Who Do You Think You Are - Warwick Davis 15th Feb

[kiterunner]

At 8 p.m. on BBC1 and repeated at 11:45 p.m. next Tuesday.

[Phoenix]

Ooh, not allowed to say anything, but told to watch this episode. Don't know why :D

[kiterunner]

Intriguing.

[Guinevere]

Another good one. What a lovely man and what a fascinating story.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I loved it. Refreshing to have a programme that dealt with some of the warts of family history and I thought Warwick Davis was lovely.

Jay

[kiterunner]

I've watched the first part of it, saving the rest for tomorrow.

I have got up to where they show Frederick's second marriage to Sarah, which I suppose shows that they weren't free to marry before, but really to prove that he was a bigamist, they needed to show that he was legally married to Sophia. Hopefully that is still to come in the part I haven't watched yet? If you just looked at my great-grandfather's census records and his marriage to my great-grandmother you would think he was a bigamist but he wasn't, because he was never married to his first "wife".

Oh, and I can see why Phoenix had to watch it!

[Just Gillian]

I had only ever seen Warwick Davis in character before. What a nice man! Really enjoyed this one.

[kiterunner]

I went to a q and a session which he did at a Comic Con last year.

[kiterunner]

Episode summary:

Warwick Davis lives in East Anglia with his wife Sam and their children Annabelle and Harrison.

Warwick, whose parents separated when he was a teenager, went to see his mother Sue in Sussex. She showed him what she had of her family tree, her parents' names being Waller Pain and Winifred Durban. Winifred's father McGregor Durban and his father Frederick Durban were both postmen.

Warwick ordered Frederick Durban's birth certificate, which showed that his parents were Frederick John Durban and Sarah King, not married to each other. On the 1841 census, Fred Durban, 35, letter carrier, was in Croydon with Sophia Durban, 40, and several children.

Warwick met a genealogist who showed him that there were two entries for F J Durban on the 1861 census - one in Croydon with Sophia and one of their daughters, and another in Deptford with S Durban (Sarah) and F Durban (Fred jr). A marriage certificate from 1856 showed that Frederick John Durban married Sarah King in Deptford, by banns.

Warwick went to Croydon and met a local historian who showed him the rate books from Jan 1841 where Frederick Durban lived in a house with rateable value £27, and Jan 1842 where he had moved to a house in George Street with rateable value of only £13 10s. Sophia died in 1870, and on the 21st Nov 1870 Frederick married Sarah again. His will mentioned his children by Sophia and his son Frederick.

Warwick went to Queens Road Cemetery in Croydon to visit Frederick John Durban's grave, but couldn't find it.

Warwick then went to visit his father Ashley Davis in Herefordshire, where he lives. Ashley told him that his father William Davis (Warwick's grandfather) worked in the City as a broker. William's marriage certificate showed that his father was also called William Davis, and Warwick's grandmother was Edith Louise Manning, the daughter of Dennis John Manning, a waiter. Edith was born in 1911. Ashley didn't know anything about Dennis.

Warwick met a genealogist who showed him the certificate for Dennis's marriage to Lucy Louise Topping in Lambeth in 1903. Lucy's residence was shown as the Cock & Bottle pub, China Walk, Lambeth, and Dennis's occupation was licensed victualler manager. Warwick was shown the birth certificate of their son Dennis John Robert Manning who was born on the 30th July 1903, only a few months after the marriage, and a death certificate showing that he died at 8 months old. Dennis and Lucy went on to have 11 children altogether, with one more of those dying in infancy. The birth certificate of another of their children, Brian Austin Manning, from 1915, showed that Dennis was working as a munitions worker. He would have been too old to fight in the First World War as he was 42 when the war broke out.

Warwick went to Woolwich to see where Dennis would have worked, at the Arsenal, and found out what it was like to work there, and how dangerous it was.

Dennis's death certificate showed that he died in 1918, age 46, at the Croydon Mental Hospital, cause of death general paralysis. Warwick went to the Bethlem Museum of the Mind, where the records from Croydon Mental Hospital are kept, and saw Dennis's records. He was admitted on the 29th Jun 1917 with his wife saying that he had been failing mentally for the last two years, becoming violent and experiencing hallucinations. She blamed it on his work at the munitions factory, but Dennis admitted that he had had syphilis before he was 21, and this was most likely the cause of his symptoms and his death. He had said that he had decided not to marry for some time after the syphilis and waited until he was 31.

Warwick's father had said that Dennis was Irish, and Warwick wanted to check whether this was true. He met an historian who showed him Dennis's parents, Owen and Margaret Manning, on the 1851 census at Maidstone Street, London. Owen was a labourer, birthplace Ireland, and Margaret's birthplace was County Longford, Ireland. They would have come over to England in the 1820's. Their son Dennis Manning, Dennis John's father and Warwick's 2xg-grandfather, was aged 17 and also a labourer on the 1851 census, but on the 1881 census he was a musician.

An edition of the Northampton Mercury from 1858 mentioned Pell's American Opera Troupe, including D Manning, violinist. Warwick went to Northampton Guildhall and found out that the troupe was American but with one or two British members. He was shown a Music Hall playbill which described them as Minstrels, i.e. blackface, and this was confirmed by a newspaper article with a picture of the troupe when they were to appear at Bury St Edmunds Athenaeum. Warwick went to Bury St Edmunds Athenaeum and met a theatre historian, who showed him a later edition of "The Era" with an advert for Messrs Lawrence & Manning, describing Dennis Manning as a "sentimental vocalist" as well as a violinist.

Dennis's death certificate showed that he died in 1890 aged 52, with his residence 6 Betteston Street, Covent Garden, a boarding house.

[Phoenix]

I thought that must have been the episode.
I don't have a tv, so had to guess, but the query came through for info on Croydon and Deptford some time ago, and my friend Carole took up the challenge.

(No novice would like to attempt rate books pre 1880, they are in no sort of order)

[kiterunner]

Here are Fred and Sophia Durban in 1841:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/8978/SRYHO107_1078_1078-0084/10419824?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return
High Street, Croydon
Fred J Durban 35 Letter Carrier N
Sophia Durban 40 N
John Do 12 Y
Charles Do 11 Y
Alfred Do 8 Y
Rebecca Do 6 Y
Emma Do 4 Y
Emmily Do 1 Y

[kiterunner]

There is an Emily Harriott Durban birth registered Oct-Dec 1840 Croydon, MMN Ollington.

Still not found Frederick and Sophia's marriage. Has anyone else found it?

[kiterunner]

Their first child seems to be Frederick Reuben Durban, baptised 23 Oct 1825 at Hammersmith St Paul. I guess he died young and can't be the "my son Frederick" who was mentioned in Frederick John's will?

[kiterunner]

Sophia on the 1851 census:

http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/8860/KENHO107_1601_1601-0308/1272230?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return

Side of Town Hall, Croydon, Surrey
Sophia Durban Wife Mar 48 Postman's Wife Baton Suffolk
Sophia Elizth Daur U 23 Middlesex Paddington
Charles Javelen Do Son U 20 Letter Carrier Do Mary-le-bone
Alfred George Do Son U 18 Out of employ Surrey Croydon
Rebecca Eliza Do Daur U 16 Do Do
Emma Do Daur U 14 Scholar Do Do

I thought Sophia's birthplace was a misspelling of Bacton, but it seems to say Bolen on the 1861:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/8767/KENRG9_445_448-0680/6878922?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return
106 High St, Croydon, Surrey
J P Durban Head Mar 55 Newspaper Office Middlesex Isleworth
Sophia Do Wife Mar 60 Suffolk Bolen
Emma Do Daur Unm 22 Surrey Croydon.

I suppose it's possible that Frederick and Sophia got married in Suffolk and it's not online.