Jack Whitehall and his deadpan dad Michael
have proven that funny bones are a family
trait – with the bickering duo teaming up for
BBC comedy talk show Backchat and Netflix’s
hilarious documentary Travels with My Father.
Now, the father and son are trying to find
out what else is lurking in the Whitehall
genes as they become the first celebrities
to look into their ancestry together in this
week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
‘It’s nice we’re both doing this – Jack is
the next generation and it’s very important
that he knows about his family, because I’ll
be gone in about 10 years,’ explains former
theatrical agent Michael.
Meanwhile, Jack jokes: ‘I wanted to maybe
establish that there is no biological link to
him. I’m not disturbed by finding out bad
stuff about my family. I was open-minded to
potentially finding dodgy things.’
The Whitehalls do indeed discover some
dark branches in their family
tree when they begin their
search by investigating the
childhood of Richard Ernest
Baxter Whitehall, known as
REB, who was Michael’s
paternal grandfather and
Jack’s great-grandfather.
It was thought that REB,
who was born in 1870, had
been orphaned as a young
boy after his commercial
traveller father Richard died
in a pony and trap accident and his mother
Caroline passed away shortly after from grief.
But Jack and Michael learn Caroline was
placed in an asylum and actually died there
from dementia caused by syphilis, which had
possibly been passed on by Richard, who is
also likely to have died of the disease.
‘Neither of us is particularly emotional
but reading something that graphic and
stark, it was hard not to be affected,’ says Jack.
‘Caroline had three years of suffering before
she died and the doctors could do nothing.
I suppose the idea of the pony and trap
and dying of grief became the family story
instead because the true story was so grim.’
There were better times ahead for REB,
however, as his firstcousin, a wealthy woollen merchant, left him
his fortune of £194,000, the equivalent of
around £10million today.
‘Those millions of pounds definitely didn’t
come our way,’ says Michael. ‘I only knew my
grandfather from a distance because I was
just a child, but he was kind and sweet, and
to realise he’d had a bad start in life was sad.
So I’m pleased in the end he had a good life
and died a happy man.’
The Whitehalls then explore the roots of
REB’s wife Edith and find that Michael’s
three-times great-grandfather was Thomas
Jones Phillips, a solicitor and
magistrates’ clerk in Newport,
Wales, in the 1830s.
They learn that Thomas,
a passionate Tory, fought
determinedly against
campaigns by the Chartists to
extend the vote to all working
men. In 1839, the Chartists
held a protest, known as the
Newport Rising, against the
imprisonment of some of their
members. Soldiers and special
constables quashed the rising and killed 22
Chartists. Thomas was later instrumental in
arresting the leaders of the demonstration.SAD AND A LITTLE WEIRD
‘My best hope was that Thomas was just
a pen-pusher following orders,’ says Jack.
‘But it turned out our great ancestor was
gathering evidence to bang up the guys
fighting for the rights of workers in Wales.’
John Frost, one of the Chartists arrested by
Thomas following the rising, was sentenced
to death for high treason. But the Whitehalls
were pleased to discover that he was reprieved
and transported to Australia instead.
‘That was a happy ending through all this
darkness and despair and our scumbag
ancestor,’ says Jack. ‘Thomas died three years
after John’s sentencing. We went to see a plaque
at the church where he’s buried and it was
above the toilet. That was sad and a little weird.’
After their hard-hitting discoveries, Jack
jokes that he might now need to distance
himself from his paternal line.
‘There is not a lot of light in our story. Now
I know about Dad’s ancestry I’m going to
sever ties because all his ancestors were
wrong ’uns,’ he smiles.
‘I should have done the show with
Mummy [actress Hilary Gish] instead. I’m
sure Mummy has really nice ancestors!’GENEALOGY
Who Do You Think You Are?
Monday, BBC1 HD, 9pm
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KREB in the
1950sREB and Edith
(standing and seated,
left) in the 1930s‘I’m going to
sever ties with
Dad – all his
ancestors were
wrong ’uns’
JACK WHITEHALL