0:00:02 > 0:00:05Today, the heir hunters are struggling with a case
0:00:05 > 0:00:07which is proving a tough one to crack.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10It looks as though this family's really very small
0:00:10 > 0:00:13and dies out completely.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Deceased on birth certificate.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19A second case has its roots in rock and roll.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23He discover the '80s pop sensation Katrina And The Waves.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26It's all in a day's work for the heir hunters.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29If I'm in Ely now, it always seems strange I can't ring him up,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31say, "What are you up to? Are you coming for a beer?"
0:00:43 > 0:00:47In the London offices of probate genealogists firm Finders,
0:00:47 > 0:00:48case manager Ryan Gregory
0:00:48 > 0:00:51and the team are starting work on a new case just in.
0:00:51 > 0:00:53I was hoping to ask you a few questions
0:00:53 > 0:00:55and then I can give you some information.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58When someone dies without a will,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01most assignments land on the heir hunters' desks via the
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Government Legal Department's unclaimed estates list -
0:01:04 > 0:01:06but not today's.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09So this is the estate of Violet Francis.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12The case has been referred to us privately,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15and we're just going through the information that we have
0:01:15 > 0:01:19in the initial contact e-mail from the person who referred it.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24So far, we know that Violet Francis was born on the 10th November 1929
0:01:24 > 0:01:25in London.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28She passed away a spinster.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Her parents were William Francis and Violet Francis, nee Ware.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Ryan was also given some other interesting information
0:01:36 > 0:01:38in the referral letter.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42We know that she worked for the Ministry of Defence.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46We know that she had an Imperial Medal in her possession,
0:01:46 > 0:01:50which is for faithful service, if you've worked as a civil servant.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Violet Francis lived in Littlehampton, West Sussex.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58She called the seaside town home for around nine years
0:01:58 > 0:02:01after moving there from Staines in Middlesex.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Edna Smith lived on the same street as Violet
0:02:04 > 0:02:05when she was still in Staines.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Violet was very much her own person.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Lived on her own. Never married, as far as I know.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13I never saw her with anybody else.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Never saw her with friends or anything.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18She just kept to herself.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20And we'd meet perhaps on the way to the shops,
0:02:20 > 0:02:22or on the way back from the shops.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26And we both used to feed the horses in the field up the road.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Violet is also remembered by Pauline Hawkins, who bought her house
0:02:30 > 0:02:33when she decided to move from Staines to the coast.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38She just felt like a person who lived... She lived on her own.
0:02:38 > 0:02:39A very lonely person.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41But then, I did speak to the neighbours after
0:02:41 > 0:02:45and they said she always took Christmas presents round to them.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47Like, for the children.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51But I don't think she had any other young family.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Violet Francis died aged 85
0:02:55 > 0:02:57on the 7th of October 2015
0:02:57 > 0:02:59after suffering a stroke.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04In the heir hunters' office, Ryan's working on her case.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08She left a sizeable estate when she passed away.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11As far as we're aware, the estate comprises of a property which
0:03:11 > 0:03:14may be somewhere between £300,000 and £400,000.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17And then there's going to be some shares
0:03:17 > 0:03:19and some bonds on top of that as well.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21So we're talking a large amount.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Everything's gone over with a fine-tooth comb
0:03:24 > 0:03:27and Ryan's double-checking there are no close kin that have been missed.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31We've been told that Violet passed away a spinster,
0:03:31 > 0:03:33but that's obviously something we always check in-house.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36You never know whether someone may have married previously
0:03:36 > 0:03:39and just reverted back to their maiden name.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44So, there's three possible marriages which look like they could fit.
0:03:44 > 0:03:47Meaning they're around the London area. So we've applied for those.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50They'll be back with us tomorrow.
0:03:50 > 0:03:51But for now, you know,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53that's just something we have to do to cover all bases.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Yeah, no. What do you mean? If we go back and find her death? Yeah?
0:04:00 > 0:04:01Find her death...
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Although not all Violet's personal history is immediately clear,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06because hers is a referral case,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Ryan and the team do have some decent clues
0:04:09 > 0:04:11to kick off their search.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13The bit of information we have is that her father,
0:04:13 > 0:04:16William Francis, was a chief petty officer.
0:04:16 > 0:04:18So he had a role in the Navy.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22So there is a bit of a military connection between Violet,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25who passed away, and her father.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30All hands are on deck and Amy's also on the case.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34I'm trying to look into the maternal family tree
0:04:34 > 0:04:36just to see what we're looking at.
0:04:36 > 0:04:37Size wise.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41I found a 1911 census for the Ware family.
0:04:42 > 0:04:47And it says that Violet's mother, Violet,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49was one of just three children.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53There was Violet herself and then a sister,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57SFE, turned out to be Sarah Fanny Elizabeth Ware.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59And a brother, John Henry.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Although the heir hunters have a head start on Violet Francis's case
0:05:03 > 0:05:05with a few clues to get them started,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08they can't rely on it all being fact.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Even though we've got quite a few bits and pieces here,
0:05:11 > 0:05:14really we have to start from the beginning anyway
0:05:14 > 0:05:16and verify all of it before we even get going.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22As Violet's case is unfolding, Ryan makes a tragic discovery
0:05:22 > 0:05:24when he receives her mother's death certificate.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29Mother, Violet Francis, formerly Ware, deceased on birth certificate.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32It turned out that Violet's mother,
0:05:32 > 0:05:35she sadly passed away during childbirth.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39So she died around the same time that Violet was born,
0:05:39 > 0:05:41in November 1929.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45That means that we only have a nine-year gap
0:05:45 > 0:05:49to fill in terms of any siblings of Violet.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52As the parents married in 1921, we've done a birth search
0:05:52 > 0:05:57from 1921 to 1929 and haven't found any other issue to that marriage.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00So it seems as though there is no brothers and sisters.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03So we are looking at the maternal and the paternal families.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Confirmation has come in that Violet never married.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12And because she had no siblings,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15the next step is to find out who her grandparents were,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18on both her mother and her father's side of the family.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Ryan hasn't been able to go that far back up Violet's family tree -
0:06:24 > 0:06:26he's still stuck at her parents,
0:06:26 > 0:06:30and has discovered some more details about William Francis.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33I think I've found the deceased's father.
0:06:33 > 0:06:38In 1911, it appears that he was already serving in the Royal Navy.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43He was down in Portsmouth.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45He was a cook's mate in 1911.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53Violet's father, William Francis, was born in 1890.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55He joined the Navy in 1907
0:06:55 > 0:06:58at a crucial time for the beleaguered British Empire.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01However, he wasn't on the front line -
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and his naval career came from humble beginnings.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Essentially, throughout
0:07:06 > 0:07:07his career in the Navy,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11he was part of the cooking staff on the ships and bases
0:07:11 > 0:07:12he served aboard.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15He would have done various jobs within the ships or the bases'
0:07:15 > 0:07:18galley, and it would have been everything from initial food
0:07:18 > 0:07:23preparation, actually cooking things up, maintaining the big ovens.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Although there was a lot of hard graft involved,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30a career in the Navy at that time was an attractive one.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34It was seen as the glamorous of the two military services that
0:07:34 > 0:07:36existed at the time.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41And it was also an interesting job for young men that offered
0:07:41 > 0:07:46the promise both of regular pay and also long-term employment.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49But there wasn't much glamour on board, where even the ship's
0:07:49 > 0:07:51catering staff, like Violet's father,
0:07:51 > 0:07:53had to get their hands dirty.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57There was one very unpleasant job that nobody on the ship was
0:07:57 > 0:07:59able to escape, not even officers.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02And that was the very dirty business of coaling ship
0:08:02 > 0:08:03when they were in port.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06This was essential work. It took a lot of time.
0:08:06 > 0:08:10It was very dispiriting and backbreaking, literally.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14After a stint at sea, a ship would have to load fresh
0:08:14 > 0:08:19stocks of coal every three or four days.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22And it was a messy job that ended up with the ship being
0:08:22 > 0:08:23covered in coal dust.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27However, having said that, there were also some perks to
0:08:27 > 0:08:28being in the Navy.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Some of which where interesting throwbacks to Nelson's time.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33As a member of the crew,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36William Francis would have been entitled to his right
0:08:36 > 0:08:40to his daily ration of grog, which was two parts water to one part rum.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45William Francis would have alternated his service
0:08:45 > 0:08:47between land and sea.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49But in the years of conflict,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53during the Great War, he was based on dry land.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56He saw many changes over his 20-year naval career.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59In terms of how his job has evolved...
0:08:59 > 0:09:02As time progressed, it would have got slightly easier
0:09:02 > 0:09:04because of improvements in technologies.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07He even had a chance to serve in one of the Navy's first
0:09:07 > 0:09:11aircraft carriers in the 1920s, HMS Argus.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14So he would have seen the Navy evolving around him
0:09:14 > 0:09:18from this coal-fired, big-gun weapon system
0:09:18 > 0:09:22to one that became much more three-dimensional.
0:09:22 > 0:09:23The records are painting
0:09:23 > 0:09:27a clear picture of Violet Francis's father's past.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34In the office, Ryan is still working on the family tree
0:09:34 > 0:09:36but is struggling to branch out.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41At this time, we don't know who the paternal grandparents were.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46We know the paternal grandmother was called Elizabeth Francis.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49But because she was widowed by 1901,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53we don't know exactly what her husband's full name was.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56I'm just going to try and see if I can do a marriage search
0:09:56 > 0:09:58to see if anything pops up.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Then we can hopefully piece it together like that.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Although the team have been referred this case,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09it's still essential they solve it as soon as they can.
0:10:09 > 0:10:10If we fail to identify the heirs
0:10:10 > 0:10:12to an intestate estate
0:10:12 > 0:10:14or there are no living heirs,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17the estate will pass to the Crown in England and Wales.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Ryan's hoping this won't be the case with Violet Francis,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and later, there's a glimmer of hope.
0:10:25 > 0:10:27It was a bit of a surprise.
0:10:27 > 0:10:28To say the least.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38All over the country, heir hunters are researching
0:10:38 > 0:10:41the family histories of people who have died with no next of kin
0:10:41 > 0:10:43and leaving no will.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47In those cases, if living relatives can be traced, they will inherit.
0:10:47 > 0:10:48Hello.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55- Newmarket.- Oh. - What do you think?- I like that.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59John Gammon, from Ely, in Cambridgeshire, is one such case.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04He made a name for himself in the music industry in the 1980s
0:11:04 > 0:11:08as a hugely successful journalist and band manager,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11in a career spanning four decades.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15John's friends have fond memories of the early days.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17I met John when I was a teenager.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19About 17.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22John worked, at that time, at the local hotel.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26And we met at a coffee bar come...the sort of thing
0:11:26 > 0:11:30we had in those days, jukeboxes, pinball machines.
0:11:30 > 0:11:31That's how I first met John.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35And we hit it off...from the word go, really.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41In August 2015, John sadly passed away after battling
0:11:41 > 0:11:46a serious illness. He was 63 years old.
0:11:46 > 0:11:47John became a very close friend
0:11:47 > 0:11:49over the last 20 years.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53I got to know him first of all when I was a corporate manager
0:11:53 > 0:11:54at Lloyds Bank. John was a client.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56He had his loves in his life,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59he had his Tottenham Hotspur, that he loved.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01John was passionate about his music
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and about writing and reading, but most of all he loved his music.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06Our friendship just developed from that,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09because he was unlike most customers that you have as a bank manager.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15Although John was much-loved, because he died leaving no will,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18his case was taken up by London-based heir-hunting firm
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Fraser & Fraser.
0:12:23 > 0:12:25The way we source our work has changed
0:12:25 > 0:12:27dramatically over the years.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29And now we rely a lot more on the internet.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34What caught my eye was the fact that John, during his lifetime,
0:12:34 > 0:12:39appeared to have been a successful music journalist.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43And had also been a manager of several successful bands.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Pull that open and have a look at these different ones.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51He discovered the '80s pop sensation Katrina And The Waves
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and ran a promotions company called Ham Acts during the same period.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Katrina And The Waves. They were...
0:12:57 > 0:13:00Eurovision Song Contest winners, weren't they?
0:13:00 > 0:13:02I don't know. It's before my time, I think.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04- Yeah. 1997. - THEY LAUGH
0:13:04 > 0:13:06Before your time. Yeah, it was before mine as well(!)
0:13:06 > 0:13:08There's lots of tributes about Mr Gammon.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11"I shall miss his blunt sense of humour
0:13:11 > 0:13:14"and his general love/hatred of the live industry."
0:13:14 > 0:13:18"Just the worst news. John was an absolute one-off.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21"And the wittiest and most entertaining of company."
0:13:24 > 0:13:26John's entry into the world of journalism
0:13:26 > 0:13:29set him off on his path to following his dream.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32He went on to the Newmarket Journal.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36He was getting six albums a week, cos he was doing music reviews,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39and we were all very envious of John that he got so many albums
0:13:39 > 0:13:42while we were saving up our ten and sixpence,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44whatever it cost in those days for an LP.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47John managed to make a success of his passion.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49John had a number of career highlights.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52The first of which was he was extremely proud the first time
0:13:52 > 0:13:55he got his name on a record sleeve.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58John was very content in his life.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00Yeah, he was doing what he loved doing,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02which was working from home, writing.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05He had his circle of friends that he would meet up quite regularly,
0:14:05 > 0:14:07chat and put the world to rights with.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14And the world that John was living and working in at that time
0:14:14 > 0:14:15was a thrilling one.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18I think the '80s was THE most exciting time for pop music
0:14:18 > 0:14:20and pop culture, particularly in Britain.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23You had to this incredibly rapid turnover of scenes and styles
0:14:23 > 0:14:27and tribes. You had, you know, the 2-Tone Rude Boy movement,
0:14:27 > 0:14:29you had Goths and New Romantics.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34It seemed that every week you picked up a magazine, there was
0:14:34 > 0:14:37something new happening, something that would change your life
0:14:37 > 0:14:38and completely blow your mind.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47And all this was going on against the background of economic doom
0:14:47 > 0:14:49and gloom and political fear,
0:14:49 > 0:14:51and I think the attitude of pop culture was, "Well, if that's
0:14:51 > 0:14:54"how it's going to be, we are going to party like it's the last days.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57"We are going to dress up, we're going to be as colourful
0:14:57 > 0:14:58"and flamboyant as we possibly can."
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Not only were the '80s the dawn of a new era in music,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06they also brought with them another change which would alter
0:15:06 > 0:15:09the face of the industry forever.
0:15:09 > 0:15:11Well, as the song said, "Video killed the radio star."
0:15:11 > 0:15:13And I suppose in the days of radio,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15it didn't really matter what you looked like.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18But when video came along, you had to have a strong look.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20And bands that did have a strong look really flourished.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23The impact of music television really changed the way that
0:15:23 > 0:15:27bands could become big, that they could break themselves globally.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29And they could become stars overnight.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33John Gammon's love of music came at an exciting time.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36He started off working as a manager for live bands.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39John Gammon was a live agent at a time
0:15:39 > 0:15:41when a live agent was a pretty important thing to be.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43The received wisdom with the music industry is
0:15:43 > 0:15:48that 20 or 30 years ago, you went on tour to sell your record.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50Whereas now, you put a record out to sell your tour.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53MUSIC: Walking On Sunshine by Katrina And The Waves
0:15:53 > 0:15:55And as John was pounding the streets
0:15:55 > 0:15:57looking for bands that caught his eye,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00one rock group with its American front woman stood out to him.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03John would have discovered Katrina And The Waves in Cambridge,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07playing a local gig, because they were a local band.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11A band like Katrina And The Waves would have probably just been
0:16:11 > 0:16:15doing the thankless thing of slogging around the local
0:16:15 > 0:16:18live circuit, just hoping that someone like John might happen
0:16:18 > 0:16:22to be in the room with his notebook and might happen to see them.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26And John's hunch about Katrina And The Waves paid off.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29I think probably the highlight of John's early career would have been
0:16:29 > 0:16:32seeing Katrina And The Waves having a huge international hit record.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35And that happened with Walking On Sunshine.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Which...it got to the top ten in the States and the UK.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41And this is a time when record sales were at quite a peak,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44so a number one record would be selling millions.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47But even a record at number eight or nine would still sell
0:16:47 > 0:16:50hundreds of thousands. That would have been so satisfying,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53to see a band that you've really invested so much of your
0:16:53 > 0:16:56heart and soul into finally making it big.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58# Don't it feel good? #
0:16:58 > 0:17:01In the '90s, Katrina And The Waves went on to win
0:17:01 > 0:17:05the Eurovision Song Contest - the last British act to do so.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08In the same decade, John concentrated on his writing
0:17:08 > 0:17:10but didn't let go of the music.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14So, in 1995, John became an investigative journalist
0:17:14 > 0:17:18working in the music industry's trade publications.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22And his job, I suppose, would have been to explain the music industry
0:17:22 > 0:17:25back to people working in it, to let them know what was going on.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29To give them all the kind of inside scoops on certainly what was
0:17:29 > 0:17:32happening in the live music side of things.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35John Gammon didn't only make a successful career
0:17:35 > 0:17:39from his love of music, he also gained respect from his peers.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42John's reputation is one of an absolute gentleman.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46And that's actually quite difficult to maintain in an industry
0:17:46 > 0:17:50with so much backstabbing, gossip and resentment going on.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55So the fact that he managed to last for so many years in the industry
0:17:55 > 0:17:59without making enemies and maintaining a lot of friendships
0:17:59 > 0:18:00speaks well of him.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07Despite all John's success, the heir hunters were having trouble tracking
0:18:07 > 0:18:11down his nearest and dearest - potential heirs to his estate.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15- So, John Gammon.- I'll get that tree out the way, in fact.
0:18:15 > 0:18:161951.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Hoping to be able to pass on an estate of some value to John's
0:18:22 > 0:18:23next of kin, David's team members
0:18:23 > 0:18:27began looking at the birth and death records.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29The first thing we did on the John Gammon case was to
0:18:29 > 0:18:31attempt to find his birth.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34When we found his birth in Cambridgeshire,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37we had to identify his parents' marriage.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40If John's parents could be traced,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45the trail might lead to siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins -
0:18:45 > 0:18:47all potential heirs.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49So you see here...
0:18:49 > 0:18:52the local coroner's asking for information.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56There were also travelling researchers hitting the road.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59It's their job to speak to friends and neighbours,
0:18:59 > 0:19:00gathering information.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02John was a very private person.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07He would only let people into what parts of his life
0:19:07 > 0:19:09he felt they needed to be let into.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12And he never really talked about his family at all.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14- We can't work out... - She's 4th of March.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Do we know were momma and poppa were born?
0:19:16 > 0:19:20Coupled with the information we received from speaking with
0:19:20 > 0:19:25some of John's neighbours and friends, we were quickly able
0:19:25 > 0:19:29to establish that John remained a bachelor throughout his lifetime.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31And he was an only child.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35The nearest next of kin to John would be aunts and uncles
0:19:35 > 0:19:38or cousins on both his mother and father's family.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44John's birth certificate would be the starting point
0:19:44 > 0:19:47to unlocking the clues to his family tree.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52First, it confirmed his parents were Lizzie Eden and John William Gammon.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55They married on March 9th, 1940.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58John William Gammon, he was 26 at the time of marriage.
0:19:58 > 0:20:00He was a bachelor.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04His occupation was that he was a builder's labourer.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08Lizzie Eden, she was 24 at the time of marriage. She was a spinster.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10At this time as well,
0:20:10 > 0:20:13it was quite uncommon for women to have professions.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16So that is unfortunately left empty.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21John's parents' death certificates revealed some sad news.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Both parents, we discovered, died in the 1960s.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29This is the death of John William Gammon.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33He was 46 years old when he died. He was quite young.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37And that was on the 23rd February 1960.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Just a year later, he was to lose his mother.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45Born in 1951 himself,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49this would have meant John Gammon was just a boy when he was orphaned.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53It must be very tough for a child to go through. Especially at that age.
0:20:55 > 0:20:59From John's parent's certificates, his grandparents could be traced.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03And with their details the family tree could begin to grow,
0:21:03 > 0:21:05which would hopefully lead to heirs.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09So the marriage was what, 1940? Let's see how many Lizzie Edens.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13Research began with John's mother Lizzie's side of the family.
0:21:13 > 0:21:19We were able to establish that Lizzie was born in 1915...
0:21:19 > 0:21:21in Newmarket.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25And it showed that her mother's maiden name was Sennitt.
0:21:25 > 0:21:26Very unusual name.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30So it didn't take very long for us to find
0:21:30 > 0:21:31the marriage of Edward Eden
0:21:31 > 0:21:33to a Lydia Sennitt.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Literally a year before
0:21:35 > 0:21:36Lizzie was born.
0:21:36 > 0:21:41From there, we then looked to see if Lizzie had other siblings,
0:21:41 > 0:21:44ie - aunts and uncles to the deceased.
0:21:44 > 0:21:45Unusual surnames,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47they are useful in the research
0:21:47 > 0:21:49process purely because
0:21:49 > 0:21:50there aren't many of them.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Sometimes we have a name that is so unusual that all the people you
0:21:53 > 0:21:56are looking at in the records are the family you are trying to trace.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02Now they knew they had found John's grandparents on his mother's side,
0:22:02 > 0:22:05his family tree was beginning to take shape.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09Extensive research of the birth records of both England and Wales
0:22:09 > 0:22:12uncovered just one aunt on John's mother's side.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17Lizzie appeared to have just one sibling called Kate,
0:22:17 > 0:22:21who was born in 1917, also in Newmarket.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24If living, John's aunt Kate would be an heir to his estate.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28Basically, the next step is to work out what happened to Kate.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32And if traced, perhaps she would have answers to the riddles of young
0:22:32 > 0:22:36John's childhood and what happened to him after his parents died.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Every year in Britain, thousands of people receive an unexpected
0:22:49 > 0:22:52knock on the door from the heir hunters.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54I'm really pleased he was able to live his life how
0:22:54 > 0:22:55he wanted to live it.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Today, we've got details of two estates on the
0:22:59 > 0:23:02Government Legal Department's unclaimed estates list
0:23:02 > 0:23:05that, as yet, no-one has stepped forward to claim.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11The first case is Peggy Gladys Hilda Williams.
0:23:11 > 0:23:12She was born in 1911,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15in Lewisham, in London.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19When she died on the 27th of September 1996 in Plymouth,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21in Devon, she was 85 years old.
0:23:23 > 0:23:28Peggy's father, George Williams, was born on the 30th of July 1867,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31in Balsham, in Cambridgeshire.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33And her mother, Clara Taylor,
0:23:33 > 0:23:35died on the 7th of May 1960,
0:23:35 > 0:23:37in Bromley, in Kent.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42It's known that her brother Harold Williams served in the Army.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45And the 1911 census tells us that her father
0:23:45 > 0:23:47had at least three siblings.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Next, it's Valentina Znamensky.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57She was born on 13th of January 1899,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59in Tver, in Russia.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02She died in Isleworth, in Middlesex,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05on the 8th June 1997, aged 98.
0:24:05 > 0:24:10It's thought that Valentina moved to London in 1919
0:24:10 > 0:24:16after the Russian revolution and became a British citizen in 1947.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20If you think you may be related to either of these people, you would
0:24:20 > 0:24:24need to make a claim on their estate via the Government Legal Department.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Are you their next of kin?
0:24:28 > 0:24:31If so, you could have a windfall coming your way.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40In London, the heir hunters are searching
0:24:40 > 0:24:43for beneficiaries to the estate of the late Violet Francis,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47who moved from Staines in Middlesex to Littlehampton in West Sussex,
0:24:47 > 0:24:51where she sadly passed away in October 2015.
0:24:51 > 0:24:57Violet was very much her own person. Kept herself to herself.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01But she wasn't unfriendly. But I never saw her with anybody else.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Never saw her with friends or anything.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07So far, the team has come up against some obstacles in their hunt
0:25:07 > 0:25:10but they're continuing their quest to find heirs
0:25:10 > 0:25:14to the retired civil servant's considerable estate.
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Can you ask them to clarify what they mean by that?
0:25:17 > 0:25:18Yeah, I have e-mailed.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21Ryan's managed to establish who Violet's father was
0:25:21 > 0:25:24from information that was passed to the team
0:25:24 > 0:25:25from a referral to the case.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29But her paternal grandparents, who are key to unlocking more clues
0:25:29 > 0:25:33to potential heirs, are proving harder to trace.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36One of the key parts of being a successful heir hunter or
0:25:36 > 0:25:41genealogist is to really tap into the experience that you have.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I mean, that can make you go with your hunches.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46And the more your hunches are correct,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48the more success you are going to have with the end result.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54The team has just uncovered the identities of Violet's grandparents
0:25:54 > 0:25:56on her mother's side of the family
0:25:56 > 0:25:59from her mother's birth certificate.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03They were Johan Richard Ware and Sarah Naomi Long.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Married in 1882,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07they had three children,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09including Violet's mother,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11also called Violet.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13Working on the other side of
0:26:13 > 0:26:15Violet's family, Ryan has asked
0:26:15 > 0:26:16researcher Suzanne to try to track
0:26:16 > 0:26:19down siblings of her father, William.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20William Francis...
0:26:21 > 0:26:24He's the youngest paternal uncle.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28- How is Charlie spelt? - It's just Charles in 1911.- OK.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Do you mind seeing if you can find a marriage and a death certificate?
0:26:31 > 0:26:32Yeah.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Amy's next job is to look for any children of Violet's
0:26:35 > 0:26:37maternal aunt and uncle.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41It looks like only her uncle John married and had children.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44There are two possible children which,
0:26:44 > 0:26:48if correct, would mean that we've got two maternal cousins to look at.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51There are both born in 1910,
0:26:51 > 0:26:56so they've probably passed away some time ago.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59On the other side of the desk,
0:26:59 > 0:27:00Ryan's had a breakthrough
0:27:00 > 0:27:03tracking down Violet's father's side of the family.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I've just managed to find the bit of information on the
0:27:06 > 0:27:081911 census that we were after.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12It shows how many children there was in the paternal family.
0:27:12 > 0:27:16Now we know that the paternal grandmother, Elizabeth,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19was widowed by the time of the census.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24But we just found out that she'd had five children,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27four of whom were still living by 1911.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30One of those was the deceased's father.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35If Violet's grandparents,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38Elizabeth and Frank Francis's other children had children,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40they could be heirs.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42Between the two of them,
0:27:42 > 0:27:47Ryan and Amy are hoping to get all the pieces of the puzzle in place.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49Amy's still researching Violet's first cousins,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52the two children of her uncle John.
0:27:52 > 0:27:58I just can't find a death for the maternal cousin Basil,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00who was born in 1915.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04I think he's passed away.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08- So he could still be a potential heir? OK.- I need...
0:28:08 > 0:28:13His wife's death cert from 2005, which would now confirm
0:28:13 > 0:28:14if he's dead.
0:28:14 > 0:28:19After some more digging, Amy has unearthed disappointing news.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23It turned out that although Amy had married, she had ended up
0:28:23 > 0:28:29living and passing away at the deceased's most recent address.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32So that verified her as a maternal cousin.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35She married but had no children
0:28:35 > 0:28:37so that part of the stem dies out completely.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40I was then just looking at her brother Basil,
0:28:40 > 0:28:42who would be another maternal cousin.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47He was born in 1915 so, really, I've been looking for a death for him.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49I've just managed to come across though...
0:28:49 > 0:28:53It looks as if his estate has been previously advertised as well.
0:28:53 > 0:28:58So it looks as though this family is really very, very small
0:28:58 > 0:29:01and dies out completely.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05So that concludes the maternal side.
0:29:05 > 0:29:07There are absolutely no heirs.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10With such a small family tree,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14any leads the heir hunters have seem to be drying up.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18On the other side of the family, researcher Suzanne is having
0:29:18 > 0:29:21no luck finding living children of Violet's uncle Charles.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27Suzanne's got Charles but...we think it probably has died out.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31But as they're about to call it a day,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Ryan has some positive news.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36So I think we may have just found a potential...
0:29:36 > 0:29:39Well, we have found a potential beneficiary on the estate
0:29:39 > 0:29:41of Violet Francis.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44One of the dead ends in Suzanne's search for Violet's paternal
0:29:44 > 0:29:47cousins has suddenly come to life.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49I'm looking at the stem of Charles Francis.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52He had two children in Staines.
0:29:52 > 0:29:56One of them I found has passed away fairly recently.
0:29:56 > 0:29:592009. And he had three children himself.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02So it looks like I've managed to find contact
0:30:02 > 0:30:04details for two of them.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08Now the team has reaped the rewards of their research
0:30:08 > 0:30:12and finally located heirs to Violet's estate, it's over to
0:30:12 > 0:30:14travelling researcher Phil,
0:30:14 > 0:30:16who's in Staines, to tie up the loose ends.
0:30:16 > 0:30:21We are going to see two brothers
0:30:21 > 0:30:28who are the paternal cousins once removed of the deceased.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32We are seeing Andrew and David Francis.
0:30:32 > 0:30:33They are both in their 50s.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38I've got the paperwork to sign both up as beneficiaries,
0:30:38 > 0:30:42or potential beneficiaries, to this lady's estate.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44And that should be it.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47There should be no other complications than that.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Phil's meeting Andrew and David at David's house.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Their mother Vera's there too.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57Her late husband Ronald was Violet Francis's first cousin.
0:30:57 > 0:31:02Violet Francis was born on the 10th November 1929.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05You two are the paternal cousins...
0:31:05 > 0:31:08once removed to Violet.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11- Right.- Your grandfather, Charles... - Yep.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16- ..was the brother to Violet's father.- Who was William.
0:31:16 > 0:31:21- OK.- Do you remember uncle William? - Yeah, no, that's exactly right.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25- Yeah? Mum, do you remember an uncle William?- No.- No?
0:31:25 > 0:31:27So that's where it's come down, that bloodline,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29through your paternal bloodline.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32- Right. - Have you got any other cousins?
0:31:32 > 0:31:34- Not on that side, no.- No.
0:31:34 > 0:31:35Can you just sign here?
0:31:35 > 0:31:38Once Phil's happy he's found the right family,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40Andrew and David sign the paperwork
0:31:40 > 0:31:44and all they have to do now is wait for their inheritance.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46Not something they were expecting.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49I wouldn't jump up and down until I actually got something
0:31:49 > 0:31:51- and found out what the amount was. - No.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54Um, yeah, at the end of the day,
0:31:54 > 0:31:57something from nothing is better than nothing at all, isn't it?
0:31:57 > 0:32:00We had no idea we had a great cousin,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03a second cousin called Violet at all.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05The first information we had was
0:32:05 > 0:32:09when we had a call from the office on Monday or Tuesday this week.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11- Thank you very much. Thanks for your time.- Lovely to meet you.
0:32:11 > 0:32:12Lovely to meet you.
0:32:12 > 0:32:14'Everything was as we suspected.'
0:32:14 > 0:32:17They didn't remember the deceased
0:32:17 > 0:32:20but they confirmed their family tree.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23So everything looks in order and we are good to go with it.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26A further five heirs were discovered
0:32:26 > 0:32:29on Violet's father's side of the family.
0:32:29 > 0:32:33And a few days later, another heir has surfaced on Violet's
0:32:33 > 0:32:35mother's side of the family,
0:32:35 > 0:32:38bringing the total number of heirs to nine.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41In a case that's certainly taken a long time to bear fruit,
0:32:41 > 0:32:44there's one final twist.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48We were actually notified that the deceased had left a will.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51The first thing we want to do is notify the family members that we've
0:32:51 > 0:32:55contacted that they may no longer be entitled to inherit from the estate.
0:32:55 > 0:32:56So that's what we did.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Almost as soon as we told everyone that they may not be entitled
0:33:00 > 0:33:01to inherit from the estate,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05we got a call from the executors of the deceased's will.
0:33:05 > 0:33:09They were able to confirm to us that actually two of the residuary
0:33:09 > 0:33:12heirs in the deceased's will had predeceased Violet.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14That meant again that the heirs
0:33:14 > 0:33:16that we'd initially contacted would be
0:33:16 > 0:33:19entitled to inherit from Violet's estate after all.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36In London, heir-hunting firm Fraser & Fraser are looking after
0:33:36 > 0:33:38the case of music industry veteran John Gammon,
0:33:38 > 0:33:44who died in August 2015 after battling a terrible illness.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48- There you go. He's the only... - Mother's maiden name. Eden.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51- That's brilliant. - In Cambridge.- Look at that.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54John lived in Ely, in Cambridgeshire,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57and dedicated his life to his career.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01He passed away with no immediate family and he left no will.
0:34:01 > 0:34:02He loved reading.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06He loved writing. But most of all, he loved his music.
0:34:06 > 0:34:08John liked to put the world to rights. That's for sure.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11You know, I don't know if he'd have made Prime Minister
0:34:11 > 0:34:13but he had some very good ideas.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18As the heir hunters were piecing together John's family tree,
0:34:18 > 0:34:20initial research revealed
0:34:20 > 0:34:21that John's mother Lizzie
0:34:21 > 0:34:24had one sister, John's aunt Kate.
0:34:26 > 0:34:32- That looks good to me.- Nah, you're spot-on.- I'll print that off.
0:34:32 > 0:34:36There appears to be lots of marriages for Kate Eden.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40All spread all over the country. But there is one in Cambridge.
0:34:40 > 0:34:42We've got to work on the theory that the family...
0:34:42 > 0:34:44She's born in Newmarket,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47it's going to be the Cambridge marriage that is the right one.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51So we are fairly confident that Kate married Leonard.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54OK, so from this record that I can see right here,
0:34:54 > 0:34:56apparently he was a military man.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02Kate Eden and Frederick Thomas William Leonard were wed in 1939,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05just months before the outbreak of World War II.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12The war raged for six years,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15in which time over 60 million lives were lost.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22In 1945, towards the end of the conflict, as the British Army
0:35:22 > 0:35:25and other Allied Forces moved into Germany, John's uncle
0:35:25 > 0:35:29Frederick Leonard was thought to be part of the liberating forces
0:35:29 > 0:35:33of one of the most notorious of the Nazi concentration camps.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36The liberation of Bergen-Belsen happens right towards
0:35:36 > 0:35:37the end of the war.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39So we are looking at April 15th, 1945.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43Frederick Leonard arrived at Bergen-Belsen as a member
0:35:43 > 0:35:46of the military police.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48But the camp wasn't always a death camp.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53In 1935, it was actually a military training camp for the Wehrmacht,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55the German Army.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Then World War II starts. It's a prisoner of war camp.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00And then, towards the end of the war, 1944,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02it becomes what's called recovery camp.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05So again, it changes its nature.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10And the idea of a recovery camp is, inmates in other camps that
0:36:10 > 0:36:16were too ill or sick to work would be sent to Bergen-Belsen to recover.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20But in actual fact, the title is ironic because very few of them did.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26The camp had some notable inmates suffering within its confines,
0:36:26 > 0:36:29including Anne Frank and her sister Margot.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32What British troops were faced with when they arrived
0:36:32 > 0:36:34they would never forget.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38There were 60,000 people at Belsen when the British got there.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41The camp was actually only designed for 10,000, so you can imagine
0:36:41 > 0:36:44just the overcrowding that must have been there.
0:36:44 > 0:36:45It's quite horrific.
0:36:45 > 0:36:47Conditions in the camp were awful.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50There were two things in particular the British had to contend with.
0:36:50 > 0:36:54One was there was a massive outbreak of typhus in the camp.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56So what the British did is they placed
0:36:56 > 0:36:57a quarantine around the camp.
0:36:57 > 0:36:59The other appalling loss
0:36:59 > 0:37:01from death was just simply through starvation,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03because these people arrived in the camp
0:37:03 > 0:37:05and had just been left with no provisions.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09Without actually being there, I can't imagine how horrible it was.
0:37:09 > 0:37:11But it must've been absolutely horrific.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14And I know many of the accounts of the British soldiers
0:37:14 > 0:37:15when they first arrived,
0:37:15 > 0:37:20they just struggled to come to terms with what was actually going on.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23And there was this dawning realisation of just what
0:37:23 > 0:37:24they had discovered.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29While the liberation of Bergen-Belsen was unfolding, John's
0:37:29 > 0:37:32uncle Frederick would have played an important role in proceedings.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34The military police,
0:37:34 > 0:37:38their key function is being a police for the military.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42And their job was purely with the Army, rather than with civilians.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44So the kinds of jobs that he may have been
0:37:44 > 0:37:47doing around the camp would be guarding, patrolling,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50checking in and out of the camp, that kind of thing.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55After the camp was emptied of its abused inmates,
0:37:55 > 0:37:57the British concentrated on holding the perpetrators
0:37:57 > 0:37:59accountable for their actions.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01I believe about 80 guards
0:38:01 > 0:38:04and the commandant of the camp, Josef Kramer,
0:38:04 > 0:38:06were arrested by the British
0:38:06 > 0:38:11and the British then held a trial called the Bergen-Belsen trial
0:38:11 > 0:38:13after the war.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18Out of the 80 guards that there were, 20 actually died from typhus.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23So the number was actually shrinking and a small number fled and escaped.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Kramer and the guards were convicted for their crimes.
0:38:28 > 0:38:3111, including Kramer, were sentenced to death.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39The team had John's uncle Frederick's war records
0:38:39 > 0:38:41but now they needed to discover
0:38:41 > 0:38:45if he and Kate had any children during the war years or soon after.
0:38:45 > 0:38:51There's two births in Cambridge that look really spot-on
0:38:51 > 0:38:54for the time that the parents get married.
0:38:54 > 0:38:57We've got Carl Leonard and Anthony R Leonard.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04John's first cousins, if living, would be his heirs.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10Tony Leonard was discovered alive and well and in his 70s.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12PIANO PLAYS
0:39:12 > 0:39:14One day, out of the blue,
0:39:14 > 0:39:19I had a call to tell me that John was deceased.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21And I was quite shocked.
0:39:21 > 0:39:22Well, it did come out of the blue,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25because John, you see, didn't tell us
0:39:25 > 0:39:26that he was even ill.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28Or contact any of the family.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31And none of us knew that he was ill.
0:39:31 > 0:39:35You see, that was the kind of relationship it was.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Tony and John may have drifted apart in adulthood,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44but in their early years their lives were very much entwined.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48John's parents passed away when he was about nine years old.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51His father died, then two years later,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53his mother died.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57And he came to live with our family.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59We were turfed out of our rooms,
0:39:59 > 0:40:03we had two single beds in the same room, and he came in the bedroom.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07But he didn't fit in too badly and we got on reasonably well.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11You know, as a family. But we were both interested in literature.
0:40:11 > 0:40:13And we discussed this quite a lot.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17We had quite a good lot of discussions on that sort of thing.
0:40:19 > 0:40:20After his troubled childhood,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23the road wasn't always smooth for John.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27As John got into his teens, he became rebellious
0:40:27 > 0:40:33and there was a personality clash between him and my mother.
0:40:33 > 0:40:39And this resulted in John eventually leaving.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42And taking lodgings...
0:40:42 > 0:40:46And he went to Cambridge and found some lodgings there.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48As he spread his wings,
0:40:48 > 0:40:52John's passion for music and writing began to make him a name
0:40:52 > 0:40:56and earn him a living, but he and his cousins lost touch after that.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58Tony had no news from John
0:40:58 > 0:41:01until he received the call from the heir hunters.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03I don't know how we'd have got to know, you see,
0:41:03 > 0:41:06because we probably wouldn't even have known about it.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10So I'm grateful for them, you know, for letting me know.
0:41:10 > 0:41:15It's sad to know that families sometimes drift apart, but it's kind
0:41:15 > 0:41:18of nice to know that we could inform them of their cousin's passing.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21And that they were able to attend the funeral.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25In the heir hunters' office,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29the team had also located an heir on his father's side of the family.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33Bringing the total number of heirs to three.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36Benefits of working a case where near kin are involved,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39obviously the family often have a lot more family knowledge
0:41:39 > 0:41:42and we can really finish the case quite quickly.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44So there are going to be less heirs involved.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The heir hunters were successful in quickly finding
0:41:48 > 0:41:50John Gammon's beneficiaries.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55However, they didn't go on to represent them in this case.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58What we did establish from our point of view was that John
0:41:58 > 0:42:01appeared to live a real rock and roll lifestyle
0:42:01 > 0:42:02and spent all his money.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06So the estate was fairly modest.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10So, from our point of view, it was nice that we were able to locate
0:42:10 > 0:42:14family that weren't already known so they could attend the funeral.
0:42:16 > 0:42:19And John's friends made sure he had a fitting sendoff.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26I found out that he would have a council funeral.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Um...
0:42:29 > 0:42:32I felt that he was too much of a good friend to actually let him
0:42:32 > 0:42:35go that way. The band I was in at the time said,
0:42:35 > 0:42:40"Well, we'll do a benefit gig for John at a local pub here in Ely."
0:42:40 > 0:42:42We had a fantastic turnout.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44It was just incredible.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46The place was just packed.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Fantastic. You know, almost tearful, you might say.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52To just think that people would do that for a friend.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55I mean, it's hard to put into words, really.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57It restores your faith in humanity.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00- To John.- The boy Gammon.- It was a pleasure knowing you.- Cheers, John.
0:43:00 > 0:43:02- John.- To John.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04If I'm in Ely now, it all seems strange
0:43:04 > 0:43:06I can't ring him up and say, "What are you up to?
0:43:06 > 0:43:07"Are you coming for a beer?"
0:43:07 > 0:43:10But, yeah, he'll always be remembered very fondly.