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00:09The main woman in my life is my mum.
00:14So I think it's only right that I start this journey with her.
00:18Hello, babe. You all right, darling?
00:20Have you got no fancy on me?
00:21Oh, of course.
00:24Have you brought me along some photos?
00:26I have. Do you know who that is?
00:28Yeah.
00:31That's my mum.
00:32Nanny Lil?
00:33Nanny Lil, my dad.
00:35And that's Mickey, my brother.
00:37I've never seen a picture of your dad.
00:38Never seen a picture of your granddad.
00:40You wouldn't have sat down or ever showed me any of those photos.
00:43I think my mum tore most of them up.
00:45Nanny Lil brought me, Mickey and Eddie up.
00:48Same as me, one parent family, because my dad left when we were at school.
00:53So, I mean, she was a tough cookie.
00:55She was strict, but, you know, she had it hard.
00:59She was a good woman.
01:01So then when did your dad...
01:03He left when I was 10, 11.
01:06Uh-huh.
01:07He came over in the 50s.
01:09And he must have...
01:10You say come over?
01:10Your granddad was from Northern Ireland, from Belfast.
01:14This is the first time I feel like I'm even having a conversation with you
01:19about, I don't know, your side of the family.
01:23Nanny Lil passed away when I was super young.
01:26Yeah.
01:26So then he came over and met Nanny Lil.
01:29Her name was actually Leah.
01:32Your great-grandfather was Jewish.
01:34Oh, wow.
01:35We still celebrated the Jewish holidays, even though we wasn't actually raised as strict Jewish.
01:42They was all from Russia.
01:43Wow.
01:44Did you know about your grandparents?
01:47My mum's mum died the year after I was born.
01:51But your great-grandfather, Phil G, as he's known...
01:55Phil G?
01:56Phil G, yeah.
01:59Philip, Philip Giddleston, but everybody knew him as Phil G. He was just a character.
02:05He was what they called a runner, someone that took illegal bets.
02:09The police used to get annoyed because they could never catch him.
02:12When he lived with us in his 70s and 80s, every Saturday night, smartly self-opped, the
02:19old suit went on, tie.
02:21Shoes was polished so that you could see your face in them.
02:25And he'd go and meet his friend, a young lady by the name of Tina.
02:31And they'd go dancing every Saturday night.
02:33I feel like me and Phil G would have got right along.
02:37I have one more photo to show you, because that man at the end is Phil G.
02:43No.
02:44Yeah.
02:46He would have taught you a step or two.
02:49That's where you get your dancing from.
02:51And you're running.
02:52Sporting.
02:53He was sporty?
02:54You had to be a good runner to run.
02:59Who would give us some more information on Phil G?
03:03The best person is Gabby, my cousin.
03:06So maybe if we give her a quick call.
03:11Hello, Camille.
03:12Hello, darling.
03:13I've got Alex here that wants to ask you some questions.
03:16Yeah, that's fine.
03:17Hi, Alex.
03:18How are you?
03:19I'm good.
03:20I'm good.
03:20Long time no speak.
03:22Yeah.
03:23Mum showed me a photo of Phil G.
03:27I mean, he thought it was quite old by the time I was born.
03:30Yeah.
03:30I remember a little bit about him.
03:32In 1936, Oswald Mosley, they were fascists, were coming down to the East End to protest about all the Jews
03:41that lived in Cable Street.
03:43Phil G. ended up getting attacked.
03:46So that was quite traumatic for him.
03:49Fascinating about the whole battle.
03:51I don't know the history of that.
03:53But I mean, that's as much as I know about.
03:55So do we know Phil G.'s parents' names?
03:59Oh, yes.
03:59Yes, it was Morris and Dara.
04:02Morris and Dara.
04:03When they came over from Russia to get away, basically, that was that.
04:09OK, well, thanks, Gabby.
04:10I'll tell you a couple of stories when I know some.
04:13That would be great.
04:15All right, send in love and I'll speak to you soon.
04:17OK, then.
04:18Bye.
04:19Bye.
04:20It's like for me trying to process it all and take it in.
04:23There's a lot.
04:23There's a lot.
04:27Alex wants to investigate the story about her great-grandfather, Philip Gittleson,
04:32known as Phil G., being attacked by fascists at the Battle of Cable Street,
04:37a major event in East End history.
04:40But first she wants to find out more about her great-great-grandparents,
04:44Morris and Dara, who the family believe fled from Russia.
04:52Kind of in a little bit of shock, to be honest,
04:54that one simple conversation can open up a whole new world that I knew nothing about.
05:03Alex has come to one of the oldest synagogues in London.
05:06She's hoping that historian Alan Dean can tell her more about her Jewish heritage.
05:13Alan, I have never been in a synagogue.
05:15Really?
05:16Is that so?
05:17Never.
05:17Yeah.
05:18She's over 150 years old.
05:19It's a sort of window into the Jewish East End experience.
05:24Here, what you've got is a really valuable document issued by the best dean.
05:29Yeah, that's it.
05:30It's just like the court of law of the United Synagogues.
05:33It enabled your great-great-grandparents, Morris and Dara, to confirm their Jewish status.
05:40So they could join a synagogue, they can claim money from Jewish charities.
05:45Around the time that the document was created, there was a transcript made.
05:49Mr. Morris Gilterson of 16 Architope Hill is the wife of Dara Gilterson, which I think they've
05:57got the wrong way around, to whom she was married at...
06:00It says Zagan, but it's Zagare.
06:04It's in Lithuania.
06:05So yesterday, I learned about Russia, and now I'm learning about Lithuania.
06:13Lithuania was within Russia.
06:15And Zagare was a town that was predominantly populated by Jewish people.
06:20When your great-great-grandparents were there, they would have spoken Yiddish.
06:24They would have lived a traditional Jewish life.
06:28So I see, like, we have the map in front of us.
06:30Where did they live?
06:31Right, so if we look at the left side of the map...
06:34Yeah.
06:35...keep going, and you'll see Jagare, Zagare.
06:39Oh, yeah, I can see.
06:40At the point your great-great-grandparents were there, things were changing dramatically.
06:47When Alex's great-great-grandparents lived in Zagare in the late 1800s, it was part of the vast Russian Empire.
06:56Anti-Semitic policies forced Jews like Morris and Dora to live in certain areas, and made it difficult for them
07:02to earn a living.
07:04Violent attacks and massacres of Jews in pogroms were sweeping through the Empire.
07:09The Gittelsons were among the almost two million Jews who fled Russia between 1881 and 1914.
07:19I can't imagine that journey would have been very easy in another country.
07:24Just fleeing in the hope for better.
07:26Exactly.
07:27And hopefully a better start for your children.
07:30This is the birth certificate of your great-grandfather.
07:33So here I can see where Philip was born.
07:3717 St George Street.
07:39You wouldn't know St George Street today because the name has disappeared completely.
07:45It's actually part of the highway.
07:47I've drove down there many times.
07:49Well, this map captures a moment in time for the Jewish East London experience.
07:55The areas in blue are where the most Jews lived at the time, around Spitalfields and Whitechapel.
08:04And in the area that is red, there was very little presence of Jewish people.
08:09Where the Gittelsons family was living was St George Street.
08:15Oh, here, yeah.
08:16It's on the edge of the Jewish community.
08:19As a kid, I've spent so much time around this area.
08:23And I've just learnt history that I've been embedded in, but didn't have any idea about.
08:28Yeah, absolutely.
08:30The document we've got in front of us is the census.
08:351911.
08:37I can see some of the names here.
08:39Maurice and Dora.
08:41We've got Abraham, Philip.
08:44Is that Etty? Etty.
08:46Yeah.
08:46There were nine members of the family.
08:50And if we look further down, all those nine people were living, if you see right at the bottom.
08:56Yeah, two rooms.
08:57Two rooms.
08:58So that gives you a sense of the state of that generation of immigrant families at that time.
09:07Wow, this is fascinating.
09:09I've got another document that was produced many years after the census.
09:14This is 1939.
09:15And this is a register that was produced at the beginning of the Second World War.
09:21Gittelson, Abraham.
09:22And Abraham's the older brother of Philip.
09:26So what we have here is an institution that was based on Fry and Barnet Road, the Coneyhatch Asylum.
09:34At that point, one of the biggest asylums in the world.
09:38Asylum.
09:41Alex has discovered that her great-grandfather Philip's older brother, Abraham, her two times great-uncle, was by the 1930s
09:50living in Coneyhatch Asylum.
09:56To find out about Abraham and how he ended up here, how hard that must have been.
10:06Why did he end up in an asylum?
10:11Alex has come to what was Coneyhatch Asylum in North London, now converted into flats.
10:17She's meeting historian Vicky Long.
10:21It's good to meet you.
10:22Lovely to meet you.
10:23Vicky, I found out that Abraham was here.
10:27And then straight away I think asylum.
10:31And then you think the worst.
10:33I thought we could maybe take a look at the photo we have here.
10:36This is Abraham with his wife Annie.
10:41How smart he looks.
10:42It's a gorgeous photo.
10:44What we have behind that is another photo of Abraham when he is admitted here as a patient.
10:51Here you have someone who seems very strong, very together, and here I'm looking at the next photo, someone sad,
10:59in the eyes, I feel lost.
11:02What's the journey from seeing him like this to this?
11:06Fortunately we've got quite a good set of patient case notes.
11:09When he's admitted he's 41, and this is in 1934, he talks to imaginary people and he says his voice
11:20is telling him that his wife is not faithful to him.
11:24And he has threatened her.
11:25She is frightened of the way he looks at her.
11:29He has been depressed for some time.
11:32Wow.
11:34He has suggested causes.
11:37Unemployment, poverty and stress.
11:40Wow.
11:42When he's admitted in 1934, it's right at the peak of the interwar depression.
11:49You know, he's looking round in a world where there probably aren't many employment opportunities.
11:55He was really watched by neighbours who, wow, everyone around him is seeing these behaviours.
12:00Yes.
12:02And when the case notes talk about delusions of persecution, that might reflect some of his lived experience.
12:10It seems quite likely that he would have encountered a fair amount of anti-Semitic prejudice,
12:15because Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists are pretty active at that point in time.
12:23Politician Oswald Mosley set up the British Union of Fascists in 1932, at the height of the Depression.
12:32Inspired by Adolf Hitler, Mosley exploited widespread discontent and poverty in Britain.
12:41Mosley and his followers, called the Blackshirts, were known for their anti-Semitic marches and violence against Jewish communities.
12:50There's quite an interesting entry towards the bottom.
12:54Oh, the application made this day to the subcommittee by wife for his discharge, and it was refused.
13:02Yeah.
13:03If you look at his case notes as a whole, there are five occasions where his wife, Annie, petitions the
13:12hospital to discharge her husband.
13:15And they don't let him out?
13:16And they refuse her every time.
13:19Why if you've got someone that's willing to care for you?
13:22Yes.
13:23It's not uncommon for patients who spend a long time in a hospital for their family to lose contact with
13:31them.
13:31That's not what happens here. Annie clearly doesn't give up on him.
13:36Just got an overwhelming sense of sadness, but love was still there and she was trying.
13:41It's hard to tell, looking at these, how unwell is he? They're keeping an eye on his physical health. They
13:48don't seem to be doing that much to try and...
13:52Make him better to get him out. No. No. In fact, it's hard to actually find much by way of
13:58treatment.
13:58Having read lots of psychiatrists' memoirs, hospitals in the 1930s weren't very effective.
14:06The amount of money used to support an institution like this is quite low.
14:11One of them kind of describes it as a situation of look after patients kindly until they die or perhaps
14:17by chance recover.
14:19And I think that seems to reflect the story of Abraham.
14:24Being in a hospital like this, after a while it makes you lose your capacity to live as an independent
14:30person because...
14:32What's your mind doing? You're just like stuck.
14:34We can go through to another document.
14:40So this is his death certificate?
14:42That's his death certificate.
14:45Barnet. So this here?
14:46Yeah.
14:47And he was 69 years old.
14:49So he's admitted in 1934 and then dies still a resident of the hospital in 1963.
14:59Just the sad part about it is his wife tried to get him out.
15:04He didn't have to spend all those years here.
15:16Reading everything that he was suffering from in there saddens me.
15:21There was an instant connection resonating with me about my mental health issues and depression.
15:28It's really a mixture of the sadness, but actually that I'm so happy now that I know the story and
15:33I feel a connection to a side of my family that I never knew.
15:41While Abraham was in the asylum in the 1930s, his younger brother Phil Gee, Alex's great grandfather, was living in
15:49the heart of the East End.
15:52I've grown up in the East End of London and didn't even know about a battle of Cable Street.
15:56That's part of my history and my family.
15:59Alex has come to one of the oldest Jewish bakeries in London to investigate her family's story that Phil Gee
16:06was attacked at the Battle of Cable Street.
16:09She's meeting historian Tony Kushner.
16:11So Tony, my mum's cousin Gabby told me a story about my great granddad Philip Gee being a part of
16:19the Battle of Cable Street.
16:21Okay, well if we look at this document, which is the polling for St. George's Street from 1936.
16:31He's living at, what is that, 16? St. George's Street.
16:36This is largely a non-Jewish area, but it's also an area with a strong hostility to the newcomers.
16:44There are riots against the Jews, settling in the area at the turn of the century.
16:49I can't even begin to imagine what that feels like, living with that fear every single day.
16:54For an older generation, so for Phil Gee's parents, they may have the memories of the pogroms in Eastern Europe.
17:02My family had fled Lithuania because of that fear to come to a place where they felt they were safe
17:08again and could have that kind of freedom.
17:11But now they're experiencing it all over again.
17:14Absolutely. So there's an atmosphere of fear.
17:17But alongside that, there's also communal solidarity.
17:21So on the 4th of October 1936, Sir Oswald Mosley, a British aristocrat who is the leader of the British
17:29Union of Fascists,
17:31is taking his own private army and threatening to march through the Jewish sections of the East End.
17:38This is a report from the Jewish Chronicle.
17:43The people said no.
17:46On Sunday, fascism received the greatest blow that it has yet had in this country,
17:51from what the British Union of Fascists have been sowing the seeds of anti-Semitic hate in East London.
17:58Oh, wow.
17:59Because there were road works going on in the main way through to the East End,
18:04there were certain routes that couldn't happen.
18:05The procession would have to go along Cable Street.
18:10The only alternative would be St. George's Street.
18:15So right in the heart where my family are.
18:18Yeah.
18:19So this is a newsreel of that day.
18:245,000 fascists rally to their mobilisation for the march through the East End.
18:29And Sir Oswald Mosley, Daksha leader, arrived to inspect his followers.
18:34Communists, labourites and Jews jammed the fascist route,
18:37resisting the peaceful efforts of the outnumbered police to clear the way.
18:41Batons are drawn and heads broken,
18:42as the anti-fascist demonstrators resist efforts to disperse them.
18:46To avert serious bloodshed, the march was in ban.
18:49Altogether, 84 rioters are taken into country,
18:52while the police firmly prevent the matter from taking an uglier turn.
18:5518 injured are taken to hospital.
18:58Hundred score received first aid on the spot.
19:01That makes it all, like, real, really, when you see those images.
19:06And the amount of bloodshed and the fighting.
19:08And it could have been literally...
19:10On their doorstep.
19:11On their doorstep, yeah.
19:12So with Gabby telling me about Phil G, my great grandad, being in this battle,
19:17that story is likely very true.
19:20Almost everyone in the East End would have been there.
19:22And I think his role in the community, he's working as a sort of bookies runner.
19:27He will know everybody.
19:29So he's going to be probably an important person in communicating this,
19:34to be there, to stop it happening.
19:36So I'd be almost certain that he was there.
19:39And there's a report in the Daily Herald on the 5th of October.
19:43Cable Street Stepney, a crowd of men dragged a lorry from a builder's yard and started to build a barricade.
19:51When the police tried to stop the men, they were greeted by a hail of stones.
19:56The police made a baton charge and cleared the road.
19:59This is why it is called the Battle of Cable Street.
20:03And the battle is not with the fascists, but with the police who are trying to pave the way through.
20:08I feel that sense of victory.
20:10They didn't get through.
20:12So we shouldn't generalise, but there's quite a bit of antisemitism reported,
20:17of police attacking Jews and arresting them for very little reason.
20:22Your great grandfather, whilst it's possible that he may have been attacked by fascists,
20:26it's more likely that he would have been hit by the police.
20:30Police-minority relations have tensions way before today.
20:35It does give me this sense of actually pride to know that my family went through that.
20:43This was a very, very proud moment in British history as well as East End history.
20:49And so the struggle continues against fascism, against racism,
20:53but this is an indication of what people together could achieve.
20:57I think that's why I've always been so proud to be from the East End,
21:01and I never hide that because I've loved growing up in such a diverse community.
21:06Britain is a migrant nation. It often doesn't accept it.
21:11But when you go to the East End, you can't but acknowledge that.
21:21I had this whole family that were part of this bigger thing fighting for better,
21:26so that someone like me can walk around the East End of London with freedom,
21:31not looking over my shoulder and having the stress that they went through.
21:36It made me think back to going down to the protests for Black Lives Matter.
21:42I didn't want to look back in history and be like,
21:45you know what, I could have used my voice to help fight for the next generation coming through.
21:51Just down the road from the bakery, in Shadwell,
21:54is a commemoration of the Battle of Cable Street.
22:00The amount of times that I've walked past this,
22:03even as a young girl going to school, didn't understand anything about it,
22:07didn't care to even look, to be honest.
22:13So to be here and understand my mum's family were a part of that,
22:18is something special.
22:26But now it's like that I just walk a stone's throw away
22:30and find out more about one of my favourite people, my nan.
22:40She knew I loved Jamaican food.
22:43She'd always ring me up and say,
22:45I've just cooked for you, come down and get it, Aliopsy.
22:50This is the first time I've actually been down here since she passed away.
22:55She'd be happy that I get to go and find out more about her life and her family.
23:06I think I have all the places to start.
23:09It has to be with my cousin Marie.
23:11I know in the past that she's actually tried to find out as much information as she could.
23:21Marie, out of all the people, Nan was that one person that brought us all together.
23:27That's right.
23:28In that little house.
23:29Exactly.
23:29So many called Nan Mrs M.
23:32Yeah.
23:33Like, where did that name come from?
23:34I don't even know that.
23:35I think Mrs Mum, because she looked after so many children,
23:39that she was known as Mummy.
23:43And this was Nan and Grandad just pictured together.
23:47It's so nice to see them both because I don't think I remembered them like this.
23:52Oh, OK.
23:53And this was another one when they entered the UK.
23:57Around about the 50s.
23:59This was taken at Shadwell Park.
24:01Do you remember Shadwell Park?
24:02On the steps.
24:03Wow.
24:06Like, what were they thinking?
24:08What's the journey like ahead?
24:10Yeah.
24:10Yeah.
24:11This, like, warms my heart seeing this.
24:13It is so nice to see these, to bring back, because obviously I was then super young
24:19and I just remember always going to speak to Popsy,
24:21but he was mainly in his bed.
24:23Why?
24:24Because there was, like, that stage of his life.
24:26He was really ill.
24:26Yeah.
24:27Nan took such good care of him for years.
24:31The other one was of Grandad when he first came over here.
24:35It's completely different.
24:37Wow.
24:39The other thing I found was their marriage certificate.
24:44And they married the 27th day of January in 1946.
24:51And then the place of where they were married, where was that?
24:54They were married at Port Antonio in the parish of Portland.
24:59Mm-hmm.
24:59Is that in Jamaica?
25:00It is, yeah.
25:02And their father's name's on here as well?
25:04Yeah.
25:04Edward Scott in Cleveland.
25:08Edward Scott in Cleveland.
25:08It was Nan's dad, yeah.
25:11And she was a domestic witcher, a maid.
25:14And Grandad was a labourer.
25:17This is Grandad's birth certificate.
25:21John Scott was born in Boundbrook, another area in Portland.
25:24You'll find his father's name again.
25:27Oh, yeah, Edward Scott.
25:29He was a sailor.
25:32That's interesting.
25:35Alex has pushed back a further generation.
25:38She's discovered that her Nan Felicita's father was called Cleveland Guest
25:42and that her Grandad John's father was called Edward Scott,
25:46a sailor who was born in Port Antonio.
25:50So maybe going to Boundbrook, Port Antonio, you'll find out his history.
25:56Yeah.
25:57Off to Jamaica!
26:04Alex is visiting Jamaica for the first time.
26:08She's headed to Port Antonio on the northeast of the island.
26:15I've been to a lot of the other Caribbean islands,
26:17but there was something always in me that stopped me coming to Jamaica.
26:23I always knew that I had a strong family connection here.
26:28And already it's how I envisioned it,
26:31just the green, the life, the vibe of the island.
26:36I'm so glad that I waited for this moment.
26:41Alex has come to Boundbrook Wharf in Port Antonio.
26:46To learn more about her great-grandfather Edward,
26:48she's meeting historian Dayla Bean.
26:51Hello. Hello.
26:53I'm so excited to finally be here.
26:55It's great to have you here.
26:56We're here at Boundbrook Wharf.
26:59Now this wharf was built in the 1970s to help with the shipping of bananas
27:04and other produce to the United States and the rest of the world.
27:08But even before the wharf was built, there was a port here.
27:12So if you will look at the first document, which is the manifest.
27:18So this is a list of passengers to the United States.
27:23So 1905.
27:25Right.
27:26Arriving at Port of Boston.
27:28Yes.
27:28So this is the SS Admiral Dewey.
27:33I'm seeing my great granddad, Edward Scott.
27:36Right.
27:37And then married or single.
27:39And it says single there, no?
27:41Yes. He was 22 at the time.
27:43Okay.
27:44Just a young man on an adventure.
27:47Setting off to see the world.
27:48Yes.
27:50Calling or occupation.
27:52What does that say?
27:53Do.
27:54Do. So that means ditto.
27:56Oh, okay. Servant.
27:57Right.
27:58So you know him as a sailor?
28:00Yeah.
28:01Yes.
28:01So this manifest, which is 1905, has him as a servant.
28:08Servants to of the...
28:10I can't read that.
28:11Right. That's J. H. Baker.
28:15Okay.
28:15So that's Joshua Hamlin Baker.
28:18Ah, so he's a servant of him.
28:20Yes.
28:20Okay.
28:21And the Bakers were very important to Portland.
28:25They were from the United States.
28:27It was actually quite a big deal for your great grandfather to be a servant to Joshua.
28:32Joshua was the son of Lorenzo Baker, who, he didn't start the banana production in Jamaica,
28:38but he definitely was important to it becoming a cash crop.
28:43Ah.
28:43And transporting bananas from Jamaica to the United States.
28:48Wow.
28:48And Lorenzo is the king of bananas.
28:51The kingpin.
28:52The kingpin of bananas at this time.
29:00Dayla is taking Alex to visit one of the largest remaining banana farms on the island.
29:08At the start of the 20th century, when Alex's great grandfather, Edward Scott, worked for the Baker family, bananas were
29:16the most valuable crop on the island.
29:22As Joshua Baker's servant, Edward would have found himself at the center of this profitable industry.
29:36My great granddad was a servant, Edward. So then what sort of things would he be doing?
29:41He's never really noted as a laborer, so it's unlikely that he would have been packing or cutting the banana
29:50himself.
29:51Okay.
29:51He traveled from Jamaica to Boston on the ship.
29:55And not many working class black Jamaicans at that time got a chance to sail somewhere else.
30:03When I read the document and you see servant, straight away my mindset goes to, oh, that's negative.
30:09Obviously for black Jamaicans, there were not a lot of opportunities then for social upward mobility.
30:15But being a servant to someone as wealthy and as powerful as the Baker family actually was quite positive for
30:24your great grandfather.
30:25So then how does he go from being a servant then to a sailor?
30:28Well, that's what we're going to find out.
30:37If you take a look at the photograph that you have, you will see what a typical banana wharf would
30:45look like.
30:46The clothing being worn by the men in this photograph sort of signal perhaps how your great grandfather would have
30:53looked.
30:53Really?
30:54Yes, because he was a servant for Joshua and therefore he wouldn't have necessarily had on the typical working class
31:01type of outfits.
31:04Looking all very smart.
31:05Yes.
31:06So we have for you a list of times that your great grandfather, Edward, shows up in records and you
31:14can see he's turning up in lots of documents.
31:18Yes.
31:19With a lot of different occupations.
31:21With a lot of different occupations, yes.
31:231905, servant, but then a certificate of marriage.
31:261909, he then says he's an engineer.
31:29And then I can see in 1911, the birth certificate of John Scott, my granddad.
31:34He lists his occupation as a sailor.
31:36So he was a jack of all trades.
31:38He was a jack of all trades.
31:40But I think more than that, it's that he was really ambitious.
31:44Even as a servant, he would have been exposed to a very wealthy lifestyle through the bakers.
31:49When he has some control over what he can put on a document, he will choose what aspect of his
31:55skill to highlight at that point.
31:57I like it.
31:59It does make me smile because there's so many times people have been like, well, what are you, a pundit,
32:04a presenter, a footballer?
32:06And actually I'm like, well, yeah, I'm all of those. I'm also ambitious.
32:11So when I see this and I'm just like, yeah, there's nothing wrong with that.
32:15There's nothing wrong and it's in your blood.
32:17It's in my blood.
32:20So on here, we've got to 1915 and he's listed as an engineer, but then it's stopped.
32:27So then what happens next?
32:29Edward travels to the United States and stays there for a little while.
32:33And then he returns to Jamaica eventually with his wife.
32:38And so it seems like after 1915, the ties are broken with the Baker family.
32:46So this is the death certificate of Edward.
32:49It says Parish of Portland. So he died here.
32:52Yes.
32:52And he passed away at 68 years old.
32:56He would have passed in the heart of where he grew up.
32:59These are your roots here in Portland.
33:02My roots.
33:08I do have the sense of pride when I hear about Edward's character.
33:13He was so ambitious. He wanted to travel. He wanted to better himself.
33:19There's an instant connection with Edward's story, which I love.
33:30Because of my relationship with my Nan, I'm ready to find out more about her family line and I think
33:37it will make our connection stronger once again.
33:39My cousin, Marie, gave me the birth certificate of my Nan, Felicita.
33:46It tells me who my great-grandma was, Isadora Wright.
33:52My great-grandad was named Cleveland Guest.
33:55I've been told that I do have distant relatives over here.
33:59Alex wants to find out more about her Nan's parents, her great-grandparents, Cleveland Guest and Isadora Wright.
34:12She's going to meet Lynette Reynolds, a distant cousin, to see what she knows.
34:28Hi, Lynette. Hi, Alex. How are you?
34:30Oh, my gosh, it's so lovely to meet you.
34:33I am so delighted.
34:34I mean, any other time we'd be, like, hugging, yeah?
34:37I know.
34:37But I'm looking forward to our conversation.
34:40It's family.
34:41Yes, family.
34:41We're connected.
34:43I have been collecting documents along the way.
34:46Okay.
34:46And I think the first one that I do want to talk about is my Nan Felicita's birth certificate.
34:51It was signed by Isadora Wright, which I now know was my Nan's mum.
34:56So, my great-grandma and my great-grandad as well, Cleveland Guest.
35:02And on here, it says that she was born in Swift River, Portland.
35:06Right.
35:07So that's around this area.
35:08That's not far from here.
35:10Okay.
35:10They left Swift River at an early age and went to Port Antonio.
35:17There was a terrible flood.
35:19So, my Nan Felicita, she would have been a part of this flood and having to then move.
35:25Yes.
35:26The flood washed out everybody and everything, and a lot of people lost their lives.
35:30Uh-huh.
35:31They removed them from Swift River and took them to Lacan.
35:34A new life in Port Antonio.
35:36A new life in Port Antonio.
35:39What do you remember of Isadora in Cleveland?
35:44Well...
35:44For me, they were mother and father, but Cleveland was really my mum's uncle.
35:51Okay.
35:52This is a picture of her.
35:56So, this is Isadora?
35:57This is Isadora.
35:58With my great-grandma.
36:00Yes.
36:02They were very nice people.
36:04Quiet, humble.
36:06When I got to about six, seven, Cleveland came to live with us.
36:13And he was one of the most peaceful and quiet soul we can remember.
36:19Cleveland was a very hard worker.
36:21All our chores, we could ask him to help us with.
36:24Mm-hmm.
36:25He worked the farm.
36:26He did agricultural produce.
36:31Cleveland always remembers his mother.
36:34He used to say, my mother, Hernietta.
36:37We're talking about my great-granddad's mum.
36:41Okay.
36:41Right.
36:42She was Hernietta Coombs.
36:45And this is a record of her baptismal.
36:49The first one on there.
36:51I would say, Henrietta Coombs.
36:52But you're saying...
36:53Hernietta.
36:55Hernietta Coombs.
36:56And what did she do?
36:58I am not too sure.
36:59I've never met her.
37:00But I know she was from St. Anne.
37:02Now I'm going great, great grandmother.
37:06Which leads me to wanting to find out more.
37:10And I wish you all the best.
37:13On your journey.
37:14And I hope I will hear the final end.
37:17You will, because I'll be coming back.
37:18Now Jamaica's like a home to me.
37:20I'm coming back.
37:21All right.
37:26So Lynette gave me my great-great-grandmother's baptism certificate.
37:35Hernietta Coombs, born July 25th, 1875.
37:43Name of father, Samuel Coombs, labourer.
37:48Name of mother, Mary Bailey.
37:52And then the next one says, born something that I can't read.
37:56Sambo?
37:59I don't know what Sambo is.
38:04Happy Retreat is where they lived.
38:10So I suppose that's where we need to go to see Happy Retreat.
38:19Alex is heading to the area her two times great-grandmother, Hernietta Coombs, came from.
38:27Hey.
38:29Hi.
38:30She's meeting historian Shanee Roper at a house on Happy Retreat Estate.
38:36Thank you for meeting with me.
38:38It's my pleasure.
38:39I learned from Lynette the name of my great-great-grandma, Hernietta Coombs.
38:45What I have here is the family tree that documents Hernietta's partners.
38:50Okay.
38:51Two spouses, one partner.
38:52Her first child is 1892, so that would put her about 16, 17.
38:58Okay.
38:58For her first child.
38:59I can go straight and see where Cleveland is, my great-granddad.
39:05So Cleveland is her fifth child.
39:07Okay.
39:07Hernietta had 17 children in total.
39:10Yes.
39:11So I'm just trying to get a picture of what her life was like as well as there in all
39:15these children.
39:16Yeah.
39:16The records for Hernietta said that she's a domestic for the first three children.
39:21And then thereafter, she's noted as a labourer.
39:24Okay.
39:25So if we go to the next one.
39:27Death certificate.
39:28Oh, Philip Green.
39:29Yeah.
39:29Ah.
39:30Okay.
39:31Her husband died.
39:32In March 1905.
39:35And the certified cause of death is…
39:37Dropsy?
39:38Yeah.
39:38What's that?
39:39It's an old term for edema, which is when you have swelling, water retention, usually
39:45in your feet and your hands.
39:46But edema is really a symptom of an underlying condition.
39:51The nutrition of the average labourer is actually quite poor.
39:56They're also not eating enough food for them to be healthy.
39:59Very little vegetables.
40:01You might get callaloo, right, which is like the cousin to spinach.
40:05Or Achaean sawfish.
40:08And so Philip Green.
40:09Hernietta's husband died at the age of 25.
40:12Really young.
40:14Hernietta is left with five, six, seven, eight.
40:18Nine kids.
40:19She's left with nine children to raise on her own.
40:24Unfortunately, this is another death record.
40:26What's that name?
40:27Mary?
40:28Mm-hmm.
40:29Is that Mary Bailey?
40:30Yeah.
40:30Mary Bailey is Hernietta's mother.
40:33Okay.
40:34Oh, that's Dropsy again.
40:35Yeah, that's Dropsy again.
40:36And this year of death is 1905.
40:42You've buried your husband and then your mum passes away.
40:47Yeah.
40:47As well as trying to look after kids as well.
40:51Yeah.
40:52But I can't even begin to imagine.
40:55No.
40:55Absolutely.
40:56Absolutely.
40:58So, let's take a look at the next record.
41:01This is the death certificate of Alice Green.
41:04Mm-hmm.
41:05One of Hernietta's children.
41:06This is 1912.
41:08She was just two.
41:11Wow.
41:12Two years old.
41:13The next certificate that we have is another death record.
41:18Liangry.
41:18It's Alice Smudged.
41:19Mm-hmm.
41:20She died 1912.
41:21Again?
41:22Yeah, in March.
41:23Wow.
41:24Just a month apart?
41:25Just a month apart.
41:27Right?
41:27And how old do you see if she is here?
41:29Four.
41:30Yeah.
41:31Right?
41:32And cars.
41:32Same.
41:33Dropsy.
41:35So, you've buried Alice, Leanne, your husband and your mum.
41:41To go through everything shows how hard.
41:44Yeah.
41:45Life.
41:46Yeah.
41:46I just think that the underlying stress.
41:48Yeah.
41:49And struggle really would have just kind of shaped her life in ways that we really can't
41:55imagine.
41:55Yeah.
41:56And it's just unfortunate that we have to guess.
41:58Yeah.
41:58Yeah.
41:59You know, because there's no diary, there's no written word.
42:03What we do know is that she died at the age of 67 from cancer in 1942.
42:12Ah.
42:12Okay.
42:14Yesterday, Lynette gave me a baptism certificate.
42:19I think the thing that really stood out is what is Sambo.
42:23It's the gradations of blackness.
42:26Ah.
42:26So, it's a derogatory term.
42:28Sambo is referring to her having a white grandparent.
42:34Unless they know for sure that there is a white ancestor, it's really just going based
42:39on how the person looks.
42:40Right.
42:41It sets the tone for colorism and racism.
42:45The less blackness that you have in you, the more preferable your complexion to the
42:50community.
42:51Ah.
42:52And on here, Samuel Coombs.
42:54Right.
42:55So, that would make him, um, Ernietta's father.
42:59For Ahel.
43:00Right.
43:00And that's my great-great-great-great-grandfather.
43:04Wow.
43:12Alex has pushed back another generation on her Nan Felicita's line.
43:18Hoping to discover more, she's meeting historian Suzanne Frances Brown in the area where the
43:24Coombs family lived.
43:25I am interested to find out about my great-great-great-granddad Samuel Coombs.
43:31Okay.
43:31So, the document that we have here is going to take you a little bit further on that journey.
43:39The record of baptism solemnized in the parish of St. Anne in the year 1832.
43:47Right.
43:48Read across.
43:49Ah, there's Samuel Coombs.
43:50What does that say?
43:52So, he is of colour as opposed to being white or black.
43:56The distinction of colour was quite important in terms of social status in Jamaica of the
44:0418th and 19th centuries.
44:07At this time, skin colour affected wealth and social position.
44:12After centuries of enslavement by white Europeans, there was a substantial mixed-race population
44:19in Jamaica.
44:20Being of mixed heritage, Alex's three times great-grandfather Samuel would have experienced discrimination.
44:29But he could also have benefited from a few privileges, such as an education or the right to own
44:35property that came with having white ancestry in a society shaped by racism.
44:42You're seeing the names of his parents, your four times great-grandparents, Robert Francis
44:48Coombs and Francis Tracy.
44:51Robert Francis Coombs was a free man and likely also of colour.
45:01Francis Tracy seems to be most likely a black woman.
45:06She doesn't seem to have been enslaved.
45:08There's a likelihood that at some point in her ancestral line, there is slavery.
45:15Yeah.
45:17Samuel Coombs was a child at the time slavery was abolished in 1834.
45:22But his parents, Alex's four times great-grandparents, Robert Francis Coombs and Francis Tracy,
45:30lived much of their lives during the time of slavery.
45:33Although there is no record of them being enslaved.
45:37During the period of 1817 up until 1832, all property owners have to submit a return of the persons who
45:50are enslaved to them.
45:52Okay.
45:53So we're going to take a look at one of the slave returns.
45:55So if you can read from where it says a return of slaves.
46:01Return of slaves.
46:02In the parish of St. Anne, in the possession of Robert Francis Coombs, as on the 28th day of, is
46:13that June?
46:14June.
46:151826.
46:16Right.
46:17So this Robert Francis Coombs, your four times great-grandfather, is in ownership of a number of persons.
46:26Right.
46:27This is sinking in.
46:28Okay.
46:29Yeah?
46:29Yeah.
46:30Mm-hmm.
46:31He was not enslaved.
46:32He was a property-owning person.
46:35We have Monday, Providence, Samson, and then the women, we have...
46:45Elizabeth.
46:45Elizabeth, Fidelia, Eleanor, and then...
46:50Diana.
46:51Diana.
46:52Eleanor has this little girl, Diana.
46:54So they're now in my family line, and it doesn't even sound like coming out of my mouth, but Robert
47:00Francis Coombs owned people.
47:03Yeah.
47:04Essentially that is exactly what it is.
47:08Coming into this whole journey, I was open-minded.
47:14But I suppose I didn't think that I'd find that.
47:19Yeah.
47:20It's a challenge.
47:21It is really a challenge.
47:22In terms of, like, explaining my emotion behind it.
47:26I suppose because that goes against everything that I stand for, who I am, you know?
47:32Absolutely.
47:33It's a lot.
47:34It's a lot, the process.
47:36Yeah.
47:38It wasn't unusual for free people of colour, like Alex's four times great-grandfather, Robert Francis Coombs, to own enslaved
47:47people in the 1820s.
47:49But by the early 1830s, the abolition of slavery was about to become law.
47:55The British government began preparing to compensate slave owners.
47:59So what you're looking at is a compensation claim.
48:07The claim of Robert Francis Coombs in the compensation of 26 slaves.
48:13So he owned 26 slaves?
48:15Yes.
48:16Yes.
48:17Essentially, the government is forcing the slaveholders to give them their freedom, and therefore the slaveholders are being compensated by
48:28the British to the tune of £20 million.
48:31You're freeing people, but you're actually giving the owners money, like, so it's not like, oh, you did wrong.
48:39There's no reparation for the persons who have been enslaved for life for all this time.
48:47And it's almost like you've got your freedom, there you go.
48:49That's right, but try starting out with nothing.
48:52Yeah.
48:54Among the 26 enslaved people that Robert Francis Coombs was claiming compensation for were children recently born into his possession.
49:04Is that Edward?
49:05It was two and a half years?
49:06Right.
49:08And it's very difficult to see his mother's name, Eleanor Francis Henry.
49:13Right.
49:14You remember, Eleanor is Diana's mother on the slave return for 1826.
49:20Mm-hm.
49:21Okay, so, Alex, we have two copies of the same document.
49:25One is in the script of the day.
49:27Mm-hm.
49:27This is the last will and testament of me, Robert Francis Coombs, 12th of November, 1851.
49:33Right.
49:34Robert Francis Coombs died almost 20 years after slavery was abolished.
49:39So, let's move over to the transcript.
49:41Okay.
49:42Because it will be a lot easier to read.
49:44I make liable all of my estate, both real and personal, I give and bequeath...
49:50Bequeath.
49:51Unto Francis Tracy, my present housekeeper.
49:54Now, you'll remember, Francis Tracy is your four times great-grandmother.
50:00The mother of Samuel Coombs.
50:03Yeah.
50:04What is that, one clear?
50:05One clear annuity.
50:07So, a yearly payment.
50:08Of some of 15 pounds sterling money, Francis Tracy shall be permitted to reside in my dwelling house on Mount
50:15Pleasant.
50:16So, Francis Tracy lives with him in his house at Mount Pleasant, your four times great-grandmother.
50:23And she has some money to her name.
50:26So, now we're going to go on to the second person for whom he makes provision.
50:33So, I also give and bequeath.
50:35And to Elena Francis Henry, the yearly sum of 15 pounds sterling money.
50:40We've come across Elena Francis Henry before on the slave return.
50:43Yeah.
50:44Okay?
50:45Mm-hmm.
50:46So, let's go on.
50:48Oh, here?
50:48Yeah.
50:49I give device and bequeath the same and every part and parcel thereof unto my reputed children.
50:55They said Samuel Coombs, Diana Elizabeth Coombs.
51:00Yes.
51:01So, Robert had a baby, Diana, with Eleanor when she was enslaved?
51:07Yes, the enslaved.
51:08But there are no inheritors under his will.
51:13Wow.
51:16Robert Francis Coombs's will has revealed that as well as leaving property and money to Alex's
51:21four times great-grandmother, Francis Tracy, and their son, Alex's three times great-grandfather,
51:28Samuel, Robert also made provision for Eleanor, a woman who had been enslaved to him, and the
51:35children that they had together.
51:41He's making sure that the two women will be accommodated in what for him is a degree of
51:49comfort.
51:50His desires are very, very clear and it is legally formed.
51:56They are being looked after and him leaving provisions.
52:00The system does not require him to do what he is doing.
52:06So, he's a complex individual.
52:12Alex's three times great-grandfather, Samuel Coombs, is said to be buried nearby.
52:19I'm going to make a way for you, OK?
52:21OK.
52:23Local resident Donald Robinson is helping her find the grave.
52:30This one here.
52:33I'm a long generation, maybe about a tenth or some more generation.
52:37Of Coombs?
52:38Yeah.
52:38Who you are?
52:39Yeah.
52:40Wow.
52:40Are there many Coombs around in the area?
52:42Everybody here, this entire community, related to the Coombs.
52:46Really?
52:46As far as I can see, it was Coombs land.
52:53It's great to find somebody as young as you want to know their roots, where they're from.
52:57Well, it makes up who I am today, right?
52:59Exactly.
52:59Because you have a saying, if you don't know where you're coming from, you will never know
53:03where you're going.
53:05You know what I mean?
53:06That's nice.
53:07I like that.
53:08Yeah, man.
53:09I guess we are cousins then.
53:11Yeah.
53:12See?
53:12I'm pleased to meet you then.
53:14You too.
53:14Yeah, man.
53:15Enough respect.
53:17If it wasn't COVID, you know, I'll give you a ding.
53:20Is it?
53:20Yeah.
53:20Yeah, but since it's COVID, you just have to keep it there.
53:23Yeah, man.
53:24Respect.
53:25Yeah, man.
53:30At the start of this journey, I thought we'd touch on slavery.
53:34But I didn't think that my family owned property in terms of owning people.
53:39It was hard to take.
53:42I don't think the stories are told a lot about black people owning slaves.
53:48That ownership of a human life is so wrong.
54:00I can picture sitting in my nan's room, telling her of the journey that I've had here.
54:07My connection with my nan was so strong.
54:12Knowing what her family went through.
54:16Because people hide their past.
54:19Because maybe they see it as something that people will frown upon if they tell true stories.
54:27But actually, I will never be ashamed of my history.
54:34Because it's made me the person I am today.