0:00:03 > 0:00:06Today, the Heir Hunters endeavour to crack
0:00:06 > 0:00:08a case before the competition gets there first.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10PHONE RINGS
0:00:10 > 0:00:13We're a firm of heir hunters and we're actually looking into the
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Butler family tree...
0:00:15 > 0:00:19..has picked yourself up as a possible beneficiary.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22If you recognise those as your parents, please do give me a
0:00:22 > 0:00:24call back and we can go into some further detail.
0:00:26 > 0:00:31While another team discover a family secret hidden for centuries.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Our Baltic agent came up with a police report.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41Tracing the past can lead to an incredible future.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44When I found that out, it's a case of, wow!
0:00:59 > 0:01:02In London, heir hunting firm Finders are working on a new case
0:01:02 > 0:01:06this morning from the government's Bona Vacantia list.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10It's the estate of the late Hedley Henry Arnold.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13According to the Treasury's listed details,
0:01:13 > 0:01:17he's also known as Eddie. Although Hedley was married to a lady
0:01:17 > 0:01:20named Gladys, they didn't have any children.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Hedley himself appears to have been an only child.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28His mother was fairly old when she married, so it was unlikely,
0:01:28 > 0:01:32anyway, that he was going to have very many siblings, if any.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42We were very close, as great friends.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45And I used to speak to him every Sunday,
0:01:45 > 0:01:48on the telephone, every week.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Hedley Arnold was born in Dorchester, Dorset, on 5th April,
0:01:54 > 0:01:561925, and worked in a factory
0:01:56 > 0:01:58where he met his future wife, Gladys.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02She was keen on gardening.
0:02:02 > 0:02:08I think...Hedley kind of grew into that himself.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Their living room was a garden and
0:02:12 > 0:02:15they just loved it in the garden.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18He later worked as a caretaker at the local school.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24In the community, Eddie was well-liked
0:02:24 > 0:02:27because people used to come up and talk to him.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32He wouldn't talk to them, they would come up to him to talk to him
0:02:32 > 0:02:34because he's that sort of person.
0:02:34 > 0:02:35He'd do anything for anyone.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40As a caring and compassionate member of the local community,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43Hedley is remembered with affection.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45A very warm-hearted man.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49No-one had a bad word to say against him at all.
0:02:49 > 0:02:55I've never heard anyone talk of Hedley in a bad way.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Everyone thought he was a lovely person.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Once you got to know him...
0:03:01 > 0:03:03..you would have a friend for life.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11Hedley Arnold passed away on July 20, 2015, aged 90.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15I sit there sometimes,
0:03:15 > 0:03:16on a Sunday,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18and suddenly thought,
0:03:18 > 0:03:20"The phone's not rung."
0:03:20 > 0:03:23And I said, "Stupid, it's not going to ring any more."
0:03:28 > 0:03:31But the team need to find Hedley's family fast,
0:03:31 > 0:03:34because today, they've got competition.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36It's actually the only advertised estate this morning,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39so we are expecting it to be incredibly competitive.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41There's a few key skills you need as an heir hunter.
0:03:41 > 0:03:47It's all very fast-paced, I think leads to the necessity of being
0:03:47 > 0:03:50able to think laterally and do a few different things at the same time.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54I think without that skill you could easily get swamped in the research
0:03:54 > 0:03:58that you do, particularly when you're up against other companies.
0:03:58 > 0:04:00Travelling researcher, Stuart, is on standby,
0:04:00 > 0:04:05ready to gather information on the ground that may lead to heirs.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10You just must never give up because you'll always find them in the end.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14And the team have already made quick progress,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17establishing who Hedley's family are.
0:04:17 > 0:04:19What does it look like, Coxy?
0:04:19 > 0:04:21It doesn't look like, I think it's
0:04:21 > 0:04:23- probably going to die out. - Ah. Oh, no.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27So, Amy Cox has been looking at the Arnold side, the paternal side.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31She thinks there are probably four stems, three of those four
0:04:31 > 0:04:34have completely died out without any living descendants.
0:04:34 > 0:04:39So, we're not looking at many, if any, beneficiaries on that side.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42So, Amy and Ryan have moved on to
0:04:42 > 0:04:44Hedley's mother's side
0:04:44 > 0:04:45and found his grandparents,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48Henry Meech and Esther Billet.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49They had nine children,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51four of whom died as infants.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Ryan is looking at a further stem
0:04:55 > 0:04:58and I have one to look at as well.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01With all but two of Hedley's aunts' and uncles' lines having
0:05:01 > 0:05:05no living offspring, Amy is tracing Fanny Meech, Hedley's aunt.
0:05:07 > 0:05:08Fanny married Edward Woolfries,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11and had two children, Hilda and Ethel.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15But as the team look into Hedley's cousin Hilda,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17they hit a problem.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Hilda, it's looking as though she's married a couple of times,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23had children with her first husband
0:05:23 > 0:05:26who is looking as though he's probably a colonel
0:05:26 > 0:05:29in the British Army. And they travelled
0:05:29 > 0:05:33back and forth between Bombay, having children as they went.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36One country that some people don't always think to look in is India.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Now, there was a large period of British history,
0:05:40 > 0:05:41obviously with the empire.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44We weren't particularly surprised to find events happening in India
0:05:44 > 0:05:48given that there was a military serving personnel in the family.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01During the 1930s, Hilda travelled to India with her husband, Emile,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04where he was serving in the British Indian Army.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10At this time, India was still a colony of the United Kingdom,
0:06:10 > 0:06:12known historically as the British Raj.
0:06:14 > 0:06:15The British had established
0:06:15 > 0:06:17themselves in India through
0:06:17 > 0:06:19he East India Company several
0:06:19 > 0:06:20centuries before,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23but India had become very important to the British,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26both as a strategic bastion,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29located where it is in south-east Asia.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31But also in terms of trade and the spices
0:06:31 > 0:06:35and the foods and the textiles which came from that country.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39To many people, India was the jewel of the British Empire.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44The British Indian Army was a locally enlisted force,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48with British commanding officers and Indian soldiers.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Emile served with the Royal Tank Corps in India during the 1930s.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The British Indian Army did not have any armoured car
0:06:57 > 0:06:59or very few artillery regiments.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04These armoured cars were unusual at this time and, therefore,
0:07:04 > 0:07:09Emile was no doubt a very valuable asset working in India at the time.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Of course, for those who joined the British Indian Army,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16then it became much more likely that their wives
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and dependents would follow them out there.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21There were married quarters provided.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Life in India was incredibly different to life back home
0:07:25 > 0:07:27for the British families.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30For Hilda, you know, coming from rural Dorchester,
0:07:30 > 0:07:36going out to India, as I said, with the vibrancy of Indian society,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38she would be able to go out to the local markets,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40where there'll be a range of vegetables
0:07:40 > 0:07:46and fruits which she would never have experienced in England.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49You know, it was a very comfortable and privileged
0:07:49 > 0:07:52existence for most people in India, most British people in India.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Certainly way above the standards that they could expect
0:07:55 > 0:07:56back home in England.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01However, following the Second World War,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04there was a growing momentum for Indian independence.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09For the British personnel serving in India,
0:08:09 > 0:08:13most seem to have become aware of the fact that Indian
0:08:13 > 0:08:16independence was going to become a question of when, not if.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19That meant that their lifestyles were being challenged
0:08:19 > 0:08:23and threatened and that they faced a very uncertain future
0:08:23 > 0:08:25because they would have to return to the United Kingdom.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Emile would have found that his promotional prospects would
0:08:28 > 0:08:33have ceased. Certainly, his career was effectively over
0:08:33 > 0:08:36and we know that he definitely came back to the United Kingdom,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40whether on leave or permanently in 1946.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52While Amy can trace the family's return to England,
0:08:52 > 0:08:57she can't work out if Hilda and Emile's children are still alive.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59When people are born abroad,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03it makes searching for their records particularly difficult.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06So, I'm just having a play around with the English records and,
0:09:06 > 0:09:12also, we have access to some overseas records.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14And some of those are Armed Forces records
0:09:14 > 0:09:18and some of the Bombay baptism and marriage records,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21which it looks as though it's probably where they were based.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26While Amy digs deeper, Ryan is tracing another
0:09:26 > 0:09:29aunt of Hedley's to see if she had any children.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32The line of Rose Meech is
0:09:32 > 0:09:35on the maternal side of the family,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38so she would have been a maternal aunt of the deceased.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41She married Charles George Butler in 1905.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44By 1911, she'd had two children.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Beyond 1911, she had two more.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Initial research is hopeful.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54I've just found a marriage for one of Rose's daughters,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Margaret Louise, or Louisa, Butler. She married William Blandamer,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01so I'm hoping there may be some children to that marriage
0:10:01 > 0:10:03and, fingers crossed, a beneficiary.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06But Ryan's hunt leads nowhere.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Finally, Amy has a breakthrough with one of
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Hilda and Emile's daughters.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15I think I may have found Jean.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18She would be a maternal cousin once removed.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22So I'm going to try a number that's coming up for her.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32She's not in touch with either of her sisters.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36Last she knew of them, they were alive, but she's not sure.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46And when Amy does manage to find one of Jean's sisters through
0:10:46 > 0:10:47the electoral roll...
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Hello, could I speak to Mrs June Shinn, please?
0:10:50 > 0:10:54Hello, Mrs Shinn. I wonder if you can help me.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57..it's a disappointing conversation.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Do you remember their names?
0:11:00 > 0:11:01No? OK.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05I just found June, the youngest sister. I called her.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08It seems as though she has been contacted by another company.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12So, it's as competitive as we thought.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15And to up the stakes even more, Ryan has discovered there
0:11:15 > 0:11:18may now be living heirs on Rose Meech's line after all.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24It's up to the team on the road now to pull in the victory.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27- There's you, there. - And my sister and middle sister.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32- Middle sister.- And June, yes.- And June that I've met. That's Hedley.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Deceased, you knew.
0:11:34 > 0:11:35Yes, I knew him.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39Then we all used to come over when my dad was away.
0:11:39 > 0:11:40- My dad was in the army.- Yes.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43- And he was living in India most of the time.- What, your dad?
0:11:43 > 0:11:48- Well, yes, because he was in the army.- Oh.- And he used to come back,
0:11:48 > 0:11:52and he only got six months' leave every couple of years.
0:11:52 > 0:11:53And we'd come over then to see.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56That's why I don't know much about these people.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00- You might see them, then, when you came home.- I might see them but...
0:12:00 > 0:12:05- Were you born in India then? - No, I wasn't, but one sister was.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07- June was, wasn't she? - June was born in India.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11And when did you come back to here then, do you think?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13- 1947...- 1947...- ..wasn't it?
0:12:13 > 0:12:15- ..when India got their independence. - Oh, yeah.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21Bye, Jean. Bye, Richard.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Bye, bye, bye.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26Everything's sort of dovetailed into place
0:12:26 > 0:12:30and the office will be more than pleased that we've got
0:12:30 > 0:12:34everything sorted out on the beneficiary side.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42But as the heir hunters do one last check,
0:12:42 > 0:12:45it seems the battle is not totally won.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51The good news for us is that we managed to trace the three
0:12:51 > 0:12:54daughters of Hilda Elizabeth Woolfries.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57They all signed paperwork so in terms of that
0:12:57 > 0:12:59section of the family tree, a really good result.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02But the team didn't make it to the other beneficiaries
0:13:02 > 0:13:05on both the maternal and paternal side in time.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08It is the nature of the business that numerous companies
0:13:08 > 0:13:11work on these type of cases, and that's the way it goes.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26Basil Goldston, a computer operator, was born on January 8, 1926,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28in South Shields, Durham,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31but lived most of his life in Edmonton, north London.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36With no photographs or close family remaining,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38it's tricky to get a sense of his life.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43But Henry Jacobs, a member of the local Jewish community,
0:13:43 > 0:13:45is able to paint a picture.
0:13:46 > 0:13:47Basil's father was
0:13:47 > 0:13:50the Reverend Goldstein in the
0:13:50 > 0:13:53South Shields Jewish community.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56I think it's true to say that it would've had a significant
0:13:56 > 0:13:59bearing on his upbringing.
0:13:59 > 0:14:05He certainly would have been very familiar with all the rituals
0:14:05 > 0:14:09and all the ways of Jewish life.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Records show Basil married Rosina Shine in 1962.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20The normal thing in those days
0:14:20 > 0:14:23for a Jewish couple would be to be
0:14:23 > 0:14:25married within a synagogue.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30And if he was living in Dalston,
0:14:30 > 0:14:34the local synagogue would have been United Synagogue.
0:14:34 > 0:14:36But it seems this marriage did not last
0:14:36 > 0:14:40and Basil remained in Edmonton alone until the end of his life.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50When Basil passed away on April 5, 1993,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52the case went up on the Government Legal Department's
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Bona Vacantia list but no heirs were found.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00..and maybe order up a check on the father's name.
0:15:00 > 0:15:05The case remained unsolved for over 14 years until, in 2007,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08the team from Celtic Research decided to see
0:15:08 > 0:15:13if they could crack it and finally find the heirs to Basil's estate.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15The company is run by father and son,
0:15:15 > 0:15:16Peter and Hector Birchwood,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and their team is based all around the UK.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28We estimated that the value would be around £60,000.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32At that point, we thought it would be compelling enough for any heirs,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34if we could find any, to be able to receive this amount.
0:15:34 > 0:15:39An only child himself, Basil had died a bachelor without any
0:15:39 > 0:15:43children, so the team moved back a generation to look for his parents.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Basil's birth certificate shows the Goldston spelling,
0:15:47 > 0:15:51but his parents had originally been known as Goldstein.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53His mother was Minnie Saltzberg
0:15:53 > 0:15:56and his father was Isaac Joseph Goldston.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Isaac appeared to be a Jewish minister.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Their marriage certificate showed their wedding had
0:16:02 > 0:16:04taken place in Spitalfields, East London,
0:16:04 > 0:16:05where they may have lived.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09It also revealed the name of Minnie's father.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12His name was Benjamin, otherwise, Barnett Saltzberg.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15It didn't give us a profession but we were able to find him and
0:16:15 > 0:16:17through subsequent research, through the census.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19And through his death record in 1922,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22we found out that he was a rabbinical doctor
0:16:22 > 0:16:23and a schoolmaster.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Any living relatives would be found through his aunts and uncles
0:16:27 > 0:16:28and their children,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31so the team also needed to find his maternal grandmother.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34But the trail now went cold.
0:16:34 > 0:16:35The next step, really,
0:16:35 > 0:16:37is trying to locate the marriage of the mother's parents
0:16:37 > 0:16:39to identify what kind of siblings she had.
0:16:39 > 0:16:42We weren't able to find any marriage.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44We weren't really able to find any birth for the mother either,
0:16:44 > 0:16:46or for any of her siblings.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49The censuses indicated to us that she had other family and,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52through further research, we found that they came from Russia.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58During the 19th and 20th century,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02approximately 3,000,000 Jews fled Russia during the pogroms -
0:17:02 > 0:17:05violent riots aimed at massacring their community.
0:17:07 > 0:17:08A pogrom is a
0:17:08 > 0:17:10sustained attack on a
0:17:10 > 0:17:12community of Jewish people.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17The trigger for this was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II,
0:17:17 > 0:17:19for which some blamed the Jews.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23I think, in general, there was some anti-Jewish feeling anyway.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Competition for land, competition for jobs within the economy,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31and perhaps, just that inherent subliminal feeling that we
0:17:31 > 0:17:35Jews were strange and different from the indigenous population.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Persecution took all sorts of forms.
0:17:38 > 0:17:44I mean, at its worst, they were violent and resulted in fatalities.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Property was destroyed, Jews were expelled from their villages,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51they were reduced to poverty on many occasions.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55It was just a violent assault on their way of life.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59In one particular pogrom, 2,000 Jews were killed.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04Many went to the United States, but up to 100,000 came to the UK.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10They were very much an integrated community. They needed each other.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14The majority of Jews that came to the UK would have been quite poor.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Some, literally, arrived with their clothes on their back,
0:18:17 > 0:18:19you know, a few coins in their pocket.
0:18:25 > 0:18:29It's likely Basil's grandfather would have played a central role
0:18:29 > 0:18:30within this community.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36As a religious man, as a rabbi, as a Hebrew teacher, he would have
0:18:36 > 0:18:39been very much a central point, a pivotal point for the community.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42As an educated man and obviously, clearly,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45a highly intelligent man, he may have been more receptive
0:18:45 > 0:18:48and more capable of learning English quickly,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50which literally was a foreign language.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Very, very different from the language that immigrants spoke.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57So he would have understood any kind of bureaucracy that they faced,
0:18:57 > 0:18:58he would have, perhaps,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01been able to write letters on behalf of the community.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05And perhaps it was this which led to the meeting of Basil's parents.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10It's possible that Minnie, as the daughter of a rabbi,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13daughter of a very religious man, it would have been anathema
0:19:13 > 0:19:17for her to marry anybody other than a fellow religious Jew.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22Therefore, it's quite likely that she met Isaac, her intended,
0:19:22 > 0:19:23maybe through her father,
0:19:23 > 0:19:25through the fact that he was a Hebrew teacher.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32Intrigued by what he had discovered,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and determined not to give up, Hector passed the case to north west
0:19:35 > 0:19:41regional case manager, Saul Marks, who specialises in Jewish genealogy.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44The next thing I did was look in The Jewish Chronicle
0:19:44 > 0:19:47for death notices for Basil's parents.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52I was really pleased to find that Basil had placed death notices
0:19:52 > 0:19:55for both his parents and the one for Minnie actually referred
0:19:55 > 0:20:00to her as a daughter of the late Dr Barnett Saltzberg.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04So the fact it had used the words "a daughter" said that,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06clearly, there was more than one.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10So I knew I was looking for at least one sister that Minnie may have had.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14Spurred on by new information, Saul dug deeper.
0:20:14 > 0:20:16One of my final options,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20in trying to find anything about the Saltzberg family, was to post
0:20:20 > 0:20:24a notice on an online discussion group for Jewish genealogy,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28just to see if anybody out there had ever heard of Dr Barnett Saltzberg.
0:20:28 > 0:20:34But with no response, Saul moved on to the paternal side of the family.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37Records proved that Basil's
0:20:37 > 0:20:38paternal grandparents were
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Morris Goldstein and Katie Powak.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43They had six children, including
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Isaac, Basil's father.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Sadly, three children died in infancy,
0:20:49 > 0:20:51leaving two potential heirs.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54The 1911 census returned for the Goldstein family
0:20:54 > 0:20:56showed that Isaac, Basil's father,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58had two brothers who were still alive.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00They were Barnett and Sam.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04But further searching threw up death certificates for both men,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06which established they had died as bachelors too.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09It really was very frustrating to feel that this was one we were just
0:21:09 > 0:21:10going to have to resign ourselves
0:21:10 > 0:21:13to the fact that we were not going to solve.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16The case gathered dust for a further four years.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22Until, out of nowhere, Saul received a message from California.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26One day in the summer of 2013, I got an e-mail in my inbox,
0:21:26 > 0:21:30out of the blue, from a gentleman who actually said
0:21:30 > 0:21:34he was the great-grandson of Dr Barnett Saltzberg.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38He had seen my post, my shot in the dark,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41online, and he thought he might be able to help me.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43And I was just thrilled.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46After all these years, could they
0:21:46 > 0:21:50have finally solved the mystery of Basil Goldston?
0:21:50 > 0:21:53This is the e-mail that I got from the gentleman in California.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55And he says, "Barnett Saltzberg
0:21:55 > 0:21:57"was my great-grandfather.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59"I do know about his wife and other children.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02"Perhaps you would like to discuss this further? Best regards."
0:22:02 > 0:22:05I mean, after four years of nothing,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08and having closed the case, just to
0:22:08 > 0:22:12pick this out of the blue, it makes your hair stand up, to be honest.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Could this e-mail give Saul the missing links needed to
0:22:15 > 0:22:17pick up the case once more?
0:22:18 > 0:22:21The gentleman in California was able to actually give us
0:22:21 > 0:22:25names of his cousins who were descended from Janie Saltzberg,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28who was the Leeds branch of the family.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32And that enabled us, then, to start contacting the heirs.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35From the descendants of Basil's four aunts and uncles, the hunt
0:22:35 > 0:22:40had now revealed seven heirs, including Colin Stone, in Leeds.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45I knew of Basil Goldston, but I didn't know much about him
0:22:45 > 0:22:47and I'd never met him.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Knowing about the Jewish side of the family,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52I believe is very, very important.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54It's a very interesting family story
0:22:54 > 0:22:57that is clouded in shadows.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00So, to actually understand what happened in the past,
0:23:00 > 0:23:04and understanding that will help to understand where we are now.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08So today, Colin is meeting Saul to find out
0:23:08 > 0:23:12more about what the team have uncovered.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17You are down here, and your brother, of course.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20So this is your late mother, Dorothy,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23and your grandmother, Janie.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25And you can see, these are Janie's brothers and sisters,
0:23:25 > 0:23:31the Saltzbergs, and this is Minnie, who was Basil's mother.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34I know that it was actually after my great-grandmother
0:23:34 > 0:23:37passed away in childbirth, that's what promoted
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Benzion to up and leave sticks
0:23:39 > 0:23:41because he always wanted to be a doctor.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46- Ah.- So, it was his wife's death that inspired him to leave...
0:23:46 > 0:23:50at the time. And he wanted to study medicine
0:23:50 > 0:23:53and help people that were in the same situation that he was.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55Oh, I see. I didn't realise that was all connected.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Fantastic. Well, that's a very noble thing to do.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02And in the course of their research to prove the case to the
0:24:02 > 0:24:03Government Legal Department,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07the Celtic team uncovered a family secret about Basil's uncle Nathan.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15- Our Baltic agent came up with a police report...- Wow!
0:24:15 > 0:24:19..in Russian, which showed that Nathan had got into some trouble
0:24:19 > 0:24:20with the law, politically.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22It's fascinating to, actually,
0:24:22 > 0:24:23to look at this
0:24:23 > 0:24:26and see what was going on in that
0:24:26 > 0:24:29time in the politics of that region.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32And obviously, your ancestors were
0:24:32 > 0:24:33caught up in that.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Stunned by the dramatic revelation that his great-uncle had been
0:24:38 > 0:24:41arrested over 100 years ago,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Colin is keen to find out more
0:24:44 > 0:24:46and is on his way to Lancaster University
0:24:46 > 0:24:49to meet Russian expert Professor Michael Hughes.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Very pleased to meet you. Please sit down.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58What we have here, Colin, is a copy in Russian of a police file
0:24:58 > 0:25:02and it's about the arrest of, I think, your great-uncle Nathan
0:25:02 > 0:25:07for attending a revolutionary meeting in a wood on the outskirts
0:25:07 > 0:25:10of Vilnius, in modern-day Lithuania.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13And what the file tells us is that
0:25:13 > 0:25:16he was attending a meeting in what is called the Bund.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21The Bund was a radical Jewish Socialist organisation
0:25:21 > 0:25:23which was formed in 1897
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and for a few years, was probably the most important
0:25:26 > 0:25:29socialist organisation in Russia.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Of course, with the pogroms that took place
0:25:32 > 0:25:34after the 1905 revolution,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38that actually triggered a big response among a lot
0:25:38 > 0:25:41of the Jewish communities and the Bund in particular became
0:25:41 > 0:25:43interested in what it called self-defence.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46So, originally, when it was set up,
0:25:46 > 0:25:50the Bund was really a kind of Marxist workers' party.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54But after 1905, the Bund became much more concerned
0:25:54 > 0:25:57with protecting Russian Jews who continued to be persecuted.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01What I think is very striking is that your great-uncle was clearly
0:26:01 > 0:26:05involved in an organisation and interested in ideas.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07That was seen as subversive.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11What we do know, and we don't know a huge amount from the files,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16is that he's taken away after that meeting, he's interviewed, and he's
0:26:16 > 0:26:21then put under something that the Russians call preventative measures.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24I think he was probably seen as someone you had to keep an eye on.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26It is fascinating.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28I never met Abe and Nathan
0:26:28 > 0:26:33but it is a fascinating story to think that all those years ago,
0:26:33 > 0:26:36they were so active in changing, trying to change people's lives.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40- But it must initially have been terrifying for him.- I bet it was.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43And among the various revolutionary groups, their kind of nightmare
0:26:43 > 0:26:46was being arrested by the secret police.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50What actually comes out of it that is quite fascinating
0:26:50 > 0:26:54is how our family all believe in social justice and socialism.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58So we've inherited that without even knowing him, so that seems to
0:26:58 > 0:27:03have been the story of the family down the lines, caring for others.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08The Russian police file played a crucial role in proving this
0:27:08 > 0:27:10case to the Government Legal Department
0:27:10 > 0:27:14and finally distributing Basil's estate to his relatives.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18But for Colin, it's been an unbelievable journey into his
0:27:18 > 0:27:23own past and the triumphant rescue of a story nearly lost for ever.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Money's not been important at all
0:27:25 > 0:27:27and for that reason when we inherited the money,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30we donated it to the charity that my wife and I founded
0:27:30 > 0:27:33because that's more important to us.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37What has been important is finding out who our family have been.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43Heir hunting, or people who are genealogists,
0:27:43 > 0:27:45are often people who like enigmas,
0:27:45 > 0:27:49who like to resolve unsolved puzzles.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51So our job is really to crack safe open.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55We have a very small family anyway, so to know something
0:27:55 > 0:27:58about the history is...
0:27:58 > 0:28:01brings a lot of things together.