Catch up TV

Series 23: Ruth Madeley

During the research for writer and actor Ruth Madeley’s episode, the genealogy team uncovered a family secret – that Ruth’s grandma Beatrice was adopted. Ruth’s dad had never known. Ruth and her family are intrigued and would love to find out more. \n\nTo start her search, Ruth meets genetic genealogist Rachel King. Rachel explains they couldn’t find a birth record for Ruth’s grandma, Beatrice Burrows (née Drinkwater), and so they asked Ruth’s dad and aunt to do a DNA test. They discovered that there was no genetic connection between them and the Burrows’ family line. The database did reveal matches with Beatrice's – and Ruth’s – biological ancestors, further back in her family tree, in particular a couple called Lucy Wilson and Charles Frost. Using painstaking detective work, the team estimated they would have been Ruth’s three-times great-grandparents. The challenge for Ruth is to fill in the generations between them and Beatrice. \n\nThe Frosts lived in Hackney and had six children. Ruth knows that her grandma Beatrice grew up in Manchester, so she wants to see if there is a link between any of these children and Manchester. After ruling out five of the six children, Ruth discovers that Lucy Frost married Henry Osborne and some of this family did come north. But they started their life together in Peckham, south London, so this is where Ruth heads next. \n\nIn London, Dr Vicky Holmes has some more information about Ruth’s newly discovered relatives. Newspaper reports reveal that there was trouble in the family. Lucy and Henry were in court, with Henry accusing Lucy of drunkenness and assault. At this point, Lucy and Henry had ten children. But Lucy isn’t the only one accused of a crime. Another article reports that Henry was prosecuted for having embezzled money from his employers, the Royal London Friendly Society, and absconded to Manchester. \n\nTo try to unpick what happened, Ruth meets financial historian Dr James Kneale. James explains that Henry embezzled the equivalent in today's money of about £15,000 from his employer, and he received the maximum sentence. Ruth is shocked that her connection to Manchester might have started because of crime and embezzlement. She wants to know what happened to Lucy and the children. She finds them listed in workhouse records. But further information reveals that eight of the children ended up living with Henry in Manchester, where he had found work again as an insurance agent. It’s time for Ruth to return north. \n\nIt’s likely that one of the eight Osborne children who came to Manchester might be Ruth’s biological great-grandparent. With the help of historian Dr Kate Gibson, Ruth whittles them down. They know Ruth’s grandma Beatrice was born in 1914 and so try to piece together what each of the Osborne children was doing at this time. There would be no paper trail if the boys had illegitimate children, so they hope it might be one of girls. None of them were married at that time, so if one of them were Beatrice’s mother she would have their surname – Osborne. A new search for Beatrice’s birth record under the name Osborne comes up with a result. Finally, Ruth’s biological great-grandmother’s name is revealed: Adelaide Osborne. Ruth discovers that Adelaide had Beatrice in a workhouse hospital. \n\nRuth is desperate to share this news with her dad, but when she calls him, there’s another shock: he knew Adelaide. He remembers her as a friend of his Grandma Burrows, Ruth’s adoptive great-grandmother. Adelaide was around all the time, and when she died, his mum Beatrice buried her. \n\nRuth now wants to know how these two women knew each other and how the adoption came about. She meets Prof Julie-Marie Strange to see if she can shed any light on this. Julie tells Ruth that her great-granny Burrows had a similar upbringing to Adelaide and that her family spent time in and out of workhouses. Ruth and Julie speculate on whether this shared experience motivated Granny Burrows to adopt Beatrice. \n\nRuth has one more record to look at: Adelaide’s will. She left everything to her biological daughter Beatrice. The team have tracked down the family of the man who was the executor of the will. He has died, but his wife and daughter are still alive and would love to meet Ruth. \n\nRuth travels to Stratford-upon-Avon to meet Dorothy and Margo, who tell Ruth that Adelaide used to clean for them and looked after Margo when she was a child. They talk about how much love she had to give and show Ruth a photo of Adelaide with Margo in 1961. Now Ruth has a name and a picture of her biological great-grandma. \n\nFinally, in Southern Cemetery in Manchester, Ruth goes to visit the graves of both her biological great-grandma Adelaide and her adopted great-grandma Elizabeth Burrows. She lays flowers at both their graves and reflects on how fitting it is that these two grandmothers, whose lives were so entwined, are buried in the same place.

Source: BBC 1