Jack Whitehall and his father Michael Whitehall started out by looking at old family photos with Jack's mother Hilary. Michael's parents were Jack and Nora Whitehall. Michael was a pupil at Ampleforth College, paid for by his grandfather Richard Ernest Baxter Whitehall (REB). REB's wife was Edith Westgate.
Jack and Michael went to see Michael's cousin Jennifer, ten years older than him, to find out more about REB. She showed them REB's birth certificate which said that he was born on the 7th Dec 1870, the son of Richard Whitehall, a commercial traveller, and Caroline nee Baxter. Jennifer's father and Michael's father were also commercial travellers. The family story was that Richard sr died in a pony and trap accident with Caroline dying of grief soon afterwards, when REB was a child, and that REB was then adopted by a man named Charlie Worsey.
The 1881 census showed REB (down as Ernest) at a "Commercial Traveller School" in Pinner, Middlesex. Jack and Michael went there and met an historian who explained that the school was for orphaned children of commercial travellers. The school's admission records showed that REB was admitted in Aug 1880, age 9, the son of Richard Whitehall of Birmingham, an only child, under the care of his mother who was in very delicate health. She appeared on the 1881 census as CW, age 51, a lunatic, at St Andrew's Hospital for Mental Diseases in Northampton. Jack and Michael went there and found that it is still a psychiatric hospital. They looked at Caroline's patient records in the hospital chapel. The case book showed that she was admitted on the 9th Apr 1880 aged 50, suffering from delusions and later from "general paralysis", i.e. syphilis. Records from 1882 said that her dementia was more advanced, and her death record showed that she died on the 20th Mar 1883, age 53. Richard sr died on the 11th Nov 1872, cause of death cerebral softening, which would also have been caused by syphilis.
On the 1891 census, REB was with his aunt and uncle Sarah Hannah and Alfred Bromwich (Sarah was Caroline's sister) at Blakesley Hall, Birmingham. Jack and Michael went there and met an historian who showed them a newspaper advert from 1861 for Worsey and Baxter, woollen merchants. One of Caroline's brothers was John Baxter and one of her sisters was Ann Baxter who married John's business partner Samuel Worsey, and their son Charles Worsey was REB's cousin, 10 years older than him. Charles's will, proved in 1938, left his estate of about £195,000 (about £10 million in today's money) to REB, about 2 years before Michael's birth.
Jack and Michael then went to find out about Edith's side of the family. Edith died when Michael was very young, so he didn't know much about her family. They went to the Birmingham and Midland Institute and were shown the 1841 census entry for Edith's great-grandfather Thomas Jones Phillips, a solicitor, of High Street, Newport, Monmouthshire. Thomas Jones Phillips, Esq, solicitor, was mentioned in a newspaper story about a meeting of the "True Blue Benefits Society", a group of Tory supporters. Thomas's daughter was Mary Ann Phillips and her daughter was Jane Sophia Carpenter, Edith's mother.
Jack and Michael went to Monmouth and met an historian who showed them a letter from Thomas objecting to the registrations of various voters who he thought might vote for the Whigs. The letter mentioned one John Frost, a tailor and a leader of the Chartist movement, who lived near him in Newport. Jack and Michael went to the John Frost School in Newport and were shown a newspaper report from 1839 on the arrest of some of the Chartist leaders, including Henry Vincent. Thomas was mentioned as clerk to the justices, helping to preserve the peace during the riots which followed the arrests.
Jack and Michael then went to the Nantyglo Ironworks site and met an historian who showed them the tower there, which was built for the ironmaster as protection against the workers if they should riot. The workers there used to be paid 3 monthly in arrears, in tokens which could only be spent in the company shop. The historian had a copy of Thomas's depositions of witnesses which were used as evidence against Henry Vincent and the Chartist leaders. The Chartists held a public meeting at Dukes Town in Aug 1839, and a newspaper report said that John Frost was the main speaker, and that Thomas was found to be there making notes on it for the government. A sworn statement of Thomas's from Nov 1839 said that he was sent by the magistrates to Tredegar Iron Works where there was a Chartist mob preparing to march on Newport, and that when he set off back to Newport, some of the men tried to board the coach without paying but he complained and they had to get off. The coach went past many miners armed with pikes etc. By the time Thomas arrived back in Newport, about 5,000 Chartists had already marched on the Westgate Hotel (in the "Newport Rising") to demand the release of the prisoners, and the army had fired on them, killing 22 and injuring 50. The surviving Chartists scattered and warrants were issued for their arrest. A wanted poster for John Frost offered a reward of £100.
Jack and Michael went to the Shire Hall in Monmouth to find out about the Chartists' trial. Thomas's deposition stated that he had not seen the reward poster when he went with a constable to execute a warrant for the arrest of John Partridge, who lived near to John Frost, but happened to find John Frost hiding in John Partridge's house and arrested him. John Frost and his co-accused were found guilty of high treason and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered, but the criminal register showed that the sentence was commuted to transportation for life. John Frost was later given a full pardon. A newspaper obituary for Thomas showed that he died in 1843. Jack and Michael went to the church in Newport where he was buried, and saw a wall plaque dedicated to Thomas and his wife Mary Ann.
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