Who Do You Think You Are - Sheridan Smith 4th Sep

[kiterunner]

BBC1 at 9 p.m.

[Anstey Nomad]

I have never knowingly heard of her or seen her - are they running out of 'celebrities'?

[Langley Vale Sue]

Did you ever watch 'Gavin and Stacey'? She played Smithy's sister in that.

[kiterunner]

And she was the sidekick in some specials of Jonathan Creek.

[Margaret in Burton]

She's been in loads of things recently. Won a BAFTA or some other award for her portrayal of Mrs Biggs ( as in Ronnie Biggs).

[Anstey Nomad]

SPOILER ALERT

Here's the skinny on her

http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/feat...dan-smith-156/

[Guinevere]

I quite enjoyed that apart from her calling it a journey and the banjos, of course.

[kiterunner]

Episode synopsis:

Sheridan Smith's parents Colin Mark, known as Mark, and Madeleine (or Marilyn) live in North Lincolnshire, near to Doncaster, and perform as a country and western duo at the Top Club. Her father served in the army in Egypt in the 1950's. He told Sheridan what he knew of his family history. His father, who Sheridan never met, was a professional classical cellist in an orchestra, and Sheridan's grandmother Hetty played the piano.
Hetty's father William Doubleday was the boss at the steelworks.


Mark showed Sheridan a picture of three members of the Doubleday family who were known as the Darrell Trio and played the banjo.
Sheridan went to Sheffield where she found out that William's father (her 2xg-grandfather) Benjamin Doubleday was born on the 17th Feb 1856 at the Union Workhouse in New Sleaford. He married Sarah Jane Collins on the 7th Mar 1883 and they had four children: May Fanny, William, Harriet, and Caroline. Caroline was born on the 5th Apr 1890 and her birth certificate showed her father as a teacher of music.
An 1886 report in the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent on a fund-raising concert mentioned that Mr B Doubleday performed on the banjo. Another newspaper report about the performance of the Canadian "Bohee Brothers" at the Sheffield Albert Hall in 1889 mentioned that Mr and Mrs Doubleday and several of their banjo pupils also performed.
Sheridan visited Sheffield Archives and was shown an 1891 ad from The Era for a pianiste, solo harpist and solo violinist to complete Mr B Doubleday's Ladies Choir. There was an 1891 review of "The Royal American Choir" (as it was named) in the Sheffield & Rotherham Independent. Then a review of the choir during their 2 month booking at Sanger's Circus said that they were not attracting as big an audience as expected. An ad showed that they were letting the audience pay what they liked instead of charging a fixed entry fee, to try to attract more people.
At Sheffield Local History Library, Sheridan was shown the trade directory for 1893 where Benjamin Doubleday was listed as a victualler at the Woodman Inn, South Street, Moor. The pub is no longer standing but she was shown some pictures.
The Sheffield Evening Telegraph of 7th Feb 1894 reported that the roof of the Woodman Inn fell in during a storm. Then early in 1895 there was a fire, and another fire was reported on the 5th Jul 1895. Benjamin had been the only member of the family at home and his wife and children had left him, taking most of the furniture with them. On the 26 Nov 1895 the paper reported that he had appeared at Sheffield City Police Court charged with attempted arson and attempting to defraud the Royal Insurance Company. A few weeks later it was reported that he was found not guilty and discharged.

Sheridan met her second cousin Louisa Gingell who has also been researching the family. She showed Sheridan that on the 1901 census, Sarah Jane is in Birmingham with William and Caroline while Benjamin, May and Harriet are in Sheffield listed as music teacher, professional pianist and professional vocalist respectively. Louisa explained that the picture which Sheridan's father had given her was of Benjamin, May and Harriet ("Etty"). A playbill from the Palace Theatre showed that they were performing on the vaudeville circuit as the Darrell Trio.

Benjamin's death certificate from 1907 showed that he died of heart disease at the age of 50. Louisa said that the family story was that he was an alcoholic. Sheridan was shown an obituary from Banjo World.

[Olde Crone]

All you ever wished to know about banjos.

I am afraid I gave up halfway through. Hope I didn't miss the best bit?

OC

[ElizabethHerts]

Sheridan's parents married in 1965 in Swansea. I wonder if she has any siblings - she was rather an afterthought.

I thought it actually covered very little in an hour. I was waiting for something more all the time.