On 16/06/2013 7:22 AM, roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote: > A new series starts on ITVI on Tuesday June 25, made by Wall To Wall > Television, the same people who make Who Do You Think You Are? > > This will focus on celebrities who are horrified/shocked/appalled (choose your > own phrase) to discover they had an ancestor who ended up in the workhouse. I'd save "horrified/shocked/appalled" for discovering ancestors who ended up in the insane asylum! AW

In message <kplld0$l8r$1@speranza.aioe.org>, Ann Watson <Annailis@NOTSOhotmail.com> writes: >On 16/06/2013 7:22 AM, roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote: >> A new series starts on ITVI on Tuesday June 25, made by Wall To Wall >> Television, the same people who make Who Do You Think You Are? >> >> This will focus on celebrities who are horrified/shocked/appalled >>(choose your >> own phrase) to discover they had an ancestor who ended up in the workhouse. > >I'd save "horrified/shocked/appalled" for discovering ancestors who >ended up in the insane asylum! > >AW > > Beware: it is my understanding that that was used as a weapon against women under the flimsiest of justifications, and of course almost impossible to "escape" from, until relatively recently - there's a notorious act (something like "communicable diseases" I think) involved. So finding at least a female ancestor (ancestress?) was declared insane is not necessarily a reason for horror/shock/appalation (?). Ah, found it (Wikipedia's search engine didn't find it under "Act" - the entry is "Acts". Bad! Took me about 25 minutes to get round that!): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagious_Diseases_Acts -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf ... unlike other legal systems the common law is permissive. We can do what we like, unless it is specifically prohibited by law. We are not as rule-bound and codified as other legal systems. - Helena Kennedy QC (Radio Times 14-20 July 2012).

On 17/06/2013 01:31, Ann Watson wrote: > On 16/06/2013 7:22 AM, roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote: >> A new series starts on ITVI on Tuesday June 25, made by Wall To Wall >> Television, the same people who make Who Do You Think You Are? >> >> This will focus on celebrities who are horrified/shocked/appalled >> (choose your >> own phrase) to discover they had an ancestor who ended up in the >> workhouse. > > I'd save "horrified/shocked/appalled" for discovering ancestors who > ended up in the insane asylum! My grandfather did <shrug>. They weren't fussy about where they shoved the helplessly disabled in those days. -- Phil C.