Episode synopsis:
Daniel Radcliffe grew up in West London. His father was an actor and then a literary agent while his mother was an actress and then a casting director. Daniel knew that on his father's side a group of four brothers all fought in the First World War, and that his mother's grandfather, of Eastern European extraction, ran a jewellery shop and killed himself after a robbery.
Daniel's mother sent him "Granny Pat's" photo albums and a family tree which she had drawn up 30 years ago. There were several photos of Pat's mother Rae, and the family tree was titled "The Gershon Dynasty". Daniel's grandmother's maiden name was Patricia Gresham, with Gresham being an anglicised version of Gershon. The family tree showed that Pat's parents were Sam Gershon and Rachel aka Rae Dinah Jacobs, and that Sam, who was one of nine children, and the first of them to be born in England, killed himself. His parents were Louis Gershon and Jessie Greenwell, who married in South Africa.
Daniel went to North London to meet a distant cousin - Louis Gershon, another descendant of Louis and Jessie. His father was Bobby Gershon, the youngest of their nine children, and his mother's name was Hannah. Louis had a photo of the original Louis Gershon, who he thought looked very like Daniel.
The 1901 census showed the Gershon family living in Hackney, with Louis' birthplace as Germany, Jessie's as Russia, and the eldest three children's as Cape Town (John), Kimberley (Ann), and Orange Free State (Julie). Samuel, age 7, was born in Hackney. Louis's occupation was "dealer in jewellery", and Daniel was told that he had been involved in the diamond trade in South Africa in the late 1800's, and that his London business was based in Hatton Garden, so Daniel went there and met a local historian and author, who showed him the listing for Gershon & Shier, diamond cutters, setters and workers, at 35 Hatton Garden, in the 1905 street directory. He was also shown the 1917 register of directors and managers of the African Wholesaler Jewellers, which showed that the company was worth £10,000 at that date. The 1911 census showed 17-year-old Samuel as a jeweller's apprentice, and the 1921 marriage certificate of Samuel and Rachel said he was a diamond merchant. They married in Southend on Sea, so Daniel went there and met an historian.
Daniel was shown studio photos of Sam and Rae taken in Southend in the late 1920's. Rae's family were already living there before the marriage. Patricia was born in 1922 and her younger sister Luella seven years later. The Gershon Brothers were listed at 22 Hatton Garden in the 1930 Kelly's Directory.
Daniel went back to Hatton Garden, and found newspaper reports about a night raid on the Gershon Brothers' company in 1936, where the safe was cut open and mounted jewels such as rings, bracelets etc were stolen. Daniel met a criminologist at 22 Hatton Garden, who showed him the police file which said there was no evidence of a break-in and that the police believed there was no break-in and that it was an insurance swindle on the part of the Gershons, who had previously reported two other burglaries for which they had made successful insurance claims. A letter from an informant in the file suggested that the Gershons did it themselves because Jews were well-known for it. Daniel was shown a press photo of Samuel Gershon who fainted on the day of the robbery, and a press report which said he was still too ill to talk to the police 3 days afterwards. Apparently the Gershons were in debt for about the same amount as the value of the jewellery which was stolen.
Daniel went to Aldbury Common, in Hertfordshire, where Sam died. He was shown the coroner's report dated 8 Jul 1936, which said that Sam died in a motor car on Aldbury Common, and had suffered from shock for about 14 days in February of that year (immediately after the robbery). A witness statement from Sam's brother Edward Gershon said that there was a bankruptcy petition awaiting the insurance claim decision, and that a meeting of creditors had been imminent. Daniel was given Sam's suicide note to read, which said that he couldn't face bankruptcy. Daniel went back to Southend and was shown details of Rae's change of name from Gershon to Gresham three weeks after Sam's death. A year later, the insurance claim had been settled.
Daniel then went to Northern Ireland to find out about his father's side of the family. His father, Alan Radcliffe, grew up in County Down. Daniel went to Banbridge to visit his aunt Linda, who showed him some old family photos including some of his great-grandmother Florence McDowell, known as Flo. Flo's parents were Tommy and Elizabeth, and she had four brothers who all fought in the First World War: Jimmy, Joe, Ernest, and Edmund. There were 10 children altogether. Daniel had previously been given a photo of "Ernie". Linda gave him a folder of letters written to and from Ernie during the war, including some from his sweetheart Jeanie, which showed that he had been in the Army Reserves before the war, and so was sent overseas very early on, sent to hospital in Newcastle, England, suffering from frostbite, then sent overseas again, then wounded in the leg and sent back to hospital again. The letters stopped in 1916. Daniel looked at the roll of honour in Banbridge Church, which listed Ernest McDowell as one of those who died during the First World War. He met a genealogist who showed him a letter written to Elizabeth by a James O'Brien who was present when Ernie died, saying that they had just arrived in the trenches when a shell landed which killed Ernie and two other men. Daniel was also shown the marriage certificate of Ernest McDowell and Jeanie Barlow, dated 14th Feb 1915, and was told that Jimmy settled in Belfast while Joe and Edmund stayed in Banbridge.
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