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