Collinson/Brookestone Heir Hunters

Today, the person the heir hunters are investigating

doesn't seem to exist.

When we did our search, it turned out that there was actually

no other Brookstones ever in any of the records.

And a sailor risks prison, all for the sake of love.

That was quite unusual, and certainly for a serving personnel,

absolutely impossible and extremely dangerous.

The heir hunters attempt to solve a family mystery

stretching back 100 years.

All right, then. Cheers.

We're still unsure as to why the deceased is Collinson,

yet, his mother marries a Kerkham.

And one relative gets the surprise of a lifetime.

We were very excited...

We've not really had any sort of inheritance before,

and...I was very excited for me and my family.

When navigating the twists and turns of genealogy research, heir hunters

often journey through significant passages of our country's past.

It's quite important to have a grasp of the social history of the UK.

You need to go with your hunches.

Those hunches are built on knowledge,

and that's something that you pick up over time,

but it may also be something you have acquired through an interest

in British and international history.

William Ernest Brookstone was born in Essex on 22 January, 1949.

He moved to Plymouth in his 20s, where he was regarded with

great affection and fondness by friends and colleagues.

He was a kind soul. You couldn't help liking him.

Everybody at work liked him.

He had a smile on his face for everybody.

He was just that type of person.

He worked locally as a machine operator

and was known for having a great sense of humour.

He'd make you laugh, always tell you a joke,

and if he saw that you were slightly upset

or you're not in a good mood, he would actually make an effort

to try and make it a bit better for you and try and cheer you up.

He was fun-loving, he loved his friends.

He had a lot of time for everybody. He was generous, kind.

I've never known anybody to ever

have a bad word to say about Bill.

Sadly, on Christmas Eve 2012, William passed away aged 63.

Since Bill's passing, I've lost a really good friend.

I'll miss his laughs, his smiles. His company.

I'll miss mostly about Bill his-his sense of humour

and his warm personality.

That's what I'll think I'll miss most about Billy.

The case was passed to London heir hunting firm Finders

through a private individual,

but barely anything was known about the details of William's life.

Case manager Suzanne Rowley took up the challenge.

When we were given the case, we knew that it was worth

approximately £20,000,

but it is worthwhile looking into

and it is good to pass on the inheritance to the rightful heirs.

With only a death certificate to go on,

the team needed to find William's birth details.

William Ernest Brookstone sounds like quite an easy name to research.

I've never heard the surname Brookstone before.

But the team hit a problem almost immediately.

It's always vital to have the birth certificate when working on a case.

The birth certificate shows us the names of the parents.

If we don't have the parents,

we can't do any of the research into the family tree.

When we did our search, it turned out that there was actually

no other Brookstones ever in any of the records.

I was suspicious that, possibly, he could have changed his name.

Suzanne needed to hunt for more elusive records.

We happened to have a copy of a job application form from 1977.

It stated that his surname was Brookstone,

so we know he was using that name at that time.

It also mentioned that he used to be part of the Navy.

And friends and neighbours were able to shed further light on these

shreds of new information.

Hi, I was wondering if you could help me.

We are a company in London... So, we are heir hunters.

With further information gathered from neighbours,

I was able to find out that William Brookstone was actually

in a same-sex relationship with a Mr Stone.

Bill and Victor had had a relationship for many, many years...

I think, certainly, from when Bill was very young.

When he first came out of the services, I believe.

And they absolutely adored each other.

With this information, I went to look at the electoral rolls.

I was able to pick up them living together,

but they were both named Brookstone.

So, I then thought that, possibly, William could have been born

as a Brooks and Victor was then born as a Stone.

Suzanne began a fresh hunt for a William Ernest Brooks.

I found a perfect record for a William Ernest Brooks

born on 22 January, 1949, in Woodford.

This matched perfectly with the death that we had

and which stated his date of birth.

Further investigation confirmed that this was the same William that

had spent some time in the Navy, as his job application had revealed.

When Bill was in the services,

he worked in the NAAFI, which is the canteen on board

the ship, so he knew everybody and everybody would certainly know him.

I think he makes a big impression wherever he goes.

Billy did mention that he was former Navy.

He was quite a private man,

he didn't really share that side of his life.

But William's sexuality would have posed a major problem in the 1970s

and could be the reason why he had left the Armed Forces.

I can understand entirely why William

changed his name by deed poll to acknowledge

and recognise his partner, but that was quite unusual

and certainly, for a serving personnel,

absolutely impossible and extremely dangerous.

Homosexuality was a serious offence under military law.

Gay sailors, like William, in the Royal Navy,

would be living in constant fear of exposure

and a knock on the door by the military police.

It was a very tense, scary atmosphere.

They loved their job, they were committed to the Royal Navy,

yet, under naval law, they were criminals.

They were liable to arrest, imprisonment

and dishonourable discharge.

During the 1970s, anywhere between 80 to 300 military personnel

were discharged dishonourably because of homosexuality.

After a sailor was dishonourably discharged from the Navy,

they would often find it very difficult to get a new job.

That dishonourable discharge would hang over their heads

and many employers would be reluctant to employ them.

It took European legislation to force the ban on gay people

joining the Armed Forces to be lifted.

It was not until the year 2000 that lesbian, gay

and bisexual personnel were allowed to serve openly in the Armed Forces.

And today, it's a very different story.

Nowadays, there has been a complete sea-change.

The Royal Navy is in many ways a model employer.

Not only can lesbian, gay, bisexual, and now transgender people

serve openly, they are protected under the disciplinary code

against prejudice and discrimination.

So, it's a complete transformation from the terrible,

ghastly days in which William suffered.

But as Suzanne and her team discovered,

this didn't stand in the way of William's relationship with Victor.

So, at the time, there was no legal partnership

between same-sex couples...

You weren't able to have a civil partnership or a marriage...

So, in this case, I think

they simply joined their names to show that they were together.

Yeah, I would assume that Victor

was probably the love of Bill's life, really.

But frustratingly, without a legal marriage, neither Victor

nor any descendants could be considered as potential heirs.

Before the civil partnership laws came into force, there was

a real problem for people in a same-sex relationship

in that there was no guaranteed right of inheritance

from one partner to the other.

So with Victor ruled out as a potential heir,

the case took an unexpected twist.

Did William himself have children?

Over the years, a daughter was mentioned.

It would have been nice to be able to find her.

Or find out the facts and perhaps have had her there

at the funeral at the end.

This sort of put a spanner in the works as we then had to check

to see whether William was previously married.

If the names were correct and William did have children

and they had children,

this would mean that his children would then inherit.

If they had passed away, then their children would inherit.

Start with this, I think.

-If you could just figure out who he was.

-OK.

-Yeah.

Suzanne began a fresh hunt for marriage indexes to see

if they could trace a child for William.

My initial search was for a marriage for a William Brooks.

But it seemed they'd hit another dead end.

After ordering lots of certificates, none of them seemed to match,

so my next step was to look at Victor.

Possibly, he could have married previously.

All right, thanks a lot. Bye-bye.

So I'm having a look to see whether Victor married

and I found a marriage here in 1953 in Paddington.

Um...

And it looks as though he had one daughter living...

Born in Paddington.

But it left the team no closer

to finding blood relatives of William's who would be heirs.

In any situation, Victor's children or grandchildren wouldn't be able

to inherit from William's estates,

as William and Victor were never legally married

or in a civil partnership.

However, with William's true name now part of the search,

Suzanne got the team to return to his birth certificate,

which revealed his parents as Winifred May Goodwin

and Ernest Walter Brooks.

But their search for brothers and sisters was fruitless.

Once I discovered that he had no other siblings,

he never married and had any children, I then was able to use

the parents' names to look for them on the census to look for wider kin.

From William's birth certificate, we were able to see

that his father was a railway goods guard.

Census records showed his maternal grandparents as William Goodwin

and Edith Chenery.

William and Edith had three children in total -

Albert, Winifred and Jack.

From the marriage certificate between William and Edith,

we were able to find out that William was a shunter at a railway.

In fact, the family played a role in one of the biggest achievements

in transport history in the capital.

The first underground railway line opened in 1863.

People were very sceptical about the whole concept of the underground.

People thought it wouldn't be safe.

They would have been steam-operated in the early days.

If you can imagine steam trains in confined underground platforms,

it was quite hellish for the first people that used it.

William's grandfather, William Goodwin,

was a shunter on the Great Eastern Main Line,

which formed part of the early Central Line.

It was one of the earliest true underground lines,

cos it actually went underground.

It was the first one that was, sort of, sold as being for people

who wanted to enjoy central London.

So, theatre-goers and shoppers

and people who wanted to enjoy the nightlife.

It was the first line to run right through the heart of central London.

And by the turn of the 20th century,

the underground had spread entirely across London.

The 1930s was a huge period of transition

for the London Underground.

For someone working on the underground at that time,

it would've been an exciting time,

probably a chance for new jobs and new roles,

and it's where the brand of London Underground, if you like,

really came into its own.

And as the research

into William's mother's side of the family continued,

the team were finally getting closer to finding potential heirs.

So, Albert marries an Elizabeth Bridger in 1947.

However, they didn't have any children...

So, I went to look at the next maternal uncle,

which was Jack Goodwin.

Jack had three children.

Two of them, Elsie and Mary,

both passed away without having any children.

Frederick was the only one still living

and he was our first heir.

Born in 1946,

Frederick was William's first cousin and lives in Romford.

It was the first time I'd heard anything.

I'd lost complete touch with him and so,

I couldn't wonder who'd left me any money. Then, when I found out

who it was from, I thought, "Oh, well. Oh, poor Billy."

Despite losing touch with his cousin,

Frederick has fond memories of him growing up.

A quiet boy, bit shy.

Once he was down in the Navy, in Plymouth,

I mean, the only time we saw him was on leave.

He used to come and visit us on a Sunday, in his Navy uniform.

He looked ever so smart in his walking out uniform,

with his bell-bottoms and all that, and his hat.

It would've been nice if he could have actually stayed in the Navy.

He'd have probably come out after 20 or 25 years

as chief petty officer or something.

He'd have had a good career and a good pension.

But the story wasn't over.

As Suzanne had to ensure all of William's heirs were found,

she crossed over to William's father's side of the family.

The first thing we need to do is look for the father

on the 1911 census,

which will then enable us to look for his parents.

Their names were James Walter Brooks and Mary Ann Brooks.

Further clues revealed that they had four children.

Although, one died as an infant.

This left two paternal aunts.

Once all the research was complete there were six heirs in total,

which meant that they all received a reasonable sum of money.

For Suzanne and the team, it was an amazing hunt

through the twists and turns of British history.

William was quite an interesting character.

It's always rewarding to work these sorts of cases,

where we find out more about the person.

But, for friends and family, it's been a chance to look back

and remember William.

I suppose, I could, you know, when things are all settled up,

have a little drink to Billy.

It was with great sadness that he passed on Christmas Eve, and every

Christmas Eve there's still a drink raised to him, just to remember him.

Not that we'd ever forget him because he was that sort of guy.

He stays in your memories.

It's Thursday at 10:30 in the morning in London.

Heir hunting firm Fraser & Fraser are looking into the estate

of a 71-year-old man from Cheshire.

All right. Cheers, bye.

So, I've got a new case just come in called David J Collinson

who has died in December of last year up in Warrington.

It looks like he possibly may have owned a property

when he passed away.

He used to live with his mother for a long time,

who we BELIEVE to be his mother.

We can start to look. We can...

It depends what we're going to have on the certificates.

Can we get those certs?

-Wellingborough?

-Yeah.

-I don't know.

We might have to try cos that's what I'm thinking.

David Collinson was born an only child on 24 March, 1943,

in Runcorn.

With little-known facts about his life,

neighbours were able to paint a picture of the man they knew.

You'd see David and instantly recognise him

because of his big bushy beard, and that, you know.

He was always a nice bloke.

Really clever man. Just an easy-going neighbour to get on with.

You know, you knew you'd never have any problems with him.

But, over the past few years, David had become a shy and private person.

And he never used to go out, his health wasn't great.

You never saw any of David's family.

David passed away without making any known will.

Even though you didn't see a lot of him, now that he's not there,

you notice that he's not there.

With so few details to go on, the team have got a huge task ahead.

All right, then. Cheers.

All the team have to go on is that David used to live with

a woman called Florence Collinson,

but she disappeared off the electoral roll in 1984

and they have no other information.

Researcher Sinead Collins gets to work.

What we've done to start off with is to look for a death

for a Florence Collinson.

I have found one in Warrington.

It's Florence Mabel Collinson and she's born on 14 August,

1898, which we would assume that she is the deceased's mother.

We've looked up for the deceased's birth...

For a David J Collinson born in 1943,

and his mother's maiden name is Butcher.

But the team struggle to find a marriage certificate

for David's parents, linking Butcher and Collinson.

I've got the marriage certificate in front of me

and what I've found is that Florence Mabel Butcher

married a Leslie Kerkham.

We already know from the deceased's birth certificate

that it's Leslie Royal Collinson.

On this marriage certificate, it's Leslie Royal Kerkham.

The team now know Florence Butcher married Leslie Kerkham,

but what WAS puzzling was why Leslie died a Collinson.

So, I found a census of a Leslie Royal Kerkham.

He's the correct age, he's 15 years old, in Wellingborough.

He's living with a Robert Collinson and a Jane Collinson.

And David's father's baptism record provides the team with more

pieces of the puzzle.

He was born with the name Kerkham

to parents Arthur Kerkham and Lucy Eleanor.

We've got a Leslie Royal Kerkham whose father is

Arthur Charles Kerkham and mother is Lucy Eleanor Kerkham.

Lucy Eleanor is listed as being deceased, which could be

a contributing factor as to why Leslie is living with the Collinson.

What the team discovered was that Leslie Kerkham was Leslie Collinson,

having been informally adopted by the Collinson family.

It's all starting to make sense that perhaps Leslie was born to

Arthur and Lucy, but Lucy's died quite young

and his father's been unable to care for him,

so he's been unofficially adopted.

So he's been given to another family to be brought up,

which is why he's ended up with the Collinson family

and why he flits between the two names

with his marriage and his death.

Adoptions in the early 1900s can often prove tricky for heir hunters.

Legal adoption didn't really start until 1927,

so anything prior to 1926, then we have a problem.

That's when we get informal adoptions,

we get people brought up with different families than what

they were actually born to,

and if we find that on a bit of research, then it's a dead end.

With no blood relatives on David's father's side of the family,

the team now have to concentrate all their attention

solely on the mother's side.

On the parents of the deceased's marriage certificate,

it shows the grandfather of the deceased is James Butcher.

The 1911 census proves that David's maternal grandparents

were Susan and James Butcher.

When we did a census check, we managed to find a James Butcher

who is an agricultural labourer, and a Susan Butcher who is a lacemaker.

They were both living in Bedfordshire.

During the 1800s,

lacemaking was very popular as a source of income, particularly

in the Midland counties of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire.

Ann Prigmore from Bedford made lace herself. It was a family business.

Bedfordshire was very well-known for its lacemaking.

Most of the families would have made lace.

The work for a lacemaker was pretty tough.

You couldn't have your coal fire on in the winter

because the soot would discolour the lace,

so you'd have to work in the cold.

It was long, hard hours.

Your fingers would've been very sore. It was a tough, tough life.

The pay was pretty appalling, really.

My grandmother used to get paid six old pennies

for a piece of lace that was a handkerchief edge.

My mother would take it round to the corner shop

and that would be to pay for her food.

Until the mid-19th century,

almost the only schools in lacemaking districts

were lace schools.

The lace schools were pretty awful places.

They were usually in a little room in a cottage.

The lace teacher would be quite strict and would also smack

the children, prick their fingers if they got the patterns wrong.

Um... They learnt a trade, but it was tough going.

Back in the office,

the team have discovered that David's maternal grandparents,

James and Susan, had five children in total -

Leonard, Florence - David's mother - Lucy, Albert and Frederick.

I found marriages for both my Frederick and Leonard.

Um... Both get married in the Northampton area.

Um... Both look like they die with no issue.

Florence's sister Lucy actually died quite young.

She died at the age of 23 years old in Wellingborough...

and she died under Lucy Butcher, so we know she was a spinster

and didn't have any children.

Finding any aunts, uncles or cousins as potential heirs

is looking unlikely.

There is only one uncle left.

We began looking into an Albert Masters Butcher.

He dies in 1991, in Kettering.

And, before that, he marries an Agnes, in 1925,

in Wellingborough, and they have two daughters.

But the team have no luck with the first daughter, Margaret.

We found a death entry for Margaret L Butcher.

No marriage, spinster. Spinster death again.

With her dying a spinster, all hopes of an heir rely on the other sister,

David's cousin, and they could have a breakthrough.

We can't find a death for her at all.

We have found out that she has children.

So, we're going to contact them, instead of her,

just because of her age.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, sir, very sorry to trouble you.

It's nothing to worry about in the slightest.

We're a company who specialise

in tracing missing heirs and beneficiaries.

We've been trying to trace the relatives

of a gentleman who passed away.

So, I think his dad was a gentleman called Leslie Royal Collinson.

Now, are you aware of David

ever having any brothers or sisters at all?

Take care, bye-bye.

He was more than happy with everything. Pretty much confirmed

that she was the last link on this side of the family.

So, it looks like she will probably be the only heir to this estate.

If we are right that the deceased has an interest

in the house he lived in -

the property prices are around £90,000-£100,000 -

so, as she's the only heir,

she'd be the one that's to stand to inherit it all.

Yeah, if I give you that and I'll take that one,

-so you can take down her address...

-Yeah.

But as the heir hunters double-check their research,

they stumble across another twist to the tale.

We've found another beneficiary, the daughter of Frederick Butcher.

Frederick Butcher is the younger brother of Florence.

Originally, we thought that Frederick had no children

and that he died with no issue.

But, we've later found, from ordering

his wife's death certificate, there is a daughter.

So, it's up to Mike to finish off the case for good.

We noticed that the beneficiary was born in 1928.

So, I didn't want to contact her straight away.

OK, cool, I will. Bye.

So, we contacted one of her daughters

who informed us that the beneficiary, her mother,

had dementia.

So, obviously, it was a lot easier to go

through the daughter, who then informed us about the family.

And it seems that Frederick's daughter had gone on

to have two daughters and a son, Andrew Ross.

We were very excited.

We've not really had any sort of inheritance before and...

I was very excited for me and my family.

I knew that David was a distant relative,

but we just hadn't had any contact.

Although Andrew had only met David as a boy,

the call from the heir hunters has sparked fond memories.

He was quite a clever guy.

He was quite into TV and radio and things like that.

I'm quite disappointed, really, that no contact has been

made between us, cos I think I'd probably have got on well with him.

After a tricky start, the heir hunters had succeeded

in finding not one, but two heirs to the estate of David Collinson.

Informal adoptions happen more regularly than you'd think.

Often, it adds a bit more flavour to the job,

makes things a little bit more interesting.

Otherwise, you'd just be doing the same repetitive stuff every day.

Instead, you get cases like this, which really challenge your mind.

You know, you have to work out a really difficult puzzle.

The successful result had been a combination of following

gut instinct and then proving this with documentary evidence.

For us, it's vital we follow the correct line.

We have to take gambles.

And we have to take gambles when we can't get the proofs.

We follow a hunch, we work a family, in the hope that we can

prove it later.

But it's vital we can prove it.

And, for the heirs,

it's been a chance to take a trip down memory lane.

We recently went on a holiday up to the Lake District

and on the way back, we did actually call and see David's house.

It was quite interesting to see where he'd been living and,

if there's a nice cheque arrives, then we'll all drink a toast, yes.