0:00:03 > 0:00:06Today, the heir hunters take on a case that keeps on growing.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09There were 15 brothers and sisters.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12From a little case we weren't quite sure of into a very long one.
0:00:12 > 0:00:16Another team uncover a sporting celebrity in their research...
0:00:16 > 0:00:18He is now listed as being a professional footballer
0:00:18 > 0:00:20for Hull City.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23..and are left searching for a long-lost family.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26I see where we're going with this one.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30My grandmother was separated from him and she didn't want to talk about it.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34- It's a day...- Wow!- ..full of family secrets and surprises.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36I was aware of eight cousins
0:00:36 > 0:00:40and it looks like I've got something like 70 cousins!
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Across the UK every year, thousands of people die without making
0:00:59 > 0:01:02a will and with no known relatives.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04In these cases, the deceased's name goes
0:01:04 > 0:01:09on the Government's Bona Vacantia list, which means "vacant goods".
0:01:09 > 0:01:12Estates can remain unclaimed, sometimes for years.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18It's a treasury estate that's just kind of slipped through the net.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20In London, Dave Slee,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22case manager at heir-hunting firm Fraser and Fraser,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25is working one such case that's been on the
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Government's list, unresolved, for four years.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32From our point of view, because this looks like an estate that's
0:01:32 > 0:01:36slipped through the net, the chances are, though you can never tell,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39that there are no other companies researching the matter, so we've got
0:01:39 > 0:01:44the luxury of being able to take our time a little bit on this one.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Which is just as well, as senior researcher Roger Marsh...
0:01:48 > 0:01:52And that only because it's a different name, that's Harry, not Henry...
0:01:52 > 0:01:56..is struggling to work out the correct name for the deceased.
0:01:56 > 0:02:02We've got this job of a lady called Beryl Joan or possibly Joanna
0:02:02 > 0:02:07and her surname is either Leonard spelled L-E-O-N-A-R-D
0:02:07 > 0:02:10or Lennard, L-E-N-N-A-R-D.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Or Leonard-Halliwell.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17The team have ordered Beryl's death certificate to glean as much
0:02:17 > 0:02:19information as possible.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23This shows she passed away in a care home in Chelmsford, Essex.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30The only other detail they know about Beryl is that she
0:02:30 > 0:02:32visited the local market regularly.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37Two Beryls that we used to serve that we haven't seen for years.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42One of them I know has died and the other one, I'm not sure.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44We just haven't seen her for years.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48One was from Newcastle and one was from here in Chelmsford.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56With locals unable to shed any light on Beryl,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01the team need to work out her birth name before the case can progress.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05But they can't find a birth record matching her date of birth.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08If we can't identify the birth record of the deceased,
0:03:08 > 0:03:11we have to start looking at variants and sometimes you have to come
0:03:11 > 0:03:15up with some quite unusual combinations of names to try
0:03:15 > 0:03:18and find that record but without that record it is a problem.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23- That's all alive, I should have said, up to there.- Yeah.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Working various combinations of Beryl's name, the first thing
0:03:26 > 0:03:28the team do is determine
0:03:28 > 0:03:31whether she was born a Leonard or married into the family.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Looking at the births for that quarter,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37there were three or four names, double-checking them to Leonard,
0:03:37 > 0:03:39there was a Salter married to a Leonard.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42So what we had then was Beryl Joan Salter as the birth
0:03:42 > 0:03:45and she married a Leonard.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49The team now know she was born Beryl Joan Salter
0:03:49 > 0:03:52and can order her birth certificate.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57It was good work by Roger to play around with the deceased's marriages
0:03:57 > 0:04:00and then that led us back to her birth and of course
0:04:00 > 0:04:04you can't start your research until you know who the person is.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09Records reveal that Beryl had married twice, but her second
0:04:09 > 0:04:12husband had died and she had no children from either marriage.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16The next in line to inherit her estate would be her parents
0:04:16 > 0:04:19if they were still alive, then any brothers
0:04:19 > 0:04:23and sisters she may have and as the team now knew her maiden name
0:04:23 > 0:04:27of Salter, they quickly find records for her father and mother.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30- I spoke to her, she phoned in. - Right.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34And her mum was a Winifred Mary Jane Hudson,
0:04:34 > 0:04:39who was born in Stafford, which is Manchester area,
0:04:39 > 0:04:40which is where Beryl was born.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43Beryl's father's name was Charles Salter
0:04:43 > 0:04:45and both her parents had died.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49So the team needed to find out if they had any other children.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52She was an only child, so then we had to go back to cousins
0:04:52 > 0:04:55and the side I was working on was her mum's side.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59To do this, the team refer to the census,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03which lists the occupants of every household at that time.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Put a four-day order on that...
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Beryl's mother grew up in the Edwardian era, having been
0:05:08 > 0:05:11born just before the turn of the 20th century.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19So the 1911 census was the one the team turned to.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22This included much more information than previous censuses
0:05:22 > 0:05:26and also gives the heir hunters a good indication about
0:05:26 > 0:05:28Beryl's mother's family life at that time.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Robert Hudson, the deceased's maternal grandfather,
0:05:33 > 0:05:37initially started his working life as an engine cleaner and worked
0:05:37 > 0:05:41his way up to become an engine driver at the turn of the century.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46As the family lived in Stafford,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49it's likely Robert Hudson worked for the Midland Railway Company.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53I think Robert's career is fairly typical
0:05:53 > 0:05:55for an engine driver of the period.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58They all started as cleaners, they progressed to firemen
0:05:58 > 0:06:00and then to engine driver.
0:06:00 > 0:06:01It could take a very long time
0:06:01 > 0:06:05and the express engine drivers often didn't make it to that position
0:06:05 > 0:06:09until they were in their fifties, so they didn't do it for very long.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13I think we all know that every boy wanted to be an engine driver.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17They were almost the rock stars of their day.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20The cleaner polished his engine to perfection,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23because the engines were spotless in those days.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27Work for Beryl's grandfather was tough and repetitive.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30What we're seeing here has hardly changed
0:06:30 > 0:06:34since the early days of steam railways of the early 19th century.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39It's the same job. It's just putting coal on a fire, heating water
0:06:39 > 0:06:42to produce steam, to produce horsepower,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and it's never really changed.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Imagine doing that for eight hours a day, every day, six days a week!
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Back in the 19th century, the kind of trains that Robert may have
0:06:55 > 0:06:59been driving on branch lines would probably have
0:06:59 > 0:07:03consisted of wooden-bodied four-wheel coaches with plain wooden seats,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06probably nowhere near as comfortable as this one.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11As well as his profession, the census also reveals that
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Robert and Selina had a very large family.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18There were 15 brothers and sisters.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20So it suddenly went from a little case
0:07:20 > 0:07:22we weren't quite sure of into a very long one.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24This is just the maternal side,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28because we're still waiting for the marriage of the parents to come
0:07:28 > 0:07:32back so we can work out the father's side, see how old he was
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and work out which is the correct birth for him.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40Now armed with all the names of Beryl's 14 aunts and uncles
0:07:40 > 0:07:42on her mother's side, the team needs to try and see
0:07:42 > 0:07:45if they can find some of their children.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Dave hits the phone straight away.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Good morning, I'm David Slee.
0:07:52 > 0:07:53Hello there.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57I've been in contact, I'm sure as you know,
0:07:57 > 0:08:01with other members of your family in connection with an estate
0:08:01 > 0:08:03we believe that you may be entitled to a share in.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Speaking directly to living family members often fills in any gaps
0:08:09 > 0:08:12the team may have with tracing other living relatives.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14But it's not always the case.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19I think the trouble is as well though, it's such a large family
0:08:19 > 0:08:24that you've got this huge gap between the ages of first cousins...
0:08:24 > 0:08:27- Yeah.- ..that a lot of them didn't know each of their cousins.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29- No.- I suppose they wouldn't.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33So asking them about aunts and uncles and other cousins,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36- I don't think they'd know too much, to be honest.- No.- No.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Because there's so many what we would call "top line" aunts and uncles...
0:08:42 > 0:08:45Let's just have a quick look through this top line.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48..each stem that we contact doesn't particularly know
0:08:48 > 0:08:53about the other stems, so we have to research each individual stem.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Although the team are finding potential heirs,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00the lack of family information means they have to work each aunt
0:09:00 > 0:09:04and uncle separately. They need to find someone who knows more.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Gladys, no issue...
0:09:07 > 0:09:10I'm going to talk to a cousin once removed who's NOT entitled,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13because her mother's still alive who's quite elderly.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15So I want to talk to the daughter first.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18It's always nice to talk to the children,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21than obviously upset elderly people unnecessarily.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25When we're looking at cases with large family, really you're
0:09:25 > 0:09:29looking at trying to work up every stem as efficiently as possible,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32so occasionally you get that feeling of dread,
0:09:32 > 0:09:36because there's that one sticky stem that you can't trace the heirs to.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40It's not unusual for us, especially on a common surname, to,
0:09:40 > 0:09:41and it's happened on this estate,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44to phone people you think are entitled parties
0:09:44 > 0:09:47and just the research is coincidental, really,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49so it happens a lot.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52If we can phone people and contact them early enough
0:09:52 > 0:09:54and they've got good family history,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57then we can eliminate them from our enquiries, but it does happen.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02But researcher Shannon has found something about the Hudson family
0:10:02 > 0:10:06that is making the search a little easier.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10So far, we've come to the conclusion they are certainly an area family.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12They get married in the same churches.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15We've managed to narrow it down to two churches
0:10:15 > 0:10:17in the whole Staffordshire area.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19So it's kind of helping us along the way.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21We can work out, basically, the whole family
0:10:21 > 0:10:24are getting married within these two churches,
0:10:24 > 0:10:26which is helpful for us.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30But with 14 families on just the mother's side to trace and contact,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33there could be a lot of heirs who are entitled to
0:10:33 > 0:10:35a slice of Beryl's inheritance.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40There's still a lot that we have to do, filling in gaps and people.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43With families like this, you lose touch.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45So not everyone knows everyone.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47So it makes our job a bit harder.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51Your mother was born in '05, Lily was born in '07.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56The more information we can gather from individuals,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58the better it is from a research point of view.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02The less research needs to be done the more a family can tell us.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05But at the same time, we still have to make sure
0:11:05 > 0:11:07that what they're saying is correct,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09so they're not missing out a brother or sister
0:11:09 > 0:11:10they don't like, or something.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12We have to find everybody.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17And no-one expected what the research was going to uncover.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19They've got an Australian grandad...
0:11:21 > 0:11:24..and a grandmother from Devon.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38In the business of probate research, finding living heirs is the goal.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42But sometimes, they uncover family stories lost for generations.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45He was born at the workhouse and left there.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47One case that revealed plenty
0:11:47 > 0:11:50is from the village of Roberttown in West Yorkshire.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Doreen Storey lived there until she was 86.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59She died on 20th February, 2012 with no known family.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03Although she was a quiet lady,
0:12:03 > 0:12:08neighbour Jean Hawley remembers Doreen as a cheerful spirit.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10She was a lovely lady, was Doreen. Very warm.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13And a lovely sweet smile.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15And she used to go for her hair setting.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20Doreen loved her garden and our friend Gill tended it for her.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23And really, it was lovely back and front.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25She liked it to look nice.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28She had two brothers and one sister.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32She never spoke about them, apart from one brother
0:12:32 > 0:12:35that was in, during the war, in one of the services.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37Come on, let's have a look at you.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Neighbour Christine Allen knew Doreen for 42 years.
0:12:41 > 0:12:42She loved animals.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46She always sent cards with dogs on, birthdays and everything. Yeah.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49She was a lovely lady. You could tell her anything
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and she listened. You knew it wouldn't go any further.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54I miss her. Yeah, I do, I miss her.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58I just miss her stood in the window and not waving, or anything.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Doreen's house remained empty for some time after she died,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07so a concerned neighbour contacted London heir-hunting firm, Finders.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Suzanne Rowley was one of the researchers on the case.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Neighbours, they tend to refer a case to us
0:13:18 > 0:13:20instead of it going to the Bona Vacantia list.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Hi, Ryan. That's the Doreen Storey case.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26They want the money to go to the family
0:13:26 > 0:13:29and the right people, rather than the Government.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31- All right, then, thank you. - No worries.- Cheers.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34One of the benefits of a neighbour-referral case
0:13:34 > 0:13:37is that we can get some more detailed background information
0:13:37 > 0:13:40that we may otherwise not receive.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44If I can find her family, then you know she's wrong.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Case manager Amy Noyes began
0:13:48 > 0:13:51the process of trying to find out if Doreen had any family.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55The neighbour that referred this case to us was able to tell us
0:13:55 > 0:13:59quite a bit about Doreen, which gave us a head start, really.
0:13:59 > 0:14:04For instance, she knew Doreen had lived at the property for some time.
0:14:04 > 0:14:06As far as she's concerned, she'd never married
0:14:06 > 0:14:09and she'd never heard of her having had any children either.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14So, on the Post-it, you think it says Dixon, not Rixon?
0:14:14 > 0:14:17The information that we receive from these referrals,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21they're always classed as anecdotal, rather than concrete evidence.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24So although it's very useful and probably correct,
0:14:24 > 0:14:25we would always verify that
0:14:25 > 0:14:27by checking with the records themselves.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32It's in relation to a cousin of yours who's sadly passed away.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Doreen's death certificate gave the team her date of birth,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42which meant they could immediately order her birth certificate.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46So my first step, looking at her birth and death,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51would be to look to see if she ever married or had any children.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Although the heir hunters could see Doreen's name had never changed,
0:14:57 > 0:14:59which suggested she'd never married,
0:14:59 > 0:15:02they searched for any evidence of marriage or births
0:15:02 > 0:15:05with Doreen's name on. Both came up negative.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07The net would have to be widened.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13The next steps were then going to be to work out whether or not
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Doreen had the siblings that the neighbour had referred to.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20In order to do that, the first step was to locate
0:15:20 > 0:15:24the names of Doreen's mother and father.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Doreen's birth certificate was again the key.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30This gave her mother's name as Esther McQuillan
0:15:30 > 0:15:32and her father, Herbert Storey.
0:15:33 > 0:15:35We can do a birth-index search.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38That threw up the possible siblings
0:15:38 > 0:15:40that the neighbour had referred to.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42We had a sister, Mary Ann,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and two bothers, an Edward and a Thomas McQuillan Storey.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51And neighbour Christine remembers they all lived together.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53All the four of them were lovely people.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55They all looked after one another.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57Tommy, the oldest, he did all the gardening.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59But they were all together. Never went anywhere,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03never went shopping to Huddersfield, or anywhere like that.
0:16:03 > 0:16:04They just liked their home.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09We needed to work out what had happened to them,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13whether they might still be alive, having all been born in the 1920s,
0:16:13 > 0:16:18or if deceased, whether they'd had marriages and children of their own,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22who, if the children were alive, they would then be potential heirs.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24And, of course, when one died and the other died,
0:16:24 > 0:16:27it was very, very upsetting for them all, it really was.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31And then when Molly died and just left Doreen, um...
0:16:31 > 0:16:33she went downhill a bit, she really did.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Searches confirmed that all of Doreen's siblings had died.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45None of them had ever married or had children.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48But something on her parents' marriage certificate...
0:16:48 > 0:16:51I see where we're going with this one.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54..suggested there may be another avenue worth exploring.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57It indicated that Herbert had been married previously,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59so we needed to then look into that
0:16:59 > 0:17:01to make sure there weren't any children from that marriage
0:17:01 > 0:17:04which would be half-brothers or sisters to Doreen
0:17:04 > 0:17:06and potential heirs to the estate.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10It's very important to get all the documents
0:17:10 > 0:17:13and certificates in place for the family that we're researching
0:17:13 > 0:17:16in order to prove all the entitlements correctly.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20The team found out that Doreen's father, Herbert,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23had previously married a Mary Ellen Lee.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27A search was done of the birth indexes with those parental names.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30And discovered they'd had one child together,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34who unfortunately passed away when he was about one-year-old or so.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37And so that terminated that line of enquiry, as well.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40So the heir hunters now knew for certain
0:17:40 > 0:17:44that Doreen had no living siblings and no nieces or nephews.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46It's certainly difficult.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49This meant the team would have to go back one generation...
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Do you know what the daughter's name was?
0:17:52 > 0:17:54..to look for aunts and uncles in the hope
0:17:54 > 0:17:57they might have descendants who were still alive.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00It's in connection with a cousin of your mother's.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03From the 1901 census records,
0:18:03 > 0:18:06the team found Esther McQuillan's parents.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10We've got the head of the family is Doreen's grandfather,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12James McQuillan. He is a coalminer.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15He is working at the Boldon colliery.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19With him are his children. We've got Esther, Doreen's mum,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22we've also got some other daughters
0:18:22 > 0:18:25and then the sons, Thomas is young,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28but John and Jonathan are also both working at the local mine,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30as well, along with their father.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34At the time of the 1901 census,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37like many other families who worked in the collieries,
0:18:37 > 0:18:41James and his sons were risking their lives daily deep underground.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46We're now looking across towards the Boldon colliery.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51In them days, the late 1800s, early 1900s, the main danger for them
0:18:51 > 0:18:53was falls of stone, which would come from the roof
0:18:53 > 0:18:56and falls of coal, where they were working.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Them falls would come, maybe trap them by the head.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02But a lot of the deaths wasn't killed instantly,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04they were actually what you call suffocated.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08Because they couldn't breathe with the weight of the stuff on them.
0:19:10 > 0:19:11And that happened a lot.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Young John McQuillan, one of Doreen's uncles,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16was only 15 at the time
0:19:16 > 0:19:19and worked as a driver of pit ponies.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Of all the jobs underground, this was one of the worst.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26At that time, a pony driver, it was a dangerous job.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29A lad at that age shouldn't have been.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34He's in charge of a pony, who's in a seam maybe 2'6"-3' high.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37He's got no headroom, he's working in
0:19:37 > 0:19:39and he's actually riding in-between the tub and the pony
0:19:39 > 0:19:41on what we call limmers.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44That's the part which connects the pony to the tub.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46He's only got to look up at the wrong time
0:19:46 > 0:19:47and he gets his head squashed,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51which happens a lot of times to pony drivers.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53So it was a very dangerous job
0:19:53 > 0:19:55and it depended on what type of pony you had.
0:19:55 > 0:19:59It's no surprise that when young John McQuillan wasn't down the mines,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02he was doing what many young boys loved best.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04When I was 15, we used to play football.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07You couldn't wait to come out after work.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09You played until you couldn't see, it was dark.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12You could hardly see the ball.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15And can you imagine, especially in the early 1900s,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17when families were large,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20imagine the amount of kids in this back lane playing football.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23And that's what every street was like.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26Back lanes, especially, in colliery villages.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30And it seems every spare moment John put in
0:20:30 > 0:20:32on the colliery football ground over the years
0:20:32 > 0:20:37paid off, as the family record on the 1911 census shows.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43Interestingly, by 1911, although the majority of the family
0:20:43 > 0:20:45were still based around the coal-mining profession,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49John McQuillan had changed professions.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51And he is now listed as being
0:20:51 > 0:20:54a professional footballer for Hull City.
0:20:54 > 0:21:00He also had Doreen's mum, Esther, living with him, as well.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05In addition to those relatives, he was also taking in boarders.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10He had two members of the Hull City team boarding with him, as well.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13John McQuillan had escaped working in the mines
0:21:13 > 0:21:16and fulfilled every young boy's dream of the time.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20This is Boldon Villa Football Club, where John played,
0:21:20 > 0:21:22where he played his football.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25And this is where the scouts would have come and watched him.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Watched him probably a couple of times just to make sure,
0:21:28 > 0:21:32which scouts did in them days to a lot of the mining villages.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35And this is where John became a professional footballer.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39At the time John McQuillan was playing,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43the clubs were just beginning to start scouting systems.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Particularly in places like mines in the north-east,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50which were well-known for producing lots of professional footballers.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54John initially played for a very short period for Jarrow Town.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56He was spotted there by Everton.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00And Everton were one of the best teams of the day.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03The year that he was spotted, Everton won the FA Cup.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06They finished in the top five almost every year.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08So this was one of the big clubs.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12Although John did a month's trial at Everton, he wasn't taken on.
0:22:12 > 0:22:14Instead, he signed up for Hull City
0:22:14 > 0:22:17and stayed with them for eight years.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19I think John was certainly a good player.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21To become a professional player for so long,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24John must have been a very good footballer.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30In the early 1900s, it was a very comfortable way to make a living.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34Certainly for someone who had come from a mining background.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37I think it would have been incredibly exciting
0:22:37 > 0:22:41for John to walk out of the players' tunnel for the first time.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45The roar of the crowd, the youngsters who watched him
0:22:45 > 0:22:46would have looked up to him.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It's very possible John could have been regarded as a local hero.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52It was certainly a change from the mining life
0:22:52 > 0:22:55the rest of the family had lived.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Football at Boldon would have definitely saved
0:22:57 > 0:23:01John McQuillan from going back down the mines.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07With the outbreak of World War I in 1914,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11John McQuillan's professional football career came to an end.
0:23:12 > 0:23:15John had managed to escape working in the mine
0:23:15 > 0:23:17and he found a reserve occupation
0:23:17 > 0:23:20which would mean he avoided going to war.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24Sadly, that wasn't the case for many of his friends.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26A lot of the photos the families have,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30the last photos of their sons, of even fathers,
0:23:30 > 0:23:34was the football photo took before they went to war
0:23:34 > 0:23:36and never came back.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39And on this pitch is ashes
0:23:39 > 0:23:43from a lot of ex-football players spread on this pitch even today.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Back at the office, the heir hunters were starting to piece together
0:23:53 > 0:23:58possible descendants of Doreen's mother's 10 siblings.
0:23:58 > 0:23:59It looked as though there'd be
0:23:59 > 0:24:02potentially an extremely large number of heirs.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04And with Doreen's father's side not even started,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07there's still a long way to go to find any of them.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12This family seemed to be getting larger than we originally thought.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21A surprise knock on the door from the heir hunters
0:24:21 > 0:24:24happens to thousands of people in Britain every year.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26I'm not expecting a million,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30it's just going to be exciting to receive it.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32And there are thousands of cases still unsolved.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Could you be one of the heirs?
0:24:35 > 0:24:36Today, we have two names
0:24:36 > 0:24:40from the Government Legal Department's Bona Vacantia list
0:24:40 > 0:24:42whose estates are yet to be claimed.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47The first is that of Irene Barta,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51who died aged 90 on 16th January, 1994
0:24:51 > 0:24:52in Chichester, West Sussex.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58She's listed as born on 4th September, 1903, in Austria,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01but it's thought she came from Hungary and may have had a sister.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05She spoke several languages.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09Hungarian, Yugoslav, French and English.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12So, does the name Barta ring any bells with you?
0:25:12 > 0:25:14It's of ancient Arabic origin
0:25:14 > 0:25:18and is most prevalent in Hungary and the USA.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Do you have any connections with Hungary,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23or do you have any clues that would help crack this case?
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Next, the unsolved case of Rose Irene Beckwith.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34She was 85 when she passed away on 11th January, 2010,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36in Guisborough, North Yorkshire.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43She was born in the area on 14th September, 1924,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46so could well have lived there her whole life.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48The name Beckwith derives from
0:25:48 > 0:25:50a village of the same name near Harrogate,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53so the family may have relatives there.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57It's thought Rose may have been an only child.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Her mother was Alice Maude Phillips, who died in 1976.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05If you think you may be related to either of these people,
0:26:05 > 0:26:08you would need to make a claim on their estate
0:26:08 > 0:26:10via the Government Legal Department.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Do you know anything that could help solve the cases
0:26:14 > 0:26:18of Irene Barta or Rose Irene Beckwith?
0:26:18 > 0:26:20Could YOU be their next of kin?
0:26:29 > 0:26:32In London, heir-hunting firm Fraser and Fraser
0:26:32 > 0:26:35are investigating the case of Beryl Leonard.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37She lived most of her life in Chelmsford, Essex,
0:26:37 > 0:26:41and passed away in a care home there aged 85.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45The eldest child started to marry and have children
0:26:45 > 0:26:49when their brother and sisters were being born.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53So you have cousins 20 or 30 years apart in age.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00Any beneficiaries they find will share any estate Beryl left.
0:27:04 > 0:27:05Got the tree there?
0:27:05 > 0:27:07The team have made great inroads
0:27:07 > 0:27:10in finding descendants of Beryl's mother's 14 siblings.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13And Dave Slee is calling many of the relatives.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16I'm trying to make contact with
0:27:16 > 0:27:21what would be a maternal first cousin once removed.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25While Dave is still calling the heir on the mother's side,
0:27:25 > 0:27:27the certificates they need to tackle
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Beryl's father's side of the family have now arrived.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34We've managed to locate the paternal side of the family
0:27:34 > 0:27:38by going through the marriage certificate.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41We managed to get the dad's name and his occupation.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46The grandfather of the deceased, Beryl Leonard,
0:27:46 > 0:27:51was actually a William Salter, who was a prison warden in 1921.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54We've actually matched it up with a family living in Stafford
0:27:54 > 0:27:56in the 1911 census,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59which does have her father on the census with them.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01So we know we have the correct family.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06And Dave's phone-bashing has helped cut down some of their research time
0:28:06 > 0:28:09on the mother's side of the family.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12That's a good example, really, of an heir being able to provide me
0:28:12 > 0:28:15with an address of their brother,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18which means that we don't have to undertake
0:28:18 > 0:28:19the research in America to find them.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22So it cuts down a lot of work.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25They sometimes give you a little snippet of information.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28You just need that little bit of information that helps the research.
0:28:28 > 0:28:33And the investigation is coming together on the father's side too.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38Shannon's now been able to put together a family tree
0:28:38 > 0:28:41relating to the deceased's paternal family.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46Fortunately, from our point of view, it doesn't look as large
0:28:46 > 0:28:48as the maternal family.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53We have one stem with what looks like first cousins alive.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56And I'm about to go and ask Ewart
0:28:56 > 0:29:00to go off to Chelmsford to see the heirs.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04Ewart is one of the team's senior travelling researchers
0:29:04 > 0:29:07who can carry out investigations on the ground
0:29:07 > 0:29:10and hopefully visit any potential heirs.
0:29:10 > 0:29:12But before he can go anywhere,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15he has to get to grips with the family tree.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19- There's two first cousins and a cousin once removed.- Okey dokey.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25While Ewart plans his investigation,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Shannon is finding the father's side may be smaller
0:29:28 > 0:29:29but is just as challenging.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36So the grandad of deceased was born in Sydney, Australia.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38So we've got an Australian grandad
0:29:38 > 0:29:41and a grandmother from Devon,
0:29:41 > 0:29:43who end up in Stafford
0:29:43 > 0:29:46and go to London on the way.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50It's kind of already slowed down before it's really begun.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53Back on Beryl's mother's side,
0:29:53 > 0:29:55the team have managed to speak to some of the descendants
0:29:55 > 0:29:57of her many siblings.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01The research has revealed some fascinating history.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05One of the interesting facts is one of the deceased's aunts, Ada Hudson,
0:30:05 > 0:30:08it appears she married a chap called Arthur Cook.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Who, in the 1920s,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14was a professional footballer with West Bromwich Albion,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18The Baggies, in the year, the only time they won the league.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23So the family were understandably very proud of their grandfather.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25Yeah, I saw that. Yeah, that's him there.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28- That's him there, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Arthur Cook, there he is. Arthur Cook.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Research now is reaping results.
0:30:37 > 0:30:38And one of the heirs they've found
0:30:38 > 0:30:41is Beryl's first cousin once removed.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44John Cook is the grandson of the West Bromwich Albion footballer,
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Arthur Cook.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51This is my grandfather's league medal.
0:30:51 > 0:30:56Division One Championship, with a presentation watch and chain that
0:30:56 > 0:31:00he was given at the presentation by West Bromwich Albion.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02You can still read all the inscription,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04but it is nice and shiny.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08The only thing I ever learned about my grandfather
0:31:08 > 0:31:10was that he was a professional footballer.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13It's been a very big talking point over the years.
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Not only did he win the League Division One Championship,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20he also won the runners-up medal in the FA Cup.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24When my grandfather played in the FA Cup final,
0:31:24 > 0:31:26which was at Crystal Palace,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29the evening before the FA Cup match,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32he was on a night shift at Seamans.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34So he had to work the night shift
0:31:34 > 0:31:38prior to playing in the FA Cup final.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42Be interesting to see if Rooney would be able to perform as well.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45John knew all about his grandfather,
0:31:45 > 0:31:48but he hadn't quite realised how large his extended family was.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54From the information I've had, there are quite a number of heirs involved.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57I was surprised to find it's approaching 70.
0:31:57 > 0:32:02So it shows how large the family is, or was.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08In the office, the team are making contact with many of John's cousins.
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Would you like me to come and see you?
0:32:11 > 0:32:14On Beryl's father's side, a cousin who grew up with her
0:32:14 > 0:32:18has given Ewart some idea of the type of person she was.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22Perfect. Thank you. Take care now. Bye-bye. Bye.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26She said she became quite strange in her later years
0:32:26 > 0:32:28and they lost contact.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30So she hasn't seen her for about ten years.
0:32:30 > 0:32:36And she thinks she remembers her becoming, you know, quite reclusive.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40Across the office, Dave thinks he's finally got to grips
0:32:40 > 0:32:43with the huge family on Beryl's mother's side.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Trying to make contact with
0:32:46 > 0:32:50the last few remaining maternal beneficiaries on Leonard.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55Shannon has completed Beryl's father's side of the family
0:32:55 > 0:32:57and Dave is preparing the final tree
0:32:57 > 0:33:00that they hope will confirm all their research.
0:33:00 > 0:33:06The computer system we use congratulates me on 100 names
0:33:06 > 0:33:08being added to the family tree.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12It goes without saying that means inevitably, it's a huge family
0:33:12 > 0:33:14that we're researching and there's a lot of beneficiaries.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18So if you're doing your own family tree, you'd welcome seeing that.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20From my point of view, I hate it.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23When you crack a case that's particularly large
0:33:23 > 0:33:25and there's an awful lot of heirs,
0:33:25 > 0:33:28there's a definite sense of satisfaction at the end.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Beryl Leonard's estate is slightly unusual in as much as
0:33:31 > 0:33:36this is an estate where the deceased died over four years ago
0:33:36 > 0:33:39and, er, really, it's slipped through the net.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43But I'm pleased to say it's an estate that won't be going to the Crown.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45I was aware of eight cousins
0:33:45 > 0:33:49and it looks like I've got something like 70 cousins.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52And they most probably weren't aware of me either.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00London heir-hunting firm Finders
0:34:00 > 0:34:02are looking into the case of Doreen Storey,
0:34:02 > 0:34:06who lived most of her life in this house in Roberttown, West Yorkshire.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11She was a private person, very private.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14So she didn't like neighbourliness,
0:34:14 > 0:34:16such as they call it in Yorkshire.
0:34:16 > 0:34:18She wouldn't ever come for a cup of tea.
0:34:18 > 0:34:19Going off to the last one?
0:34:19 > 0:34:22All right, good luck with that and I'll speak to you in a bit.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25The heir hunters have been looking for possible heirs
0:34:25 > 0:34:28on Doreen's mother Esther's side of the family.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30The McQuillans.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32So Esther was one of seven children.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35One of them passed away in 1916 as a bachelor.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40Another passed away married, but never had any children.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42And then, obviously, there was the infant death.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45So there were three lines to look at.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49It looks as though they were all coalminers in the Durham area.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52Doreen's mother had three brothers and sisters
0:34:52 > 0:34:54who could have had children.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57If the team can find them, they could be heirs.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01If they do a same-day service, we'll send something.
0:35:03 > 0:35:04They really need to speak to someone
0:35:04 > 0:35:08who can help shed some light on the family tree.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Unfortunately, with Doreen's family, all the first cousins have died,
0:35:11 > 0:35:15so we really have no-one of any great age that we can speak to.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20So the research went on and on, um, and became very extensive.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23The first family they had any luck with
0:35:23 > 0:35:25was that of Esther's brother, John McQuillan,
0:35:25 > 0:35:29who'd escaped the mines and become a professional footballer.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33The line of John McQuillan was a little easier as we'd already found him on the census
0:35:33 > 0:35:36with his sister, Esther, the deceased's mother.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38So we already had a bit of a head start with this stem.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40We knew he had two children.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42We did a search for any further
0:35:42 > 0:35:44and it just looked like it was the two of them.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46So we could carry on our research into that line.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50And the first heir they were able to locate
0:35:50 > 0:35:54was John McQuillan's estranged grandson, David Milne.
0:35:55 > 0:35:56I know very little about my grandfather,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59other than he was supposed to have been a footballer.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02He was supposed to have played for, I think it was Hull City at that time.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06And he was apparently earning something like £8 a week,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08which was a lot of money in those days.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12But that's all I know. Nothing else was ever mentioned.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15My grandmother was separated from him and she didn't want to talk about him.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Ah! My grandfather.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23This is fascinating, looking at him.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25Yes. I've never...
0:36:27 > 0:36:29..never seen a picture of him before.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37And David is grateful his grandfather changed professions.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40Football must have saved him from the mines and I suspect
0:36:40 > 0:36:43it may have helped save him from fighting in the war as well.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Probably saved the line of the family and, er, why I'm here today.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53And not having worked down a mine, or anything like that.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04In the end, seven heirs were found on Doreen's mother's side of the family,
0:37:04 > 0:37:06but the team still had to look into
0:37:06 > 0:37:08the side of her father, Herbert Storey.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14He had been a cloth-wringer and a greengrocer.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17And a copy of his birth certificate told us
0:37:17 > 0:37:21that he had been the son of an Edward Storey and a Rosina Rose.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Herbert Storey was born in 1893,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27so the team looked at the 1911 census
0:37:27 > 0:37:29to get an idea of the size of his family.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34There were seven children on the census, seven living.
0:37:34 > 0:37:40To double-check that, we went back to the 1901 census and 1891 census
0:37:40 > 0:37:44and in fact, we found there were actually ten.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48So this family seems to be getting larger than we originally thought.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51And the investigations were revealing that
0:37:51 > 0:37:53five of Herbert's nine siblings
0:37:53 > 0:37:56went on to have children of their own.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59These nieces and nephews of Doreen's father,
0:37:59 > 0:38:03or their descendants, would be beneficiaries to Doreen's estate.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08We have paternal uncle Ernest Storey,
0:38:08 > 0:38:13who probably had the largest family of the entire paternal side.
0:38:13 > 0:38:19He had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven children.
0:38:19 > 0:38:24Um, of those seven, five have living descendants.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27The other two passed away either in infancy,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30or without having had any issue.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33There are quite a number of heirs on this stem.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35They're all traced and they're all a couple of generations down
0:38:35 > 0:38:38from Doreen's own generation itself.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43Their research found that four of Doreen's father's siblings died
0:38:43 > 0:38:46with no living descendants.
0:38:46 > 0:38:51We also had an uncle Alvin Storey, born in 1899.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54But he was sadly killed during World War I.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59The team needed to find contact numbers and addresses
0:38:59 > 0:39:02for all of the living children or grandchildren
0:39:02 > 0:39:04from Doreen's aunts and uncles.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09These would be cousins and cousins once removed of Doreen.
0:39:11 > 0:39:13With the paternal research, it turns out
0:39:13 > 0:39:16that the vast majority of the heirs were all second generation.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Aside from two, none of them were direct cousins of Doreen's.
0:39:20 > 0:39:23It's not unusual, particularly when you have a large family,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27and in this instance, Doreen is coming from a father
0:39:27 > 0:39:30who was one of the youngest of his brothers and sisters.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33So if you can imagine the ages of her cousins
0:39:33 > 0:39:36right through the family tree,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39there's probably a 20-30 year age gap.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41So the majority of her cousins have passed away.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44And the relatives we're looking at are much further down the line.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48With so many aunts and uncles on the father's side,
0:39:48 > 0:39:50there were a lot of families to trace.
0:39:50 > 0:39:51After our research was complete,
0:39:51 > 0:39:55we discovered there were 29 beneficiaries.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59And these were on six of the lines, as three of them died out
0:39:59 > 0:40:02and the last one was, of course, the deceased's father, Herbert.
0:40:05 > 0:40:06One of those heirs is Alan.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10His father Fred was Doreen's first cousin.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12My mum remembers Doreen.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16She said she was a very quiet lady, never married.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Went on to explain exactly who Doreen was,
0:40:19 > 0:40:21where she fitted into the family and everything.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26And she actually said that there was quite a bit of contact
0:40:26 > 0:40:29between our family and theirs right up to my father passing.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32My father passed when I was 18,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34so that side of the family has disappeared,
0:40:34 > 0:40:37apart from the cousins I know of.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42The inheritance has given Alan more than just financial gain.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44What a very large family I have!
0:40:46 > 0:40:47Wow!
0:40:47 > 0:40:52So there must have been 11 brothers and sisters on my grandma's side.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55I'm not surprised I don't know half of the family.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57It's like a shroud has been lifted.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00It's absolutely amazing.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05I never knew my grandma and grandad got married in 1905.
0:41:05 > 0:41:06How wonderful!
0:41:08 > 0:41:12But the detail of the death of his great uncle Alvin in World War I
0:41:12 > 0:41:14is particularly poignant for Alan.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17And here he is listed.
0:41:17 > 0:41:20"Storey, Lance Corporal, Alvin.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23"2nd and 5th Battalion Sherwood Foresters.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27"Died of wounds on 21st April, 1918.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31"Aged 19, son of Edward and Rosina Storey
0:41:31 > 0:41:35"of Tenner House, Watergate, little town in Liversedge."
0:41:35 > 0:41:38How so sad. And only months from the end of the war.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44I've been in the military myself and I've seen some good men pass.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50Well, I'm sure it must have been a great loss to the family.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54They must have felt a great bereavement and sadness.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58I think it's going to be absolutely wonderful and intriguing
0:41:58 > 0:42:00finding out about this.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04And I'm pretty sure my mum down the road, at 91,
0:42:04 > 0:42:06is also going to be intrigued.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09But I think it will also spark some memories.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14In total, 36 of Doreen's living heirs were found.
0:42:14 > 0:42:19Just over £116,000 from the sale of Doreen's house and belongings
0:42:19 > 0:42:21were split between them.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25With the Doreen Storey case, I think one of most satisfying aspects
0:42:25 > 0:42:28is to be able to complete a huge family tree in good time
0:42:28 > 0:42:31and to be able to tell the heirs a bit more about their family history
0:42:31 > 0:42:35and to leave them with this, um, quite enormous heirloom.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41I feel extremely honoured to be getting some inheritance from Doreen's estate.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43It wasn't expected.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45It's a great honour to receive it
0:42:45 > 0:42:47and I will treat it with the respect it deserves.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52I'm very grateful to Doreen because she's connected me with, er...
0:42:52 > 0:42:56with my roots, really, as a family, you know, from the family tree.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59And also connected me with my grandfather,
0:42:59 > 0:43:01whom I knew nothing about at all.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Never mentioned in the family.