0:00:03 > 0:00:06Today, the Heir Hunters reunite long-lost siblings...
0:00:06 > 0:00:08They said, "We've found a great-niece."
0:00:08 > 0:00:12And I thought... "I can't believe this."
0:00:12 > 0:00:15..while uncovering a tragic secret.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18All my life, I wanted to know about my mother.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21I was 14 when he told me she was dead.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23And a race to find one man's heirs
0:00:23 > 0:00:27is stalled when Heir Hunters discover a nomadic family.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30We hate working narrow-boatman estates,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33simply and purely because they were just so transient.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35It's a highly competitive business...
0:00:35 > 0:00:38When you've got so many people to find,
0:00:38 > 0:00:42you don't know if the competition's ahead of you, behind you...
0:00:42 > 0:00:44..with millions of pounds waiting to be claimed.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Could the Heir Hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:55 > 0:00:59In Scotland, something amazing is about to happen.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01We didn't know none of this.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Having travelled 9,000 miles from his home in Australia,
0:01:04 > 0:01:09Ian Cunningham is about to meet his half-sister for the very first time.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12I wish it had happened 30 years ago.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15When we were a little bit more young and sprightly.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20Until four months ago, Ian had no idea his half-sister existed.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I've never met Christine. Bit of a shock to the system.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26This remarkable meeting of long-lost relatives
0:01:26 > 0:01:28is thanks to the work of the Heir Hunters.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32From time to time, we end up telling family members,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35perhaps siblings or more distant relatives,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38about family members that they weren't aware of.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42It's quite nice to be able to bring people back together.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46There's a few sad tales out there. I've been one of the lucky ones.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Forrest. Do you have the file?
0:01:53 > 0:01:58The journey to today's reunion began in 2015,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00when the estate of James Forrest was advertised
0:02:00 > 0:02:04by the Queen and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer in Scotland.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10It is essentially the Scottish version of the Treasury Solicitor.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12They deal with unclaimed estates
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and intestate estates in Scotland.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Although the team didn't know the value of the case,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21they decided it was one they should work on.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23We looked into this case regardless.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Because of the advertisement, this was going to be a competitive case,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29whether or not value was known.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37James Forrest died in 2014 in the town of Wishaw,
0:02:37 > 0:02:3915 miles south-east of Glasgow.
0:02:40 > 0:02:44This is the courtyard where James used to like to come out
0:02:44 > 0:02:47and sit in the good weather. Liked all the plants.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52James spent the final months of his life at the Beechwood Care Home.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55No photographs of James appear to survive, but his carer,
0:02:55 > 0:03:01Thomas Connell, remembers him as a friendly if quiet man.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05He liked his horse racing and he had pictures of famous racehorses
0:03:05 > 0:03:09all over his walls. He told me a while back he was a heavy gambler,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13but he was down to the pound units and pound stakes.
0:03:13 > 0:03:15I think he worked in Ravenscraig steelworks.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18Blast furnace, I believe it was. Yeah. Blast furnace.
0:03:18 > 0:03:24The Ravenscraig steelworks operated from 1962 until 1992,
0:03:24 > 0:03:26when it was finally closed down.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29During its peak, James would have been part of a team
0:03:29 > 0:03:33handling just under one million tonnes of steel per year.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36The closing of Ravenscraig steel mill
0:03:36 > 0:03:39signalled the end of large-scale steel-making in Scotland.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44I miss his character and I miss his conversations.
0:03:44 > 0:03:46I just miss James for being James, that's it.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Although James had close friends,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51there were no signs of any relatives.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54I said, "Did you have a wife and that?" And he says, "No,
0:03:54 > 0:03:56"I've no children. Didn't have a wife."
0:04:01 > 0:04:04Back at the office, the search for heirs was under way.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07This is the beneficiary we are hoping to get hold of.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09Because the case had been released in Scotland,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Amy would be working with colleagues across the border.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16We have an office based in Edinburgh that we can pass work to
0:04:16 > 0:04:19when any Scottish research comes up
0:04:19 > 0:04:22and they liaise with us here at the London office.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25The team quickly confirmed that James was a bachelor
0:04:25 > 0:04:26and had no children.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29The next stage was to see if he had any siblings,
0:04:29 > 0:04:33which meant they needed precious information about his parents.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37The research we do in Scotland is made slightly easier
0:04:37 > 0:04:40by the information available to us on the certificates there,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43so a Scottish birth certificate will give you,
0:04:43 > 0:04:45as well as the parents' names and the mother's maiden name,
0:04:45 > 0:04:48it will also have the full date of the parents' marriage,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51making it easier to narrow down an area and a family
0:04:51 > 0:04:53that you're looking at.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58This allowed the team to quickly establish that James's parents
0:04:58 > 0:05:00were James Forrest and Annie Bell.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04And it soon transpired that James had been their only son.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Once we've established that there are no immediate kin,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10we then need to expand as quickly as possible
0:05:10 > 0:05:15into how many maternal and paternal aunts and uncles there might be.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19The team needed to establish who James's grandparents were
0:05:19 > 0:05:23in order to trace potential aunts, uncles and cousins,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26and their research took them back to the late 19th century.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33So, we know that we can look through the 1881, 1891,
0:05:33 > 0:05:371901 and 1911 Scottish census returns.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39Now, from those, we have details
0:05:39 > 0:05:42about the maternal and the paternal family trees to get us going.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44And on the maternal side,
0:05:44 > 0:05:46it looked like they were going to have their work cut out,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48as James's mother, Annie Bell,
0:05:48 > 0:05:53was one of ten children born to George Bell and Jeannie Hamilton.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57We knew that by 1911, we had two infant deaths,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01also a two further children that passed away without having married
0:06:01 > 0:06:03or having had any children of their own.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06So, out of the ten total children,
0:06:06 > 0:06:10we then had five additional stems to investigate.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13But the team did have one thing on their side.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17A Scottish death certificate would usually give you
0:06:17 > 0:06:20the name of the deceased's parents,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23which would help you to narrow down right away
0:06:23 > 0:06:27onto a particular Bell family tree, for instance,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30because you could search using particular keywords.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32And that wasn't the only feature of the case
0:06:32 > 0:06:34that was unique to Scotland.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36On the paternal side,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39the team has learned that James's grandfather
0:06:39 > 0:06:42was also called James Forrest and had married an Isabella Girdwood.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45With the way children and descendants are named
0:06:45 > 0:06:49within a Scottish family, you will find a repeat of certain names.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54So the names of James and Isabella will be repeated time and again,
0:06:54 > 0:06:57and also, as the generations follow through,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01you will notice that you pick up the surname of Forrest and Girdwood
0:07:01 > 0:07:05again, particularly within the women of the family.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10These traditions can sometimes help the Heir Hunters
0:07:10 > 0:07:11make a vital breakthrough.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15A prime example in the Forrest family tree is if we look at
0:07:15 > 0:07:19the stem of paternal aunt Christina Forrest.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22She married a John Moffat,
0:07:22 > 0:07:26but her first-born daughter is Isabella Girdwood Moffat,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29so she's been given the name of the paternal grandmother.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34The team had now established that James's father had six siblings,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36one of whom had died as an infant,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and they were also able to rule out one of his sisters,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41who died a spinster.
0:07:41 > 0:07:46So, the four remaining stems to look into were Christina,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49John, Isabella
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and Jane, who was also known as Jeannie.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56One of James's and Isabella's daughters was Christina,
0:07:56 > 0:07:58who'd married a John McKay Moffat.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01They'd had one daughter, and in keeping with tradition,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04she had been named Christina Forrest Moffat.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08We searched into the stem of Christina Forrest Moffat,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12identified pretty early on a marriage for her
0:08:12 > 0:08:15to a gentleman named William Young.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19From this, the team were able to search for possible births.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22We are able to tell that she'd had at least one child,
0:08:22 > 0:08:24a daughter named Christine.
0:08:24 > 0:08:29And so the next obvious step would be to try and trace Christine
0:08:29 > 0:08:32and try and speak to her.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37A detailed search of records revealed that Christine
0:08:37 > 0:08:39was alive and living near Glasgow.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46The team believed she was an heir to James's estate
0:08:46 > 0:08:48and got straight on the phone.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Oh, yes, that's me at school.
0:08:52 > 0:08:53Oh, dear.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56A long time ago!
0:08:56 > 0:09:00For Christine, life was about to be turned upside down.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04I think I said, "Are you sure you've got the right person here?"
0:09:04 > 0:09:05I couldn't believe it.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08I was more interested in the family.
0:09:08 > 0:09:12Christine was brought up by her father, and life wasn't always easy.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16I can't explain it. He was a horrible man.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19He really was. Horrible individual.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21He didn't know how to be nice.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26Christine never met her mother and grew up knowing nothing about her.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29All my life I wanted to know about my mother.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32I was 14 when he told me she was dead.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36But the Heir Hunters had discovered that it wasn't true.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40From time to time, we will come across situations
0:09:40 > 0:09:45where somebody within the family has lied about a scenario.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48So, for instance, they've lied about a divorce,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50by saying that the parent has passed away.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55In fact, Christina Forrest Moffat had lived for another 26 years.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59And it was down to Amy and the team to break this delicate news.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02We've dealt with quite a number of shocking revelations here
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and we have to be quite careful about any potential upset
0:10:05 > 0:10:07that we might be causing.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Nonetheless, it was a huge shock for Christine.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12She died in 1973.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15So she was alive for quite a long time,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18and I could have got to know her, and, of course, I didn't.
0:10:18 > 0:10:19You know.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23And it seems Christine's father went to great lengths
0:10:23 > 0:10:24to keep the truth from her.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28When I did go down to my grandmother's,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30she didn't tell me she was alive.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33But my father didn't want me going anywhere near,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36because he probably realised I would find out
0:10:36 > 0:10:39that my mother wasn't dead, at that time.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44But as the Heir Hunters continued their research,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Christine was about to receive more shocking news.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51Christina's eldest child, Christine, thought that she was an only child.
0:10:51 > 0:10:56Her father had told her that her mother died when she was very young,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59whereas in fact she had quite a number of brothers and sisters.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02For Christine, it was the start of an astonishing journey
0:11:02 > 0:11:05that would change her life forever.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11I think it was quite wonderful to find out all these people,
0:11:11 > 0:11:12all these relatives.
0:11:18 > 0:11:24I have always thought that people don't make a will primarily
0:11:24 > 0:11:26because it's an admission you're going to die.
0:11:28 > 0:11:33In London, heir-hunting firm Fraser and Fraser have taken on
0:11:33 > 0:11:35the high-value case of Frank Padgett,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37a case that has proved a major test.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40It's a cauldron. You know, you're working under pressure,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42you've got lots of stems, you don't know how many,
0:11:42 > 0:11:43it's a big jigsaw puzzle
0:11:43 > 0:11:48and you're slowly putting all the pieces together. And it's fraught.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50You know, it goes crazy.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54Frank Padgett died in April 2016
0:11:54 > 0:11:57in the town of Coalville, Leicestershire.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00For many years, he worked as a gardener
0:12:00 > 0:12:03and colleagues remember him as a quiet man.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06He kept himself pretty much to himself.
0:12:06 > 0:12:07Always fairly a smart dresser,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10even though we were working in a manual situation.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13He was quite dapper in his ways, Frank was.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Really professional in his job,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18wanted to do the best job he could.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20You know, he loved working outside.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25And always had a laugh with Frank, a really good guy to work with.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29His other habit was he'd whistle three bars of a tune,
0:12:29 > 0:12:31and continue it all day, he could do.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Or sing a couple of lines of a verse.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38He was a bit of a comic in that way.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42I'm not sure that there was any special lady at all.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45He was a bachelor through and through, to that degree.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Frank didn't leave a will,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55so his estate was picked up by case manager Dave Slee.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Valued at £75,000,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Dave and the team made finding the heirs their top priority.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05The Padgett estate,
0:13:05 > 0:13:10we knew fairly early doors that Mr Padgett owned his own property,
0:13:10 > 0:13:15so, of course, that means you can research the matter in the knowledge
0:13:15 > 0:13:18that there's going to be some value to the estate.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21With such a high-value estate,
0:13:21 > 0:13:24the team knew that the case of Frank Padgett
0:13:24 > 0:13:26would attract other heir-hunting firms.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30The fact that there is likely to be competition
0:13:30 > 0:13:33from a number of companies, I had to pull in virtually everyone
0:13:33 > 0:13:36in the company to research the matter.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38One of their first steps was to establish
0:13:38 > 0:13:40some basic facts about Frank.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43I started telephoning neighbours and friends
0:13:43 > 0:13:45to try to build up a picture about Mr Padgett.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Dave's phone calls helped him to establish
0:13:48 > 0:13:51that Frank had never married, nor had any children.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54So the next step was to search the birth indexes
0:13:54 > 0:13:57to find out who his parents were.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59Padgett is the surname and in that...
0:13:59 > 0:14:02One, two, three... There's about a dozen Padgetts
0:14:02 > 0:14:04been born in that quarter.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07And it shows in this column the mother's maiden name
0:14:07 > 0:14:10of the child that is born and it's also Padgett,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12and because Padgett's a fairly unusual name,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15it's a fair indicator that that's an illegitimate birth.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Dave soon confirmed that Frank's mother was Betty Padgett.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23She had been just 22 when Frank was born
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and there was no father listed on his birth certificate.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32The problem in identifying an illegitimate birth
0:14:32 > 0:14:34is we lose some of our references.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38All of a sudden, you are now taking out one side of the family.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42There is no father. You can never prove who the father was.
0:14:42 > 0:14:43There's no record on the birth.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46So you're now limited to working just one family,
0:14:46 > 0:14:51- the mother's family.- It basically reduces the chances of us
0:14:51 > 0:14:53finding a beneficiary by 50%.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58So it is that much harder to do it and there's less family to find.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01But another conversation with one of Frank's friends
0:15:01 > 0:15:03would complicate matters further.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07I got to speak to a person who was very friendly with Mr Padgett,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11who was adamant that Mr Padgett had been adopted.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15Having a legal adoption, we now have to look into the adopted family.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18It's no longer from the biological mother.
0:15:18 > 0:15:23And it's very, very important we discover this as early as possible.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26But Dave was about to make another dramatic discovery.
0:15:26 > 0:15:32Mr Padgett died as Frank Padgett, and was born as Frank Padgett.
0:15:32 > 0:15:33So this must suggest that of course,
0:15:33 > 0:15:39he was adopted by someone he was related to by blood anyway.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44And Dave had a theory as to why that might be.
0:15:44 > 0:15:49Many years ago, you would often find that if a young girl
0:15:49 > 0:15:52had a child out of marriage,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55that the child would often be taken in
0:15:55 > 0:15:59by her parents as their own child.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03There was only one way to find out if Dave's theory was right.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06You need the adoption certificate to start with, because,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09of course, you need to know who are the parties
0:16:09 > 0:16:10that have adopted that child.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12When the certificate came in,
0:16:12 > 0:16:17they confirmed that Frank had indeed been adopted by the Padgett family.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20But not quite as Dave had suspected.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23What's unusual in the Padgett estate is that...
0:16:23 > 0:16:31his mother allowed her uncle to adopt her child.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36Now, this completely throws the whole equation on its head,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39because all of a sudden, from a legal standpoint...
0:16:40 > 0:16:43..Frank's mother, Betty, now becomes his first cousin.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49On the 21st of July 1931,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53one-month-old Frank was formally adopted by Betty's uncle,
0:16:53 > 0:16:55Ernest Padgett, and his wife, Kate Williams.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58And the search for heirs now looked very different.
0:17:00 > 0:17:05Even though unusually he was adopted by a blood relative,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09it changes the parameters of who is actually now going to be entitled.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12This means that the team would still need to look for heirs
0:17:12 > 0:17:14in the Padgett family,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17but there was now a whole new branch to research.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Now, his adoptive mother, Kate Williams,
0:17:20 > 0:17:24though not related by blood in any way to the deceased,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27because he's now adopted into the family,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31her family, the Williams, will also become entitled parties.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35The common surname Williams
0:17:35 > 0:17:37would be much harder to research than Padgett.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40It was more bad news for the team.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44Kate Williams, the adoptive mother of the deceased, her father,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Francis Wood Williams, an unusual combination,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49he was actually a waterman.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Dave knew from experience that researching
0:17:52 > 0:17:55the families of watermen could be a nightmare.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58We hate working narrow-boatman estates,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01purely and simply because they were just so transient.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03And they're really difficult estates to work.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Obviously, they were like the lorry drivers of their era.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10Francis Wood Williams and his family
0:18:10 > 0:18:13were part of a vital 19th-century network
0:18:13 > 0:18:17that allowed materials and freight to be transported around Britain.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20Canals were built between 1760 and 1830.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22They were the backbone of the nation
0:18:22 > 0:18:24and the canals like the Grand Union Canal
0:18:24 > 0:18:26in the Northampton area were the artery
0:18:26 > 0:18:28for moving all the freights
0:18:28 > 0:18:31north and south and east and west across the country.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34But life for watermen wasn't easy.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36We tend to think of a boatman
0:18:36 > 0:18:38possibly as having a wonderful, outdoor existence.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41But a report by the Registrar General noted that actually,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46they had half the life expectancy of an agricultural worker.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48Everything had to be done within a space
0:18:48 > 0:18:51no more than about six feet square.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54And their families were expected to work hard too.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Everyone was expected to play their part.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59Whilst children these days might be playing outside
0:18:59 > 0:19:01and having a good time, the children of that period
0:19:01 > 0:19:02would be expected to pull their weight.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05And of course, they didn't have regular schools to go to,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07so a lot of them would have been illiterate.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11But they would probably know the numbers and all the practical skills
0:19:11 > 0:19:14required to run and look after a canal boat
0:19:14 > 0:19:17and all the issues that went with delivering freight
0:19:17 > 0:19:19from one place to another.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24But the very nature of being watermen meant moving around.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Because they were transporting goods from one place to another
0:19:26 > 0:19:29and they were on the boats right the way throughout the day,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32they would actually live from day to day on the boats.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34They may have been registered in one local parish
0:19:34 > 0:19:36when they were born, but then they would be off, and tracking them down
0:19:36 > 0:19:38I think would be a real challenge.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42And the family's nomadic lifestyle was a major concern for Dave.
0:19:42 > 0:19:47You're dictated to what area you're researching
0:19:47 > 0:19:51by the areas that the deceased was born in or where the parents married
0:19:51 > 0:19:55or where the brothers and sisters were born and married.
0:19:55 > 0:19:58But with the family travelling up and down the waterways,
0:19:58 > 0:20:02would Dave be able to trace relatives and crack the case?
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Every year in Britain,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12thousands of people get a surprise knock on the door
0:20:12 > 0:20:13from the Heir Hunters.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15- I was surprised. - SHE LAUGHS
0:20:15 > 0:20:17Very surprised.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20A visit from the Heir Hunters can bring life-changing news.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22So many questions unanswered.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Even though we've found out so much.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29But there are still thousands of unsolved cases
0:20:29 > 0:20:31where heirs need to be found.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Today, we've got the details of two estates
0:20:34 > 0:20:38on the Treasury's Bona Vacantia list that have yet to be claimed.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41The first case is that of Alfred Kellsall,
0:20:41 > 0:20:46who died a bachelor on the 10th of March 1992 in Uttoxeter,
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Staffordshire, aged 84.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52Kellsall is commonly spelt with one L, not two.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Do you recognise this unusual spelling?
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Do you know someone related to Alfred Kellsall?
0:20:59 > 0:21:02Could you be one of the heirs they are looking for?
0:21:02 > 0:21:05The next case is that of Kathleen Minnie Wayte.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Kathleen was born on New Year's Day, 1905 in Nottingham.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14She passed away on the 16th of June 1992, aged 87.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16Wayte is an unusual name,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19with fewer than 600 occurrences throughout the UK.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Do you know anything that could help solve the case
0:21:22 > 0:21:24of Kathleen Minnie Wayte?
0:21:24 > 0:21:26Perhaps you could be the next of kin?
0:21:26 > 0:21:30If so, you could have thousands of pounds coming your way.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36- PHONE RINGS - Hello?
0:21:36 > 0:21:39In London, the team at Fraser and Fraser
0:21:39 > 0:21:44were racing to find heirs to the £75,000 estate of Frank Padgett.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49But the discovery of nomadic ancestors had halted their search.
0:21:49 > 0:21:51The family all live on the narrow boat.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54Mum has one child in Stafford and then the narrow boat,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58nine months later, is in a completely different
0:21:58 > 0:22:01part of the country, where she has another child.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Of course, that child has to be registered where it was born.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Frank Padgett died in Coalville, Leicestershire,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12where he worked as a gardener for the local council.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Frank would be pruning these in the spring
0:22:15 > 0:22:17and then later on in the autumn.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21He loved his garden, his gardening. He loved his plants.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24And his garden at home was just the same.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Absolutely immaculate.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29And he kept everything pristine.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Just like he did himself.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34But plants weren't Frank's only passion.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36He was an avid season-ticket holder
0:22:36 > 0:22:40at Leicester City at Filbert Street, as it was then.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Right through I think beyond his retirement,
0:22:43 > 0:22:46he was still a Leicester supporter
0:22:46 > 0:22:48and a regular attendee at home games at least.
0:22:48 > 0:22:49And in his earlier years,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52he probably used to travel quite a bit away as well.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57The noise would have been developing as he arrived,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00towards the bowl of the stadium.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02He would've emerged into the light here
0:23:02 > 0:23:06and the whole crowd and the whole pitch
0:23:06 > 0:23:09would have unfolded before him.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Frank may not have married or had any children,
0:23:11 > 0:23:15but on the terraces of his beloved club, he had another kind of family.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18I'm sure that coming here every week,
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Frank would have had a sense of camaraderie, a sense of belonging.
0:23:22 > 0:23:26You're in a crowd of 32,000 and certainly,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29when you do enter the ground and you feel the buzz
0:23:29 > 0:23:32and you get the atmosphere and you hear the noise
0:23:32 > 0:23:35and you see the colour and you talk to people around you
0:23:35 > 0:23:40and you anticipate the game, you know, it is a wonderful feeling.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44As a lifelong supporter, Frank saw his club through thick and thin.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47When he first started coming down here in 1970,
0:23:47 > 0:23:49they'd just been FA Cup finalists.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52During the 1970s, they had a really entertaining side
0:23:52 > 0:23:55with four England internationals playing for them.
0:23:55 > 0:23:56During the 1980s,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59he would have seen players like Gary Lineker and Alan Smith,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02who both went on to score a lot of goals, not only for Leicester City,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06but for England. And then, in the 1990s,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10he would have seen Leicester City get to Wembley on seven occasions
0:24:10 > 0:24:11in nine years.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15And then, in the first decade of the 20th century,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17it all started going a bit wrong, really.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20They got into financial trouble, they went into administration,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23the club didn't have any money,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26they sort of went down on a downward decline.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30But in April 2016, when Frank passed away,
0:24:30 > 0:24:33Leicester City Football Club were well on their way
0:24:33 > 0:24:36to one of the biggest sporting upsets of all time.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Leicester City went on this incredible run of winning seven
0:24:39 > 0:24:41and drawing one of their last nine games,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45which took them from seven points at the bottom to 14th in the table.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48This run was then continued into the following season,
0:24:48 > 0:24:50much to everybody's surprise.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52Frank would have been aware of all of this.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55They were top of the table for a significant part of the season and,
0:24:55 > 0:25:00very sadly, he died in April, which was just, you know,
0:25:00 > 0:25:03weeks - weeks! - away from Leicester winning
0:25:03 > 0:25:05the only Premier League title
0:25:05 > 0:25:08they've ever won in their whole 132-year history.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15For the Heir Hunters, the search for Frank's heirs
0:25:15 > 0:25:17was proving a real challenge.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19Josh, have the certs come in?
0:25:19 > 0:25:22They'd established that Frank had been adopted by his great-uncle,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Ernest Padgett, and his wife, Kate Williams,
0:25:25 > 0:25:29and the team needed to trace their families to find heirs.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32So the first thing I did was I kind of broke the team up.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35One team worked the Padgett family
0:25:35 > 0:25:39and one team now worked the adoptive mother's family,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41the Williams family.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45With competition from rival firms, it was tough staying ahead,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47even with all hands on deck.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50When you've got so many people to find,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54you don't know if the competition is ahead of you, behind you.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56Erm... Not easy.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58The Williams side was looking especially difficult
0:25:58 > 0:26:02as Dave had discovered Kate's father worked as a waterman
0:26:02 > 0:26:04and was likely to have moved around.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06So you could have brothers and sisters,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08and I've had it in the past, eight or nine children,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11literally all born in different parts of the country but,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13if you put them all on together as a map,
0:26:13 > 0:26:15it's the map of the waterways.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19But a check of the 1911 census offered a glimmer of hope.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22The father from an early age became a lock keeper
0:26:22 > 0:26:26and therefore obviously was in one place and remained there,
0:26:26 > 0:26:31so all the children would have been born probably from that one address.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37We know that Francis Wood Williams became a lock keeper in 1906
0:26:37 > 0:26:39and by that time, he was in his late 50s,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43so he may have opted for a more gentle lifestyle.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Although it was still a very physical job.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Francis Wood Williams would have done a number of things
0:26:49 > 0:26:52throughout the day. He could've been running water,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54moving water from a higher level to a lower level.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56If that lower level was getting a bit shallow,
0:26:56 > 0:27:01he would put the windlass on here and then turn it round.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04He would then come over here, put his hands on here,
0:27:04 > 0:27:08and then push open the lock gate, open those gates, and away they go,
0:27:08 > 0:27:12off to market. It wouldn't have been a life of leisure for him, because
0:27:12 > 0:27:15pushing something weighing anything up to two tonnes
0:27:15 > 0:27:17is really quite hard work.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25But crucially for the team, lock keepers tended to stay in one place.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30So it looks very much like Mr Williams has progressed
0:27:30 > 0:27:33from years of working on the narrow boats
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and on the waterways to probably he's got older
0:27:36 > 0:27:38and now he's become a lock keeper,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40entrenched in his little cottage,
0:27:40 > 0:27:42opening and closing the locks all day.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46Consequently, the fact that the family had settled in one place
0:27:46 > 0:27:49now meant the team could forge ahead with the research.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53On the mother's family, the Williams family, the deceased's mother,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57Kate Williams, had six brothers and sisters.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01But they were far from home and dry.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Williams is a common name
0:28:03 > 0:28:07and there were more heirs on that side to trace.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10They managed to establish that one of the siblings was Lily
0:28:10 > 0:28:14and her daughter, Joan, had four children who were still alive.
0:28:14 > 0:28:17Dave was hoping this was the pivotal breakthrough.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20It is a jigsaw puzzle where you get the first piece
0:28:20 > 0:28:23and then that family member will lead you on to the next one
0:28:23 > 0:28:26and your research will then lead you on...
0:28:26 > 0:28:27So you're just building up,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30you know, this whole picture of the family tree.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34Everything now rested on speaking to Joan's children, and Dave managed
0:28:34 > 0:28:36to get a number for one of them.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40I've phoned thousands of people in the course of the years
0:28:40 > 0:28:41I've been in the business,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44and I still get butterflies every time I phone someone.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46'You're phoning people out of the blue.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50'They don't know who you are and it's often that first 10-15 seconds
0:28:50 > 0:28:51'that you've got to convince people'
0:28:51 > 0:28:54that you're genuine and that this is a genuine matter.
0:28:54 > 0:28:57All right. I'll speak to you later. Bye-bye now.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00On the other end of the line,
0:29:00 > 0:29:05Mervyn Hall was about to receive news of an unexpected inheritance.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08The only person on that side of the family tree
0:29:08 > 0:29:10that I knew of was my grandmother.
0:29:10 > 0:29:11I didn't know she'd got a sister.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15I didn't know anything about her parents and I certainly didn't know
0:29:15 > 0:29:17that her sister had adopted Frank Padgett.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22So that was all new to me and it caused me to contact other members
0:29:22 > 0:29:24of the family that I hadn't spoken to for years.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27We all started pooling information at that point,
0:29:27 > 0:29:29but realised it was quite a mystery.
0:29:29 > 0:29:31None of us knew about Frank Padgett at all.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33It was the first we'd heard about it.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36But Mervyn, an amateur genealogist,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39knew plenty about his own branch of the family.
0:29:39 > 0:29:44This is me here and this is my mother, Joan, Joan Boen, as was.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49Her parents, James Boen and Lily Anne Williams.
0:29:49 > 0:29:53Lily Anne Williams, my late grandmother, died young in 1938.
0:29:53 > 0:29:58She was only 45 and that was quite a traumatic event for my mother.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00I only have two photographs of her
0:30:00 > 0:30:05and this one shows her holding her baby son, Clive, who's still alive.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07He's my uncle.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12It was her sister, Kate Williams, that adopted Frank Padgett.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16Mervyn's research was invaluable to Dave and his team
0:30:16 > 0:30:17as it helped them confirm
0:30:17 > 0:30:20that the research they'd done into the Williams family was correct.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23So here we have the Williams family.
0:30:23 > 0:30:28Erm... Over 30 beneficiaries entitled.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31On the paternal family, the Padgett family,
0:30:31 > 0:30:33there are, I believe, 11 heirs.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38So over 40 beneficiaries entitled to varying shares in the estate.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41In total, the team had found 41 heirs,
0:30:41 > 0:30:46and finding Mervyn meant that they'd beaten rival firms to the chase.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49And only a few miles from where Frank Padgett lived and worked,
0:30:49 > 0:30:51his distant relative, Mervyn,
0:30:51 > 0:30:55has discovered a whole new side of his family.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58Well, to me, Frank Padgett's still a bit of a mystery.
0:30:58 > 0:31:03I think the very sad thing is that he lived out his final years
0:31:03 > 0:31:06and he died without knowing that he had some relatives,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09albeit distant ones, not very far away from him.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23In London, a team of Heir Hunters were trying to find heirs
0:31:23 > 0:31:27to the estate of James Forrest, who died in July 2014,
0:31:27 > 0:31:31but the search was developing into a major task.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35This one is a family with lots of children involved,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37lots of maternal aunts and uncles,
0:31:37 > 0:31:41and so you can imagine that they span across maybe 20 or 30 years
0:31:41 > 0:31:44between the birth of the eldest and the birth of the youngest.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46So, as you're coming down through the generations,
0:31:46 > 0:31:49you can of course expect them to have children of their own
0:31:49 > 0:31:51and children of THEIR own.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55So you can imagine that the family trees very quickly expand
0:31:55 > 0:31:56and you can be dealing with
0:31:56 > 0:31:59potentially tens or even hundreds of beneficiaries.
0:31:59 > 0:32:03But research into one branch of the family had also revealed
0:32:03 > 0:32:06a heartbreaking secret that meant heir Christine
0:32:06 > 0:32:09had never known her mother.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13My dad told me my mother died when I was 14, which was a lie.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16And, of course, I would never have forgiven him for that.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19I think that was a horrible thing to do
0:32:19 > 0:32:23because I never got to know her, you know.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25I should have been able to get to know my mother.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30But the revelations didn't stop there.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35The team discovered that in 1953, Christina had a second marriage
0:32:35 > 0:32:38to a man called Edward Donnelly in Birmingham.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Any children they'd had would be Christine's half-siblings
0:32:41 > 0:32:44and heirs to James Forrest's estate.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52We were able to make contact with the eldest child from that marriage,
0:32:52 > 0:32:59Maureen, and she was able to confirm that her mother had three children
0:32:59 > 0:33:02with her father, Edward Donnelly.
0:33:02 > 0:33:04It was a big development for the team
0:33:04 > 0:33:07and Maureen was the next person in the family
0:33:07 > 0:33:09to be getting life-changing news.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11We received a letter through the post
0:33:11 > 0:33:13saying that a relative had died.
0:33:13 > 0:33:15I didn't know who his name was,
0:33:15 > 0:33:20although the name Forrest did ring a bell because it was my mum's name
0:33:20 > 0:33:22before she was married.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24But the biggest surprise for Maureen
0:33:24 > 0:33:28was the news that she now had a half-sister, Christine.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30They said, "We've found a great-niece."
0:33:30 > 0:33:33So I said, "Who would the great-niece be?"
0:33:33 > 0:33:36And she said, "Your mum's daughter."
0:33:36 > 0:33:40So I looked and I thought... "I can't believe this."
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Having settled in Birmingham and started her new family,
0:33:43 > 0:33:47Christina had never spoken of her previous marriage
0:33:47 > 0:33:50or the fact she'd had to leave behind another daughter.
0:33:50 > 0:33:52I loved my mum, she was a good mum.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56I just knew that whatever reason she had for doing it,
0:33:56 > 0:33:59she'd done it for the right reason.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01Going through life, she was always a quiet woman.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04You always think she was worried about something
0:34:04 > 0:34:05and somebody knocking on the door,
0:34:05 > 0:34:08as if she was always looking for an answer,
0:34:08 > 0:34:10and that's what I remember about my mum.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15Now, though, Maureen had found out she had a half-sibling,
0:34:15 > 0:34:20and in 2016, the sisters met for the first time.
0:34:20 > 0:34:22We had a lovely day with them all.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24That was that, that was the beginning of it for us.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28And she explained everything and told us her life story
0:34:28 > 0:34:32and we told her how we had been brought up as kids.
0:34:36 > 0:34:40But there was to be one more dramatic revelation for the family.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44Once we establish what the position is, we will let the family know.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Amy and the team discovered that before marrying Maureen's father,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51Christina had settled down with a man called Robert Cunningham
0:34:51 > 0:34:52and had two more children.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58But sadly for Christina, it all went wrong.
0:34:58 > 0:35:03Christina Roberts' relationship broke down and their youngest child
0:35:03 > 0:35:06was put up for adoption when he was roughly three years old.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11At that time, society took a very dim view of single mothers
0:35:11 > 0:35:15and it's unlikely Christina had any choice over what happened next.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18These were two brothers who were separated from the family
0:35:18 > 0:35:20when their parents split up.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24One of them was adopted out of the family, which isn't uncommon,
0:35:24 > 0:35:29but the other boy was actually shipped overseas on a work scheme
0:35:29 > 0:35:33to Australia, where he was put to work on farmland.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36By today's standards, I think that would be unacceptable
0:35:36 > 0:35:37and unimaginable.
0:35:39 > 0:35:40After World War II,
0:35:40 > 0:35:45over 3,000 UK children were sent to Australia as part of an agreement
0:35:45 > 0:35:46between the two governments.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50The children were aged between three and 14.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53The Commonwealth Child Migration Scheme
0:35:53 > 0:35:56was a scheme set up originally in this country
0:35:56 > 0:36:00to sort of send over children that Britain just didn't want.
0:36:00 > 0:36:06And up until 1967 there were over 150,000 children
0:36:06 > 0:36:09that were sent over to different countries.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11And it was thought by charitable organisations
0:36:11 > 0:36:14that sending them to places within the Commonwealth
0:36:14 > 0:36:16would give them a fresh start.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18The children, when they got there,
0:36:18 > 0:36:20they found themselves in institutions
0:36:20 > 0:36:24and they also found themselves as servants for farmers
0:36:24 > 0:36:27and working on things like roads and buildings.
0:36:27 > 0:36:29One of the children sent out to Australia
0:36:29 > 0:36:33was Christina's elder son, Ian Cunningham.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36He was just five years old when he arrived and was taken
0:36:36 > 0:36:38to a place called Fairbridge Farm.
0:36:38 > 0:36:41They taught you to milk cows,
0:36:41 > 0:36:43round up sheep and all this business.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46That was 40 hours for ten shillings.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52They said we were learning something
0:36:52 > 0:36:54but I think they were earning something.
0:36:56 > 0:37:00Ian was desperate to find out whether he had a family and, if so,
0:37:00 > 0:37:02where they were.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04I just thought, "Well, I'm here to survive," and...
0:37:06 > 0:37:12..I noticed as I got five, six, seven other kids in my cottage
0:37:12 > 0:37:15they were getting in touch with their mothers.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17Their mothers would come and visit them
0:37:17 > 0:37:19and I thought, "What's happened to mine?"
0:37:19 > 0:37:23When he reached 16, Ian was able to leave Fairbridge
0:37:23 > 0:37:25and he joined the Navy,
0:37:25 > 0:37:28but the questions over who his mother was remained
0:37:28 > 0:37:33until finally, in 2004, he was given the chance to get some answers.
0:37:33 > 0:37:34Around 2000...
0:37:37 > 0:37:39..this lady called Margaret Humphreys
0:37:39 > 0:37:42came on the scene and she approached the British government
0:37:42 > 0:37:46and they started putting funds into the Child Migration Centre
0:37:46 > 0:37:48and things certainly snowballed from there.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51A scheme called the Australian Migrant Trust
0:37:51 > 0:37:54was set up to try and reunite people like Ian with their families.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Researchers from the scheme had managed to trace Ian's half-sister,
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Maureen, and they began writing to each other.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06"As I grew up I always felt there was something missing in my life.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09"I went to bed at night and, like many other child migrants,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13"stared into the darkness asking the same questions - who am I?
0:38:13 > 0:38:15"Where was I born?
0:38:15 > 0:38:17"Did I have an aunt or anybody?
0:38:17 > 0:38:20"These were the nights when the tears rolled down my cheeks,
0:38:20 > 0:38:22"but no-one ever saw them.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24"After all, I was a Fairbridge boy.
0:38:26 > 0:38:27"And Fairbridge boys go..."
0:38:27 > 0:38:29- CRYING:- I can't read this.
0:38:30 > 0:38:3512 years ago, Ian and Maureen met in the UK for the first time
0:38:35 > 0:38:38and started to repair the hurt from being separated.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Maureen was the first one to get in touch with me
0:38:41 > 0:38:47in 2004, so three or four weeks later I arranged to fly.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49And when he came, he was just an absolute nervous wreck, obviously.
0:38:49 > 0:38:53He never knew anything about us and we were expecting him to come,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56but there were sort of three of us and one of him and...
0:38:57 > 0:38:59..it was just lovely to see him.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03I found a family after being on my own for 40 years.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07So, really supporting, so I'm very grateful for that.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15But like Maureen, Ian was about to find out
0:39:15 > 0:39:17he had another half-sibling.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20He had heard from our research and from Maureen about
0:39:20 > 0:39:23the elder sister Christine
0:39:23 > 0:39:26that they had previously been unaware of and he asked us
0:39:26 > 0:39:28to put him in touch with her.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30I didn't know she existed...
0:39:30 > 0:39:33for... What's that? 56 years.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Now, though, Ian has travelled to Scotland with Maureen
0:39:40 > 0:39:42to meet Christine for the first time.
0:39:42 > 0:39:45Her husband Gordon is driving them to the house
0:39:45 > 0:39:47and Ian is worrying about what to say.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49Can you suggest something?
0:39:49 > 0:39:51THEY LAUGH
0:39:52 > 0:39:56No, just go with the flow, just go with the flow.
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Naturally if you don't meet someone after 30 or 40 years,
0:40:00 > 0:40:02- Maureen, you're going to be nervous. - I know.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Looking forward to seeing them, yeah.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10And hoping we get on!
0:40:12 > 0:40:15After 57 years of heartbreaking separation,
0:40:15 > 0:40:19these siblings are about to meet for the first time.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25- Hello.- Hi there, I'm Chris and you're Ian.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27- Ian, yeah.- Lovely to meet you.
0:40:27 > 0:40:32- Heard a lot about you.- You look lovely.- Oh, thank you very much.
0:40:32 > 0:40:33Lovely to meet you.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35It is.
0:40:35 > 0:40:39- After how many...? - How many years?- Yeah.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44- Good to see you.- Yeah, you too.
0:40:44 > 0:40:45Good to see all of you.
0:40:46 > 0:40:48Well, we've all survived.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52- Yeah, we have.- That's the main thing.- You look remarkably well.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58That's lovely. Aw, thank you.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00- There we go.- Are these both for me?
0:41:00 > 0:41:02- Of course.- Aw, thank you so much.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04That's lovely.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06I'm so lucky, do you know that?
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Because I've met up with all of you.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Ian and Christine can now begin the long process
0:41:13 > 0:41:15of catching up with each other,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18and with the only photograph of their mother that exists
0:41:18 > 0:41:21they're looking for a family resemblance.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24I sort of had that thick, cropped hair like Chrissie.
0:41:25 > 0:41:27Maureen's is more thin.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30It's pretty blurred as it is.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32It came out of a locket, of course.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36But the chance to be united with long-lost family
0:41:36 > 0:41:38is the greatest gift of all.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Meeting all of you has helped enormously.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44It's a wonderful thing for me.
0:41:44 > 0:41:45For sure.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49- That's why I flew over. - I'm glad you did.
0:41:49 > 0:41:52I'm glad you all did, because it's been wonderful.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03In the office, after several weeks' work,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07the team had managed to wrap up the search for James Forrest's heirs.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10All in all, once our research was complete,
0:42:10 > 0:42:15the estate of James Forrest had 35 beneficiaries.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20But this is a case that has been about more than just tracing heirs.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23It's quite nice to be able to bring people back together.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27It's one of the more pleasing sides of the job.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31It's a softer side and we're...
0:42:31 > 0:42:34To me, it feels like we're giving something back.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36And for Christine, Ian and Maureen,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40it's the start of a new chapter in their lives.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42If it hadn't been for the fact of this poor chap's story,
0:42:42 > 0:42:46we would never have known we had a sister.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49Well, I hope we both live to 100.
0:42:50 > 0:42:51So I can see her some more.
0:42:54 > 0:42:55It's just lovely to have a family.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59I mean, I can't... I can't believe this.