2 days ago
EXCLUSIVE Moment actress Diane Morgan discovers shocking family secret about her four times great grandmother - and jokes 'I don't know whether to be ashamed or proud'
Diane Morgan was left stunned after finding out her four times great grandmother had five 'illegitimate' children with four different fathers.
The actress, from Bolton, will appear on tonight's episode of the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are to learn more about her ambiguous family history.
The 49-year-old described having an interest in her family tree but said that she has never been good at compiling information on her computer.
During the show, she said she was eager to learn more about her Scottish heritage after finding out that part of her family comes from a small village outside of Dumfries.
Diane met with genealogist Emma Maxwell in a library in the Scottish town who told her that by the age of 30, her great, great, great, great grandmother Isabella Hope had given birth to five illegitimate children - a term used to describe babies born outside of marriage - from four different fathers.
She took Robert Robson, John McMurdo, James Ferguson and George Rome to court throughout the 1840s for not financially supporting their children and ended up winning all of her alimony money back.
It was not uncommon for women to have illegitimate children in rural Scotland during this time, but few took up their right to take fathers to court to get their maintenance cash back.
'She must've been quite confident then to go through with all that,' Diane said of her great, great, great, great grandmother.
'Other women at the time I can see them being quite put off by having to go to court and the shame of it as well.'
Upon finding out that Isabella had a third child out of wedlock and successfully won her money back for the third time, Diane added: 'This is starting to look like a career for her. I can't believe this.'
Emma said: 'This is a small village outside Dumfries, everybody would've known each other.'
Isabella - who was described as an 'improper character' in court documents - then had her two twins, belonging to a fourth father, George Rome.
When Diane was handed the paperwork, she said: 'Oh no! Dirty bugger. I don't know what to make of her really. I don't know whether to be ashamed or proud.'
Emma added: 'She certainly tried to make sure her children were cared for. And she wasn't intimidated either.
'These records really reveal an aspect of women's history in Scotland, which is really fascinating and it was perhaps unexpected that women had this ability to be able to do this, to be able to go to court and pursue the father of their children.'
Isabella had given birth to Adam Robson, Elizabeth McMurdo, Jemima Ferguson and two unidentified male twins.
Isabella - who was described as an 'improper character' in court documents - then had her two twins, belonging to a fourth father, George Rome
Reflecting on a church that Isabella would have likely visited with her family, Diane said: 'I thought you were going to tell me I was related to Robert the Bruce or Robbie Burns , one of the Roberts. Instead, my great, great, great, great grandmother is a bit of a hussy.
'But let's give her the benefit of the doubt, she just couldn't find the right man and there wasn't much to do around here wasn't there. She got some security for her kids I suppose, not a lot of women of that era would have done that, would they? Good for her.'
Meeting the local museum's curator Judith Hewitt at St. Michael's Graveyard where she was told more about what Isabella's short life was like.
After giving birth to five children, she then worked in the town as a servant to bring in a wage, while her mother looked after her kids.
This job often involved her making frequent trips to the river to fetch water, which left her at risk of catching bacterial diseases like cholera, as it was the same stream where the town's was dumped.
Dumfries had experienced disastrous effects from cholera in 1832 after the illness claimed more than 400 lives.
The town then experienced another outbreak 1848, six years prior to medics discovering it was a bacterial disease spread through contaminated water. Locals blamed loose morals and the weather as medics were not sure where cholera had come from.
Isabella died aged 30 from the disease in December 1848 and left behind her five children.
Emma told Diane that Isabella took all four of her children's fathers to court throughout the 1840s for not financially supporting their children and ended up winning all of her alimony money back
She was buried in St. Michael's Graveyard and while there is a headstone to mark those who passed away from the 1832 outbreak, there is no distinct grave for those who died from the 1848 wave.
Judith said: 'We know they were burying dozens of people a day but there is no memorial stone for that outbreak.'
Diane added: 'It makes me want to go out and get a stone and put it up. Not just for her, for all of them because I think they should have something.'
She was then curious to know whether Isabella would've been buried in a coffin, to which Judith said: 'If people couldn't afford coffins, they might be buried in a mortcloth, which is a piece of material that the parish owned. You would be placed into the grave wrapped in something which would later be retrieved.
'Given her status and her finances it's very likely she would've had that poor person's burial.'
Before leaving the graveyard where her great, great, great, great grandmother is buried, Diane met with local photographer Graham Robertson, who told her he was working on a project to remember those who passed away during the 1948 cholera epidemic.
He is planning to install a copper plate engraved with all of the names of those who have passed away, located in the church.
Diane said that she would 'definitely' be making another trip up to Dumfries to visit the memorial plate when it is complete in the next year or so.
'Well, I thought I was going to go away from here really sad that that my great, great, great, great grandmother Isabella doesn't have a gravestone. But to see that, what Graham's made, it's lovely. It's given me peace that her name is there and that people will see it.
