Who Do You Think You Are - Jack Whitehall 5th Aug

Originally Posted by Ann from Sussex

When Martin Freeman was the WDYTYA subject they found that one of his ancestors had infected his wife and several of his children with syphilis. The thing that gave them the clue initially was the sequence of the children's births and deaths and the fact that one of the survivors was blind. They had an expert in the effects of the disease on the programme. It was several years ago and I can't remember the exact details but I think it was something along the lines that in large families the earliest born children are more likely to have congenital syphilis but survive, often with disability like blindness, the middle born children have it and are more likely to die in infancy whilst the later ones are born free of the disease. I took notice because I have a family in the early 1800s with exactly that pattern, including one who was blind. It was very interesting.

So perhaps the later stages of the disease isn't quite as infectious and isn't as easily passed on to the children! REB's father died quite soon after he was born.