Who Do You Think You Are - Amanda Holden 1st Dec

[kiterunner]

On BBC1 at 8 p.m., and repeated next Wednesday (7th Dec) at 11:45 p.m., also on BBC1.

[ElizabethHerts]

I enjoyed that Cornish/French connection.

Collin Francis ended up in trouble again, but was acquitted.

http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org...ates&id=158671

[kiterunner]

Episode synopsis:
Amanda Louise Holden lives in London with her second husband Chris and daughters Holly and Lexie. Her parents divorced when she was 4 and she didn't see much of her father Frank Holden. She never met her paternal grandfather, Frank Holden sr; all she knew about him was that he was a male nurse and that he committed suicide (in 1983, aged 71.) On her mother's side, Amanda knew that her great-grandfather's name was Louis, the same as several of his ancestors, and that the family story was that they had French roots.

Amanda's mother Judy and her stepfather live in Cornwall. Amanda went to visit Judy, who had been looking into their family history.

Judy told Amanda that her great-grandfather Louis Colin Thomas was a very good swimmer, who won a long-distance swimming championship. There were four men named Louis in the family line, with Collin Thomas breaking the line. Judy showed Amanda the 1841 census entry which had Colin Thomas aged 50, a shoemaker, with his wife Radegund. On the 1871 census Collin Thomas's wife was Radgoude, born in Bordeaux, France.

Amanda looked Collin Thomas up in the British Newspaper Archive and found that he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at Exeter in 1806 for a felony. She went to Exeter Castle, where the courtroom was in those days, and met an historian who showed her an apprenticeship indenture dated 1800 where Collin's mother Deborah Thomas agreed to bind Collin to Andrew Stevens, a cordwainer, for 7 years. Amanda was then shown a Royal Marine Descriptive Register which showed that Collin Thomas, age 17, had enlisted on the 20 Sep 1805 but was discharged a few months later claimed as an apprentice (because his 7 year term was not finished yet).

The records of the Jan 1806 sessions showed that Collin Thomas, age 17, was charged with falsely claiming the signing-up money for joining the Royal Marines, and was sentenced to 12 months hard labour in the bridewell. Amanda was then shown the French marriage record of "Thomas Coline" and Radgunde Charbonnel at Caudrot, Bordeaux, about 10 years after the prison sentence.

Amanda went to Bordeaux and met an historian who told her that Collin served in Wellington's army in the Peninsular War against Napoleon's army. A muster roll from Sep 1807 showed that he was in the 51st Light Infantry, who were welcomed by the people of Bordeaux in 1814. A muster roll from May 1814, when the 51st were about to set sail back to England, showed that Colin Thomas had deserted.

Amanda went to Caudrot and met an historian who showed her a letter written by a Lieutenant William Hare, also in the 51st, about how the local women threw themselves at the soldiers. Amanda went to see the Charbonnel family house and was shown a picture of it from Radegonde's time. Radegonde's father's name was Gerard Charbonnel. Amanda went to see the church where Collin and Radegonde got married in early 1816 (they had a civil ceremony at the Mairie first) and was shown a pre-marriage document which stated that the couple had a daughter Catherine born out of wedlock and that she was legitimised by the marriage. A son Louis was born in 1818, then a daughter Elizabeth in 1821, when they were living in Truro in England. The couple had nine children altogether.

A document from 1832 showed that Radegonde's mother, Catherine Labrousse, had a vineyard called Castouret, in Caudrot, inherited from her mother, Radegonde Ballan, who came from a family of wine-makers who owned several vineyards.

Amanda then returned to England to find out about Frank Holden sr, her grandfather. She met her uncle George Holden, who showed her photos of Frank sr as an entertainer. Frank's two brothers were also entertainers. A photo from WW2 showed him as a psychiatric nurse in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He enlisted as a private and ended as Regimental Sergeant Major. He was shipwrecked in Jun 1940 on the Lancastria, and a photo showed him on the Highlander after the shipwreck.

Amanda went to the RAMC HQ where she was shown a letter stating that Frank won the Campbell Clark medal and prize for the best exam results in his year, just before the war. His army records showed that he was mobilised 1 Sep 1939 in the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) to France, and did not leave France until 20 Jun 1940, although the Dunkirk evacuation took place on the 26 May. Frank had been stranded in St Nazaire with a group of soldiers.

Amanda went to St Nazaire, in Brittany, to meet an historian who told her about the wreck of the Lancastria and showed her some photos. Amanda met a survivor named Jacqueline Tanner who was 2 years old at the time of the wreck, being evacuated along with her parents. They had also ended up on the Highlander. Amanda read Churchill's diary entry about how he banned publication of the news of the wreck.

[kiterunner]

I enjoyed this and was glad they didn't go as far back as they did last week, but I must admit I was shouting at the tv a couple of times. They should have looked at other French marriage entries to see how the man's name was usually written to see whether Collin had swapped his first name and surname or not (hopefully we can find the marriage record online to check - edit- it doesn't look as though Caudrot's "etats civil" are online, unless someone else can find them?) and the historian should really have explained to Amanda that ages on censuses are generally unreliable, and especially on the 1841 census since it was rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5! If the apprenticeship indenture didn't show Collin's age, they should have looked for his baptism record.

[ElizabethHerts]

Collin Thomas's burial:

Day Month 26-Oct
Year 1874
Parish Or Reg District Truro, St. Mary
Forename Collin
Surname THOMAS
Age 84
Residence Kenwyn
Notes
Transcriber Notes
Transcriber C.Williams/J. Mitchell

Radegonde's burial:

Day Month 10-Apr
Year 1877
Parish Or Reg District Truro, St. Mary
Forename Radgond
Surname THOMAS
Age 77
Residence Kenwyn
Notes
Transcriber Notes
Transcriber C.Williams/J. Mitchell

[kiterunner]

FamilySearch has the baptism of Collin Thomas 24 Jan 1790 at Falmouth, Cornwall, dob 1 Jan 1790, parents Collin and Deborah, so he was indeed 10 when he was bound apprentice and 15 when he joined the Royal Marines, but they couldn't have been sure of that just from the 1841 census.

[ElizabethHerts]

I love Collin Thomas's physical description on the prison record:

http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org...ates&id=158671

[Rick]

Initially, I was howling at the TV about the age thing, but they actually kept saying 1790 rather than 1791. So despite his age on later census records, being a bit young to be indentured, and aged 17 on enlistment, I looked up his baptism. It gives a date of birth of 1st Jan 1790 and the age at the second criminal trial and his death & burial records support this.

EDIT: Kate beat me to it

[kiterunner]

When they said he deserted from his regiment and stayed in France because he had fallen in love, I said most likely he had got a girl pregnant and her father insisted he marry her. Well, not far wrong!

[kiterunner]

This is the 1841 census entry. I guess they covered up the right-hand part of Radegund's entry on telly so we couldn't see that she and "Lewis" were born in "foreign parts" as it would have spoiled the surprise:
1841 census on ancestry
Kenwyn, Cornwall
Colin Thomas 50 Shoemaker Y
Radegund Do 45 F
Lewis Do 20 Shoemaker F
Emily Do 15 Y
Jno Thomas 12 Shoemaker Y
Henry Thomas 10 Y