BBC TV "WDYTYA?" Series 10 Episode 4 Annie Lennox

[weste]

That leap of faith came within the first 10-15 mins and it annoyed me. It was n't considered at least on tv whether the area might be wrong. I must have fell asleep just after, so need to watch it again. I'd just been to staffs record office that day! I must admit to see those records on line are good!

[Skoosh]

Excellent programme on Annie. Her roots obviously go way back in Upper Deeside, Balmoral was clan territory for the Farquharson's & MacHardie's before Prince Albert bought the estate, having previously tried Ardverikie in Badenoch where it rained constantly during the royal visit and put them off.
 The appearance before the Kirk Session must have been a bit of an ordeal, Robert Burns suffered it himself (there's a surprise), but before the introduction of the Poor Laws, the Kirk was the social security system in a parish and money was always tight.

Skoosh.

[Grothenwell]

Similar kind of back stories to most people I would think and fascinating for that.

Yes it was fascinating I thought. We don't share any names,  (well I have Cruickshanks from Macduff/Banff, hopefully not the same as Mrs Cruickshank (A Rose) wasn't painted in a good light), however the Illegitimacy and the orphaning mirrored my families experiences so much I couldn't believe it. However as you said not uncommon practices in those days. Well done Annie & the WDYTYA team.

[Plummiegirl]

Yes as said before a good episode showing us the great records available in Scotland.

I loved Annie - no soppy sentimental tears there.

Recorded it and must admit that I did fast forward the bit in the mill as we have seen this story so many times.  Bill Oddies programme being the first of these to talk about mill workers.  Otherwise I really enjoyed it all.

[sallyyorks]

Hi there Plummiegirl. The reason mill stories appear 'so many times' in the ancestries of  people from the North of England and Scotland is that , like the coal mines , so many people up here  worked  in them . I have an ancestor as late as the 1871 census (Yorkshire)  working in the mill at 6 years old

[Nick29]

There were a couple of "leaps of faith".  This Jessie must be that Janet.  This Mrs Cruickshank must be that Mrs Cruickshank.

Otherwise, a nice lot of genealogy.

Hibee

I agree, but I would go further and say that there were a number of suppositions which could have been made for dramatic effect.   Of course, it's possible that these suppositions were further researched off-screen and became facts. 


And I'm fairly sure that it wasn't Mrs Cruickshank that spoke about keeping the child until she outlived her usefulness - this was the suggestion in the letter.

[Jolly Roger]

Well it was an interesting programme in as much it showed what you can find in Scotland reguarding the records, but I thought it was padded out at times by looking at the same piece more than once.

I have relations from Aberdeenshire so it was an interesting programme for me.

But what nearly all these programmesw lack is telling people just starting out it is an expensive hobby and to get what they show costs money.

[Mavals]

I really enjoyed the programme and as an occasional user of Scottish records, thought it was nice to see them being shown, although I agree, it might have been a great opportunity to explain the difference to English records.

I thought Annie was great - no weepies -  even though the story was sad. I felt she had a real appreciation of the lives of ordinary people who struggled to survive and the hardships that faced so many.

Nick - I too didn't think it was Mrs Cruickshank who made the suggestion about Jessie's usefulness....

All round I felt it was a more satisfying programme all round - even with the leaps of faith!

Sylvia

[LizzieW]

I thought it was Mrs Cruickshank who made the suggestion.  The writing in the records said Letter recd (received) from Mrs Cruickshank etc. etc.  No-one seemed to pick up on that, Annie Lennox said Letter read and she wasn't contradicted.