In the Summerhill area of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, tracing the stories of 5 Ravensworth Terrace's residents back 200 years reveals real-life drama ranging from burglary to bigamy, and characters including a vengeful lawyer, a scientist faced with financial ruin and a doctor entangled in a workhouse scandal.
David Olusoga returns to chart more British history as lived through by the successive inhabitants of a house, this time a Georgian property on Ravensworth Terrace in Newcastle upon Tyne. Tracing the house's early years, David discovers the original deeds reveal that the house was built by local developer William Mather and completed around 1824. Its first long-term resident was local lawyer and family man William Stoker, who worked his way up the ranks of society and was elected to the post of town coroner.
David Olusoga tracks the lives of the residents of Ravensworth Terrace through the turbulent decades from the 1860s to the 1900s, discovering a family torn apart by catastrophe before the property became a refuge for destitute street girls, and hosted a seance.
Tracking the house’s occupants in the early 20th century, David finds a boarding house landlady whose family is threatened by war, and a young couple involved in terrorism.
The final episode of A House Through Time begins in 1946, when John Walter and Florence Smyth lived on Ravensworth Terrace with their daughter, and rented their spare rooms to lodgers. Historian David Olusoga unearths a scandal when he investigates the family’s background.