Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 5 of 6, RTÉ One, Sunday, October 7th at 9.30pm
Laura Whitmore’s paternal ancestry reveals that many of her ancestors were bricklayers and stonemasons and takes her on a journey through the Fenian uprising of 1867, to the various industrial disputes and lockouts in Dublin in the early 20th century, the deadly Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 and to a beautiful Georgian house in Dublin’s Fitzwilliam square where her great grandmother worked as a servant.
On her maternal side, the real mystery for Laura is the origin of her surname which she takes from her mother. Her grandfather Robert Whitmore was born out of wedlock as ‘Robert Geraghty’ (his mother’s maiden name), with no father listed. It was only on his wedding certificate that he declared his father to be a ‘Robert Whitmore’. Laura tries to find out the identity of her great grandfather and in turn the origins of her own surname.