0:00:03 > 0:00:05Today, the heir hunters are investigating a case
0:00:05 > 0:00:07when it suddenly goes cold...
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Both marry in Dartford, all coming out fine,
0:00:10 > 0:00:13but after that, they both disappear.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15..and the very large family tree they discover...
0:00:15 > 0:00:19- 51, 52, 53...- ..reaches out across the globe.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23On your stem alone, we have the US, Australia and Canada.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Another team are working hard on a case but it could all be in vain.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31The firm of solicitors who were appointed actually found
0:00:31 > 0:00:32a will on this case.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34- Take a seat.- But for the families...
0:00:34 > 0:00:35It's crazy!
0:00:35 > 0:00:37I think this is my favourite.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40..a transatlantic love story is uncovered.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43British wives demand space on boats!
0:00:57 > 0:01:01In the UK, when a person with no known relatives dies without
0:01:01 > 0:01:04making a will, any proceeds from the sale of their home
0:01:04 > 0:01:08and possessions can end up going to the state.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10- Have you got her death certificate yet?- No.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Probate genealogists Finders have taken on the case
0:01:14 > 0:01:18of a 90-year-old lady who passed away just four days ago.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Her name is Doreen May Priddy,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22and her details aren't yet on the government list
0:01:22 > 0:01:24of unclaimed estates.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28Researcher Suzanne Rowley has been working on it for about an hour
0:01:28 > 0:01:31and has already made some progress.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35I found that Doreen was married to a Priddy.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39So her maiden name was actually Lowen.
0:01:39 > 0:01:43She was born in Leicester but she passed away in the Barnet area,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46and her parents both passed away in Hendon,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50so they all seemed to move down to sort of the Hendon-Barnet area.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53The case was referred privately to the heir hunters.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56We're hopeful that there's no competition but,
0:01:56 > 0:01:57of course, you can't be too sure.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01It's one of those ones where we hope it's privately referred,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04but we don't know if anyone else may have come across the information,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06so we're going to work on it very quickly.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Spending her final years in a nursing home in Mill Hill,
0:02:09 > 0:02:14north London, Doreen spent most of her life in this leafy suburb.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19There were few people locally who knew her well.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Doreen's house is situated up quite a steep hill.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26We're about a ten-minute walk to shops. It's not far.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30It's a lovely suburb of London, cos it's very green,
0:02:30 > 0:02:35and leafy, horses and fields, and it's very village-like.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38It's within easy reach of London,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40but you feel as if you're in the countryside.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46It's going to take a little bit more digging.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48With limited information to go on,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52the office have to work step by step through the tree.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55If her husband is still alive, he would be the first to inherit
0:02:55 > 0:02:59then any children they may have had.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03I checked and it looks as though there's no issue,
0:03:03 > 0:03:08and her husband, Kenneth, actually passed away back in 1987.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12The next heirs entitled would be any siblings that Doreen may have had
0:03:12 > 0:03:14or their descendants.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18Doreen's birth certificate gives the team her parents' names -
0:03:18 > 0:03:22James MacDonald Lowen and Doris Ada Hammersley.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25With these, they are able to do a birth index search to see
0:03:25 > 0:03:27if they had any other children.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30She actually had one brother named James.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Um... Looking into James,
0:03:32 > 0:03:37it looks as though he passed away as an infant in the same year.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38I did another check,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41and it just looked like it was the two of them, so it looks as
0:03:41 > 0:03:45though Doreen was sort of an only child after her brother passed away.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48This means the team will have to enlarge their search to find
0:03:48 > 0:03:52any cousins of Doreen who may still be alive
0:03:52 > 0:03:55or, if they've passed away, any of their descendants.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00To do this, they need to go back one generation to Doreen's grandparents
0:04:00 > 0:04:02and they begin with her mother's side.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05- I can now focus on this one. I just wanted to check.- Yes.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Doreen's mother was Doris Hammersley
0:04:08 > 0:04:12and the census records gave the team her parents' names.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15A search of the birth index records with both their names
0:04:15 > 0:04:18will tell them if Doris had any siblings.
0:04:18 > 0:04:24Now, it looks as though Doris was actually an only child, so
0:04:24 > 0:04:28there'll be no further research into the maternal side of the family.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31So then, our entire focus will now be on the paternal family
0:04:31 > 0:04:33in the hope that we can find some next of kin there.
0:04:33 > 0:04:39The deceased's father was a James MacDonald Lowen,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42the surname, quite an unusual surname, and he was
0:04:42 > 0:04:47the son of James and Dorothy, who married in 1892 in Leicester.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53The 1881 and 1891 census records show that Doris' mother,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Dorothy, was working as a cigar maker in Leicester.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01At that time, Leicester was a thriving industrial town.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06Records show around the 1800...end of the 1800s,
0:05:06 > 0:05:11almost 500 cigar factories across the whole of the UK,
0:05:11 > 0:05:13and in 1893, we can see
0:05:13 > 0:05:18records of around 19 factories in Leicester alone.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23Almost exclusively, you'd find women working in the cigar factories.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27There's no machinery involved at any stage of this process.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30So right from the initial processing of the tobacco
0:05:30 > 0:05:32through to the final finishing of the cigar,
0:05:32 > 0:05:34everything's done by hand.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Back at the office, Suzanne is checking the census records
0:05:39 > 0:05:41to see if Doreen's grandparents,
0:05:41 > 0:05:46cigar maker Dorothy and her husband, James, had any other children.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49The deceased's grandparents married in 1892,
0:05:49 > 0:05:55so the next census available was the 1901 census,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59where we can see that they had five children.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03And to check if they had any more children after 1901,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07the team's next port of call is the 1911 census,
0:06:07 > 0:06:12but this record can't always be relied on for complete accuracy.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14On the census records prior to 1911,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18the information was input by a professional enumerator.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21This information was provided by the family
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and they could make sure that it was correct
0:06:23 > 0:06:25when they presented it to the Crown.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28Now, the 1911 census was actually completed by
0:06:28 > 0:06:31the head of the household and that does open us up
0:06:31 > 0:06:37to many more mistakes in the details that have been input.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41The 1911 census showed that Doreen's grandparents' brood had
0:06:41 > 0:06:44grown from five children in those ten years.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47There was actually 12 in total.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Um... Nine of them were still living in 1911,
0:06:51 > 0:06:54so three of them had actually passed away as infants.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Suzanne decides to enlist some help.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02So, if you look into the two stems of Nelly and Kenneth Lowen.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04Yeah.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08They are siblings of the deceased's father.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11- Is that James?- So James.- Yeah.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15I need you to look at Donald and Eric Lowen.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Amy Cox is given the task of looking into Donald Lowen,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22who appears on one of the census records, but not all.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25And he's not proving easy to track down.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28There's June quarter 1900, there's James MacDonald Lowen, and
0:07:28 > 0:07:34then there's Eric, born in December 1901, so when is Donald born?
0:07:34 > 0:07:37There's meant to be a Donald Lowen being born
0:07:37 > 0:07:40but there isn't a record for it,
0:07:40 > 0:07:44so I think it's probably been transcribed incorrectly somewhere.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Camilla's hoping to have more luck with Doreen's aunt, Vera.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53- This stem has completely died out. Can't find any issue.- OK.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56She passed away after him, so she left a will.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00So we've ordered that to see who she left it to.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Amy seems to have worked out the mystery of the possible
0:08:03 > 0:08:05eighth uncle, Donald Lowen.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Now I've looked at the actual census, there isn't...
0:08:09 > 0:08:12The deceased father isn't actually listed on this one,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15so we're going to assume that because he's James MacDonald, he's
0:08:15 > 0:08:19down as Donald because that would put him at the right age as well.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22I can't see a James on there so I think that...
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Cos there's meant to be 12?
0:08:24 > 0:08:25And there's only...
0:08:27 > 0:08:30- Oh, yeah.- So I think it may be missing someone.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35- Cos I think James would...- Donald... Yeah, Donald would probably...
0:08:35 > 0:08:38- James MacDonald, yeah. - Cos MacDonald...
0:08:38 > 0:08:42- Yeah.- Yeah.- So I think you're just missing a stem.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Yeah, that would make sense as well.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Yeah, but there wouldn't be enough time for another kid to be born.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51- No.- OK, there we go. I'll carry on with Eric, then.- OK.
0:08:51 > 0:08:56The change on one census from a James MacDonald to just a Donald
0:08:56 > 0:08:58is something you'd have to go with your gut instinct on.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02But one would assume that it was probably just a familiar name
0:09:02 > 0:09:05for him or a nickname that his family gave him,
0:09:05 > 0:09:10but can easily be missed for somebody who isn't prepared
0:09:10 > 0:09:12to consider that as an option.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Holly's looking at one of Doreen's aunts, Monica.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19I found that she was married to a John Wordel in 1935 and
0:09:19 > 0:09:22I found two potential children as well, so I'm just drawing it up at
0:09:22 > 0:09:26the moment and then I'm going to have a look to see if I can find her sons.
0:09:26 > 0:09:31And Camilla thinks she's found the descendants of another aunt, Nellie.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35I can't find these two. At all.
0:09:35 > 0:09:41She'd found three cousins, once removed, of the deceased.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46She couldn't seem to find addresses for any of the three children.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49The team have found that Doreen's Uncle Eric died
0:09:49 > 0:09:53when he was 42, but they need to check thoroughly that
0:09:53 > 0:09:56he didn't have any children who could inherit.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59It looks as though he's a bachelor, never married,
0:09:59 > 0:10:02and most likely never had any children,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06so what we'll do for that one is, we had a look and there was no will.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09So we'll probably order his death certificate to see who the informant
0:10:09 > 0:10:13is on that one, and then again speak to family members
0:10:13 > 0:10:17to see if they remember Eric and can confirm that for us.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Family information, you know, is as important if not more important than
0:10:20 > 0:10:25the indexes we have access to. For instance, if someone's born overseas
0:10:25 > 0:10:26or someone's adopted into the family,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28someone's adopted out of the family,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31there's all of these changes that could take place.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34If someone's changed their name, there's a whole host of reasons why
0:10:34 > 0:10:37people may not be picked up in the searches we can only do
0:10:37 > 0:10:39in the office. The only way we would locate them is by,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41like I say, speaking to everyone.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46But, understandably, some people don't like being cold called.
0:10:46 > 0:10:47Hello, is that Michael...?
0:10:49 > 0:10:50He hung up on me.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56So I'm going to leave it and try and speak to his brother later on today
0:10:56 > 0:10:59and hope that that's got some more luck there.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Suzanne is busy striking the dead ends
0:11:01 > 0:11:04from her list of possible heirs.
0:11:04 > 0:11:09So we've started with 11 potential siblings of the deceased's father.
0:11:09 > 0:11:10We're actually now down to five
0:11:10 > 0:11:13that will have potential beneficiaries on.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16With five stems to go and only a few hours in the day left,
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Suzanne's team are keen to get this wrapped up today.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Three possible beneficiaries, um...
0:11:25 > 0:11:27..but I can't find addresses for them.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30I'll keep looking now that I know this one's completely died out.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Now it's just a matter of getting the representatives
0:11:33 > 0:11:34round to the people's houses,
0:11:34 > 0:11:39and to double check everything we've done and make sure it's all correct.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43Travelling researcher Palmjit has been on the road,
0:11:43 > 0:11:46hoping to speak to some of the beneficiaries the team has found.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49He's meeting one of the descendants of Doreen's Aunt Elsie,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52Valerie Sharp.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55- Hello.- Hello, is it Valerie Sharp? - That's right.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Related to the matter that I spoke to you about yesterday.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01- Can I come in, please?- Yeah, certainly.- Thank you very much.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04Doreen is my cousin, once removed -
0:12:04 > 0:12:06she was my mother's cousin.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08So the name was always familiar,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11but I don't remember ever meeting her.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Valerie signed up that day
0:12:13 > 0:12:16as one of the beneficiaries with the heir hunters.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18What was really interesting at this address
0:12:18 > 0:12:20was that she was able to help us with our family tree,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24as they've already researched a lot of the background.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26And she was able to fill in a lot of the details
0:12:26 > 0:12:29that we were missing, which is really helpful.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35My grandmother, Elsie, died... Well, my mum was only 12.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40So therefore their contact lost at that level years ago.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43So I know nothing of what went on when they got married,
0:12:43 > 0:12:45or even when Doreen got married -
0:12:45 > 0:12:47the link had been lost by that point.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52In total, the heir hunters found 14 heirs
0:12:52 > 0:12:55who would be entitled to Doreen Priddy's estate.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57But, a month later,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Suzanne has some news that could change everything.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02The firm of solicitors who were appointed
0:13:02 > 0:13:05actually found a will on this case.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08We're just in the process of receiving a copy of the will
0:13:08 > 0:13:11to find out exactly what the will says.
0:13:11 > 0:13:14Whether it still goes to some of the heirs or whether it's invalid,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16um, we're not sure.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20One of the most rewarding parts
0:13:20 > 0:13:23is to be able to provide them with a family tree,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26and maybe some personal mementoes connected to the deceased,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and therefore connected to their family as well.
0:13:29 > 0:13:30And it can sometimes inspire them
0:13:30 > 0:13:33to look further into their family history.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35The financial side is a benefit,
0:13:35 > 0:13:38but actually finding all this family
0:13:38 > 0:13:41would actually be equally beneficial to me.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45I was aware that my grandma, Elsie, had a large...
0:13:45 > 0:13:47Well, there was a lot of brothers and sisters.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49So this was quite nice, actually, to be able to see.
0:13:49 > 0:13:50Cos we did the family tree,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54and saw all these names that just mean nothing to me at all.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57So it was nice to be able to put them all together again.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06When someone dies and leaves a property behind,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09the sale of a house and its contents will become
0:14:09 > 0:14:12part of their estate that will be distributed among any heirs.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19In Chatham, Kent, professional house clearer Rufus Hirsch has just
0:14:19 > 0:14:23arrived at a property that needs to be cleared before being sold.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26You do get a very good idea of the type of person
0:14:26 > 0:14:27when you're clearing their house.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Obviously, it's a very intimate space
0:14:29 > 0:14:31with all their personal possessions.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33You just tell from the sort of books they read,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36and the things they collected.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39The house belonged to a William Arthur Groombridge,
0:14:39 > 0:14:43a retired lathe engineer, known to his friends as Bill.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45In this case, there are lots of tools.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49There seems to be tinkering about with watches and clocks.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51But he obviously liked working with his hands,
0:14:51 > 0:14:53and was quite talented at it,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56and you start building the picture up from there.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Bill lived in this house for most of his life,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03and Glenys Barker was a neighbour for 60 years.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06Most of the time that I would have seen Bill
0:15:06 > 0:15:12was when he was in the garden. And even up until he was in his 90s,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16he still had a push lawnmower, not an electric one, a hand push,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20and his garden was always, always immaculate.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25Sadly, on 2nd November 2014, Bill passed away.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Without a will or next of kin,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Bill's estate was placed on the Government's bona vacantia list.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38In London, heir-hunting firm Fraser & Fraser has taken it on...
0:15:38 > 0:15:41They're not any part of this family, are they?
0:15:41 > 0:15:43..and Ben Cornish is the case manager.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46So when we initially looked at the sort of case,
0:15:46 > 0:15:50we realised quite quickly that Mr Groombridge owned his own property.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53Groombridge is a good name to work, so we knew it was going to be
0:15:53 > 0:15:56competitive and we knew we had to start the case quickly.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00The purpose of the house clearance really is
0:16:00 > 0:16:03to find out as much as can about the deceased, so we're looking for
0:16:03 > 0:16:06any financial documents, any personal documents, letters that
0:16:06 > 0:16:08may give us some clue about family,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11and also, most importantly, to see if there's a will there.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16So I've just found some paperwork,
0:16:16 > 0:16:21and in amongst it there's a copy of an old will.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25Doesn't seem to be anything to do with the deceased in this case,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27but you never know.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30All the paperwork and photographs will be taken to the office
0:16:30 > 0:16:32for the heir hunters to sort through.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38The property's now nice and clear and ready to go on the market.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45Back in the office, the team have made some progress with the case.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49We found a marriage for William in 1944 and that obviously means
0:16:49 > 0:16:52that he could have had children. Even though he lived alone for many
0:16:52 > 0:16:55years, it may be the fact that they would be the next of kin,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57and they've just sort of lost contact,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00but we later confirmed that he was divorced from his wife,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03and that there were no issue.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07The next in line to inherit Bill's estate would be any siblings
0:17:07 > 0:17:09that may still be alive.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Neighbours remember he had a sister, Joan.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15She was always dressed to the height of fashion.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17Always immaculately turned out,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21and I think she was the envy of all the women along here.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23To confirm this information,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27the team look at Bill's birth record which gives his parents' names -
0:17:27 > 0:17:33Arthur George Groombridge and Emma Groombridge, formerly Williams.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36We conducted a search of Groombridge's mother's maiden name
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Williams and found one sister, a Joan Emma Groombridge,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41being born in 1927.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44She later married, but died in 2013 without children.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47With no more close relatives,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51the team needed to look for cousins of Bill and their descendants.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Research manager Isha Adams kicks off this line of inquiry with
0:17:55 > 0:17:57Bill's parents' marriage certificate.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00Because Groombridge is a good name, it's not that bad,
0:18:00 > 0:18:07so on the whole, from 1906 to 2005, Groombridge to Williams marriages,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11there's only six, although none of them are ours,
0:18:11 > 0:18:16so we knew there might be something tricky going on here.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20The heir hunters' system only covers marriages in England and Wales,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24so Isha decides to broaden the search and starts in Scotland.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27Right. So there's only one match, so if we look at that.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35Yeah, so we've got an Arthur George Groombridge,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40although she's calling herself Mary Emma Williams.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44But what we'll have to do is get that certificate
0:18:44 > 0:18:47in order to see whether or not it matches up with the other stuff that
0:18:47 > 0:18:51we've found, so we can prove it or disprove it.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53If we can't find the marriage record,
0:18:53 > 0:18:57it does cause a bit of a problem, because there's so much information
0:18:57 > 0:19:01tied up with the marriage record, it gives both parties' names,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04which really is crucial for our investigations.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09So I've got the marriage certificate and we have...
0:19:09 > 0:19:14They married on 13th December 1916 in Greenock.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18The marriage certificate gave the ages of both parents,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20so the team could now look for their births.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24So starting off with Emma,
0:19:24 > 0:19:30we need to look for a birth of an Emma Williams about 1892, 1893.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36Well, there's quite a few, because Williams is a very common name,
0:19:36 > 0:19:42but I don't like any of them, they don't seem to be in area.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46It's a bit of a mystery, because we couldn't really find a good birth
0:19:46 > 0:19:50for an Emma Williams, so what we've done is we've done the trick of any
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Emmas born that year, living in the area and we've come up with one,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56which is an Emma Bacon.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58With Arthur's mother appearing to be using two surnames,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02Bacon and Williams, the team check the census records to see
0:20:02 > 0:20:05if they had in fact found the right Emma.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11We found her mother living with David Henry Bacon and then
0:20:11 > 0:20:14through the later census records, she assumed the name Williams
0:20:14 > 0:20:16from her mother's partner.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19She was actually born under the name of Bacon.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Emma's mother was called Emma Hunter.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27During her marriage to David Henry Bacon, she had nine children,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29but only six of them had David Bacon
0:20:29 > 0:20:32listed on their birth certificates as their father.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37Three - Ellen, Lily and James - had no father listed,
0:20:37 > 0:20:39so although they took the Bacon name,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43as half-blood relations they were not entitled to Bill's estate.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Sometimes we have to think outside the box to try and find
0:20:48 > 0:20:50the right family and this is particularly tricky,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53because obviously we're looking at Williams.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56When they looked into his uncle David Bacon,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58another mystery emerged.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02David's marriage to Nora Sawyer had produced five children,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07but the records for two of them, Joan and Vera, seemed to be missing.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12Both born in Dartford, both marry in Dartford - all coming out fine.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14But after that, they both disappear,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16so we don't know what's happened to them.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19On some cases, people just disappear,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22and we have to really approach those with quite an open mind,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24and start thinking outside the box.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28The first thing that comes to mind is maybe they've gone overseas,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31so, you know, our first question is where did they go?
0:21:31 > 0:21:34So when they disappear, one of the best things to do is get
0:21:34 > 0:21:37the marriage certificate, because they might be in the Army,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39or the Navy, so then, we can extend our search from there.
0:21:39 > 0:21:45Now, on Joan's marriage certificate to John Darling,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48actually we've got some good news here,
0:21:48 > 0:21:53because his profession is a gunman in the Canadian army.
0:21:53 > 0:21:54We know this is definitely correct,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57because her father is David Henry Bacon,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00and now we need to extend our search to Canada
0:22:00 > 0:22:02to try and find some heirs.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08And it turns out that the man Vera married was a GI.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11The lack of records for both Joan and Vera after their marriages
0:22:11 > 0:22:14pointed to the fact that, as war brides, they left the UK
0:22:14 > 0:22:18at the end of the war to begin a new life with their husbands
0:22:18 > 0:22:21in Canada and the United States.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Vera and Lewis married in 1945 and for Vera, really,
0:22:24 > 0:22:26going over to America after the war,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29it would've been a difficult transition.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32For Joan, who was already pregnant when her Canadian husband
0:22:32 > 0:22:35John Darling was sent home at the end of the war,
0:22:35 > 0:22:38it was a long and difficult wait before she could join him.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Their men had gone back home,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42and were settling back in with their families,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45and yet they were still waiting for passage to go and join them,
0:22:45 > 0:22:49and for many months it wasn't really clear what was going to happen.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52he US administration started saying it could be 10 or 12 months
0:22:52 > 0:22:54before anything happened,
0:22:54 > 0:22:56and for a lot of these women, they were getting desperate.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00- NEWSREEL:- British wives eager to join GI husbands in America
0:23:00 > 0:23:02demand space on boats.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05They began to stage demonstrations.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07WOMEN CHANT
0:23:07 > 0:23:10They would picket the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, in London,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14with women carrying placards that read, "We want our ships,"
0:23:14 > 0:23:17and little children on their shoulders with smaller
0:23:17 > 0:23:19placards saying, "We want our dads."
0:23:19 > 0:23:22My husband is Lieutenant Ned Cole from Santa Monica, California.
0:23:22 > 0:23:23We don't want to go to America
0:23:23 > 0:23:25for all the glamour that we see on the movies,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28we want to go to be with them because we love them.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32And then in December of 1945, finally the US Congress passed
0:23:32 > 0:23:35the War Brides Act acknowledging their responsibility to deal
0:23:35 > 0:23:39with these women, offering them non-quota immigration status,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42and agreeing that they would be transported
0:23:42 > 0:23:44at the US military's expense.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49Joan, who married a Canadian serviceman, passed away in 2011,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53so her three children will become heirs to Bill's estate.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Joan's great granddaughter, Caitlyn,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57on a work placement in London,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00is keen to find out more about her English roots.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Take a seat, I can go through the family with you.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07Great - I'm looking forward to it.
0:24:08 > 0:24:12As you can see, the tree is very large.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14So large, in fact, that I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to...
0:24:14 > 0:24:17get it all on the table at once, but we'll give it a go.
0:24:19 > 0:24:20Wow.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23And this is the stem
0:24:23 > 0:24:25where your particular branch of the family descends from.
0:24:25 > 0:24:31David Henry Bacon was a maternal uncle of the deceased.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34He married Nora Sawyer in 1905 in Sevenoaks.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37A number of children, one of them being your great-grandmother,
0:24:37 > 0:24:41Joan Nora Bacon, who married John William Darling.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43It's really interesting.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45I can't believe how big the family tree is,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48because my family, as I know it, is tiny.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Like, just me and my grandparents, and a few distant cousins.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53On your stem alone, we have, you know...
0:24:53 > 0:24:56US, Australia and Canada.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59I didn't think that it would be this big of a family tree.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01I think I was expecting, like, a piece of paper -
0:25:01 > 0:25:04like, "Here's your grandmother, there's you."
0:25:04 > 0:25:07It's crazy, absolutely crazy.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11The team found that another sister of the GI brides, Miriam,
0:25:11 > 0:25:15had married Archie Jordan in 1932.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20They'd gone on to have two daughters, Diane and Christine.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24These cousins once removed of Bill's are both heirs.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28When I first heard from the heir hunters,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31I was really shocked hearing about William Groombridge,
0:25:31 > 0:25:33because I'd never heard of him before.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38You do feel a certain type of sadness
0:25:38 > 0:25:42that this person has not been in your life,
0:25:42 > 0:25:47and I must be honest, it would have been nice to have known him.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52- Doesn't seem true that it was 51 years ago, does it?- No, it doesn't.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55Look at that ugly little...!
0:25:55 > 0:25:56Thank you.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00I'm afraid we didn't know anything about that side of the family.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03We didn't even know that my grandfather had a sister.
0:26:03 > 0:26:04But we do now.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07It's so unfortunate that...
0:26:07 > 0:26:10they didn't know us, because perhaps they might have enjoyed
0:26:10 > 0:26:12being part of a bigger family.
0:26:12 > 0:26:13SHE CHUCKLES
0:26:16 > 0:26:22We've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine...
0:26:22 > 0:26:25The team in London have managed to track down
0:26:25 > 0:26:27all the heirs on the maternal side.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31..50, 51, 52, 53...
0:26:31 > 0:26:3354.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35As you can see, it's a very big tree this side.
0:26:36 > 0:26:41But there were still more to uncover on Bill's father's side.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44So, on the paternal side, um...
0:26:44 > 0:26:49we know that his parents are Arthur Samuel Groombridge,
0:26:49 > 0:26:50and Elizabeth Huckstep.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55They married on the 3rd of February, 1889, in Strood.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59From this, we had to see whether or not Arthur had any siblings.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04The team found out that Bill's father had just one brother,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08William, who married and went on to have three daughters.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10All three had passed away,
0:27:10 > 0:27:12but all seven grandchildren were traced,
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and became heirs to Bill's estate.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18It was quite a challenging case, which makes it enjoyable to work.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21It's quite nice to sometimes have a case
0:27:21 > 0:27:23that's not quite as it seems.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25So it was quite good.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28And that's my special favourite.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33In total, on both sides of Bill's family, the team found 61 heirs.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37Well, it is a surprise and I don't expect too much,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41because I'd have rather have known the person.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43It's sad that he hasn't got any children
0:27:43 > 0:27:45who he could have left it to.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49I'd like a nice recliner chair.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53And, if there is the money there for a recliner chair,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57I could sit in it and recline and think, "Thank you, William."