Episode Summary
Celia Imrie lives in London with her 18-year-old son Angus. She was born in Surrey in 1952. Her father David was a doctor with working-class Glasgow roots, and her mother Diana came from an aristocratic background.
Celia went to visit her cousin Patricia who showed her a photograph of a house called The Croft where their grandparents used to live. Patricia said that Celia's mother Diana was 34 when she married David and had previously been engaged three times.
Celia's grandparents were Charles George Lumley Cator and Adeline Louisa Blois and Patricia gave her a family tree passed on to her by a relative which goes back many generations.
Celia visited the Parliamentary Archives to find out about her 8x-g-grandfather William Lord Russell, born in 1639, the third son of the Earl of Bedford. William was a Whig MP during the reign of Charles II. His wife was Lady Rachel, daughter of the Earl of Southampton. Celia was shown a speech by Lord Russell and a publication claiming that he took part in a conspiracy to kill the king. He was put on trial in 1683 and found guilty of High Treason. He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, but the sentence was commuted to beheading. He made a speech to the crowd proclaiming his innocence, just before he was beheaded. A plaque marks where this took place.
Celia visited Woburn Abbey, the Russell family seat, and was shown a painting of the trial and a pardon issued by King William of Orange after he came to the throne a few years after Lord Russell's trial.
Celia then found out about her 10xg-grandmother (grandmother of William Lord Russell), Frances Howard. Frances was born in 1593, the daughter of the Earl of Suffolk. When she was 13 her family arranged for her marriage to Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex, who was 14.
In about 1611, Frances wrote a letter to a friend complaining about abuse from her husband, and another letter to a lady called Mrs Anne Turner, which could be interpreted as asking her to kill Frances' husband. There were rumours about Frances' relationship with a man called Robert Carr.
Celia went to Lambeth Palace, where she was shown records of Frances' application to have her marriage annulled on the grounds of non-consummation. A man called Thomas Overbury was opposed to this as he did not want Robert Carr to marry Frances. Thomas Overbury was offered an ambassadorship which he turned down, and for this he was sent to the Tower of London, where he died. Ten days after his death, Frances' annulment was granted, and three months later, she married Robert Carr, the Earl of Somerset.
Two years later, in 1615, Mrs Turner, Frances, and Robert were arrested for conspiring to murder Thomas Overbury. Robert Carr was held in the Tower of London but Frances was put under house arrest until after the birth of her baby (Celia's 9xg-grandmother.) She pleaded guilty but maintained her husband's innocence. Both were convicted and sentenced to death. Frances was soon pardoned due to her confession, her penitence, and her family's good works, and Robert was pardoned seven years later. They were released from the Tower of London in 1622 and Frances died in 1632.
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