Monday's episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featured actor, comedian, writer, reality TV judge, etc. David Walliams.
Walliams' episode was one with interesting stories - war, travelling fairs, and a monkey playing an organ grinder... I can't help but think that some of this stuff will end up in one of his children's books!
More than the Dickensian or novelistic aspects though, Walliams' episode was about disability, and the way disabled people often fell through the cracks of 19th and 20th Century society.
One thing that I found typical of social welfare attitudes in the Victorian period was that one of Walliams' ancestors had got into trouble for getting his children to busk and beg in the street. The family was starving at the time, after the head of the house had lost his eyesight and was unable to find work.
Victorian sensibilities saw this as an unacceptable exploitation of children - which there is merit in, of course, especially when you consider the groups of children who would beg or steal for a gang-master, a la Oliver Twist - but fails to deal with the fundamental issue of actually feeding the children, and the desperation that led their parents to this situation.
The episode also followed the story of Walliams' great-grandfather, and his experience of shell-shock due to WW1, leading to an eventual permanent residence at an asylum - though there are rays of hope in that his existence does not seem to have been an unhappy one, over all.
If you're interested in researching your own family, please don't hesitate to get in touch. And remember, my last date for Christmas 2020 orders is 31st October 2020. See familyhistorybycerys.co.uk for details of how to get in touch.
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