Ruth Madoc Coming Home

'Actress, Ruth Madoc, is on a journey

'to uncover her extraordinary Welsh ancestors.

'Best known for playing Gladys Pugh in '80s hit comedy...

Hi-de-hi!

'..Ruth has longed to know the truth about her Welsh ancestry.

'Born Ruth Baker, she was brought up in Llansamlet near Swansea

'by her beloved grandmother, Etta.

'Having spent most of her working life in England,

'Ruth has no idea how deep her Welsh roots really go.'

I feel slightly nervous but excited at the same time.

This is a journey that I'm going to go on

to find out about my families.

I've got a confession to make. I wasn't born in Wales.

I was born in the middle of the Second World War

so Mum couldn't get home quick enough to have me.

I was born in Norfolk.

Because of that,

I think that I would like to find out more about my ancestry.

'Ruth Madoc is coming home.

'Later in Coming Home - Ruth meets her lost family.

-Are you related to me?

-I think I am.

'Discovers a world famous ancestor.

That's amazing! You wait 'til I tell my family.

'And finally uncovers her true Welsh roots.'

Yes...

..I'm Welsh to my core.

'The journey starts in West Wales.

'Ruth Madoc's surname comes from her marriage

'to former husband, Phillip Madoc.

'Her maiden name was Baker,

'but the story begins with her grandmother's family,

'the Georges, in Llanwnda near Fishguard.

'Ruth's come to Harmony Chapel

'to meet genealogist Mike Churchill-Jones.

'Many of Ruth's ancestors on her grandmother's side are buried here

'and it's this branch of her family

'that will lead Ruth to an extraordinary discovery.'

We've been researching your family tree

and this is what we discovered.

-There's a lot of them.

-This is your paternal side only.

If we start with yourself here and we go back to your father,

George Llewellyn Baker, who was born 1908 in Farnham, Surrey.

He was born to Walter Baker

who was born to George P Baker.

George Baker had a distinguished military career.

He joined the Royal Marines and he served for 22 years.

'George Baker was Ruth's great-grandfather.'

He actually served twice on HMS Trafalgar.

Good heavens!

'Launched in 1841, HMS Trafalgar replaced Nelson's flagship.

'Many of her crew served under Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar.

'The story now turns to the George family.'

If I can bring you back to your great-grandmother,

Margaret Elizabeth George, she was born in Cardiff in 1879.

-Right.

-She was born to Essex George.

'The most important name on the tree is that of Essex George.

'He was Ruth's great-grandfather, born in West Wales in 1840.

'The Georges were an ancient Welsh family and it's their story that Ruth will later follow.'

Why do you think he was called Essex George?

He was called Essex after his grandfather, Essex John,

who was a farmer and a blacksmith by trade,

-but why he was called Essex we have no idea.

-Good heavens.

Well, he looks quite a formidable gentleman, doesn't he?

Got principles, I'd have said, that one.

We can go back to your oldest relation on the George side,

which is your fifth great-grandfather, William George,

and his wife, Mary.

Gosh, you've gone back a long way, haven't you?

Yes. He was born circa 1747 in the village of Puncheston.

-And he was a farmer?

-He was indeed a farmer, yes.

Gosh.

'In West Wales, Ruth is off to visit Tresinwen,

'the farm where her five times great-grandparents,

'William and Mary George, lived and worked.

'It's still a working farm,

'situated a few miles from Harmony Chapel

'on the Pembrokeshire coastline not far from Strumble Head.

'Occupied now by Richard Lewis,

'Ruth wonders if they could be long-lost relatives.'

-Hello.

-Hello, Ruth, is it?

-Yes. Richard?

-Yes.

-Lovely to meet you.

-Lovely to meet you. Come in.

-Thank you very much.

-It's a big house, isn't it?

-It is.

-How long have you been here?

-I've lived here all my life.

It's very interesting

because I have known nothing about this side of my family.

Are you related to me?

Yes, I'm a direct descendant of William and Mary George.

-Are you really?

-My mother's a George.

My mother's a George.

She came from Trehilyn, by Harmony, there.

She married my father in 1955, I think.

'Ruth's family connection with this farm goes back over 300 years

'and, remarkably, some of the buildings are still standing.'

It hasn't changed that much.

That house was there so that would've been here

at the time that they were here.

And these... not that one, this building was here.

These buildings, although the roofs have been changed.

And there was a house there. That's my mother's house now.

That bit was a house at that time as well.

They owned the farm and had about 70 acres

and they would have employed perhaps 50 or 60 people.

'Today, Tresinwen Farm is nestled in a quiet and peaceful landscape,

'but a little over 200 years ago, the farm, owned by Ruth's ancestors,

'found itself in the frontline

'of one of the most bizarre episodes in naval history.

'Britain was at war with France.

'On February 22nd, 1797, a man-of-war flying English colours

'was spotted off the West Wales coast.

'She was leading a flotilla of three gunships.

'On board was a force of 600 regulars and 800 convicts.

'Once in sight of the Welsh coast, English colours were struck

'and the French ensign run up in their place.

'Ruth's ancestors were about to witness

'the French invasion of Britain.

'What happened next has become the stuff of legend.

'Events in which local historian Hedydd Hughes' own ancestors

'were involved.'

It was a Wednesday afternoon

when four frigates came along the coastline.

They were spotted by a Thomas Williams of Treleddyd,

near St David's Head.

Then a girl who was tending to the cattle in the fields

saw what was happening and people started to realise

that the flag that was being flown and the rigging didn't match.

The French came directly to a nearby farmstead called Tre Hywel

and there they terrorised the family, just about,

so that the owner, the farmer, took to his heels.

'As the French advanced, many fled their homes,

'abandoning them to be looted

'as the invaders searched for food and alcohol.

'At St Gwyndaf's Church, a familiar landmark for Ruth's family,

'the French used precious bibles to make cooking fires.

Look, you can see the singe marks all around here.

So they made a fire, or tried to make a fire,

but it wouldn't burn.

I'm told the prayer books went up very well.

Did they? They're smaller, aren't they?

It was some comfort for them because it was a cold evening

and I imagine they had plundered from the farms

and brought some food in but didn't do well on the culinary side

because they made themselves ill by under-cooking some of their supper.

That was all to our benefit as Welsh people.

I wonder if the Welsh actually poisoned it.

You never know, do you?

Possibility.

'At first the invasion was resisted by local farmers,

'but, finally, a nearby cavalry division provided reinforcements.

'This tapestry celebrating the 200th anniversary of the invasion

'depicts the final days of the siege.

'The cavalry had their ranks swollen by Welsh women

'in their red cloaks and stove pipe hats

'who marched to the top of a hill to resemble British guardsmen.

'After the combination of alcohol and food poisoning,

'the invasion collapsed and the French surrendered

'to a local militia on February 25th, 1797.

'Ruth's ancestors and the people of the tiny parish of Llanwnda

'had just witnessed the last invasion of Britain.'

-Prynhawn da, Ruth.

-Nice to meet you, Reg.

-Croeso to Harmony.

-Diolch yn fawr.

'Dr Reg Davies is an expert on local history.

'Back at Harmony Chapel, he's going to tell Ruth more

'about her unusually named great-grandfather, Essex George.'

I've got something nice to show you here.

This is the register of members at Harmony Chapel.

Here you can see Essex George, your ancestor's name, in the book.

He lived at Garnfolch, OK?

-It's a small little dwelling very near the chapel.

-Right.

And here you see several other members of the same family.

David George.

'The Georges would have made up a large part of the local community,

'attending Sunday School and all chapel events.

'The highlight was a Sunday School party on this mountain, Garn Fawr.

'Young and old, they would trek up with baskets of food,

'light fires, and enjoy one of the few days of holiday a year.

'The Georges were farmers and later stone masons by profession

'but this was not the life for Essex George.'

Essex went to sea. That was very unusual for his family.

But you could become very wealthy indeed.

It wasn't going to be easy

because the jobs would first go to the seafaring families.

He's not from a seafaring family. He's from a land family.

'At nearby Fishguard harbour, Essex found his love of the sea.

'As stone masons, the Georges built many homes in the harbour.

'The grandest were reserved for sea captains.

'Could this have helped fuel Essex's desire

'to become a captain in his own right?'

We've arrived at Lower Town which, in Essex's day,

was called Fishguard Bottom.

It's very likely that he went to sea here initially.

They spent time moving goods around the coast of Britain.

-Probably...

-Coal, coal, yes!

Or iron ore from Barrow-in-Furness down to Newport, Mon.

So, really, his vision of life...

-..would be just more than here?

-Absolutely.

He was beginning to see the world.

He must have realised that to get on in the world,

he'd have to pass Board of Trade examinations

allowing him to become a Mate or a Master Mariner.

'To follow the next part of Essex's journey,

'Ruth must leave Fishguard.

'But before that West Wales has one more surprise for her.

'Ruth is also accompanied by Lowri,

'her daughter with former husband, actor, Philip Madoc.

'Ruth is about to learn of an extraordinary story

'in their family tree.

'Ruth's five times great-grandparents,

'William and Mary George, lived here at Tresinwen Farm.

'William George may be Ruth's five times great-grandfather,

'but it appears he was also the great-great-grandfather

'of another famous member of the George family.

'His great-great-grandson, David,

'grew up to be one of the 20th Century's most famous politicians,

'British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George.

'This story has taken a team of genealogists to research

'and Ruth is about to be told the news.

'The story begins with Ruth's grandmother, Margaret George,

'the daughter of Essex George.

'In 1907, she married Ruth's grandfather, Walter.

'Walter went on to have a distinguished military career,

'reaching the rank of Regimental Sergeant Major.

'When he died in 1934,

'the funeral was attended by a surprise public figure,

'as reported at the time in the South Wales news.'

"The funeral was of a semi-military character

"and the coffin covered with the Union Jack.

"The principle mourners were, Mrs Baker, widow..."

Oh, 'eck!

"Mr David Lloyd George...

"..the nephew."

'By 1934, David Lloyd George was in his 70s

'and must have admired Ruth's grandfather

'and his military service to journey to Cardiff for the funeral.'

You and David Lloyd George share the common ancestor

of William George, who is your fifth great-grandfather.

Your closest relation is your great-grandfather, Essex George,

who is David Lloyd George's second cousin.

Well, I'm absolutely delighted.

That's amazing.

You wait 'til I tell my family.

I knew there was politics in the family somewhere!

Well, well, well.

'Back on the road, Ruth shares her news with daughter, Lowri.

'In the car, they mull over an amazing coincidence.'

Lloyd George is our relation - distant relation.

Your father played Lloyd George,

I played one of Lloyd George's mistresses in it.

Well, what do you think? You don't think it's too risque, do you?

Too daring? Or even too divine?

-Well?

-Dead.

-What did you say? Who's dead?

-My mother.

Oh, David.

David, I'm terribly sorry.

-It's bizarre, isn't it? It's just strange.

-And it's really close.

-It's really close.

-Too close to home.

I wonder what Philip's going to think of this?

I think he'll want to see it written down.

I think so. I think you're right there!

'Ruth is thrilled to discover this new family connection

'and is keen to know more

'about her new prime ministerial relative, David Lloyd George.

'She meets political historian, Russell Deacon.'

Can you give me any information about the man he was?

Lloyd George is probably the most famous politician

in the whole of Welsh history.

The man was a tremendous orator and had a huge fan base.

If he did a public speech, he'd attract 15,000 to 20,000.

The he'd go on and do another one of 10,000.

Speaking to a performer, he was very similar to yourself in that respect.

He was performing to large crowds. It was scripted often as well.

He had different colour codes for where he emphasised things.

He was very much an actor,

but he came from that tradition of being the lay preacher.

He was a performer.

'Still in his 20s, Lloyd George became MP for Caernarfon.

'Later he rose to Chancellor of the Exchequer

'then Prime Minister of the First World War coalition government.

He's widely admired today by politicians.

Gordon Brown put him as one of the top politicians of all time

for the foundation of the Labour Party.

It was always the Liberals that were for the working men then,

but Lloyd George is one of those strange examples

because, normally, the Liberals came from wealthy backgrounds,

public schools, Oxford, Cambridge, and he was atypical to that

and very unusual for any politician, even today.

Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you very much.

'For the next chapter in her George family story

'Ruth must follow the journey taken

'by her great-grandfather, Essex George.

'Determined to become a ship's captain,

'he left Pembrokeshire and followed the sea

'on an adventure that would first take him

'to the busy port city of Swansea.

'In Swansea, Ruth meets maritime historian, Brian Richards.'

Brian, I've come to ask you

about this very romantic figure called Essex George.

Have you any information for me?

Luckily, there are documents here which relate to his sea career.

I've been able to get two documents

which I think will be very interesting to you.

'Essex was not only a skilled sailor but, as these records show,

'an exceptional scholar,

'passing the Board of Trade's examination as a Mate in 1873.

'The ship's log records that he risked his life many times

'sailing around the treacherous Cape Horn in Chile

'to bring back copper ore to Swansea.'

How difficult would these voyages have been?

Where it's recorded that they went to Chile,

they would have rounded Cape Horn.

There you've got what's known as the "Roaring Forties".

When you were going around the Cape,

you're heading into this strong wind.

It's very cold and before he became Mate

he would have had to have gone up the rigging.

Many ships didn't make it, and those that did, on the return journey

you could have waves 100 foot high coming behind you.

They would lash the man onto the wheel

so he wouldn't be washed off the boat.

'Essex was lucky.

'He survived and married local Fishguard girl, Ann Llewellyn,

'in Haverfordwest on May 24th, 1871.

'So far, Ruth has learnt about the paternal side of the family tree.

'Essex George's grandson was Ruth's father, George Baker,

'He married Ruth's mother, Iris Williams,

'from Llansamlet near Swansea.

'For Ruth, the story is now becoming personal.

'She had an unconventional childhood

'and a distant relationship with her parents.'

My parents weren't around very much in my formative years.

You're going to be quite shocked at what I say.

I'm not actually emotional about them.

'Her mother was a nurse and father an administrator

'in the newly created NHS.'

They were totally dedicated to their...

..their hospitals, the hospital life that they had.

I know my mother was.

'Successive generations of her mother's family

'had worked underground.

'In the mid 19th Century,

'life expectancy among coal miners was less than 40.

'In Swansea's City Hall, Ruth learns for the first time

'about the fate of her three times great-uncle, Jacob.'

Jacob succumbed to a pit accident when he was only 17 years of age.

Poor thing!

We've got an extract from the Cambrian Newspaper,

dated August 19th, 1859.

Would you like to read it?

"Colliery accident - a fatal accident occurred

"in the Brithdir Colliery, Llansamlet, on Thursday last,

"whereby a lad aged 17, named Jacob Evans,

"suddenly met with his death.

"The deceased was engaged in his usual occupation

"when a fall of coal from the roof buried him

"and inflicted such serious injuries

"that he died on the following Sunday."

-Very sad ending for him.

-Oh, very sad. Poor boy.

Seventeen. No life, is it? No life.

Dear, dear, dear.

Yes, I always get the feeling

that this part of my family had it pretty hard.

'It was this side of her family that Ruth grew up with.

'Born in 1943 in Norfolk,

'but with her parents, Iris and George, committed to their careers in England,

'she was brought up in Wales in the coal mining community of Llansamlet

'by her beloved grandmother, Etta.'

She really was an integral part of my growing up.

It must have been very difficult for her

to have a baby of three weeks foisted on her.

What do you do? There was no cot for me, no pram for me.

They were very scarce during the war, these commodities.

Gran just took me and when she passed away...

Oh...

..my life...

SHE CRIES

..went somewhat too.

I loved her so much.

'Ruth's grandparents took her in during the war.

'The Llansamlet they knew had been a coal mining area

'for more than a century.

'Earlier Ruth learnt of the death of her three times great-uncle,

'Jacob Evans, in the coal mines of Llansamlet.

'To learn more of its coal mining past, at nearby Scott's Pit,

'she meets historian, Richard Bodenham.'

How many mines were around here?

In the 1870s there were 17 mines,

ten of which were in the parish of Llansamlet.

Three were in Skewen including Brithdir,

where Jacob Evans was killed, two in Neath Abbey and one in Lon Las.

What other employment would there have been here other than going down the mine?

Very little. The people who came to work in this area

came from West Wales, North Wales, Devon and Cornwall,

other parts of England, Scotland and even abroad.

Employment in the countryside was poor and the wages were very low,

they thought, Swansea is becoming a centre of industry

therefore let's go and work there and see if we can better our lives.

'Ruth's family pre-dates this influx.

'They had been settled in the Llansamlet area since the 1700s.

'Ruth's Welsh roots run deep.'

They had a very, very hard life, a lot of them.

But, again, you must remember that I saw some of the aftermath of that

living here after the war. I saw that.

Not the hardship of going down the mines, of course,

but the hardship of existing - putting food on the table.

'Her parents dedicated themselves to their work in England.

'To try and understand what inspired their commitment to the NHS in the 1950s,

'Ruth meets medicine historian, Anne Borsay.'

There was huge commitment to the notion of the NHS.

Enormous idealism surrounding it.

We tend to forget that. We take it for granted today.

We are very critical, often, of health care,

but looking at it from the 1940s when there had been very little,

the notion of a comprehensive service

that was free of charge to everybody was enormously inspirational.

The success very much depended on the commitment of people

who were willing to support the ideals of the NHS,

to participate in its management

and provide a high quality of care to patients.

I think people who were involved in the early days of the NHS

played a very important role in establishing its ethos and culture.

Your parents clearly played a role in that.

Well, they did make a difference, my parents.

They were doing important jobs in England for other people.

For me to be down here with my grandmother was important

because I had stability here.

This is where I have always belonged.

In Llansamlet.

It's my world.

As a child...

..it was everything to me...

..because my parents weren't around.

'Ruth has traced her Welsh roots over 300 years

'and that has taken its emotional toll.

'On the Gower coast, she reflects on her journey.'

What a journey.

To find out I'm actually related to Lloyd George. Good heavens!

The romantic idea of a man like Essex George...

..and the people who were dedicated to their lives

here in Swansea, in Llansamlet, that lived in Llansamlet,

that raised themselves in Llansamlet,

that didn't go very far from Llansamlet, and passed away here.

Yes, I'm deeply proud of them.

I'm Welsh to my core...

..and I thank the Lord...

..that I am Welsh.

I don't care if I was born in England,

I am a Welsh woman through and through.

Thank you.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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