0:00:02 > 0:00:051887, Victorian working class Britain.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11A labyrinth of destitution,
0:00:11 > 0:00:13street crime,
0:00:13 > 0:00:15gang warfare,
0:00:15 > 0:00:17drink addiction
0:00:17 > 0:00:18and welfare dependency.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Into this dark continent,
0:00:23 > 0:00:27came an army of upper class do-gooders
0:00:27 > 0:00:30to study and help the problem families they found...
0:00:32 > 0:00:35..and on their expeditions into the slums,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37these missionaries came face-to-face
0:00:37 > 0:00:40with Britain's outcast and unrecorded.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48We knew very little about the history of our family.
0:00:48 > 0:00:49She's sort of lower-class.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51Not worth anything.
0:00:51 > 0:00:52The working class?
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Yeah, get over there. They're only crap.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Now, using the explorers' written accounts of their meetings
0:00:59 > 0:01:03with the underclass, we've traced their descendants
0:01:03 > 0:01:07from Victorian times all the way down to the present day
0:01:07 > 0:01:09to find out -
0:01:09 > 0:01:11what happened to the families that history forgot?
0:01:11 > 0:01:15To think about where our family's come in 200 years
0:01:15 > 0:01:17from just one girl?
0:01:17 > 0:01:19I think she'd be amazed.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21We don't talk about it.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26A story told by the descendants themselves.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32We are all prisoners of our family histories.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34Don't forget where you've come from.
0:01:34 > 0:01:35Don't forget.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38Tonight, the story of two mums
0:01:38 > 0:01:41from opposite ends of the social scale,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43brought together by domestic violence...
0:01:45 > 0:01:49"He stood over me with a knife in his hand and threatened to stab me."
0:01:49 > 0:01:51..and their families
0:01:51 > 0:01:53struggling to escape the past.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01It was a really privileged upbringing, but really...
0:02:01 > 0:02:04what was more important was love.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Chewy? Chewy?
0:02:13 > 0:02:14Good boy.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18'My name is Denny Kidd. I live here in Windsor.'
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Leave. Leave. Do you want me to talk? Is that all right?
0:02:22 > 0:02:24Is it picking my dulcet tones up?
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Great fan of Disney, we all love Disney.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31They're all quotes from Disney, from Cinderella.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35You've got Peter Pan, Lion King, Winnie The Pooh.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39I like, "Even miracles take a little time" and that's Cinderella.
0:02:39 > 0:02:40I like that one.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50My family's story starts back in 1887
0:02:50 > 0:02:51in Fulham in West London.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56This is Lavinia Manley, my great-grandmother.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Back then, she was living with my great-grandfather John.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09He had been ill and lost his job...
0:03:09 > 0:03:11and there was nothing to keep them afloat.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16They had six children.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21And the children hadn't been out for days, they had no footwear to wear.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24They was in a dire, dire mess, really.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28'I'm Evelyn Bateman and I'm the great-granddaughter
0:03:28 > 0:03:30'of John and Lavinia Manley.'
0:03:34 > 0:03:37He sold everything he had.
0:03:37 > 0:03:39No clothing.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41A blanket wrapped round his waist.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48They are having to sell their belongings just to eat.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56I believe he wrote to a family friend who was a vicar
0:03:56 > 0:03:59asking for assistance.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02The vicar passed that on to a charity
0:04:02 > 0:04:05and the charity sent someone round.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10The visitor from the charity was a well-to-do lady
0:04:10 > 0:04:12called Florence Hunt.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17I'm Elizabeth Cox, and Florence was my great-great-grandmother.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26She came from a very affluent family
0:04:26 > 0:04:29who had servants both in and out.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33She was always going to dances and balls
0:04:33 > 0:04:35and just living life to the full.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42I don't think Florence was a wallflower!
0:04:43 > 0:04:47She was quite a large lady. I think she was about 16st.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Florence and her husband had 11 children.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03But in 1878, her privileged way of life in Shropshire
0:05:03 > 0:05:04came to an abrupt end.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Her husband died when she was around 41.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15She wasn't ready to be widowed off and, sort of, the door closed.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Her life was just beginning for her.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23She left her country estate and she joined a growing movement
0:05:23 > 0:05:28of "lady visitors" who ventured into London's deprived underworld
0:05:28 > 0:05:29trying to help the poor.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36She found a role as a case worker for a charity called
0:05:36 > 0:05:39The Charity Organisation Society.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Through her work with the charity,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47she managed to support people who needed her help.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52She wanted to understand the people and their lives.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Obviously, these people didn't have any money,
0:05:54 > 0:05:56but why didn't they have any money?
0:05:56 > 0:05:58She tried to really get to it
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and understand how she could make that difference.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06On 27th May 1887,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Florence paid her first visit to Lavinia and John Manley.
0:06:10 > 0:06:16'She was about to meet my family for the very first time.'
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Well, Florence went the first time to see the Manleys
0:06:20 > 0:06:21and she speaks to Mr Manley.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27"Notes by Florence Hunt. 27th May 1887.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32"I visited Mrs Manley, but could not talk to her as her husband was there
0:06:32 > 0:06:34"and talked all the time.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38"He talked so fast, he rather bewildered me."
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Poor Lavinia couldn't get a word in edgeways.
0:06:44 > 0:06:45John's the governor.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48There was a big divide between them.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55His family were well-to-do and her family couldn't even read and write.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Florence felt that John dominated Lavinia.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04She was quite suspicious of him.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06I was coming over the East End of London the other day,
0:07:06 > 0:07:07passing one of the new barber shops.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11I think she can see between the lines.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15Lavinia being closed up, sort of thing, not wanting...
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Not so much not wanting to speak, but not being able to speak.
0:07:20 > 0:07:21Being afraid to speak.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28'My name is Cheryl Steward.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31'I'm Lavinia's great-great-granddaughter.'
0:07:32 > 0:07:35The next time Mrs Hunt comes back,
0:07:35 > 0:07:37Lavinia's there on her own.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Lavinia actually opens up
0:07:41 > 0:07:44and tells Mrs Hunt her side of the story.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47John is actually a violent man.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49And a very controlling man.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56Then Lavinia does tell her that he's not treating them well
0:07:56 > 0:07:58and he's knocking her around.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04Two years before, Lavinia had taken John to court
0:08:04 > 0:08:06seeking a legal separation from him.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12This is what was said when Lavinia took John to court.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21"I, Lavinia Sophia Gilliam Manley make oath and say as follow."
0:08:24 > 0:08:28"That John Manley is a man of a violent temper
0:08:28 > 0:08:32and that he has habitually treated me with neglect,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35"unkindness and cruelty..."
0:08:36 > 0:08:40"..and has habitually used abusive and threatening language to me..."
0:08:41 > 0:08:45"..and that on numerous occasions he has assaulted and struck me
0:08:45 > 0:08:50"and threatened me with knives and razors and thrown things at me."
0:08:50 > 0:08:56"The said John Manley dragged me into the dining room..."
0:08:56 > 0:08:58SCREAMING
0:08:58 > 0:09:02"..and tore my hat and clothes and cut my boots...
0:09:04 > 0:09:06"..and stood over me with a knife in his hand
0:09:06 > 0:09:08"and threatened to stab me...
0:09:11 > 0:09:14"..and threw me backwards and again threatened me with a knife
0:09:14 > 0:09:16"and tried to strangle me.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27"Lavinia Sophia Gilliam Manley."
0:09:35 > 0:09:37Poor woman.
0:09:40 > 0:09:41Poor, poor woman.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48Although John disputed Lavinia's version of events,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50the court approved her separation.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54But she went back to him...
0:09:55 > 0:09:57..which we won't know fully why.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Give it one more try.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03Which obviously didn't work.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Not long after they'd been reunited,
0:10:08 > 0:10:10John left the family...
0:10:10 > 0:10:11for good.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Then the charity wouldn't help her
0:10:18 > 0:10:20because she'd been deserted,
0:10:20 > 0:10:22because she was a single woman, now, with children
0:10:22 > 0:10:24and her husband had deserted - which is barmy!
0:10:24 > 0:10:26It just doesn't...
0:10:26 > 0:10:28It's just when she needed the help.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34The charity had devised strict rules about who they would help
0:10:34 > 0:10:36because they feared that giving hand-outs to single mothers
0:10:36 > 0:10:38would encourage immoral behaviour.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43They didn't want to create people who were just
0:10:43 > 0:10:44dependent on hand-outs.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Lavinia's left on her own.
0:10:50 > 0:10:51She's got no-one to turn to
0:10:51 > 0:10:53and she's got six kids to try and feed.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Now, as an uneducated woman,
0:11:00 > 0:11:02there was no way Lavinia could support her family.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09She has to go into the workhouse -
0:11:09 > 0:11:12and that was the last resort, that was all she could do.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Lavinia takes four of the younger children with her.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35Lavinia and her youngest children had hit rock bottom.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46But there was hope for the two older children, Edith and John Junior.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Sometimes, Florence disagreed with the decisions that the charity
0:11:58 > 0:12:01had made and she would actually step in.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05John Junior is my grandfather.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11Florence agreed to pay, for at least a few weeks,
0:12:11 > 0:12:15for a room for him somewhere to keep him out of the workhouse.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23He'd managed to get himself an apprenticeship as an upholsterer.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36By providing the little bit of help John needed,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39Florence had set him on the path to a trade.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46This is Peter when he was eight and a half months old.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Oh, there's a picture of me here when I was, um...
0:12:50 > 0:12:52- Eight and a half months old. - ..eight and a half months old, yeah.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55This is my cousin Peter and his wife, Mary.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03They're retired now,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06but Peter worked for 30 years in management at Toshiba.
0:13:10 > 0:13:12So, anyway, this is my...
0:13:14 > 0:13:15..shed.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22I've only lifted this box out and opened it...probably twice,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24since 1978.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30There's a mix of tools in here
0:13:30 > 0:13:35that my grandfather John Manley used to use for upholstering
0:13:35 > 0:13:36some of the chairs.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40There's the old wooden plane.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43It's a nice little plane, that.
0:13:43 > 0:13:44Well-used.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50We don't know where he got the tools from.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54He wanted those tools because it was the final cream on the cake,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58if you like, to enable him to earn a living to support his family.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11There's a determination to succeed running right through our family.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15It began with my grandad John getting his trade.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22Then in his 20s, off his own back, he managed to make a move
0:14:22 > 0:14:24that has shaped our lives ever since.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27He probably wanted to get out of London
0:14:27 > 0:14:30to put the whole episode of what happened in the past,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33or in his living memory, behind him.
0:14:40 > 0:14:46In 1906, John and his children moved to a tiny village near to Windsor,
0:14:46 > 0:14:47called Langley.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57Thank you.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01100 years on, I still live and work down the road.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08My grandfather managed to move from London,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11which was for the benefit of his children.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15He gave them a better life and a better start than he had.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18You know, we haven't moved far, so I'm still not that...
0:15:18 > 0:15:20Windsor's not far from Langley.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Morning, everyone. Ready to Zumba?
0:15:23 > 0:15:25OK, lots of whooping today.
0:15:33 > 0:15:34Lots of smiley faces!
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Since we moved out of London,
0:15:45 > 0:15:47things have got better and better for my family.
0:15:47 > 0:15:53MUSIC: Shine On by R.I.O
0:15:55 > 0:15:58What we aim at doing is to get every child over 11
0:15:58 > 0:16:01some form of secondary education.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05The effect, as I see it, will be as much social as educational.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07I think it will have the result of welding us all
0:16:07 > 0:16:08into one nation.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21For the first time, kids like us from poorer families,
0:16:21 > 0:16:24had a chance to go to grammar school
0:16:24 > 0:16:27and get a high-flying education free of charge.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40We call ourselves the Transition Generation.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45I think our generation had a lot more opportunities
0:16:45 > 0:16:50and could come from whatever background then and could...
0:16:50 > 0:16:53You had the opportunity to mix and achieve.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05I have got one picture of when I was at grammar school in Langley.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08I passed my 11-plus and went to grammar school.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12And I don't... Let me think. Think, think, think.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Ah, found it.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22So, ah, found me.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24That's me there.
0:17:24 > 0:17:25It was very, very strict.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28It was run like a private school, grammar schools, in those days.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32Education has always, in my mind, stayed important to me.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38So, I endeavour to try and give my children the gift of education
0:17:38 > 0:17:41because I must have, deep down, felt that that's what helped me.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48'My husband Geoff and I have five grown-up kids.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53'For our sins, two of them are still at home.'
0:17:53 > 0:17:55That's the five of them when they were little.
0:17:55 > 0:17:57Liam,
0:17:57 > 0:17:58Josh,
0:17:58 > 0:18:00Niall, that's the boys.
0:18:00 > 0:18:01That's Fliss.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03It's Felicity Faye, but we call her Fliss...
0:18:03 > 0:18:05and Gabby, Gabriella.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08So, Josh is the second.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13We were advised by schools to sit him for scholarships, which we did.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17He was ten when he sat the Eton junior scholarship
0:18:17 > 0:18:23which took care of him from that age basically up until 18.
0:18:30 > 0:18:31It was a massive change.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34I mean, it's a completely different structure.
0:18:34 > 0:18:35Different...
0:18:36 > 0:18:40I guess, even as a child, you know, you have a class
0:18:40 > 0:18:45and it was a completely different class of people.
0:18:45 > 0:18:46Social class?
0:18:46 > 0:18:47Social class, yeah.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57There was teasing/bullying on a class level.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05But looking back, I probably took that out on Mum a bit.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11You sort of think, "Oh, I've just got to get on with this,"
0:19:11 > 0:19:16and then learn to enjoy what's there on your doorstep
0:19:16 > 0:19:21rather than thinking about what you're missing or had before.
0:19:21 > 0:19:22Or do you just forget?
0:19:23 > 0:19:25I mean, obviously, you acclimatise, don't you?
0:19:25 > 0:19:27When you're there long enough, so...
0:19:36 > 0:19:39If you did it again, would you do anything differently?
0:19:39 > 0:19:43I always tried to get them to extra lessons, extra curricular lessons,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45and making sure they didn't miss out,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47especially as there were five of them.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49I didn't want them to suffer cos they came from a big family.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Wasn't their fault.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52But then I was rushing them everywhere.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55So, I wish deep down now,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58I'd just stayed at home and cuddled them more
0:19:58 > 0:20:02and just sat and watched films and read books.
0:20:02 > 0:20:03What makes you say that?
0:20:04 > 0:20:07When Josh went to Eton, particularly,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09I felt I lost him totally.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13Very...drifted, and we were quite close when he was little.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16And with the others, I was just... Seemed intent on getting them
0:20:16 > 0:20:21a good education, giving them every opportunity I didn't have
0:20:21 > 0:20:23and forgotten the bit in between.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Happy Birthday!
0:20:26 > 0:20:28Hip, hip, hooray!
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I was a really attached child.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37I think quite quickly after going through prep school,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41I was told that I was quite the opposite, so...
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Um, and...
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Yeah, I don't feel a strong family attachment.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55I think I've always had a tighter relationship with friends,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58and that makes sense as someone who grew up
0:20:58 > 0:21:00in a house full of friends, really.
0:21:04 > 0:21:07Over the generations, my family's kept moving forwards,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10even if it's sometimes been a painful process.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17So, that's our line of the family.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24All of us are descendants of John Junior, the upholsterer,
0:21:24 > 0:21:25my grandfather.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40John Junior's older sister was called Edith.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45She was 16 when her mum went into the workhouse.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52So, like her brother John, she was old enough to get a job.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00Edith, who is my...nan...
0:22:00 > 0:22:03she, through Mrs Hunt again, our saviour...
0:22:09 > 0:22:11..finds her work.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Finds her work in service,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17cos there's not a lot of opportunities.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21I mean, you know, you was either in the service
0:22:21 > 0:22:24or a woman of the night, so to speak.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30She worked for a family for about eight years
0:22:30 > 0:22:33until she met her husband.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36Enter Mr Starkey.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42This photo was taken at her wedding.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Edith was 25 when she got married and gave up her job.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51That's Lavinia on the right, Edith is in the middle
0:22:51 > 0:22:54and her new husband Jonah Starkey is on the left.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Jonah was more than 20 years older than Edith
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and he died nine years after they married,
0:23:01 > 0:23:05leaving Edith to bring up four young daughters on her own,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07including my mum, Elsie.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13They all lived in cramped housing in Paddington.
0:23:16 > 0:23:17It's beyond recognition now.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22I think a lot of houses were like that.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26They were old, and after the war they were just pulled down.
0:23:28 > 0:23:29Yeah.
0:23:31 > 0:23:32Yeah, very nice.
0:23:35 > 0:23:37'Me and my husband Ray, we live in East Acton,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40'which is a couple of miles from Edith's home in Paddington.'
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Did you see our nameplate?
0:23:45 > 0:23:48- Oh, yeah, have a look at our plate. - Come on, I'll show you.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Our name plate, E and R, look at it.
0:23:52 > 0:23:53E and R with a crown.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57"Evelyn Reigns," that's what it says.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59It don't say Eve and Ray, it said, "Evelyn Reigns."
0:23:59 > 0:24:01THEY LAUGH
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Yeah. Oops.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07I've got a lovely picture of Shannon.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09Bring your camera upstairs.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15This is a picture of our daughter Shannon
0:24:15 > 0:24:16in fancy dress.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20That's not her normal Saturday get-up.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25She said, "Mother, you never showed them that, did you?"
0:24:26 > 0:24:28I said, "I did."
0:24:30 > 0:24:32We've always stayed pretty close to our roots.
0:24:32 > 0:24:33Tell me about your work.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37Yeah, me, yeah. I worked at a wholesalers up the road here,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39not far from here, in North Acton.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Yeah, I was there 32 years at Makros.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49And I say, my dad only had one job in his lifetime.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51My mum worked.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55When she was able, she had an early morning cleaning job
0:24:55 > 0:24:58and then they would go back in the evening and clean, again,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00the offices or whatever.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07Shannon only had one job from 16 to 43.
0:25:07 > 0:25:08Post Office.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13So, we're a bit boring. Stick-in-the-mud people.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15We've been lucky.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17- Been lucky.- Yeah. We was fortunate.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Me and Ray, we're just plodders.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25I think you can tell that, with our jobs.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27You know, you plod along.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29I've lived in this house nearly 60 years.
0:25:29 > 0:25:30Plod along with it.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32You know?
0:25:32 > 0:25:35I mean, at the end of the day, I mean, it's quite nice.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39But it's a council house.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42I mean, we could sell this
0:25:42 > 0:25:46and buy something really nice. You know, really up-to-date.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48Lovely kitchen and whatever.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51We'll plod along a little bit further, I suppose.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01In our family we have a saying,
0:26:01 > 0:26:04"It's all about the man you choose."
0:26:04 > 0:26:05Pull your trousers up, Ray.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09'I'm Cheryl Steward.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13'When I was younger, unfortunately, when it came to men,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16'I took after my great-great-grandmother Lavinia.'
0:26:19 > 0:26:23100 years on, I found myself in a relationship that
0:26:23 > 0:26:26was all too similar to the records of Lavinia and John's.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29Getting chilly again now.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44I can relate to Lavinia on some of the aspects of, like,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48not being able to speak up and, um...
0:26:48 > 0:26:51like, the bedroom door would look like a jigsaw puzzle.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53And why did it look like that?
0:26:53 > 0:26:56Um...my partner used to punch it, basically.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59So...
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Looking at that list, how many of those things happened to you?
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Basically, being grabbed by the throat,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10threatened with a knife...
0:27:10 > 0:27:11being hit.
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Well, yeah, he didn't knock my teeth out, still got them.
0:27:17 > 0:27:18Thankfully.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20But, yeah, there's a few things on there
0:27:20 > 0:27:22that I can sort of relate to.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27No-one gives anyone the right to hit anyone.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35My daughter was born in '87, so...
0:27:35 > 0:27:37My oldest daughter.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40So, it is literally like just 100...
0:27:40 > 0:27:43Basically, 100 years between it, so...
0:27:43 > 0:27:46As to what happened to me, that's what happened to Lavinia.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Back in 1887, Lavinia had no options.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54It was just the workhouse for her.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Thank God things were different for me.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02There is much more help now than what there was then.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Basically, the only sort of help I did need is basically being,
0:28:05 > 0:28:08sort of, rehoused down here, so...
0:28:11 > 0:28:15..22 years ago, I plucked up the courage and I got out.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20I moved from London to Southampton.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22From then on, life just got better.
0:28:24 > 0:28:25Right, well, that's the kitchen.
0:28:27 > 0:28:28This is the lounge.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33I've got pictures on the walls
0:28:33 > 0:28:35which are of my daughters and my grandson.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38This is Georgina, this is Francesca and this is Samantha
0:28:38 > 0:28:40when they were babies.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43And this is what they're all like now, basically.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Yeah, I did my driving lessons.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Got a job.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Then went on to do my PCV licence,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54so I can drive, like, double-decker buses...
0:28:54 > 0:28:56coaches and stuff like that.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58Little old ladies used to get on the bus saying,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01"You look too small to be behind that wheel."
0:29:01 > 0:29:02But, yeah, that was fun.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06I was proud of myself.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10I'd got myself out, built a whole new life for myself and my girls.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12Then I got together with Darren...
0:29:13 > 0:29:15..and it's basically the kind of stability
0:29:15 > 0:29:17that Lavinia could have only dreamed of.
0:29:23 > 0:29:25You could say that all of us who have descended
0:29:25 > 0:29:29from Edith and John Junior have Florence Hunt to thank
0:29:29 > 0:29:31for going against the charity.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Because without that leg up,
0:29:34 > 0:29:35who knows where we might be.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40'As for Florence's own circumstances,'
0:29:40 > 0:29:43it would be hard to imagine a more different world.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Her family's fortunes revolved around a huge inheritance.
0:29:53 > 0:29:55'This is me, Tatiana.'
0:29:57 > 0:29:59What relation is Florence to you?
0:29:59 > 0:30:03My great-great-great-grandmother.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11The story of Florence's family is all about the family home.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17A 300-acre Elizabethan estate in Shropshire called Boreatton.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24When her husband died, Florence inherited next to nothing.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29The family estate went to the oldest of her 11 children.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34It went to Rowland, my great-great-grandfather.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42The trouble is they get to like her so much I can't imagine them
0:30:42 > 0:30:45behaving very well for anybody else.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48This is my dad, Rowland Jr, and my mum Julia.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53They live in a small village, in Hampshire, where I grew up.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57Florence Hunt was my great-great-grandmother,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01and, therefore, mother of my great-grandfather Rowland.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05You're called Rowland, as well.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07Do you think you're similar?
0:31:07 > 0:31:09Beyond his name, erm...
0:31:09 > 0:31:12I think I do share some similarities and, um...
0:31:12 > 0:31:16obviously they would be the love of country sports,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18which I've carried on.
0:31:19 > 0:31:20He would, in his younger years,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22have spent most of his time hunting to hounds.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25JAZZ MUSIC
0:31:25 > 0:31:27He was a master of fox hounds...
0:31:27 > 0:31:32game shooting with both shotgun and rifle...
0:31:32 > 0:31:36before he signed up for public duty.
0:31:40 > 0:31:42A famously good shot,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45Rowland was recruited to the elite Lovat Scouts
0:31:45 > 0:31:47and went to battle in the Boer War.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51It would be the beginning of a proud military tradition.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57Rowland's son was Philip, my great-grandfather,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04who was a fighter pilot in the First World War.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14Philip was, actually, fascinatingly,
0:32:14 > 0:32:17shot down by the Red Baron in the First World War.
0:32:17 > 0:32:20MACHINE-GUN FIRE
0:32:23 > 0:32:27My dad's father was a vice admiral in the Navy.
0:32:28 > 0:32:31My dad was in the Navy for 25 years.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36So, yeah, strong military background.
0:32:39 > 0:32:43Nowadays my dad Rowland still keeps his hand in with the military,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46only he does it running a business from the family home.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50Well, the main bit of the business,
0:32:50 > 0:32:52we repatriate sailors when they are sick and injured.
0:32:52 > 0:32:54They might be anywhere in the world.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58They might be in...Buenos Aires, or India, or Rotterdam,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and they might have fallen down in their ship,
0:33:01 > 0:33:02or they might have got sick,
0:33:02 > 0:33:05and somebody has to rescue them and take them home.
0:33:06 > 0:33:11Were you, given what the generations above you in your family have done,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14ever tempted to join the military?
0:33:14 > 0:33:16No. Not even slightly.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20The generations before me were all in the military, but I am not.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26It was either going to be PR or journalism for me.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31PR paid more, awful truth, so, yeah, I went into that
0:33:31 > 0:33:36and fell into financial services and find it incredibly interesting.
0:33:37 > 0:33:38So, that's our family.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42We've moved from Shropshire landowners,
0:33:42 > 0:33:46in Florence's day, to the military, to the City.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51But that's because Florence's son Rowland did a surprising thing.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57In 1915, he sold the family estate to his younger brother.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Do you think that big country houses are a blessing or a curse?
0:34:03 > 0:34:04Curse.
0:34:05 > 0:34:06Why's that?
0:34:07 > 0:34:10There was a famous saying, I can't remember who it was...
0:34:10 > 0:34:11If you really hate someone,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14leave them an old family house in your will.
0:34:15 > 0:34:19Because it's about £300,000 if you want to replace the roof,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21the insurance is a nightmare,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24most of them are sinking, they fall apart.
0:34:26 > 0:34:28If you don't have money it's a hindrance.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34For our family, selling the house would turn out to be a good move.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40We were freed up from the responsibility of looking after it.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43And we could do what we wanted with our lives
0:34:49 > 0:34:52But what about Florence's other son,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54the one who bought the family estate?
0:34:59 > 0:35:01The small boy in this photo is called Richard.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07He's the one who bought the family estate from his brother Rowland.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11He's Florence's youngest son and he's also my grandfather.
0:35:17 > 0:35:18This is me, Tim.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26This is someone I've had for a long time.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28Her name is Sinead.
0:35:28 > 0:35:30Sinead Mermaid,
0:35:30 > 0:35:35and, as you see, she likes to dress up
0:35:35 > 0:35:37- Florence?- Yeah.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39Who was Florence?
0:35:39 > 0:35:42She was my great-grandmother.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44It would have been nice to have met her, I think.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48She might have been a bit scary, I feel.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50But I don't know about that!
0:35:50 > 0:35:52Did you get your times tables right?
0:35:52 > 0:35:56You did your nines and you got them right? Well done!
0:35:56 > 0:35:57Pasta for you.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59This is Elizabeth, my niece.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02She worked for 20 years in marketing.
0:36:02 > 0:36:03Now she's a stay-at-home mum
0:36:03 > 0:36:06and lives in Sussex with her husband and twin boys.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12Florence was my great-great-grandmother.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14And this is my seat.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17My husband is not allowed in this seat.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19And here is Lesley, who is also my niece.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21It's got my horsey cushions
0:36:21 > 0:36:24and it's just the right position for the television.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Florence is my great-great-grandmother.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40This, uh, this is a picture, it's a sort of...
0:36:40 > 0:36:43I think, it's a charcoal of Boreatton, as it was.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47They pulled half of the house down to make another really big house,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49which had 52 bedrooms.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52Florence was supposed to be such a gorgeous girl
0:36:52 > 0:36:54that she was going to marry the man
0:36:54 > 0:36:58who could build her the biggest, most gorgeous house.
0:36:59 > 0:37:01Half of it was taken down, the best half,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05and, really, what I was brought up in was the servant's quarters,
0:37:05 > 0:37:07which was still 20 bedrooms.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Sorry, you were brought up in this house?
0:37:10 > 0:37:12I was brought up in this house.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17My grandad didn't know it when he bought it,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20but the house was going to be a mixed blessing for our family.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27It's been a source of great pride but also excessive stress.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33For us everything was going OK until 1945.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39That was the year Richard died and the estate went to my father, Jock.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45This is, erm, my father, a portrait of my father.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49It's probably when he was at Oxford, I think.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53He was very charming but he was... a bit of a character.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56Jock was quite an eccentric. I think he lived in the past.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00He was... He was of a different generation.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05MUSIC: Walk That Mess by Tiny Bradshaw
0:38:11 > 0:38:15My eccentric father couldn't have inherited Boreatton at a worse time.
0:38:15 > 0:38:16I am going to relieve
0:38:16 > 0:38:20two million people from income tax altogether next year.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24And, just by way of balance,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28to put a little bit more on the big incomes,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30which could well afford to pay.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36In 1945, the Labour government began to bring in new laws
0:38:36 > 0:38:38to try to redistribute wealth.
0:38:39 > 0:38:41Tax was up, inflation was up.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44Life became very hard to run estates.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00The responsibility to keep the show on the road was all on one man.
0:39:00 > 0:39:01My father Jock.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07He came up with these crackpot ideas of trying to raise money.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12He did something with poultry, with turkeys.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16He started a turkey farm there,
0:39:16 > 0:39:18which was one of his, you know, schemes.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21And it went horribly wrong.
0:39:25 > 0:39:28He tried growing rhubarb.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34The mushrooms were in the in the cellar, as well.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36That was another... another failed venture.
0:39:40 > 0:39:42He just enjoyed life,
0:39:42 > 0:39:45he was still, almost, living the previous lives -
0:39:45 > 0:39:47he hadn't moved on with society.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57He didn't really know how to earn a living.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02When the money dried up, it became quite apparent
0:40:02 > 0:40:05that he couldn't make a go of things.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10The only way he could finance the restoration of the property
0:40:10 > 0:40:12and the maintenance of the property
0:40:12 > 0:40:15was to sell bits of the land off, and properties off,
0:40:15 > 0:40:17to make it pay.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21But, by the late '50s,
0:40:21 > 0:40:23the house was falling into disrepair.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28Was it a nice place to grow up?
0:40:28 > 0:40:31Not really. It was not.... It was very cold.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34There were lots of stories about ghosts
0:40:34 > 0:40:37and it creaked and it was dark, completely dark.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39We didn't have electricity.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43I've only ever stayed in Boreatton, Old Boreatton, once..
0:40:44 > 0:40:47..and it frightened me so much I said I'd never stay there again.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59My grandmother said, "She won't. She cried all night."
0:40:59 > 0:41:02And it was just...just horrendous.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07I used to sleep the other side of the tower.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09My parents were in the front.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Absolutely no way they could hear me, as a little boy, if I was upset.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18Boreatton, once a source of joy for my dad,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20had now become a terrible burden.
0:41:22 > 0:41:27He was going bankrupt at the time that I was a little boy.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31He was always very angry,
0:41:31 > 0:41:34and, for a little boy, that was difficult to understand.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39He used to have a big chair at the table, and if I went near it,
0:41:39 > 0:41:41he'd scream at me, when I was small.
0:41:43 > 0:41:45I remember not being connected. At all.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51It's affected me the whole of my life, really.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00It was... Yeah. I think it... It wasn't...
0:42:00 > 0:42:04It was privileged, a really privileged upbringing
0:42:04 > 0:42:06but, really,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08what was more important was love.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18I needed to get away from home and everything it represented -
0:42:18 > 0:42:21the stiff upper lip and the English class system.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26So, when I was 18, I left home and trained as a doctor in London...
0:42:28 > 0:42:30..but I was looking for something more,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33and pretty soon I found myself on the other side of the world.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39When I got to Australia, things were just so much more relaxed.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41Just - people were who they were,
0:42:41 > 0:42:45and you just accepted people for who they were when you met them.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49There weren't all the unwritten class rules
0:42:49 > 0:42:51that there are in England.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Do you ever think what you might want to say to him
0:42:57 > 0:42:58if he was still around?
0:43:03 > 0:43:08Just to let the love in, you know? Just... Just to loosen up, and...
0:43:08 > 0:43:14and, loosen up and...and open up and open his heart and...and, er...
0:43:14 > 0:43:16Oh! You've made me weepy!
0:43:16 > 0:43:18And, you know, give me a hug.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22Like he did when... Before I left the last time.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30My upbringing had left me with a lot to deal with.
0:43:34 > 0:43:35And while I was settling in Australia,
0:43:35 > 0:43:37there was a lot going on at home, too.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45By now, the hall had been carved up into flats and rented out.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Then, in 1981, my dad died.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00and everything went to my elder brother, Richard.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04Now, I don't know what you... Come and look at this with me,
0:44:04 > 0:44:06or something, one of you.
0:44:08 > 0:44:10Now, that's a wig, that's nothing to do with it.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16This is Civil War time. We were Roundheads.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20But let me tell you, really, I'm a real loyalist now,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23but we were Roundheads.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Like the house, this suit of armour has been in the family
0:44:28 > 0:44:30for over 350 years.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35So, was this a Hunt that fought in this?
0:44:35 > 0:44:37Yes. Yes.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41In the Civil War we managed to pick the winning side
0:44:41 > 0:44:44and we got the estate on the cheap.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46And I suppose we should, today,
0:44:46 > 0:44:48we should hand in all swords and knives.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55Oh, that's lovely. Could you turn round, Uncle Richard? That's lovely.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57Elizabeth and her family
0:44:57 > 0:45:00have come to visit my brother Richard at the estate.
0:45:00 > 0:45:01Thank you. That's great.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03All the generations.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07Nowadays, it's owned by a family of hoteliers from Chester.
0:45:08 > 0:45:10It's a beautiful setting, isn't it?
0:45:12 > 0:45:16These are all the marriages, boys. When you've got two sides.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19It's when two families have come together and got married.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22They've both brought their family crest with them
0:45:22 > 0:45:24and they've married together as one.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- It's so different now. - It's beautiful.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37I would never have wanted to live at Boreatton.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39Quite honestly, it was left to me,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42and the only thing to do was to sell.
0:45:44 > 0:45:47It's not a place you can live in, unless you've got money to run it.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Could you imagine yourself living there?
0:45:52 > 0:45:55- Living where?- At Boreatton.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59No. It would never be right for me.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01- Why not?- Oh, no, I'm...
0:46:02 > 0:46:06It's not the sort of life I'd want.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09There's nothing wrong with living in a big house
0:46:09 > 0:46:12and being the lord of the manor and the rest of it - no.
0:46:13 > 0:46:16In some ways, those days are gone.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18But, er, no... I'm happy as I am.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27The estate was sold after 400 years, or whatever it was.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30Did they get a lot of money for it?
0:46:30 > 0:46:32They got £50,000 for it.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Yeah, so these days...
0:46:36 > 0:46:39It needed someone to love it
0:46:39 > 0:46:42and put a lot of money into it, really, basically.
0:46:42 > 0:46:43Are you sorry it's gone?
0:46:45 > 0:46:47Not particularly.
0:46:47 > 0:46:54My nephew and my son both have, sort of, dreams of buying it back
0:46:54 > 0:46:56but, for me, I don't feel, I'm quite,
0:46:56 > 0:46:58I'm well rid of it, basically.
0:46:58 > 0:46:59For me, it's not important.
0:47:02 > 0:47:03Like me, Richard's OK
0:47:03 > 0:47:06with the estate being someone else's home these days.
0:47:07 > 0:47:10But he has a deep connection to the place.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12Oh, shall we open the door?
0:47:12 > 0:47:13Is that a catflap?
0:47:13 > 0:47:16It's been 20 years now since Richard's been inside.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23Oh, this is great. I understood, thought, that wasn't here.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25Oh, it's great.
0:47:25 > 0:47:30- So which...- We had a bigger bell than that.- Did you?
0:47:30 > 0:47:33That's where the butler would...
0:47:33 > 0:47:36- Because they used the upstairs as a drawing room.- Right.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38The dining room was downstairs.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41The butler would ring this ship's bell, it is.
0:47:41 > 0:47:43- Well, we've got it at home.- Yes.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46Oh! It hasn't been...
0:47:46 > 0:47:48It's beautiful. Wow!
0:47:48 > 0:47:50No! Maureen's got it wrong.
0:47:50 > 0:47:56It isn't the same but it's... It has... Oh, it's great.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59It hasn't been changed hardly at all.
0:47:59 > 0:48:01No.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10Right. Gosh. It's so changed.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Now, this is how he's brought the kitchen out.
0:48:13 > 0:48:14This is very interesting.
0:48:14 > 0:48:15Wow!
0:48:20 > 0:48:24It really has pleased me. It really has.
0:48:26 > 0:48:30Cos I had ideas it'd been completely, you know,
0:48:30 > 0:48:32the old characters had gone.
0:48:32 > 0:48:37They haven't. For an old house, they haven't spoiled it.
0:48:39 > 0:48:40Thank you.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43You've made my day now. Well, more than my day.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51My mother actually told me the other day that we could have lived here.
0:48:51 > 0:48:53It was offered to my father.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57So our whole lives could have been completely changed.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59So, yeah. It just makes you keep thinking,
0:48:59 > 0:49:01"Ooh! That could have been my bedroom."
0:49:02 > 0:49:05How our lives would have been different.
0:49:05 > 0:49:09It's nice to still see the little bits of family on it.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18It's beautiful. And it's such a lovely setting.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23It's getting me emotional again.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29What do you think's making you emotional, Elizabeth?
0:49:32 > 0:49:33Um...
0:49:35 > 0:49:40I think it's the memories of... seeing it in a bad state...
0:49:44 > 0:49:46..and then now seeing it's being loved.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51But you just need money to do that, don't you?
0:50:00 > 0:50:03I would like the Hunts to be seen as successful
0:50:03 > 0:50:06and that we haven't let the Hunt side down
0:50:06 > 0:50:09through the generations because, obviously,
0:50:09 > 0:50:13130 years ago we were a very successful family.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16We were aristocratic and, as society has moved on,
0:50:16 > 0:50:20the generations have changed and we are who we are today.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27Some people would see losing the house as a sign of our family
0:50:27 > 0:50:28coming down in the world.
0:50:30 > 0:50:31But I don't see it that way.
0:50:37 > 0:50:38Neither does Richard.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42He's happy in his new house a few yards from the estate.
0:50:51 > 0:50:55It's the same for Richard's daughter, Lesley.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57What a nice day for a drive. Hit the road.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01MUSIC: I Want To Break Free by Queen.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06In a strange way, selling the house has freed us up
0:51:06 > 0:51:08to be the kind of people we want to be.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13I really do enjoy driving on days like this.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16Now you can see Boreatton, old Boreatton,
0:51:16 > 0:51:18where my grandfather came from.
0:51:20 > 0:51:22Looks lovely from here, doesn't it?
0:51:24 > 0:51:26For ten years now, Lesley,
0:51:26 > 0:51:29Florence's great-great-granddaughter,
0:51:29 > 0:51:32has been working as a truck driver.
0:51:32 > 0:51:33And she's loving it!
0:51:34 > 0:51:36Yeah, lovely.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43What do you think your grandparents or your great-grandparents
0:51:43 > 0:51:45would've thought about what you do?
0:51:45 > 0:51:51I think they... Yeah, I think they'd be, perhaps, taken aback -
0:51:51 > 0:51:53but why not?
0:51:57 > 0:52:01No, I think, I think they'd be, probably, pretty proud of me.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05It doesn't bother me about status one little bit.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07I am totally down to earth.
0:52:10 > 0:52:12# I want to break free
0:52:14 > 0:52:17# I want to break free
0:52:18 > 0:52:21# I want to break free from your lies
0:52:21 > 0:52:25# You're so self-satisfied I don't need you
0:52:27 > 0:52:29# I've got to break free... #
0:52:29 > 0:52:32People in Australia they don't really worry
0:52:32 > 0:52:33where people come from,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36they're just are interested in who you are, really, basically,
0:52:36 > 0:52:39and I just felt completely at ease.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44# Oh! And I want to break free. #
0:52:48 > 0:52:50Yes. There were two liberations.
0:52:50 > 0:52:54One was coming here, I suppose, and one was coming out as a gay man.
0:52:55 > 0:53:02And so that was very difficult and many, many nights of...
0:53:02 > 0:53:05of, er... Very many sleepless nights
0:53:05 > 0:53:09but, in the end, I think it was the right thing for me to do.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11This a party I went to in the bush.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16The name of the party was, it was "Oklahomo party".
0:53:17 > 0:53:19- Oklahomo?- Oklahomo.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23So, I think I had the feel of the party in that outfit.
0:53:23 > 0:53:29I don't think, mostly, those sort of cowgirls wear furs
0:53:29 > 0:53:32but it was very cold that winter, so...
0:53:39 > 0:53:41And so this is our family.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45Florence's descendants in the modern day.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49Over the generations, we've had to work out who we are
0:53:49 > 0:53:51and where we belong.
0:53:55 > 0:53:57And the descendants of Lavinia Manley,
0:53:57 > 0:54:01the family who Florence helped,
0:54:01 > 0:54:03have been trying to answer these questions too.
0:54:05 > 0:54:07How about Florence's kids?
0:54:07 > 0:54:09What do you think happened to Florence's kids?
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Well...
0:54:11 > 0:54:14presumably they'd still be...landowners.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16You just assume they're still upper-class, don't you,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19because the money was there to keep them there,
0:54:19 > 0:54:20if it stayed there.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25I'm dying to find out, actually. I'm dying to find out.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32Hello, I'm Cheryl. From the Manley side.
0:54:36 > 0:54:37Wonderful Timothy.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42On the 25th April 2015,
0:54:42 > 0:54:46all of Florence's and all of Lavinia's descendants
0:54:46 > 0:54:47met for the first time.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52- What a surprise.- You're a...
0:54:52 > 0:54:53- No.- You're a...- The Hunt side.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56Oh, you're the Hunt side! Somebody that I don't know, then.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58No, well...
0:55:00 > 0:55:05For both our families, things have changed quite a bit in 130 years,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09but, in some ways, our families aren't too dissimilar.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11I became a truck driver.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13Oh, no!
0:55:13 > 0:55:15- So I can drive...- No!
0:55:15 > 0:55:17..the artics and I've done it for the last ten years!
0:55:17 > 0:55:22Oh, really? Well, my brothers Ronnie and Brian, they were big artic...
0:55:22 > 0:55:25They worked for Express Dairy, it was then,
0:55:25 > 0:55:27Well, that's who I started with, Express Dairies!
0:55:27 > 0:55:28No!
0:55:32 > 0:55:35It's difficult to pull myself out of the...the upper class...
0:55:37 > 0:55:40..but my friends usually come from...
0:55:40 > 0:55:45They're intelligent working class background, they come from.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49So I suppose, I just think I'm right down the middle, really.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52I like to have a little bit of a foot in either camp.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54I mean, so to speak.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03- What class would you say you are?- Middle class.
0:56:06 > 0:56:07Yeah.
0:56:07 > 0:56:13But, again, I have - not issues, but perhaps it's a naivete
0:56:13 > 0:56:17in thinking that there isn't such class system any more in the UK.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20- Oh, lovely.- Yes.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Just give us your address, we'll get copies.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24He comes in.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27- You are descended from John who's the upholsterer?- Yes.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32- Well, and, I suppose, the other John.- And the other John!
0:56:37 > 0:56:39Tell me what class you are.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43Do you know, I said in front of my cousin Peter, I was classless.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46He said, "Oh, come on, Denny - driving a BMW,"
0:56:46 > 0:56:49whatever I've got, A1 Series!
0:56:52 > 0:56:54Erm...
0:56:56 > 0:57:01If it exists, lower middle, if that exists.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06Is there such a class as normal class?
0:57:06 > 0:57:08We're just everyday, everyday class.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10I'm same as the next person.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16It suddenly made me think for the first time,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19- where would I be now had I gone to a...- State school?
0:57:19 > 0:57:21..a regular school.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24Perfect. Hands in your pockets.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27I don't really see myself as anything other than
0:57:27 > 0:57:29a drifter in-between, like,
0:57:29 > 0:57:32different worlds. or classes, or whatever you want to call it.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36For some, changing hasn't been easy.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42But when we finally met, we felt an amazing connection.
0:57:42 > 0:57:47- I wonder what situation Lavinia... - Yeah, exactly.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49What sort of situation she would have been,
0:57:49 > 0:57:52if it hadn't been for the charity.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55And our similarities came out more than our differences.
0:57:55 > 0:57:57There's no-one watching this.
0:57:57 > 0:58:00Cos, at the end of the day, you know, what makes you better than me
0:58:00 > 0:58:03just because you've got, you know, two million?
0:58:04 > 0:58:07You know, and I've only got a million and a half.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11But, yeah, no. We're all the same.
0:58:11 > 0:58:13I've got two arms, two legs
0:58:13 > 0:58:16and blood runs through my body the same as the man next door.
0:58:16 > 0:58:20This way now. OK. Straight up at the camera.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26# I want to break free
0:58:27 > 0:58:30# I want to break free
0:58:32 > 0:58:35# I want to break from your lies
0:58:35 > 0:58:39# You're so self-satisfied I don't need you
0:58:41 > 0:58:43# I've got to break free
0:58:46 > 0:58:48# God knows!
0:58:49 > 0:58:54# God knows I want to break free! #