WDYTYA? - Brian Blessed

Last night's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured the unique and larger-than-life Brian Blessed. It's worth the watch just to see him - what a character.

Image courtesy of dan/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The story of the Blessed family was actually quite tragic (and, much to Brian's surprise, originated in London.) Barnabas Blessed fell on hard times, and when he and his wife died within a few months of each other, his children were sent back to London from Portsmouth - to be beholden to the workhouse and poor relief system there.

In no way was it unusual for people to be moved from parish to parish as they squabbled with themselves over who was responsible for supporting the 'paupers.' The poor laws in place from the 1600s until the 1830s was rife with confusion, relying on a complex system of the claiming of settlement in a parish - by earning the right to settlement in one parish, you were no longer a burden to your previous parish, or so the theory was. Generally, as I said, it just led to a lot of confused argument and bureaucracy by those attempting to foist the poor off on another local authority. The situation changed to civil poor law unions in the 1830s, which relied more on regions rather than individual church parishes.

The family (mini-spoiler alert!) broke the cycle of poverty with Brian's ancestor, Jabez Blessed, moving to Lincolnshire and having thirteen children while working as a licensed hawker (a wheeler-and-dealer sort of occupation.) Brian showed his soft side by having a little cry, and showed his eccentric side more than once; a very enjoyable and interesting episode.