Ian McKellen finds another actor in the family... | Full Episode | #WDYTYA

[Music] life's but a walking Shadow a poor player that struts and Frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more sir Ian McKellen has been one of Britain's leading actors for over 50 years since his breakthrough in the 1960s he's enjoyed a glittering career on stage television and screen with roles like the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit bringing him worldwide Fame I was born in North Lancashire and my youth was in Bolton my mother died when I was 12 breast cancer probably got a bit introverted and certainly got shy I I I was a a shy child but in the 1940s and 50 50s there were three professional theaters in in a in a town with only 150,000 people by the time I was early teens I was going on my own I would stand in the wings see the performance getting ready to go on and then stepping out of the dark into the light onto the stage and that seemed to me the most magical thing I'd ever seen in my life alongside his acting career Ian is also one of the UK's leading campaigners for gay lesbian bisexual and transgender rights people say when did you first know you were gay and I say well when did you first know that you weren't but don't forget at that time it was a silent territory nobody talked about it and by the time I might have plucked up courage to Bro ship with my dad uh he too was dead he died when I was 24 and my sister Jean died a few years ago so now I'm the last of the melum the last of my line I'm not producing any children with my name I suppose that's the the point to be made so I'm just left with some photographs really and there's no one left for me to ask about the people in them I'm intrigued by my paternal grandmother Alice McAllen known as mother Mac she died 2 years before I was born but when I was growing everyone talked about her as a real star of the family Alice was apparently a wonderful singer but I don't know where she come from I don't know really anything about her family so if I come out of this knowing more about my grandmother who who clearly made such an impact on everyone she met and I didn't meet her so perhaps I can now get to meet her a little more just to find out more about his paternal grandmother Alice Ian's heading north to chesher where she lived with her husband William melen she sit back and enjoy your to Born Alice Murray after her marriage Ian's grandmother became known to all as mother Mac when my grandmother died mother Mack her son my father Dennis made this and it's just a collection of letters that were written to the family and uh here's a tribute to her Mrs McKellen uh mother Mack had an excellent metso soprano voice the story I was told was that her Granddad Mr McAllen met his future bride because he' enjoyed her singing there's another little bit written by Reverend will Pock she is associated in my mind with many happy and serious experiences in the old Christian Endeavor Society at hao mother Mack and her husband William were both active members of a religious movement called Christian Endeavor which aimed to improve the lives of inner city workers during the early 20th century they lived just outside Stockport for over 40 years and woried here at Hado Church hello how are you H religious historian Martin Palmer has been researching Ian's family history we're going in please come on in so Ian welcome to what is in a your dynastic church this is a record going back to 1846 of the um baptisms that took place here August the 20th 1939 why is my name in here cuz you were baptized I was baptized here yes and we even have the font at the front there that you were baptized in well does that mean I'm going to heaven yes I'm afraid so that's fine so this was our family church where mother Mack was here well she was a huge figure in the Sunday School in the choir particularly the choir well the familiar story is that Grandad mallum heard her singing well 1902 the Christian Endeavor movement held a huge gathering in Manchester the main event at which your grandmother sang was at the free trade Hall which held 10,000 people and this is the program for this event oh secretary Mr wh McKellen so this is my grandfather it's a funny feeling seeing your own name yeah Mr mcken because I'm the only Mr McKellen I know but know and this is the opening Grand ceremonial event May 17th 19002 free trade Hall other there's a hymn and then there's a prayer solo miss Murray my grandmother and let's put that in context you probably had a thousand churches sent people to this event each of them would have had a choir 30 40 strong each of them would have had someone who thought that they were the bees knees as far as singing the fact that your grandmother was chosen to give the solo this is Britain's Got Talent Circa 1902 she must have had some notes isn't she she certainly must have done anything else you know about Alice I have found her birth certificate Alice beus yes August 1879 three Barton Road stretford Central Manchester isn't it yeah edge of inner city Manchester her father was with William white with a Y Murray and her mother also called Alice was formerly loow you mentioned the Lowe's well I found a little bit more about them this is the 1871 census here's your great grandmother Alice loe's this is Mother Max's mother that's right age 21 and just above her elder brother I suppose Frank MH aged 24 occupation actor yes oh stop it actor yes actor so mother Max's Uncle Frank was a professional act stop it you're not the first your great great uncle beat you to the stage well that's s right it all sort of fits together doesn't it now m was a performer but no one mentioned to me that she Shone so brightly at the free trade hall and then to discover that her Uncle Frank her mother's elder brother Frank Lowe's is down in the census as an actor well but where was he acting what was he acting Ian has discovered that his great great uncle was a professional actor called Frank Lowe's in the 1860s Frank had just begun his theatrical career and was living with his family in Manchester to find out more Ian's come to the city's Central Library to meet theatrical historian Dr Anne Featherstone hello are to meet you the library's theatrical records stretch back over 200 50 years right here we are in the bowels of Manchester Central Library I'm going to have to climb up this ladder all off you go right and I'll help you thank you so these are full of programs are they they're full of posters oh yeah that's the one goodness steady on oh here we go yeah right I think you'll love this okay so here we have the play bills for the Queens theater in Manchester oh how beautiful we have here truth steel what year are we here we're 1876 and uh list of characters oh all ever since I heard about him I've been thinking about him Mr Frank L there is Charles Williams let's show you I've only just discovered that there's another actor in the family ah H about a little confusion on the census his name is not low but Lowe's with an s yes we sure you've got the right man yes absolutely he's just cut to Frank L and then I'm going to turn over again always ready a North Country story that's the important because with North Country actors like look here Frederick lorder played by Mr Frank this is a sensational melodrama yeah it's about money it's about morals and virtue and seduction and these start to arrive in the 1850s and 60s I'm sorry I've just seen in the next play they did two players on the same he playing a leading part yes the Reverend Mr web was played by Mr Frank L yes this is really quite a plum part for him he'd be only 30 now and he's top of the bill what more can you tell me about him anything well we had a review of a play from the era the Bible of the profession the era yes I've heard of that let us feeli Theater Royal AR Aron a poog oh Aron AOG was produced here on Monday by the company from the new Queens theater in Manchester and has been favorably received during the week Miss Lillian Harris plays the heroine with great paos Mr Frank low however deserves the Laurels for his masterly conception of the sneak Michael he looks and acts the character to the life you know you could not have a better review than that no Frank Low's early career coincided with a theatrical boom in the north of England by 1875 Manchester Theaters alone were selling over 15,000 tickets a night but acting was still a very precarious way to make a living and catching the eye of one of the Region's powerful theat to producers was essential if you wanted to climb up the bill so Frank is picking up work regularly he's made a name for himself but in order to move his career on he needs a bit of a he needs a break don't we all yes one of the things I wanted to show you was an advert a game from the era from 1875 the two orphans Mr Jay Pitney Weston in big letters has selected the following artists so we've got Frank l oh wait a minute Mrs Frank L that must be frankl's wife that's right but it is the two orphans which is the big break I see Mr Pitney Weston bought the rights to the two orphans a successful London production uh and was going to produce it across the North and of course we know where Mr Weston is based Bolton he's based in Bolton where I used to live when I was a teenager theater and opera house oh the two orphans and Mr Frank low gave an excellent impersonation of the minister of police so Frank lived in Bolton for a time or stayed in Bolton in Diggs I suppose well well well well [Music] well I first came to this street when I was 3 years old to see Peter Pan at the opera house just down there but now I know that the free trade Hall is where in 1902 my grandmother mother Mack sang but just here now I realize the theater Royal built in 1845 was just the sort of theater that mother Max's Uncle Frank low actor would have performed so I I'm seeing this street in with new eyes well as a fellow professional and wonder what life is like for for for Frank he did he do all his acting in the north was he earning enough money and where did his career lead to well it certainly took him to Bolton which is where I spent my youth so it's a bit spooky to think that I didn't know that I had a great great uncle professionally acting in my hometown Ian's family moved to Bolton when he was 11 and he gave his first performance here as a young amateur actor in the 1950s this is the grandar of of Bolton the Grandeur of the north of [Music] England of course the streets all look a little bit different Market Square where the fair used to come twice a year I used to love that this is where the two theaters were the the grand Grand Theater which is of a variety theater and then the theater Royal which took in touring companies they were beautiful beautiful intimate theaters why did they pull them down Ian knows that his great great Uncle Frank Lowe's also performed here in Bolton in 1876 to find out more about Frank's time here he's come to meet theatrical historian Professor James Moran great to see you very nice to see you welcome back to your old stomping ground thank you very much in the 1870s there were three large theaters in Bolton run by the impressario James Pitney Weston today the Octagon is the town's only professional theater Frank is in this play which you know about two ofans yeah and James Pitney Weston this big character in Bolton's entertainment industry requires the rights to tour it outside London and recruits Frank to be in that production so a job that last lasted a long time well I'll give you a document that gives some indication of that okay this says Mr Frank low I love it when they call actors Mr don't you Mr Frank low asked count Del lunier in two orphans for the 150th time so is this a is this a little ad he's put in the pap this is an adver that Frank himself has put into a theatrical newspaper most of the actors at this time are touting for business this may have been a very canny way of him telling theater managers that he's had this lovely run of 150 performances I see I see the play itself the two orphans is uh a melodrama so it's a drama of heightened emotion yeah has anyone ever read it does it exist I have a copy here would you like to of course I would of course it would in fact would you like to try it on the stage all right first read through okay sure so what is Frank's part Frank's playing a French nobleman and the count suspects that his wife has this terrible secret and I will read in the part of your nephew who is a noble young man who wants to prevent you from ruining yourself and your family okay now chalier speak out what did the CEST say I desire to know all M I beg of you I command I have really nothing to say mure very well m twice in this one day have you opposed my orders my entreaties nevertheless I shall discover the mystery which you refuse to unveil miss you shall read no further who will hinder me count I will you rash fool so there you go you are reading the lines that Frank read here in Bolton oh stop it over 140 years ago wow why did nobody in my family ever tell tell me that we had an actor in the family perhaps either they didn't know or they weren't very pleased about it h so I think the two orphans is probably a great gig for Frank to to get because it's a a steady income and he's being engaged by James Pitney Weston the problem is Weston is very very ambitious and immigrates to the USA so that's potentially a real blow for Frank who has lost someone who's been supporting his career yeah so when Weston went off to the states Frank's out of work or what happens to him I've got a record that I found from 1884 in centry centry it's where I had my first job acting for the first time professionally Theater Royal somewhat meager attendances this week but not withstanding the depressing effect of small audiences the artists play with considerable Spirit Mr Frank low plays Bob Garfield The Village Blacksmith very artistically so I think he's struggling with a pretty terrible part in a fairly fourth rate play I'm afraid that is probably the case by now he's late 30s so he's been in the business for quite a while and the records that we do have from the 1880s show him in Productions of what we might say was really very variable quality so obviously pickings rather thin but do you know anything else he's married he might have had children by this time well I do have a census return from 1891 which gives some information about Frank and his wife and their domestic circumstances this is from waver tree that's Liverpool isn't it that's right Frank low head of the household by this time 43 actor Ellen low wife so his wife's called Ellen doesn't give her an occupation so it looks as though Frank and Ellen don't have children no and they're living in Liverpool this is Ellen's Hometown and I think she's probably living with Frank and her extended family I see and Frank goes missing from the archive entirely between 1886 and 1889 I couldn't find anything about him um so I think it might be a good idea perhaps to go to Liverpool and see what you can find there well thank you very much I will you're very welcome however successful unsuccessful Frank was I do like the idea that that that he contributed to the gay of things by by per being in a show you know and touring around bring bringing entertainment to people that's what my mother apparently said if if Ian decides to be an actor it's a good job because it it brings pleasure to people and my sister who was an amateur actor to the day she died would have loved to know this about Frankl as much as I do but I feel I'm sort of on my own a bit of an orphan so there a bit of melancholy going on in the midst of the the thrill of Discovery you [Music] Ian has traveled to Liverpool where his great great Uncle Frank Lowe's lived with his wife Ellen in the 1890s to discover what happened to Frank's career as an actor he's come to the city's Central Library to meet theatrical historian Dr Caroline in Radcliff in the census of 1891 Frank low is down is living here in Liverpool anything you know about well I've got this document uh is very small so the amusements in Li yeah we're looking at 1892 and another Paddington Palace of varieties here as usual tempting Fair has been fully appreciated by large audiences Mr Frank low with company or can you explain this the Palace of varieties variety was just a posh name for musical and it was trying to compete with the legitimate theater but for a professional actor like Frank low it was a real drop down to be in a music hle was something which he probably wouldn't have chosen he's at the bottom of the Bell now in a musical in a rather rough area of Liverpool by the 189 90s the new variety palaces had started to replace the more traditional music halls and were competing with the dramatic theater for audiences to gain respectability they added plush theater style seating band alcohol and smoking and employed actors like Frank Lowe's to perform short dramatic sketches alongside more traditional music hall acts now we know that Frank was performing drama because is listed with a company but they could only perform a short scene so these would be extracts yeah famous plays yes you had Shakespeare or you had the latest um big production from London and then that would been dispersed with people singing that would be mixed with musicians and condas dog orchestras oh dear now the Palace of varieties where he was performing with this be a season no musical it ran a week of entertainment and then the company would they move off and they'd have to find another engagement it was extremely unreliable and precarious so he's not quite on his uppers he me he is in employment actually this is the last record that we found of him performing on stage on any type of stage I didn't know anything more what he did instead well we we do have another document what is this book this is the admissions book to the Liverpool workhouse no dear oh dear and this is in 1893 which is the year just after the Paddington Palace of varieties no Frank he is down as an actor not as a performer or a comic and something married and he was admitted by his wife Ellen it's OD 's address is given here in pencil 4 mil row where he slept last night was at 8 more place well what we see is that Ellen at this time was living at a different address oh and he had spent the night obviously somewhere else we don't know how long there'd be separated for all we know is that they were separated at that time and in the last column it gives us an indication of what was wrong with him and what bronchial so he had bronchial [Music] problems oh well at that time there was no hospitals no insurance so if you were an actor on very little money the workhouse was the last resort to get help and do we know how long he he stayed we do this is the death certificate of who for Frank oh Frank low 47 years actor and he died on the 2 of January 1894 at the Liverpool workhouse the cause of death FIS there's another word for TB or tuberculosis oh and exhaustion but he would have been pleased I suppose that he was defined by that occupation [Music] actor I don't know many actors and I wasn't one of them who thought oh I'm going to become an actor because I'm going to be rich and famous and you know so many of my own friends and so many of actors I've admired didn't have very easy lives didn't make a lot of money uh and that that is the fact about being an actor that the the few of us who who are lucky enough to be in work constantly and rewarding work and varied work I mean we we we are the exceptions but I I would like to know what the low family thought maybe they just said when they heard over in Manchester that he died in the work housee in Liverpool separated from his wife well there you go that's what happens when you go into the theater Ian knows that as a Young Man Frank lived with his family in Manchester and that his father was a clerk called Robert Lowe's Ian's great great-grandfather to find out more about Robert Ian's heading back to Manchester Professor Martin hu has been looking into Robert Lowe's Life in the city and has asked Ian to meet him at Salford Oldtown Hall Ian good to meet you Martin welcome to Salford he that you're interested in finding out something more about Robert Lowe's yeah I found him in the census in 184 one right he was working as a clerk but he had quite strong connections with this building here which is the sford town hall I see so this is from the Manchester times in 1843 sord last seeum the first and second of a course of lectures on humor and posos by Mr RJ Lowe's is this our Robert absolutely and that lecture was given here in this building the sford town hall I don't know what year this is 1843 so Robert would have been 27 he's still a young man each lecture was concluded with a dramatic illustration a characters in which were creditably sustained by amateur and members connected with the classes of the institution now what institution that would be the sford Lum and Lum is that from the same rout as l in French it means teaching of some sort the Lums were all about making more of yourself building your education Reading Writing perhaps literary classes getting on get improving yourself yeah absolutely it was that classic Victorian thing rational Recreation which is obviously about enjoying your leisure time but to make sure that it's done in a way which is improving Robert worked as a clerk but he was one of the directors of the Lum and would have been very much involved in the government of the institution wow who'd come to these lectures middle classes lower middle working class working class or very lower middle class so after a heavy day in the factory you come along here and that's and that's the big challenge you've got to try and fit this education and this Leisure into to a week which is already full of very long days six days a week they would at this stage have been working six days a week and that was also a challenge that Robert decided that he was going to have to take on by the 1840s Manchester was the largest industrial city in the world the textiles produced by its Mills and factories were housed in hundreds of giant warehouses thousands of warehousemen were employed across the city to move stock in and out and Warehouse Clarks like Robert Lowe's kept records of business with no trade unions a working day in the warehouse could last up to 15 hours 6 days a week this is from the Manchester career from the start of September 1843 a public meeting of salesmen Clarks which Robert was warehousemen and others at which UPS of a thousand persons attended Mr RJ Low's Robert honorary secretary having WR an address to the employers praying their consent to the closing of warehouses on Friday afternoons so what is this about it's about a half holiday they want a half holiday yes one half day a week I mean the suggestion here I think is that it should be Friday what Robert's trying to do is to persuade three or 400 of the leading Merchant princes of Manchester to allow the Clarks and warehousemen to have a half holiday without any reduction in pay the kind of thing that no other workers at this time would have had so this is something quite new new really quite radical does this sort of pressure yield fruit Recreation is a really controversial question in this period this kind of activity could very easily be associated with some of the more dangerous radical movements which could backfire on him personally absolutely it's going to take a slick operator to pull this off by 1843 driven in part by the city's appalling working conditions Manchester had become a hot bed of political radicalism and those pressing for social reform were often viewed with suspicion by the authorities but Robert Lowe's and his Committee of Clarks and warehousemen pressed ahead with their campaign to persuade their employers to grant them half a day off every week changing their initial request from a Friday to a Saturday halfday [Music] holiday Professor hu has brought Ian to the chief librarian's office at Manchester Central Library right Ian come in oh lovely come in thank you I've brought you here cuz I've got a document here that I think you're going to be very interested in take this out it's a little bit fragile you unroll it and I'll weigh it down it's as you can see a a scroll and you can begin to see names of the committee for obtaining the half holiday Robert J Low's what's that say says honorary secretary secretary and here are the bosses we the undersigned bankers Merchants manufacturers and Calico printers of Manchester at the respectful solicitation of those in our employment agree to close our places of business at 1:00 every Saturday afternoon and to allow our servants to leave for the day whoa these are the merchant princes of Manchester between 3 and 400 all individually signed these are the people they're petitioning these are all the people who have agreed who to Grant the half holiday that Robert low asked for so the first Saturday half holiday anywhere in Britain to which these 400 Merchants agreed to Grant was given the 10th of November 1843 oh good lord well I can't I they're astonishing and it's achieved by Robert L my great great grandfather absolutely wonderful wonderful I'm very very impressed with what Robert did this guy is in public life he talks in public the world changes because somebody has an argument with somebody and a discussion and then an agreement and you get people on your side and I know that from being involved in my activism one initiative like this doesn't change the world but it certainly helps Robert Lo and his committee's success in cutting the working week for Manchester's Clarks and warehousemen from 6 to 5 and 1 half days was a significant breakthrough but they were only a small percentage of Manchester's vast industrial Workforce who were otherwise still excluded from the new half holiday agreement to find out what happened next to his great great grandfather Robert loe's Ian has come to meet social historian Dr Amanda Wilkinson hello Ian Amanda nice to see you welcome to Manchester's famous 19th century retail area yeah should we go and get a cup of tea yep so after the success of Robert's half holiday campaign what next can you fill in the blanks in 1845 Robert gives up his job as a Clark and he set sets himself up as a publisher and a printer he runs it as a business but he also begins to print this the Lancer witch's holiday Herald this is his means to expand campaigning for the half holiday through this magazine yes it's a collection of stories political articles poems campaigning for the half holiday to be extended to the needle women okay so these women are needle women in in the 1840s are amongst the most exploited and put upon workers in Britain these girls worked in the most horrific conditions in rooms often in the back of shops poorly lit very little ventilation they're preparing all these beautiful beautiful gowns these amazing hats for the shops at the front for the witch women to buy and they're working up to 19 hours a day even really quite young children there are reports of them working up to 19 hours a day with nothing but a bucket in the corner for their toilet they work every day and they get paid a pittance these are the women that Robert is now campaigning for to try and get them some holiday to try and get them a break to get them out in the fresh air to give them a chance to better themselves tell me that Robert L's made a difference this is the Manchester times in 1845 and here is a speech by Robert Los ah to the principles in the retail millenary dress and straw Bonnet making establishments of Manchester ladies and gentlemen we call upon the whole body of employers to listen to the painful outcry of human suffering to respect the sympathy of the public and to agree upon such steps as will check the growth of these destructive evils and yield to those who suffer by them a brief period of healthful breathing time and rest oo I can hear him saying this no justice to our own consciences to the laws of God and to the established usage of society demand its discontinuance and it's signed by rjo chairman he's chairman now he was Secretary of the previous initiative now he's chairman running this outfit he is at 29 so what success did he have with speeches like this well a month after this speech was given there was a response here in the Manchester Courier the result has been That 160 establishments signed an agreement to close on the Saturday afternoon this Noble example has been followed by the wine and spirit Merchants saddlers the crown plate glass company Etc the iron mongers have nearly agreed and the tailor have already gained that holiday this is a staggering result the news of the half holiday spreads like wildfire across the country uh we have cities like Bradford and Norwich very rapidly commencing their own half holidays based on the principles of Robert Los and his committee by the 1870s the needle women in London have their half holiday and we start to see the evolution of the weekend as we understand it now so we can say that not only is Robert Lo's your great great grandfather but he can also be viewed as the grand father of the modern weekend well the negative side of that is that actors have to work at the weekend because everybody else is not thank you Robert but anyway look that's wonderful news does that mean it's the end of the campaigning no um Robert and his committee carried on campaigning right the way through the 1850s 1860s the original campaign fund that was set up for the warehousemen and Clarks keeps going but Robert and his committee are making charitable donations to all sorts of other worthy causes I see and they make their final donation in the year of 1868 £4,000 which is being raised in Aid of the building fund of the Manchester District warehouseman and Clark's orphan school at jetel h Amanda I know that school because my grandfather William H mckel went to this school I'd always known that my grandfather wh McKellen had been to a school for Orphans in chel Hume and now I discovered that this school was founded through the efforts of Robert the grandfather of the woman he was going to marry mother Mac Ian is the first person in his family to discover this extraordinary coincidence that in 1868 Robert Lowe's and his committee helped to fund the building of the school that Ian's grandfather William McKellen later attended as a pupil William never knew Robert but later met and married Robert's granddaughter Alice joining the loe's and McKellen families 148 years later chedel Hume school as it's now known is still going strong last year Ian was invited to speak to students here on behalf of Stonewall the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender rights pressure group which he helped to set up in 1989 but I didn't think I'd be back so soon welcome back school librarian K Smith has been looking into the school's link with Ian's great great-grandfather Robert Lowe's as you now know Robert loe's contributed £4,000 to the school's building fund and just to put that in some sort of context the original estimate for this building was £ 7,636 Shillings and TOS it made it possible for the school to go on and prosper did you have to be an orphan to come here um orphan in our sense meant the loss of one parent I see and to come here on a free place as an orphan you would have to have had somebody in the family paying a subscription to the school I've got the annual reports for 1869 and in it there is a list of all the people who are actually subscribing to the school at that time Robert NOS yeah that's him that's him and he's contributed a guinea yeah and that was the standard subscription at the time which would enable his children should he or his wife die or become incapacitated to have a guaranteed place at the school there may well be a very specific reason why Robert decided to subscribe to the school in the first place well this is a death certificate 1868 in January so that's around the time of the donation Jane low y age 48 wife of Robert Lowe's Robert was now a widower and he would have been left with seven children to look after seven children wow so possibly this event concentrated Robert's mind that he might need to make provision for his younger children should anything happen to him yes so do do we know if any of his children came here the students they didn't actually um he only subscribed until the following year 1870 and then suddenly stopped now there could have been a number of reasons for this possibly financial hardship seven children yeah he may not have been well himself oh tell me more if you'd like to perhaps take a look at that document oh well this is his death certificate Robert sha Lowe's age 56 cause of death emphysema I see you might find a little bit more about Robert's death here that's his obituary Manchester City news lately recorded the death of Mr RJ Lowe's that's our man of Hume age 56 he was a native of carile up north and a son of Mr James loe's the engraver of Hutchinson's history of Cumberland Mr was eventful and active life closed on the 17th of last month it is gratifying to add that his last moments were observed by the kind benevolence of many old friends Robert obviously died in straightened circumstances but what he did achieve throughout his life and through the half holiday committee had made an immense difference and in fact just five years after Robert died your own grandfather was elected to the school as a pupil just 5 years later 5 years later see how these things all all fit together yeah amazing coincidence you have to admire Robert's achievements if this school hadn't been endowed by my great great grandfather my grandfather wh mcken wouldn't have had an education probably at all what I'd always hoped was true about the mcons and and and people they married was an attitude to life doing good and helping other people and this bright radical thinking Clark stood up and changed the world I am that is the word [Music] proud Ian has decided to explore one last story in his family tree he now knows from Robert loe's obituary that Robert's father was an engraver called James loe's and that during the late 18th century the Lowe's family were based in carile in the county of Cumberland now called Cumbria Ian's traveling north to Cumbria to find out more about James his great great great grandfather it's an area that he knows well from his childhood I came to the Lake District before I can remember my family was typical of many lancastrian families we went to it often walking my dad was a climber with ropes and special boots going up the mountains that way I I've only never scrambled up them sometimes on all fours there's a close relationship for lancastrians between the dark satanic Mills and the utter beauty of the hills and the Fells of the Lake District Ian come to carile where James Lowe's lived and worked in the 1790s he's arranged to meet curator Melanie Gardner at the city's Tully House Museum to find out more about James morning morning pleas to meet you Ian to lovely to welcome you to House Museum and art gallery thank you very much indeed all right what a day it's fantastic stories like this in Carolina Tully house holds an original copy of Hutchinson's history of Cumberland which James Lowe's helped to illustrate this is the history of Cumberland it's in two volumes and if we open up the front's piece the history of the county of Cumberland and some places adjacent the book was published here in carile in 1794 it's the standard history of the county and it's a very important book and James Lowe's produced many of the Engravings in this book and they really are the crowning achievement oh so look at that car Castle beautiful and I love the details of the weather the clouds these images were important of course you think it's the late 18th century the late District had been discovered tourists were visiting looking at the picturesque scenery and this book was so important that it was distributed in London so that it was widely available to the middle classes a very attractive book to purchase would almost be like a coffee table book and here is illustrating basson's way oh but hang out it says J Lo's sculpt sculpt it he yes he engraved it engraved it he was a young man at this time developing his skills as an engraver beautiful AR there yes oh look Dr Monument yes so do you think he would necessarily have to have actually been to a scene like that before he engraved it not necessarily because he could have been copying another artists's work but if we look at this one oh I say how beautiful the west view of lanac cost PRI JLo's what does it say after that d d d l Dell delineated maybe yes okay and over here it says and sculpted yes he not only engraved this West View of Lanos prior but he drew it so he was there he was on the spot at that time sort of late 18th century artists are exploring the landscape for the first time and Cumbria was in a very important place for that because of the beauty of the Lake District Ian has decided to head into the Lake District to bassen Lake which his great great great grandfather the artist James Lowe's depicted in the 1790s he's meeting up with Professor Keith Hanley an expert on the history of the Lake District Keith you look you look like the hermit of B this way I am Hello nice to meet you welcome to bwe Lake I've never been well here you are in the footsteps of your great great great grandfather James Lowe's who stood in 1794 on this spot when he drew the lake and it's not changed is it hardly at all look at his engraving of it yes you can see all the main features exactly as they were he slightly exaggerated reality because this rather exciting mountain is there a rather domestic Hill but this feels what it feels like to be here right what so what he's got is the is the feeling and that that's being an artist isn't it it is an artist that's right your great great great grandfather he had a modest role in a major drama whereby this whole region was developed from being a relatively neglected provincial Backwater to becoming what it is today which is really one of the leading cultural landscapes in the world Wordsworth of course who was born at cockermouth just five five miles from here wrote about it being for everyone with an eye to see and a heart to feel and he didn't much approve of the railways coming here he didn't very much later he was very much get out of their carriages and bloody well walk right when we come to the romantics of course especially Wordsworth they are much more interested in real experience the real encounter with nature would James LS have been aware of wus views and perhaps shared them we actually know he did because he took out an advert in the carile journal in 1802 explaining his principles how old would he be now about 28 28 yeah September the 25th drawing school at Mr Jolly's Jay knows teacher of drawing by this stage he's been engraving for nine years he's now advertised his Services as a drawing Master to delineate faithfully and elegantly the tints and proportions of nature to catch her varied forms as they are found to strike the eye is the object of landscape but how is this to be done not surely by by shutting ourselves up and copying after a copy but by observing Nature's self and seeing her living features get out the house put your boots on take your brushes or your pencil exactly yeah and be in in inside nature yeah that's wonderful but you know there's another side to the Romantic North this is only part of the story The the pictures landscape and S this also the dark North there are a lot of Druid ctes and particularly the one that he depicted here which is the druid's monument at kezic it's wizard country this there something that should really interest you yes yes well I'm going to romance this man he's got a hat on yes he and a pair of Brites and he's got a a staff he has so I think it's a little self-portrait that James has popped in that could be yes that could be James yes run not but it could be you too to end his journey Ian has decided to retrace his great great great grandfather's footsteps to the ancient stone circle near kzk which James Lowe's engraved 220 years ago October the 5th walked up the pen Road 2 miles or more and turning into a cornfield to the right called cast rigged saw a large Druid circle of stones they are 50 in number most of them still erect the biggest not 8 ft High it is not improbable that the head Druid with his colleagues did perform their rights their divinations in these places know that thou stands on consecrated ground the mighty pile of magic planted Rock thus ringed in Mystic order marks the place where but at times of holiest Festival the Druid leads this [Music] train sort of inevitable isn't it that James should have loved places like this and recorded them and encouraged other people to come I wonder if James's son the radical Robert came up here and I I do feel that I could always touch these fruitful I feel happy in their company they've done remarkable things and they're [Music] talented and um and and part of the world not not loners it doesn't matter really to me that I I'm the last of the mechan hels that's that's all right but I do feel just a little bit more secure as a [Music] person yes I think probably I'll never be quite the same but in a good [Music] way

Channel: Who Do You Think You Are?

Views: 115,229

Keywords: who do you think you are, wdytya, who do you think you are uk, who do you think you are BBC

Id: _zFNKS9A434

Length: 57min 28sec (3448 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 23 2024