Episode synopsis:
David Walliams grew up in Banstead, Surrey, the son of Peter and Kathleen Williams. Peter died 13 years ago. Kathleen still lives in Banstead, and David went to visit her there. She showed him a photo of her mother Violet Haines, her uncle James Haines and their parents Alfred Walter Haines and Kate nee Page, and told him that Alfred ran a fairground or amusement park in Battersea, with the family living in wagons behind the dodgems. Kate came from Salisbury, and Kathleen and Violet went to live there during the Second World War. Peter's mother was called Ivy, and she had four postcards painted by her father, John George Boorman, who was shell-shocked in the First World War. Kathleen showed David a photo of John in his army uniform and told him that he had served in the Grenadier Guards. There were also photos of one of Ivy's siblings who was born in 1915, one of which was one a postcard sent to John saying they hoped he would get better soon. Peter had known that his grandfather was in Cane Hill Hospital.
David went to Wellington Barracks in London where the Grenadier Guards are based, and met a military historian who showed him John's service record. He joined up on the 30th Sep 1914, a labourer age 32, height 5' 9". He was sent to France in the spring of 1915 with the 1st Battalion and fought in the Battle of Festubert. His record showed that he was sent back to England on the 8th Jun 1915 and back to France in Aug 1916, where he fought in the Battle of the Somme. In Jul 1917 he was sent with the battalion to Ypres. David went to Ypres and met a battlefield historian who told him about the Battle of Passchendaele, during which John and the battalion went "over the top". John was listed as wounded in a Casualty List, and a record showed that in August 1918 he was at Napsbury Military Hospital in Hertfordshire.
David went to where the hospital used to be, now a housing estate, and met an historian who told him that Napsbury had been an asylum before the war. John's medical notes showed that he had been invalided for shell shock in 1915, and that in 1917 he was sent to the Command Depot for evaluation and was found to be hearing voices in his head and sent to Napsbury. In Jul 1919 he was discharged from there and sent home. The 1939 Register listed him at Cane Hill Hospital, Coulsdon, which was a lunatic asylum. David went to the site of Cane Hill Hospital, of which only the chapel remains. He met an historian who showed him a photo of the hospital, and the admission register which stated that John was admitted in Oct 1919, certified insane. He died on the 28th Sep 1962 in the hospital. The historian showed David some more of John's paintings, which were presumably painted while he was there.
David then turned to his mother's side of the tree. He looked online for information about Alfred Walter Haines, and found his marriage record from 1909 at St Martin, Salisbury, which stated that his father was William James Haines, blind. David went to Salisbury and met an historian at the General Infirmary, where William was a cataract surgery patient in 1884, age 33. There was a photo of William from when he was older with his left eye having been removed.
The historian showed David a piece in the Salisbury Times from Oct 1884 which said that William's father-in-law, William Lucas, had been called to explain why he was not supporting his daughter Julia Haines and her six children, and that he said that William Haines' sight wasn't so bad that he couldn't work. On the 1891 census, William Haines was a musician in Portsmouth. David went to Portsmouth and met an historian who showed him a barrel-organ similar to the one which William played, and an article from the Western Chronicle from 1896 saying that William and Julia Haines, travellers, had been charged under the Prevention of Cruelty to Children Act with sending two of their children on to the streets to beg.
The 1911 census showed William as a travelling showman at Manley's Yard, Battersea. David went to Battersea and met an historian who showed him newspaper clippings from 1900 mentioning that William ran a shooting gallery, and 1907 that he ran roundabouts, which were looked after by his wife and family. A Battersea public health report from 1911 said that the vans at Manley's Yard were often inspected. David went to see where Manley's Yard used to be, near the Falcon pub, and then went to Maidenhead where there is a yard with old fairground rides, and he met a fairground historian who showed him a document of sale from 1911 when Julia bought a steam engine, and newspaper reports of William's death in 1913 and Julia's 10 years later. The Showman Year Book of 1933 listed the Haines Brothers, Alfred and Albert permanently based at Battersea. The historian showed David some photos of the fair or amusement park and told him that by the time of Alfred's death in 1951, he was no longer involved with it.
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