0:00:03 > 0:00:07Today the Heir Hunters are on the trail of a missing boy.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11We've got a bit of a bombshell. What if James had a brother?
0:00:11 > 0:00:14And it's a case where the stakes are high.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17It appears that the estate value has actually risen to in the region of
0:00:17 > 0:00:19around £800,000.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22While on the estate of a distinctive South Londoner.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26I think she was about three foot two, three foot, something like that.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29I suppose she'd come up to there on me.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32The team are facing a huge gamble.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34You don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money
0:00:34 > 0:00:38- if it's all for nothing.- It's all in a day's work for the Heir Hunters.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50Finding people's lives, really, it can be fascinating,
0:00:50 > 0:00:52it can be really, very, very interesting.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55You never really know what you're going to find.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58At Fraser & Fraser headquarters in Central London,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02the team are working on a roller-coaster of a case.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06We've managed to piece together most of it but we're still carrying out
0:01:06 > 0:01:08little bits of research.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12They've been searching for relatives of a lady called Rosina Skudder,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15who passed away in August 2015.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17And when Case Manager Mike Pow took it on,
0:01:17 > 0:01:20he had little idea of what was to come.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Rosina died in south west London,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26so we obtained a copy of her death certificate,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29which states she passed away in King's College Hospital
0:01:29 > 0:01:30in Denmark Hill.
0:01:30 > 0:01:34The certificate led us to her address.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Little Rosie we called her.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44Rosina lived on a quiet residential street in South London.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47It was Rosie, that's all you can remember her as.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Neighbour Margaret was a close friend.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53We used to notice her walking up the road from work or going down the
0:01:53 > 0:01:56road. She used to put her make-up on lovely.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59She always had her make-up on when she went out.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02You know, she always looked smart, always.
0:02:02 > 0:02:08Rosie was a very recognisable figure as she had been born with dwarfism.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11I think she was about three foot two, three foot, something like that.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13I suppose she'd come up to there on me.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Rosina appeared to live an active life.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24She used to go off on the bus up to London, up to the Aldwych Theatre,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28and come back late at night and walk up the road.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31She had no fear at all.
0:02:31 > 0:02:34It was only as she got older that it seems Rosina started to suffer
0:02:34 > 0:02:36as a result of her height.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39It's common in later life with dwarfism,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43you can have difficulties with walking and mobility.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46The difficulty of getting out and about, moving around,
0:02:46 > 0:02:49but also as you become older you become,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51you feel a bit more vulnerable.
0:02:53 > 0:02:55For the last eight years of her life,
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Rosina was mostly bedridden and neighbour Margaret
0:02:58 > 0:03:00also became her carer.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03And I used to do her shopping and her washing.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07Towards the end she couldn't stand on her little legs at all.
0:03:07 > 0:03:12When Rosina died, she hadn't left a will and had no known relatives.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17She never ever mentioned a family or cousins or anything like that,
0:03:17 > 0:03:19so I don't know whether she had any at or not.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29For the Heir Hunters, the search for Rosina's relatives was on.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32The case originally came from the Government Legal Department,
0:03:32 > 0:03:36who look after all unclaimed estates where there's no valid will.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38It was then advertised for next of kin,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42which is where we became involved in trying to locate beneficiaries.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44But before going any further,
0:03:44 > 0:03:48the team needed to establish if there was any value to Rosina's estate.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50We had no real indication at all when we first started
0:03:50 > 0:03:52whether there was going to be any value.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54She didn't own the property.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57She'd been there for a long time but it looked like it was rented.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Estates where people didn't own a property are often low in value,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03which is bad news for the Heir Hunters,
0:04:03 > 0:04:05who are paid a percentage of each estate.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08For us, one of the biggest challenges is the gamble
0:04:08 > 0:04:10we have to take.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13We never know the value of an estate before we start work on it.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16It's a gamble of working out whether we're dealing with an estate
0:04:16 > 0:04:18which is worth some money,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21an estate which is worth a lot of money, or sometimes an
0:04:21 > 0:04:23estate which is worth no money.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27And just being able to tell at the right moment so you don't waste
0:04:27 > 0:04:29money is very, very important.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33And on Rosina's estate, the signs weren't good.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36There was the massive risk that our costs would far outweigh
0:04:36 > 0:04:39our fee once we got to a point of distribution.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42But there was a crucial piece of information
0:04:42 > 0:04:43that gave Mike some hope.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Well, we'd spoken to a neighbour of hers who gave a small indication
0:04:47 > 0:04:49that she may have left some funds.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53Although he didn't know the value of the funds,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57Mike hit the go button on the research and Rosina's unusual
0:04:57 > 0:04:59surname gave them a good start.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02We've got her full name of Rosina Ellen Cecilia Skudder,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05we have the name of her father, which was Robert Skudder,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08and we also get the name, surname and maiden name of her mother,
0:05:08 > 0:05:11which was Rosina Winifred May Skudder,
0:05:11 > 0:05:12formerly Englefield.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16Researcher Katie began searching to see if Rosina had ever married
0:05:16 > 0:05:19- or had children. - I knew that she was a spinster.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22I did a birth search to see if she had any siblings using the mother's
0:05:22 > 0:05:25maiden name and the surname Skudder
0:05:25 > 0:05:27but there was no other siblings to the deceased.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Having ruled out siblings,
0:05:31 > 0:05:35the team turned their attention to Rosina's parents, Robert and Rosina.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38And they soon made a tragic discovery.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41So when looking into the deceased's immediate family,
0:05:41 > 0:05:43for example her mother,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45she passed away when Rosina was actually only two years old
0:05:45 > 0:05:47in the Blitz.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49'Schools...'
0:05:49 > 0:05:50From September 1940
0:05:50 > 0:05:54London was under attack, and as German bombs rained down,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57families like the Skudders were left living in fear.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01The Blitz would have been particularly traumatic for children,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04especially children like Rosina who lived in the heart of London.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08A lot of children from London were also evacuated to the countryside,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10to places like Yorkshire and Cheshire.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13They probably also had family members that were away that were
0:06:13 > 0:06:16actually fighting in the war.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Just two weeks into the Blitz,
0:06:18 > 0:06:20the Skudder family home in Walthamstow was hit.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22'The people of London...'
0:06:22 > 0:06:26Rosina, aged just two, was left without a mother.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30And for the Heir Hunters, it was unclear what happened to her next.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33Obviously her father most likely went to war.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37We constantly look at censuses and see where she lived.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44With no mother to look after her and a disability that set her apart,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47life after the war would have been tough for Rosina.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52It's likely that Rosina was put into some sort of institution
0:06:52 > 0:06:54or a special school.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58In terms of education that would have been a secondary thing for
0:06:58 > 0:07:01her because there were, rightly or wrongly, there were assumptions that
0:07:01 > 0:07:05people born with disabilities, physical or cognitive,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09that they didn't actually have any cognitive ability.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13It's unlikely things improved when Rosina reached working age.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17Employment opportunities would have been limited for Rosina,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19possibly telephone work,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23reception work would have been an ideal thing whereby her physicality
0:07:23 > 0:07:27was not relied on and she could just sit and do her job and it wasn't
0:07:27 > 0:07:30particularly physically exhausting.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39The fact that Rosina was likely to have had low-paid work
0:07:39 > 0:07:41didn't bode well for the Heir Hunters.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44And worse still,
0:07:44 > 0:07:49building up a family tree was proving to be a mammoth task.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51I think we actually had two files.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54This is one of the two, so it's absolutely massive.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58It barely fits in the filing cabinet.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Yeah, so we've got one of two and it's really heavy.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05There are six siblings on the paternal side
0:08:05 > 0:08:08and four, I believe, on the maternal side and all of them
0:08:08 > 0:08:10married and had children.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13The family tree was growing at an alarming rate,
0:08:13 > 0:08:17meaning more research and more costs for the Heir Hunters.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20It kind of kept getting bigger and bigger and you don't want to spend
0:08:20 > 0:08:22a ridiculous amount of money on it all for nothing,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26but kept on going and it didn't seem like a very good idea
0:08:26 > 0:08:29to stop just in case if there was some money behind it.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Researcher Katie was finally getting to grips with the huge
0:08:35 > 0:08:36Skudder side of the family.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39I ordered the parents' marriage to have a look and see.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42The father's name's on the marriage certificate.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45The Heir Hunters discovered that Rosina's father Robert
0:08:45 > 0:08:47had six siblings.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Research into his brother Samuel revealed living children
0:08:50 > 0:08:53and grandchildren who would be entitled to a share
0:08:53 > 0:08:54of Rosina's estate.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59It was a breakthrough and meant
0:08:59 > 0:09:01the team could start calling potential heirs.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05Obviously it's not a phone call you get everyday,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08someone telling you that you're entitled to benefit from the estate
0:09:08 > 0:09:11of someone they've probably never met or ever even heard of.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13But with the value of the case still unknown,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Mike was hoping the family might have some precious information.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21All right, thank you very much for your time. Take care. Bye-bye.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24We've got limited information really from the family because most of them
0:09:24 > 0:09:26are what we call a cousin once removed,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30so they're not direct cousins, they don't share aunts and uncles with the deceased,
0:09:30 > 0:09:32they're coming down a further generation.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38But the family were able to offer one enticing detail about Rosina.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42A few beneficiaries remembered Rosina
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and most of them remembered that she was in showbiz.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Could this be the precious nugget of information
0:09:49 > 0:09:52the team had been hoping for?
0:09:57 > 0:09:58Why is this file so big?
0:09:58 > 0:10:01It seems to be getting bigger every time I see it.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03At nearby heir hunting firm Finders,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06the team are grappling with a major case.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09This is the file of James Douglas Knowles.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13This was a case that was advertised by the Government Legal Department.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15As soon as it came in it was really frantic.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21We knew quite early on that there was a property involved.
0:10:21 > 0:10:26The property is estimated to be worth £250,000 and the team have
0:10:26 > 0:10:28been working flat-out to find heirs.
0:10:28 > 0:10:34A relative of his has actually passed away without leaving a will.
0:10:34 > 0:10:37Today, they're chasing up a lead that could change everything.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42This is a bit different which is quite interesting.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45Stewart, one of the company's travelling researchers,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48is on his way to a firm of solicitors where some of
0:10:48 > 0:10:51James Knowles's belongings are being held.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54He's got a box of possessions at the solicitors,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57which I'm going to go through to see
0:10:57 > 0:11:03if we can find any relatives or next of kin from his possessions.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07The team are hoping the box could contain vital clues about possible
0:11:07 > 0:11:11heirs to James' £250,000 estate.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Another little box. Ooh, quite a few medals in here.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18These are all war medals.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22This is a coronation of King George and Queen Elizabeth.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27This is his dad's - 1914 to 1919.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30The Great War for Civilisation.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38James Douglas Knowles died on 3rd of March, 2016.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43Little is known about him, but as a young man he'd served in
0:11:43 > 0:11:46the forces before settling in the seaside town of Eastbourne.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51As James didn't have any next of kin,
0:11:51 > 0:11:56hospital chaplain Reverend Nolan was tasked with organising his funeral.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59I often have to arrange funerals like this for people who die
0:11:59 > 0:12:03in hospital where there are no known relatives or people
0:12:03 > 0:12:06who would take responsibility for the funeral.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09But Reverend Nolan knew nothing about James except that
0:12:09 > 0:12:13he'd served in the Army during the Second World War.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15There were no friends that we knew of,
0:12:15 > 0:12:20no relatives or other people in the community who were likely to be at
0:12:20 > 0:12:25the funeral and it just seemed so sad to me that after his wartime service,
0:12:25 > 0:12:29there was nobody there at the end to say thank you and goodbye.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32So Reverend Nolan decided to take action.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37And turned to social media.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40When I made the posting on Facebook,
0:12:40 > 0:12:44I'd got no idea that it was going to be shared I think 3,500 times.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48It seemed to go across the entire country very fast.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55With his appeal going viral, Reverend Nolan faced a new problem.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58The family chapel at Eastbourne Crematorium
0:12:58 > 0:13:00seats about 25.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05What on earth was I going to do if a thousand people turned up?
0:13:05 > 0:13:11On the day, a still incredible 120 people came to pay their respects
0:13:11 > 0:13:13to a man they'd never known.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15There were retired soldiers,
0:13:15 > 0:13:17there were veterans from various conflict,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20and there were members of the public.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Afterwards, the conversations were basically, "Well done,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25"you've done the right thing, my boy."
0:13:25 > 0:13:29I just think people felt that we'd all played our part
0:13:29 > 0:13:32in drawing James' life, as it were, to a close.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41This is a soldier's pay book.
0:13:41 > 0:13:42At the solicitors,
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Stuart's still looking for vital clues in the search
0:13:45 > 0:13:47for James' heirs.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50"Soldiers should always be careful to insert particulars
0:13:50 > 0:13:52"of his relatives on pages ten."
0:13:54 > 0:13:55Quite interesting, that.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58He died without making a will yet when he was a regular soldier
0:13:58 > 0:14:02they told him he should say who the money's going to go to.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Well, obviously he didn't follow that too well.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Stuart's trip to Eastbourne has been in vain.
0:14:08 > 0:14:10It's been extremely interesting but unfortunately there's been
0:14:10 > 0:14:13nothing in the box to help the office at all.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17I'm now taking it up to London where they can have a look through it.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24It's the latest development in a case that has been full of twists and turns.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27Did we actually find any military records for him?
0:14:27 > 0:14:29Oh, it was just the Commonwealth War Graves.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31And with such a high-value estate at stake,
0:14:31 > 0:14:36senior manager Ryan Gregory has been fighting to stay one step ahead
0:14:36 > 0:14:37of rival firms.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41Given that it's such a competitive industry these days,
0:14:41 > 0:14:47every decision you take is key in terms of trying to get a result
0:14:47 > 0:14:50before or a better result than the competition.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52When the case first came in,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56Ryan and senior researcher Camilla began by establishing
0:14:56 > 0:14:58some basic facts about James.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00As you can see from James' birth certificate,
0:15:00 > 0:15:04his father is listed as George Douglas Knowles
0:15:04 > 0:15:08and his mother is Gertrude Knowles, formerly Newsome.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11The registration district is Eastbourne.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15We realised that James never married or had any children.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17From our initial research it looked like he never had
0:15:17 > 0:15:19any brothers or sisters.
0:15:19 > 0:15:21With no sign of any siblings,
0:15:21 > 0:15:24the team ploughed all their research into the wider family,
0:15:24 > 0:15:26hoping they would find cousins.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Initially, we started looking into George Douglas Knowles.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34Thankfully, George Douglas Knowles was not an overly common name,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37so we were able to look and find him on census records
0:15:37 > 0:15:41and find a birth record for him as well, whereas for Gertrude,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43we were struggling initially simply
0:15:43 > 0:15:46because although she used the name Gertrude
0:15:46 > 0:15:49on her son's birth certificate,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52she was actually born as Annie Gertrude,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55which was initially off-putting for us
0:15:55 > 0:15:57because she didn't use Annie at all.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03But having eventually found a birth record for James' mother Gertrude,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06the team's research was suddenly derailed.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Although we assumed that both parents had passed away,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11seeing as they were both born in the 1890s,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14unfortunately we couldn't find death records
0:16:14 > 0:16:17for either George or Gertrude.
0:16:17 > 0:16:22We did various searches for Annie Gertrude, Gertrude Annie,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Gertrude on its own, Annie on its own, and we were really struggling.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30It was a major problem.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33If we can't find the death certificates for one of
0:16:33 > 0:16:34or both of the parents.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37It kind of overshadows the rest of the research.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Did parents together have any more children?
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Did one of the parents have a child or children with someone else?
0:16:43 > 0:16:45I mean, it is just a massive question mark.
0:16:45 > 0:16:46If James had a sibling,
0:16:46 > 0:16:49they would inherit his entire estate,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53so searching for cousins was now a huge risk for the team.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55There would be potentially a half-blood brother or sister
0:16:55 > 0:16:57who would be the closest next of kin.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59This, for us, would have been a disaster and would have
0:16:59 > 0:17:02rendered the rest of the research kind of useless.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09But with a £250,000 case at stake,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11Ryan felt he had to take that chance.
0:17:13 > 0:17:14We have to carry on with the search.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18We can't spend too much time focusing on one element.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21We're hoping that we could extend the family tree and speak to someone
0:17:21 > 0:17:25who would be able to give us the key bits of information we need to
0:17:25 > 0:17:28kind of close that line of inquiry.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31It was now full steam ahead with the search for cousins
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and first the team had to look for James' parents' siblings.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40To find out how many brothers and sisters George and Gertrude had,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43we looked at the 1911 census for both families
0:17:43 > 0:17:45for both the Knowles and the Newsomes.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49We found that, I believe, there were eight children on the
0:17:49 > 0:17:51Knowles family tree.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Two of George's siblings had died as infants but that still left
0:17:55 > 0:17:58multiple branches of the family to explore.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01So, as you can see, the paternal side is very large
0:18:01 > 0:18:03for James Douglas Knowles.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05There were six top stem,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07so five aunts and uncles of the deceased,
0:18:07 > 0:18:09six including the deceased's father,
0:18:09 > 0:18:12and they all seem to have quite a few children themselves.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Things were no easier across the office where James' mother's name
0:18:18 > 0:18:20was causing a major headache.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22Gertrude's surname was Newsome.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Now, a lot of these surnames with an E on the end
0:18:25 > 0:18:30historically have been slightly amended or changed
0:18:30 > 0:18:33or mistranscribed throughout history with the records.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35And Newsome is one of those,
0:18:35 > 0:18:38so we have Newsome with an E on the end,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Newsome without an E on the end.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41This means we have to double up on searches,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44gives us more possibilities to search for.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47With rival firms also chasing this high-value case,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49the team couldn't afford any mistakes.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53It can be quite tiring, it can be quite stressful at times as well,
0:18:53 > 0:18:56trying to find the beneficiaries but also to be against the clock.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00Those pressures can sometimes mean you might miss something because you
0:19:00 > 0:19:04don't know what the competitors that you're racing against are doing.
0:19:04 > 0:19:05There's so many unknowns.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10But Camilla was starting to make serious progress on the Knowles side
0:19:10 > 0:19:12of the family.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15She discovered that one of George's brothers was Charles
0:19:15 > 0:19:18and she'd been able to trace his descendants.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22..who had three children who would be cousins of the deceased
0:19:22 > 0:19:25and they had each another two
0:19:25 > 0:19:29and they are all beneficiaries to this estate.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34All Camilla had to do now was contact them.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36So, the first phone call to a potential beneficiary on a case
0:19:36 > 0:19:38is always an important one.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40This is Camilla Price calling from a firm of heir hunters.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42You're hoping that you're going to have a good,
0:19:42 > 0:19:44positive conversation with the beneficiary
0:19:44 > 0:19:46and hopefully kind of get some
0:19:46 > 0:19:48more information from them on the family tree.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51So, yeah, it's a kind of key, pivotal moment in any case, really.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54OK, that's great. Thank you so much for taking your time to speak to me.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58In Herne Bay, news of a surprise windfall was about to reach Pauline,
0:19:58 > 0:20:01who's father Peter was James' cousin.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06I discovered I was an heir by finding out from my sister.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10And she telephoned me and said I've heard from a firm
0:20:10 > 0:20:13of heir hunters and I was quite shocked because I didn't
0:20:13 > 0:20:16realise that there was anybody in the family
0:20:16 > 0:20:19that we could inherit from any more.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22Pauline had done her own research into the family but had never known
0:20:22 > 0:20:26- about James. - I knew about George, his father,
0:20:26 > 0:20:30because my dad had said that George had gone missing when I queried
0:20:30 > 0:20:35anything to do with the family, so I assumed that he died during the war.
0:20:35 > 0:20:40Never realised that he'd moved to London and eventually moved
0:20:40 > 0:20:43to the south coast and was bringing up a family there.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45Although Pauline never met James,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49she spent a lot of time thinking about her mystery benefactor.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53It feels rather strange to be a beneficiary of an estate
0:20:53 > 0:20:56that where you didn't know the person.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59I'd like to think that he looked like his uncles.
0:20:59 > 0:21:05He was probably a nice man, generous, but cautious.
0:21:11 > 0:21:13But in the office, Pauline's inheritance
0:21:13 > 0:21:15was suddenly in jeopardy.
0:21:15 > 0:21:16So, we thought we'd done a good job,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20we were successful with signing the majority of the beneficiaries,
0:21:20 > 0:21:24we'd spent weeks and weeks of actually quite intensive
0:21:24 > 0:21:26research in the team trying to find everyone
0:21:26 > 0:21:28and then we got a bit of a bombshell.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31They'd received an e-mail from one of the heirs,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34who'd been going through old family photos.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37There's a few pictures actually of James with someone else
0:21:37 > 0:21:41that looks of a similar age to him, maybe a bit older,
0:21:41 > 0:21:42and they're, you know,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45they're wearing similar clothes and they're in the same garden,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49so it's kind of raised a concern with us,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52what if James had a brother?
0:21:52 > 0:21:56It was exactly the news the team had been dreading and it threatened to
0:21:56 > 0:21:59destroy all their hard work.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01If his brother was still alive,
0:22:01 > 0:22:05all of the previous weeks' worth of research, the representative visits,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07the time in the office, the money spent on the case,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09it could have all been for nothing.
0:22:13 > 0:22:14Every year in Britain,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16thousands of people get a surprise knock on the door
0:22:16 > 0:22:18from the Heir Hunters.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21That's good news for you, you can order the Ferrari.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25Well, hang on a minute, we haven't found the will yet!
0:22:25 > 0:22:28As well as handing over life-changing sums of money,
0:22:28 > 0:22:31the Heir Hunters' work can bring long-lost relatives back together.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36- I'm so lucky...- Yeah.- ..because I've met up with all of you.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42But thousands of estates have eluded the Heir Hunters
0:22:42 > 0:22:44and remain unsolved.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48Today, we've got details of two estates that are yet to be claimed.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Could you be the person the Heir Hunters have been looking for?
0:22:51 > 0:22:56First is the case of Bridget Gamble, also known as Bridie,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00who died on 16th of March, 2013, in Stoke-on-Trent.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04It's believed Bridie had three brothers,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06one of whom was called Maurice Higgins.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Is there a chance you're related to Bridie Gamble
0:23:09 > 0:23:12or do you know someone who could be?
0:23:12 > 0:23:15Next is the case of Gwyn Warwick Aldred,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19who was born on 6th of June, 1927, in Herne Hill, London,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23and died on 3rd of February, 1994, in Croydon.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27Gwyn's mother had the unusual surname of Cheeseman
0:23:27 > 0:23:30and the family are believed to have links to Lancashire.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34Are you an Aldred or a Cheeseman?
0:23:34 > 0:23:37If so, you could be in line for a surprise windfall.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46If I get everything sent to you as soon as,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48are you free to go straightaway?
0:23:48 > 0:23:52On the £250,000 estate of war veteran James Knowles,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55the team at Finders thought they were home and dry.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58We've put a lot of energy into it.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01We would be using the whole team to research bits and pieces
0:24:01 > 0:24:02of the family.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05The team had found more than 50 heirs,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09including first cousin, once removed, Pauline.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12It's quite a surprise but it was a very nice surprise.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17But a photo of James with a possible brother had thrown the whole case
0:24:17 > 0:24:18into disarray.
0:24:20 > 0:24:21And if we did find a half-blood sibling
0:24:21 > 0:24:23or even descendants of a half-blood sibling,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26then they could disinherit everybody else we'd already found.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31The team had known there was a risk James had a sibling,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34as they'd been unable to find a record of his parents' deaths.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39Literally at this stage we were completely panicked that all of the
0:24:39 > 0:24:41research that we had done,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43all of the money and the time that we'd spent on the case was going
0:24:43 > 0:24:44to completely go out the window.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49Part of the problem was that although James had been born
0:24:49 > 0:24:50in Eastbourne,
0:24:50 > 0:24:55his parents originally came from the Matlock area, 250 miles north.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58It's never great for us to figure out that someone
0:24:58 > 0:25:01has moved around a lot, in terms of the research.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04It makes our life a lot more difficult if we're trying to
0:25:04 > 0:25:06pinpoint exactly what's happened to them.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10The reason for George and Gertrude's move lay in their choice of career.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16In 1911 James' father George Douglas Knowles
0:25:16 > 0:25:19was working in a hotel in London
0:25:19 > 0:25:24and Gertrude was also working as a hotel chambermaid.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27It seemed George and Gertrude had sought work in Britain's
0:25:27 > 0:25:29fast-growing hotel industry.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34The early part of the 19th century, it was all stagecoaches,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36but when the railways arrived
0:25:36 > 0:25:40they needed bigger hotels so the people who got off the trains
0:25:40 > 0:25:42would have somewhere to stay.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45One such hotel was the Palace Hotel in Buxton,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47owned by the Duke of Devonshire,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50and it seems that George and Gertrude may have met
0:25:50 > 0:25:53whilst working there in 1910.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56The staff had their own quarters.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00They were usually split between men and women.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05But the staff did get together on occasions.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07By the early 20th century,
0:26:07 > 0:26:12London's hotel scene was booming and by 1911 George and Gertrude had both
0:26:12 > 0:26:16moved to the city to work at the Devonshire Hotel in Bishopsgate.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21Britain was the capital of the world, the most important country,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25and so consequently the hotel industry did expand
0:26:25 > 0:26:27an enormous amount and
0:26:27 > 0:26:32the hotels were basically on seasons.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35So that you had a season in London,
0:26:35 > 0:26:40and you had another season when you had the spas,
0:26:40 > 0:26:44and then people used to go down to the seaside in August.
0:26:45 > 0:26:46By 1923,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50George and Gertrude had married and moved to the Chatsworth Hotel
0:26:50 > 0:26:53in Eastbourne and James was born five years later.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58But the Heir Hunters didn't know where they'd gone next.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00As the hotel industry boomed,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03I imagine they went where it was vital for them to go.
0:27:08 > 0:27:09With the net cast wide,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12the team finally discovered that George and Gertrude
0:27:12 > 0:27:14had ended up back in London.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17So, once we had located Gertrude Annie Knowles'
0:27:17 > 0:27:19death certificate in Chelsea,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22we were then able to place George in Chelsea as well.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24But the big question was -
0:27:24 > 0:27:27did they have another child who could stand to inherit the lot
0:27:27 > 0:27:30and could he be the boy in the photograph?
0:27:33 > 0:27:35With information that the boy may have been called Alec,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38they began the search.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41The one that caught our attention was this certificate here.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46It's Alec Hayes Newsome and his mother is Gertrude Newsome,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49which would tie in with being the same mother of James.
0:27:49 > 0:27:54So, in which case this would mean that Alec is a half-blood brother of James.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57With no father listed on the birth certificate,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Alec Newsome's birth was illegitimate,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03something that would have been common in the hotel industry.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07The team were confident Alec was James' half-sibling,
0:28:07 > 0:28:09but was he still alive?
0:28:09 > 0:28:12Like James, Alec had also fought in the war,
0:28:12 > 0:28:17serving with the Royal Navy on board a ship called HMS Fiji.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22In the case of HMS Fiji, it was offering air cover,
0:28:22 > 0:28:28anti-aircraft support, to the main fleet engagement.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32In 1941, Fiji and her crew were sent to the Aegean Sea
0:28:32 > 0:28:34to take part in the Battle of Crete,
0:28:34 > 0:28:37in which British forces were trying to defend the islands.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41One of the problems that both the ships that were involved
0:28:41 > 0:28:46providing that cover was that ammunition was remarkably low.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50Fiji found herself under sustained attack and could only hold out
0:28:50 > 0:28:52for so long.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54It went down...
0:28:54 > 0:28:58under the bombardment from the air that it was trying to protect
0:28:58 > 0:29:00the rest of the fleet from.
0:29:00 > 0:29:05Fiji had a crew of 754 and when she went down
0:29:05 > 0:29:09a total of 241 men lost their lives.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Sadly, Alec Newsome was among them.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20It was another dramatic development for Ryan and his team.
0:29:20 > 0:29:25He hadn't married by that time, so we could rule a line under
0:29:25 > 0:29:28that line of inquiry and luckily for us it means that
0:29:28 > 0:29:31the other number of beneficiaries we had located were still entitled
0:29:31 > 0:29:33to inherit from this estate.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Their hard work had paid off.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38Thank you!
0:29:38 > 0:29:41And the 55 heirs they'd found were set to share James'
0:29:41 > 0:29:44estimated £250,000 estate.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50But in the last few days, there's been one more remarkable twist.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Now, we've just had some more recent information in from the solicitor
0:29:54 > 0:29:57dealing with the administration and it appears the estate value
0:29:57 > 0:30:01has actually risen from our estimate of 250,000 to in the region
0:30:01 > 0:30:03of around £800,000.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09It's a surprising turn of events and great news for all the heirs.
0:30:12 > 0:30:16But for Pauline, becoming an heir is about more than just the money.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Today, she's come to meet Ryan and Camilla to find out more about her
0:30:19 > 0:30:22family tree and the man she's inherited from.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26The main person concerned is James,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29because we knew nothing about him whatsoever.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31I only knew about his father.
0:30:31 > 0:30:37And that was very, very small amount of information given to me.
0:30:37 > 0:30:43So, hopefully, I'll find out a bit more about him, too.
0:30:43 > 0:30:44Hi, Pauline, I'm Camilla.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Hi, Camilla, pleased to meet you.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49- Do you want to come through? - Thank you.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53- It's a very large tree, as you can see.- It is.- It's extremely...
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Did you know that your family was this big?
0:30:55 > 0:31:00- No.- No?- Not as many people as I would have imagined at all.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06And the team are also able to show Pauline James' box of possessions,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09which has made its way back to the office.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Potentially, it might be a medal for Alec,
0:31:14 > 0:31:18- because it has Gertrude's name. - Her name. That's right.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21- As if it'd been sent to her. - Although, it's Knowles.
0:31:21 > 0:31:24She was at that address when he was killed, wasn't she?
0:31:24 > 0:31:26- Mm.- So, potentially, it was Alec's medal.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30And this was 1939 to 1945, obviously the Second World War.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Wasn't that the year that...
0:31:33 > 0:31:35- Oh, yes.- ..that Alec was killed? - Yeah.
0:31:35 > 0:31:40But it's nice to know that James and Alec grew up together
0:31:40 > 0:31:42and they had a relationship and he wasn't giving that
0:31:42 > 0:31:45- to someone else, you know. - And they were happy, yes, yes.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Pauline also has something to share with Ryan and Camilla.
0:31:49 > 0:31:54She's brought a photograph of staff outside the Palace Hotel in Buxton,
0:31:54 > 0:31:56where George and Gertrude met.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58I think that might be Gertrude.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00OK. And is that from looking at other photographs
0:32:00 > 0:32:02- and kind of matching up?- Yes, yes.
0:32:02 > 0:32:04It's the way that she presents herself.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08And the way that her fringe goes to one side.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13We weren't exactly sure which one was George Douglas.
0:32:13 > 0:32:14It could well be him.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17Because he looks like a Knowles.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22And remarkably, Pauline has her own connection to the very same hotel.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26And strangely enough, I trained as a hotel receptionist there.
0:32:26 > 0:32:31- Did you?- In the 1960s. - Oh, wow.- So...
0:32:31 > 0:32:33I know the Palace Hotel quite well.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36It's the end of a journey of discovery for Pauline
0:32:36 > 0:32:40and it all began with a call from the Heir Hunters.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43It was such an interesting experience.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47I'm so pleased I came and found out all about my family.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51There's lots of missing information that has now become clear,
0:32:51 > 0:32:53so that's a really, really nice day.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02The team at Fraser & Fraser were busy working on the case of
0:33:02 > 0:33:06- Rosina Skudder. - Right, this tree's massive.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09Rosina, who was born with dwarfism, was a popular figure
0:33:09 > 0:33:10in her South London neighbourhood.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Everybody noticed her, even down at the bus stops and that,
0:33:15 > 0:33:19they knew Rosie, you know, and even in the cab office.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22You couldn't not know her, if you know what I mean.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Rosina grew up in an era where much less was understood
0:33:25 > 0:33:27about people with dwarfism.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30Around the time Rosina was born,
0:33:30 > 0:33:33the understanding of dwarfism was pretty narrow.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38Medical opinion was one of taking care of, perhaps hiding away.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42People's exposure to people with dwarfism would have been
0:33:42 > 0:33:43that in freak shows.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46Basically, they would have been highlighted for having
0:33:46 > 0:33:48the physical disability.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54In the office, research into Rosina's family tree had snowballed,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57and the team had their work cut out
0:33:57 > 0:33:59trying to find all her living relatives.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02The difficulties in this one, it was more the quantity of
0:34:02 > 0:34:05beneficiaries that were entitled.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09The stem of Rosina's uncle Samuel had led to six heirs.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11One of whom was Ian Skudder
0:34:11 > 0:34:16and he was about to get the surprise of his life.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19When we received the letter, it was total shock with us.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23The wires to my sisters and my cousins were live.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26You know, we never spoke to them for months and months,
0:34:26 > 0:34:28then all of a sudden, everyone's speaking to each other!
0:34:28 > 0:34:32They had no idea she existed, which we find astonishing.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37Monetary wise, it's irrelevant to me.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41It's just I would like to know more about the family,
0:34:41 > 0:34:45how she was brought up and how her life was.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48It feels sad in some ways that here we are,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51she's died and we know nothing about her.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59In the office, the team had now broken the back of the research.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02We are into 33 beneficiaries so far.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04There's obviously scope for more,
0:35:04 > 0:35:06as we're still carrying out little bits of research
0:35:06 > 0:35:09and the parts of the family that haven't responded to us.
0:35:10 > 0:35:12But one major question remained,
0:35:12 > 0:35:15would there be anything for them to inherit?
0:35:15 > 0:35:17We had no idea when we were going into the estate
0:35:17 > 0:35:19whether it was worth any money.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21We just took a bit of a punt really.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Now though, there were rumours that Rosina had been in showbiz and this
0:35:24 > 0:35:28was confirmed by her neighbour Margaret.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31She gave us a bit of information that she used to be some sort
0:35:31 > 0:35:32of jazz singer.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37If there was a film on, like a musical or something,
0:35:37 > 0:35:40and they played the tunes she used to sit and sing,
0:35:40 > 0:35:42she had a lovely voice.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47It turned out that in the 1950s,
0:35:47 > 0:35:49Rosina had been a star on the London Jazz scene.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56Very, very sad to hear of Rosina's passing.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00Trombonist John Howlett was one of Rosina's band mates.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03The very first time I set eyes on her,
0:36:03 > 0:36:06she was actually sitting at the cash desk
0:36:06 > 0:36:10at the point of entry of the Ken Colyer Club.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14She used to sing with the Ken Colyer Band.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18Two or three numbers a night and these were the days
0:36:18 > 0:36:20of the jazz all-nighters.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24Singing with Ken Colyer's band put Rosina at the forefront
0:36:24 > 0:36:26of British jazz.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28Ken Colyer was the leader of the
0:36:28 > 0:36:30New Orleans revival movement in the UK.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34He had been to New Orleans in 1953, and when he came back,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36he launched a movement that was all about authenticity,
0:36:36 > 0:36:40discovering the black American jazz from the Deep South.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Rosina, it turns out, was right in the thick of it,
0:36:42 > 0:36:46playing with the country's most renowned musicians.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50One of the things that Ken Colyer did was to establish a place
0:36:50 > 0:36:53to play in London - the 51 Club in Great Newport Street,
0:36:53 > 0:36:55a basement, an ideal jazz club.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58And Rosina was one of the characters who was a regular there,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02but who then became a singer with the band on an occasional basis.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07Rosina's remarkable voice was captured in this rare live recording.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10# I spent all my money
0:37:10 > 0:37:13# I didn't care... #
0:37:13 > 0:37:17It was such a big voice, came out of such a little person.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20It was quite a, basically, a deep voice.
0:37:20 > 0:37:23This is what astounded people, I think.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26It's really tough for any singer to make it this world,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30with a jazz group that are very clear about what they're trying
0:37:30 > 0:37:33to do in recreating authentic New Orleans sound,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37and Rosina had something very special that sounded
0:37:37 > 0:37:39just like the great blues singers of the '20s.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41With such a rare talent,
0:37:41 > 0:37:46Rosina soon found herself mixing with jazz's leading lights.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49Another singer who started her career in that same club
0:37:49 > 0:37:51was Cleo Laine, because on Saturday nights,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54the John Dankworth Seven used to play there,
0:37:54 > 0:37:55and Cleo, the epitome of cool,
0:37:55 > 0:37:59the epitome of perfect pitch and everything else, sang there.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04It strikes me that the bohemian atmosphere of the time,
0:38:04 > 0:38:08of the jazz scene at the time, would have been fabulous for Rosina,
0:38:08 > 0:38:10because she just would have slotted in perfectly.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13The difference didn't matter, in fact, it was celebrated.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17And it was all about how you could express yourself,
0:38:17 > 0:38:19how good you sounded.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23Never complained about her disability.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26She just took it in her stride.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29It only became evident when we had to get in and out
0:38:29 > 0:38:33of vehicles and things like that or up onto a high stage
0:38:33 > 0:38:36which had no steps up to it.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38On stage at the Ken Colyer club,
0:38:38 > 0:38:42Rosina's performances were a hit with the crowd.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45The audience is crammed into a very small space in the front of me,
0:38:45 > 0:38:49and the band would have been trying to project over that audience,
0:38:49 > 0:38:52which is not very much lower than their own head height.
0:38:52 > 0:38:54Imagine Rosina coming onto the stage
0:38:54 > 0:38:56with the front line arrayed around her.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58If she sings at her natural height,
0:38:58 > 0:39:00she's going to be singing straight to the midriffs
0:39:00 > 0:39:01of the crowd in front of her.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04So she'd be up, she'd be on a chair or a packing case.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06She would be singing out across the crowd.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10The most incredible thing about the recordings that she made here,
0:39:10 > 0:39:13is the fact that you hear her acoustically.
0:39:13 > 0:39:16She'd be using the lungs, projecting the voice.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19And what you hear is not what you might imagine the voice
0:39:19 > 0:39:21of a three foot tall person would sound like.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25You hear a big, developed voice.
0:39:25 > 0:39:31RECORDING OF JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS
0:39:31 > 0:39:36But sadly, Rosina's rise to singing fame was suddenly curtailed.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40Both the 51 closed, which meant there wasn't anywhere for the people
0:39:40 > 0:39:42who were regulars there to continue meeting,
0:39:42 > 0:39:46and the music that was being played there fell away.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53With the onset of Beatlemania, jazz became yesterday's news,
0:39:53 > 0:39:57and after a stint with a band called the Leather Town Jazzmen,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00Rosina took a job answering the phones at the Whitehall Theatre.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04John bumped into her there in the late 1980s.
0:40:04 > 0:40:07She said, "John! Where have you been?"
0:40:07 > 0:40:09I said, "Where have you been?"
0:40:09 > 0:40:11And she said, "Well, I'd be working in the Whitehall Theatre.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15"They've got a swivel chair for me, like an office chair.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18"And I sit on it I whirl myself round and round and round,
0:40:18 > 0:40:20"without getting giddy,
0:40:20 > 0:40:23"until I'm level with the paying customers
0:40:23 > 0:40:25"and then I dish out the tickets."
0:40:25 > 0:40:29In fact, that was the very last time I actually saw Rosina.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33We travelled on the bus together, but she got off before me.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36We waved and we said, "Oh, keep in touch!"
0:40:36 > 0:40:41And we said yes and, as so often happens...we didn't
0:40:41 > 0:40:43and I regret it now.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50- Can you print a clean Skudder tree for me, please?- Yeah.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54The question for the Heir Hunters was whether Rosina's jazz career
0:40:54 > 0:40:56meant she'd left a sizeable inheritance.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59I just want to check with you two things...
0:40:59 > 0:41:01And finally, information came in
0:41:01 > 0:41:04about the funds Rosina had left behind.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06It was a surprise to us that she seemed to have
0:41:06 > 0:41:09five different bank accounts, all with the same bank,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11with varying amounts in them,
0:41:11 > 0:41:16which I think amounted to a total of about £45,000.
0:41:16 > 0:41:20It was great news for the team and meant their gamble had paid off.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22When a case turns out to be successful,
0:41:22 > 0:41:24it's always a nice feeling,
0:41:24 > 0:41:27especially for me, when I took the gamble in the first place to try
0:41:27 > 0:41:30and contact so many beneficiaries.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33If it was all for a couple of hundred pounds or something,
0:41:33 > 0:41:35then it would have been a bit of a disaster.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37But when there's a lot of beneficiaries
0:41:37 > 0:41:40and the estate's quite sizeable,
0:41:40 > 0:41:41it makes life a lot easier.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48For heir Ian, though, finding out about Rosina has revived memories
0:41:48 > 0:41:51of his own family's musical talents.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54Well, my father was Rosina's cousin.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Obviously, there was a link with the musical side of it.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03At the time, my mother used to play the piano and in fact,
0:42:03 > 0:42:07her father was a Doctor of Music and he used to teach music.
0:42:07 > 0:42:09I have my father's banjo.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11The original one he went round...
0:42:14 > 0:42:16..the campaigns in North Africa and Italy
0:42:16 > 0:42:19and I still have them up in the loft here, so...
0:42:19 > 0:42:21Oh, here it is. Yeah.
0:42:22 > 0:42:26This one has been several thousand miles and played to several thousand
0:42:26 > 0:42:28people over the years.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30It's incredible how old it is now.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34Becoming heirs has brought Ian's family together.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38It's opened up all sorts of doors within the family.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42We've never spoke before and now we're speaking to all the cousins,
0:42:42 > 0:42:44so it's really, really interesting.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46But for everyone who knew Rosina,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50the greatest legacy she could leave behind was her prodigious talent.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55She was a great little soul, great little singer
0:42:55 > 0:43:00and I'm sure she's very much missed by the jazz fraternity
0:43:00 > 0:43:02of the '50s and '60s.