1 00:00:04,100 --> 00:00:07,900 When we live in a house, we're just passing through. 2 00:00:07,900 --> 00:00:10,220 People have occupied it before us, 3 00:00:10,220 --> 00:00:13,740 others will take our place when we leave. 4 00:00:13,740 --> 00:00:17,740 100 human dramas played out in every room. 5 00:00:20,420 --> 00:00:23,260 Every house in Britain has a story to tell, 6 00:00:23,260 --> 00:00:27,740 but in this series I'm going to uncover the secret life of just one. 7 00:00:27,740 --> 00:00:30,380 A single townhouse, here in Liverpool. 8 00:00:35,460 --> 00:00:39,900 A city that rivalled New York in the late 19th century. 9 00:00:39,900 --> 00:00:44,020 Yet, 100 years later, was one of the poorest places in Europe. 10 00:00:45,620 --> 00:00:49,660 In many ways, 62 Falkner Street is an ordinary house. 11 00:00:49,660 --> 00:00:51,740 But as I'm going to show you, 12 00:00:51,740 --> 00:00:54,380 in reality, it's an amazing treasure-trove. 13 00:00:54,380 --> 00:00:59,540 Cos he leaves them not just £100, but also number 62 Falkner Street. 14 00:01:00,220 --> 00:01:03,380 In March 1885, again, in this house, 15 00:01:03,380 --> 00:01:06,140 he grabbed her by the throat and assaulted her. 16 00:01:06,140 --> 00:01:09,980 The life that you can see recorded in these old documents 17 00:01:09,980 --> 00:01:11,420 is extraordinary. 18 00:01:11,420 --> 00:01:12,940 Delving into the archives, 19 00:01:12,940 --> 00:01:16,300 I'll use the personal histories of the residents of this house 20 00:01:16,300 --> 00:01:20,740 to reveal the story of Britain over almost 200 years. 21 00:01:22,580 --> 00:01:25,220 It's a period of seismic social change. 22 00:01:25,220 --> 00:01:27,740 From the early years of Victoria's reign... 23 00:01:29,020 --> 00:01:30,820 ..right through to the present day. 24 00:01:33,140 --> 00:01:38,020 In this episode, we look at the house from the 1890s to the 1940s 25 00:01:38,020 --> 00:01:42,500 when its residents struggle with technological revolution. 26 00:01:42,500 --> 00:01:45,940 "We have nothing to fear from motor carriages." 27 00:01:45,940 --> 00:01:48,940 Two world wars changed the house forever. 28 00:01:48,940 --> 00:01:50,580 The bombs fell right here. 29 00:01:50,580 --> 00:01:53,180 And the building descends into shabby lodgings. 30 00:01:54,420 --> 00:01:57,140 I'm going on the ultimate detective hunt, 31 00:01:57,140 --> 00:02:00,780 to uncover lives that haven't been recorded in the history books, 32 00:02:00,780 --> 00:02:04,860 but which can tell us a new version of our nation's past. 33 00:02:04,860 --> 00:02:09,260 A new history of Britain, hidden within the walls of a single house. 34 00:02:26,620 --> 00:02:30,260 Welcome to 62 Falkner Street. 35 00:02:30,260 --> 00:02:33,060 Today, it's home to a 21st-century family. 36 00:02:34,460 --> 00:02:37,500 Gaynor and her two children, Rosie and Tom. 37 00:02:40,980 --> 00:02:42,540 GAYNOR: Good idea! 38 00:02:42,540 --> 00:02:44,420 SHE LAUGHS 39 00:02:44,420 --> 00:02:48,300 Built in the early 1840s as a merchant's residence, 40 00:02:48,300 --> 00:02:52,540 by the late 1880s it had become an up-market lodging house... 41 00:02:54,500 --> 00:02:57,500 ..run by landlady Catherine Robertson. 42 00:03:00,700 --> 00:03:05,620 Now it's 1890, and she's selling the house to new residents. 43 00:03:05,620 --> 00:03:06,580 But who are they? 44 00:03:10,340 --> 00:03:14,060 To find out, I'm delving deep into the archives. 45 00:03:15,140 --> 00:03:18,380 And hunting through official records. 46 00:03:18,380 --> 00:03:22,180 So I've called up a page from the 1891 census, 47 00:03:22,180 --> 00:03:26,660 and that tells us that the new residents of 62 Falkner Street 48 00:03:26,660 --> 00:03:28,420 are the Snewing family. 49 00:03:28,420 --> 00:03:31,980 William Snewing, who's 48 years old. 50 00:03:31,980 --> 00:03:35,620 And under profession or occupation it says, "saddler," 51 00:03:35,620 --> 00:03:37,700 which means that he's a manufacturer 52 00:03:37,700 --> 00:03:40,900 of saddles and harnesses and bridles for horses. 53 00:03:42,500 --> 00:03:44,580 To afford 62 Falkner Street, 54 00:03:44,580 --> 00:03:49,460 William Snewing was clearly more than just a jobbing saddle-maker. 55 00:03:49,460 --> 00:03:52,060 Perhaps he even ran his own business. 56 00:03:52,060 --> 00:03:55,140 He's married, his wife is Fanny Snewing, 57 00:03:55,140 --> 00:03:59,020 and I think it says a lot about the way women's work was regarded 58 00:03:59,020 --> 00:04:02,700 in the 19th century that under occupation there's nothing. 59 00:04:02,700 --> 00:04:05,220 She doesn't have an occupation, according to the census, 60 00:04:05,220 --> 00:04:08,300 and yet, the couple have six children. 61 00:04:08,300 --> 00:04:11,300 There's a 13-year-old, 12-year-old, ten-year-old, seven-year-old, 62 00:04:11,300 --> 00:04:13,500 three-year-old and an eight-month-old baby. 63 00:04:13,500 --> 00:04:16,300 So she's not exactly living a life of leisure. 64 00:04:16,300 --> 00:04:20,340 The other resident is a 19-year-old domestic servant. 65 00:04:20,340 --> 00:04:22,380 The fact that they can afford a domestic servant 66 00:04:22,380 --> 00:04:23,900 and they can afford to live here 67 00:04:23,900 --> 00:04:26,620 means that they're probably not rich, but they're certainly 68 00:04:26,620 --> 00:04:28,220 going to be a comfortable, 69 00:04:28,220 --> 00:04:30,660 relatively well-off middle-class family. 70 00:04:36,340 --> 00:04:38,940 In the basement of 62 Falkner Street 71 00:04:38,940 --> 00:04:40,060 was the kitchen 72 00:04:40,060 --> 00:04:42,060 and a bedroom, where we THINK 73 00:04:42,060 --> 00:04:43,540 their domestic servant lived. 74 00:04:44,860 --> 00:04:46,780 On the ground floor, at the rear, 75 00:04:46,780 --> 00:04:50,060 a day room, where the Snewings lived on a day-to-day basis. 76 00:04:52,500 --> 00:04:56,660 At the front, the dining room, used only for entertaining guests. 77 00:04:59,540 --> 00:05:03,180 On the first floor was the parlour, the grandest room in the house. 78 00:05:03,180 --> 00:05:04,180 Just for best. 79 00:05:06,620 --> 00:05:09,340 Across the way, the main bedroom. 80 00:05:09,340 --> 00:05:11,060 Used by William and Fanny. 81 00:05:13,340 --> 00:05:16,380 Then, on the top floor, were bedrooms. 82 00:05:16,380 --> 00:05:19,820 Most likely shared by the six Snewing children. 83 00:05:23,700 --> 00:05:26,740 Inside the house you can begin to imagine what it must've been like 84 00:05:26,740 --> 00:05:29,860 when it was the family home of the Snewings. 85 00:05:29,860 --> 00:05:32,580 You wonder - what were the sounds that echoed around 86 00:05:32,580 --> 00:05:34,860 these corridors and these rooms? 87 00:05:34,860 --> 00:05:37,300 Did they have a piano, like many people did? 88 00:05:37,300 --> 00:05:40,580 Did the children sit in this room and have piano lessons? 89 00:05:40,580 --> 00:05:43,660 Did they go out and buy one of the new gramophones? 90 00:05:43,660 --> 00:05:47,180 The main sound for many, many years in this house 91 00:05:47,180 --> 00:05:51,340 must have been the sounds of children, SIX children. 92 00:05:51,340 --> 00:05:55,380 FAINT ECHO OF CHILDREN PLAYING AND LAUGHING 93 00:05:55,380 --> 00:05:59,460 The two youngest, Lillian and Mabel, were actually born in the house. 94 00:06:03,340 --> 00:06:05,940 Ranging in age from teenagers to toddlers, 95 00:06:05,940 --> 00:06:08,140 the ground floor day room would have been full 96 00:06:08,140 --> 00:06:10,220 of their toys and games. 97 00:06:11,860 --> 00:06:16,180 This is one of the last remaining original features in the house 98 00:06:16,180 --> 00:06:19,380 and you can imagine children sliding down this banister 99 00:06:19,380 --> 00:06:23,780 and really taking possession of the house and making it really feel 100 00:06:23,780 --> 00:06:26,660 and sound like a family home. 101 00:06:27,660 --> 00:06:29,420 Around the back were stables, 102 00:06:29,420 --> 00:06:32,540 where the Snewings probably kept their main form of transport... 103 00:06:34,380 --> 00:06:35,580 A horse and cart. 104 00:06:40,900 --> 00:06:44,060 If we take a look at the jobs their neighbours did 105 00:06:44,060 --> 00:06:46,140 it gives us a good indication 106 00:06:46,140 --> 00:06:50,540 of how the social status of the street's residents has changed. 107 00:06:50,540 --> 00:06:52,980 There's a draper's agent, a brush-maker. 108 00:06:55,500 --> 00:06:58,580 A watchmaker and a painter. 109 00:07:01,620 --> 00:07:04,620 These are not the merchant and managerial classes 110 00:07:04,620 --> 00:07:05,820 who once lived here. 111 00:07:08,140 --> 00:07:09,540 By the 1890s, 112 00:07:09,540 --> 00:07:13,180 Falkner Street was clearly less fashionable than it had been. 113 00:07:19,620 --> 00:07:21,100 The Snewings first appear 114 00:07:21,100 --> 00:07:24,460 in Liverpool's Gore's Directory in 1877. 115 00:07:25,900 --> 00:07:29,220 When they're living in nearby Upper Hope Place. 116 00:07:32,500 --> 00:07:36,540 By the 1890s they had made enough money to move up the ladder into 117 00:07:36,540 --> 00:07:39,580 the much larger 62 Falkner Street. 118 00:07:42,260 --> 00:07:45,060 As this early footage of Liverpool shows, 119 00:07:45,060 --> 00:07:49,260 horses powered all forms of transport on the city's streets. 120 00:07:52,900 --> 00:07:56,780 So saddlery and harness-making were profitable trades to be in. 121 00:07:58,100 --> 00:07:59,740 TRAIN WHISTLE HOOTS 122 00:07:59,740 --> 00:08:03,340 Even the coming of the railways didn't dent the industry. 123 00:08:03,340 --> 00:08:07,420 In fact, the number of working horses increased dramatically 124 00:08:07,420 --> 00:08:10,940 as they were still needed to move goods to and from stations. 125 00:08:14,940 --> 00:08:18,620 In the city, they lugged carts laden with goods from the docks, 126 00:08:18,620 --> 00:08:22,780 pulled trams, and carriages owned by wealthy merchants. 127 00:08:24,660 --> 00:08:26,260 There were over three million 128 00:08:26,260 --> 00:08:28,620 working horses in Britain at the time. 129 00:08:31,820 --> 00:08:33,300 But I have a question. 130 00:08:34,660 --> 00:08:39,300 If William Snewing did run a saddlery business, how big was it? 131 00:08:40,620 --> 00:08:44,220 The 1891 census simply tells us he's a saddle-maker. 132 00:08:46,820 --> 00:08:50,460 So I'm looking back through the archives for more clues. 133 00:08:51,540 --> 00:08:55,300 The 1881 census tells us a little bit more. 134 00:08:55,300 --> 00:08:58,820 William is listed here as employing 11 men. 135 00:08:58,820 --> 00:09:02,060 So this is clearly a proper saddle-making business. 136 00:09:02,060 --> 00:09:06,860 And if we spin forward, 20 years through time to the 1901 census, 137 00:09:06,860 --> 00:09:11,420 we can see that their son, William Junior, who was then 23, 138 00:09:11,420 --> 00:09:14,900 has joined the firm as a saddler's assistant. 139 00:09:14,900 --> 00:09:17,260 So this is a classic family business. 140 00:09:25,660 --> 00:09:28,900 I've trawled through trade magazines and newspapers, 141 00:09:28,900 --> 00:09:33,500 looking for references to Snewing Saddle-makers, but found nothing. 142 00:09:35,980 --> 00:09:39,020 In fact, I could see no reference to them anywhere. 143 00:09:43,380 --> 00:09:46,540 I need to find some sort of family connection. 144 00:09:48,220 --> 00:09:51,580 By forward tracing Snewing descendants, using birth, 145 00:09:51,580 --> 00:09:55,660 marriage and death certificates, I HAVE tracked down a relative, 146 00:09:55,660 --> 00:09:57,980 who I hope can provide some answers. 147 00:09:57,980 --> 00:09:59,540 SHE LAUGHS 148 00:09:59,540 --> 00:10:03,100 Eileen Burkenshaw's husband John was William's grandson. 149 00:10:06,060 --> 00:10:09,020 He was absolutely besotted with the history of the Snewings. 150 00:10:10,540 --> 00:10:13,380 She has found photographs of William and Fanny 151 00:10:13,380 --> 00:10:15,620 taken around the turn of the 20th century. 152 00:10:17,860 --> 00:10:22,900 She also has a picture of William's uncle, Charles Snewing, 153 00:10:22,900 --> 00:10:24,540 that gives us a clue 154 00:10:24,540 --> 00:10:27,580 as to where William's passion for horses came from. 155 00:10:28,780 --> 00:10:31,020 This is a painting of Caratacus, 156 00:10:31,020 --> 00:10:34,660 with Charles Snewing and, of course, the jockey, 157 00:10:34,660 --> 00:10:37,300 and this blue is the Snewing colour. 158 00:10:37,300 --> 00:10:38,780 They won the Derby. 159 00:10:38,780 --> 00:10:42,140 And this is 1862, so you can see why he wanted to be in the horse trade. 160 00:10:42,140 --> 00:10:43,180 Yes. Yeah. 161 00:10:43,180 --> 00:10:45,100 It's in the blood, clearly. Yes. 162 00:10:47,820 --> 00:10:50,540 As a young man, his uncle's success at the Derby 163 00:10:50,540 --> 00:10:52,940 must have made a deep impression on William. 164 00:10:56,220 --> 00:10:58,660 And Eileen has another family treasure 165 00:10:58,660 --> 00:11:01,300 that I'm hoping will provide more clues 166 00:11:01,300 --> 00:11:03,740 about William's saddlery business. 167 00:11:03,740 --> 00:11:06,580 All that we know about the Snewings was in this letter. 168 00:11:06,580 --> 00:11:08,780 So this is real treasure? So this is... 169 00:11:08,780 --> 00:11:10,340 LAUGHING: It's wonderful. So... 170 00:11:10,340 --> 00:11:12,060 So, tell me, tell me... And all handwritten. 171 00:11:12,060 --> 00:11:13,260 ..what it tells me. 172 00:11:13,260 --> 00:11:16,580 "William Snewing was always interested in horses, 173 00:11:16,580 --> 00:11:18,940 "and finding it either impossible or impracticable 174 00:11:18,940 --> 00:11:20,820 "to be a veterinary surgeon, 175 00:11:20,820 --> 00:11:24,700 "he joined the firm Mennies, who were leather merchants." 176 00:11:24,700 --> 00:11:27,100 So, he'd wanted to be a vet... 177 00:11:27,100 --> 00:11:29,140 And couldn't... Couldn't get the training or... 178 00:11:29,140 --> 00:11:30,860 Perhaps he wasn't capable, I don't know. 179 00:11:30,860 --> 00:11:33,420 Yes. So, he's gone to London to be an apprentice, I think? 180 00:11:33,420 --> 00:11:38,060 Yes, in saddlery, horsemanship, anything he could find, I suppose. 181 00:11:38,060 --> 00:11:43,340 Anyway... "William soon encountered obstacles to his plans. 182 00:11:43,780 --> 00:11:46,620 "Mennies had an agreement with all their staff, 183 00:11:46,620 --> 00:11:48,420 "that if they set up in opposition, 184 00:11:48,420 --> 00:11:50,660 "it had to be more than 50 miles away. 185 00:11:50,660 --> 00:11:51,980 "So, he chose the town, 186 00:11:51,980 --> 00:11:55,540 "which in 1875 was the most prosperous 187 00:11:55,540 --> 00:12:00,100 "and certainly the most aristocratic outside London - Liverpool. 188 00:12:00,100 --> 00:12:04,780 "He took over ownership by loan of Dobell & Son." 189 00:12:04,780 --> 00:12:06,660 Ah, Dobell & Sons. 190 00:12:06,660 --> 00:12:08,540 Yes. That's the company's name? 191 00:12:08,540 --> 00:12:09,540 Yes. 192 00:12:10,780 --> 00:12:12,460 So it sounds like he's gone to London, 193 00:12:12,460 --> 00:12:14,220 learnt the leather trade 194 00:12:14,220 --> 00:12:17,860 and then decided to take those skills out into a new venture... 195 00:12:17,860 --> 00:12:21,140 Mm-hm. ..and chosen Liverpool and come to the town 196 00:12:21,140 --> 00:12:22,540 and then bought this company. 197 00:12:25,780 --> 00:12:27,860 Now I have the name of the company, 198 00:12:27,860 --> 00:12:29,820 I can look them up in Gore's Directory. 199 00:12:31,500 --> 00:12:36,780 And it reveals that Dobell & Son were based at 31 Church Street. 200 00:12:37,380 --> 00:12:41,220 Today, Church Street is exactly what it was back in the 19th century, 201 00:12:41,220 --> 00:12:44,060 it's one of Liverpool's main shopping streets. 202 00:12:44,060 --> 00:12:47,860 It's about 20 minutes by foot from Falkner Street up the hill, 203 00:12:47,860 --> 00:12:49,460 but William and Fanny Snewing 204 00:12:49,460 --> 00:12:51,540 probably didn't come down here by foot, 205 00:12:51,540 --> 00:12:53,860 they probably came in a horse and carriage. 206 00:12:58,060 --> 00:12:59,740 And they had to come down here 207 00:12:59,740 --> 00:13:03,980 because that's the site of their saddlery and harness shop. 208 00:13:07,060 --> 00:13:09,500 This is a prime city centre location, 209 00:13:09,500 --> 00:13:11,860 and you can imagine what the shop would have been like, 210 00:13:11,860 --> 00:13:15,140 with the saddles and the harnesses all around the door, decorating it. 211 00:13:17,420 --> 00:13:21,260 It would have looked like what it is, a thriving city centre business, 212 00:13:21,260 --> 00:13:24,580 involved in a trade that was essential to the lives of absolutely 213 00:13:24,580 --> 00:13:26,380 everybody in the late 19th century. 214 00:13:28,980 --> 00:13:33,340 They were in a prime location, so presumably, doing well. 215 00:13:35,900 --> 00:13:39,380 I want to know the type of saddlery Dobell & Sons were making, 216 00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:40,980 and who they were selling it to. 217 00:13:44,020 --> 00:13:46,140 So I've come to what was once the heart 218 00:13:46,140 --> 00:13:48,940 of the Victorian saddle-making industry... 219 00:13:48,940 --> 00:13:51,140 Walsall, in the West Midlands. 220 00:13:52,860 --> 00:13:55,780 Today, it's still a centre for leather-working. 221 00:13:55,780 --> 00:13:59,180 A select few make saddles here for the leisure market. 222 00:14:03,740 --> 00:14:07,900 The curator of Walsall's Leather Museum, Michael Glasson, 223 00:14:07,900 --> 00:14:12,220 has been searching the archives for any reference to Dobell & Son. 224 00:14:12,220 --> 00:14:13,460 Mike. Hi, David. 225 00:14:13,460 --> 00:14:15,100 Hi. What have you found? 226 00:14:15,100 --> 00:14:18,220 Well, we found a few obscure references to Dobell & Sons. 227 00:14:18,220 --> 00:14:19,820 They're not easy to track down. 228 00:14:19,820 --> 00:14:23,620 Here we've got a reference to the Liverpool International Exhibition, 229 00:14:23,620 --> 00:14:25,660 and Dobell & Sons win a prize - 230 00:14:25,660 --> 00:14:28,700 this is 1886 - for their saddlery and bridles. 231 00:14:28,700 --> 00:14:31,940 So it suggests that it's... You know, it's high-end stuff. 232 00:14:34,900 --> 00:14:37,980 Michael has also found some classified adverts, 233 00:14:37,980 --> 00:14:40,260 placed in Liverpool newspapers. 234 00:14:40,260 --> 00:14:42,020 We've got one here, too - 235 00:14:42,020 --> 00:14:45,300 a light set silver-mounted harness by Dobell. 236 00:14:45,300 --> 00:14:48,340 And then another one here, too... 237 00:14:48,340 --> 00:14:51,820 Plated mountings on a set of double and single harness 238 00:14:51,820 --> 00:14:53,020 by Dobell & Son. 239 00:14:53,020 --> 00:14:54,700 These are the metal parts? 240 00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:56,940 These are the metal parts, the sort of the buckles, 241 00:14:56,940 --> 00:14:59,300 and the sort of ornate fittings. 242 00:14:59,300 --> 00:15:03,620 So this stuff is really desirable. 243 00:15:03,620 --> 00:15:05,220 It's part... Blingy, yes. Yeah. 244 00:15:05,220 --> 00:15:06,980 So, patent, shiny leather... Yeah. 245 00:15:06,980 --> 00:15:09,540 ..and nice silver buckles and metalwork. Yes. 246 00:15:09,540 --> 00:15:11,460 So you can imagine, it would be very striking. 247 00:15:13,740 --> 00:15:16,220 So William Snewing's Liverpool shop 248 00:15:16,220 --> 00:15:18,460 focused on the top end of the market. 249 00:15:18,460 --> 00:15:21,900 What's happening in the late 19th century is that increasingly, 250 00:15:21,900 --> 00:15:24,980 the cheaper saddlery and harness is being made in Walsall. 251 00:15:24,980 --> 00:15:27,780 Where we are now. Where we are now, in factories like this, 252 00:15:27,780 --> 00:15:29,740 and there were about 200 factories in Walsall, 253 00:15:29,740 --> 00:15:33,260 are really cornering the market in ready-made saddlery and harness, 254 00:15:33,260 --> 00:15:34,900 and they're very, very good at it 255 00:15:34,900 --> 00:15:37,300 and they can churn it out really cheaply. 256 00:15:41,820 --> 00:15:44,460 But their secret weapon, their competitive advantage, 257 00:15:44,460 --> 00:15:47,900 is the fact that unlike the saddlers in Liverpool and other centres, 258 00:15:47,900 --> 00:15:50,740 they're getting all the stitching done by women stitchers. 259 00:15:58,380 --> 00:16:01,500 Male saddle-makers were paid up to 40 shillings a week. 260 00:16:03,980 --> 00:16:06,980 But they could get away with paying women just ten shillings. 261 00:16:09,020 --> 00:16:11,620 That was less than a third of the wage needed 262 00:16:11,620 --> 00:16:14,220 to support a family in the 1890s. 263 00:16:15,540 --> 00:16:20,780 Exploiting women gave Walsall saddle-makers a competitive edge 264 00:16:21,380 --> 00:16:25,060 and allowed them to produce more saddlery at a cheaper rate. 265 00:16:27,100 --> 00:16:31,100 Dobell & Son in Liverpool couldn't hope to compete in this market. 266 00:16:32,380 --> 00:16:36,060 So for Dobell & Sons, the options are either you sack all the male 267 00:16:36,060 --> 00:16:40,140 saddle-makers, hire a load of women and pay them peanuts, 268 00:16:40,140 --> 00:16:43,740 or you go into the top end of the market. Yeah. 269 00:16:43,740 --> 00:16:47,220 So they are providing services to the wealthy... Yes. 270 00:16:47,220 --> 00:16:50,060 ..and that's where you can manage to find a niche in the market 271 00:16:50,060 --> 00:16:52,740 cos you can't compete with what's being produced here in Walsall. 272 00:16:52,740 --> 00:16:54,940 Yeah, yeah. So it's quite clever what they've done. 273 00:16:54,940 --> 00:16:55,940 Yes, yes. 274 00:17:00,260 --> 00:17:03,860 By 1897, the Snewings had lived in 62 Falkner Street 275 00:17:03,860 --> 00:17:05,460 for seven years. 276 00:17:07,260 --> 00:17:08,540 In that same year, 277 00:17:08,540 --> 00:17:12,180 Gore's Directory shows that Dobell & Son have moved from Church Street 278 00:17:12,180 --> 00:17:14,180 in the heart of the city. 279 00:17:16,300 --> 00:17:19,700 Their new address is 22 Paradise Street. 280 00:17:21,940 --> 00:17:24,980 These days, Paradise Street has been very much tidied up, 281 00:17:24,980 --> 00:17:27,540 but in the 19th century, this was a side street, 282 00:17:27,540 --> 00:17:31,300 it was off the main thoroughfare, away from the route to the docks, 283 00:17:31,300 --> 00:17:34,380 and so for the Snewings to relocate their shop to here, 284 00:17:34,380 --> 00:17:36,780 and we think their shop was somewhere around here, 285 00:17:36,780 --> 00:17:39,380 has got to mean that they were downsizing, 286 00:17:39,380 --> 00:17:41,140 that their business was in decline. 287 00:17:43,900 --> 00:17:48,340 By the late 1890s, we know transport was about to be revolutionised. 288 00:17:50,380 --> 00:17:53,660 But to establish what was hitting Dobell & Son's trade, 289 00:17:53,660 --> 00:17:57,500 I've tracked down a sixth-generation saddle manufacturer, 290 00:17:57,500 --> 00:18:00,140 who has spent his life working in the industry... 291 00:18:01,420 --> 00:18:04,020 Cliff Kirby-Tibbits. ..An ongoing problem. 292 00:18:04,020 --> 00:18:06,060 Some of the people started to buy bikes, 293 00:18:06,060 --> 00:18:08,100 and latterly you then had the car. 294 00:18:08,100 --> 00:18:11,540 And, in fact, if you read this article here from Saddlery And Harness News... 295 00:18:11,540 --> 00:18:14,020 So this is the trade magazine? This is the Bible. Right. 296 00:18:14,020 --> 00:18:16,780 "Now we hear another cry threatening the extinction 297 00:18:16,780 --> 00:18:18,220 "of the horse on our roads. 298 00:18:18,220 --> 00:18:21,500 "Carriages propelled along the highway by machinery worked by 299 00:18:21,500 --> 00:18:24,980 "a small quantity of petroleum are now causing great excitement." 300 00:18:24,980 --> 00:18:26,860 Then it goes on to say that, 301 00:18:26,860 --> 00:18:29,980 "We have nothing at all to fear from motor carriages." 302 00:18:29,980 --> 00:18:31,420 CLIFF LAUGHS 303 00:18:31,420 --> 00:18:34,300 So they're pretty confident that the car's a fad. 304 00:18:34,300 --> 00:18:36,220 It seems obvious to us today 305 00:18:36,220 --> 00:18:38,820 that the car was going to decimate the saddle business, 306 00:18:38,820 --> 00:18:41,780 but it's not obvious to them at the time, is it? No. 307 00:18:44,420 --> 00:18:48,820 In 1895, the total number of cars in Britain was 14. 308 00:18:51,580 --> 00:18:54,940 Then along came a vehicle that changed everything. 309 00:19:00,660 --> 00:19:02,100 The Ford Model T. 310 00:19:04,740 --> 00:19:09,580 Launched in Detroit in 1908, it brought motoring to the masses. 311 00:19:10,940 --> 00:19:15,100 By 1910, the number of cars in Britain was 100,000. 312 00:19:17,580 --> 00:19:20,700 What was different about this car to the other cars that had come before it? 313 00:19:20,700 --> 00:19:23,740 This was mass-produced on a production line. 314 00:19:23,740 --> 00:19:25,620 And they even moved production to Manchester. 315 00:19:25,620 --> 00:19:27,260 So this was cheaper? 316 00:19:27,260 --> 00:19:30,460 Cheaper, quicker, more reliable. 317 00:19:31,660 --> 00:19:35,660 So what did saddle-making companies do to try to adapt and survive? 318 00:19:35,660 --> 00:19:39,460 My great-grandfather Frederick realised early on 319 00:19:39,460 --> 00:19:41,900 that you had to diversify to survive. 320 00:19:41,900 --> 00:19:44,740 And this just shows you what we used to make. 321 00:19:45,780 --> 00:19:47,300 Oh, really? Leggings. 322 00:19:47,300 --> 00:19:49,620 So putties that the Army wore. Oh, yes. 323 00:19:49,620 --> 00:19:50,980 Dog clothing, look at this. 324 00:19:50,980 --> 00:19:52,900 That's lovely. It's with a hood. 325 00:19:52,900 --> 00:19:55,260 I actually want one of these. DAVID LAUGHS 326 00:19:55,260 --> 00:19:57,100 We moved into items like this... 327 00:19:58,500 --> 00:20:00,980 This is a medicine ball, isn't it? That is a medicine ball. 328 00:20:00,980 --> 00:20:02,580 Six pounds. 329 00:20:02,580 --> 00:20:03,740 We were making footballs, 330 00:20:03,740 --> 00:20:08,140 we had 600 women stitching footballs in the 1930s. 331 00:20:08,140 --> 00:20:11,700 We're still making saddle and harness, but in smaller quantities. 332 00:20:13,820 --> 00:20:18,060 For the Snewings, the speed of change must have been terrifying. 333 00:20:20,020 --> 00:20:23,300 If they didn't adapt fast, they were dead in the water. 334 00:20:29,340 --> 00:20:33,820 The 1911 census tells us 20 years after moving in, 335 00:20:33,820 --> 00:20:37,820 the Snewings are STILL living at 62 Falkner Street. 336 00:20:40,020 --> 00:20:44,140 It should also reveal how their company, Dobell & Son, is doing. 337 00:20:45,900 --> 00:20:49,540 What this document tells us is that the company is still going, 338 00:20:49,540 --> 00:20:52,420 but that it's not being run any more by William. 339 00:20:52,420 --> 00:20:55,900 Instead it lists Fanny Snewing as the employer. 340 00:20:55,900 --> 00:20:57,700 And the company is still described 341 00:20:57,700 --> 00:21:00,740 as a manufacturer of harnesses and saddles, 342 00:21:00,740 --> 00:21:04,180 which means they haven't chosen to diversify 343 00:21:04,180 --> 00:21:06,780 or to produce any other sorts of leather goods. 344 00:21:09,060 --> 00:21:11,740 It looks like the firm is still in business, 345 00:21:11,740 --> 00:21:15,700 but why is Fanny now listed as the person running it? 346 00:21:17,180 --> 00:21:19,820 I've called up William's death certificate, 347 00:21:19,820 --> 00:21:24,500 and it reveals that he dies in 1908, aged 66, in his home - 348 00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:25,900 62 Falkner Street. 349 00:21:28,540 --> 00:21:32,020 The cause of death is listed as Bright's disease, 350 00:21:32,020 --> 00:21:34,060 a chronic inflammation of the kidneys. 351 00:21:36,100 --> 00:21:40,740 So that's the reason why Fanny is registered in the 1911 census 352 00:21:40,740 --> 00:21:43,580 as being the one who's running the family business. 353 00:21:44,820 --> 00:21:48,100 And it's also significant that in that 1911 census, 354 00:21:48,100 --> 00:21:50,100 it shows that their son, Charles, 355 00:21:50,100 --> 00:21:52,740 who was then single and 32 years old, 356 00:21:52,740 --> 00:21:56,340 was working as a travelling salesman for Reckitt's & Co, 357 00:21:56,340 --> 00:21:58,260 who were a chemical company. 358 00:21:58,260 --> 00:22:02,700 He'd chosen not to join the family saddle business. 359 00:22:02,700 --> 00:22:07,340 So perhaps the writing was already on the wall for the Snewings 360 00:22:07,340 --> 00:22:08,780 and their family business. 361 00:22:10,820 --> 00:22:14,500 While Fanny Snewing tries to keep the business afloat and a roof over 362 00:22:14,500 --> 00:22:19,340 their heads, she has no idea what's about to hit the country. 363 00:22:24,820 --> 00:22:28,660 In July 1914, the First World War broke out. 364 00:22:34,820 --> 00:22:39,140 Almost a million horses were requisitioned from farms and cities 365 00:22:39,140 --> 00:22:42,340 to haul guns, ambulances and ammunition wagons. 366 00:22:50,180 --> 00:22:52,460 For the residents of 62 Falkner Street, 367 00:22:52,460 --> 00:22:54,780 demand for military saddles and harnesses 368 00:22:54,780 --> 00:22:58,220 SHOULD have provided a much-needed boost to their business. 369 00:23:01,580 --> 00:23:05,060 But there was no call for the posh saddles they made. 370 00:23:05,060 --> 00:23:09,500 What the Army needed was cheap saddles made as quickly as possible. 371 00:23:11,020 --> 00:23:13,980 Worse was to come for the whole saddle industry... 372 00:23:15,420 --> 00:23:18,420 ..when hundreds of thousands of horses died at the front. 373 00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:31,540 This is Liverpool after the First World War. 374 00:23:31,540 --> 00:23:34,260 And it's clear that electric trams... 375 00:23:37,300 --> 00:23:38,380 ..lorries... 376 00:23:41,180 --> 00:23:43,260 TRAM BELL RINGS 377 00:23:43,260 --> 00:23:46,660 ..and, of course, petrol cars were replacing the horse. 378 00:23:51,060 --> 00:23:55,020 What I haven't been able to find is a single advertisement that leads me 379 00:23:55,020 --> 00:23:57,660 to believe that Dobell & Son were still operating, 380 00:23:57,660 --> 00:24:01,340 that they were still trading throughout the 1920s or the 1930s. 381 00:24:01,340 --> 00:24:04,860 And what that leads me to believe is that the company failed to diversify, 382 00:24:04,860 --> 00:24:09,420 and they continued to try to make traditional saddles and harnesses 383 00:24:09,420 --> 00:24:10,820 in the traditional way, 384 00:24:10,820 --> 00:24:13,300 and that by the time Fanny died in 1934, 385 00:24:13,300 --> 00:24:16,100 there wasn't a company to leave to her eldest son. 386 00:24:16,100 --> 00:24:17,340 And if that's the case, 387 00:24:17,340 --> 00:24:20,820 it is a really sad end to a proud Liverpool company 388 00:24:20,820 --> 00:24:23,660 and a sad end for a proud Liverpool family, 389 00:24:23,660 --> 00:24:27,260 who lived in 62 Falkner Street for 45 years, 390 00:24:27,260 --> 00:24:28,980 longer than any other family. 391 00:24:32,860 --> 00:24:36,140 Fanny Snewing's death certificate tells us that she, 392 00:24:36,140 --> 00:24:41,100 like her husband 26 years earlier, died here at 62 Falkner Street. 393 00:24:43,780 --> 00:24:47,660 Her son, Charles, still living at home, was at her side. 394 00:24:50,900 --> 00:24:52,700 A few months later, 395 00:24:52,700 --> 00:24:57,500 the house was on the market for the first time in two generations. 396 00:25:02,860 --> 00:25:06,500 The '30s were a tough time for Liverpool. 397 00:25:06,500 --> 00:25:09,340 The Wall Street crash had resulted in economic turmoil 398 00:25:09,340 --> 00:25:11,180 around the world. 399 00:25:12,860 --> 00:25:15,620 International trade was badly hit 400 00:25:15,620 --> 00:25:19,060 and had a profound effect on Liverpool's port. 401 00:25:19,060 --> 00:25:21,140 And those who worked there. 402 00:25:23,300 --> 00:25:27,420 One in five Liverpudlians found themselves out of work - 403 00:25:27,420 --> 00:25:29,260 double the national average. 404 00:25:39,020 --> 00:25:41,620 The depression also hit house prices. 405 00:25:42,860 --> 00:25:46,100 Although the Land Registry records for Liverpool in this period 406 00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:47,180 are incomplete, 407 00:25:47,180 --> 00:25:50,980 it's likely that the new owners got 62 Falkner Street 408 00:25:50,980 --> 00:25:52,140 at a bargain price. 409 00:25:56,700 --> 00:26:01,740 The 1935 electoral register tells us they were a couple. 410 00:26:01,900 --> 00:26:04,540 Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy. 411 00:26:07,060 --> 00:26:09,060 I've tracked down the birth certificates 412 00:26:09,060 --> 00:26:10,460 for Robert and Sarah Ann 413 00:26:10,460 --> 00:26:14,540 and what they tell us is that Robert was born in 1870 in Liverpool, 414 00:26:14,540 --> 00:26:19,620 and Sarah Ann was born four years later, 1874, in Manchester. 415 00:26:19,860 --> 00:26:23,580 So they are relatively old when they buy 62 Falkner Street. 416 00:26:23,580 --> 00:26:26,340 Robert - 66, Sarah Ann - 62. 417 00:26:26,340 --> 00:26:31,020 And they must've had a reasonably large amount of cash to buy the house outright. 418 00:26:31,020 --> 00:26:34,900 We can find out a little bit more about them through their certificate of marriage. 419 00:26:34,900 --> 00:26:39,940 They got married in 1902, Robert was 31, Sarah Ann was 27. 420 00:26:41,580 --> 00:26:45,700 It tells us Robert was a tailor and Sarah Ann, a dressmaker, 421 00:26:45,700 --> 00:26:48,020 so perhaps they met in the trade. 422 00:26:50,740 --> 00:26:53,380 We also know quite a lot about Robert's life 423 00:26:53,380 --> 00:26:57,420 leading up to buying 62 Falkner Street at the age of 64. 424 00:26:59,380 --> 00:27:03,020 His father, also Robert Duffy, was a cotton porter. 425 00:27:03,020 --> 00:27:04,740 Now that's a manual job. 426 00:27:04,740 --> 00:27:08,540 It's the very bottom rung of the rag trade. 427 00:27:08,540 --> 00:27:12,540 This also tells us that the family are living in Renshaw Street, in Liverpool, 428 00:27:12,540 --> 00:27:15,820 which is described here as court housing. 429 00:27:17,340 --> 00:27:20,580 FAINT ECHO OF BABY CRYING 430 00:27:20,580 --> 00:27:24,220 Court housing was the very worst slum accommodation 431 00:27:24,220 --> 00:27:25,820 Liverpool had to offer. 432 00:27:30,740 --> 00:27:34,220 Built around a central courtyard with a communal water pump, 433 00:27:34,220 --> 00:27:38,460 they typically had just two toilets for 80 residents. 434 00:27:42,540 --> 00:27:47,300 A far cry from a four-storey townhouse like 62 Falkner Street. 435 00:27:51,060 --> 00:27:55,060 This is not a very auspicious start for the young Robert Duffy. 436 00:27:57,580 --> 00:28:00,300 To discover how a boy from the slums 437 00:28:00,300 --> 00:28:03,180 rose to become the owner of our house, 438 00:28:03,180 --> 00:28:05,500 I've tracked down one of his relatives. 439 00:28:06,860 --> 00:28:08,060 There's that one of Sarah. 440 00:28:09,340 --> 00:28:13,020 Ceilia Ellis, now 71, lives in Matlock, Derbyshire 441 00:28:13,020 --> 00:28:16,660 and is Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy's granddaughter. 442 00:28:16,660 --> 00:28:20,260 Is he somebody in your family who you are proud of? 443 00:28:20,260 --> 00:28:22,580 Very proud of him, yes, yes. 444 00:28:22,580 --> 00:28:25,700 I would have loved to have met him, but he died before I was born. 445 00:28:25,700 --> 00:28:28,420 He was ambitious, but he was kind. 446 00:28:28,420 --> 00:28:32,780 My mother told me that he came across some children with no shoes 447 00:28:32,780 --> 00:28:35,540 and he bought each of them a pair of shoes. 448 00:28:35,540 --> 00:28:38,740 And so that shows just how caring he was. 449 00:28:38,740 --> 00:28:40,220 But when he saw childhood poverty, 450 00:28:40,220 --> 00:28:42,220 it kind of maybe triggered something in him? 451 00:28:42,220 --> 00:28:43,700 Yes, yes, that's right. 452 00:28:43,700 --> 00:28:46,100 You can take the boy out of the slum, but, uh... Yes. 453 00:28:46,100 --> 00:28:47,300 SHE LAUGHS 454 00:28:47,300 --> 00:28:52,340 Although Ceilia can't remember Robert, she CAN recall her grandma, 455 00:28:52,340 --> 00:28:54,220 Robert's wife, Sarah Ann. 456 00:28:55,620 --> 00:28:58,500 This is the sewing box my grandma had. 457 00:28:58,500 --> 00:29:01,100 So the tools of the trade for someone who'd been a seamstress? 458 00:29:01,100 --> 00:29:02,340 Yes. It's a lovely thing. 459 00:29:02,340 --> 00:29:03,780 It is. 460 00:29:03,780 --> 00:29:07,380 She gave me this book when I was a little girl. 461 00:29:07,380 --> 00:29:10,060 And this is Sarah's handwriting? That is, yes. 462 00:29:10,060 --> 00:29:12,700 It says, "To my dear little granddaughter, Ceceilia. 463 00:29:12,700 --> 00:29:14,580 "From Grandma, with lots of love, 464 00:29:14,580 --> 00:29:17,060 "Christmas 1955." 465 00:29:17,060 --> 00:29:19,740 That means an awful lot to me, that book. 466 00:29:19,740 --> 00:29:22,860 I can't give a value to it because it's so special. 467 00:29:22,860 --> 00:29:27,940 What do you recall of what Sarah told you about her childhood? 468 00:29:27,940 --> 00:29:30,820 I knew that she hadn't had a happy childhood 469 00:29:30,820 --> 00:29:34,540 and she found it difficult to forget that. 470 00:29:34,540 --> 00:29:36,660 So these are drawings that you did... Yes. 471 00:29:36,660 --> 00:29:39,700 ..of Sarah's childhood, how you imagined it? 472 00:29:39,700 --> 00:29:41,340 Her mother was very, very strict 473 00:29:41,340 --> 00:29:44,180 and she had to do several jobs before she went to school. 474 00:29:44,180 --> 00:29:47,740 One was cleaning and polishing the range in the kitchen, 475 00:29:47,740 --> 00:29:49,260 and another job she had to do 476 00:29:49,260 --> 00:29:52,620 was polishing her mother's shoes and fastening them for her, 477 00:29:52,620 --> 00:29:55,460 and if she pulled the laces too tight, then she was hit. 478 00:29:55,460 --> 00:29:57,540 So you can gather from that, 479 00:29:57,540 --> 00:29:59,380 she didn't have a happy childhood. 480 00:29:59,380 --> 00:30:01,460 We'd call that today an abusive childhood. 481 00:30:01,460 --> 00:30:04,500 Yes. And I think it's something that she... 482 00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:06,140 never forgot. 483 00:30:06,140 --> 00:30:09,380 Cos it does seem she had a really happy later life. 484 00:30:09,380 --> 00:30:10,900 She did, yes. 485 00:30:10,900 --> 00:30:14,380 It was very fortunate that she met my grandfather. 486 00:30:14,380 --> 00:30:15,500 They were very close. 487 00:30:20,420 --> 00:30:23,380 Sarah Ann's rise is even more remarkable, 488 00:30:23,380 --> 00:30:25,220 given her difficult childhood. 489 00:30:26,900 --> 00:30:28,460 Searching through the newspapers, 490 00:30:28,460 --> 00:30:32,100 I've come across an article which backs up Ceilia's story. 491 00:30:34,860 --> 00:30:39,420 This is an article from one of the Manchester newspapers from the year 1887. 492 00:30:39,420 --> 00:30:42,580 It's a report into cases of cruelty to children, 493 00:30:42,580 --> 00:30:46,580 and the victim of one of these cases is Sarah Ann Duffy, 494 00:30:46,580 --> 00:30:49,300 then the 12-year-old girl Sarah Ann Gemmell. 495 00:30:49,300 --> 00:30:54,060 And her abuser is her own mother, Elizabeth Gemmell. 496 00:30:54,060 --> 00:30:58,340 What seems to have happened is that Sarah Ann was taken to a children's shelter 497 00:30:58,340 --> 00:31:01,180 and there she was examined by a doctor. 498 00:31:01,180 --> 00:31:04,020 And he found her covered all over the back, 499 00:31:04,020 --> 00:31:07,380 from her head to her feet, with bruises. 500 00:31:07,380 --> 00:31:09,500 When the doctor counted these bruises, 501 00:31:09,500 --> 00:31:14,140 he reported that there were 33 double bruises from 8-12 inches long 502 00:31:14,140 --> 00:31:17,140 and four short, thick bruises. 503 00:31:17,140 --> 00:31:19,900 Now, when Sarah Ann's mother was confronted 504 00:31:19,900 --> 00:31:21,300 with her child's injuries, 505 00:31:21,300 --> 00:31:25,740 she admitted that she'd stripped her naked and then beat her with a 506 00:31:25,740 --> 00:31:28,980 piece of clothesline, and the reason for this was because Sarah Ann 507 00:31:28,980 --> 00:31:31,140 had fallen out with another child. 508 00:31:31,140 --> 00:31:34,420 Because of these injuries, Elizabeth Gemmell was summoned 509 00:31:34,420 --> 00:31:38,100 to the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children. 510 00:31:40,580 --> 00:31:44,740 This was an era in which parental rights were everything. 511 00:31:44,740 --> 00:31:47,540 The Victorian writer, Whatley Cooke-Taylor, 512 00:31:47,540 --> 00:31:49,740 claimed he "would far rather see 513 00:31:49,740 --> 00:31:52,980 "even a higher rate of infant mortality prevailing 514 00:31:52,980 --> 00:31:57,620 "than intrude one iota on the sanctity of the domestic hearth." 515 00:31:59,460 --> 00:32:02,380 That view was challenged in the 1880s 516 00:32:02,380 --> 00:32:03,940 when, here, in Liverpool, 517 00:32:03,940 --> 00:32:08,180 the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children was set up... 518 00:32:08,180 --> 00:32:10,820 A forerunner of the NSPCC. 519 00:32:12,060 --> 00:32:14,660 Sarah Ann was one of its early cases. 520 00:32:16,740 --> 00:32:21,980 It was entirely normal in the late 19th century for children to be 521 00:32:22,180 --> 00:32:24,940 disciplined and punished violently. 522 00:32:24,940 --> 00:32:27,700 Children were smacked at home, 523 00:32:27,700 --> 00:32:30,540 they were beaten and subject to corporal punishment at school, 524 00:32:30,540 --> 00:32:32,780 and very few people saw anything wrong in that. 525 00:32:32,780 --> 00:32:36,060 So, for Sarah Ann's case to have ended up in the newspapers 526 00:32:36,060 --> 00:32:38,260 and her mother to be summoned to the authorities, 527 00:32:38,260 --> 00:32:40,900 it must have been extreme. 528 00:32:42,220 --> 00:32:45,940 Of all the people I have met who lived at 62 Falkner Street, 529 00:32:45,940 --> 00:32:49,460 the one who you hope recovered 530 00:32:49,460 --> 00:32:53,460 and had a happy life has got to be Sarah Ann Duffy, 531 00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:56,660 the 12-year-old girl covered in bruises. 532 00:32:56,660 --> 00:33:01,860 And so it is wonderful to learn that she did go on to have a happy life, 533 00:33:02,180 --> 00:33:05,100 that her and Robert found one another 534 00:33:05,100 --> 00:33:09,580 and lived together in love and happiness, 535 00:33:09,580 --> 00:33:12,420 and that the abuse that she suffered 536 00:33:12,420 --> 00:33:15,460 did not shape and direct the rest of her life. 537 00:33:23,380 --> 00:33:26,420 But how exactly did Sarah Ann and Robert 538 00:33:26,420 --> 00:33:29,620 turn their lives around and rise from the slums? 539 00:33:36,660 --> 00:33:41,340 Official records tell us that by the time they married in 1902, 540 00:33:41,340 --> 00:33:44,820 Robert had surpassed his father's job as a cotton porter. 541 00:33:46,300 --> 00:33:48,140 In the 1901 census, 542 00:33:48,140 --> 00:33:52,340 Robert has risen up to become a tailor's cutter. 543 00:33:54,620 --> 00:33:57,860 A cutter was one of the most important jobs in tailoring. 544 00:33:59,140 --> 00:34:02,140 Responsible for designing the suit 545 00:34:02,140 --> 00:34:04,660 and making patterns to form the panels of the garment. 546 00:34:07,860 --> 00:34:11,860 By the age of 40, Robert's skills are in high demand. 547 00:34:14,540 --> 00:34:16,740 In the 1911 census, 548 00:34:16,740 --> 00:34:18,340 we can see that Robert Duffy 549 00:34:18,340 --> 00:34:20,740 has risen to the top of his profession, 550 00:34:20,740 --> 00:34:25,020 he is now a master tailor, he has transformed his life. 551 00:34:26,100 --> 00:34:28,700 He no longer has a hands-on job, 552 00:34:28,700 --> 00:34:31,420 he was now running his own tailoring business. 553 00:34:33,340 --> 00:34:36,260 But Robert Duffy, together with his wife, Sarah Ann, 554 00:34:36,260 --> 00:34:37,980 still had ambitions. 555 00:34:42,580 --> 00:34:46,820 In the 1920s and '30s, they invested their money... 556 00:34:48,260 --> 00:34:50,860 ..building up an impressive portfolio 557 00:34:50,860 --> 00:34:53,900 of businesses and houses for rent, 558 00:34:53,900 --> 00:34:57,780 including our house, 62 Falkner Street. 559 00:35:00,260 --> 00:35:04,900 After living in number 62 for a year, Robert and Sarah move out. 560 00:35:06,580 --> 00:35:09,180 But they keep the house and rent out rooms. 561 00:35:14,420 --> 00:35:16,980 Until now, this has been a residence 562 00:35:16,980 --> 00:35:20,140 for merchants and middle-class families. 563 00:35:21,300 --> 00:35:22,900 By 1939, though, 564 00:35:22,900 --> 00:35:27,060 62 Falkner Street was not the desirable home it had once been. 565 00:35:31,260 --> 00:35:35,420 I've discovered some adverts the Duffys placed in local papers 566 00:35:35,420 --> 00:35:39,060 that give us clues as to how the house was divided up. 567 00:35:42,300 --> 00:35:47,100 One offers a furnished basement and bedroom, own linen, no children. 568 00:35:50,220 --> 00:35:53,260 Another, furnished or unfurnished rooms. 569 00:36:00,540 --> 00:36:04,220 The basement kitchen and servant's quarters are most likely converted 570 00:36:04,220 --> 00:36:05,980 to provide rooms to rent. 571 00:36:07,500 --> 00:36:09,340 And the hall, stairs and bathroom 572 00:36:09,340 --> 00:36:11,140 were communal areas, 573 00:36:11,140 --> 00:36:13,140 shared by all the tenants. 574 00:36:18,660 --> 00:36:22,500 Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan is an expert on how people in the past 575 00:36:22,500 --> 00:36:23,860 lived in their homes. 576 00:36:24,980 --> 00:36:29,300 These rented rooms are not like self-contained flats or bedsits, 577 00:36:29,300 --> 00:36:32,700 it's simply tenants occupying individual rooms. 578 00:36:32,700 --> 00:36:35,340 They probably didn't even have locks on the doors. 579 00:36:36,620 --> 00:36:38,740 But one of the things they would be doing 580 00:36:38,740 --> 00:36:41,460 would be sharing the washing facilities in the house. 581 00:36:45,860 --> 00:36:47,300 With all these different tenants, 582 00:36:47,300 --> 00:36:49,620 the hallway, the stairs and the landings 583 00:36:49,620 --> 00:36:52,980 would have accumulated quite a lot of dirt and grime. 584 00:36:55,820 --> 00:36:58,060 Despite their relative poverty, 585 00:36:58,060 --> 00:37:00,700 the women tenants of the house would have had a rota 586 00:37:00,700 --> 00:37:02,580 for cleaning the front steps 587 00:37:02,580 --> 00:37:06,020 and keeping the portion of pavement outside of the house clean. 588 00:37:10,260 --> 00:37:14,020 The Duffys' tenants, packed into 62 Falkner Street, 589 00:37:14,020 --> 00:37:17,740 were now very much working men and their families. 590 00:37:17,740 --> 00:37:21,020 There's Joseph Ward, a dock labourer, 591 00:37:21,020 --> 00:37:23,740 his wife Patricia and their daughter. 592 00:37:23,740 --> 00:37:26,540 James Flood, a builder's labourer and his wife. 593 00:37:28,060 --> 00:37:29,980 Patrick Behan, a bricklayer, 594 00:37:29,980 --> 00:37:32,580 his wife Eileen and their son and daughter. 595 00:37:32,580 --> 00:37:37,060 Jack Greenall, a dock labourer, his wife Florence and their son. 596 00:37:37,060 --> 00:37:39,300 And Mary Hallsall, a hotel cook. 597 00:37:41,300 --> 00:37:44,780 ECHO OF AIR RAID SIREN 598 00:37:44,780 --> 00:37:50,020 Their worlds were about to be turned upside down on September 3, 1939. 599 00:37:52,700 --> 00:37:56,580 The residents of the house had survived the First World War, 600 00:37:56,580 --> 00:37:59,580 but they were under threat again as World War II broke out. 601 00:38:02,820 --> 00:38:05,500 Liverpool found itself in the line of fire. 602 00:38:09,780 --> 00:38:12,380 Its port was vital to the war effort. 603 00:38:15,540 --> 00:38:18,340 Two-thirds of Britain's food was imported. 604 00:38:21,460 --> 00:38:25,500 Cattle, dairy products, sugar, oil, 605 00:38:25,500 --> 00:38:29,620 wheat and fruit all came through the city's docks. 606 00:38:34,740 --> 00:38:36,100 To cut off supplies, 607 00:38:36,100 --> 00:38:39,780 the German Air Force conducted 68 air raids on Merseyside... 608 00:38:41,460 --> 00:38:45,380 ..peaking in a seven-night blitz in May, 1941. 609 00:38:48,260 --> 00:38:52,180 This footage reveals the destruction wrought upon Liverpool. 610 00:38:53,780 --> 00:38:57,260 The Germans were targeting the docks and the city's infrastructure, 611 00:38:57,260 --> 00:39:01,180 but, in the process, destroyed huge areas of housing - 612 00:39:01,180 --> 00:39:06,220 a real threat to our house and to the residents of Falkner Street. 613 00:39:06,220 --> 00:39:08,500 These documents are the bomb reports. 614 00:39:08,500 --> 00:39:12,940 They're a report of every bomb that drops in this part of Liverpool in May, 1941. 615 00:39:12,940 --> 00:39:15,780 Now that was the very darkest days of the Second World War 616 00:39:15,780 --> 00:39:17,380 for the city of Liverpool, 617 00:39:17,380 --> 00:39:21,500 because for night after night, the Luftwaffe targeted the city. 618 00:39:21,500 --> 00:39:24,500 And this area, Falkner Street and the streets around it, 619 00:39:24,500 --> 00:39:26,780 didn't escape their attention. 620 00:39:27,940 --> 00:39:31,540 On the 2nd of May, the second day of the so-called May Blitz, 621 00:39:31,540 --> 00:39:35,500 bombs fall on the junction of Falkner Street and Bedford Street. 622 00:39:35,500 --> 00:39:39,340 Well, this is Bedford Street, this is Falkner Street, 623 00:39:39,340 --> 00:39:42,180 and our house is just there. 624 00:39:42,180 --> 00:39:45,060 And the report says, "The bombs fell in the roadway," 625 00:39:45,060 --> 00:39:47,060 which means that they fall right here. 626 00:39:47,060 --> 00:39:51,180 Our house is 20, 30 metres away from where bombs are dropping. 627 00:39:51,180 --> 00:39:54,140 It is metres away from being destroyed. 628 00:39:54,140 --> 00:39:56,220 The bomb reports use codes. 629 00:39:56,220 --> 00:39:59,940 H.E. means high explosive bomb, I.B. means incendiary bomb, 630 00:39:59,940 --> 00:40:01,100 and both types of bomb 631 00:40:01,100 --> 00:40:04,140 have fallen on Falkner Street and Bedford Street on this night, 632 00:40:04,140 --> 00:40:06,260 because there's a fire in Bedford Street, 633 00:40:06,260 --> 00:40:08,140 the streets are blocked by a crater. 634 00:40:08,140 --> 00:40:10,020 There's debris burning in the houses 635 00:40:10,020 --> 00:40:12,020 between Falkner Street and Myrtle Street, 636 00:40:12,020 --> 00:40:14,060 which is just over there. 637 00:40:16,300 --> 00:40:19,580 The next night, the 3rd of May, 1941, 638 00:40:19,580 --> 00:40:23,180 Liverpool suffered the worst bombing in its history. 639 00:40:28,340 --> 00:40:30,060 Hundreds of people were killed. 640 00:40:35,220 --> 00:40:40,060 Few eyewitnesses remain of those fateful nights in May, 1941. 641 00:40:44,180 --> 00:40:46,980 But one current resident of Falkner Street, 642 00:40:46,980 --> 00:40:51,820 just a few doors down from number 62, lived through it all... 643 00:40:51,820 --> 00:40:53,500 June Furlong. 644 00:40:55,140 --> 00:40:57,140 How long have you lived in Falkner Street, June? 645 00:40:57,140 --> 00:41:00,180 I was born here 87 years ago. 646 00:41:00,180 --> 00:41:01,860 I was born in this room. 647 00:41:01,860 --> 00:41:07,100 So you remember that week and a half in May, 1941, when Liverpool really 648 00:41:07,300 --> 00:41:10,780 gets hammered by the Luftwaffe? Yes. Yes, I do. 649 00:41:10,780 --> 00:41:12,940 What happened? We had a bomb, 650 00:41:12,940 --> 00:41:15,740 an incendiary bomb that came in, I remember that! 651 00:41:15,740 --> 00:41:19,900 An incendiary bomb came through the ceiling of your house and it didn't go off? 652 00:41:19,900 --> 00:41:24,140 Well, around the lampposts around here were bags of sand, you see? 653 00:41:24,140 --> 00:41:27,020 And the sand put out these bombs. 654 00:41:27,020 --> 00:41:30,060 Cos these are bombs that are designed to cause a fire, not to explode. 655 00:41:30,060 --> 00:41:33,900 Yes. So my grandfather said to my mother, 656 00:41:33,900 --> 00:41:37,940 "Flo, go out and get a bag of that sand for this bomb," you see? 657 00:41:37,940 --> 00:41:38,980 They put it out. 658 00:41:40,460 --> 00:41:42,140 Residents of Falkner Street 659 00:41:42,140 --> 00:41:45,980 could buy a Morrison air raid shelter for £7... 660 00:41:45,980 --> 00:41:49,100 A metal box that doubled as a kitchen table. 661 00:41:50,780 --> 00:41:53,660 We had here a pit bull mastiff dog and the pups, 662 00:41:53,660 --> 00:41:55,540 and when the sirens went, 663 00:41:55,540 --> 00:41:58,820 the whole family had got under that great, big table - 664 00:41:58,820 --> 00:42:01,260 also the dog and all these pups! 665 00:42:01,260 --> 00:42:03,740 So I remember all that, everybody under the table, 666 00:42:03,740 --> 00:42:05,620 not in the air raid shelters. 667 00:42:05,620 --> 00:42:08,860 That was funny. And that's true, and it was... 668 00:42:08,860 --> 00:42:11,580 You wouldn't get hit on the head, I suppose, with bombs. 669 00:42:11,580 --> 00:42:12,540 I remember that. 670 00:42:16,580 --> 00:42:20,020 It would have been the same story in 62 Falkner Street. 671 00:42:23,740 --> 00:42:25,620 These are just some of the bombs 672 00:42:25,620 --> 00:42:28,180 to fall on the streets around our house. 673 00:42:34,340 --> 00:42:37,860 It's a miracle that number 62 survived. 674 00:42:41,300 --> 00:42:43,380 When you walk along Falkner Street 675 00:42:43,380 --> 00:42:46,220 and you see this mix of 19th-century houses 676 00:42:46,220 --> 00:42:48,460 built in the 1840s like our house, 677 00:42:48,460 --> 00:42:50,460 and then modern developments from the '60s 678 00:42:50,460 --> 00:42:52,220 or more recent developments, 679 00:42:52,220 --> 00:42:56,340 some of it is due to what happened in the spring of 1941. 680 00:43:04,980 --> 00:43:06,940 The real cost of the Liverpool Blitz 681 00:43:06,940 --> 00:43:08,780 has got to be measured in human lives, 682 00:43:08,780 --> 00:43:13,220 4,000 people died in this city as a result of German bombing. 683 00:43:13,220 --> 00:43:15,940 But the other cost was in the destruction of property. 684 00:43:20,740 --> 00:43:22,980 Now, Falkner Street was already in decline 685 00:43:22,980 --> 00:43:24,660 before the Second World War, 686 00:43:24,660 --> 00:43:27,980 but the level of bomb damage, the destruction of houses, 687 00:43:27,980 --> 00:43:30,700 the gaps that were left between the houses, 688 00:43:30,700 --> 00:43:33,380 the bombsites that littered this whole area, 689 00:43:33,380 --> 00:43:36,580 that really accelerated the street's decline. 690 00:43:42,740 --> 00:43:47,780 Throughout this period, a variety of tenants lived at 62 Falkner Street, 691 00:43:47,980 --> 00:43:51,220 in rooms rented from Robert and Sarah Ann Duffy. 692 00:43:53,500 --> 00:43:56,820 Then, on the 6th of December, 1941, 693 00:43:56,820 --> 00:43:59,700 as Liverpool lived in fear of more attacks, 694 00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:03,060 Robert Duffy died, aged 71. 695 00:44:05,660 --> 00:44:10,060 Sarah Ann had lost not just her husband of almost 40 years, 696 00:44:10,060 --> 00:44:11,940 but also her soulmate. 697 00:44:14,020 --> 00:44:17,900 She was now a widow in a city bludgeoned by war. 698 00:44:20,500 --> 00:44:22,700 The last will and testament of Robert Duffy 699 00:44:22,700 --> 00:44:25,540 is a truly remarkable document. 700 00:44:25,540 --> 00:44:29,380 This is a man who was born in the courtyard slums 701 00:44:29,380 --> 00:44:30,860 of late Victorian Liverpool, 702 00:44:30,860 --> 00:44:33,700 and yet, on his death, he's able to leave money to charity 703 00:44:33,700 --> 00:44:37,500 and amply care for the future of his family. 704 00:44:37,500 --> 00:44:39,140 The first thing he does 705 00:44:39,140 --> 00:44:42,220 is he bequeaths unto the RAF Benevolent Fund 706 00:44:42,220 --> 00:44:44,180 the sum of £100. 707 00:44:44,180 --> 00:44:46,700 Now, in his final months, 708 00:44:46,700 --> 00:44:48,180 Robert will have witnessed 709 00:44:48,180 --> 00:44:50,940 the RAF desperately trying to protect Liverpool 710 00:44:50,940 --> 00:44:53,820 from the German bombers of the Blitz 711 00:44:53,820 --> 00:44:56,740 and he clearly understood their sacrifice, 712 00:44:56,740 --> 00:45:01,060 cos he leaves them not just the £100, but also two houses - 713 00:45:01,060 --> 00:45:06,220 number 32 Princes Road, and our house, number 62 Falkner Street. 714 00:45:08,460 --> 00:45:12,300 He then goes on to leave to his daughter, Margaret Elizabeth Criton, 715 00:45:12,300 --> 00:45:15,940 shops and houses to care for her future. 716 00:45:15,940 --> 00:45:20,180 And then finally, he speaks directly to his wife, Sarah Ann Duffy. 717 00:45:20,180 --> 00:45:22,180 And he writes, 718 00:45:22,180 --> 00:45:24,060 "All the remainder of my property, 719 00:45:24,060 --> 00:45:26,500 "including stocks and shares, cash at the bank, 720 00:45:26,500 --> 00:45:30,500 "and personal belongings go unto my wife, Sarah Ann Duffy, 721 00:45:30,500 --> 00:45:33,020 "to whom I am eternally grateful 722 00:45:33,020 --> 00:45:38,260 "for all her loving kindness and loyalty in our long, married life." 723 00:45:39,900 --> 00:45:42,860 This is the final act of that long marriage, 724 00:45:42,860 --> 00:45:46,940 a marriage of two people who were never supposed to make it in life, 725 00:45:46,940 --> 00:45:49,420 and yet, they escaped from poverty. 726 00:45:49,420 --> 00:45:50,980 A boy from the slums 727 00:45:50,980 --> 00:45:54,940 and a girl who had been beaten and abused by her own mother, 728 00:45:54,940 --> 00:45:58,620 and together they found wealth and happiness. 729 00:45:58,620 --> 00:46:01,820 It is a beautiful, beautiful story. 730 00:46:06,100 --> 00:46:08,940 62 Falkner Street was now the property 731 00:46:08,940 --> 00:46:11,420 of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. 732 00:46:14,340 --> 00:46:16,820 Yet, the records show little changed. 733 00:46:18,060 --> 00:46:20,500 Rooms were still being rented out... 734 00:46:22,340 --> 00:46:25,860 And in 1941, as the war raged on, 735 00:46:25,860 --> 00:46:29,580 one family living in the house particularly stand out. 736 00:46:32,100 --> 00:46:37,140 John Greenall, his wife Florence and their young son. 737 00:46:37,220 --> 00:46:39,220 They're both 31 years old 738 00:46:39,220 --> 00:46:42,940 and John is described as a "wharf labourer, light work," 739 00:46:42,940 --> 00:46:45,020 which means he works down at the docks. 740 00:46:45,020 --> 00:46:48,860 Florence is described as doing unpaid domestic duties, 741 00:46:48,860 --> 00:46:51,620 which probably means she's a housewife 742 00:46:51,620 --> 00:46:54,300 and that she's looking after their son, John Junior, 743 00:46:54,300 --> 00:46:56,060 who's just six years old. 744 00:46:57,300 --> 00:46:59,860 Another thing we learn is that John's father, 745 00:46:59,860 --> 00:47:03,420 also called John, was a foreman stevedore. 746 00:47:03,420 --> 00:47:05,740 So he also works down at the docks, 747 00:47:05,740 --> 00:47:08,860 but in a much more senior position to his son. 748 00:47:11,020 --> 00:47:15,180 The 31-year-old John Greenall, known to his family as Jack, 749 00:47:15,180 --> 00:47:19,500 was one of tens of thousands of men working at Liverpool's docks, 750 00:47:19,500 --> 00:47:21,500 loading and unloading ships. 751 00:47:23,900 --> 00:47:28,540 In an age before mechanisation, all of this was done by hand. 752 00:47:30,740 --> 00:47:33,420 They worked in teams around the clock, 753 00:47:33,420 --> 00:47:35,740 under the supervision of a foreman. 754 00:47:37,540 --> 00:47:42,340 A job that was tough in peacetime was even harder during the war. 755 00:47:44,620 --> 00:47:46,060 As a stevedore labourer, 756 00:47:46,060 --> 00:47:49,460 Jack's take-home pay would have been just a few pounds a week. 757 00:47:51,740 --> 00:47:56,500 Squeezed into just one room at 62 Falkner Street would have been Jack, 758 00:47:56,500 --> 00:47:59,180 his wife Florence and their six-year-old son. 759 00:48:00,740 --> 00:48:03,740 There was space for just the bare essentials. 760 00:48:06,820 --> 00:48:11,420 In a local paper, I've come across an advert for what could very well 761 00:48:11,420 --> 00:48:14,700 have been Jack and Florence's room, 762 00:48:14,700 --> 00:48:18,380 complete with a kitchenette, a tiny kitchen area. 763 00:48:19,540 --> 00:48:20,940 They would have had a small, 764 00:48:20,940 --> 00:48:23,700 compact space to do their cooking 765 00:48:23,700 --> 00:48:25,660 and food preparation in, 766 00:48:25,660 --> 00:48:28,260 and what they were likely to have is one of these. 767 00:48:28,260 --> 00:48:30,340 This is a kitchen cabinet. 768 00:48:30,340 --> 00:48:34,620 These became popular in Britain from the mid-1920s. 769 00:48:34,620 --> 00:48:37,060 So if I open it up here... 770 00:48:42,020 --> 00:48:45,900 So you can see that you've got lots of places to store packets 771 00:48:45,900 --> 00:48:47,820 and jars of food. 772 00:48:47,820 --> 00:48:50,620 But where it really comes into its own, 773 00:48:50,620 --> 00:48:52,860 is if I actually want to do some food preparation. 774 00:48:52,860 --> 00:48:56,140 I can pull out this enamel top here, 775 00:48:56,140 --> 00:48:58,380 and open the doors, 776 00:48:58,380 --> 00:49:02,420 and, hey presto, I've got my own work surface here. 777 00:49:04,060 --> 00:49:07,420 This is an incredibly useful piece of furniture, 778 00:49:07,420 --> 00:49:10,780 because it's your entire kitchen in a cupboard. 779 00:49:10,780 --> 00:49:12,740 And the nice thing about the kitchen cabinet 780 00:49:12,740 --> 00:49:14,820 is that when it had been used, 781 00:49:14,820 --> 00:49:17,060 it could all be shut up and put away. 782 00:49:21,060 --> 00:49:22,980 We can get a real sense of how Jack, 783 00:49:22,980 --> 00:49:26,780 Florence and their son John would have lived in their cramped space. 784 00:49:28,860 --> 00:49:32,260 The kitchenette would probably have been at one end 785 00:49:32,260 --> 00:49:33,660 and the beds at the other. 786 00:49:36,060 --> 00:49:38,140 Then, in the middle, the kitchen table. 787 00:49:40,020 --> 00:49:45,260 This was not just a place where the family sat down to have their meals, 788 00:49:45,460 --> 00:49:47,100 it was more than this. 789 00:49:47,100 --> 00:49:50,860 Lots of these women who had husbands on low incomes 790 00:49:50,860 --> 00:49:54,140 needed to work to supplement the family income. 791 00:49:56,540 --> 00:50:00,100 However, work outside the home was frowned upon, 792 00:50:00,100 --> 00:50:03,860 so women often took in work that was hidden from view. 793 00:50:03,860 --> 00:50:06,820 So the kinds of things that Florence might have done is took in 794 00:50:06,820 --> 00:50:12,060 dressmaking or mending, or even piecework, like making matches. 795 00:50:14,380 --> 00:50:17,980 With the kitchenette, table and beds crammed into one room, 796 00:50:17,980 --> 00:50:20,380 there may have been no space for cooking. 797 00:50:22,140 --> 00:50:24,820 Instead, Florence would have had access 798 00:50:24,820 --> 00:50:27,100 to a communal stove on the landing. 799 00:50:30,180 --> 00:50:33,580 It's likely that the Greenalls endured these cramped conditions 800 00:50:33,580 --> 00:50:34,860 throughout the war. 801 00:50:39,220 --> 00:50:41,580 I'm intrigued by Jack's background 802 00:50:41,580 --> 00:50:45,580 and how he ended up living in one room at 62 Falkner Street. 803 00:50:47,980 --> 00:50:50,140 He has no direct descendants, 804 00:50:50,140 --> 00:50:52,500 but, by building his family tree, 805 00:50:52,500 --> 00:50:56,380 I've managed to trace his niece, Jane Greenall. 806 00:50:56,380 --> 00:50:58,820 There's Jack, he was the eldest boy. 807 00:50:58,820 --> 00:51:00,740 There's Jack. Yeah. 808 00:51:00,740 --> 00:51:03,140 And that was my grandad and my grandmother. 809 00:51:04,500 --> 00:51:06,740 So, your father was the baby of the family? 810 00:51:06,740 --> 00:51:09,540 He was the baby of the family. And Jack was his big brother? 811 00:51:09,540 --> 00:51:10,660 Yes, yes. 812 00:51:10,660 --> 00:51:13,620 Your grandfather looks like quite a stern character. 813 00:51:13,620 --> 00:51:15,500 I think he probably was. 814 00:51:15,500 --> 00:51:17,900 Obviously, I never knew him, he died before I was born. 815 00:51:17,900 --> 00:51:20,540 I suppose the thing I have to remember about your grandfather is 816 00:51:20,540 --> 00:51:23,500 I say he looks stern, but he is literally a Victorian. 817 00:51:23,500 --> 00:51:27,060 He is, yes. So I'm probably judging him a bit harshly. 818 00:51:27,060 --> 00:51:32,300 I remember my dad saying that when Jack was a young boy - 819 00:51:33,540 --> 00:51:35,700 I suppose he would have been in his teens - 820 00:51:35,700 --> 00:51:39,500 he would come home late and me grandad would be hanging around, waiting for him coming in, 821 00:51:39,500 --> 00:51:41,860 and he'd beat him up for coming in late. 822 00:51:41,860 --> 00:51:45,700 And me dad wondered if that caused his epilepsy. 823 00:51:45,700 --> 00:51:49,380 Jack had epilepsy? He did, yes. Yes. 824 00:51:49,380 --> 00:51:52,980 He's working on the docks and he has epilepsy? That's right. 825 00:51:52,980 --> 00:51:54,660 Yes. 826 00:51:54,660 --> 00:51:58,340 Um, working on the docks, even if you're in full health, 827 00:51:58,340 --> 00:52:01,340 is a very demanding, difficult job. 828 00:52:01,340 --> 00:52:03,020 To do it with epilepsy... 829 00:52:03,020 --> 00:52:05,820 It would have been very difficult, I would think, for him. 830 00:52:10,060 --> 00:52:13,060 We don't know how severe Jack's condition was, 831 00:52:13,060 --> 00:52:15,820 but in the 1930s and '40s, 832 00:52:15,820 --> 00:52:20,980 there was a terrible stigma attached to any suggestion of epilepsy. 833 00:52:21,500 --> 00:52:24,660 If the dock management had known about his condition, 834 00:52:24,660 --> 00:52:26,500 he would have been refused work. 835 00:52:29,620 --> 00:52:31,980 Yet, the records show, for several years, 836 00:52:31,980 --> 00:52:34,860 Jack held down a job at the docks. 837 00:52:34,860 --> 00:52:36,300 So could his father, 838 00:52:36,300 --> 00:52:40,220 a foreman's stevedore, have helped his son to hide his condition? 839 00:52:42,220 --> 00:52:45,820 Generations of Tony Nelson's family worked on the docks. 840 00:52:47,500 --> 00:52:50,940 And he knows how the system operated. 841 00:52:50,940 --> 00:52:54,380 So there was a culture? If you were one of the dockers, one of us, 842 00:52:54,380 --> 00:52:55,780 they would look out for him? 843 00:52:55,780 --> 00:52:57,460 Without a shadow of a doubt. 844 00:52:57,460 --> 00:53:00,300 They would have given him light work, they would have looked after him. 845 00:53:00,300 --> 00:53:02,420 They would have recognised he had to feed his family. 846 00:53:02,420 --> 00:53:05,220 It wouldn't be the boss that'd look after him, it'd be his workmates. 847 00:53:05,220 --> 00:53:08,820 So they were making allowances because he was part of their community? 848 00:53:08,820 --> 00:53:13,100 Yes, that was the... Uh, the culture behind those dock walls. 849 00:53:13,100 --> 00:53:15,740 And his father also worked as a foreman in these docks, 850 00:53:15,740 --> 00:53:18,460 so would that have made things a bit easier for him? 851 00:53:18,460 --> 00:53:19,780 It would have helped, 852 00:53:19,780 --> 00:53:22,540 because it was the foreman that done the hiring and firing. 853 00:53:28,740 --> 00:53:31,340 Dock labourers were casual workers. 854 00:53:36,860 --> 00:53:39,340 Every day, Jack arrived at the docks, 855 00:53:39,340 --> 00:53:41,460 more in hope than expectation. 856 00:53:42,940 --> 00:53:45,180 He would line up in the pen, hoping that the foreman 857 00:53:45,180 --> 00:53:47,860 would give him a tap on the shoulder to get a day's work. 858 00:53:47,860 --> 00:53:50,060 So, obviously, if he's working with his father, 859 00:53:50,060 --> 00:53:51,740 his father would have looked after him. 860 00:53:51,740 --> 00:53:54,500 So he wouldn't be assured work, but it would have helped him. 861 00:53:54,500 --> 00:53:56,460 And then, after going through all of that, 862 00:53:56,460 --> 00:53:59,780 then he has a very physical day's work on the ship. 863 00:54:01,140 --> 00:54:03,660 He was 24 hours a day, he was under stress. 864 00:54:03,660 --> 00:54:06,220 He probably didn't sleep at night because of the air raids. 865 00:54:06,220 --> 00:54:08,900 He would probably walk to work. That's a couple of miles. 866 00:54:08,900 --> 00:54:10,340 Yeah. Before you get to work. 867 00:54:10,340 --> 00:54:12,420 Yeah. So even though he's working, 868 00:54:12,420 --> 00:54:14,860 even though he's got a job, he's still living in poverty? 869 00:54:14,860 --> 00:54:17,780 He would just about be able to feed his family on the pay 870 00:54:17,780 --> 00:54:20,340 and he wasn't guaranteed that pay week after week. 871 00:54:20,340 --> 00:54:22,980 And, basically, he had to rely on the goodwill of his workmates, 872 00:54:22,980 --> 00:54:25,580 basically, to earn a living for his family. 873 00:54:25,580 --> 00:54:27,620 So his income is unstable and unreliable 874 00:54:27,620 --> 00:54:29,260 and he's got a disability, 875 00:54:29,260 --> 00:54:32,100 and we're a few years before the NHS, 876 00:54:32,100 --> 00:54:35,260 so he's got almost no access to medical help. 877 00:54:35,260 --> 00:54:39,620 But it's impossible to see how he could've made his life any better. 878 00:54:39,620 --> 00:54:41,900 He was living in abject poverty, yes. 879 00:54:45,140 --> 00:54:48,060 To me, Jack is an everyday hero, 880 00:54:48,060 --> 00:54:51,580 who worked in all conditions through the Liverpool Blitz. 881 00:54:53,620 --> 00:54:57,940 It's difficult to overestimate just how strong, just how cohesive 882 00:54:57,940 --> 00:55:00,860 working-class communities were in this era 883 00:55:00,860 --> 00:55:03,620 and the dockers of Liverpool were a classic case. 884 00:55:05,620 --> 00:55:08,140 Thanks to men like Jack and his father, 885 00:55:08,140 --> 00:55:11,700 the port of Liverpool remained operational throughout the war. 886 00:55:12,940 --> 00:55:16,180 Ensuring that Britain was fed, equipped and armed. 887 00:55:18,500 --> 00:55:20,820 But I can't imagine how Jack Greenall 888 00:55:20,820 --> 00:55:22,580 could have sustained his job 889 00:55:22,580 --> 00:55:26,940 without his fellow workers and the protection of his father. 890 00:55:26,940 --> 00:55:29,340 The sad truth is that he had little else. 891 00:55:39,500 --> 00:55:42,740 Back home, in their room at 62 Falkner Street, 892 00:55:42,740 --> 00:55:44,140 was his wife Florence. 893 00:55:46,060 --> 00:55:49,500 When you think about the predicament that Florence was in during the war 894 00:55:49,500 --> 00:55:52,140 years, your heart does go out to her, 895 00:55:52,140 --> 00:55:54,420 because she's huddled in this house, 896 00:55:54,420 --> 00:55:55,740 looking after a child, 897 00:55:55,740 --> 00:55:59,260 while the bombs are literally falling in the streets all around, 898 00:55:59,260 --> 00:56:03,500 and her husband is down at the docks, working every hour he could 899 00:56:03,500 --> 00:56:05,620 just to try to keep their heads above water 900 00:56:05,620 --> 00:56:07,340 and make a little bit of money. 901 00:56:07,340 --> 00:56:09,220 And she will have had, through all of that, 902 00:56:09,220 --> 00:56:12,060 two thoughts in the back of her mind. 903 00:56:12,060 --> 00:56:16,460 The first is that the docks are the number one target for the German bombers, 904 00:56:16,460 --> 00:56:20,180 and the second is that, at any moment, her husband could have 905 00:56:20,180 --> 00:56:24,380 an epileptic seizure and be injured, or...or worse. 906 00:56:27,620 --> 00:56:32,700 I want to know how long Jack and Florence endured these conditions. 907 00:56:32,980 --> 00:56:36,980 But there are few records of casual labourers in the 1940s. 908 00:56:36,980 --> 00:56:39,420 And Jack's trail runs cold. 909 00:56:40,660 --> 00:56:43,060 There's only one document that can help me. 910 00:56:44,940 --> 00:56:47,780 I've got hold of Jack Greenall's death certificate 911 00:56:47,780 --> 00:56:50,220 and it tells us that he dies in 1950, 912 00:56:50,220 --> 00:56:52,060 and that the cause of death 913 00:56:52,060 --> 00:56:56,540 is myocardial failure due to an attack of epilepsy. 914 00:56:56,540 --> 00:56:59,180 Now, every death certificate is a tragic document, 915 00:56:59,180 --> 00:57:01,500 but this one is particularly poignant, 916 00:57:01,500 --> 00:57:04,020 because under "occupation", it says 917 00:57:04,020 --> 00:57:07,740 Jack is an invalid with no occupation, 918 00:57:07,740 --> 00:57:09,740 and he's only 42 years old. 919 00:57:09,740 --> 00:57:12,660 So it's clear that, at some point, he was no longer able to work, 920 00:57:12,660 --> 00:57:15,260 no longer able to support his family, 921 00:57:15,260 --> 00:57:19,140 and the only hope you have to have is that this is 1950, 922 00:57:19,140 --> 00:57:22,900 this is two years after the foundation of the National Health Service, 923 00:57:22,900 --> 00:57:24,660 the beginning of the welfare state. 924 00:57:24,660 --> 00:57:29,060 You have to hope that Jack and Florence, in Jack's final years, 925 00:57:29,060 --> 00:57:31,380 at least had some help from the state. 926 00:57:33,860 --> 00:57:36,460 Unlike the Duffys and the Snewings, 927 00:57:36,460 --> 00:57:40,980 the Greenall family didn't have the resources to weather the hard times, 928 00:57:40,980 --> 00:57:43,540 and poverty was never far away. 929 00:57:47,500 --> 00:57:52,780 But one thing all three families had in common was 62 Falkner Street, 930 00:57:53,460 --> 00:57:58,660 the place which provided them with sanctuary during the most turbulent years of the 20th century. 931 00:58:04,820 --> 00:58:06,540 We see the house through 932 00:58:06,540 --> 00:58:08,660 the post-war years to the present. 933 00:58:08,660 --> 00:58:12,540 The very existence of number 62 hangs by a thread. 934 00:58:12,540 --> 00:58:14,540 And if the house is vacant, 935 00:58:14,540 --> 00:58:17,540 then it was at serious risk of being demolished. 936 00:58:18,980 --> 00:58:20,860 Riots rage on the doorstep. 937 00:58:23,020 --> 00:58:26,100 And a new epidemic takes hold. 938 00:58:26,100 --> 00:58:28,340 People were not going to recover from this.