:02:45. > :02:47.long they were living there for. Records show that either and
:02:48. > :02:57.Patricia had been living together at one of the houses. The team try to
:02:58. > :03:06.work out if Patricia and her partner were married. We have a hit on
:03:07. > :03:12.either gritters. He married Patricia D'Arcy in 1983 in Weymouth. That is
:03:13. > :03:16.really good for us. They cannot find a birth record for a Patricia D'Arcy
:03:17. > :03:24.that matches the date of birth for Patricia Griffiths given on the
:03:25. > :03:34.electoral roll. So they look to see if Patricia had married in Mr Darcy.
:03:35. > :03:38.There is a marriage in Weymouth. It was in December 1960 in Weymouth. To
:03:39. > :03:45.me, that is a good indication that will be her first marriage. We still
:03:46. > :03:52.have to check to see if there is a corresponding certificate so we know
:03:53. > :03:56.we have the right person. Searches confirm the findings. A hunt for any
:03:57. > :04:04.children born to the couple comes up negative. That is probably why we
:04:05. > :04:08.could not find him. Patricia's death certificate confirms the research
:04:09. > :04:12.done yesterday. The team have realised that as either died after
:04:13. > :04:19.Patricia, the case is more complex than they originally thought. Now we
:04:20. > :04:24.have discovered that Mr Griffiths survived his wife, it changes the
:04:25. > :04:29.complexion. He appeared to have died without leaving a will. He has a
:04:30. > :04:39.vested interest in his wife's estate. He survived her. When we are
:04:40. > :04:43.looking at a vested interest in an estate, if the deceased is survived
:04:44. > :04:50.by their partner or spouse, the estate forms part of their estate.
:04:51. > :04:55.Essentially, one estate moves over to the partner. We then look at the
:04:56. > :04:59.surviving spouses. As Mr Griffiths had moved out of the family home
:05:00. > :05:04.before Patricia died, Joe thinks this may be relevant to their
:05:05. > :05:08.investigation. We will try to find details relating to Mr Griffiths.
:05:09. > :05:12.One of her first concerns will be whether we can locate a divorce
:05:13. > :05:17.record. He would not be entitled to any of Patricia's estate. The estate
:05:18. > :05:25.belonged to would change dramatically.
:05:26. > :05:36.After some searching the team can find no evidence of a divorce. The
:05:37. > :05:48.team soon found people who knew I for in Weymouth. -- Ivor. He was
:05:49. > :05:53.always popping in and out of the shop with his wife Pat. I thought he
:05:54. > :06:00.was fascinating and unique will stop our chat developed and he would say
:06:01. > :06:13.Madame comedy Juno? And the conversation would develop from
:06:14. > :06:21.that. -- Madame, did you know? My colleagues, he did not always know
:06:22. > :06:23.them by name, Madame or Sir. I feel quite welled up just thinking about
:06:24. > :06:52.him now. They begin with his birth
:06:53. > :07:03.certificate. We are quite lucky with his name. It was not too difficult
:07:04. > :07:21.for us to find his birth. It was registered in Surrey.
:07:22. > :07:38.It is good news. That looks really good. The next step is to work out
:07:39. > :07:44.what happened. We located the marriage of Thelma to a Mrs Frances
:07:45. > :07:52.and the marriage resulted in them having one child. Unfortunately the
:07:53. > :08:04.child died a spinster, there are no relatives, so we have to go back to
:08:05. > :08:17.eternal and maternal families -- Pat eternal. The mother's birth
:08:18. > :08:29.certificate clearly stated she was the daughter of Percival and
:08:30. > :08:40.Gertrude. The team look at the Census records. John Henderson
:08:41. > :08:55.dredge, he was Devon and Clifford Henderson dredge was 12 months old.
:08:56. > :08:58.-- he was seven. With Eric unfortunately passing away without
:08:59. > :09:07.descendants, we had to pin our hopes on one of the other brothers. We
:09:08. > :09:16.soon discovered that they had a most and usual hobby. Before they got
:09:17. > :09:23.married, Clifford and Dorothy both became the civilian pilot. People
:09:24. > :09:32.learned to fly for all sorts of reasons. Clifford probably flew
:09:33. > :09:36.because he wanted to. I once asked a man why he joined the London
:09:37. > :09:43.aeroplane club in the late 20s and he said we had done is dating and I
:09:44. > :09:51.think that was rather what it was. Between 1925 and 1929, XT clubs were
:09:52. > :10:10.started and 9000 pilots were trained. -- 60 clubs. The moth was
:10:11. > :10:15.invented. The moth is behind me. They would have been flying an
:10:16. > :10:21.aeroplane is similar to this one. Clifford and Dorothy were flying
:10:22. > :10:32.gypsy moths. All the clubs had this kind of aeroplane. They really
:10:33. > :10:49.lasted until the wall -- the world War. If Clifford did not have any
:10:50. > :11:12.children... Today Andrew Fraser is at a property auction.
:11:13. > :11:30.It's a very good result for the estates.
:11:31. > :11:33.In the office, the search for any heirs to Ivor's estate rested
:11:34. > :11:38.with two of Ivor's uncles, Clifford and John.
:11:39. > :11:41.But before they look into them, the team decide to look
:11:42. > :11:44.Research to locate any potential beneficiaries on the paternal family
:11:45. > :11:47.was a lot trickier than the mother's side of the family because
:11:48. > :11:59.There is only one marriage before his birth and that's in 1928
:12:00. > :12:03.in Romford from a William Griffiths to a Margaret Dredge.
:12:04. > :12:05.William's birth record was found, which gave them his mother's
:12:06. > :12:13.The crucial information on the birth certificate was the specific village
:12:14. > :12:15.name where William was born, which helped us locate
:12:16. > :12:22.The census shows that William had three sisters and one
:12:23. > :12:28.We've been asked to try and find the next of kin, which we
:12:29. > :12:32.The team think David could be the person who signed as a witness
:12:33. > :12:35.to William's marriage to Margaret Dredge in 1928 and feel
:12:36. > :12:39.confident they've found the right Griffiths family.
:12:40. > :12:47.The next step is to find out what happened to these aunts
:12:48. > :12:52.Ethel died in 1972, she was a spinster.
:12:53. > :12:56.Winifred also died in 1990 as a spinster and Sadie died
:12:57. > :12:58.in 1978 as a spinster, so we're only left with David
:12:59. > :13:09.after that and thankfully he married in 1932 and had two children.
:13:10. > :13:11.With their first two potential heirs found, the team move back
:13:12. > :13:13.onto Ivor's mother's side of the family to see
:13:14. > :13:16.if the remaining two uncles, Clifford and John, had any children
:13:17. > :13:25.It turns out that aviators Clifford and Dorothy had three children.
:13:26. > :13:42.When I first heard that Ivor was leaving some sort of estate,
:13:43. > :13:46.that I might be a beneficiary along with my sisters, it
:13:47. > :13:53.Ivor's third and final uncle on his mother's side,
:13:54. > :13:58.John, had one daughter who had passed away,
:13:59. > :14:01.so her two children became heirs, bringing the total number
:14:02. > :14:06.In total, we end up with seven beneficiaries, two on the paternal
:14:07. > :14:15.In the auction room in London, Andrew is about to discover just how
:14:16. > :14:23.With the first house having sold for ?143,000,
:14:24. > :14:25.now it's time for Patricia and Ivor's investment
:14:26. > :14:29.property to go under the hammer.
:14:30. > :14:37.We're going to get there, aren't we?
:14:38. > :14:54.For the first time, ?198,000 for the second time.
:14:55. > :14:59.Let's be absolutely clear, madam, you will lose this to these guys
:15:00. > :15:02.for another ?500, possibly, if I don't get another bid from you.
:15:03. > :15:05.Third and final time, then, at ?198,000, I'm pointing
:15:06. > :15:19.The heirs to Mr Griffiths' estate, his blood relatives,
:15:20. > :15:21.will now have quite a substantial amount of cash
:15:22. > :15:28.But for Ivor's cousin John, the benefit isn't
:15:29. > :15:32.I think I'm thrilled to bits to hear now that
:15:33. > :15:34.even in his later years, he was out there
:15:35. > :15:42.He was always wanting to make people happy and please them.
:15:43. > :15:44.While for Ivor's friend Sandra, it's a reminder of a man
:15:45. > :15:48.He made people love him and if you can do that,
:15:49. > :16:14.That's all I can say about him, just wonderful.
:16:15. > :16:18.In many of the cases the heir hunters investigate,
:16:19. > :16:22.surprising family histories are uncovered in their searches that
:16:23. > :16:30.One of these cases is that of Valerie Linda Nash.
:16:31. > :16:33.She was born on 26th March 1936 in Birmingham and grew up living
:16:34. > :16:41.Liz Wallis met Valerie many years ago.
:16:42. > :16:44.I can only ever remember Valerie coming to visit us once
:16:45. > :16:48.and I would be about ten years of age and she's probably about four
:16:49. > :16:51.or five years older than me, but I remember that she was very
:16:52. > :16:59.She was tallish, longish hair, I think, and wore glasses,
:17:00. > :17:05.but she kept herself very much to herself.
:17:06. > :17:09.Valerie died at a nursing home in Birmingham on 17th February 2014.
:17:10. > :17:11.Her details were advertised on the Treasury's Bona
:17:12. > :17:19.They were picked up by assistant case manager Holly Jones of London
:17:20. > :17:27.We found from the Land Registry that Valerie owned her own property and
:17:28. > :17:36.The first thing they needed was to find Valerie's birth,
:17:37. > :17:42.and senior research manager Amy Littlechild started the hunt.
:17:43. > :17:45.Looking for a birth certificate, we put in all the names that we can
:17:46. > :17:50.Is it OK if you can answer a few of my inquiries at all?
:17:51. > :17:54.We also have an exact date of birth from the death, so obviously we need
:17:55. > :18:00.Mainly as she was born in March, it will be around the March/June
:18:01. > :18:07.A search of the birth index records came up with a match
:18:08. > :18:11.that looked promising, so the certificate was ordered.
:18:12. > :18:14.The team now have Valerie's parents' names, Horace Henry Nash
:18:15. > :18:20.and Linda Lillian Nash, formerly Berry.
:18:21. > :18:24.Having established that Valerie was an only child,
:18:25. > :18:28.had never married or had children of her own, the team now need to go
:18:29. > :18:30.back a generation and look for Valerie's grandparents.
:18:31. > :18:35.They focused on Valerie's mother's family first.
:18:36. > :18:39.On the 1911 census, we were able to locate Valerie's mother
:18:40. > :18:42.Linda living with her parents in Birmingham.
:18:43. > :18:46.We now had Valerie's grandmother's name on her maternal side and also
:18:47. > :18:51.living at the address at the time in 1911 is listed a brother
:18:52. > :18:56.so this would be a maternal uncle to Valerie.
:18:57. > :19:00.Valerie's mother's family tree was starting to take shape.
:19:01. > :19:06.Her mother was Agnes Berry, formerly Stanton.
:19:07. > :19:08.Linda's brother, also called Arthur, had been born
:19:09. > :19:15.The 1911 census tells us that Arthur, Linda's
:19:16. > :19:20.The family were living in the Brookfields
:19:21. > :19:22.area of Birmingham - again, this is tying
:19:23. > :19:30.At the time of the 1911 census, the family were living within a mile
:19:31. > :19:34.of Birmingham's thriving industry of jewellery production.
:19:35. > :19:37.Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter is roughly a square mile of the city
:19:38. > :19:41.just north-north-west of the city centre.
:19:42. > :19:44.For the last 150 years, it's been the main centre
:19:45. > :19:47.of jewellery and silverware production in Britain.
:19:48. > :19:49.It overtook other centres such as Edinburgh and London
:19:50. > :19:52.in the mid-19th century and it grew to become the largest single centre
:19:53. > :20:00.of jewellery and silverware production on the planet in 1913.
:20:01. > :20:03.And in that bustle of people he may have met his future wife,
:20:04. > :20:06.as Arthur wasn't the only ancestor of Valerie's who worked
:20:07. > :20:15.When the team looked at the 1901 census, Valerie's grandmother,
:20:16. > :20:18.Agnes, was working as a silver burnisher in the same district.
:20:19. > :20:21.Agnes would have been working on various polishing processes
:20:22. > :20:25.involving mild abrasives, such as using a substance called
:20:26. > :20:44.It's a mild abrasive and it basically brings the full sheen out
:20:45. > :20:47.Having taken the family tree back to Valerie's grandparents,
:20:48. > :20:51.the team can now search to see if her mother had any other siblings
:20:52. > :20:54.After we found the 1911 census, we looked for further births
:20:55. > :20:58.We found out that they had four other children.
:20:59. > :21:00.However, we sadly found out that Arthur, mentioned on the 1911
:21:01. > :21:08.Linda's three youngest sisters have also died, but they had all married.
:21:09. > :21:11.Any children of these siblings would be the heirs the team
:21:12. > :21:18.Valerie's youngest aunt, Eileen Berry, married William Jones
:21:19. > :21:25.When we located the family from that stem, they informed us
:21:26. > :21:28.of an interesting story about Valerie's aunt.
:21:29. > :21:36.She'd actually been involved in the Women's Land Army.
:21:37. > :21:39.To keep up food production while the farmers had gone to war,
:21:40. > :21:45.the Women's Land Army was set up in 1917 and then reformed in 1939.
:21:46. > :21:47.It forms part of the voluntary work which women could undertake
:21:48. > :21:50.to support the war effort, alongside that of munitions...
:21:51. > :21:55.nursing and women's military services.
:21:56. > :22:02.In no country are women so thoroughly organised for war.
:22:03. > :22:05.However, from December 1941, all unmarried single women, widows,
:22:06. > :22:07.were conscripted to join the war effort between the ages
:22:08. > :22:15.Eileen joined the Women's Land Army in August 1942.
:22:16. > :22:17.She was based in Birmingham and was unusual in the fact
:22:18. > :22:20.that she actually worked in Warwickshire, so her home county.
:22:21. > :22:24.So, as part of her work, she would have undertaken a whole
:22:25. > :22:25.variety of farm work, for example dairy farming,
:22:26. > :22:33.Before joining the Women's Land Army, Eileen worked as an invoice
:22:34. > :22:36.clerk, so you couldn't really get a more stark change in occupation.
:22:37. > :22:38.It was very strenuous, hard manual labour.
:22:39. > :22:42.They were doing digging, they were carrying heavy
:22:43. > :22:45.farm equipment, things which they were unused to before,
:22:46. > :22:48.and some suffered from long-lasting back and joint injuries as a result
:22:49. > :22:53.At the beginning of World War II, 70% of Britain's food was imported.
:22:54. > :22:58.By the end of the war, 70% was home-grown.
:22:59. > :23:00.After the Women's Land Army disbanded, recognition
:23:01. > :23:08.Recognition really culminated in the unveiling of the Women's Land
:23:09. > :23:11.Army and Timber Corps memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum
:23:12. > :23:23.In the office, the team are looking into Valerie's other three aunts
:23:24. > :23:26.on her mother's side - one of them appeared to marry
:23:27. > :23:29.in 1939, but the team could find no other records for her.
:23:30. > :23:32.It still does not feel real, that all this has happened,
:23:33. > :23:42.It's not something that you get someone knocking on your door,
:23:43. > :23:45.telling you that someone has died and they've left you inheritance.
:23:46. > :23:47.It's a nice feeling, but it's a sad feeling
:23:48. > :23:52.I wish that I'd got the chance to know this Valerie.
:23:53. > :23:55.I'd love to see the pictures of her and what she
:23:56. > :23:58.you know, the sort of job that she did.
:23:59. > :24:10.It would have been nice to have known her.
:24:11. > :24:13.We know our cousins, but we're not really in touch with them.
:24:14. > :24:25.In the office, the team are looking into Valerie's other three aunts
:24:26. > :24:28.on her mother's side - one of them appeared to marry
:24:29. > :24:34.in 1939, but the team could find no other records for her.
:24:35. > :24:36.I've managed to trace one of the aunts of Valerie
:24:37. > :24:45.and she was still alive at the ripe old age of 100.
:24:46. > :24:48.It's quite an incredible discovery for us - it doesn't
:24:49. > :24:54.Valerie's other two aunts - Constance and Joyce -
:24:55. > :24:58.both passed away, but their three children have been found
:24:59. > :25:00.and are heirs to Valerie's estate, bringing the total on her
:25:01. > :25:09.But the call from the heir hunters has meant more than just
:25:10. > :25:13.For Nicola and her sister Donna, it's also an opportunity to find out
:25:14. > :25:16.more about the family's trade, so they've come to
:25:17. > :25:21.This is where your great-grandmother Agnes would be working.
:25:22. > :25:24.She was a silver finisher, so she would be applying the finish
:25:25. > :25:35.And what these devices here are...polishing machines, basically.
:25:36. > :25:38.You would have a different grade of abrasiveness of this thing here,
:25:39. > :25:40.which you could fit on the end, called a polishing mop.
:25:41. > :25:42.And you would also use this substance here...
:25:43. > :25:44.to be polishing the precious metal with.
:25:45. > :25:46.How long would she have been sitting here working for?
:25:47. > :25:52.Basically, eight in the morning to quarter to six at night.
:25:53. > :25:57.It would be...a particularly horrible job.
:25:58. > :26:00.To protect their clothing, all they would have on top would be
:26:01. > :26:05.And that would be expected to catch the precious metal
:26:06. > :26:14.Right, so over here is the bench, or the peg, where your great-grandad
:26:15. > :26:18.He would be using tools and techniques that had been
:26:19. > :26:20.in the trade literally thousands of years.
:26:21. > :26:24.Now, this particular tool he'd be using...
:26:25. > :26:27.It's called the drill stock - it's more commonly called the bow
:26:28. > :26:30.drill or Archimedes drill - and this is a tool that was
:26:31. > :26:33.developed by the ancient Egyptians, so 3,000-plus years ago.
:26:34. > :26:35.I can't imagine what you'd use it for.
:26:36. > :26:41.Here we go, I'll give you a little demonstration.
:26:42. > :26:45.For Nicola and Donna, it's been a journey of discovery
:26:46. > :26:54.It definitely makes you realise that history is valuable.
:26:55. > :26:56.You know, there's just so much, isn't there?
:26:57. > :27:03.100 years ago, but this is all still here, although lots
:27:04. > :27:08.It does make you realise that you do leave a legacy, I suppose.
:27:09. > :27:10.You know, everybody leaves a footprint...
:27:11. > :27:12.and...I think it does make you value that,
:27:13. > :27:22.In total, the team found 27 heirs to Valerie's estate.
:27:23. > :27:26.It means that all the money will go to the family,
:27:27. > :27:30.But for Valerie's friends and family, it isn't
:27:31. > :27:35.The experience has been a reflective one.
:27:36. > :27:38.I think it's important that you do keep in touch with your
:27:39. > :27:40.family and I'm just sad that Valerie didn't...
:27:41. > :27:43.or we didn't keep in touch with Valerie.
:27:44. > :27:54...and emotional to think that there's some relation that you...
:27:55. > :27:56.you never knew...you've never met,
:27:57. > :28:02.Yeah, it's really nice and it is a journey, and...
:28:03. > :28:13.one that you sort of want to find more out about.