Quote:
Originally Posted by Shona
Like Merry, I was a tad dubious about the spin put on the story of Mary Liddell. How do we know she had an affair and was sent to the workhouse by her husband, John? The couple may have parted.
The 1901 census lists Mary as a dressmaker. Perhaps she was boarding there rather than being employed as a servant.
When she got pregnant again (with Claude), she went to the workhouse for the birth. The changing of W to M on the census, I feel, had little to do with it.
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Yes, I thought the same, now I have managed to watch episode 2. Loved Felicity Kendal thinking it was "amazing" that Albert got the two standard WW1 medals, and "amazing" that he put John Liddell down as his father on his marriage certificate - pretty usual for someone who was illegitimate to put down some name or other for father's name, going by the number of certs I've seen where it has been done.
And them coming up with the story of him being reconciled with his Liddell relatives when he "came home from the war with his medals" (as I understand it, the medals were issued a few years after the end of the war?) And the way they explained him joining the army in 1915 as being because he couldn't easily get a job having been in the workhouse - lots of men from all walks of life joined the army in 1915. Anyway, he could have got to know his Liddell relatives at any time of his life really for all they know. But I'm glad they found his will to show that he did know the Liddells, otherwise they might have made up a whole story of how he never knew any of his half-siblings.