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Series 23: Amy Dowden

Strictly professional dancer Amy Dowden has some family mysteries to solve. Amy knows that her dad’s father, Frank Dowden, was adopted but knows nothing about the family beyond that. She would love to get some answers for her dad.\n\nOn her mum’s side, there’s a rumour of a murder, but Amy doesn’t have any details – was her ancestor the victim or the perpetrator? Amy starts in west Wales to investigate the murder rumour. She meets her distant cousin Wyn at his home in Ceredigion, where he shows Amy her three-times great-grandfather’s family Bible. Amy sees the name Elinor Jenkins and reads that she was shot dead by the 'cruel man Offley Owen' in November 1888, aged 14. Amy is shocked – who was Elinor? Wyn explains that she was the sister of her great-great-grandmother – Amy’s three-times great aunt – and that she was killed at the nearby Berthlwyd Farm, where she worked as a servant.\n\nAt the farm, Amy meets historian Dr Angela Muir. They piece together what happened to Elinor through newspaper reports. Elinor was working at the farm with a 17-year-old lad called Offley Owen. A newspaper article reports that Offley showed Elinor his gun, and not realising it was loaded, he shot her. Angela explains that in all cases of suspicious death, an inquest is called. A verdict of manslaughter was recorded, so Offley would be tried in the assizes courts in Carmarthen.\n\nIn Carmarthen, Amy meets historian Dr Eryn White. She explains that Offley pleaded not guilty and that the prosecution announced they would call no witnesses. Amy is shocked to learn he was discharged. Eryn explains that often in cases like this the court took into account the character and reputation of the perpetrator. Offley was a young man who had never been in trouble with the law. There was also a long-standing tradition in Wales of pursuing mediation and sorting out cases within the community.\n\nAmy goes to a church in Blaenpennal, where her three-times great-aunt Elinor was laid to rest, to see if she can find out if there was any closure for the family. Genealogist Eilir Ann Daniels shows Amy an account of Elinor’s funeral. She was remembered ‘as a young person of more than ordinary ability’. Amy is delighted to learn that a valley near the farm where she lost her life is now known as Cwm Nell, or Elinor’s Valley. \n\nAmy moves on to her dad’s side of the family. She knows her grandad Frank was adopted as a baby after his mother died, but Amy wonders what the circumstances were and why he was the only one of six children to be given up for adoption. To begin her search, Amy meets historian Dr Laura Rowe, who shows her Frank’s parents Louisa and Bill’s marriage certificate. She’s surprised to discover they married in Bristol in 1907 and even more surprised that it reveals her great-grandmother Louisa was English and not Welsh as she thought. Laura then shows her Bill’s naval service record from World War I. She discovers his dangerous work aboard a minesweeper and is delighted to read an account of a dramatic rescue at sea he was involved with, which earned him mention in letter of commendation from the Admiralty.\n\nAfter the war, Bill returned to New Tredegar and his work in the mines there. Here, Amy meets mining historian Dr Ben Curtis. Ben tells her that Bill returned to mining at a very precarious moment. In an attempt to maximise profits, mine owners pushed wages down, and when the unions refused to accept the new terms, workers were locked out of the mines. For families like Amy’s great-grandfather’s, the impact was devastating. He would have struggled to feed his family of six children. Eventually, after two months of being locked out, the miners ended up accepting terms and went back to work.\n\nAmy knows that her great-grandmother Louisa also died around that time and worries what a desperate time it was for the family. She now wants to see if she can find out how Louisa died. Amy searches for Louisa’s death certificate and is shocked when she reads that her great-grandmother died of breast cancer in 1921. Amy herself had breast cancer, as did her mum, but she’s now discovered that breast cancer is also on her father’s side. Medical historian Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster tells Amy that at the time there would have been no hope of a cure for Louisa. Amy speculates that perhaps Bill and Louisa made the decision together to give up Frank, their baby son, for adoption. A census return just a few weeks after Louisa’s death shows that the children were scattered, with the oldest girls living alone in the family home and Bill in Cardiff possibly looking for work. Agnes shows Amy photographs of Louisa and the children.\n\nAt the church where her great-grandparents are buried, Amy pays her respects. She reflects on how ancestors on both sides of her family have had to face enormous difficulties but have shown strength and resilience moving forward – something Amy feels she’s had to dig deep for in her own.

Source: BBC 1