HE HAS always called himself a stranger in his own country and now Irish chat show host Graham Norton is said to have been lost for words to discover he has a connection – with Rotherham.
In an episode of Who Do You Think You Are? being screened tonight and promising to spill the beans about a scandal in his family's past, the comedian has found out his ancestry is entwined with the history of a Yorkshire branch of the nobility.
Th
e presenter, who is Protestant and says he has always felt an outsider from being raised in the Catholic South, visited Sheffield Archives last autumn to look at some 18th century records from the Wentworth Woodhouse collection, while taking part in the BBC genealogy show.
The journey to trace his family's roots led to South Yorkshire because the Fitzwilliam family – whose seat was Wentworth Woodhouse, near
Rotherham – owned extensive land in Ireland.
The results of an attempt to find out if his ancestors are mentioned in the estate's rent records will be revealed in the show – which is promising a tale of scandal and illegitimacy when Graham delves deeper into the mystery of why his great grandmother used two different maiden names.
Norton is said to have been stunned by the outcome of the programme in which he finds out how his ancestors survived the potato famine and fought and died during the Irish rebellion, before discovering documents that lead him back across the Irish sea to Yorkshire.
The history of the Wentworth area has been closely linked with the history of the great aristocratic families – the Wentworths, Watsons and Fitzwilliams – which only petered out with the end of the Fitzwilliam line in 1979.
When the Wentworths and Watsons died out, the Earl Fitzwilliam took over the estate in 1782 and was responsible for much of the early industrial growth, establishing mines and factories in nearby towns and villages.
By the mid-nineteenth century they were believed to be the sixth wealthiest landowners in the country and put a lot back into the area by funding local good causes.
The 7th Earl started a factory in Sheffield turning out one of the earliest motor cars – the Simplex – but his successor died in a plane crash along with his society fiance Kathleen Kennedy – sister of President Kennedy.
Sheffield City Council's Archive service is based at Shoreham Street in purposely-adapted premises which house a huge range of records of local, national and international importance and are recognised as a place of deposit for public records by the Lord Chancellor's Department.
Staff are responsible for the management of over 6km of records dating from the 12th century to the present day covering Sheffield and South
Yorkshire. Last year over 9,000 people visited the service to undertake research on a wide variety of topics
The Council's Library and Archives service offers free access to Ancestry.com a website that provides access to a huge number of family history and other records and images such as census returns and indexes to births, deaths and marriages.
Coun Tim Rippon, Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration, Culture and Planning, said: "The archive facilities are great. As well as hard copies of materials, the Ancestry.com website contains information on over four billion names.
"It's an amazing resource for anyone wanting to find out more about their family history. Anyone can use the council's subscription at the City Archives office, Local Studies and all libraries across the city including Central Library."
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