0:00:04 > 0:00:08Today, it's all hands on deck in the race to find heirs.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10It feels like a lot of the numbers I call don't work.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And the hunt uncovers a family tragedy.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17His sister and his mother have been looking for him for many, many years.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19Unfortunately, they never found him.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22On another case, there's a problem at the first hurdle.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25We can't find anyone under that name or within that year.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29But the search reveals a leading figure in the community.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33You could go anywhere and...people would know him.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36It's all in a day's work for the heir hunters.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45It's 11am...
0:00:45 > 0:00:49I think it needs to be put on the file that that's what you've discovered.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51..and, in London, case manager Gareth Langford
0:00:51 > 0:00:54from Fraser and Fraser has a new case to work.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59So we've just had a referral of a case, John Hopkinson.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02We don't know much about the gentleman at the moment.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05We've been asked to assist in locating his next of kin.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08- Get the birth and marriage... - Yeah.- Look at that and then we'll work on it.- OK.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12Gareth is quick to get researcher Sinead on the case as well.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16The information I've got so far is that the deceased has died this year
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and that he was born on the 18th of December 1940,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22and now I'm going to look for his birth.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25The case has been referred to them privately
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and they need to work fast.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30This particular case, it's not in the public domain at the moment,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32so it's important that we crack on with it.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35It's a race to get it done as quickly as possible
0:01:35 > 0:01:37so that no other company will get a look in.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40But the heir hunters have scant information to work with.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48John Hopkinson died in May 2016,
0:01:48 > 0:01:52having spent the last years of his life living in the seaside town of
0:01:52 > 0:01:56Margate. Little is known about John and no photos of him appear to
0:01:56 > 0:01:59survive, but, living in Margate,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02he would have been surrounded by a friendly and close-knit community.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05You haven't got the hustle and bustle of living in London.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07Do what you like, when you like.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12It just suits us, me and the wife, you know?
0:02:12 > 0:02:13Nice and peaceful, you know?
0:02:14 > 0:02:16And, erm...
0:02:17 > 0:02:18We enjoy it here.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22John passed away aged 76 without a will and never
0:02:22 > 0:02:24married or had children.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29So the hunt is on to find any living relatives.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30OK, thank you. Bye.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33And despite limited information,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Sinead is already making swift progress.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38So I've found John's birth.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43His mother's maiden name is Walker and, because he's born in December,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46on the 18th of December, his birth is actually registered in 1941 in
0:02:46 > 0:02:50the March quarter, in...Nottingham.
0:02:50 > 0:02:51So, for that, I'm going to...
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Now I've got an area to look at.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57I'm going to see if I can find his parents' marriage.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03Sinead needs to find a marriage in the right area between a Hopkinson
0:03:03 > 0:03:06and a Walker. But time is of the essence,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09as Gareth has some information about the value of John's estate.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12On this case, it is a modest value, so we can't spend too much time,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14really, looking at it.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17What we need to do is get it up-to-date as quickly as possible,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20so we, you know, limit our resources, really.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25The estate is worth approximately £20,000.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Gareth knows every second counts with these early stages
0:03:29 > 0:03:31of research on a privately-referred case.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33PHONE RINGS
0:03:33 > 0:03:35- Hello?- But any day it could become in the public domain,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37which means it would then be competitive,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40and with a smaller-value estate, that's the last thing we want.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42On the front line of research,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45Sinead has made good progress with John's close family.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49So far on the tree, I've found John's parents there.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53They are Hilda Frances Walker and Reginald Verity Hopkinson.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58They married in the March quarter of 1932 in Nottinghamshire.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01And Sinead soon makes a crucial discovery
0:04:01 > 0:04:04which could change the whole case.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07John also has one sister called Janice Hopkinson,
0:04:07 > 0:04:10who was born in 1935 in Nottingham.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14In any case where there is close kin,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17the heir hunters know they need to tread carefully.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Something could have happened within the family meaning the brother and sister lost touch.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27If Janice is still alive, she'd be the sole heir,
0:04:27 > 0:04:30which would allow the team to wrap up this low-value case
0:04:30 > 0:04:32quickly and cost-effectively.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36- Just start from the beginning.- Yeah.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40But after searching every record she can, Sinead hits a dead end.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46Looking at Janice, I've found that she marries a Trevor G Trickett in 1976
0:04:46 > 0:04:50in Nottingham, but after that she just disappears.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55There is no trace of her on any system I can find.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57But Sinead has also spotted something odd
0:04:57 > 0:04:59about Janice's mother Hilda.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01But there is actually nothing for Hilda.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05There has been no death for her, so she's also disappeared.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08All can get is, really, is her birth and marriage and that's it,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11- because there's no death for her or anything.- Thank you.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Gareth steps in to see if he can help.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19The team has hit a dead end, and desperately needs more information,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21but Gareth has a possible ace up his sleeve.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25In a case when it's referred to us, you know, they've asked for our assistance,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28so they are often quite helpful with the questions that we may ask.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Gareth goes back to the people who referred them the case and is able
0:05:32 > 0:05:35to get some valuable new information about John's sister Janice.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39That's quite crucial, actually, because we need to count it out.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41She possibly went to France.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43OK. That's all updated.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Sinead now needs to follow up on this major new lead
0:05:48 > 0:05:52and hopes of keeping the research costs down are fading fast.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54When somebody moves abroad like this,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57it does make our research a lot more difficult.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00There is a possibility that she may have remarried, which would then...
0:06:00 > 0:06:02It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05It could be anywhere.
0:06:05 > 0:06:06But Sinead is undeterred
0:06:06 > 0:06:10and wants to explore the French connection as fast as possible.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15There isn't a deadline just yet, but it's...
0:06:15 > 0:06:16It's sort of like we set our own deadlines,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19just to get it done as quickly as possible.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Also you sort of, like,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24have your own little race against the other companies,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27that you can beat their researchers. So...
0:06:32 > 0:06:35With the search for John's sister stalled,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38and with questions as to why her and her brother appear to have lost
0:06:38 > 0:06:42contact, the team has no choice but to look to the wider family in the
0:06:42 > 0:06:44hope it provides some answers.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48It really is a challenge for us because, our starting point,
0:06:48 > 0:06:49we need to know where they went.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56So Sinead is going to have to move to the wider family
0:06:56 > 0:06:59to see if they know what happened to John's sister and mother.
0:07:01 > 0:07:02So, at this point,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05I'm going to go back and look at cousins and see if any of them know
0:07:05 > 0:07:08what's happened to Janice and Hilda.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12Looking into the wider family means yet more research and more costs,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16but Sinead is able to make quick inroads into John's mother's family.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21Lucky for me, Hilda is Hilda Frances Walker and, on the 1911 census,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25her parents have put her down as Hilda Frances Walker,
0:07:25 > 0:07:26born about 1906.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31It says that her parents are George William Walker and Daisy Emma.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I've looked through the parents' marriage -
0:07:33 > 0:07:35it says that they were married for eight years.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41George and Daisy Walker are John's maternal grandparents.
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Their children would be his maternal aunts and uncles.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51The 1911 census lists George Walker as a herbalist
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and, in an era before many modern medicines were available,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58he would have sold remedies for a wide variety of medical complaints.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01This is the kind of thing he would have very likely had -
0:08:01 > 0:08:03balsam of horehound and squill.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Horehound Marrubium vulgare,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10to warm and lift the phlegm and tar from the chest.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13The origins of herbal medicine stretch back thousands of years
0:08:13 > 0:08:17and the ancient Greeks were among the early civilisations that learned
0:08:17 > 0:08:19to harness the healing power of plants.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Yarrow - Achillea millefolium...
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Named after Achilles, the Greek warrior.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Millefolium is the 1,000 leaves.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31It stops bleeding, so a very, very useful first aid plant.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37When they would take it into battle, because it's specific for very,
0:08:37 > 0:08:42very clean cuts, like a glass cut or a metal wound,
0:08:42 > 0:08:44what you would do is chew it.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47So you take a piece, and if it's a big wound, you take a large,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50you would take it all, chew it up,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54out it comes. Pack the wound with your pulp
0:08:54 > 0:08:56and then lay another piece,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59perhaps a fine piece, across the top of it.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02And then that forms the basis of your compress,
0:09:02 > 0:09:05and then you would then apply the bandaging on top of...
0:09:05 > 0:09:08on top of that. And the idea is they give the flesh on either side of the
0:09:08 > 0:09:09wound something to hold on to,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13to grip on to and then to start restitching itself,
0:09:13 > 0:09:14to re-heal itself.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16It's a good plant ally, yarrow.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Everyone needs to know where their yarrow plants are
0:09:19 > 0:09:23because they're everywhere. You just need to know where they are, so you can find them.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Herbalism remained popular throughout the Victorian era
0:09:26 > 0:09:29and George Walker was well-placed to capitalise.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Through the 1800s and 1900s, herbal medicine was still going very,
0:09:33 > 0:09:36very strong. More people were moving into the cities,
0:09:36 > 0:09:38increased urbanisation, so, first of all,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40people weren't having so much access to their plants.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42They were in the city now.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44People were hungry for herbs
0:09:44 > 0:09:48and so they certainly would have bought their herbs from Mr Walker.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55In the office, the team can use this unusual job as a clue
0:09:55 > 0:09:58in their search for George's marriage to Daisy.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01The right marriage certificate would list him as a herbalist.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Found their marriage and they married in 1902 in Nottingham,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and Daisy's surname is Mortar.
0:10:09 > 0:10:10Now, because I've got...
0:10:10 > 0:10:13They've listed that they've got four children on the census,
0:10:13 > 0:10:17I'm going to do an after '11 birth search to find if they had
0:10:17 > 0:10:21- any more children.- These would be maternal aunts and uncles of John's,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23and their children, his cousins.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The team is hoping these cousins might be able to help them track
0:10:26 > 0:10:28down John's elusive sister Janice.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32But before Sinead has a chance to find any of them,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34there's a dramatic development.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Gareth receives a call from someone who knew Janice...
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Hello.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41- Yeah.- And it changes everything.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45I was advised that the sister actually died in Spain
0:10:45 > 0:10:48with the deceased's mother as well, who also went to Spain.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55But they've also unearthed a family tragedy which had haunted John's
0:10:55 > 0:10:57family for years.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00His sister and his mother have been looking for him for many, many years.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Unfortunately, they never found him.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07As John's sister had died, it means the heir hunters
0:11:07 > 0:11:09must now continue their search for his cousins.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15It's Sinead's job to track them down as quickly as possible,
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and perhaps uncover the reason why John's sister and mum had been
0:11:19 > 0:11:21searching for him for so long.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25- So what have we got?- So we're looking at the maternal side.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29There is a lot of pressure to get this job done so that we can get in
0:11:29 > 0:11:32there first, obviously, and beat the competition.
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Can Gareth and Sinead find heirs
0:11:34 > 0:11:37before the competition gets the case?
0:11:38 > 0:11:40No answer there.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43No joy. It feels like a lot of the numbers I call don't work.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Whilst they were related to each other,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54they weren't actually related to this family.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57In the central London offices of probate research firm
0:11:57 > 0:11:58Finders International,
0:11:58 > 0:12:02assistant case manager Camilla Price had taken on a new case.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05This is a case of Clive Frederick Cable.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07When the case was referred to us from the council,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09they were already in contact with some of the family members.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13This occasionally happens when the council refers matters to us,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16as they may have personally been referred the case by family members,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19so... So therefore they passed these names onto us when...
0:12:19 > 0:12:22getting in contact to find anyone else who may be entitled to
0:12:22 > 0:12:25- the estate.- We need to get a couple of possible addresses.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30The estate was thought to be worth around £32,000,
0:12:30 > 0:12:33and although they'd had a head start in the research,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36the threat of the competition was still in the back of their mind.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Whilst we had been referred this case privately,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42there was always the possibility that the case could have been released to
0:12:42 > 0:12:45the public at any moment, or potentially that the information had been shared to another
0:12:45 > 0:12:49competitor, so we had to treat this case as if it was a competitive case,
0:12:49 > 0:12:52and therefore act immediately and find heirs as soon as possible.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Clive, who was known to his friends as Fred,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11passed away on the 5th of June 2016 in Reedham in Norfolk.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13It's a small, rural village,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15and Fred was a key figure in the local community,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17having set up a tug-of-war team.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23People from all over England knew Fred Cable.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25You could go anywhere and...
0:13:25 > 0:13:27people would know him.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28He was such a character.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33- Yeah. Sad.- Once you met him, you'd never forget him.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36No. Sad loss to the village.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39Fred was always an active man and his school friends,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42who he was in regular contact with throughout his life,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45remember him as a keen sportsman.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Fred used to win all the running at school when...
0:13:48 > 0:13:51In the last years that we were at school together.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53He used to run up the road every day, didn't he?
0:13:53 > 0:13:54- Yeah.- He was running every day.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59He was one of the most fittest men at 65 I ever knew.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01- Yeah.- Till he got diabetes.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03And then, I'm afraid, he went down.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Fred loved to spend time in the company of his friends
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and would set up local meetings at this social club.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13He enjoyed...
0:14:13 > 0:14:16you know, coming up here on a Tuesday night,
0:14:16 > 0:14:18get everyone together,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21and some of the old boys used to come in and have a good yarn.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26And his hospitality wasn't just confined to the social club.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31Yeah, he even organised holidays in the early days.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34I mean, that must have been late-'60s...
0:14:34 > 0:14:35- Late '60s.- Early '70s.- Yes.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37It was '64 when you went to Spain, wasn't it?
0:14:37 > 0:14:42The first... The first time we went to Spain, that was 46 for 12 days,
0:14:42 > 0:14:47£46, and that included the train fare from Norwich station to Gatwick.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52And that snowballed from then on to about, sort of, about ten years,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54and the last time I went there was about 15,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57nearly 20 of us in the gang, all went on holiday altogether, you know?
0:14:57 > 0:14:58He was the instigator.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02But although Fred had a huge group of friends,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05it was a very different story when it came to family,
0:15:05 > 0:15:10and the hunt for his heirs almost stalled before it had even begun.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15There are a few cousins up here left.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17When the council referred the case to us,
0:15:17 > 0:15:21they passed on the name Clive Frederick Cable and a date of birth.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23We couldn't find anyone under that name or within that year.
0:15:24 > 0:15:26It was a massive problem.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31With no record of Fred's birth, the research would be going nowhere.
0:15:31 > 0:15:32And breathe...
0:15:32 > 0:15:35But then Camilla made a surprise breakthrough.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39We played around with the records a bit and thankfully found a name,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41Shirley Frederick Clive Cable,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45and the year of birth matched the year we were looking for.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48Whilst this wasn't the name we were initially looking for within our
0:15:48 > 0:15:51records, we hoped that this would be the right one.
0:15:51 > 0:15:52Thankfully his certificate came back
0:15:52 > 0:15:54and it was the person we were looking for.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Armed with Frederick's full name,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03Camilla was able to carry out searches to ascertain whether or not
0:16:03 > 0:16:05Fred had never married or had children,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09as a spouse or next of kin would be first in line to inherit.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15But in Fred's case, this was far from straightforward.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18We had a lot of options to play with in regards to his name.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Obviously we knew that the deceased was born under Shirley Frederick Clive Cable.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25However, he also used Clive Frederick,
0:16:25 > 0:16:27and there was a possibility that he also used Frederick Clive,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31so we had to consider all these options when looking for marriages.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Hello, it's Ryan Gregory up in London.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36We're a firm of heir hunters...
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Eventually Camilla was satisfied she had exhausted all combinations of
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Fred's name, but news wasn't good.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46We discovered that the deceased was a bachelor,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49therefore he had never married or had any children
0:16:49 > 0:16:52who could potentially be entitled to this estate.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Next, Camilla needed to find out if Fred had siblings,
0:16:55 > 0:16:58but she discovered he was the only child of father
0:16:58 > 0:17:00Frederick Gunton Cable and Elsie Eva Edwards.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Can you try and trace them through and speak to them and find out
0:17:05 > 0:17:08- whether they're related or not? - Mm-hmm.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11But then Camilla made a tragic discovery.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14Sadly, the deceased's father died when Clive was quite young.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Fred was just 12 when his father died and,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21crucially for the heir hunters, his mother had remarried.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24This opened up a new avenue of research.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27There's also always going to be the possibility that she had more
0:17:27 > 0:17:30children who could be half-blood siblings of the deceased.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36Any half-blood brothers or sisters would be sole heirs to the estate.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39OK, great. I'll send that through to you. Bye-bye.
0:17:41 > 0:17:42But after a bit more digging,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45it appeared that, although Fred's mother remarried,
0:17:45 > 0:17:47she didn't have any more children.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50As soon as we had ruled out full and half-blood siblings of the deceased,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54we realised that we had to go into paternal and maternal family trees.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58Fortunately, on the paternal Cable side of the family,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Camilla had been given a head start by the council who'd referred them
0:18:02 > 0:18:04- the case.- When the council referred the case to us,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06they passed on a few names of relatives
0:18:06 > 0:18:09who could potentially be entitled to this estate.
0:18:09 > 0:18:10Camilla set about confirming
0:18:10 > 0:18:13that these relatives were indeed heirs.
0:18:13 > 0:18:17She established that Fred's father Arthur had a brother called Reginald
0:18:17 > 0:18:19and a sister called Phyllis.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23Phyllis had one daughter and Reginald had a daughter and a son,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26and this confirmed the research which the council passed on to us.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30But although the team now had three confirmed heirs on the Cable side,
0:18:30 > 0:18:32their work was far from finished.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34But now we knew we had to face the other side,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36which was going to be the surname Edwards,
0:18:36 > 0:18:40and we knew this was going to be much harder to research into.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42- We need to get cracking on this side, then, yeah?- Yeah.- All right?
0:18:42 > 0:18:45Edwards is one of the most common surnames in Britain,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49meaning Camilla and the team now faced a mammoth task.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53With a commonly occurring surname and without certificates,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56you are never too sure whether you are dealing with the right people,
0:18:56 > 0:18:58particularly the further you drop down the generations
0:18:58 > 0:19:00through the family.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03If they know less about the other members of the family that connect
0:19:03 > 0:19:06together, it can cause problems for us.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10And the Edwards surname lived up to its reputation.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14After finding out the deceased's mother was called Elsie Eva Edwards,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17we then looked up this birth under a circa 1902
0:19:17 > 0:19:21and found that there were work 14 possibilities for an Elsie E Edwards.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25So this was quite a lot of possibilities just within that small period of time,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28and therefore we knew it was going to be quite a struggle to locate
0:19:28 > 0:19:31the right Elsie and also find her on the 1911 census.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34After sifting through hundreds of records,
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Camilla finally found the correct Elsie Edwards
0:19:36 > 0:19:38and began looking for her siblings.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41After finding Elsie on a 1911 census,
0:19:41 > 0:19:44we discovered that she was one of six siblings.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Therefore, we had five stems to look into.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50With a large family and the Edwards surname,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52the team was facing an uphill struggle.
0:19:52 > 0:19:53But against the odds,
0:19:53 > 0:19:56Camilla soon thought she had made a breakthrough on the stem of Fred's
0:19:56 > 0:19:58uncle, Frederick Charles.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01He potentially had three children called Sidney,
0:20:01 > 0:20:05Bernard and Hazel Edwards.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07After researching into the family a bit more,
0:20:07 > 0:20:09we discovered that Hazel married
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and had two children before passing away.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15We also found potential heirs on the line of Sidney and Bernard.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19But as Camilla made contact with these potential maternal heirs,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22the search was about to come crashing down.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27They were able to confirm that they weren't part of the family we were
0:20:27 > 0:20:30looking for. Whilst they were related to each other,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33they weren't actually related to the deceased that we were looking for.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36It was a sign of just how hard the Edwards name was going to be.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38Which was obviously quite unfortunate
0:20:38 > 0:20:42and meant that the heirs that we had found were no longer entitled.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45But with more calls getting them nowhere...
0:20:45 > 0:20:47There's been a couple of mishaps.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49She actually passed away as an infant.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52..would they reach an heir before the competition?
0:20:57 > 0:21:01Every year in Britain, thousands of people get an unexpected knock
0:21:01 > 0:21:03on the door from the heir hunters.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06I was quite surprised.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08A little bit shocked to find out
0:21:08 > 0:21:12that I had a long-lost relative who's passed on.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15As well as handing over life-changing sums of money,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17they can bring long-lost relatives back together.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21That is how they're connected,
0:21:21 > 0:21:26so Charles was first cousin of your late mum.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29That's a shock.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34Currently, there are over 11,000 unsolved cases worth at
0:21:34 > 0:21:37least £5.5 million.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40And, today, we have the details of two.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44The first is Beatrice Svenson,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48who passed away in London on the 26th of January 1992
0:21:48 > 0:21:50at the grand age of 90.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54While her name has Scandinavian origins,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58she was born in London and never married.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Are you part of a British-based Svensson family?
0:22:01 > 0:22:05If so, it could be you the heir hunters are looking for.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08The second case is Keith Vincent Irons,
0:22:08 > 0:22:14who died aged 77 on the 7th of December 1992 in Sheffield.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19He was born in Shropshire on the 21st of January 1915.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23The surname Irons was most prevalent in Northamptonshire in the
0:22:23 > 0:22:2619th century,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28but is now common in Scotland and Cornwall.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31Could you be a relative of Keith's?
0:22:31 > 0:22:35If so, there may be a surprise windfall waiting for you.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47Hopkinson update? Have we got an update?
0:22:47 > 0:22:49In London, Gareth and Sinead at Fraser and Fraser
0:22:49 > 0:22:52are on the hunt for the family of John Hopkinson.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Let me print off some trees and then...
0:22:54 > 0:22:57- I'll start making calls. - There's a Linda here.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00They've discovered it's a low-value estate and are now
0:23:00 > 0:23:01looking to his wider family,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04where it looks like there may be many cousins to trace.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07That's the family tree.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09This is just the paternal side.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13With the estate relatively low in value at £20,000...
0:23:13 > 0:23:16If you can get these sorted as quickly as possible.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21- OK.- ..case manager Gareth is trying to find heirs while keeping research
0:23:21 > 0:23:23- costs down.- When we start a case,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26we literally don't know what we are looking at.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28But if you start a case, if you start finding heirs,
0:23:28 > 0:23:31- we are duty bound to locate all the heirs.- These two are alive.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Once you've started, you've got to finish the work.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35You can't just leave it half-baked.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43The heir hunters have discovered John was completely out of touch
0:23:43 > 0:23:45with his family and had been for decades.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50His only sister had been trying to find him before she died in 2014.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52- Yeah. We've got that, haven't we, the husband?- Yeah.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Although John died in Margate,
0:23:54 > 0:23:58research suggests most of his family are in the Nottingham area
0:23:58 > 0:24:00and Sinead is getting close to tracking him down.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04I've got few people up-to-date. She has two children -
0:24:04 > 0:24:06one of them died in 2005.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10She is looking at Phyllis Walker, a maternal aunt of John Hopkinson,
0:24:10 > 0:24:12who died in 1980.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Phyllis appears to have had three children,
0:24:14 > 0:24:16who would be John's cousins and heirs,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and Sinead thinks she has found them.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21So we've got just one phone number there?
0:24:21 > 0:24:23- Yes.- Right, I'll go call this lady.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25All right, cool.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29Gareth is determined to speak to an heir today.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31We have made quite good progress on this case.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35I am going to try and contact one of the cousins of the deceased,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39really just to introduce ourselves and explain why we're involved.
0:24:39 > 0:24:40We've got a few beneficiaries now,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43but I've only got one telephone number to call.
0:24:43 > 0:24:45I might find out a little bit more about the deceased as well.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48What we do know at the moment is...
0:24:48 > 0:24:50he wasn't in contact with his family.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Gareth's hopes of tying up this case quickly rest on this phone call.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57They're the only contact details they have for a potential heir.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02This is pretty standard for me.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05The only number we've got to call on this case, it doesn't work.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07I'm going to ask Sinead if she can find any other numbers,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09or a current number. I'm guessing that's an old number.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Maybe she's no longer living at that address.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Try and make contact some other way.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23But Sinead quickly manages to find more people for Gareth to contact.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26One of his paternal aunts, Florence, had two children -
0:25:26 > 0:25:29both of whom have passed away.
0:25:29 > 0:25:31But one of them, John's cousin Sheila,
0:25:31 > 0:25:33had children who would be his heirs.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38- Hey, Gareth.- Hey.- So Sheila has two children.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39This is the address for Sheila?
0:25:39 > 0:25:42- Yeah.- With an address and a phone number,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46there is double the chance of them finally making contact with an heir.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48And she flipped between that one and another address,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51but that is the only one that I can get a telephone number for.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- Brilliant, thank you.- You're welcome.- I'll give them a call. - Brilliant.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57Will it be third time lucky for Gareth?
0:25:58 > 0:26:00So we've got a choice of two.
0:26:00 > 0:26:01PHONE RINGS
0:26:01 > 0:26:02That's a good start.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07We've got a ring, but there's nobody answering.
0:26:07 > 0:26:08She is probably at work.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10One of the biggest problems we have.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12We are trying to contact people,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15but obviously they are out and about, doing their day job.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18But once again, his luck's not in.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25My name is Gareth Langford, I am calling from a firm of genealogists.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29I look forward to hearing from you.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32- Thank you.- It's seriously frustrating for Gareth.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35So... Answerphone.
0:26:36 > 0:26:37No joy.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42He's found heirs, but he can't speak to them.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44It's a frustrating end to the day.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49I have been able to leave an answerphone message on one.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52At least that is some contact and hopefully they give us a call back.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01- Thank you.- Goodbye.- The next day,
0:27:01 > 0:27:04new information comes to light which changes the case.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07I've had quite a few calls from some of the heirs,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09which have been really helpful, actually.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11There is some extra information I'm going to give to Sinead.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13- Right, Sinead?- Yes?
0:27:13 > 0:27:16I've got a little bit more information.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20So I have spoken to... I have spoken to someone on each branch now.
0:27:20 > 0:27:23Of the ones that we've been able to get up-to-date.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27- OK.- The heirs have been able to give Gareth some intriguing information,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29which may explain the mystery
0:27:29 > 0:27:32of why John became estranged from his family.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34They all knew of the deceased.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37They all knew that he was in the military.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40I'm getting a mixture of RAF and now I am getting Army as well.
0:27:40 > 0:27:41And he left the Army,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44and then had absolutely no contact with the family after that.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47So they all know that story,
0:27:47 > 0:27:50- but they are not...- That he absconded?- Yeah. Potentially, yes.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55The family believes John served in the Forces until the 1960s, when he
0:27:55 > 0:27:58suddenly went absent without leave.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01The circumstances of his disappearance aren't known,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04but Gareth has also found a friend of John's who says that,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08having fled the military, he sought refuge in London's East End.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11The East End was the place where you wanted to go and hide.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14Sometimes, the police just didn't even want to
0:28:14 > 0:28:17come around here because of the rough sorts,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20so it would have been an easy place for Hopkinson to hide.
0:28:22 > 0:28:24It's even rumoured that, while living in East London,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28John played cards with some notorious opponents.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Well, the Krays are legendary around this area,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35so much so that they pretty much ruled most of the gambling halls and
0:28:35 > 0:28:39a lot of the pubs. Ronnie and Reggie would attend these, go drinking,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43play cards. No-one would ever try and beat the Krays at cards because
0:28:43 > 0:28:46they'd get taken out the back and given a kicking.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Apparently, as one story goes,
0:28:48 > 0:28:53John Hopkinson beat the Krays on several occasions at cards.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Now, they wanted to go and lay into him because they were bad losers,
0:28:56 > 0:28:59but one barman said, "No, he's a friend."
0:28:59 > 0:29:00You know, "Just leave him be."
0:29:02 > 0:29:04John survived his brush with gangsters
0:29:04 > 0:29:08and did a variety of jobs for the next few decades,
0:29:08 > 0:29:09retiring to Margate.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12But for that entire time, he was out of touch with his family,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15so Gareth's research into John and his wider kin
0:29:15 > 0:29:17is having an interesting effect.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21During the course of our research, and speaking to family members or
0:29:21 > 0:29:24neighbours, we really built up quite an interesting fact file, almost,
0:29:24 > 0:29:26of what the deceased was like.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29So, you know, it is always refreshing when you get so much information
0:29:29 > 0:29:31about the deceased, and we can pass that information on.
0:29:33 > 0:29:37The team have managed to speak to several potential heirs to John's estate.
0:29:37 > 0:29:38Take care, bye-bye.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43But there is still one stem on John's mother's side of the family to tie up -
0:29:43 > 0:29:46the branch of his Aunt Phyllis.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48So, Sinead...
0:29:48 > 0:29:51- Yeah?- Up-to-date tree with what we've got so far.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55- OK.- What has been unearthed is that we've got more work on Phyllis.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59- Yeah, sure, no problem. I will get on it right now.- Thank you.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02So Gareth has just come down with the tree.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06On Phyllis' stem, she has one more child named Angela,
0:30:06 > 0:30:08who is meant to be in the Weymouth area.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Unlike previous attempts to contact heirs,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13Gareth gets through to Angela immediately.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15No problem at all.
0:30:15 > 0:30:17Thanks. Bye-bye.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20And a few days later,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23she is reflecting on the surprise call from Gareth.
0:30:23 > 0:30:24I was just stunned.
0:30:26 > 0:30:27It brought back a lot of memories.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29It was... I was quite upset at the time, actually,
0:30:29 > 0:30:32to think that I didn't know where he was.
0:30:32 > 0:30:36She still remembers when John went missing in the 1960s.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38I just remember
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Mum saying to me, "John has disappeared."
0:30:41 > 0:30:44I said, "How can he disappear? You can't disappear."
0:30:44 > 0:30:48But he did. And he just disappeared and we never heard from him again.
0:30:49 > 0:30:51And it's really quite sad.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56He was quiet, and I think he must have had a terrible time to go and
0:30:56 > 0:30:57do something like that.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01Whatever had happened,
0:31:01 > 0:31:04it seemed John was determined to avoid the Army.
0:31:04 > 0:31:05I know that, every year,
0:31:05 > 0:31:10the Army used to come back to my auntie's to find out if she had
0:31:10 > 0:31:12heard from him at all.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16John may never have known how much his disappearance affected the family,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19especially his mother Hilda.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22It must have been terrible for her, really, not knowing where he was.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25And I often think about that because I have thought about him a lot over
0:31:25 > 0:31:28the years. And every year, on his birthday,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31she used to put a piece in the paper to say, "Happy birthday,
0:31:31 > 0:31:33"John Hopkinson, wherever you are."
0:31:35 > 0:31:38But the heir hunters have been able to help Angela and the rest of the
0:31:38 > 0:31:42family understands what John's life was like after he vanished,
0:31:42 > 0:31:46and Gareth is now at the stage of finalising John's family tree.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48I think there is going to be about 17 beneficiaries on this case
0:31:48 > 0:31:51and we've got contact details for each one,
0:31:51 > 0:31:53and that is the way it will be, really.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56At the end of the day, we are a firm of researchers.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58So when you have finished the research,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01when you've actually accomplished the whole point of us being
0:32:01 > 0:32:02involved, it's quite rewarding.
0:32:02 > 0:32:07So it's quite satisfying to get it all pretty much finalised
0:32:07 > 0:32:10- reasonably quickly. - But on this unique case,
0:32:10 > 0:32:13helping resolve the mystery of John's life for the wider family is
0:32:13 > 0:32:15the real reward.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17One of the best things that we have brought to the family is
0:32:17 > 0:32:19probably closure for what happened to him.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22He had always been a mystery, he had always disappeared,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25but at least now, you know, that mystery has ended for them.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32Angela had always feared the worst about what had happened to John
0:32:32 > 0:32:35and now the heir hunters have been able to put her mind at rest.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40Just nice to know that John did actually live a life.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43And memories of their happy childhoods have returned.
0:32:43 > 0:32:44They are so pretty.
0:32:44 > 0:32:47At Christmas, going to Grandma's, having Christmas,
0:32:47 > 0:32:51all of us together, John was quite quiet, really.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54I don't remember him being a naughty boy at all.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57I think I was probably the youngest
0:32:57 > 0:32:59and I was probably the naughtiest, actually.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02But I remember...
0:33:02 > 0:33:04I remember him very well.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07I remember Grandma's and we were all there.
0:33:07 > 0:33:08It was just lovely.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22- I did a search for marriages yesterday.- Mm-hm.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24And there were quite a few options.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28In London, assistant case manager Camilla Price from Finders International
0:33:28 > 0:33:31had hit a stumbling block on the case of Fred Cable,
0:33:31 > 0:33:35who had been born Shirley Frederic Clive Cable.
0:33:35 > 0:33:39There's been a couple of mishaps with looking in stems
0:33:39 > 0:33:41and then finding out it's wrong.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Speaking to potential family members early on in the research is key to
0:33:48 > 0:33:51establishing if the team is on the right track.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Sometimes, we will speak to people and they will confirm that they are
0:33:56 > 0:33:59actually the incorrect person and the incorrect family
0:33:59 > 0:34:01and, therefore, we have to scrap our research and start again.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Having wasted precious time researching the wrong family,
0:34:08 > 0:34:10Camilla was back to square one.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12She had a lead on three paternal heirs,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16but still had three branches of the maternal side to research.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22Despite having no known close family,
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Fred Cable was surrounded by friends in the Norfolk village,
0:34:25 > 0:34:30where he was the founding member of tug-of-war team the Reedham Vikings.
0:34:30 > 0:34:35Fred had those skills, that hunger maybe to do some sport or other,
0:34:35 > 0:34:38and I think Reedham would have started off as
0:34:38 > 0:34:40a village team that competed
0:34:40 > 0:34:45in village fetes, sports days, agricultural shows.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49But as they got better and began to win more competitions,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53they moved across into the Tug of War Association,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55where they competed as a topline team there.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Fred would have become involved in tug-of-war during his Army days.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11A lot of people were introduced to tug-of-war
0:35:11 > 0:35:13in their period within the Forces,
0:35:13 > 0:35:15but it goes back quite a long way.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19And I have got a page, a cover page,
0:35:19 > 0:35:23from the Illustrated London News of 1890.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26Where you've got the London Garrison sports day
0:35:26 > 0:35:28and there's tug-of-war going on there.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32And you can take that through to a little bit more modern, 1947,
0:35:32 > 0:35:34you've got tug-of-war being...
0:35:34 > 0:35:40a competition on the decks of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42And it was important as part of physical fitness,
0:35:42 > 0:35:46it was important as part of teamwork, again,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49being prepared to obey orders, get on with the job.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53And it appeared the Brits were pretty good at the sport.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01Tug of war as an Olympic sport first came in in 1900,
0:36:01 > 0:36:05but it was only featured in five Olympics.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10We were represented primarily by the police forces.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15And we actually won gold when the Olympics were in London in 1908,
0:36:15 > 0:36:20and we won gold again in 1920 when the Olympics were in Antwerp.
0:36:24 > 0:36:29In 1958, having left the Army, and while working at a local brewery,
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Fred honed his passion for the sport.
0:36:34 > 0:36:40Fred was well known throughout the tug-of-war community as a puller and
0:36:40 > 0:36:45also as an area representative for East Anglia with the
0:36:45 > 0:36:46Tug of War Association,
0:36:46 > 0:36:49so a well-known and well-respected gentleman.
0:36:50 > 0:36:55And the team won 600 trophies during their 37-year existence.
0:36:55 > 0:37:00Fred as the driving force behind Reedham Vikings...
0:37:01 > 0:37:05..amassed over the years a huge amount of knowledge,
0:37:05 > 0:37:07training techniques,
0:37:07 > 0:37:12skill, motivational skills, and with his passing, those things are lost.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Having dedicated his life to his sport,
0:37:16 > 0:37:18Fred had not had a family of his own,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20which meant the heir hunters
0:37:20 > 0:37:23had to find next of kin to share his £30,000 estate.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30- Yeah, it did get a bit bigger. - That's quite a lot of cousins!
0:37:30 > 0:37:32Yeah, a lot of cousins. Yeah.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36Fred's mother, Elsie Edwards, was one of six children.
0:37:38 > 0:37:41The team had ruled out children from one sister, May.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46So Camilla turned her attention to another stem.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51Another uncle for the deceased was William James Edwards
0:37:51 > 0:37:54and he was one of the eldest of the Edwards children,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58being born in 1883, he went on to marry a woman called Harriet Flegg.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01Together, they had three children.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03One of these children was Alice Edwards
0:38:03 > 0:38:07and, having found her child, Camilla quickly got in contact.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10They confirmed that they were wrong and weren't actually part of our Edwards family.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18Camilla spotted a crucial detail that would make life easier.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21A lot of the Edwards family worked within the railway profession, and
0:38:21 > 0:38:25this was quite useful when we were trying to descend lines and research
0:38:25 > 0:38:28into the family, especially, for example, William James Edwards.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30He is listed here as a plate-layer
0:38:30 > 0:38:33and also his father is listed in the same occupation,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36and this meant we were able to confirm that we had found the right
0:38:36 > 0:38:39William and we were able to stem this marriage from this point on.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42All right. Cheers, then. Take care. Bye-bye.
0:38:42 > 0:38:46The crosschecking paid off. William had had three children,
0:38:46 > 0:38:51but sadly two of them, Alice and her twin brother, had died in infancy.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Therefore, we only had one stem to descend -
0:38:55 > 0:38:57that was the stem of Rosa Gladys Edwards.
0:38:57 > 0:39:01She married an Arthur Larham and together they had four children.
0:39:01 > 0:39:03Three of Rosa's children had also passed away.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07But when Camilla looked into the fourth daughter, also called Rosa,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09she finally had some success.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13We were able to find an address and a telephone number for Rosa.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22And this time, Camilla's phone call brought good news.
0:39:23 > 0:39:24I know this area very well,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27only about 15 minutes away from my door.
0:39:28 > 0:39:33Today, travelling rep David is visiting Fred's first cousin once removed,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36Rosa, and her daughter Julie.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40In my possession, I have a big family tree.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44It's about five feet long. And what we're going to do is we're going to open it out in front of her
0:39:44 > 0:39:46and she can have a good look,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49and we'll get a show of who all her relatives are.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Hiya. Good afternoon, my name is David.
0:39:57 > 0:39:58Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Come in.
0:39:58 > 0:40:02- All right, thanks very much. Nice to meet you.- Cheers.- Thank you.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08We started off right the way up here.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13Now, the information was that a Shirley Frederick Clive Gable was
0:40:13 > 0:40:16- the deceased person. - So they say, yeah.- Yeah.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19And you can see your family line going all the way back.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24I'm presuming this would be, is it, great-grandfather?
0:40:24 > 0:40:28- Yes.- Great-grandfather James George Edward there.
0:40:28 > 0:40:34Then you come down to... It should be your grandfather, is that?
0:40:34 > 0:40:36William James Edwards.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40- It must be.- And we come down on another level to Rose Gladys,
0:40:40 > 0:40:42which I believe would be your mum.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Yeah, that's right, yeah.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46Who married Arthur...
0:40:46 > 0:40:50- Arthur Larham.- That's it. In 1926.
0:40:50 > 0:40:51And then we come down to you,
0:40:51 > 0:40:54and I see that you've actually got two brothers and a sister?
0:40:54 > 0:40:58- Yeah, they've all gone now. - They've all gone now, unfortunately. - I'm the only one left.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00You're the only one left out of those, yeah?
0:41:00 > 0:41:04And the tree has revealed a family secret.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06We found out these as well.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08- Yeah, that's right. - That your mum had...
0:41:08 > 0:41:11It looks as though they were born the same year, so they must have been twins.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14- Yeah, that's right.- My mum had two...- Infant death there.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18Yeah. I think they were twins, but they passed away at birth,
0:41:18 > 0:41:21- unfortunately.- We've never, ever heard anything about that.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23That would have been Nanny's brother and sister.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27- Yeah?- Yeah. It would have been.
0:41:27 > 0:41:29There you go.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34They would have been your auntie and uncle, if they had survived.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43With Rosa and her late siblings' children completing the stem
0:41:43 > 0:41:47of Fred's Uncle William, Camilla could finally close the case.
0:41:47 > 0:41:49We were able to find 22 heirs in the end -
0:41:49 > 0:41:52three on the paternal side and 19 on the maternal side.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58And the case was solved just in time, as Fred's beneficiaries were
0:41:58 > 0:42:01traced in time for his funeral.
0:42:01 > 0:42:02It was an interesting experience.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06We met some relatives that we obviously never knew we had,
0:42:06 > 0:42:08some very nice people over there,
0:42:08 > 0:42:13and who talked to us and we sort of managed to establish that Clive was
0:42:13 > 0:42:15connected to my mum's grandad.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20And that he was a big part of the village there,
0:42:20 > 0:42:22of village life in Reedham.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25He was kind of Mr Reedham, it seemed to us,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29that everything revolved around him, so he was quite an impressive man.
0:42:29 > 0:42:30It was really interesting to us.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35And it is learning about their relative and wider family that means
0:42:35 > 0:42:39more to Rosa and Julie than anything else.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41It was never about the money
0:42:41 > 0:42:43and, to be quite honest,
0:42:43 > 0:42:48having beans to Reedham and seeing the community there and Clive's
0:42:48 > 0:42:53sport and all the things that he really loved and were passionate about,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57that any legacy of his should lie within there, really.
0:42:57 > 0:42:58You know, we are just strangers.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02From the little bit I know about him, he kind of enjoyed his life
0:43:02 > 0:43:06and I really hope that he spent his money on enjoying himself, really,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08and doing what he loved doing.