Tanni Grey-Thompson

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0:00:02 > 0:00:05Travelling from her home in Stockton-on-Tees to the South Wales coast

0:00:05 > 0:00:10is Paralympic champion, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson.

0:00:10 > 0:00:12Known simply as Tanni to everyone,

0:00:12 > 0:00:16she's here in Wales to trace her family ancestry

0:00:16 > 0:00:19and a hidden story of high drama on the high seas.

0:00:20 > 0:00:25In a sporting career of sheer determination and grit

0:00:25 > 0:00:28as a Paralympian, Tanni has achieved simply everything,

0:00:28 > 0:00:33from 16 Paralympic medals to over 30 world records

0:00:33 > 0:00:36and triumphed against the very best in the world

0:00:36 > 0:00:41to be acknowledged as the greatest British Paralympian of all time.

0:00:44 > 0:00:48And she was supported every inch of the way by her late parents,

0:00:48 > 0:00:51her mother Sulwen and her father Peter.

0:00:51 > 0:00:54And it's her dad Peter Grey's side of the family tree

0:00:54 > 0:00:57that has remained a mystery for Tanni.

0:00:58 > 0:01:00My father died three years ago

0:01:00 > 0:01:04and we found lots of sort of family photos.

0:01:04 > 0:01:07It would be really interesting, yeah, it would be just amazing to know...

0:01:07 > 0:01:10just kind of anything, actually,

0:01:10 > 0:01:13because Dad was very quiet about stuff.

0:01:13 > 0:01:16So it's a voyage into the unknown

0:01:16 > 0:01:20as Tanni Grey-Thompson is coming home.

0:01:21 > 0:01:25On this journey, Tanni will learn of a wayward ancestor...

0:01:25 > 0:01:30So from selling dodgy drink to...doing this.

0:01:30 > 0:01:33..discover a moving family story...

0:01:33 > 0:01:36And at 74 years old, to do that is amazing.

0:01:36 > 0:01:41That's pretty... That is fantastic!

0:01:41 > 0:01:44..and learn she wasn't the first in her family

0:01:44 > 0:01:46to be honoured at Buckingham Palace.

0:01:46 > 0:01:49Oh, my God!

0:01:53 > 0:01:55Setting off on her journey,

0:01:55 > 0:01:58Tanni grew up in Cardiff along with her sister Sian,

0:01:58 > 0:02:02but she went to school in the nearby coastal town of Penarth.

0:02:02 > 0:02:05And it's in Penarth that her story begins,

0:02:05 > 0:02:08at the Trinity Methodist Church in the centre of town,

0:02:08 > 0:02:12where Tanni meets with genealogist Mike Churchill-Jones.

0:02:12 > 0:02:14- Hi, Tanni.- Hello.- Welcome to your tree reading.

0:02:14 > 0:02:17- Thank you.- I've been researching your family tree

0:02:17 > 0:02:20- and this is what I've come up with. - Oh, wow!

0:02:22 > 0:02:24OK. What do you think?

0:02:24 > 0:02:29It's really weird seeing so many names...written down.

0:02:29 > 0:02:31- Yeah, I can understand.- And just...

0:02:31 > 0:02:37I don't know, I was expecting...kind of great-grandparents maybe,

0:02:37 > 0:02:40or a little bit further, not...all this.

0:02:40 > 0:02:42Not faced with all this.

0:02:42 > 0:02:44It's actually quite emotional when you see it.

0:02:44 > 0:02:45And I didn't think I would be,

0:02:45 > 0:02:49because I always think I'm not terribly emotional about stuff,

0:02:49 > 0:02:51but when you see it all written down...

0:02:51 > 0:02:56It's Tanni's father's side of the tree and her family's roots in South Wales

0:02:56 > 0:02:58that Mike's been researching.

0:02:58 > 0:03:03He's taken the tree all the way back to Griffith Price in 1699,

0:03:03 > 0:03:06Tanni's six times great-grandfather.

0:03:06 > 0:03:11But Mike starts the story with her great-great-great-grandparents,

0:03:11 > 0:03:13Ann Price and her husband.

0:03:13 > 0:03:15Philemon Thomas.

0:03:15 > 0:03:18- Nice name.- We like strange names in our family, don't we?

0:03:18 > 0:03:22Philemon was born in the Vale of Glamorgan

0:03:22 > 0:03:26- and he was a master wheelwright. - Oh, right, OK.

0:03:26 > 0:03:32I've been given an award by the Master Wheelwrights Association, actually, because of my racing chair.

0:03:32 > 0:03:34So I'd really like to go back to them and kind of go,

0:03:34 > 0:03:38"Actually, there's lots of reasons why I should have had that, not just cos I had a racing chair."

0:03:38 > 0:03:45Next, Mike draws Tanni's attention to her four times great-grandfather, William Billington.

0:03:45 > 0:03:48The 1861 census shows him simply as a labourer,

0:03:48 > 0:03:52but this is not the full story, as she will learn.

0:03:53 > 0:03:57Tanni's ancestors later moved from the Vale of Glamorgan to Cardiff,

0:03:57 > 0:04:00which is where her grandmother Joyce Harvey lived.

0:04:00 > 0:04:04Sadly, Joyce died the year before Tanni was born

0:04:04 > 0:04:07and she has always wanted to know more of her story.

0:04:09 > 0:04:15Joyce, she died in 1968 in Cardiff, she was born in 1905 in Birkenhead.

0:04:15 > 0:04:21She was born to Joyce Elizabeth Hill and John Henry Harvey.

0:04:21 > 0:04:27Interesting, because I never knew my grandmother's surname was Harvey.

0:04:27 > 0:04:29Finally, Tanni can also see on the tree

0:04:29 > 0:04:33that she has ancestors from Cornwall whose surname was Lobb.

0:04:34 > 0:04:38The Lobb line goes back to your oldest ancestor there.

0:04:38 > 0:04:39- Oh, wow!- Uh-huh.

0:04:39 > 0:04:411697.

0:04:41 > 0:04:44Through her Lobb family,

0:04:44 > 0:04:48Tanni will learn of her rich maritime past of generations of sailors

0:04:48 > 0:04:52who came from Cornwall to settle on the South Wales coast.

0:04:53 > 0:04:58This photograph shows Tanni's great-great-grandfather, Captain William Lobb,

0:04:58 > 0:05:00pictured in the 1920s.

0:05:00 > 0:05:04William, like his father, would take to the sea,

0:05:04 > 0:05:09and it's his adventures that will come to dominate Tanni's journey into her family's past.

0:05:09 > 0:05:10Wow!

0:05:14 > 0:05:18Now Tanni is heading off for the first part of her story.

0:05:18 > 0:05:22She's visiting the seafront in Penarth near Cardiff

0:05:22 > 0:05:25on the trail of her great-great-grandfather William

0:05:25 > 0:05:27and his life as a sailor.

0:05:29 > 0:05:32Just like his ancestors, it was the sea that called to him.

0:05:32 > 0:05:35He left the coast of South Wales far behind,

0:05:35 > 0:05:38heading for adventure on the other side of the world.

0:05:41 > 0:05:44His time at sea has all been recorded in the maritime archive.

0:05:44 > 0:05:48And back on dry land at the lifeboat station on Penarth's promenade,

0:05:48 > 0:05:51Tanni meets with expert Bryan Richards,

0:05:51 > 0:05:54who has found records of William from an early age.

0:05:55 > 0:06:01We do know that...William went to sea when he was 13 years of age.

0:06:01 > 0:06:03Wow!

0:06:05 > 0:06:07I had no idea.

0:06:07 > 0:06:11In 1858, William was recorded as being a ship's boy.

0:06:11 > 0:06:13There was no formal training,

0:06:13 > 0:06:16so as a boy he would have had to learn his trade,

0:06:16 > 0:06:20which, on the ship, would have been running messages for the captain,

0:06:20 > 0:06:24helping the cook, taking food down to the crew,

0:06:24 > 0:06:27learning about sails and the rigging.

0:06:28 > 0:06:30The records show that by the age of 17,

0:06:30 > 0:06:35William was sailing around the treacherous seas of Cape Horn to Chile

0:06:35 > 0:06:38to bring back precious copper ore to Swansea.

0:06:38 > 0:06:41Bryan knows the details of these voyages,

0:06:41 > 0:06:44because these are William's personal record cards

0:06:44 > 0:06:48showing the ships he served on and the time he spent at sea.

0:06:49 > 0:06:51It's amazing that you've got...

0:06:51 > 0:06:55That the record cards has got everything that he's done, that the record-keeping was so good.

0:06:55 > 0:06:59William must have been an exemplary sailor,

0:06:59 > 0:07:02because the records show he worked his way up from ship's boy

0:07:02 > 0:07:05all the way to master mariner.

0:07:05 > 0:07:09And this is the master mariner certificate.

0:07:09 > 0:07:10Wow!

0:07:11 > 0:07:16And it was issued in...November, 1870.

0:07:18 > 0:07:22So Tanni has learned that her great-great-grandfather William

0:07:22 > 0:07:25was qualified as a ship's captain in 1870,

0:07:25 > 0:07:29but there is great deal more hidden in his story for Tanni to uncover.

0:07:30 > 0:07:32BIRDSONG

0:07:32 > 0:07:37Next, Tanni is off to St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff.

0:07:37 > 0:07:40She's on the trail of William Billington,

0:07:40 > 0:07:44her great-great-great-great-grandfather, who was from Cheshire.

0:07:44 > 0:07:48The census of 1861 describes him just as a labourer,

0:07:48 > 0:07:51but it appears he also had a more intriguing occupation,

0:07:51 > 0:07:55as medical historian Dr Alan Withy has discovered.

0:07:55 > 0:08:00Straightaway Alan shows Tanni William's census return for 1871.

0:08:01 > 0:08:04"William Billington.

0:08:04 > 0:08:08- "Bone...cutter?"- It's bone setter.

0:08:08 > 0:08:14Well, in actual fact, William Billington is known with three different medical titles,

0:08:14 > 0:08:18he's known as a bone setter, as a surgeon and as a doctor.

0:08:18 > 0:08:24Now, that's really unusual. You don't tend to get people in each category.

0:08:24 > 0:08:27A bone setter, for example, is something very specific.

0:08:27 > 0:08:31You're normally a bone setter as part of a family lineage,

0:08:31 > 0:08:34it goes from father to son, and on.

0:08:34 > 0:08:36A surgeon again is something fairly specific.

0:08:36 > 0:08:41The general practitioner hasn't really emerged by this period, mid-19th century, yet,

0:08:41 > 0:08:45so he does seem to be a bit of an everyman.

0:08:45 > 0:08:46William worked as a surgeon

0:08:46 > 0:08:50at a time when anaesthetic was in its infancy.

0:08:50 > 0:08:52Many of William's patients would likely have been

0:08:52 > 0:08:55semi-conscious whilst he set about treating them.

0:08:55 > 0:08:58But what sort of training would he have received?

0:08:58 > 0:09:01He would have learnt on the job, so to speak,

0:09:01 > 0:09:06but how quality that training would be is debatable.

0:09:08 > 0:09:11What would his sort of working conditions be like?

0:09:11 > 0:09:14Would he just sort of go to people's houses and do stuff?

0:09:14 > 0:09:17Yeah. I mean, in this period, and especially in a rural area,

0:09:17 > 0:09:21he wouldn't have his own little hospital or operating theatre as such.

0:09:21 > 0:09:24People might well come to him. And if he has a good reputation

0:09:24 > 0:09:26as a surgeon or as a doctor or as a bone setter,

0:09:26 > 0:09:29people may well come from miles around.

0:09:29 > 0:09:34It may be no more than performing the operation on the kitchen table.

0:09:34 > 0:09:38It's hard to imagine the pain many of William's surgical patients

0:09:38 > 0:09:42must have endured as he sought to treat them.

0:09:42 > 0:09:46At this time, there were only a few crude ways to try and dull the pain.

0:09:48 > 0:09:51Laudanum, chloroform, we have there,

0:09:51 > 0:09:54which are available in local apothecary shops.

0:09:54 > 0:09:58Also, something like a heavy dose of strong liquor

0:09:58 > 0:10:01- is not unknown as a...pain relief. - SHE LAUGHS

0:10:01 > 0:10:06The census shows that even in old age, William was still working.

0:10:06 > 0:10:12It's interesting to note that, aged 82, he's still listed as being a bone setter.

0:10:12 > 0:10:14That would actually be very unusual,

0:10:14 > 0:10:17because the strength that you need in order to perform the act of bone setting,

0:10:17 > 0:10:22especially in the bigger limbs, shall we say,

0:10:22 > 0:10:24would require help.

0:10:24 > 0:10:27So what, did they just sort try to shove the bones back together

0:10:27 > 0:10:29and strap them up?

0:10:29 > 0:10:32That's right. In a broken arm, that would be fairly simple,

0:10:32 > 0:10:35you can manipulate the bone back into place and strap it up with a splint,

0:10:35 > 0:10:38but if a thigh bone breaks or becomes dislocated,

0:10:38 > 0:10:42then it can take the services of several...several assistants,

0:10:42 > 0:10:43and especially aged 82.

0:10:43 > 0:10:48We can only imagine the poor patient sitting there as several burly men relocate their leg,

0:10:48 > 0:10:51cos the muscles contract and it gets very difficult to do.

0:10:51 > 0:10:54So, yeah, he would have had some help, I would imagine, by that age.

0:10:54 > 0:10:58- If you don't get it right, that's when you start using things like that.- Hmm. Exactly.

0:10:58 > 0:11:00Oh! Yuck! That's horrible! SHE LAUGHS

0:11:03 > 0:11:07Now Tanni is back on the trail of her great-great-grandfather, William Lobb, in Penarth.

0:11:07 > 0:11:11She now knows he was a sailor from the 1860s,

0:11:11 > 0:11:16but 20 years later, it appears William had left the sea behind

0:11:16 > 0:11:20and in 1887 was on dry land running a pretty rowdy pub,

0:11:20 > 0:11:24as historian Dr Louise Miskell has been finding out.

0:11:24 > 0:11:27It's given as licensed victualler,

0:11:27 > 0:11:31- which basically means he's running a pub.- Yeah. That's the posh title, isn't it?

0:11:31 > 0:11:32It is, isn't it?

0:11:32 > 0:11:36Interestingly, though, we can pick him up in other records as well

0:11:36 > 0:11:38from around the same period.

0:11:38 > 0:11:41So I'll show you one from the 1880s.

0:11:41 > 0:11:43A newspaper called The Cambrian.

0:11:43 > 0:11:45"Landlord of the Terminus Hotel

0:11:45 > 0:11:49"was summoned for keeping his house open on Sunday." SHE LAUGHS

0:11:49 > 0:11:50"PC Jones, 18,

0:11:50 > 0:11:53"said that at 11.30 on the morning in question,

0:11:53 > 0:11:56"he visited the defendant's house. In the bar he saw five men

0:11:56 > 0:11:59"and four in another small room.

0:11:59 > 0:12:02"Mr DR Smith defended, stating that there was no case for the court

0:12:02 > 0:12:05"as all the men in the house had sworn

0:12:05 > 0:12:07"that they were bona fide travellers.

0:12:07 > 0:12:10"They must be especially careful as to whom they supplied with drink.

0:12:10 > 0:12:14"He did not think they could convict the defendant under the circumstances

0:12:14 > 0:12:16"and the case would be dismissed."

0:12:16 > 0:12:21It appears William didn't use the warning to mend his ways.

0:12:22 > 0:12:26Just a year later... This is the interesting bit here,

0:12:26 > 0:12:29if you just want to read the first few lines of this article.

0:12:29 > 0:12:31This is from The Cambrian newspaper again.

0:12:31 > 0:12:37And, as you can see, the article begins with the words "The Black List".

0:12:37 > 0:12:40"The following is a list of those persons

0:12:40 > 0:12:43"who've been convicted during the past years, 1887-8,

0:12:43 > 0:12:45"for various offences.

0:12:45 > 0:12:47"William Lobb, Terminus Hotel, Rutland Street."

0:12:47 > 0:12:52Again, these are people convicted under the licensing laws.

0:12:52 > 0:12:56- Erm...- "Convicted for breaches of the Act."- Yes.

0:12:56 > 0:12:58- Yeah.- Oh!

0:12:58 > 0:13:02So...it's interesting, isn't it, that he's the first name on the list.

0:13:02 > 0:13:07- Lovely.- I wonder what that says about him as...a known offender.

0:13:07 > 0:13:10- It's not alphabetical, is this? No. - It's not, no.

0:13:10 > 0:13:12So maybe he was the worst offender.

0:13:12 > 0:13:15Well, he might have been, yes, unfortunately.

0:13:15 > 0:13:17Again, I think what it tells us

0:13:17 > 0:13:21is that by this stage, 1888, he's known to the authorities,

0:13:21 > 0:13:23not necessarily for the right reasons,

0:13:23 > 0:13:27and somebody who they're keeping a close eye on

0:13:27 > 0:13:30for these licensing offences.

0:13:30 > 0:13:32- It's not good, is it?- No.

0:13:32 > 0:13:35Oh, dear! I have a criminal in the family.

0:13:35 > 0:13:40So far, Tanni has learned that her great-great-grandfather William Lobb

0:13:40 > 0:13:45was both a master mariner and a publican convicted for selling drink on a Sunday,

0:13:45 > 0:13:50which makes the next story she is about to learn all the more extraordinary.

0:13:50 > 0:13:53She's back with Mike Churchill-Jones

0:13:53 > 0:13:56who's impatient to reveal some new information.

0:13:56 > 0:14:01He's traced William to 1918, now in his 70s.

0:14:01 > 0:14:04Hi, Tanni. You've been learning today

0:14:04 > 0:14:06about your great-great-grandfather, William Stephen Lobb.

0:14:06 > 0:14:11He became a master mariner, captained his own ship.

0:14:11 > 0:14:13He even worked as a publican...

0:14:13 > 0:14:16and you've heard all the intrigues of that.

0:14:16 > 0:14:22Now, I've actually found his name in...the London Gazette.

0:14:22 > 0:14:24Have a look at that.

0:14:24 > 0:14:27It's the frame down here on the left-hand side.

0:14:27 > 0:14:29The London Gazette publishes the names

0:14:29 > 0:14:31of those recognised in the honours list.

0:14:31 > 0:14:35- Oh, so it's recognition...for something.- Right.

0:14:35 > 0:14:38- You'd like to know what it is?- Yeah. SHE LAUGHS

0:14:38 > 0:14:41- There it is.- Oh, my God!

0:14:43 > 0:14:45- Do you want to read it? - That's amazing!

0:14:45 > 0:14:47"The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire."

0:14:47 > 0:14:50It's his MBE. So what did he get it for?

0:14:50 > 0:14:56So just like Tanni, her great-great-grandfather William Lobb was awarded an MBE.

0:14:56 > 0:14:59He was aged 74 at the time,

0:14:59 > 0:15:02but just why did he receive this special award?

0:15:05 > 0:15:08That's... I wish our family had known about it.

0:15:11 > 0:15:14He was honoured in the Birthday Honours List of the King

0:15:14 > 0:15:15and that's all we know.

0:15:15 > 0:15:20The records have been lost, they've been destroyed, we don't know why he got it.

0:15:20 > 0:15:23Tanni would really love to know

0:15:23 > 0:15:26just why William was given this great honour in 1918,

0:15:26 > 0:15:29but is at least thrilled to know he received it.

0:15:31 > 0:15:33That's amazing.

0:15:33 > 0:15:39I wish we'd known about it, cos it's...cos it was such a big deal for my family, me getting one,

0:15:39 > 0:15:45but to know that there'd been somebody else who'd done it would be...incredible.

0:15:45 > 0:15:47William Lobb MBE.

0:15:47 > 0:15:48SHE TUTS

0:15:48 > 0:15:50It's nice, isn't it?

0:15:50 > 0:15:52That's really lovely, actually.

0:15:52 > 0:15:57That's amazing to know that there's kind of people who have done that.

0:15:59 > 0:16:02I'm kind of lost for words and that doesn't happen very often.

0:16:02 > 0:16:03That is absolutely amazing.

0:16:03 > 0:16:08Good on him. So, from selling dodgy drink to doing this.

0:16:08 > 0:16:10He... He did really well in the end.

0:16:10 > 0:16:12- He did, yeah.- Wow!

0:16:12 > 0:16:14That's nice.

0:16:16 > 0:16:21The records showing why William was awarded the MBE may be destroyed,

0:16:21 > 0:16:24but there is still more to learn of his story.

0:16:25 > 0:16:28Next, Tanni is back on the seafront.

0:16:28 > 0:16:34She knows that her maternal grandparents and great-grandparents lived here in Penarth.

0:16:34 > 0:16:37Today, its waterfront from the marina to the pier

0:16:37 > 0:16:41are dedicated to leisure for day trippers and locals alike,

0:16:41 > 0:16:46making it hard to believe that this area was once dominated by a busy coal port

0:16:46 > 0:16:47owned by the Windsor-Clives

0:16:47 > 0:16:51rivals to the Bute family who owned nearby Cardiff Docks.

0:16:52 > 0:16:56On Penarth pier, Tanni meets with historian, Nigel Bevan,

0:16:56 > 0:16:59to learn more about the town her grandparents called home.

0:16:59 > 0:17:04Penarth at that time, it had been developed from the 1850s onwards

0:17:04 > 0:17:08by the Windsor-Clive family, the earls of Plymouth.

0:17:08 > 0:17:11If you go back to that late-19th-century period,

0:17:11 > 0:17:14Penarth Docks thrived for many, many years.

0:17:14 > 0:17:18Erm...the Bute family, the Marquises of Bute,

0:17:18 > 0:17:20they'd developed Cardiff before Penarth.

0:17:20 > 0:17:24Cardiff's first great dock opened in 1839.

0:17:24 > 0:17:25Business was great.

0:17:25 > 0:17:29I mean, Cardiff Docks grew to be one of the biggest ports in the world,

0:17:29 > 0:17:32but it was often in a state of chaos.

0:17:32 > 0:17:36- So was there really big rivalry between the two families to see who could be the best?- Oh, a lot.

0:17:36 > 0:17:41They were both extremely rich and they bumped against each other.

0:17:41 > 0:17:45So, yes, there was rivalry between them. In 1878 though, the passenger railway

0:17:45 > 0:17:49came through to the centre of the new Penarth Town

0:17:49 > 0:17:53and the Plymouth estate decided that this half of the town,

0:17:53 > 0:17:55on the south side running down to the beach,

0:17:55 > 0:18:00this would be developed as a very smart upmarket resort.

0:18:00 > 0:18:03You've got these really big houses and, you know, very grand.

0:18:03 > 0:18:08- Was the idea that sort of people of wealth would move into Penarth? - Very much so.

0:18:08 > 0:18:12As the resort got going, it became a very desirable place to live.

0:18:12 > 0:18:15So some of the richer business people from Cardiff,

0:18:15 > 0:18:20they developed big villas above the resort looking over the sea.

0:18:20 > 0:18:23Marine Parade, this is where the big houses went in.

0:18:23 > 0:18:28And interestingly, these people were able to commute to work in Cardiff Docks

0:18:28 > 0:18:30by catching a boat from the beach.

0:18:30 > 0:18:35And for the less well off, Penarth was connected to Cardiff by a tunnel

0:18:35 > 0:18:40from the entrance to Penarth Docks going under the River Ely to Ferry Road.

0:18:40 > 0:18:42It cost you a ha'penny to go through.

0:18:43 > 0:18:47This pedestrian tunnel was completed in 1900

0:18:47 > 0:18:50and only finally closed in 1963.

0:18:51 > 0:18:54At half a mile long and poorly lit,

0:18:54 > 0:18:57it was said to be a favourite with Edwardian pickpockets.

0:18:57 > 0:19:00Tanni has a story passed down in her family about the tunnel.

0:19:02 > 0:19:09One of my grandads...so my mum's father's first job was taking gold sovereigns underneath the tunnel.

0:19:09 > 0:19:14And he'd have a bag and I remember him saying that if anyone had ever known what he was doing,

0:19:14 > 0:19:17he would have been hit over the head and the money would have been taken. HE LAUGHS

0:19:17 > 0:19:20And I don't know where he was taking it from or to,

0:19:20 > 0:19:24- but he was paid as a messenger to go through the tunnel.- To go through that tunnel. Oh, lovely. Lovely.

0:19:24 > 0:19:29Shortly, Tanni will learn the last dramatic chapter

0:19:29 > 0:19:32in her great-great-grandfather William Lobb's story,

0:19:32 > 0:19:36but first, at the start of her journey,

0:19:36 > 0:19:39she wanted to know more about her grandmother, Joyce Harvey,

0:19:39 > 0:19:41who died the year before Tanni was born.

0:19:42 > 0:19:46But what did Tanni's dad tell her about his mother, Joyce?

0:19:46 > 0:19:49Mike Churchill-Jones has been researching her story.

0:19:49 > 0:19:53My dad was so close to her, I think it upset him to talk about her,

0:19:53 > 0:19:56so that's why we never really heard anything about her.

0:19:56 > 0:20:01- 25 days before she was baptised, this occurred.- Yeah.

0:20:01 > 0:20:05From 1905, around the time Joyce was born,

0:20:05 > 0:20:07Mike has also found a death certificate.

0:20:09 > 0:20:11- Entry of death?- Yes.

0:20:11 > 0:20:13So whose?

0:20:13 > 0:20:16It's actually Joyce Elizabeth, her mother.

0:20:16 > 0:20:19Ohh! So she died in childbirth or...?

0:20:19 > 0:20:21She lasted 14 days.

0:20:21 > 0:20:23OK.

0:20:23 > 0:20:26- Wow!- So 14 days after your grandmother was born,

0:20:26 > 0:20:28- she lost her mother.- Gone.

0:20:33 > 0:20:36- At 29 years.- Hmm.

0:20:36 > 0:20:37It's young, isn't it?

0:20:37 > 0:20:39That's really young.

0:20:40 > 0:20:44I guess back then, childbirth was still...fairly hit and miss, wasn't it?

0:20:44 > 0:20:48- It was indeed, yeah.- And just... - So tragedy for the family.

0:20:48 > 0:20:54- Your grandmother had a sister, so she left two children and a husband.- Yeah.

0:20:54 > 0:20:57And her husband obviously then called your grandmother...

0:20:57 > 0:20:59- After...- After her mother.

0:21:01 > 0:21:03That's really sweet, isn't it?

0:21:03 > 0:21:05- It's just...- And you had no idea?

0:21:05 > 0:21:10No idea at all. I mean, that was never talked about within the family.

0:21:10 > 0:21:13I think Joyce was very close to my dad and my mum,

0:21:13 > 0:21:17but...that was never mentioned.

0:21:17 > 0:21:21We kind of knew sort of deaths on my mum's side of the family,

0:21:21 > 0:21:25but never, never talked about it on my dad's. No, not at all.

0:21:25 > 0:21:27- That's quite hard, isn't it?- Hmm.

0:21:27 > 0:21:32You forget how many women died sort of either in childbirth or as a result of childbirth.

0:21:32 > 0:21:36So how does Tanni feel about what she's learned?

0:21:36 > 0:21:40It's sad to think that my great-grandmother died at the age of 29

0:21:40 > 0:21:44and, you know, their family life changed sort of for ever,

0:21:44 > 0:21:48but I think maybe that sort of...

0:21:48 > 0:21:52gives me a bit more understanding about the way my dad was then brought up.

0:21:52 > 0:21:56You know, my dad sort of was very much protected as a child

0:21:56 > 0:21:59and wasn't allowed to do a lot of stuff, play outside the house,

0:21:59 > 0:22:01you know, was sort of kept at home.

0:22:01 > 0:22:04And it's probably that whole fear if something happened to your loved one.

0:22:04 > 0:22:06But as a result of my dad being brought up like that,

0:22:06 > 0:22:09his decision to kind of bring me up as someone who wanted

0:22:09 > 0:22:12to travel the world and explore and do something entirely different.

0:22:12 > 0:22:16So sort of slightly weird that out of that sort of tragedy, you know,

0:22:16 > 0:22:21my dad gave me a huge amount of freedom that I might not have otherwise had.

0:22:21 > 0:22:25So that is quite a sort of bizarre feeling knowing that that's where I've come from.

0:22:26 > 0:22:32Now Tanni is about to learn the final chapter of William Lobb's story.

0:22:32 > 0:22:36By the outbreak of World War I, William was nearly 70...

0:22:37 > 0:22:39..but his maritime experience

0:22:39 > 0:22:41meant he was able to join the merchant navy,

0:22:41 > 0:22:44captaining a ship in the convoys

0:22:44 > 0:22:46bringing vital supplies into Britain.

0:22:46 > 0:22:49And historian, Dr Jonathan Hicks,

0:22:49 > 0:22:52may just have uncovered the reason for William's MBE.

0:22:53 > 0:22:56Well, I've done a little bit of research into

0:22:56 > 0:23:00your great-great-grandfather's service during the First World War.

0:23:00 > 0:23:03And I can tell you a little bit about how he spent his time,

0:23:03 > 0:23:06which might give you a clue as to how he won the MBE.

0:23:06 > 0:23:09At the start of the Great War, as you know,

0:23:09 > 0:23:10he was appointed as a captain.

0:23:10 > 0:23:13And he had his own ship, the SS Silvia.

0:23:13 > 0:23:20On the 15th of March...a German submarine spotted William's ship,

0:23:20 > 0:23:22surfaced and this happened.

0:23:22 > 0:23:26And I'd like you, if you could, to read that for us.

0:23:26 > 0:23:32This is an account of the actions taken by William Lobb as captain of his ship in March 1918.

0:23:32 > 0:23:35"At 5.30am, ship was attacked by gunfire

0:23:35 > 0:23:40"from a submarine on the surface at a range of about 1,000 yards.

0:23:40 > 0:23:46"On first shots being fired, the master gave order 'Hard a starboard' to bring guns to bear

0:23:46 > 0:23:49"in order to take advantage of light in the eastern horizon.

0:23:49 > 0:23:51"He then told pilot to take charge

0:23:51 > 0:23:54"and went aft to supervise and direct the gunfire.

0:23:56 > 0:24:02"Ship at once returned the fire and fired three rounds hitting submarine once for certain and possibly more.

0:24:02 > 0:24:05"Submarine started to dive after second round from ship.

0:24:05 > 0:24:09"The master, who is 74 years old, acted very well."

0:24:12 > 0:24:17SHE SOBS "Probably saved the ship from being torpedoed...

0:24:17 > 0:24:20"by his prompt use of helm and opening fire.

0:24:22 > 0:24:25"He had no special recommendations to make."

0:24:27 > 0:24:32That's amazing. I...I never thought I'd cry about a family relation that I didn't know anything about,

0:24:32 > 0:24:39- but to not panic and to...at 74 years old to do that is amazing.- Hmm.

0:24:39 > 0:24:41That's a pretty...

0:24:41 > 0:24:44good reason to be given an MBE actually, isn't it?

0:24:44 > 0:24:46That's amazing.

0:24:46 > 0:24:49- I can't imagine anyone doing that at 74, can you?- No.

0:24:49 > 0:24:51That is fantastic. Absolutely amazing!

0:24:51 > 0:24:53That is just incredible!

0:24:53 > 0:24:56That's a photograph...of the German submarine.

0:24:56 > 0:24:58Oh.

0:24:58 > 0:25:03And it was driven off by the actions that William and his gunners took.

0:25:03 > 0:25:07And the ship made it safely back to port.

0:25:07 > 0:25:10- And was everyone OK?- Everyone was OK.

0:25:10 > 0:25:15The two shots that hit the ship didn't cause any casualties.

0:25:15 > 0:25:17Wow!

0:25:17 > 0:25:19- Fair play.- Hmm.

0:25:19 > 0:25:22- So for that he may well have been awarded the MBE.- Yeah.

0:25:22 > 0:25:27But what we do know is that in the same edition of the newspaper,

0:25:27 > 0:25:30he's also mentioned there receiving...

0:25:30 > 0:25:32The Distinguished Service Cross.

0:25:32 > 0:25:34The Distinguished Service Cross.

0:25:34 > 0:25:38So besides his MBE...he would also have been awarded

0:25:38 > 0:25:40the Distinguished Service Cross.

0:25:40 > 0:25:43Only people who had shown exceptional bravery

0:25:43 > 0:25:45were rewarded in this way.

0:25:45 > 0:25:48These are examples of the medals he won.

0:25:48 > 0:25:50Wow!

0:25:50 > 0:25:53My family had no clue about this.

0:25:53 > 0:25:54He saved the whole crew.

0:25:56 > 0:25:59That's pretty amazing. We have no idea where those medals have gone,

0:25:59 > 0:26:00- but he would have got those?- Yes.

0:26:00 > 0:26:02That's pretty good.

0:26:04 > 0:26:06- Very proud of him.- There he is.

0:26:06 > 0:26:08- Oh, wow!- There's William.

0:26:11 > 0:26:17A grainy photograph it may be, but this is William in his full captain's uniform.

0:26:17 > 0:26:20I hope I'm doing cool things when I'm 74.

0:26:20 > 0:26:21HE LAUGHS That's just...

0:26:21 > 0:26:24My family had no clue about this.

0:26:25 > 0:26:27Good for him.

0:26:31 > 0:26:34Tanni is nearly at the end of her journey.

0:26:34 > 0:26:36But before leaving Penarth,

0:26:36 > 0:26:41it's very important to her to make a return visit to the school in this town

0:26:41 > 0:26:46that gave Tanni the vital start that ultimately lead to sporting greatness.

0:26:48 > 0:26:53And some budding historians are busy preparing for her visit.

0:26:53 > 0:26:57But just why was this school so vital in Tanni's story?

0:26:59 > 0:27:02St Cyres was really important to me because at the time

0:27:02 > 0:27:06it was the only school in South Glamorgan that would take wheelchair users.

0:27:06 > 0:27:08And my parents had a big fight to get me here.

0:27:08 > 0:27:12I should have been through special education, and my parent's view is

0:27:12 > 0:27:16I needed a school that was accessible, I didn't need different education.

0:27:16 > 0:27:19And now there's a chance for some of the current pupils

0:27:19 > 0:27:22to meet one of the school's most successful former students.

0:27:22 > 0:27:24APPLAUSE

0:27:26 > 0:27:28Hello.

0:27:30 > 0:27:32Hello, everybody. Wow!

0:27:32 > 0:27:34SHE GASPS

0:27:34 > 0:27:35This is really weird being back here.

0:27:35 > 0:27:39I went to school here a really long time ago, so... This used to be a library,

0:27:39 > 0:27:42it was all filled with books when I was here, so it's really different.

0:27:42 > 0:27:46Tanni can now show the pupils her family tree.

0:27:46 > 0:27:50So today, I've been finding out about my great-great-grandfather,

0:27:50 > 0:27:53which is... Like, can you imagine your great-great-grandfather?

0:27:53 > 0:27:59- Yeah.- Were your family aware of what your great-great-granddad done?

0:27:59 > 0:28:03No, my parents didn't have a clue at all, so my dad didn't know anything about it.

0:28:03 > 0:28:06We absolutely didn't know that he'd got an MBE.

0:28:06 > 0:28:08My dad would have loved to have known that.

0:28:08 > 0:28:10Now coming to the end of her journey,

0:28:10 > 0:28:13how does Tanni feel about what she's learned?

0:28:13 > 0:28:16The experience was so much more emotional than I was expecting,

0:28:16 > 0:28:20cos I only really knew about my grandparents.

0:28:20 > 0:28:25There is a bit of a feeling of...it's not quite sadness, but I wish my dad had known.

0:28:25 > 0:28:28But, you know, there's so much that I wish he'd known about.

0:28:28 > 0:28:31But...I think he would have been incredibly proud

0:28:31 > 0:28:34to know that on his side of the family, you know,

0:28:34 > 0:28:36that somebody like William Lobb had existed.

0:28:36 > 0:28:40And the children of St Cyres can't let Tanni go

0:28:40 > 0:28:43without a little surprise of their own.

0:28:43 > 0:28:44Oh, wow! That's amazing!

0:28:44 > 0:28:46SHE LAUGHS Thank you very much.

0:28:46 > 0:28:49That is absolutely beautiful. They're huge!

0:28:49 > 0:28:52Thank you very much. That is so sweet. Thank you.

0:28:52 > 0:28:54Aw!

0:28:54 > 0:28:57"Tanni, thank you for coming home from all the boys and girls at St Cyres."

0:28:57 > 0:29:00Thank you very much. Thank you.

0:29:00 > 0:29:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd