Giovanni Pernice and Rose Ayling-Ellis enjoy dinner
Strictly Come Dancing sensation Rose Ayling-Ellis couldn't help but shed tears on BBC's "Who Do You Think You Are? " as she delved into a "really difficult" chapter of her ancestry.
While exploring the branches of her family tree on the hit series, Rose unearthed a fascinating detail about her great great great grandmother, Agnes, who held the title of pub landlady way back in the dawn of the 20th century. On her visit to Birmingham's Aston Tavern, it was revealed to Rose that her ancestor had been twice wedded.
Agnes' life took an affluent turn when, after losing her first husband, she remarried in a grand celebration right in the pub garden. Tragically, however, her second spouse died just three years later, leaving her a generous legacy of £1,500.
In an era rife with moral hysteria over alcohol consumption, being a female purveyor of spirits meant Agnes faced societal bias. Rose's emotions brimmed as she learned that today, one of the hotel's rooms bears her great great great grandmother's name.
As Rose raised a toast to Agnes within those historic walls, she openly expressed, "I just feel really privileged to learn so much about this woman. So, to Agnes... I just want to say cheers, and thank you. I don't know why I'm getting emotional about that! Because I feel like it must have been really difficult to cope with two deaths of her husbands," reports the Mirror.
She added with admiration, "But she's resilient. It's not about her husbands. It's about herself, and it's about who she is and what she wants to do and she's just doing it. And I like that. I have nothing but massive respect for her."
Agnes, in a bid to elevate the status of her pub, initiated a variety of social activities such as singalongs and a bowls club an image of which Rose had treasured at home since childhood. Historian Julie-Marie Strange observed, "She's using the pub in really strategic ways," prompting Rose to burst into applause.
Delighted, she exclaimed: "I like that she's sociable, she's a feminist, she's a businesswoman. She'd throw all these clubs, and she's a mother to six children! She had a lot going on, but she did it all."
In a revelation from her nan, Rose discovered that her great-great-grandparents James and Ada were parents to an astonishing 17 children, a fact that left her utterly astounded. Tragically, two of their offspring passed away during infancy, and their father James was handicapped with only one hand, the other replaced by a hook.
Pondering the cause, Rose speculated, "I don't know what happened, but possibly he'd been working on the railway and had some sort of accident. Because lots of family members worked on the railway, but I don't know. He'd lost his hand. When he was at home he didn't have a glove on."
Rose's ancestors lived under harsh conditions, described as "very very poor", residing in a dwelling adjacent to a workhouse where they were compelled to maintain silence and darkness, even though they paid rent.
