0:00:04 > 0:00:06Today the heir hunters have their work cut out.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09When a whole family tends to change their name,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11this really makes our job difficult.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And it turns into a numbers game.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16If you can't find someone's marriage,
0:00:16 > 0:00:19you could potentially be dealing with hundreds of marriages.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24Across London, another team take on a case that is almost 30 years old.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27If a person is born illegitimately, and only the mother is named,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31it halves your chances of being able to find any heirs.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34And just when they think they are home and dry...
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Unfortunately, the government legal department rejected the claim.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41It's all in a day's work for the heir hunters.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49It's the autumn of 2016,
0:00:49 > 0:00:54and a new case has caught the attention of heir hunting firm Finders International.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56At the moment we are currently looking into the case of
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Marie Windsor.
0:00:58 > 0:01:03This is a new government legal department advert which was advertised today.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06We've just mapped out the family from the very beginning.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Actually, we don't know the value of this estate,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13but that's always interesting and it's a good point to work from,
0:01:13 > 0:01:14and we can always find out a bit more
0:01:14 > 0:01:16once it's over with the solicitors.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Knowing the value of an estate is crucial,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21as heir hunters work on commission,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24earning a pre-agreed percentage of an estate in return for
0:01:24 > 0:01:28finding heirs and helping them claim their inheritance.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30This is a very urgent case,
0:01:30 > 0:01:33and it is going to be very competitive so we have to be quick.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Marie lived on a council estate in London,
0:01:36 > 0:01:39and although the team don't know whether she owned her flat,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42they think it could be worth a punt.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44Sometimes we may work a case
0:01:44 > 0:01:47whereby the deceased lived in a council property.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50We might do this because we think there is hidden value in the case,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53or that the property was in a place of high value, such as London,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56where the properties are often worth more.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58Believing the case could be competitive,
0:01:58 > 0:02:02the team quickly need to establish some basic facts.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05The hospital should hopefully help us find out a bit more
0:02:05 > 0:02:08about the deceased, hoping to speak to the bereavement office,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12and they should be able to give us any information that they have,
0:02:12 > 0:02:13what she was in the hospital for,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17and also they should be able to help us a bit more with our research.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Marie Windsor, who was known as Mairi,
0:02:25 > 0:02:30died aged 82 in Guy's Hospital in London in September 2015.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34For over 50 years, she lived on this housing estate in Lambeth,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36and she worked at the local launderette.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Neighbour Jo Nevins struck up a firm friendship with Mairi.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45She lived on the floor below me, with her parents.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48How can I say it? She was very...
0:02:48 > 0:02:53straight in her answers, there was no messing about with Mairi, she...
0:02:53 > 0:02:55She was lovely. She really was.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05I'm sad because she was lovely, she was a nice, nice lady.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09As I say, we both were the same age so we got on well together.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14She never ever spoke of family at all, except for her mum and dad,
0:03:14 > 0:03:17but she never spoke of any close relatives ever.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21As far as I knew, she was an only child because, you know,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24she never spoke of any siblings.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28With no known family, and no sign of a will,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32it was up to the team in the office to try and find Mairi's heirs.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44They began by piecing together information from Mairi's birth and death certificates.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49It looks like she hasn't married, and so... And she doesn't have
0:03:49 > 0:03:53any brothers and sisters from our initial research,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57so it looks like it's going to go into paternal and maternal family.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00The paternal side of the family is Windsor,
0:04:00 > 0:04:05and there seems to be three living stems on that side on the 1911 census.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09And on the maternal side, the surname is McGill,
0:04:09 > 0:04:11and this side is much larger.
0:04:11 > 0:04:16There's actually 13 stems on this side, with 12 living on the 1911.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19We're just going to start mapping out the family tree,
0:04:19 > 0:04:21and hopefully go from there,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25but I imagine it's going to be quite a large family by the end.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Mairi was the only child
0:04:27 > 0:04:31of Leo Bernard Windsor and Ellen Josephine McGill,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35who married in St George's, Hanover Square in London in 1932.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37With no siblings,
0:04:37 > 0:04:40the team needed to look to Mairi's parents' families to find heirs,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43and her mother Ellen's side soon caused problems.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48Unfortunately she swapped her first name with her middle name a lot,
0:04:48 > 0:04:49between Ellen and Josephine.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52This meant that through the records we had to look for all these
0:04:52 > 0:04:55different combinations of names to make sure that we found the correct family.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Things were not looking any better on the paternal side.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Camilla had established that Mairi's father Leo had two brothers,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05and the search for their descendants wasn't looking good.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07On the paternal side of the family,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10we know that George Thomas Windsor actually passed away
0:05:10 > 0:05:12in the First World War in 1914.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16His brother, Frank Hector Windsor, passed away in 1973.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21However, it doesn't look like he had any children with his wife Irma.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23With the paternal Windsor side out of the equation,
0:05:23 > 0:05:28any hope of finding heirs rested with the McGill side of the family.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33Mairi's grandfather John married Mary Ann Egan in 1890,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35and they had 12 children.
0:05:35 > 0:05:36It was a huge family,
0:05:36 > 0:05:40and initial research suggested they moved around.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43When we initially found the census records
0:05:43 > 0:05:45for the McGill side of the family,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49we realised that a lot of the maternal aunts and uncles
0:05:49 > 0:05:51had been born in different areas of England,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53and also outside of England,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55and that was quite a surprise for us initially.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58The reason for this started to become clear
0:05:58 > 0:06:01when the team dug deeper into Mairi's grandfather, John McGill.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05This is a war record she found, we think it's his record,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08it shows him at 12 years old going into the army.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10So it's quite an interesting record.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12We can't find much else about his army days,
0:06:12 > 0:06:14we do know that he was a sergeant,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18but he was in the Bengal East India Army.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21John seemed to have moved around a lot during his time in the army,
0:06:21 > 0:06:26and met Mairi's grandmother Mary while stationed in Gibraltar.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31John McGill was in the East Lancashire Regiment,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and rose through the ranks to become sergeant.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39John, as an army child, would have followed his parents overseas,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41and most of his youth
0:06:41 > 0:06:44he was actually in the Far East.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46It was entirely common
0:06:46 > 0:06:49for children to be born wherever the regiment was,
0:06:49 > 0:06:51and the regiment is constantly moving,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56so naturally children would be born all over the place.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59The normal thing often for a soldier's son
0:06:59 > 0:07:02would be to join as a boy in the regiment,
0:07:02 > 0:07:06and we think because he eventually ended up in the band,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08that John joined as a band boy.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13Aged just 12 years old, John followed in his father's footsteps.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15You have to remember, first of all,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19that the army in those days marched almost everywhere.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24And particularly if you're doing a long route march in India,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26day after day,
0:07:26 > 0:07:29every time they went through a village or town
0:07:29 > 0:07:32they'd strike up, and so very good for morale.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36But it seems he had a knack of getting himself into trouble.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42In his youth, say 18 to 23,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45he was probably a bit of a lad.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48They use to get good conduct pay in those days.
0:07:48 > 0:07:55Well, he forfeited it four times for a year at a stretch each time.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Almost inevitably, it's going to be to do with drink and women,
0:07:59 > 0:08:01possibly in combination!
0:08:01 > 0:08:06And particularly in India, there were long periods
0:08:06 > 0:08:08when there was not a lot happening.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12He then got married, which perhaps could have been
0:08:12 > 0:08:15the trigger to an even greater feeling of responsibility,
0:08:15 > 0:08:19because relatively shortly after that, he was first of all
0:08:19 > 0:08:21promoted to corporal, full corporal,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25then to lance sergeant and then to sergeant,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28and I suspect there was probably a lady behind him
0:08:28 > 0:08:30doing a bit of pushing.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33John served in the Far East and Gibraltar
0:08:33 > 0:08:35before returning back to the UK,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38and wherever he went, his family would have followed.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40Well, this is Burnley barracks,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43and it's the part that the married families lived in,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45so that's where he would have lived.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49If you look closely at it, you will see on the doorsteps of the buildings,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52you will see two little groups of married families there,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55who of course could include John's.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02John's time in the army meant the team had to search far and wide
0:09:02 > 0:09:04to find where his children had been born.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06They actually had a child in Gibraltar as well
0:09:06 > 0:09:10before moving to Dover, so they seem to have moved around quite a lot.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14But by 1902, John was retired and living in Dover, Kent.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17The heir hunters had to find which of his children had married
0:09:17 > 0:09:19and had family themselves,
0:09:19 > 0:09:23as it would be these cousins who would inherit Mairi's estate.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27When we initially started research into the family tree,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31we realised that most of the aunts and uncles of the deceased
0:09:31 > 0:09:34on the maternal side had quite a few middle names,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37which is usually quite helpful for our research.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41So we were hoping that we would be able to find people quite easily.
0:09:41 > 0:09:43But on the stem of Mairi's uncle, Frederick,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48it turned out the middle names were a hindrance rather than a help.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Frederick William John McGill, he was known by so many names.
0:09:52 > 0:09:58He is listed on the 1901 census as John, the 1911 census as William,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01and passes away as his Christian name.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04So this becomes quite difficult for us,
0:10:04 > 0:10:07because obviously we have to consider so many different marriages
0:10:07 > 0:10:09as a possible for Frederick.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13And it wasn't just Frederick causing issues.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18Elizabeth Ann McGill, who was a maternal aunt of the deceased,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20she obviously used the name Elizabeth
0:10:20 > 0:10:22as she passed away under that name,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24however she also used the name Laura.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28This was completely unknown to us at the beginning of our research,
0:10:28 > 0:10:31and therefore we struggled to find a marriage for her originally.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35It was only when we found her death record that we were then able
0:10:35 > 0:10:38to discover that she actually married under the name Laura,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41and therefore that's why we couldn't find her.
0:10:41 > 0:10:42Worryingly for the team,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46the pattern of name changes continued across the family tree.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Mary used the name Margaret and May,
0:10:50 > 0:10:51and this was just very hard for us
0:10:51 > 0:10:54to know which name she would have married under,
0:10:54 > 0:10:56which name she would have passed away under,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59obviously we had to consider any children she may have had,
0:10:59 > 0:11:02she may have been using a different name on their birth certificate.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06The research was now looking time-consuming and complex.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09When a whole family tends to change their name,
0:11:09 > 0:11:12this really makes our job difficult because we are then dealing with
0:11:12 > 0:11:17potentially 11 or 12 people who we have no idea what name
0:11:17 > 0:11:20they're going by when they get married, when they pass away.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23At this stage, the team still had no idea if Mairi's estate
0:11:23 > 0:11:26would be valuable enough to cover their costs.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29Would their gamble to take it on pay off?
0:11:33 > 0:11:38Sometimes, the work of the heir hunters can uncover a family secret
0:11:38 > 0:11:39that was taken to the grave.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42Oh, right, OK. Well, that's interesting.
0:11:42 > 0:11:48And that was the case when Celtic Research took on the estate of a man called Colin Maclennan.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51There are some people who live the most unusual lives,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54dramatic lives, interesting lives,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56and you could write whole books on them.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00The company is run by father and son team Peter and Hector Birchwood,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03and they have case managers based around the UK.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Like most firms, they scour the government's Bona Vacantia list,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10looking for newly advertised estates.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12But they also take on much older cases
0:12:12 > 0:12:15in the hope of succeeding where others have failed.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Estates often lay unclaimed for many years because nobody has been able
0:12:19 > 0:12:22to solve them, so we like to revisit these cases.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Perhaps there's a new piece of information has come up recently
0:12:25 > 0:12:28that may be able to help us solve them.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32The estate of Colin Maclennan was one such case.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37He had died on April 23, 1989, and time was running out
0:12:37 > 0:12:40to find heirs to his estimated £12,000 estate.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45If an estate has been unclaimed for 30 years, it becomes irrecoverable.
0:12:45 > 0:12:48And it will fall to the Crown.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Because Colin had died in 1989, the deadline was looming,
0:12:52 > 0:12:55so I knew that if nobody presented a claim
0:12:55 > 0:12:58it would fall to the government forever.
0:13:02 > 0:13:08Colin died in a hotel in the Lake District town of Windermere aged 63.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11He had lived in Paddington in West London for much of his life,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14and rented a flat in this tower block.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17He worked as a porter, but little else is known about him,
0:13:17 > 0:13:21and sadly no photos of him have survived.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25Brenda Flynn has lived in Paddington for over 50 years,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28and saw the area change a great deal during the '70s and '80s,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31when Colin was also living there.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32It's changed a lot.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36When I first moved here, there was a bakery,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38two fishmongers,
0:13:38 > 0:13:42but it's mostly the business side that has changed so much,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45and there weren't as many children and dogs there
0:13:45 > 0:13:48then as there are now.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54Hector had very little information to go on,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57and Colin's surname was a cause for concern.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03The surname Maclennan, spelled M-A-C, is not particularly common.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Unfortunately we can't rule out other variants,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09using Mc, for example, which is much more common,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12because that is an acceptable way of spelling the name
0:14:12 > 0:14:15and people can alternate between one or the other,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19so given that, we knew that it was going to be difficult
0:14:19 > 0:14:21to search for this particular family.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25And that was not the only potential problem Hector faced.
0:14:25 > 0:14:26If a name sounds Scottish or Irish,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29it can lead to many different avenues of research.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32If it's Irish, sometimes the records won't be available.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36But both for Scottish and Irish estates,
0:14:36 > 0:14:39because of the migration patterns, they may have gone
0:14:39 > 0:14:41to the United States or even Canada,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43so we then have to keep in mind
0:14:43 > 0:14:46that we may have to look elsewhere to find a family.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Undeterred, Hector begun the search
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and he was quickly able to rule out immediate family.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56We looked through the marriage indexes,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59all throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland for Colin
0:14:59 > 0:15:01and we didn't find any that matched.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Given he had no known children,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06that meant that we had to search through his parents
0:15:06 > 0:15:11for any siblings or any other cousins that might be able to claim.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13But having found a record of Colin's birth,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17the case suddenly became even more complicated.
0:15:17 > 0:15:19It showed that his mother was Mary Maclennan.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22He was born in a women and children's hospital,
0:15:22 > 0:15:26and he was born illegitimately. There was no father listed.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29It was yet another bad sign for Hector.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33If a person is born illegitimately and only the mother is named,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36it halves your chances of being able to find any heirs,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39because you can only trace the maternal family.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Colin's birth certificate had also revealed that, at the time,
0:15:45 > 0:15:49his mother Mary was working as a domestic servant -
0:15:49 > 0:15:52a common career choice for young girls back then.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55People hired domestic servants
0:15:55 > 0:15:59because looking after houses in an age where domestic technology
0:15:59 > 0:16:01was still something that was emerging
0:16:01 > 0:16:05was an awful lot of hard work and extremely time-consuming.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07It's more than a full-time job for one person,
0:16:07 > 0:16:09even in the smallest household.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12The people that would be hiring domestic servants in the late 1920s
0:16:12 > 0:16:16and then the early '30s varied from town to town and place to place,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20but in London, you run the whole gamut between the royal family,
0:16:20 > 0:16:22right the way down to lower-middle-class families.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25The address of Mary's first job suggests
0:16:25 > 0:16:28she was working for a very wealthy family.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33Mary would have been working a very fancy household in London.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37Hyde Park Gardens is a street which is just off Hyde Park itself
0:16:37 > 0:16:39and that has been for many hundreds of years
0:16:39 > 0:16:42one of the most exclusive addresses in London,
0:16:42 > 0:16:47so these houses are so big, they have separate accommodation for their servants.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48But whatever the house,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51the life of a domestic servant could be very tough.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54In London households, you would have been up at the crack of dawn,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58around 5am, 5.30am, because a lot of the work
0:16:58 > 0:17:00and the particularly dirty work like cleaning,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03setting fires, cleaning doorsteps,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07would have been expected to be finished by the time that the family
0:17:07 > 0:17:09were awake and up in the house.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12And you're never really off-duty if your employer is ill,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15if their children need you in the middle of the night,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17you can't very well not answer a bell.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19You have to go down.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22It seemed Mary had gone into service aged just 14,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25but soon afterwards fell unexpectedly pregnant.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27It definitely wouldn't have been uncommon
0:17:27 > 0:17:32for girls employed in domestic service to get pregnant.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36However, if they did become pregnant, they would lose their job,
0:17:36 > 0:17:39so they would have had to try and hide it,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41or quit their job before they started showing.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45The actual people she could turn to would have been very minimal
0:17:45 > 0:17:48and also, just depended, obviously, on who the father was.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52I mean, if the father was, say, you know, the master of the household,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55then certainly she wouldn't want him to know.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58The likelihood is, if relatives and work colleagues would have found out
0:17:58 > 0:18:00she was pregnant,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04they would have publicly shunned her because it was shameful.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08It would have been a daunting time for the young Mary.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10During this whole process, it's likely
0:18:10 > 0:18:15that Mary would have felt anxious, scared, nervous,
0:18:15 > 0:18:20her body's changing, she's so young and, you know,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22you don't know the circumstances of how she got pregnant.
0:18:22 > 0:18:27When it came to having her baby, Mary really only had one option.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Women's hospitals were starting to become more common in the 1920s.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35These hospitals were for women that were pregnant,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37that were out of wedlock.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Conditions for childbirth during this time
0:18:40 > 0:18:41would have been very basic,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44so the likelihood is, for somebody so young,
0:18:44 > 0:18:45you would have been very scared.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48There wouldn't have been all the equipment and machines.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50It just would have been a midwife,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53very little in terms of pain relief.
0:18:53 > 0:18:56You would have had that attitude of, right, you just get on with it.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00"You've got pregnant, you get on with it and you give birth."
0:19:05 > 0:19:10The circumstances surrounding Colin's birth were significant for Hector.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13The fact that Mary was so young when she had Colin made us think about
0:19:13 > 0:19:17what happened afterwards. He could have been living with his mother,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20as many children did, however,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23he could have also been fostered out to another family.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Hector also had to consider the possibility
0:19:26 > 0:19:27that Colin had been adopted
0:19:27 > 0:19:31and if he had, this would have a huge bearing on the research.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34When adoption laws were brought in in 1926,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36it changed inheritance rights
0:19:36 > 0:19:39so adopted children gained all the inheritance rights
0:19:39 > 0:19:43from the family that they were adopted into and they lost
0:19:43 > 0:19:46all the inheritance rights for their biological family.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Hector needed to know what had happened to Colin.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54He finally found a record of him on the 1946 electoral register.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57We found him living in Willesden with the Parker family.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59But unfortunately, he wasn't there living with his mother.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02Was this a clue that Colin had been adopted?
0:20:02 > 0:20:06And if so, would Hector be able to find heirs
0:20:06 > 0:20:09and finally crack a 26-year-old case?
0:20:12 > 0:20:14In the UK, every year,
0:20:14 > 0:20:19thousands of people are informed of a completely unexpected inheritance.
0:20:19 > 0:20:21It was exciting when I got the call,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24cos then I could now find out that I have got relatives out there
0:20:24 > 0:20:26that I didn't know anything about that.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27The heir hunters often unite
0:20:27 > 0:20:30relatives who weren't aware of each other,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33as well as handing over surprise windfalls.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Family account with £320,000 in it.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38No way!
0:20:39 > 0:20:43But there are still cases that have left the heir hunters baffled
0:20:43 > 0:20:46and today, we have details of two.
0:20:46 > 0:20:51First is Minnie Needle, who passed away on the 6th of October 1989.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55She was born in Carlisle in Cumbria in 1908.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00And her parents were Charles MacDonald Needle and Annie Dobie.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02It is believed Minnie may have had a son.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04Do you know who this could be?
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Next is the estate of James William Galway,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11who was born in Belfast in 1921.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16James never married and sadly passed away in Lambeth in 1997.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19Could Minnie or James be a relative of yours?
0:21:19 > 0:21:23If so, there could be a surprise inheritance coming your way.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Heir hunting firm Finders International were searching for
0:21:32 > 0:21:35beneficiaries of Mairi Windsor, who had died in London.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38This case was advertised by the government legal department,
0:21:38 > 0:21:40so we've picked up on it from there.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43While the value of her estate was unknown,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47the case was proving to be riddled with complications.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52The challenges on the maternal side were the name changes, mainly,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55and also the fact that everyone moved around quite often.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58We were dealing with so many different countries,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and places within England, we were unsure as to where people were.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05So it affected more of our early stages of research.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14Mairi Windsor had passed away in September 2015
0:22:14 > 0:22:16without leaving a will.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19She'd lived on this Lambeth housing estate for over 50 years,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23where she became good friends with her neighbour Joan Evans.
0:22:25 > 0:22:31We were of the same age and we sort of got on well together.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34You know, she was...
0:22:35 > 0:22:38She was a good neighbour. Really good neighbour.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41You know, I used to go out shopping
0:22:41 > 0:22:46and she'd be on the balcony with her cat and we'd have a chat
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and, yeah, we were quite friendly.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Having established there were no heirs
0:22:56 > 0:22:58on the paternal side of the family,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01the team were pinning all their hopes on the maternal side.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03And it was proving tricky.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06So many people are using their middle names
0:23:06 > 0:23:08rather than their first names,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10and this has caused us to doubt
0:23:10 > 0:23:14a lot of the information that we've found.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17The team knew they were under pressure from the competition.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19We have come across two other companies
0:23:19 > 0:23:23who are also working this case, so it's now become highly competitive
0:23:23 > 0:23:27and we need to make sure that we're being quick with our research.
0:23:28 > 0:23:31When dealing with a large family, obviously, you have you have to
0:23:31 > 0:23:34keep in mind the competition may be working on a different stem
0:23:34 > 0:23:37and therefore, they may be able to contact someone before you do,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40because you've been occupied with another family member.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44Mairi's mum Ellen was one of 12,
0:23:44 > 0:23:47which made it a huge family to look into.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49Research had shown that four of Ellen's brothers
0:23:49 > 0:23:53and one of her sisters had died without having children.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55But there were still five stems of the family
0:23:55 > 0:23:57that could potentially lead to heirs.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02- Have you had any luck finding a death for Evelyn?- No.- No, nothing.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04No. Because I don't know whether she's under...
0:24:04 > 0:24:06- Evelyn or Alice. - Evelyn or Alice.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10With most of Mairi's aunts and uncles appearing to change names,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14Camilla had to order certificates to be certain who was who.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17We also received a few birth certificates back,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21especially the one of Alice Evelyn McGill and that may help us with
0:24:21 > 0:24:24finding what Alice...
0:24:24 > 0:24:27What name Alice passed away as.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30We know that she married and she had three children.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33However, we are struggling at the moment to find that marriage
0:24:33 > 0:24:35and to find the children.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38But while some stems were still proving tricky,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40there were signs the team's research
0:24:40 > 0:24:42was finally starting to pay dividends.
0:24:42 > 0:24:44We'll keep working with the maternal side.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48We know that there's five possible heirs now on another stem.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50We were told that there's two heirs,
0:24:50 > 0:24:53so we'll hopefully find someone within the next few hours
0:24:53 > 0:24:56and let them know of the inheritance.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00And it wasn't long before that research paid off.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04One of the aunts who was causing problems for the team
0:25:04 > 0:25:06was Mary McGill.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09It does become quite difficult if you can't find someone's marriage.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12You could be potentially dealing with hundreds of marriages,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15if it's a common surname or even a common first name.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17After many hours of research,
0:25:17 > 0:25:21the team finally got through to someone who could help.
0:25:21 > 0:25:22Thanks, bye.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26When speaking to family members,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29we discovered that Mary McGill married a Parker
0:25:29 > 0:25:34and whilst we couldn't find a Mary McGill marrying a Mr Parker,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37we were able to find a marriage certificate for a May McGill.
0:25:37 > 0:25:43Mary had been going under the name May and she had married a Mr Parker.
0:25:43 > 0:25:45And we believe they had three children together
0:25:45 > 0:25:48who would have all been cousins of the deceased.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50They started with the eldest child first.
0:25:50 > 0:25:54One of the siblings who has passed away, called Frida,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57she actually went on to have seven children herself
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and these will all be cousins once removed of the deceased.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04It was a crucial breakthrough and the team could now begin
0:26:04 > 0:26:07trying to contact these seven potential heirs.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11One of them was Eileen,
0:26:11 > 0:26:15a keen amateur genealogist who knew of Mairi's mum as Josephine,
0:26:15 > 0:26:19but, worryingly, her research didn't fully match Camilla's.
0:26:19 > 0:26:25When I spoke to them, they told me they were looking for relatives of
0:26:25 > 0:26:27Marie Windsor.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31And I said I'd never heard of Marie Windsor.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35She'd never come up on any of my research that I'd done.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39And I was unsure whose child she would be.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Had they definitely got the right person?
0:26:46 > 0:26:51Then they sent me some details for me to look at
0:26:51 > 0:26:56and I found that she was born in 1933,
0:26:56 > 0:26:58which I thought, realised, that she must...
0:26:58 > 0:27:03could only be the child of Josephine, because all the others,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06I knew their children, and they were a lot older.
0:27:07 > 0:27:09Having understood her connection to Mairi,
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Eileen still couldn't understand why she hadn't known about
0:27:13 > 0:27:15her cousin once removed,
0:27:15 > 0:27:19but a possible answer seemed to lie on the other side of the world.
0:27:19 > 0:27:20From the mid-1940s,
0:27:20 > 0:27:24the Australian government introduced a variety of initiatives
0:27:24 > 0:27:27to try and encourage Brits to emigrate.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30This included the famous £10 Pom scheme,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34where people only had to pay £10 for their sea fare to Australia.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38With opportunities in post-war Britain limited,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42thousands of people made the move down under
0:27:42 > 0:27:44and it seems Mairi Windsor was among them.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46In 1950, aged 17,
0:27:46 > 0:27:51she boarded a boat bound for Sydney and she was listed as a housemaid.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Mairi returned to Britain shortly afterwards, but by then,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00it appears she and her parents had lost touch with their family.
0:28:01 > 0:28:06I really didn't know, we missed out of knowing her, because in London,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09we have quite a few... three other cousins
0:28:09 > 0:28:12and I'm surprised that they didn't know about her,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15unless she didn't know that she had relatives in London.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19When Eileen was doing her own research into the family,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21Josephine had always been a mystery.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24If we could have traced Josephine,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28then we would have probably known about her, but unfortunately,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31only having her maiden name,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35if you put that into a site, it very rarely comes up
0:28:35 > 0:28:39with their connections to marriage or anything else.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42The only thing I can think of is that if she went to Australia,
0:28:42 > 0:28:46she came back and didn't contact anybody.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49And you know, I don't say they were a close family
0:28:49 > 0:28:53but I think that they were in touch with one another in general.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57So I just don't know how that happened.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03But Eileen can recall seeing her other relatives while growing up.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06I mean, the fact that I knew some of them when I was young, very young,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09a child, because I used to stay with my grandparents.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12I mean, I think I saw my Auntie Connie twice
0:29:12 > 0:29:15and she only lived seven miles away.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Of course, in those days,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19you didn't have the transport to get around
0:29:19 > 0:29:23and the only reason I know of my aunt Evelyn in London
0:29:23 > 0:29:27is because we used to stay with her sometimes in London,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30so we knew her and her children.
0:29:30 > 0:29:33And I was quite surprised to find
0:29:33 > 0:29:37that so many of the children didn't have children.
0:29:37 > 0:29:42It's unusual in a family not to know you've got cousins,
0:29:42 > 0:29:45you know, within a stone's throw of you.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49For Eileen, it's been an unexpected revelation
0:29:49 > 0:29:51and one she wishes had come sooner.
0:29:51 > 0:29:56I was amazed to find that we had got another relative
0:29:56 > 0:30:00and that we knew nothing about her, which I find very sad, really,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03that she, you know, didn't know that she had
0:30:03 > 0:30:07other relatives and I think that's quite a sad thing, really.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11And that she only died last year and if we'd known about her,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13we could've got in contact.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17In addition to Eileen,
0:30:17 > 0:30:21the team in the office had signed up a further 16 heirs
0:30:21 > 0:30:24and they were pleased they'd been able to solve a case
0:30:24 > 0:30:27that at times looked complicated and daunting.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30If you begin a family tree which you know is quite large,
0:30:30 > 0:30:33especially if you're dealing with something
0:30:33 > 0:30:36within the double figures of 10 or 11 stems, for example,
0:30:36 > 0:30:40you always must keep in mind that potentially quite a lot of these may die out.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43So initially your research may seem like quite a lot,
0:30:43 > 0:30:47however, especially with children born in the 1800s,
0:30:47 > 0:30:50there were quite a few infant deaths or people died quite young
0:30:50 > 0:30:51before they had children,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54in which case your research is suddenly quite small in comparison
0:30:54 > 0:30:57to what you thought it might be.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01But there was a key question still outstanding for the team.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04They'd taken on the case without knowing its value
0:31:04 > 0:31:07and when the size of the estate was eventually revealed,
0:31:07 > 0:31:09it wasn't quite what they'd hoped for.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12The estate was worth just under £7,000 in the end.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16In terms of its worth for working, there was a lot of research
0:31:16 > 0:31:18and it involved a lot more than we initially hoped.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22We hoped that it would be of higher value, but we did locate
0:31:22 > 0:31:26all the beneficiaries who will be entitled to a share in her estate
0:31:26 > 0:31:28so we solved the case in the end.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Whilst it may not have been the company's most lucrative case,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35it has certainly been very satisfying for Camilla and the team.
0:31:35 > 0:31:38When you resolve a difficult case, it does feel very rewarding,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42it's when you've been tracing a certain line for weeks, potentially,
0:31:42 > 0:31:44and you've ordered lots of certificates
0:31:44 > 0:31:47and knowing that you've put a lot of time into it,
0:31:47 > 0:31:51because it's a really good feeling when you've found someone
0:31:51 > 0:31:54and located the right beneficiaries to the estate.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58And as a result, it's spurred Eileen on
0:31:58 > 0:32:01to find out more about her large and long lost family.
0:32:01 > 0:32:06I'm now trying to get in contact with the cousins I know of,
0:32:06 > 0:32:10unfortunately they've all moved from the addresses that I had,
0:32:10 > 0:32:15so that's another job that I've got to try and do now.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19So I'm hoping that somehow they could get the other people
0:32:19 > 0:32:24who are still surviving to be able to contact each other,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27would be nice, so that we know where people are.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Right, do you know what family that was from?
0:32:36 > 0:32:39On the £12,000 estate of Colin Maclennan,
0:32:39 > 0:32:43heir hunting firm Celtic Research were trying to crack a case
0:32:43 > 0:32:45that had lain unsolved for 26 years.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48If an estate is unclaimed for 30 years,
0:32:48 > 0:32:52it will pass to the government and it will become irrecoverable.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55I knew that because Colin had died in 1989
0:32:55 > 0:32:58that deadline would be looming
0:32:58 > 0:33:01and if no claim was made, the government would keep the money.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06Colin had passed away on the 23rd of April, 1989.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10But it was his illegitimate birth to domestic servant Mary Maclennan
0:33:10 > 0:33:13that was causing headaches for Hector.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17Many girls who had no other skills went into domestic service.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19They would sometimes fall pregnant
0:33:19 > 0:33:21and illegitimate births would then ensue.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26Because Mary had been just 15 when Colin was born,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29it was possible he'd been given up for adoption.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31If we think that there's an adoption,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35we have to find out either way whether it's a legal adoption
0:33:35 > 0:33:36or an informal adoption.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39When Hector searched adoption records, nothing came up.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42This meant that any heirs to Colin's estate
0:33:42 > 0:33:45would come from his mother Mary's family.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48In order to find out what happened to Mary,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51we looked for her marriage from the date of birth of the deceased,
0:33:51 > 0:33:55we looked under all spelling variants throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland
0:33:55 > 0:33:59and we were lucky enough to find one marriage to a Farquhar Maclennan,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02and through that information, from the marriage certificate,
0:34:02 > 0:34:07we were able to find her in the 1911 census living in Scotland.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12Mary and Farquhar married in February 1938
0:34:12 > 0:34:14in a register office in London.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18But the marriage also revealed a remarkable detail.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22Both Farquhar and Mary had been born with the same surname.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25It's unusual for somebody to marry somebody with the same surname
0:34:25 > 0:34:29and that may bring up the question of whether they are marrying
0:34:29 > 0:34:33someone that they are related to, but that's not necessarily the case.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35And in the case of Farquhar and Mary,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38it seemed it was pure coincidence.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41But the big question was whether the couple had any children
0:34:41 > 0:34:43who would be Colin's half siblings.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45Hector began the search.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47The obvious place to start was in London
0:34:47 > 0:34:49because that's where they got married
0:34:49 > 0:34:51and unfortunately we couldn't find any there.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54In fact, we couldn't find any in all of England and Wales.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57So I thought, as she was from Scotland,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00perhaps she went up there to have additional children.
0:35:00 > 0:35:02Hector's hunch turned out to be spot-on.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06When we looked in Scotland, we found that she had four children.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10Hector found that between 1940 and 1946,
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Farquhar and Mary had three sons and a daughter called Chrissie.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18Having found a number for her, Hector got straight on the phone,
0:35:18 > 0:35:20knowing it could be a delicate call.
0:35:20 > 0:35:25Making sensitive calls to potential heirs is part of our daily routine
0:35:25 > 0:35:27and this has to be dealt with some tact,
0:35:27 > 0:35:30particularly because some of the information that we're going to be
0:35:30 > 0:35:32sharing with that person may not be something
0:35:32 > 0:35:34that they'll be pleased to hear.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38It just dropped like a bombshell.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41I was just...I couldn't believe it.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44I said, "No," I said, "you must be making a mistake."
0:35:45 > 0:35:47Until the call from Hector,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Chrissie had had no idea about her half-brother Colin.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54I felt sad because I wanted to see what he looked like,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57what sort of person was he, you know, and I was really...
0:35:57 > 0:36:00Oh, I just couldn't stop thinking about it.
0:36:00 > 0:36:02You know, I went to bed that night,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05and even now I'm still thinking about him, I still can't...
0:36:05 > 0:36:08you know, I can't get over it. It's amazing.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11It was a secret her mum Mary had taken to the grave.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14She never mentioned Colin, never at all.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17But I know that she used to go off to have little holidays
0:36:17 > 0:36:20what I thought was, you know, going...
0:36:20 > 0:36:22I never would've thought where she was...
0:36:22 > 0:36:26Never said, really, where she was going or who she was seeing.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28But she just used to go off for a few days
0:36:28 > 0:36:32and I do have a feeling she was probably...she knew where he was.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Chrissie and her mum Mary were very close.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37My mother was absolutely amazing.
0:36:37 > 0:36:39She was an amazing lady.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41She was very gentle,
0:36:41 > 0:36:46very kind and she always would do wonderful food for everyone.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50Whoever came in the house, she'd always put a spread up for them.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53She loved to cook, she was a wonderful cook.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58But discovering what had happened to her mother at just 15
0:36:58 > 0:36:59has been hard for Chrissie.
0:36:59 > 0:37:04Oh, my mum was so young, it must've been a difficult time for her
0:37:04 > 0:37:08because she was so lovely and it was hard, it must've been really hard,
0:37:08 > 0:37:12she wouldn't have known what to do because she was just a child.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16It was frowned upon, you know, to be pregnant at such a young age.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20Knowing the truth has helped Chrissie
0:37:20 > 0:37:22to better understand her mum.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24In my mum, I did see sadness
0:37:24 > 0:37:29because she used to warn me all the time when I was growing up
0:37:29 > 0:37:32because she used to say to me, "No, don't marry or don't go with that,"
0:37:32 > 0:37:36and, "Be careful what you're doing," because she knew the hardship
0:37:36 > 0:37:39of you going to a wrong relationship.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42And Christie believes her mum's experience as a teenager
0:37:42 > 0:37:45had a big impact on her throughout her life.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47And when she came back from the Lake District, you know,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51she'd go into her bedroom and she was private,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53but very private, you know.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Keep herself to herself.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58I don't think she wanted to burden us with it.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01After 26 years,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05it seemed Hector had finally solved the case of Colin Maclennan
0:38:05 > 0:38:10and all he had to do now was help his heirs claim their inheritance.
0:38:10 > 0:38:16Well, he was entitled to a share in an estate which we were researching.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20But there was about to be a sudden and unexpected twist.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23We made a claim on behalf of Chrissie and her surviving siblings.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27Unfortunately, the government legal department rejected the claim.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29It was a bombshell for Hector.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31The department didn't think
0:38:31 > 0:38:34there was enough evidence to back up the claim.
0:38:34 > 0:38:36We could not prove that the Mary Maclennan
0:38:36 > 0:38:39who was the mother of Chrissie was the same Mary Maclennan
0:38:39 > 0:38:42who was the mother of the deceased, Colin.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45Having been tantalisingly close to completing the case,
0:38:45 > 0:38:47everything was now in jeopardy.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51But Hector wasn't about to give up that easily
0:38:51 > 0:38:53and set about proving the connection.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56I tried to compare the signatures between the mother
0:38:56 > 0:38:59that was listed on Colin's birth certificate
0:38:59 > 0:39:02and the mother listed on Chrissie's birth certificate.
0:39:02 > 0:39:06To my untrained eye, they looked almost exactly the same.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08However, the challenge was to prove
0:39:08 > 0:39:12that they were both written by the same person.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21Today, Hector is on his way to get an expert opinion.
0:39:21 > 0:39:22I'm meeting a handwriting expert,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25and I'm going to be taking the birth certificates that I have on the case
0:39:25 > 0:39:27for her to look at and hopefully,
0:39:27 > 0:39:29through her expertise and through her experience,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32she'll be able to confirm that the signatures that we have
0:39:32 > 0:39:36for the mother of the deceased and the mother of our heirs is the same.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40Graphologist Emma Baich is able to offer a detailed analysis
0:39:40 > 0:39:43of a person's handwriting and Hector is keen to know
0:39:43 > 0:39:47if she agrees with his opinion on Mary's signature.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51I have a hunch and I'm hoping you'll be able to confirm my hunch,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54which is that two people share the same mother -
0:39:54 > 0:39:59the deceased and what I believe to be his half-sister, Chrissie.
0:39:59 > 0:40:05This is the copy of the deceased's birth certificate,
0:40:05 > 0:40:07with his mother signing it.
0:40:07 > 0:40:11She would have been about 30 when she had Chrissie
0:40:11 > 0:40:14and I believe that she signed this document.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18And maybe you can tell me whether the signatures that we have taken
0:40:18 > 0:40:20from the original registers
0:40:20 > 0:40:23match the same person.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25OK, let's have a look.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Obviously, 15 is quite a young age anyway,
0:40:28 > 0:40:30whether it's having a child or not,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34so there will be quite a few changes between being a teenager and 30s.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36If I was to play devil's advocate,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39can you tell me what the differences are between the two signatures?
0:40:39 > 0:40:41The way she's actually signed it is different.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45She's written her full name here and here, she's just put M Maclennan.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48This has been written more speedily than that one.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50There's more hesitation there
0:40:50 > 0:40:53and there is altogether more feeling of formality.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55However, I can see immediately
0:40:55 > 0:40:58that there are similarities in that she has
0:40:58 > 0:41:03quite a long starting stroke here on both of the Ms.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05This is a little bit straighter.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10Also the L, she does a very obvious rounded loop to the L,
0:41:10 > 0:41:12which she does here as well.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14Handwriting does change, obviously,
0:41:14 > 0:41:19from almost hour to hour depending on how you feel.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22However, your main characteristics are unlikely to change
0:41:22 > 0:41:25unless you've had traumas in your life.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28Although it could be said that having a child
0:41:28 > 0:41:31at a very young age yourself is a form of trauma.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Well, given the information that you have before you,
0:41:35 > 0:41:37what would your conclusions be?
0:41:37 > 0:41:39Well, my conclusions would be
0:41:39 > 0:41:43that she was feeling very differently about her situation
0:41:43 > 0:41:46and really her personality was different
0:41:46 > 0:41:48at different times of her life.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51However, I believe it is the same person,
0:41:51 > 0:41:54simply because there are so many characteristics
0:41:54 > 0:41:57that would be extremely difficult to forge.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00I would say, yes, this has been written by the same person.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05Well, I'm very pleased with Emma's conclusions.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08I think we're both agreed that it is the same person,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11signing the same signature for a birth certificate
0:42:11 > 0:42:13at two different stages in her life.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16After the initial rejection, Hector resubmitted the claim,
0:42:16 > 0:42:21arguing that the handwriting on both documents was from the same person.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Having demonstrated that the two signatures
0:42:23 > 0:42:25were written by the same person,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28we were able to prove the claim to my immense relief.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30It was a great result for Hector and the team
0:42:30 > 0:42:33and meant he had finally solved the case.
0:42:33 > 0:42:36Cases that have been unsolved for nearly a quarter of a century
0:42:36 > 0:42:40or more present a real challenge for any genealogist.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43So I like to pride myself on being able to solve cases like that,
0:42:43 > 0:42:46because there's nothing more satisfying.
0:42:46 > 0:42:47But for heir Chrissie,
0:42:47 > 0:42:52the discovery of her half-brother is the start of a whole new chapter.
0:42:52 > 0:42:54I would love to do research into Colin.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57I would really love to know more.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00I just wish I'd met him and I really mean that.