A House Through Time

David Olusoga discovers our house’s first resident - idealistic Victorian lawyer William Bruce, who tries and fails to save the life of a man convicted to hang for murder. Decades later, Bruce is serving as a Leeds magistrate when a similar case comes before him – can he save a young man’s life this time? Tracking our house forward, David uncovers the remarkable rags-to-riches story of Ann Dawson, who went from working on the factory floor to living in style in Grosvenor Mount. When her husband’s business collapses, Ann looks set to lose it all. Finally, David learns that our house was home to master builder William Nicholson, founder of a famous dynasty that built Leeds landmarks including County Arcade. William hands his business down to the next generation, but when Leeds train station is destroyed by fire, can William’s grandson ride to the rescue?

Digging into the affairs of the house’s next resident, Benjamin Wild, David discovers a factory owner with a history of questionable business dealings, including an employee mangled to death on the factory floor. But when his business is burned down, allegedly by a disgruntled employee, will Wild’s luck finally run out? David then explores the story of Mary and Andrew Mellish, whose one-year-old child fell victim to one of the Victorian city’s most deadly diseases. Next in our house are William and Mary Lucy Whiting. Committed pacifists, the Whitings take a stand against the Boer War, but with nationalistic fervour running high, their principles come at a cost. Finally, David uncovers the story of Edward Partridge Fearnley. Working on a luxury cruise ship through the 1920s, Edward rubs shoulders with the rich and famous, but his life below decks proves anything but glamorous when there’s an outbreak of TB.

By 1913, Number 5 is home to respectable couple Frederick and Louisa Pryce Lewis. From a clue in the family photo album, David follows the trail of their younger son Walter, tracking him from Australia to the battlefields of Gallipoli and finally back to Leeds, where David discovers that Walter has turned to a life of crime. Successful textiles chemist Percival King and wife Rose are the next to move into the house with their young daughter. But this apparently happy family is split apart when Percival suddenly resigns from his job, admits himself to a psychiatric institution then disappears without warning. Our next residents, Laurence and May Bendit, are a married couple with a shared passion for the spiritual movement of theosophy who raise their young children at Number 5. But when Laurence develops an interest in the paranormal, an encounter with a mysterious clairvoyant puts his marriage under threat.

The Second World War puts our residents in danger. Leeds is a shock to a Greek war bride with a tragic past and a return for students who lived here at the Millennium.