Who Do You Think You Are - Patrick Stewart 29th Aug

[Merry]

Originally Posted by Shona

The husband felt he was watching a WW2 documentary on Military History, not WDYTYA - tend to agree.

Alfred was clearly a troubled man guilty of domestic violence. By concentrating purely on his military service, we learnt nothing about Alfred's earlier life and whether that, too, affected him. Where was he born? Who were his parents? Did Alfred's father serve in WW1? If the family were not from Mirfield, what brought them there? Was it mining? Gladys's father, Freedom Barrowclough, worked in the coal industry.

I still haven't watched the program, but if Alfred is the one from South Shields, his father isn't at home in 1911, nor 1901 or 1891 and I don't have time to try and work out who he was right now. Was at home enough to have 10 children though!

[Merry]

This must be the parents as Jane says married 30 years in 1911 and at least one child has middle name Cossom:

Marriages Mar 1881
COSSOM Jane Tynemouth 10b 301
STEWART James Irvine Tynemouth 10b 301

[kiterunner]

Here is the unseen footage, but again, it's about what life would have been like for his father in the army:
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazi.../footage/13789

[Merry]

I suppose the researcher looked at dad's upbringing, but couldn't see anything to warrant a mention in the programme. Perhaps they should at least have devoted a couple of minutes to it, if only to say they had found nothing of consequence. I suppose the programme isn't supposed to be teaching you to do your own tree, just telling the interesting part of someone elses.

[Shona]

Just been reading a Daily Telegraph article from 2007 about PS written by Nick Barrett, as well as a few other interviews in newspapers. Again quite a bit is abt his father, inc much of what was aired last night. Before WW2, Alfred worked as a labourer and post man. He was sober during the week, but could become violent after drinking at the weekend. Alf was also a committed trade unionist and Labour supporter. PS's first memories of elections were aged 6 when he was left outside a polling station.

However, the DT feature does reveal more about Gladys's family. She was a textile weaver and came from a family of miners, Methodists, involved with the WMCs.

It also states that PS spent much of his childhood in Jarrow. His grandfather was named William Stewart who at some point worked as a stage carpenter.

[kiterunner]

They said at the beginning that you had to be quite an intimidating kind of person to serve in the regimental police and that seemed to fit with his personality as his sons knew him, but of course he was in the regimental police long before his WW2 experiences. I suppose it just makes me think that we don't know whether he was just the same before WW2 or if it really did change him as they were suggesting in the programme.

[Merry]

Oh, so the one b in South Shields wasn't the right one then!

[kiterunner]

There are a couple of Alfred Stewarts born in Scotland in 1905 and one age 5-6 on the 1911 Scottish census, in Renfrewshire, with a William in the same household. There isn't much information about the Stewart side of the family in the Nick Barrett article, so I don't know whether Alfred came from Scotland:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1435...detective.html

[Merry]

As I'd neither seen the program or read anything about Alfred I made the mistake of not thinking about him possibly being a Scot. His date of death in England (another assumption by me!) tied in with a birth in Shields, which is where I went wrong! lol

*slinks back under stone*

[Piwacket]

I'm not sure the programme was the right place for this. The subject matter, ie. an account of one man's career in the Regimental police. Difficult to tell, but he certainly in his photos looked a 'hard' man - tightlipped and never smiling and I'd guess a strict disciplinarian... all I kept thinking was Gawd help those poor soldiers who came up against him (Reminiscent of Mackay in Porridge. A dour Scot!

Would have lightened it a bit if they'd told us something of his background, was his own father much the same, so that's where he got the personality. I certainly didn't think 'the war changed him' from what we saw.

And what of Patrick's mother - what a bad time she must have had, let alone the children Not a happy home life by all accounts.

But a rather too 'personal' sop to a well-known actor and not a lot to do with family history in general.