On the next episode of DNA Journey, airing on ITV on Wednesday 23 October at 9pm, actors James Nesbitt and Sarah Parish will trace their family history together.
James and Sarah have been friends for over 20 years, since they both acted in TV dramas that filmed in Manchester – James was in Cold Feet and Sarah was in Cutting It. More recently, they starred together in the Netflix series Stay Close.
Coincidentally, they both have a parent who was also their primary school teacher, and who they deeply miss after their death. For James, it’s his father James Nesbitt senior, and for Sarah, it’s her mother Thelma Cromarty.
“When they’ve gone, you wish for just one more conversation, one more chat,” Sarah says. “All those things that you really wanted to ask.”
James also wants to find out more about his ‘granddaddy’ Willie Nesbitt, who fought at the Somme in the First World War and was wounded on the first day of the battle. He never spoke about his experiences.
To start, they go to Edinburgh, to the facility that houses Scotland’s national collection of art, where they see a portrait of Sarah’s 3x great uncle, James Taylor. He was clearly an important man, but why?
To find out more, James and Sarah go to Garnetbank School in Glasgow. They learn that James started life as a minister. However, after witnessing the lack of educational opportunities for poor children in Glasgow, where he worked, he was inspired to campaign for educational reform. Thanks to his efforts, the 1872 Education (Scotland) Act was passed, making education compulsory for children under 13 in Scotland. James became Secretary of the Board of Education and oversaw the building of new schools in Scotland, like the one they’re in now.
"Education and giving back to people, it runs so strong through the family," Sarah says. "It's brilliant. What a great man."
Next, they go to a pub in Glasgow, where they meet family history expert Brad Argent. They soon learn the connection to the pub – James’ great grandfather George Boak ran a pub in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. However, he broke the law by doing so – first he operated without a licence, and then when he gained a licence, he got into trouble for selling liquor outside permitted hours.
James jokes that he’s not happy about the disparity between his ancestor and Sarah’s: “Her ancestor educated the country and mine ran an illegal pub!”
Next, they go to Perthshire, where they find out more about Sarah’s 2x great grandmother, Mary Marshall. Mary started working as a servant from a young age before marrying Daniel Campbell, a widower with eight children. The couple went on to have six more children. To provide for his family, Daniel became a gamekeeper, defending a country estate from poachers. He took the job very seriously and even got into trouble for wrongfully detaining innocent men on the suspicion that they were poachers. However, old newspaper reports show that Daniel’s own wife Mary was secretly a poacher, as she was fined after being caught with nine rabbits in her possession!
Daniel then died, leaving Mary and the children with no income. But Mary was resilient and made money by taking in lodgers, before eventually emigrating to Canada.
Next, James and Sarah go to France to find out more about James’ grandfather. They go to Thiepval war cemetery, which commemorates those killed at the Somme. It includes the Ulster Memorial Tower, a monument to the men of the 36th Ulster Division who fought in the battle, including William Nesbitt.
They meet Rocky, a veteran of the Royal Irish Rangers and cemetery staff member, who tells them that William lied about his age to join the army at the age of 16. He qualified as a Lewis machine gunner. He would have had to advance across no man’s land on foot while carrying a heavy gun, which made him vulnerable to enemy fire. William was shot in the shoulder and leg on the first day of battle and transported back to Britain for hospital treatment.
“It’s just terrifying,” James says, “the thought of him at that age, having that responsibility. And also he must have had the knowledge throughout his life that he was also mowing down young men his own age on the other side.”
James and Sarah meet Brad Argent again to find out what happened next to William. After he recovered from his injuries, William returned to the war. In March 1918 he was captured and taken to Stendal prison camp.
Remarkable, James had a Christmas card from his parents, and was able to use it as a diary, writing down an experience of the hardships in the camp, in which many men died. Brad shows James a transcript of the diary, and James is moved to tears to recognise it’s in his late father’s handwriting. James’ father donated his father’s wartime papers to a library, and the DNA Journey team were able to find them.
James says he’s grateful that the experience of being on DNA Journey has reconnected him with his father: “It will I think, hopefully, live with me, what my ancestors went through to give me the life I’ve had.”
