Tearful Brian Blessed overcome as he discovers 'real-life Oliver Twist' in the family

Brian Blessed, the actor, has discovered a "real-life Oliver Twist" in his family, as he sheds a tear over the adventurous 18th century pauper he called a "lad after my own heart".

Blessed, the actor and mountaineer, found he was related to a young runaway, separated from his only surviving brother after his parents and siblings died and sent to the workhouse.

Jabez Blessed, who was born in 1817, is recorded as making a daring escape at the age of 11, running away from church to make his own way on the streets.

Historians believe he could have joined a gang of youngsters living in Covent Garden, London, potentially pinching food from market stalls and performing acrobatics for money.

Week later, he was captured and returned to the workhouse before being sent to Newcastle to be a ship’s apprentice.

Blessed said he was “terribly moved” to hear about the entrepreneurial youngster, whom he called a “lad after my own heart”.

Wiping away a tear as he stood at Jabez’s graveside, he said: “I don’t think I’ve ever cried in my life. Never cried, not even as a baby.

“I’m proud to have found you. I had a really great, great-grandfather.”

Blessed family history was uncovered by researchers on the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?, who looked into his paternal line from his home in south Yorkshire.

They located his great-great-great-grandfather, Barnabus Blessed, as a relatively wealthy bookbinder in early 1800s London, before making a disastrous move to Portsmouth.

^{Brian Blessed's parents with Brian (BBC/ Derek Ford)}

Recorded as a pauper and father of four, he and his wife both died in their early 40s, leaving their children as orphans.

As paupers, the four children were expelled from the parish just three days later and sent back to London, where the St Martin’s in the Fields parish were legally bound to care for them.

They entered the workhouse, where they were split up and housed in separate wards.

Martha, aged 14, is described as “an idiot”, suggesting she suffered learning difficulties. She died a week after entering the workhouse. Elizabeth, her 22-month-old sister, died shortly afterwards.

Six-year-old Jabez was moved to a different infant poorhouse, while his eight-year-old brother Charles remained in the workhouse alone.

“That’s incredibly cruel,” Blessed said. “So the two bothers in a short space of time lost their parents and their sisters. I mean, how did they take that on board at eight years of age and six?

“Terrible losses. I’ve never come across anything like that in my life. Awful. What kind of traumatic effect did this have on them?”

After three years, Jabez is returned to the workhouse to find Charles had been moved out, to begin life as an apprentice shoemaker. On July 19, 1827, he runs away.

Blessed said: “He must have been absolutely sure of himself, he had a plan. He’s 11, he’s smart and he’s craft. Bl---y good going. He sounds a character, even at that age.”

When asked what Jabez was likely to have done with his new-found freedom in Covent Garden, historian Dr. Alysa Levene told Blessed he could have completed errands for gentlemen, or become a street entertainer.

“We know that young boys were in gangs doing things like acrobatics, especially in theatreland,” she said. “Young boys would have run in front of them turning cartwheels and asking them for a bit of money.

“If he was a strong boy, a charismatic boy, it would have helped him a lot in a place like this.”

Weeks later, he was picked back up by the workhouse before being sent as an apprentice to a master mariner in Newcastle-upon-Tyne

He went on to become a married glass and china dealer , with 13 children. Decades later, records show he was reunited with his brother, Barnabus Charles, in London. He died in 1890, aged 73.

“This is a beautiful, beautiful conclusion,” Blessed said. “After all they suffered as children, this is really a miracle.

“I wanted to find guts and courage and imagination and I found it. This is what life’s about.

“I was just hoping and praying it would end up like this; a successful life. A tremendous example, a real Blessed. I feel a real affinity with you Jabez; the same kind of spirit.”

The full episode will be broadcast on BBC One on August 14th.