piano lessons?
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Did they go out and buy one of the new gramophones?
0:05:43 > 0:05:46The main sound for many, many years in this house
0:05:46 > 0:05:50must have been the sounds of children, SIX children.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54FAINT ECHO OF CHILDREN PLAYING AND LAUGHING
0:05:54 > 0:05:58The two youngest, Lillian and Mabel, were actually born in the house.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Ranging in age from teenagers to toddlers,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07the ground floor day room would have been full
0:06:07 > 0:06:09of their toys and games.
0:06:11 > 0:06:15This is one of the last remaining original features in the house
0:06:15 > 0:06:18and you can imagine children sliding down this banister
0:06:18 > 0:06:23and really taking possession of the house and making it really feel
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and sound like a family home.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28Around the back were stables,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32where the Snewings probably kept their main form of transport...
0:06:33 > 0:06:35A horse and cart.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43If we take a look at the jobs their neighbours did
0:06:43 > 0:06:45it gives us a good indication
0:06:45 > 0:06:49of how the social status of the street's residents has changed.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52There's a draper's agent, a brush-maker.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58A watchmaker and a painter.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04These are not the merchant and managerial classes
0:07:04 > 0:07:05who once lived here.
0:07:07 > 0:07:08By the 1890s,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Falkner Street was clearly less fashionable than it had been.
0:07:19 > 0:07:20The Snewings first appear
0:07:20 > 0:07:23in Liverpool's Gore's Directory in 1877.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28When they're living in nearby Upper Hope Place.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36By the 1890s they had made enough money to move up the ladder into
0:07:36 > 0:07:39the much larger 62 Falkner Street.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44As this early footage of Liverpool shows,
0:07:44 > 0:07:48horses powered all forms of transport on the city's streets.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56So saddlery and harness-making were profitable trades to be in.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59TRAIN WHISTLE HOOTS
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Even the coming of the railways didn't dent the industry.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06In fact, the number of working horses increased dramatically
0:08:06 > 0:08:10as they were still needed to move goods to and from stations.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18In the city, they lugged carts laden with goods from the docks,
0:08:18 > 0:08:22pulled trams, and carriages owned by wealthy merchants.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25There were over three million
0:08:25 > 0:08:28working horses in Britain at the time.
0:08:31 > 0:08:32But I have a question.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38If William Snewing did run a saddlery business, how big was it?
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The 1891 census simply tells us he's a saddle-maker.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49So I'm looking back through the archives for more clues.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54The 1881 census tells us a little bit more.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58William is listed here as employing 11 men.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01So this is clearly a proper saddle-making business.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06And if we spin forward, 20 years through time to the 1901 census,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10we can see that their son, William Junior, who was then 23,
0:09:10 > 0:09:14has joined the firm as a saddler's assistant.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16So this is a classic family business.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28I've trawled through trade magazines and newspapers,
0:09:28 > 0:09:32looking for references to Snewing Saddle-makers, but found nothing.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38In fact, I could see no reference to them anywhere.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46I need to find some sort of family connection.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50By forward tracing Snewing descendants, using birth,
0:09:50 > 0:09:55marriage and death certificates, I HAVE tracked down a relative,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57who I hope can provide some answers.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58SHE LAUGHS
0:09:58 > 0:10:02Eileen Burkenshaw's husband John was William's grandson.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08He was absolutely besotted with the history of the Snewings.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12She has found photographs of William and Fanny
0:10:12 > 0:10:15taken around the turn of the 20th century.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22She also has a picture of William's uncle, Charles Snewing,
0:10:22 > 0:10:23that gives us a clue
0:10:23 > 0:10:27as to where William's passion for horses came from.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30This is a painting of Caratacus,
0:10:30 > 0:10:34with Charles Snewing and, of course, the jockey,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36and this blue is the Snewing colour.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38They won the Derby.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41And this is 1862, so you can see why he wanted to be in the horse trade.
0:10:41 > 0:10:42- Yes.- Yeah.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44- It's in the blood, clearly.- Yes.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49As a young man, his uncle's success at the Derby
0:10:49 > 0:10:52must have made a deep impression on William.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58And Eileen has another family treasure
0:10:58 > 0:11:00that I'm hoping will provide more clues
0:11:00 > 0:11:03about William's saddlery business.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05All that we know about the Snewings was in this letter.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08- So this is real treasure? - So this is...
0:11:08 > 0:11:09- LAUGHING:- It's wonderful. - So...
0:11:09 > 0:11:11- So, tell me, tell me... - And all handwritten.
0:11:11 > 0:11:12..what it tells me.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16"William Snewing was always interested in horses,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18"and finding it either impossible or impracticable
0:11:18 > 0:11:20"to be a veterinary surgeon,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24"he joined the firm Mennies, who were leather merchants."
0:11:24 > 0:11:26So, he'd wanted to be a vet...
0:11:26 > 0:11:28- And couldn't... - Couldn't get the training or...
0:11:28 > 0:11:30Perhaps he wasn't capable, I don't know.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32- Yes.- So, he's gone to London to be an apprentice, I think?
0:11:32 > 0:11:37Yes, in saddlery, horsemanship, anything he could find, I suppose.
0:11:37 > 0:11:43Anyway... "William soon encountered obstacles to his plans.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46"Mennies had an agreement with all their staff,
0:11:46 > 0:11:47"that if they set up in opposition,
0:11:47 > 0:11:50"it had to be more than 50 miles away.
0:11:50 > 0:11:51"So, he chose the town,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54"which in 1875 was the most prosperous
0:11:54 > 0:11:59"and certainly the most aristocratic outside London - Liverpool.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04"He took over ownership by loan of Dobell & Son."
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Ah, Dobell & Sons.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07- Yes.- That's the company's name?
0:12:07 > 0:12:09Yes.
0:12:10 > 0:12:11So it sounds like he's gone to London,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13learnt the leather trade
0:12:13 > 0:12:17and then decided to take those skills out into a new venture...
0:12:17 > 0:12:20- Mm-hm.- ..and chosen Liverpool and come to the town
0:12:20 > 0:12:22and then bought this company.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27Now I have the name of the company,
0:12:27 > 0:12:29I can look them up in Gore's Directory.
0:12:30 > 0:12:36And it reveals that Dobell & Son were based at 31 Church Street.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40Today, Church Street is exactly what it was back in the 19th century,
0:12:40 > 0:12:43it's one of Liverpool's main shopping streets.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47It's about 20 minutes by foot from Falkner Street up the hill,
0:12:47 > 0:12:48but William and Fanny Snewing
0:12:48 > 0:12:50probably didn't come down here by foot,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53they probably came in a horse and carriage.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59And they had to come down here
0:12:59 > 0:13:03because that's the site of their saddlery and harness shop.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08This is a prime city centre location,
0:13:08 > 0:13:11and you can imagine what the shop would have been like,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14with the saddles and the harnesses all around the door, decorating it.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20It would have looked like what it is, a thriving city centre business,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24involved in a trade that was essential to the lives of absolutely
0:13:24 > 0:13:25everybody in the late 19th century.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32They were in a prime location, so presumably, doing well.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I want to know the type of saddlery Dobell & Sons were making,
0:13:38 > 0:13:40and who they were selling it to.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45So I've come to what was once the heart
0:13:45 > 0:13:48of the Victorian saddle-making industry...
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Walsall, in the West Midlands.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Today, it's still a centre for leather-working.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58A select few make saddles here for the leisure market.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07The curator of Walsall's Leather Museum, Michael Glasson,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11has been searching the archives for any reference to Dobell & Son.
0:14:11 > 0:14:12- Mike.- Hi, David.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Hi. What have you found?
0:14:14 > 0:14:17Well, we found a few obscure references to Dobell & Sons.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19They're not easy to track down.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23Here we've got a reference to the Liverpool International Exhibition,
0:14:23 > 0:14:25and Dobell & Sons win a prize -
0:14:25 > 0:14:28this is 1886 - for their saddlery and bridles.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31So it suggests that it's... You know, it's high-end stuff.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Michael has also found some classified adverts,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39placed in Liverpool newspapers.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41We've got one here, too -
0:14:41 > 0:14:44a light set silver-mounted harness by Dobell.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47And then another one here, too...
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Plated mountings on a set of double and single harness
0:14:51 > 0:14:52by Dobell & Son.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54These are the metal parts?
0:14:54 > 0:14:56These are the metal parts, the sort of the buckles,
0:14:56 > 0:14:58and the sort of ornate fittings.
0:14:58 > 0:15:03So this stuff is really desirable.
0:15:03 > 0:15:04- It's part...- Blingy, yes.- Yeah.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06- So, patent, shiny leather...- Yeah.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08- ..and nice silver buckles and metalwork.- Yes.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10So you can imagine, it would be very striking.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15So William Snewing's Liverpool shop
0:15:15 > 0:15:17focused on the top end of the market.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21What's happening in the late 19th century is that increasingly,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24the cheaper saddlery and harness is being made in Walsall.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27- Where we are now.- Where we are now, in factories like this,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29and there were about 200 factories in Walsall,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32are really cornering the market in ready-made saddlery and harness,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34and they're very, very good at it
0:15:34 > 0:15:36and they can churn it out really cheaply.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43But their secret weapon, their competitive advantage,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47is the fact that unlike the saddlers in Liverpool and other centres,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50they're getting all the stitching done by women stitchers.
0:15:57 > 0:16:01Male saddle-makers were paid up to 40 shillings a week.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06But they could get away with paying women just ten shillings.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11That was less than a third of the wage needed
0:16:11 > 0:16:13to support a family in the 1890s.
0:16:14 > 0:16:20Exploiting women gave Walsall saddle-makers a competitive edge
0:16:20 > 0:16:24and allowed them to produce more saddlery at a cheaper rate.
0:16:26 > 0:16:30Dobell & Son in Liverpool couldn't hope to compete in this market.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35So for Dobell & Sons, the options are either you sack all the male
0:16:35 > 0:16:39saddle-makers, hire a load of women and pay them peanuts,
0:16:39 > 0:16:43- or you go into the top end of the market.- Yeah.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46- So they are providing services to the wealthy...- Yes.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49..and that's where you can manage to find a niche in the market
0:16:49 > 0:16:52cos you can't compete with what's being produced here in Walsall.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54- Yeah, yeah.- So it's quite clever what they've done.
0:16:54 > 0:16:55Yes, yes.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03By 1897, the Snewings had lived in 62 Falkner Street
0:17:03 > 0:17:04for seven years.
0:17:06 > 0:17:07In that same year,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Gore's Directory shows that Dobell & Son have moved from Church Street
0:17:11 > 0:17:13in the heart of the city.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Their new address is 22 Paradise Street.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24These days, Paradise Street has been very much tidied up,
0:17:24 > 0:17:26but in the 19th century, this was a side street,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30it was off the main thoroughfare, away from the route to the docks,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33and so for the Snewings to relocate their shop to here,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and we think their shop was somewhere around here,
0:17:36 > 0:17:38has got to mean that they were downsizing,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40that their business was in decline.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47By the late 1890s, we know transport was about to be revolutionised.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53But to establish what was hitting Dobell & Son's trade,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56I've tracked down a sixth-generation saddle manufacturer,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59who has spent his life working in the industry...
0:18:00 > 0:18:03- Cliff Kirby-Tibbits. - ..An ongoing problem.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Some of the people started to buy bikes,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07and latterly you then had the car.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10And, in fact, if you read this article here from Saddlery And Harness News...
0:18:10 > 0:18:13- So this is the trade magazine? - This is the Bible.- Right.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16"Now we hear another cry threatening the extinction
0:18:16 > 0:18:17"of the horse on our roads.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20"Carriages propelled along the highway by machinery worked by
0:18:20 > 0:18:24"a small quantity of petroleum are now causing great excitement."
0:18:24 > 0:18:26Then it goes on to say that,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29"We have nothing at all to fear from motor carriages."
0:18:29 > 0:18:30CLIFF LAUGHS
0:18:30 > 0:18:33So they're pretty confident that the car's a fad.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35It seems obvious to us today
0:18:35 > 0:18:38that the car was going to decimate the saddle business,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41- but it's not obvious to them at the time, is it?- No.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48In 1895, the total number of cars in Britain was 14.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Then along came a vehicle that changed everything.
0:19:00 > 0:19:01The Ford Model T.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09Launched in Detroit in 1908, it brought motoring to the masses.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14By 1910, the number of cars in Britain was 100,000.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20What was different about this car to the other cars that had come before it?
0:19:20 > 0:19:23This was mass-produced on a production line.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25And they even moved production to Manchester.
0:19:25 > 0:19:26So this was cheaper?
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Cheaper, quicker, more reliable.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35So what did saddle-making companies do to try to adapt and survive?
0:19:35 > 0:19:38My great-grandfather Frederick realised early on
0:19:38 > 0:19:41that you had to diversify to survive.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44And this just shows you what we used to make.
0:19:45 > 0:19:46- Oh, really?- Leggings.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49- So putties that the Army wore. - Oh, yes.
0:19:49 > 0:19:50Dog clothing, look at this.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52That's lovely. It's with a hood.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54I actually want one of these. DAVID LAUGHS
0:19:54 > 0:19:56We moved into items like this...
0:19:57 > 0:20:00- This is a medicine ball, isn't it? - That is a medicine ball.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02Six pounds.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03We were making footballs,
0:20:03 > 0:20:07we had 600 women stitching footballs in the 1930s.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11We're still making saddle and harness, but in smaller quantities.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17For the Snewings, the speed of change must have been terrifying.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22If they didn't adapt fast, they were dead in the water.
0:20:28 > 0:20:33The 1911 census tells us 20 years after moving in,
0:20:33 > 0:20:37the Snewings are STILL living at 62 Falkner Street.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43It should also reveal how their company, Dobell & Son, is doing.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48What this document tells us is that the company is still going,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51but that it's not being run any more by William.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Instead it lists Fanny Snewing as the employer.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57And the company is still described
0:20:57 > 0:21:00as a manufacturer of harnesses and saddles,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03which means they haven't chosen to diversify
0:21:03 > 0:21:06or to produce any other sorts of leather goods.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11It looks like the firm is still in business,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15but why is Fanny now listed as the person running it?
0:21:16 > 0:21:19I've called up William's death certificate,
0:21:19 > 0:21:23and it reveals that he dies in 1908, aged 66, in his home -
0:21:23 > 0:21:2562 Falkner Street.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31The cause of death is listed as Bright's disease,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33a chronic inflammation of the kidneys.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40So that's the reason why Fanny is registered in the 1911 census
0:21:40 > 0:21:43as being the one who's running the family business.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47And it's also significant that in that 1911 census,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49it shows that their son, Charles,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52who was then single and 32 years old,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55was working as a travelling salesman for Reckitt's & Co,
0:21:55 > 0:21:57who were a chemical company.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02He'd chosen not to join the family saddle business.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06So perhaps the writing was already on the wall for the Snewings
0:22:06 > 0:22:08and their family business.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13While Fanny Snewing tries to keep the business afloat and a roof over
0:22:13 > 0:22:18their heads, she has no idea what's about to hit the country.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28In July 1914, the First World War broke out.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Almost a million horses were requisitioned from farms and cities
0:22:38 > 0:22:41to haul guns, ambulances and ammunition wagons.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51For the residents of 62 Falkner Street,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54demand for military saddles and harnesses
0:22:54 > 0:22:57SHOULD have provided a much-needed boost to their business.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04But there was no call for the posh saddles they made.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09What the Army needed was cheap saddles made as quickly as possible.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Worse was to come for the whole saddle industry...
0:23:14 > 0:23:17..when hundreds of thousands of horses died at the front.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30This is Liverpool after the First World War.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33And it's clear that electric trams...
0:23:36 > 0:23:37..lorries...
0:23:40 > 0:23:42TRAM BELL RINGS
0:23:42 > 0:23:46..and, of course, petrol cars were replacing the horse.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54What I haven't been able to find is a single advertisement that leads me
0:23:54 > 0:23:57to believe that Dobell & Son were still operating,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00that they were still trading throughout the 1920s or the 1930s.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04And what that leads me to believe is that the company failed to diversify,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08and they continued to try to make traditional saddles and harnesses
0:24:08 > 0:24:10in the traditional way,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12and that by the time Fanny died in 1934,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15there wasn't a company to leave to her eldest son.
0:24:15 > 0:24:16And if that's the case,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20it is a really sad end to a proud Liverpool company
0:24:20 > 0:24:23and a sad end for a proud Liverpool family,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26who lived in 62 Falkner Street for 45 years,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28longer than any other family.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Fanny Snewing's death certificate tells us that she,
0:24:35 > 0:24:40like her husband 26 years earlier, died here at 62 Falkner Street.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47Her son, Charles, still living at home, was at her side.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52A few months later,
0:24:52 > 0:24:56the house was on the market for the first time in two generations.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05The '30s were a tough time for Liverpool.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08The Wall Street crash had resulted in economic turmoil
0:25:08 > 0:25:10around the world.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14International trade was badly hit
0:25:14 > 0:25:18and had a profound effect on Liverpool's port.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20And those who worked there.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26One in five Liverpudlians found themselves out of work -
0:25:26 > 0:25:28double the national average.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41The depression also hit house prices.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Although the Land Registry records for Liverpool in this period
0:25:45 > 0:25:46are incomplete,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50it's likely that the new owners got 62 Falkner Street
0:25:50 > 0:25:51at a bargain price.
0:25:56 > 0:26:01The 1935 electoral register tells us they were a couple.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08I've tracked down the birth certificates
0:26:08 > 0:26:09for Robert and Sarah Ann
0:26:09 > 0:26:13and what they tell us is that Robert was born in 1870 in Liverpool,
0:26:13 > 0:26:19and Sarah Ann was born four years later, 1874, in Manchester.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23So they are relatively old when they buy 62 Falkner Street.
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Robert - 66, Sarah Ann - 62.
0:26:25 > 0:26:30And they must've had a reasonably large amount of cash to buy the house outright.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34We can find out a little bit more about them through their certificate of marriage.
0:26:34 > 0:26:39They got married in 1902, Robert was 31, Sarah Ann was 27.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45It tells us Robert was a tailor and Sarah Ann, a dressmaker,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47so perhaps they met in the trade.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52We also know quite a lot about Robert's life
0:26:52 > 0:26:56leading up to buying 62 Falkner Street at the age of 64.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02His father, also Robert Duffy, was a cotton porter.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04Now that's a manual job.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07It's the very bottom rung of the rag trade.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11This also tells us that the family are living in Renshaw Street, in Liverpool,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15which is described here as court housing.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19FAINT ECHO OF BABY CRYING
0:27:19 > 0:27:23Court housing was the very worst slum accommodation
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Liverpool had to offer.
0:27:30 > 0:27:33Built around a central courtyard with a communal water pump,
0:27:33 > 0:27:37they typically had just two toilets for 80 residents.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46A far cry from a four-storey townhouse like 62 Falkner Street.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54This is not a very auspicious start for the young Robert Duffy.
0:27:57 > 0:27:59To discover how a boy from the slums
0:27:59 > 0:28:02rose to become the owner of our house,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05I've tracked down one of his relatives.
0:28:06 > 0:28:07There's that one of Sarah.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Ceilia Ellis, now 71, lives in Matlock, Derbyshire
0:28:12 > 0:28:16and is Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy's granddaughter.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Is he somebody in your family who you are proud of?
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Very proud of him, yes, yes.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25I would have loved to have met him, but he died before I was born.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27He was ambitious, but he was kind.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32My mother told me that he came across some children with no shoes
0:28:32 > 0:28:34and he bought each of them a pair of shoes.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38And so that shows just how caring he was.
0:28:38 > 0:28:39But when he saw childhood poverty,
0:28:39 > 0:28:41it kind of maybe triggered something in him?
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Yes, yes, that's right.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45- You can take the boy out of the slum, but, uh...- Yes.
0:28:45 > 0:28:46SHE LAUGHS
0:28:46 > 0:28:51Although Ceilia can't remember Robert, she CAN recall her grandma,
0:28:51 > 0:28:53Robert's wife, Sarah Ann.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57This is the sewing box my grandma had.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00So the tools of the trade for someone who'd been a seamstress?
0:29:00 > 0:29:01- Yes.- It's a lovely thing.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03It is.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06She gave me this book when I was a little girl.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09- And this is Sarah's handwriting? - That is, yes.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12It says, "To my dear little granddaughter, Ceceilia.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14"From Grandma, with lots of love,
0:29:14 > 0:29:16"Christmas 1955."
0:29:16 > 0:29:19That means an awful lot to me, that book.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22I can't give a value to it because it's so special.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27What do you recall of what Sarah told you about her childhood?
0:29:27 > 0:29:30I knew that she hadn't had a happy childhood
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and she found it difficult to forget that.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36- So these are drawings that you did...- Yes.
0:29:36 > 0:29:39..of Sarah's childhood, how you imagined it?
0:29:39 > 0:29:40Her mother was very, very strict
0:29:40 > 0:29:43and she had to do several jobs before she went to school.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47One was cleaning and polishing the range in the kitchen,
0:29:47 > 0:29:48and another job she had to do
0:29:48 > 0:29:52was polishing her mother's shoes and fastening them for her,
0:29:52 > 0:29:54and if she pulled the laces too tight, then she was hit.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56So you can gather from that,
0:29:56 > 0:29:58she didn't have a happy childhood.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00We'd call that today an abusive childhood.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Yes. And I think it's something that she...
0:30:03 > 0:30:05never forgot.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Cos it does seem she had a really happy later life.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10She did, yes.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13It was very fortunate that she met my grandfather.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15They were very close.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Sarah Ann's rise is even more remarkable,
0:30:22 > 0:30:24given her difficult childhood.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27Searching through the newspapers,
0:30:27 > 0:30:31I've come across an article which backs up Ceilia's story.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38This is an article from one of the Manchester newspapers from the year 1887.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41It's a report into cases of cruelty to children,
0:30:41 > 0:30:45and the victim of one of these cases is Sarah Ann Duffy,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48then the 12-year-old girl Sarah Ann Gemmell.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53And her abuser is her own mother, Elizabeth Gemmell.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57What seems to have happened is that Sarah Ann was taken to a children's shelter
0:30:57 > 0:31:00and there she was examined by a doctor.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03And he found her covered all over the back,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06from her head to her feet, with bruises.
0:31:06 > 0:31:08When the doctor counted these bruises,
0:31:08 > 0:31:13he reported that there were 33 double bruises from 8-12 inches long
0:31:13 > 0:31:16and four short, thick bruises.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19Now, when Sarah Ann's mother was confronted
0:31:19 > 0:31:20with her child's injuries,
0:31:20 > 0:31:25she admitted that she'd stripped her naked and then beat her with a
0:31:25 > 0:31:28piece of clothesline, and the reason for this was because Sarah Ann
0:31:28 > 0:31:30had fallen out with another child.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Because of these injuries, Elizabeth Gemmell was summoned
0:31:33 > 0:31:37to the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44This was an era in which parental rights were everything.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47The Victorian writer, Whatley Cooke-Taylor,
0:31:47 > 0:31:49claimed he "would far rather see
0:31:49 > 0:31:52"even a higher rate of infant mortality prevailing
0:31:52 > 0:31:57"than intrude one iota on the sanctity of the domestic hearth."
0:31:58 > 0:32:01That view was challenged in the 1880s
0:32:01 > 0:32:03when, here, in Liverpool,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children was set up...
0:32:07 > 0:32:10A forerunner of the NSPCC.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Sarah Ann was one of its early cases.
0:32:16 > 0:32:21It was entirely normal in the late 19th century for children to be
0:32:21 > 0:32:24disciplined and punished violently.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27Children were smacked at home,
0:32:27 > 0:32:29they were beaten and subject to corporal punishment at school,
0:32:29 > 0:32:32and very few people saw anything wrong in that.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35So, for Sarah Ann's case to have ended up in the newspapers
0:32:35 > 0:32:37and her mother to be summoned to the authorities,
0:32:37 > 0:32:40it must have been extreme.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Of all the people I have met who lived at 62 Falkner Street,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48the one who you hope recovered
0:32:48 > 0:32:52and had a happy life has got to be Sarah Ann Duffy,
0:32:52 > 0:32:56the 12-year-old girl covered in bruises.
0:32:56 > 0:33:01And so it is wonderful to learn that she did go on to have a happy life,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04that her and Robert found one another
0:33:04 > 0:33:09and lived together in love and happiness,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11and that the abuse that she suffered
0:33:11 > 0:33:14did not shape and direct the rest of her life.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25But how exactly did Sarah Ann and Robert
0:33:25 > 0:33:29turn their lives around and rise from the slums?
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Official records tell us that by the time they married in 1902,
0:33:40 > 0:33:44Robert had surpassed his father's job as a cotton porter.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47In the 1901 census,
0:33:47 > 0:33:51Robert has risen up to become a tailor's cutter.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57A cutter was one of the most important jobs in tailoring.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Responsible for designing the suit
0:34:01 > 0:34:04and making patterns to form the panels of the garment.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11By the age of 40, Robert's skills are in high demand.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16In the 1911 census,
0:34:16 > 0:34:17we can see that Robert Duffy
0:34:17 > 0:34:20has risen to the top of his profession,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24he is now a master tailor, he has transformed his life.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28He no longer has a hands-on job,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30he was now running his own tailoring business.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35But Robert Duffy, together with his wife, Sarah Ann,
0:34:35 > 0:34:37still had ambitions.
0:34:42 > 0:34:46In the 1920s and '30s, they invested their money...
0:34:47 > 0:34:50..building up an impressive portfolio
0:34:50 > 0:34:53of businesses and houses for rent,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57including our house, 62 Falkner Street.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04After living in number 62 for a year, Robert and Sarah move out.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08But they keep the house and rent out rooms.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16Until now, this has been a residence
0:35:16 > 0:35:19for merchants and middle-class families.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22By 1939, though,
0:35:22 > 0:35:2662 Falkner Street was not the desirable home it had once been.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34I've discovered some adverts the Duffys placed in local papers
0:35:34 > 0:35:38that give us clues as to how the house was divided up.
0:35:41 > 0:35:46One offers a furnished basement and bedroom, own linen, no children.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Another, furnished or unfurnished rooms.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03The basement kitchen and servant's quarters are most likely converted
0:36:03 > 0:36:05to provide rooms to rent.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08And the hall, stairs and bathroom
0:36:08 > 0:36:10were communal areas,
0:36:10 > 0:36:12shared by all the tenants.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan is an expert on how people in the past
0:36:21 > 0:36:23lived in their homes.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28These rented rooms are not like self-contained flats or bedsits,
0:36:28 > 0:36:32it's simply tenants occupying individual rooms.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34They probably didn't even have locks on the doors.
0:36:36 > 0:36:38But one of the things they would be doing
0:36:38 > 0:36:40would be sharing the washing facilities in the house.
0:36:45 > 0:36:46With all these different tenants,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49the hallway, the stairs and the landings
0:36:49 > 0:36:52would have accumulated quite a lot of dirt and grime.
0:36:55 > 0:36:57Despite their relative poverty,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00the women tenants of the house would have had a rota
0:37:00 > 0:37:02for cleaning the front steps
0:37:02 > 0:37:05and keeping the portion of pavement outside of the house clean.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13The Duffys' tenants, packed into 62 Falkner Street,
0:37:13 > 0:37:17were now very much working men and their families.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20There's Joseph Ward, a dock labourer,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23his wife Patricia and their daughter.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26James Flood, a builder's labourer and his wife.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29Patrick Behan, a bricklayer,
0:37:29 > 0:37:31his wife Eileen and their son and daughter.
0:37:31 > 0:37:36Jack Greenall, a dock labourer, his wife Florence and their son.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38And Mary Hallsall, a hotel cook.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44ECHO OF AIR RAID SIREN
0:37:44 > 0:37:50Their worlds were about to be turned upside down on September 3, 1939.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55The residents of the house had survived the First World War,
0:37:55 > 0:37:59but they were under threat again as World War II broke out.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Liverpool found itself in the line of fire.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11Its port was vital to the war effort.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Two-thirds of Britain's food was imported.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24Cattle, dairy products, sugar, oil,
0:38:24 > 0:38:29wheat and fruit all came through the city's docks.
0:38:34 > 0:38:35To cut off supplies,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39the German Air Force conducted 68 air raids on Merseyside...
0:38:40 > 0:38:44..peaking in a seven-night blitz in May, 1941.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51This footage reveals the destruction wrought upon Liverpool.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56The Germans were targeting the docks and the city's infrastructure,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00but, in the process, destroyed huge areas of housing -
0:39:00 > 0:39:05a real threat to our house and to the residents of Falkner Street.
0:39:05 > 0:39:07These documents are the bomb reports.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12They're a report of every bomb that drops in this part of Liverpool in May, 1941.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Now that was the very darkest days of the Second World War
0:39:15 > 0:39:16for the city of Liverpool,
0:39:16 > 0:39:20because for night after night, the Luftwaffe targeted the city.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23And this area, Falkner Street and the streets around it,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26didn't escape their attention.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30On the 2nd of May, the second day of the so-called May Blitz,
0:39:30 > 0:39:34bombs fall on the junction of Falkner Street and Bedford Street.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38Well, this is Bedford Street, this is Falkner Street,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41and our house is just there.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44And the report says, "The bombs fell in the roadway,"
0:39:44 > 0:39:46which means that they fall right here.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Our house is 20, 30 metres away from where bombs are dropping.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53It is metres away from being destroyed.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55The bomb reports use codes.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59H.E. means high explosive bomb, I.B. means incendiary bomb,
0:39:59 > 0:40:00and both types of bomb
0:40:00 > 0:40:03have fallen on Falkner Street and Bedford Street on this night,
0:40:03 > 0:40:05because there's a fire in Bedford Street,
0:40:05 > 0:40:07the streets are blocked by a crater.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09There's debris burning in the houses
0:40:09 > 0:40:11between Falkner Street and Myrtle Street,
0:40:11 > 0:40:13which is just over there.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18The next night, the 3rd of May, 1941,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22Liverpool suffered the worst bombing in its history.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29Hundreds of people were killed.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39Few eyewitnesses remain of those fateful nights in May, 1941.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46But one current resident of Falkner Street,
0:40:46 > 0:40:51just a few doors down from number 62, lived through it all...
0:40:51 > 0:40:53June Furlong.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56How long have you lived in Falkner Street, June?
0:40:56 > 0:40:59I was born here 87 years ago.
0:40:59 > 0:41:01I was born in this room.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06So you remember that week and a half in May, 1941, when Liverpool really
0:41:06 > 0:41:10- gets hammered by the Luftwaffe? - Yes. Yes, I do.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12- What happened?- We had a bomb,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15an incendiary bomb that came in, I remember that!
0:41:15 > 0:41:19An incendiary bomb came through the ceiling of your house and it didn't go off?
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Well, around the lampposts around here were bags of sand, you see?
0:41:23 > 0:41:26And the sand put out these bombs.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29Cos these are bombs that are designed to cause a fire, not to explode.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33Yes. So my grandfather said to my mother,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37"Flo, go out and get a bag of that sand for this bomb," you see?
0:41:37 > 0:41:38They put it out.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41Residents of Falkner Street
0:41:41 > 0:41:45could buy a Morrison air raid shelter for £7...
0:41:45 > 0:41:48A metal box that doubled as a kitchen table.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53We had here a pit bull mastiff dog and the pups,
0:41:53 > 0:41:54and when the sirens went,
0:41:54 > 0:41:58the whole family had got under that great, big table -
0:41:58 > 0:42:00also the dog and all these pups!
0:42:00 > 0:42:03So I remember all that, everybody under the table,
0:42:03 > 0:42:04not in the air raid shelters.
0:42:04 > 0:42:08That was funny. And that's true, and it was...
0:42:08 > 0:42:11You wouldn't get hit on the head, I suppose, with bombs.
0:42:11 > 0:42:12I remember that.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19It would have been the same story in 62 Falkner Street.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25These are just some of the bombs
0:42:25 > 0:42:27to fall on the streets around our house.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37It's a miracle that number 62 survived.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42When you walk along Falkner Street
0:42:42 > 0:42:45and you see this mix of 19th-century houses
0:42:45 > 0:42:47built in the 1840s like our house,
0:42:47 > 0:42:49and then modern developments from the '60s
0:42:49 > 0:42:51or more recent developments,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55some of it is due to what happened in the spring of 1941.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06The real cost of the Liverpool Blitz
0:43:06 > 0:43:08has got to be measured in human lives,
0:43:08 > 0:43:124,000 people died in this city as a result of German bombing.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15But the other cost was in the destruction of property.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22Now, Falkner Street was already in decline
0:43:22 > 0:43:24before the Second World War,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27but the level of bomb damage, the destruction of houses,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30the gaps that were left between the houses,
0:43:30 > 0:43:32the bombsites that littered this whole area,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36that really accelerated the street's decline.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47Throughout this period, a variety of tenants lived at 62 Falkner Street,
0:43:47 > 0:43:50in rooms rented from Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56Then, on the 6th of December, 1941,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59as Liverpool lived in fear of more attacks,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Robert Duffy died, aged 71.
0:44:05 > 0:44:09Sarah Ann had lost not just her husband of almost 40 years,
0:44:09 > 0:44:11but also her soulmate.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17She was now a widow in a city bludgeoned by war.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22The last will and testament of Robert Duffy
0:44:22 > 0:44:24is a truly remarkable document.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28This is a man who was born in the courtyard slums
0:44:28 > 0:44:30of late Victorian Liverpool,
0:44:30 > 0:44:33and yet, on his death, he's able to leave money to charity
0:44:33 > 0:44:36and amply care for the future of his family.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38The first thing he does
0:44:38 > 0:44:41is he bequeaths unto the RAF Benevolent Fund
0:44:41 > 0:44:43the sum of £100.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46Now, in his final months,
0:44:46 > 0:44:47Robert will have witnessed
0:44:47 > 0:44:50the RAF desperately trying to protect Liverpool
0:44:50 > 0:44:53from the German bombers of the Blitz
0:44:53 > 0:44:56and he clearly understood their sacrifice,
0:44:56 > 0:45:00cos he leaves them not just the £100, but also two houses -
0:45:00 > 0:45:05number 32 Princes Road, and our house, number 62 Falkner Street.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11He then goes on to leave to his daughter, Margaret Elizabeth Criton,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15shops and houses to care for her future.
0:45:15 > 0:45:19And then finally, he speaks directly to his wife, Sarah Ann Duffy.
0:45:19 > 0:45:21And he writes,
0:45:21 > 0:45:23"All the remainder of my property,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25"including stocks and shares, cash at the bank,
0:45:25 > 0:45:29"and personal belongings go unto my wife, Sarah Ann Duffy,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32"to whom I am eternally grateful
0:45:32 > 0:45:38"for all her loving kindness and loyalty in our long, married life."
0:45:39 > 0:45:42This is the final act of that long marriage,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46a marriage of two people who were never supposed to make it in life,
0:45:46 > 0:45:48and yet, they escaped from poverty.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50A boy from the slums
0:45:50 > 0:45:54and a girl who had been beaten and abused by her own mother,
0:45:54 > 0:45:58and together they found wealth and happiness.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01It is a beautiful, beautiful story.
0:46:05 > 0:46:0862 Falkner Street was now the property
0:46:08 > 0:46:10of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16Yet, the records show little changed.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20Rooms were still being rented out...
0:46:21 > 0:46:25And in 1941, as the war raged on,
0:46:25 > 0:46:29one family living in the house particularly stand out.
0:46:31 > 0:46:36John Greenall, his wife Florence and their young son.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38They're both 31 years old
0:46:38 > 0:46:42and John is described as a "wharf labourer, light work,"
0:46:42 > 0:46:44which means he works down at the docks.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48Florence is described as doing unpaid domestic duties,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51which probably means she's a housewife
0:46:51 > 0:46:53and that she's looking after their son, John Junior,
0:46:53 > 0:46:55who's just six years old.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59Another thing we learn is that John's father,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02also called John, was a foreman stevedore.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05So he also works down at the docks,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08but in a much more senior position to his son.
0:47:10 > 0:47:14The 31-year-old John Greenall, known to his family as Jack,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18was one of tens of thousands of men working at Liverpool's docks,
0:47:18 > 0:47:21loading and unloading ships.
0:47:23 > 0:47:28In an age before mechanisation, all of this was done by hand.
0:47:30 > 0:47:32They worked in teams around the clock,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35under the supervision of a foreman.
0:47:36 > 0:47:41A job that was tough in peacetime was even harder during the war.
0:47:44 > 0:47:45As a stevedore labourer,
0:47:45 > 0:47:48Jack's take-home pay would have been just a few pounds a week.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55Squeezed into just one room at 62 Falkner Street would have been Jack,
0:47:55 > 0:47:58his wife Florence and their six-year-old son.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03There was space for just the bare essentials.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10In a local paper, I've come across an advert for what could very well
0:48:10 > 0:48:14have been Jack and Florence's room,
0:48:14 > 0:48:17complete with a kitchenette, a tiny kitchen area.
0:48:19 > 0:48:20They would have had a small,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23compact space to do their cooking
0:48:23 > 0:48:25and food preparation in,
0:48:25 > 0:48:27and what they were likely to have is one of these.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29This is a kitchen cabinet.
0:48:29 > 0:48:34These became popular in Britain from the mid-1920s.
0:48:34 > 0:48:36So if I open it up here...
0:48:41 > 0:48:45So you can see that you've got lots of places to store packets
0:48:45 > 0:48:47and jars of food.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49But where it really comes into its own,
0:48:49 > 0:48:52is if I actually want to do some food preparation.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55I can pull out this enamel top here,
0:48:55 > 0:48:57and open the doors,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01and, hey presto, I've got my own work surface here.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06This is an incredibly useful piece of furniture,
0:49:06 > 0:49:10because it's your entire kitchen in a cupboard.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12And the nice thing about the kitchen cabinet
0:49:12 > 0:49:14is that when it had been used,
0:49:14 > 0:49:16it could all be shut up and put away.
0:49:20 > 0:49:22We can get a real sense of how Jack,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26Florence and their son John would have lived in their cramped space.
0:49:28 > 0:49:31The kitchenette would probably have been at one end
0:49:31 > 0:49:33and the beds at the other.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37Then, in the middle, the kitchen table.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44This was not just a place where the family sat down to have their meals,
0:49:44 > 0:49:46it was more than this.
0:49:46 > 0:49:50Lots of these women who had husbands on low incomes
0:49:50 > 0:49:53needed to work to supplement the family income.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59However, work outside the home was frowned upon,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03so women often took in work that was hidden from view.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06So the kinds of things that Florence might have done is took in
0:50:06 > 0:50:12dressmaking or mending, or even piecework, like making matches.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17With the kitchenette, table and beds crammed into one room,
0:50:17 > 0:50:19there may have been no space for cooking.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24Instead, Florence would have had access
0:50:24 > 0:50:26to a communal stove on the landing.
0:50:29 > 0:50:33It's likely that the Greenalls endured these cramped conditions
0:50:33 > 0:50:34throughout the war.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41I'm intrigued by Jack's background
0:50:41 > 0:50:45and how he ended up living in one room at 62 Falkner Street.
0:50:47 > 0:50:49He has no direct descendants,
0:50:49 > 0:50:51but, by building his family tree,
0:50:51 > 0:50:55I've managed to trace his niece, Jane Greenall.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58There's Jack, he was the eldest boy.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00- There's Jack.- Yeah.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02And that was my grandad and my grandmother.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06So, your father was the baby of the family?
0:51:06 > 0:51:08- He was the baby of the family. - And Jack was his big brother?
0:51:08 > 0:51:10Yes, yes.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13Your grandfather looks like quite a stern character.
0:51:13 > 0:51:14I think he probably was.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Obviously, I never knew him, he died before I was born.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19I suppose the thing I have to remember about your grandfather is
0:51:19 > 0:51:22I say he looks stern, but he is literally a Victorian.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26- He is, yes.- So I'm probably judging him a bit harshly.
0:51:26 > 0:51:32I remember my dad saying that when Jack was a young boy -
0:51:32 > 0:51:35I suppose he would have been in his teens -
0:51:35 > 0:51:38he would come home late and me grandad would be hanging around, waiting for him coming in,
0:51:38 > 0:51:41and he'd beat him up for coming in late.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45And me dad wondered if that caused his epilepsy.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48- Jack had epilepsy?- He did, yes. Yes.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52- He's working on the docks and he has epilepsy?- That's right.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54Yes.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57Um, working on the docks, even if you're in full health,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00is a very demanding, difficult job.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02To do it with epilepsy...
0:52:02 > 0:52:05It would have been very difficult, I would think, for him.
0:52:09 > 0:52:12We don't know how severe Jack's condition was,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15but in the 1930s and '40s,
0:52:15 > 0:52:20there was a terrible stigma attached to any suggestion of epilepsy.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24If the dock management had known about his condition,
0:52:24 > 0:52:25he would have been refused work.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31Yet, the records show, for several years,
0:52:31 > 0:52:34Jack held down a job at the docks.
0:52:34 > 0:52:35So could his father,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39a foreman's stevedore, have helped his son to hide his condition?
0:52:41 > 0:52:45Generations of Tony Nelson's family worked on the docks.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50And he knows how the system operated.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53So there was a culture? If you were one of the dockers, one of us,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55they would look out for him?
0:52:55 > 0:52:56Without a shadow of a doubt.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59They would have given him light work, they would have looked after him.
0:52:59 > 0:53:01They would have recognised he had to feed his family.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04It wouldn't be the boss that'd look after him, it'd be his workmates.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08So they were making allowances because he was part of their community?
0:53:08 > 0:53:12Yes, that was the... Uh, the culture behind those dock walls.
0:53:12 > 0:53:15And his father also worked as a foreman in these docks,
0:53:15 > 0:53:17so would that have made things a bit easier for him?
0:53:17 > 0:53:19It would have helped,
0:53:19 > 0:53:22because it was the foreman that done the hiring and firing.
0:53:28 > 0:53:30Dock labourers were casual workers.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Every day, Jack arrived at the docks,
0:53:38 > 0:53:40more in hope than expectation.
0:53:42 > 0:53:44He would line up in the pen, hoping that the foreman
0:53:44 > 0:53:47would give him a tap on the shoulder to get a day's work.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49So, obviously, if he's working with his father,
0:53:49 > 0:53:51his father would have looked after him.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53So he wouldn't be assured work, but it would have helped him.
0:53:53 > 0:53:55And then, after going through all of that,
0:53:55 > 0:53:59then he has a very physical day's work on the ship.
0:54:00 > 0:54:03He was 24 hours a day, he was under stress.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05He probably didn't sleep at night because of the air raids.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08- He would probably walk to work. - That's a couple of miles.
0:54:08 > 0:54:09- Yeah.- Before you get to work.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11- Yeah.- So even though he's working,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14even though he's got a job, he's still living in poverty?
0:54:14 > 0:54:17He would just about be able to feed his family on the pay
0:54:17 > 0:54:19and he wasn't guaranteed that pay week after week.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22And, basically, he had to rely on the goodwill of his workmates,
0:54:22 > 0:54:25basically, to earn a living for his family.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27So his income is unstable and unreliable
0:54:27 > 0:54:28and he's got a disability,
0:54:28 > 0:54:31and we're a few years before the NHS,
0:54:31 > 0:54:34so he's got almost no access to medical help.
0:54:34 > 0:54:39But it's impossible to see how he could've made his life any better.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41He was living in abject poverty, yes.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47To me, Jack is an everyday hero,
0:54:47 > 0:54:51who worked in all conditions through the Liverpool Blitz.
0:54:53 > 0:54:57It's difficult to overestimate just how strong, just how cohesive
0:54:57 > 0:55:00working-class communities were in this era
0:55:00 > 0:55:03and the dockers of Liverpool were a classic case.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Thanks to men like Jack and his father,
0:55:07 > 0:55:11the port of Liverpool remained operational throughout the war.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15Ensuring that Britain was fed, equipped and armed.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20But I can't imagine how Jack Greenall
0:55:20 > 0:55:21could have sustained his job
0:55:21 > 0:55:26without his fellow workers and the protection of his father.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28The sad truth is that he had little else.
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Back home, in their room at 62 Falkner Street,
0:55:42 > 0:55:43was his wife Florence.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48When you think about the predicament that Florence was in during the war
0:55:48 > 0:55:51years, your heart does go out to her,
0:55:51 > 0:55:53because she's huddled in this house,
0:55:53 > 0:55:55looking after a child,
0:55:55 > 0:55:58while the bombs are literally falling in the streets all around,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02and her husband is down at the docks, working every hour he could
0:56:02 > 0:56:05just to try to keep their heads above water
0:56:05 > 0:56:06and make a little bit of money.
0:56:06 > 0:56:08And she will have had, through all of that,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11two thoughts in the back of her mind.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15The first is that the docks are the number one target for the German bombers,
0:56:15 > 0:56:19and the second is that, at any moment, her husband could have
0:56:19 > 0:56:23an epileptic seizure and be injured, or...or worse.
0:56:27 > 0:56:32I want to know how long Jack and Florence endured these conditions.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36But there are few records of casual labourers in the 1940s.
0:56:36 > 0:56:38And Jack's trail runs cold.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42There's only one document that can help me.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47I've got hold of Jack Greenall's death certificate
0:56:47 > 0:56:49and it tells us that he dies in 1950,
0:56:49 > 0:56:51and that the cause of death
0:56:51 > 0:56:55is myocardial failure due to an attack of epilepsy.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58Now, every death certificate is a tragic document,
0:56:58 > 0:57:00but this one is particularly poignant,
0:57:00 > 0:57:03because under "occupation", it says
0:57:03 > 0:57:07Jack is an invalid with no occupation,
0:57:07 > 0:57:09and he's only 42 years old.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12So it's clear that, at some point, he was no longer able to work,
0:57:12 > 0:57:14no longer able to support his family,
0:57:14 > 0:57:18and the only hope you have to have is that this is 1950,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22this is two years after the foundation of the National Health Service,
0:57:22 > 0:57:24the beginning of the welfare state.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28You have to hope that Jack and Florence, in Jack's final years,
0:57:28 > 0:57:30at least had some help from the state.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35Unlike the Duffys and the Snewings,
0:57:35 > 0:57:40the Greenall family didn't have the resources to weather the hard times,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43and poverty was never far away.
0:57:46 > 0:57:52But one thing all three families had in common was 62 Falkner Street,
0:57:52 > 0:57:58the place which provided them with sanctuary during the most turbulent years of the 20th century.
0:58:04 > 0:58:05We see the house through
0:58:05 > 0:58:08the post-war years to the present.
0:58:08 > 0:58:12The very existence of number 62 hangs by a thread.
0:58:12 > 0:58:13And if the house is vacant,
0:58:13 > 0:58:17then it was at serious risk of being demolished.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20Riots rage on the doorstep.
0:58:22 > 0:58:25And a new epidemic takes hold.
0:58:25 > 0:58:27People were not going to recover from this.