0:00:02 > 0:00:03- Today...- I think I found someone.
0:00:03 > 0:00:07..Heir Hunters battle the competition on a tricky case...
0:00:07 > 0:00:08We're actually really stuck.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10I don't have a clue what's going on.
0:00:10 > 0:00:11Coming down.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14..the tough lives of family ancestors are explored...
0:00:14 > 0:00:17He'd be down here on his hands and knees with a shovel,
0:00:17 > 0:00:18cleaning it out manually,
0:00:18 > 0:00:21so that'd be an absolutely disgusting place to be.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24That's 5,869 results.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27..while in Wales, on a case with a common surname,
0:00:27 > 0:00:28the search becomes epic...
0:00:28 > 0:00:31It comes up with over 3,000 marriage searches.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35..and it uncovers the story of an infamous battle.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42We're talking about a ship going up in flames, with major explosions.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46It's all in a day's work for the Heir Hunters.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57When it comes to finding heirs,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00sometimes what should be the most straight-forward of family trees
0:01:00 > 0:01:03can be complicated purely by the name...
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and everyday surnames can be the worst,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09especially if it's the second most common name in the UK.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Surnames like Smith, Jones, Evans -
0:01:13 > 0:01:15very difficult to research and very difficult to research
0:01:15 > 0:01:16in particular areas as well.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21The sheer volume of records makes it very difficult to pinpoint
0:01:21 > 0:01:24exactly which record is correct.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28So when it came to tracing relatives of retired gardener Keith Jones,
0:01:28 > 0:01:30the team knew they'd have their work cut out.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Keith died at home in Cardiff at the age of 75.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39He was known locally as a nice man
0:01:39 > 0:01:42but one who liked to keep himself to himself.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44We've only lived here about 18 months,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47so Keith was the chap that lived next door.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49I wouldn't say that we knew him particularly well.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51I think he was just a private chap.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53He has a large garden
0:01:53 > 0:01:55that had got quite overgrown,
0:01:55 > 0:01:58but there's some really nice trees and plants in there,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01so clearly at some stage he took a lot of pride in it.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04But I guess in recent years he hasn't done so much with it
0:02:04 > 0:02:06and unfortunately it got a bit overgrown.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12Whilst respecting Keith's privacy, Owen was a considerate neighbour.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15We'd been sort of keeping an eye on Keith to check that he was OK
0:02:15 > 0:02:18and doing OK and there was a few days in a row
0:02:18 > 0:02:20where we hadn't sort of seen or heard of him
0:02:20 > 0:02:23and obviously the police came to investigate and found that
0:02:23 > 0:02:25he'd passed away, unfortunately.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Keith hadn't made a will and had no known next of kin,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32so his case was advertised as unclaimed.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36Do you want to just open it fully?
0:02:36 > 0:02:38- That is fully.- Is it?
0:02:38 > 0:02:40And in London, the team at Fraser & Fraser
0:02:40 > 0:02:42got straight on the case.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44If it's a Government Legal Department case,
0:02:44 > 0:02:47we know there are going to be other people looking into the matter,
0:02:47 > 0:02:48so it's going to be competitive
0:02:48 > 0:02:51and when we fist looked into where he was last residing,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55we couldn't find any information about his address.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57To assess whether it was a case worth working,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00the team needed to know the value of Keith's estate,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04which meant trying to find out if he'd owned his house in Cardiff.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08- There was two addresses, wasn't there?- Both.- Both.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11And that would prove unusually tricky.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14We can usually get things up-to-date,
0:03:14 > 0:03:16ie address, quite instantaneously,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19but, this one, we couldn't for some reason and I was thinking
0:03:19 > 0:03:23was it something to do with how common Jones was as a name?
0:03:23 > 0:03:26We had to actually purchase the death certificate to work out
0:03:26 > 0:03:29where he lived and, from that, we worked that he actually
0:03:29 > 0:03:32owned the property and it was an estate that we would look into.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38With the property estimated to be worth around £250,000,
0:03:38 > 0:03:43Ben hit the go button and researcher Sinead began the daunting task
0:03:43 > 0:03:44of searching for Joneses.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49At the start of each case, what you would do is you look for a birth.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54Keith Jones obviously is quite a common name, being Jones,
0:03:54 > 0:03:56and he's living in Wales at the time of his death.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00So more than likely he's going to be from Wales with the surname Jones.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03So what I did to start off with is I found his birth.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Now, Keith was born in 1941 in Cardiff.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Having found a record of Keith's birth,
0:04:11 > 0:04:14Sinead could now find out who his parents were.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18And from that I found his mother's maiden name was Briscombe,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21so I could find a marriage for his parents...
0:04:22 > 0:04:26..which I did find in 1939 in Cardiff
0:04:26 > 0:04:28for Alice Briscombe and Eli Jones.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35Next the team needed to find out if his Keith's parents, Alice and Eli,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37had any other children.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39We conducted another search for any other siblings,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42full-blood siblings of Keith.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44We were not able to locate any.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48But one detail immediately caught the team's attention.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53Eli is almost ten years older than his wife.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59So he's around 40 when the deceased is born.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03The team now wondered if Eli may have been married before.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05But when they looked at the certificate of his marriage
0:05:05 > 0:05:08to Alice, they got more than they bargained for.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Both lists them as being previously married.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13So Eli Jones is a widower
0:05:13 > 0:05:16and Alice May Kruger, formerly Briscombe, is a divorcee,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19so this instantly says to us, well,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21there could be children from their first marriage.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24So this is something that we need to look into straightaway before we go
0:05:24 > 0:05:28back to cousins, because they have a prior claim as half-blood siblings.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Alice's first husband had the unusual surname of Kruger
0:05:33 > 0:05:37so the team were quickly able to search for any potential children,
0:05:37 > 0:05:39but it turned out they hadn't had any.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Check around that area to start off with, cos if he's going to
0:05:42 > 0:05:44marry young he's going to probably marry around that area.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46With that line of inquiry exhausted,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50the team turned their attentions to Keith's father, Eli Jones,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and it was looking like a nightmare task.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54To look for a marriage...
0:05:55 > 0:05:58..if I put in just a simple search into a search engine
0:05:58 > 0:06:03just to see if there are any marriages, and just put Eli Jones,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06marriage maybe between 1912, when he's 16,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09up to 1939, before he marries Alice,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12and then do that as a kind of search,
0:06:12 > 0:06:15it comes up with over 3,000 marriage searches.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18And, well...
0:06:18 > 0:06:20I'm not going to be able to go through all of them in one day.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24With such a common name, the team were hoping they could focus
0:06:24 > 0:06:26their search on one small area,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29and Eli's career would give them a significant lead.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32Eli Jones is listed age 42,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36his occupation is also listed as a motor lorry driver.
0:06:40 > 0:06:45During World War I, Eli had served as a driver for the Royal Fleet Arm.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48In 1918, he was discharged on medical grounds,
0:06:48 > 0:06:52but his driving skills soon came in handy back in Wales,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54where he took a job delivering barrels of beer.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00In the 1920s, a lot of breweries were still using horse-drawn drays
0:07:00 > 0:07:02but the problem was
0:07:02 > 0:07:05in the First World War a lot of horses got called up
0:07:05 > 0:07:08for the front and didn't come back.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10After the First World War,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13they started selling off the Army surplus vehicles
0:07:13 > 0:07:15so a lot of petrol-driven lorries,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19even steam-driven lorries, started coming in as well in the 1920s and,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21carrying on after the First World War,
0:07:21 > 0:07:25it would have been petrol and diesel lorries there.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Men who delivered beer were known as draymen and it was a job
0:07:28 > 0:07:31that required strength and skill.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33It was a manual job, it was a physical job.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37You had to be fit for it and move those heavy barrels around,
0:07:37 > 0:07:41but in the 1920s, 1930s, everyone was lucky to have a job.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46The barrels they would have used 100 years ago were made of wood
0:07:46 > 0:07:48and this is a 54-gallon barrel.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51Takes a bit of handling.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Wooden barrel.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59Whereas today, we use the nine-gallon firkin.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03So 9 gallons, 54 gallons - a lot easier to use.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Of course it's plastic as well.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Draymen could drive, but they didn't have to be literate.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11There are stories of them just making chalk marks on the door
0:08:11 > 0:08:15of the cellar, rather than writing it down in a book
0:08:15 > 0:08:16or giving a receipt.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Everything's done with receipts nowadays
0:08:18 > 0:08:21but that wasn't the case 100 years ago.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Crucially for the Heir Hunters, though, Eli spent his career
0:08:24 > 0:08:27as a drayman working for a local brewery called Ely's
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and he stayed in the Pontypridd area.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37It's really going to help me narrow down the marriages in that area
0:08:37 > 0:08:41and I can go through them and find one that probably
0:08:41 > 0:08:43could be Eli's first marriage.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47And Sinead soon made the vital breakthrough.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51So I looked back at Eli and found he was married before
0:08:51 > 0:08:56and that his wife, Ivy, had died in 1933 in Cardiff.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01What we found is there's an Ivy Jones
0:09:01 > 0:09:03that passes away at the age of 32.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08She is Eli's wife...
0:09:08 > 0:09:09and obviously dies quite young.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13But the key question was whether they'd had any children
0:09:13 > 0:09:15who would be Keith's half siblings.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Eli's been left with a number of children -
0:09:18 > 0:09:21one daughter and a few sons.
0:09:21 > 0:09:26So he's now looking after these young children
0:09:26 > 0:09:27without his wife.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30Eli and Ivy had five children
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and, tragically, Ivy died just nine months
0:09:33 > 0:09:35after the youngest, Marjorie, was born.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39In theory, these children, or their descendants,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42would be heirs to Keith's estate.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46But the team needed to know what had happened to them after Ivy's death.
0:09:46 > 0:09:47I think times back in the '30s,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51just after the Depression, were very tough times.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53If you were going to lose one parent back then,
0:09:53 > 0:09:56very difficult for the family to stay together.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58Obviously one person has to work to support
0:09:58 > 0:10:00and, without having that family unit,
0:10:00 > 0:10:04kids were either given out to family members or put into care.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08But the crucial question for Ben and the team
0:10:08 > 0:10:10was whether they'd been adopted out of the family.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14When adopted, an individual loses their entitlement
0:10:14 > 0:10:16to inherit from that family
0:10:16 > 0:10:20but gains the right to inherit from their new family.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Were the team closing in on five potential heirs
0:10:23 > 0:10:27or were they about to find out they were back to square one?
0:10:31 > 0:10:35It's 9am and in London, heir hunting firm Finders International
0:10:35 > 0:10:38are working on new cases from the government's Bona Vacantia list
0:10:38 > 0:10:40of unclaimed estates.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43There's three property cases today, three of us in the office so far,
0:10:43 > 0:10:45three property cases, so that's one each.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48So I'm just trying to work out who the cases should go to.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Estates which include a property
0:10:52 > 0:10:54are often worth hundreds of thousand of pounds.
0:10:54 > 0:10:56Hi, Danny.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59Case manager Ryan Gregory will be facing stiff competition
0:10:59 > 0:11:02from rival firms in finding heirs to these estates...
0:11:04 > 0:11:08..so recruits researcher Holly to help him work one of cases.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12I'm looking into the case of Daisy Charlwood.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14I've just managed to locate her birth record.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17She had no children, so I'm now having to look to see
0:11:17 > 0:11:19if she had any brothers or sisters at all.
0:11:22 > 0:11:27Daisy Charlwood was born in the seaside town of Hastings in 1919.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30She moved to London and worked as a book-keeper for most of her life.
0:11:32 > 0:11:33Although this photo survives,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35it seems she was a private person
0:11:35 > 0:11:38and not widely known in the community.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40She retired to Sidcup on the outskirts of London
0:11:40 > 0:11:43and lived on this street for 20 years.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48Daisy passed away in 2008, aged 92.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52Despite having been married three times, including to Fred Charlwood,
0:11:52 > 0:11:54she had no children and left no will.
0:11:57 > 0:11:58Thank you.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02So back in the office, the hunt is on,
0:12:02 > 0:12:04and the team have important news of the case's value.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08We think it's probably worth about £400,000.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10Daisy is now Ryan's number one priority,
0:12:10 > 0:12:12so to find her heirs,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16the team need to work out as fast as possible who her parents were.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19But they stumble at the first hurdle.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25At the moment, I can't find a marriage for the parents,
0:12:25 > 0:12:27- for Daisy.- Right, OK.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30I've ruled out... There's no kids with either of these marriages.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33There was a gentleman living at this address with her.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35- OK.- So I don't know whether it's worth sending a rep.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37I think we'll send a rep anyway at this stage.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39Try and work it through like that.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Sometimes on a case we send a representative
0:12:41 > 0:12:44to the last known address of the person who's passed away.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46This is important for us.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48It can give us some leads into the wider family.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52Like-wise it can help us with a bit of information
0:12:52 > 0:12:54which would indicate there is close kin.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Obviously if there's close kin, it'd stop doing a lot of unnecessary
0:12:58 > 0:13:00researching into the wider family.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Hi, there. I was just wondering
0:13:04 > 0:13:06if you were free to do a visit for me this morning?
0:13:06 > 0:13:09The team have an army of travelling researchers
0:13:09 > 0:13:11and one of them is Howard Kleinberg.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Today he's on his way to Daisy's former property.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18Well, we look at knocking on the doors of neighbours.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20We try the actual address,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23because the people who sometimes take over an address
0:13:23 > 0:13:26know something of the previous residents.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28Resident permit holders only.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35Howard could find out vital clues from neighbours.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37Really sorry to trouble you,
0:13:37 > 0:13:41but we're doing a thing about Daisy Charlwood who lived across the way.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Did you know her at all?
0:13:44 > 0:13:45No. I see.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47OK. All right, sorry to trouble you.
0:13:47 > 0:13:49Thank you.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51Despite an unpromising start,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54suddenly Howard finds one of Daisy's friends.
0:13:56 > 0:13:58I'm actually looking for...
0:13:58 > 0:14:01I know, sadly, Daisy Charlwood passed.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03We was just trying to find out more about her
0:14:03 > 0:14:05to track through her family.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Well, the person we did meet was someone who'd lived with her
0:14:07 > 0:14:09for quite a number of years,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12in fact, for the latter part of her life, was her carer
0:14:12 > 0:14:14and looked after her and took her out on trips, even.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18They used to go on coach trips to places they used to like,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22but he had limited knowledge of her family before he met her.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24She was born in Hastings.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26No siblings.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28No brothers or sisters.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Sadly not many people that could talk of her now.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35In the office, the team are looking into Daisy's wider family.
0:14:35 > 0:14:36Could you just check and see
0:14:36 > 0:14:39if there's any other kids that we're missing on this?
0:14:39 > 0:14:40But they've hit a major road block.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43They cannot find any trace of the parents' names
0:14:43 > 0:14:46and they won't be able to further the research without them.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49I can't find much on her, so we might need to get the birth.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52They urgently need Daisy's birth certificate,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56so Holly calls the register office immediately.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I was wondering whether you did a priority service at all
0:14:59 > 0:15:01for any copy certificates?
0:15:01 > 0:15:04Ryan desperately needs this information
0:15:04 > 0:15:05to get the hunt underway.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09So they're going to do the birth the same day.
0:15:09 > 0:15:10They said within an hour.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Within an hour, that's as good as we can expect.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15I'm going to try and have a look for...
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Have a look through some of the marriages for the parents.
0:15:18 > 0:15:19OK.
0:15:20 > 0:15:22In the meantime, the only snippets of information
0:15:22 > 0:15:24they have to work with
0:15:24 > 0:15:26are that Daisy's father's surname was Russell
0:15:26 > 0:15:28and her mother's name was Brewster.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31- Was there any Russell marriages? - There were loads.- Was there loads?
0:15:31 > 0:15:35- Just in Hastings?- Yeah. There were 67.- Really?
0:15:35 > 0:15:38OK, all right, that's going to be a bit of a nightmare then.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42Ryan gives Holly a hand and checks through possible marriage records
0:15:42 > 0:15:44for Brewsters and Russells.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Did you check out Brewster with an "er"?
0:15:50 > 0:15:56Um, I think I clicked name differences.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58I'm not saying this is right,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02but there's two marriages of Russells to Brewsters.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Ryan thinks he's found two possible marriage records for people
0:16:06 > 0:16:08who could be Daisy's parents.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11I've got his death. That could be those two.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14That looks to me like it might be spelt wrong.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16- It might be, yeah.- Brewster.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18So, let's... We'll go with this until the cert comes in.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Yeah, I'm about to call them now.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24He's narrowed it down to one couple,
0:16:24 > 0:16:26but it will only be confirmed
0:16:26 > 0:16:28when he gets Daisy's full birth certificate
0:16:28 > 0:16:30with both her parents' names on it.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34So, quite often when you're researching a family tree,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37the information you need isn't necessary readily available.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Quite often you have to use a hunch or an educated guess
0:16:40 > 0:16:42in order to step over the problem in hand.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47Ryan thinks one marriage from 1919 is correct
0:16:47 > 0:16:52between a Daisy Blanche Brewster and a Frederick W Russell in Bromley,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55a few miles from where Daisy Charlwood lived most of her life.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Despite not having confirmation this is correct,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Ryan takes a risk and ploughs ahead,
0:17:01 > 0:17:03looking at Daisy's mother's family.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06If the marriage I found on this is correct, it's going to be huge.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13The mum was one of eight in 1911...
0:17:15 > 0:17:16..which can be a good thing.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19We don't necessarily have any confirmation that it's correct.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22It could be a massive waste of time in terms of, you know,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25we're going to have to pull everyone into it now.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27It's a huge gamble.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Ryan will have to work both sides of the family tree at the same time,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32all based on guesswork.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35I would say this is probably 98% correct.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37I'll take that risk and say that.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40We'll do any other possibilities as well.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44Ryan raises the stakes even further and gets the whole team involved.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46How's it going with everyone else?
0:17:46 > 0:17:48It's OK, but not great.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52While he and Camilla look into Daisy's mother's family of Brewster,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55he calls in researchers Holly and Ellie to investigate
0:17:55 > 0:17:58the father's side as quickly as possible.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01So, I'm still trying to put it on the starter tree,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03but could you look into the paternal side?
0:18:03 > 0:18:05Sorry. Surname Russell.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Frederick W Russell.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Research is difficult as Russell is a very common name.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14So, the surname Russell is up there with one of the hardest surnames
0:18:14 > 0:18:16for us to be researching.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Could you look for this lady?
0:18:18 > 0:18:20If you have a commonly occurring surname,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22you have to order more certificates,
0:18:22 > 0:18:24you probably have to be more particular
0:18:24 > 0:18:26about the areas you're looking at.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28The surname can slow us down a bit.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33But the team think they have identified a Frederick W Russell
0:18:33 > 0:18:35who lived in Greenwich.
0:18:37 > 0:18:38We think we have identified her father,
0:18:38 > 0:18:40so I'm trying to look through the censuses to find out
0:18:40 > 0:18:43how many brothers and sisters he may have, if any at all.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47Holly finds the Frederick living in Greenwich
0:18:47 > 0:18:49may have had at least five siblings -
0:18:49 > 0:18:51a big family to research.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55With Daisy's mother's side looking large as well,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Ryan's gamble is getting bigger and bigger.
0:18:58 > 0:19:03Presumably there's going to be 20, 30, 40 beneficiaries,
0:19:03 > 0:19:05so this one were going to start working now,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07we're going to need everyone in the team to look into
0:19:07 > 0:19:09the maternal and paternal side.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12It's a huge family, so we're not quite sure at the minute
0:19:12 > 0:19:13whether some lines will die out.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Ryan is playing with fire.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18If he's picked the wrong parents to investigate,
0:19:18 > 0:19:20his whole team will have wasted a morning's research.
0:19:22 > 0:19:23But if he's guessed correctly,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26he could be miles ahead of the competition.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28There'll definitely be another couple of companies on it.
0:19:28 > 0:19:29We just never know. I mean,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32this is always the same thing for day one for a search.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35We just have to throw everything at it.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39And Ryan thinks he has made a breakthrough on the mother's side
0:19:39 > 0:19:41as he's found an elderly cousin.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Speaking to them will confirm if he's researched the correct family,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48and whether his gamble has paid off.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50I'm just about to ring back
0:19:50 > 0:19:54the only beneficiary we've found so far on her mum's side of the family.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56I rang him earlier and he was engaged.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59Then I rang back and there was no answer so I left a message.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01If someone's engaged,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04the first thought is they're speaking to a competitor.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08As he's the only beneficiary, we need to talk to him.
0:20:08 > 0:20:09He's on the phone again.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Hello, good morning. Sorry to bother you again.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18We'd be really keen for us to give you a few more details.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23So, yeah engaged again.
0:20:23 > 0:20:28So, three times I've rung, twice he's been engaged,
0:20:28 > 0:20:31once I've left... I've left two messages now so
0:20:31 > 0:20:32I think I'll leave it there.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Without speaking to heirs,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39the team have no idea whether they're working the right family.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42Would it be able to be read to me over the phone?
0:20:42 > 0:20:44But there's a glimmer of hope.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47I've just heard back from the registry office in Hastings
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and they've confirmed that the birth certificate was correct
0:20:50 > 0:20:54and the parents that we we're looking into was correct as well,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56so we know that we're on the right track now.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01But the team's excitement is short-lived.
0:21:01 > 0:21:02OK, that's bad...
0:21:04 > 0:21:07While the birth certificate confirms they definitely have the right names
0:21:07 > 0:21:10for the parents, it now looks like they may have looked at
0:21:10 > 0:21:12the wrong family for the father.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Let's forget about everything we've done on Russell so far.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18The family they had researched for Frederick Russell,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21based in Greenwich, is wrong and they have to start again.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25A little bit stressful. We've just had to scrap the Russell side
0:21:25 > 0:21:27of the family that we were doing.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Will Ryan be able to make up for lost time?
0:21:29 > 0:21:31I'm actually really stuck.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33We don't know if it's wrong but if it's right...
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Anyway, we need to figure it out.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43Every year in Britain, thousands of people get a surprise knock on
0:21:43 > 0:21:45the door from the Heir Hunters.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48I was quite shocked because I didn't realise that there was
0:21:48 > 0:21:52anybody in the family that we could inherit from any more.
0:21:52 > 0:21:54But there are still thousands of unsolved cases
0:21:54 > 0:21:56where heirs need to be found.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58Today, we've got details of two estates
0:21:58 > 0:22:01on the Government Legal Department Bona Vacantia list
0:22:01 > 0:22:03that have yet to be cracked.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Could you be the heirs they're looking for?
0:22:08 > 0:22:12The first case on the list is Amelia Lilian Rissone.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15She was born on the 19th of November 1905
0:22:15 > 0:22:20in London, and died in Camden in 1998 as a spinster.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23It's likely Amelia had Italian ancestry.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Do you have Italian blood and a Rissone in your family?
0:22:27 > 0:22:30Could you be the person the Heir Hunters are looking for?
0:22:31 > 0:22:34The next case is Edwin Queen,
0:22:34 > 0:22:38who was born on the 29th of March 1922 in London
0:22:38 > 0:22:41and died aged 70 in Crawley, West Sussex.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45His parents were William Henry Queen
0:22:45 > 0:22:46and Mary Ann Queen.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Do you recognise the unusual surname of Queen?
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Do you know anything that could help solve the cases
0:22:54 > 0:22:57of Edwin Queen and Amelia Rissone?
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Perhaps you could be the next of kin
0:23:00 > 0:23:04and, if so, you could have thousands of pounds coming your way.
0:23:12 > 0:23:14In the case of bachelor Keith Jones,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17the team at Fraser & Fraser were tantalisingly close
0:23:17 > 0:23:19to finding their first heirs.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21I just put in Eli Jones.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26They'd located five potential half siblings
0:23:26 > 0:23:29but were trying to find out what had happened to them after their mother
0:23:29 > 0:23:32died, leaving father Eli on his own.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38If they'd been adopted out of the family,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40they'd be ruled out of the search.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44But luckily for the team, it was a very different story.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49When Ivy passed away, the family were placed with her family.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Eli would obviously have to try and support five people
0:23:51 > 0:23:53and work at the same time,
0:23:53 > 0:23:57so they were given to the maternal extended family.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04It was great news for the team and meant they could now focus their
0:24:04 > 0:24:08attentions on tracing Keith's half siblings or their descendants.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10One of them was William.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13William George Jones was born in 1921 in Pontypridd.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21A search of records revealed that William had joined the Royal Navy
0:24:21 > 0:24:23and, during the Second World War,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26he was a gunner on a ship called HMS Rodney.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30With regard to the roles that William Jones would have undertaken
0:24:30 > 0:24:33as a gunner, the Rodney would have had
0:24:33 > 0:24:3840mm quick firing anti-aircraft guns, QF2s,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40and those would have performed roles
0:24:40 > 0:24:44in defending the Rodney against potential attacks.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49And William's skills became vital as the battle for naval superiority
0:24:49 > 0:24:51intensified in the early 1940s.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Winston Churchill is said to have said that the only thing
0:24:55 > 0:24:59that worried him was the Battle of the Atlantic.
0:24:59 > 0:25:05The German Navy when now attempting to bring their major warship to bear
0:25:05 > 0:25:07to threaten what was happening with the Royal Navy.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11The most feared of those German warships was the Bismarck.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Bismarck was commissioned in 1940.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19It only had an eight-month service life,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22but it was an extremely modern,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25well equipped and well armed ship.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28It was a threat to British shipping
0:25:28 > 0:25:32and the British Navy in the North Sea and potentially the Atlantic.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40In May 1941, a British flotilla, including HMS Rodney,
0:25:40 > 0:25:42was scrambled to the Denmark Strait
0:25:42 > 0:25:44to take on the mighty Bismarck.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46But first blood went to the Germans.
0:25:47 > 0:25:54The first major engagement with HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Hood
0:25:54 > 0:25:57saw the Prince of Wales have to scuttle away,
0:25:57 > 0:26:00and we see the Hood sunk.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04But the remaining British ships, including the Rodney, fought on.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06William Jones and his crew mates,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09although they may have been exhilarated by the prospect
0:26:09 > 0:26:13of battle, may also have been fearful for their lives.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18It was a ship with a reputation for its armament and speed
0:26:18 > 0:26:21and, knowing what it had done to the Hood,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24there was always a possibility that other ships
0:26:24 > 0:26:26would suffer the same fate.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28Two days into the battle, though,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31the British ships began to strike back and, as a gunner,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34William had a front-row seat.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37He would have had a pretty clear view of the damage
0:26:37 > 0:26:39being caused to the Bismarck.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42We're talking about a ship going up in flames,
0:26:42 > 0:26:47with major explosions causing a huge amount of damage.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50The Bismarck was eventually overcome,
0:26:50 > 0:26:53and sank on the 27th of May 1941.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57It was a significant victory for British forces but, tragically,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00more than 2,000 men lost their lives.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08During his time in the Navy, it appears William met his wife,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10a radar operator.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Early on in their marriage, they moved to South Africa,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15which caused some headaches for the team.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17This brought up quite a few issues.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22Very strict privacy laws over there
0:27:22 > 0:27:25to trace family members of individuals.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30The team established that William had passed away in 1986.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34The question was whether he'd had any children who would be heirs.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39So, I've been looking into his family to see if he gets married,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42has any children, and what I've been able to find is I've actually
0:27:42 > 0:27:45been able to find a death certificate for him in South Africa
0:27:45 > 0:27:47and a death certificate for his wife.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52Unfortunately, his death certificate is actually in Afrikaans.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56So, what I have got here is the death certificate
0:27:56 > 0:27:57for Dorothy Marie Jones,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00who was the wife of William George Jones.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03This one is actually in English, unlike her husband.
0:28:03 > 0:28:08It lists the date of birth being the 19th of the 10th, 1925,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11her date of death on the 30th of the 3rd, 1981,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15that she was of nationality South African, she was a housewife,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18and he's listed there four children.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23All right, then. Cheers.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25It was the news they'd been hoping for
0:28:25 > 0:28:28and, as they began contacting William's children in South Africa,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31they made a quirky discovery.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35When we contacted William's family in South Africa,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37his first-born had the middle name of Rodney.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42The team had now started signing their first heirs,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45and they were making positive progress closer to home.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48We know that from the first marriage of the deceased's father
0:28:48 > 0:28:50there were five children.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52One of them is still alive,
0:28:52 > 0:28:55so he will be entitled to a fifth of the estate.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59He is very elderly and, in that instance,
0:28:59 > 0:29:02what we usually do is find sons and daughters of that individual
0:29:02 > 0:29:04to speak to them directly.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Obviously, in this case, he is a half-blood sibling
0:29:07 > 0:29:11and it shouldn't be me to give that information over to him.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15Next, Ben turned his attention to the eldest of the five, Gwendoline.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18Half-blood sister Gwendoline Louvaine Jones,
0:29:18 > 0:29:19born in 1919.
0:29:19 > 0:29:23She married a Gilbert Seaborne in 1937 and had six children.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28One of those children was Roger,
0:29:28 > 0:29:33and Ben was able to track him down and deliver the surprise news.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36I mean, I knew my cousins. I'd met most of my cousins before.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42It was the cousins in South Africa that were a bit of a mystery.
0:29:44 > 0:29:50I think I first met Keith around about 1967, possibly '68.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54I was with my late brother, Glyn,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58so we were chatting to this chap and I remember him saying,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01"Oh, that's our uncle."
0:30:01 > 0:30:06I went, "Oh, why didn't you tell me you had been speaking to him?"
0:30:07 > 0:30:10Yeah, he seemed a very pleasant chap.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13He obviously knew my elder brother.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Then I bumped into him again in the '70s some time.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20I think I might have bumped into him in the '80s
0:30:20 > 0:30:22and then the last time I saw him was at a wedding
0:30:22 > 0:30:25which would have been around 1990.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27They were quite a disjointed family.
0:30:29 > 0:30:34For case manager Ben, contacting Roger would prove invaluable.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36So when we're looking into a Jones family,
0:30:36 > 0:30:40we're always hoping that someone knows about the family.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44Roger was able to confirm that, once his grandmother had passed away,
0:30:44 > 0:30:46his grandfather Eli went on to marry
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Alice May Kruger, nee Briscombe.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54That just made sure and confirmed that we were on the right track
0:30:54 > 0:30:57and, from that point, we were able to really get our teeth into
0:30:57 > 0:31:00finding the other half-blood sibling descendants.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Ultimately, the team were able to trace a total of 18 heirs
0:31:04 > 0:31:08to the estimated £250,000 estate.
0:31:08 > 0:31:11But for Roger, the inheritance is tinged with regret.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18I just felt a bit sorry that nobody from the family was at the funeral.
0:31:20 > 0:31:25Myself and my cousin Debbie went to the coroners inquest, you know,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28cos we thought somebody from the family should be there.
0:31:28 > 0:31:29A great shame, really.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33But you can't turn back the clock and change things.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44Yeah, I'll keep going with it.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48Back in London, it's midday and heir hunting company Finders
0:31:48 > 0:31:49are three hours into their search
0:31:49 > 0:31:52for heirs to the estate of Daisy Charlwood.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54I've got her birth now, so hopefully we can find her.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56Daisy was a war widow
0:31:56 > 0:32:00who lived in Sidcup on the outskirts of London for most of her life
0:32:00 > 0:32:02and passed away aged 92.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06Very few people knew Daisy and records are limited
0:32:06 > 0:32:09so the team have been forced to work on a series of hunches.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13- If you print that out, actually, I can start having a look.- OK.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16But one vital guess proved a disastrous mistake.
0:32:16 > 0:32:20The team had wasted precious hours looking into the wrong family of
0:32:20 > 0:32:23Daisy's father, Frederick W Russell, based in Greenwich.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27We're currently just trying to figure out
0:32:27 > 0:32:29which is the right family, the dad.
0:32:29 > 0:32:35There are lots of potential Frederick Williams it could be,
0:32:35 > 0:32:38so really just trying to figure out the right one,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42which is posing a bit of a struggle at the moment.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44I don't have a clue what's going on.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47Worried they are behind the competition,
0:32:47 > 0:32:51the whole team are looking for the correct Frederick Russell.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53Did you see one on the Russell side?
0:32:54 > 0:32:57Ryan has three families to pick from
0:32:57 > 0:33:00so calls a crisis meeting to see if they can figure it out.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04So I think I've found someone on my bit.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07We don't know if it's wrong, but if it's right...
0:33:07 > 0:33:10It's interesting anyway. We need to figure it out.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13Everybody needs to look for clues in the records to point out
0:33:13 > 0:33:15the right family for Frederick,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18otherwise research will grind to a halt.
0:33:18 > 0:33:19So we're actually really stuck.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23- This is the one that made the most sense, though.- It did.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26Hi, there. I think I spoke to you earlier this morning about
0:33:26 > 0:33:29getting a certificate read to me over the phone?
0:33:29 > 0:33:32But Holly makes a major breakthrough.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34A closer look at Daisy's birth certificate
0:33:34 > 0:33:37reveals an address for her parents.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39The address that she was born at,
0:33:39 > 0:33:45we found another Russell living on that street in the 1939 census.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47It's the best link they have for a Russell family
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and moves their search for Frederick's family
0:33:50 > 0:33:52from Greenwich to Hastings,
0:33:52 > 0:33:55but it's still a huge gamble.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57We're trying to still figure out whether it's correct,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59but let's just say it's correct for now.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02The only way they'll confirm they have the right family
0:34:02 > 0:34:04is if they speak to heirs.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Ryan spurs the team into more action.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11We just need to find some more beneficiaries, please.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14So I think the Frederick William Russell in Hastings, well...
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Can we get some certs from Hastings?
0:34:17 > 0:34:18We can.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22The certificates will verify who's who in Daisy's father's family
0:34:22 > 0:34:24and, when they do come in,
0:34:24 > 0:34:27they reveal an intriguing detail about her father.
0:34:28 > 0:34:33Frederick Russell was a sewer man in London during the 1920s,
0:34:33 > 0:34:34and today the sewers in London
0:34:34 > 0:34:37are maintained by people following in his footsteps.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42We're off to the Fleet Sewer, in Calthorpe Street.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45This is our safety tripod and winch.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48This wouldn't have been around when they actually built these,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50they'd have been going up and down the ladders on their own, probably
0:34:50 > 0:34:53with hobnail boots on, maybe a rope if they were really, really lucky,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56but generally, no, they'd have had nothing like this.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58I don't even think they knew what health and safety meant.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00Coming down.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03London hadn't had a sewer system until the 1860s
0:35:03 > 0:35:07and, before then, the River Thames had acted as the main drain
0:35:07 > 0:35:09for raw sewage in London.
0:35:09 > 0:35:10The real problem of
0:35:10 > 0:35:11sewage filth in the River Thames
0:35:11 > 0:35:13was of course that the River Thames
0:35:13 > 0:35:15was, at that time,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18the main source of drinking water for the population.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22This led to all the problems of disease, cholera, typhoid,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25typhus and so on, and the government was, in the end,
0:35:25 > 0:35:27compelled to do something about it.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33The solution was over 1,300 miles of sewer tunnel under London
0:35:33 > 0:35:36to divert sewage to treatment works in the east of the city.
0:35:37 > 0:35:41Frederick's job would have been to keep the sewage flowing east.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44Filth and muck off the roads would tend to collect
0:35:44 > 0:35:46in the bottom of some of the sewers
0:35:46 > 0:35:50and it involved men necessarily going into the sewers
0:35:50 > 0:35:54and digging this detritus, muck, out by hand.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59The sewers today are probably a lot nicer place,
0:35:59 > 0:36:01if you can call at that,
0:36:01 > 0:36:04than they would have been about 150 years ago.
0:36:04 > 0:36:05When they were built,
0:36:05 > 0:36:07there would've been a lot more sewage coming down here.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10But they still wouldn't be flushing as much water
0:36:10 > 0:36:12as we do these days into the sewer system.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15So it would be a lot more solids coming through.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18Down in places like Smithfield Meat Market,
0:36:18 > 0:36:22I wouldn't even think about going downstream of that.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24That would be an absolutely disgusting place to be.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27Today, it's not quite so bad.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34100 years ago, Frederick didn't have the advantage of machines
0:36:34 > 0:36:36to help clear blocked sewers.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Frederick, originally, would have been called a flusher.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42He'd be down here on his hands and knees with a shovel,
0:36:42 > 0:36:43cleaning it out manually.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46So, hot, nasty and very physical work for him.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50And the sewers contained hidden threats.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Working down here was very dangerous.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57Sewage, when it starts to degrade, gives off various gases.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00So a good couple of deep breaths of that and, yeah,
0:37:00 > 0:37:03you'll be lying on the floor unconscious.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06Today we've got gas monitors, hard hats and PPE on.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10They would be down here in a pair of hobnail boots and a felt cap.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13No, they were a lot braver than I, at the time.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22Frederick's death certificate shows he died from bronchopneumonia,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24possibly brought on from working in the sewers.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28But his marriage certificate gives the heir hunters more valuable clues
0:37:28 > 0:37:29about Frederick's family.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34His father, Daisy's grandfather, William Russell,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37married Caroline Edwards in 1881
0:37:37 > 0:37:39and they had five children,
0:37:39 > 0:37:42four of which are Daisy's aunts and uncles.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45Five kids, so four lines.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49OK, cool. A bit smaller. OK. All right.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52I mean, it seems to make the most sense.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56To trace the aunts and uncles, the team need to divide and conquer.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00So at the moment we've just split each potential child up between us
0:38:00 > 0:38:02and we're going to have a look into that one instead.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06If these aunts and uncles had children, they'd be crucial heirs.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09Frederick's dad. I'll do Herbert.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13- Yeah.- I'll get Camilla to do Walter.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16I'm going to copy this. I'll do a few copies of this.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18The team are confident they're ahead.
0:38:18 > 0:38:19The Russell surname,
0:38:19 > 0:38:22you can easily go and follow the wrong line, pretty much.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25I think we're on the right track.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Although the team are confident they've found the correct family,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30they won't know for sure till they make contact with them.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34I just really want to speak to someone, but we need to know
0:38:34 > 0:38:37whether anyone is going to want to retain our services.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39We want to know if anybody has got some info on the family.
0:38:39 > 0:38:43If we can speak to someone who can verify the info or the tree we're
0:38:43 > 0:38:46working on, it would be great.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Ryan manages to find a phone number for a potential heir.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51This is going to be...
0:38:52 > 0:38:55..a first cousin once removed on the Russell side of the family.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58It's a call which could make or break the case.
0:38:59 > 0:39:03Have the competition beaten Ryan to the heirs?
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Hello, there. It's Ryan Gregory. We're a firm of heir hunters.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10We're actually looking into the Russell family tree.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12Have you been contacted about this at all?
0:39:14 > 0:39:16That's quite good.
0:39:16 > 0:39:18It's satisfying news.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21Ryan is first to this potential heir.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24But Ryan still needs confirmation he still has the right family.
0:39:24 > 0:39:25It's going quite far back.
0:39:25 > 0:39:30Do you know whether your grandfather had a brother called Frederick?
0:39:30 > 0:39:32No. OK, I mean that's really the link
0:39:32 > 0:39:34cos Frederick would be Daisy's dad.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39But essentially the way we're working, Russell's quite
0:39:39 > 0:39:42a common surname so there's quite a lot of different possibilities.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46The potential heir can't confirm his grandfather was related
0:39:46 > 0:39:51to Daisy's father. Only certificates will be able to prove that.
0:39:51 > 0:39:52Yeah, yeah, I hope so.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56But all the other information adds up and Ryan is quietly confident
0:39:56 > 0:39:57he's on the right track.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00All right, we'll see you later. Cheers. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06OK, finally after five hours I think I managed to speak to a beneficiary,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08a potential beneficiary we should say,
0:40:08 > 0:40:09because we're still not 100% sure
0:40:09 > 0:40:12whether the Russell side of the family is correct.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14But if it is correct, then we were the first to contact him.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17He's given me some details on this line of the family.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19You know, happy days.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23- Hello, Camilla. How's it going? - Yeah, it's going OK.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26Ryan and the team soon contact some more potential heirs
0:40:26 > 0:40:28and it's a satisfying end to the day.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32We've had at least one signature, which is good.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34We've contacted them first.
0:40:34 > 0:40:36They've been really amiable with us
0:40:36 > 0:40:40so we're visiting them later on today and tomorrow.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42But Ryan can't celebrate just yet.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47You're never really 100% sure whether someone is a beneficiary
0:40:47 > 0:40:49until you get the documents back in.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51These are the documents you need
0:40:51 > 0:40:54linking the heir to the deceased, or vice versa.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01A few days later, two of the heirs they visited
0:41:01 > 0:41:04are reflecting on the surprise knock at the door.
0:41:06 > 0:41:11A man knocked on my door and I had no idea what he was talking about.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14In fact, I wasn't going to let him in to start with.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18But it was just so out of the blue.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22Well, Barbara phoned me in absolute shock.
0:41:22 > 0:41:24We had no idea.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Well, we just didn't know they existed.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32If they do inherit some of Daisy's estate,
0:41:32 > 0:41:35Valerie has already made plans for the money.
0:41:35 > 0:41:36However much it is,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40I've decided that I'll probably share it with my children.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43My children would probably like a little slice of the cake.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47- I'll do the same thing.- Yeah.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51But their inheritance isn't guaranteed
0:41:51 > 0:41:54until Ryan has verified he definitely has the right family.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00After two more days of research, he finally has the answer.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04We've had all of the certificates in that we need now
0:42:04 > 0:42:06and we've spoken to family members
0:42:06 > 0:42:09and the good news is that both sides of the family is correct.
0:42:10 > 0:42:15Against all odds, it has turned into a very successful heir hunt.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18We found at least 17 beneficiaries and, you know,
0:42:18 > 0:42:22the majority of people have chose to retain our services.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25We seem to have been ahead of the competition on this one I'd say.
0:42:25 > 0:42:26OK, that's cool.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31Heir Barbara is coming to terms with learning about Daisy
0:42:31 > 0:42:33and the family she never knew about.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35There he is. That's grandad.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38I would've loved to have been in contact with her when she was alive.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40I really do feel bad now
0:42:40 > 0:42:43that we didn't keep in touch with the family.
0:42:43 > 0:42:44Well, there's loads here.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48- Half of them, I don't know who they are.- I know.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50It could be a new chapter in her family history
0:42:50 > 0:42:53as she learns more about Daisy's life.
0:42:53 > 0:42:56Well, I am a great lover of my family.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00We might be able to meet family that we didn't know we had.