Free Girls’s Charlene White has damaged down in tears when discovering how her four-times nice grandparents have been ‘among the many first to dwell as free black Jamaicans’ after being born into slavery.
The London-born information presenter, 43, delves deep into her household historical past, in addition to their hyperlinks to the British Empire, for tonight’s ITV documentary, Charlene White: Empire’s Baby, and is left shocked by what she finds.
Tracing her household tree in Jamaica, the mother-of-two is advised how her four-times nice grandparents, Andrew and Elsey Pusey, have been born into slavery.
However the couple have been among the many first Jamaicans freed in 1834 when slavery was abolished and went on to buy land at a reduced charge from the Baptist Church so they may dwell on it and promote produce.
Saying she felt pleased with her relations, Charlene mentioned: ‘They have been born slaves however after they have been my age they have been freed, and so they needed extra, and regardless of every part that was thrown at them as slaves, they nonetheless had hope and so they nonetheless believed they may create one thing.’
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Charlene White (pictured), 43, delves deep into her household historical past, in addition to their hyperlinks to the British Empire, for tonight’s ITV documentary, Charlene White: Empire’s Baby, and is left shocked by what she finds

Tracing her household tree in Jamaica, the mother-of-two is advised how her four-times nice grandparents, Andrew and Elsey Pusey, have been born into slavery. However the couple have been among the many first Jamaicans freed in 1834 when slavery was abolished and went on to buy land (pictured) at a reduced charge from the Baptist Church so they may dwell on it and promote produce
‘And my gosh they did,’ she continues. ‘To know that I got here from right here and that generations and generations saved on it, they saved on it, all of them needed extra, they needed extra for his or her kids, my grandparents needed extra for his or her kids, my dad and mom needed extra for his or her kids and then you definitely’ve obtained me, my brother and my sister.
‘And the dream that Andrew and Elsey had right here, was us. They usually did it and I hope that coming residence to right here in some bizarre manner, going full circle, I hope they realise that they did it.
‘… What they needed and what they hoped they really did it, and I am so pleased with them.’

Saying she felt pleased with her relations, Charlene (pictured) mentioned: ‘They have been born slaves however after they have been my age they have been freed, and so they needed extra, and regardless of every part that was thrown at them as slaves, they nonetheless had hope and so they nonetheless believed they may create one thing.’

‘And my gosh they did,’ she continues. ‘To know that I got here from right here and that generations and generations saved on it, they saved on it, all of them needed extra’. Pictured, the world Charlene visited
Elsewhere within the documentary, the Free Girls star shockingly discovers her 5 occasions great-grandfather was a slave proprietor.
The information presenter traces her household tree again to Jamaica the place she uncovers the historical past of her 5 time great-grandfather, John Stanbury.
Upon discovering his determine, Charlene emotionally says: ‘He was a slave proprietor, he owned individuals who appeared like me.
‘And that’s inside my bloodline, which is a bizarre factor to get my head round and he’s answerable for my households’ lighter pores and skin. Is it a pleasant historical past? No, however I really feel it’s one thing I wanted to know. ‘

Elsewhere within the documentary, the Free Girls star (pictured) shockingly discovers her 5 occasions great-grandfather was a slave proprietor
Charlene is advised by Genealogist Dianne Golding-Frankson that a number of of John’s kids have been blended race.
To which she responds: ‘You recognize the pink in my hair when it is not dyed? Gosh, it is due to this man. This man may have been accountable for lots of ache. And selected to place his kids in a inventory take of the slaves he owned.’
Discussing the filming of the present, commissioned as a part of ITV’s celebration of Black Historical past Month, Charlene advised MailOnline final week how she initially deliberate to maintain her cool journalist’s head, however quickly found that the deeper she delved into the previous, the extra emotional she grew to become.
She mentioned of the present: ‘Empire’s Baby is about the place I sit within the British Empire as a baby of immigrants right here. It’s principally trying on the roots of my mum’s maiden identify and seeking to see how far again in historical past we’d have the ability to go in historical past to determine the place the surname got here from.

Household: Charlene’s household have been a part of the Windrush technology who settled within the UK. Right here she is pictured together with her late mom Dorrett who sadly handed away aged 47 in 2002
‘To determine about extra about my historical past, by nature, of basically descending from slaves may be very troublesome to work out the place you come from as a result of a variety of these paperwork have been destroyed after independence or are underneath lock and key with the nationwide archive. So this stuff, it may be fairly troublesome.
‘However the genealogist that labored on this went additional than they ever thought attainable, which was fairly a shock. As a result of it turned out that the file for my household have been really nicely saved and have been traceable, so it simply was an unbelievable journey.’
She continued: ‘I began it with very a lot a journalist’s thoughts and coronary heart, like I used to be pondering “don’t get linked to the story”.
‘However by the tip of the programme, I grew to become much more emotional than I ever anticipated her to be and the story hit me within the coronary heart in a manner that I used to be not anticipating.
‘The detachment that I needed to have with this programme simply didn’t occur. And it was an amazing sense of lastly understanding the roots of me, it’s simply hit me like a ten ton truck within the coronary heart!
‘There’s a second within the movie the place basically, you simply slowly see me crumble as a result of I used to be in a extremely lucky place the place I used to be in a position to determine the place I come from and to search out out these tales of my household and to determine the place I sit inside the British Empire as a black British girl who’s born of immigrants, not all people will get to do this.’
Reflecting on the expertise, Charlene revealed she hoped it could encourage individuals to achieve out to their grandparents and study extra about their household previous earlier than the chance goes.
Charlene White: Empire’s Baby is on ITV on Thursday at 9pm