Chambers Heir Hunters

Heir hunters track down the families of people who've died without leaving a will.

They hand over thousands of pounds to long-lost relatives

who have no idea they were in line for a windfall.

Could they be knocking at your door?

On today's show, the heir hunters struggle with misinformation.

So, it's not... Where the hell did he die?

It's not just the team who are enjoying the hunt.

It's like being part of a detective story.

And an old case comes back to haunt head honcho Neil Fraser.

It makes me quite angry that I've started something and I can't finish it.

Plus, a list of unclaimed estates worth nearly £0.5 million.

Could you be related to anyone on it and have thousands of pounds heading your way?

Every year, over 300,000 people die without leaving a will.

If no family is found, their money goes to the Government.

That's when the heir-hunting companies step in.

They race against each other to be the first to track down long-lost relatives entitled to inherit.

Fraser & Fraser is one of the oldest firms of heir hunters in Britain.

Nicky is the half-sister.

In its 30-year history, it's grabbed from the Government over £100 million,

giving it back to over 50,000 heirs.

It's 7.00am on Thursday, and staff are already

starting to arrive at Fraser & Fraser's central London office.

Thursday is the most crucial day for heir hunters,

as its when the Government releases its weekly list of those who've died with no will.

At the helm today is senior case manager David Pacifico.

John H. Chambers?

David has already chosen the estate they're going to pursue and is keen to get started on the research.

The case is called Chambers, John Henry Chambers.

It's 59,000, he died in March '07. We can't confirm the date of birth.

Fraser's might not have the birth date of John,

otherwise known as John Henry Chambers, but they do know he died in central London.

Using this information, they check the electoral roll and swiftly find his last address.

John Henry Chambers lived in one of these flats, right in the heart of London.

He worked as a fruit and veg trader and was buried in a pauper's grave in Finchley, north London.

He left nearly £60,000, but as he died with no will

and no known relatives, the heir hunters need to track down any long-lost family.

Getting hold of the address is relatively simple,

as there is only one John Henry Chambers who lived in central London in 2007.

However, trawling through their vast database of national birth records,

the heir hunters have found dozens of John H. Chambers who were born in or around London.

To find any heirs, they need to work out which one is their man.

John is an exceptionally common name.

John Henry's not a very rare combination of names.

Chambers is not a common name, but it's definitely not unique.

So we're having trouble at the moment identifying the birth.

Once we know his birth and we can look into the family and identify what family he's got,

it's a question of knowing which is the right birth.

The simplest way of moving forward is to get John Henry Chambers' death certificate.

This will give the team his date of birth, and will help them start

to piece together his family tree, working out, generation by generation,

who he is related to.

Death certificates are held in register offices close to where someone died.

David Pacifico knows that John Chambers' last known address was in the London borough of Westminster,

but right on the border with neighbouring Camden.

Not knowing where he died, he decides to take a punt on the death certificate

being held in the register office in Westminster.

It's important to get someone there fast. Fortunately for David,

there are a number of people he can call.

Frasers employee a team of travelling heir hunters, who spend Thursdays poised for action...

ready to go wherever the hunt takes them.

These travellers cover every corner of the country and aim to get to any heirs in record time,

and sign them up before the competition.

The nearest travelling heir hunter to Westminster is London-based Ewart Lindsay.

Hello, morning, Ewart. We've just got the one case out, called Chambers, John H.

We need to pick up the death certificate. It looks like it's going to be a Westminster death. WC1.

So, do you want to aim towards there, see if you can get the death?

Speak to you later. Bye.

The team want the death certificate because this document will give them John Henry Chambers' date of birth,

a crucial piece of information for building his family tree.

Getting the birth is the most important thing.

Having the birth, it's like a flower blooming, you know?

Um... It sprouts buds.

We can find out where the parents were born,

and if they had any brothers or sisters.

It rolls on from there.

But with Ewart wading through rush-hour traffic, and no date of birth for John Henry Chambers,

Frasers are going to have to wait some time for any blooming flowers.

Boss Neil Fraser knows it's not going to be easy.

People generally move around London, so although we're looking for a birth in the south-east,

we're not necessarily looking for a central London birth.

We've got everyone else picking up random things, seeing if we get that little bit of information,

that one little hint, which may possibly give us an age, and may give us the right birth.

At the moment, it's going to be a very slow start to the day.

With only his address to go on, David Pacifico has found the phone number

of one of John Chambers' neighbours.

If he knew him, and could tell them how old he was,

or better still, his date of birth, it could break open the entire case.

-We want an age. Doesn't have to be date of birth, but approximately how old he was.

-Yeah, I know(!)

With the frustration of having no birth date beginning to show,

the team are pinning their hopes on one of John Chambers' neighbours.

They may turn around and say, "Yes, he was born on the 1st March, 1920.

"He shares the same birthday as my dog, my pet cat."

So they may know that.

They more than likely will say, "He's about 80", which doesn't leave us in a much better position

than we are at the moment because we already think he's about 80 years old.

Case manager Marcus Herbert makes the call.

Would you know how old he was?

About 80, you think?

OK. Thanks a lot, bye-bye.

I've just spoken to Mr Lopez, who was about the floor above, I think.

He's known this guy to see about for that length of time.

But he really doesn't know.

As I said, 75, 80, which doesn't really help us very much, to be honest, with a name like that.

Ewart's not far from the register office.

But in central London, that doesn't mean he will be there any time soon.

We're in the heart of Leicester Square.

Jam packed with traffic.

With Ewart and the investigation at a standstill,

David Pacifico decides to get his researchers to look through their records

for any John Henry Chambers born between 1910 and 1960.

There are a lot of names.

With so many people to wade through, not everyone has faith in David's strategy.

I know. But at the moment, would you agree...?

We're working three at the moment.

I agree with you.

One thing everyone does agree on is how hard it is when you can't even get off the starting block.

It's early yet, and already I'm exasperated.

Neil feels sure it's not just Frasers who are at a standstill.

If we're struggling, and we have more access to records, more records than anyone else in the world,

it means everyone else will be struggling as well.

Two hours into their search and it seems Ewart still hasn't reached his destination -

Westminster Register Office.

Sick of waiting, Neil decides to take matters into his own hands.

I've got one of my colleagues heading down there, Ewart,

and I'm seeing if he's there. If he's not there, I'm going to get you to look up a death for us,

which he will be in in five minutes to pick up.

A few desks away, David's also fed up of waiting.

Ewart, where are you?

The register office?

He is there? I can leave him to do it in person, then.

Give me a call as soon as you've got it. If they can look it up, like, yesterday. Cheers, bye.

-He's there?

-Yes, he's walked into the register office now, so he's there.

Within the next five or ten minutes, we should have that and then we can stop wasting a bit of time

and we can get rolling on this and hopefully start finding the correct family.

Finally, Ewart's ringing with some news - but it's not at all what they've been waiting for.

Hello?

Yes, Ewart.

So that's not the right death?

That's the only one in 2007?

If it's not there, he's obviously not died at Westminster.

So it's not... So, where the hell did he die?

Coming up, Neil employs a risky strategy.

None of us are going to put our houses on it, and put money on it,

but it's the best we've got, so we will work at it.

Heir hunters make it their job to track down missing relatives

but you, too, might hold the key to cracking some of the cases.

Heldor Hermann died in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in July 2004.

He was 77 years old and left an estate worth £118,000.

Did you know Heldor Hermann?

Do you know a relative who could claim the cash?

Stanley Wilkinson died, aged 83, in Fulham, London, in December 2006,

leaving £90,000, which is currently with the Treasury.

Are you related to Stanley?

Do you know someone who is?

Oskar Klaviers died in Birmingham in February 2007, aged 82.

Oskar left £114,000 unclaimed.

Are you part of Oskar's family?

Are you entitled to his estate?

If you have any information which could help solve any of these cases, take a look at our website...

In central London, the heir-hunting team have been investigating the case of John Henry Chambers.

It's £59,000. He died in March '07. We cannot confirm the date of birth.

They were keen to get his death certificate and took a punt that it might be held

at Westminster Register Office, near to where he lived.

But the gamble hasn't paid off.

Basically, there is no death in 2007, in Westminster,

for plain John, or John Henry, or anything like that?

Now the team is back to square one.

It's a massive blow for the heir hunters.

The assumption that John Henry Chambers died in the borough where he lived was wrong.

It should be registered somewhere.

The question is, where?

We all thought it would be Westminster, Marylebone...

..but it may be Camden.

Aware they have lost precious time, David Pacifico quickly calls the register office

of neighbouring Camden, just a stone's throw from where John Chambers lived.

Yes, I'm trying to obtain a copy of a death certificate,

which we don't know if it's registered at Camden or not.

I'm asking a question about whether or not you've got it registered in your office. I'm not asking...

It would be you? I'll get my colleague to come down to the office.

Thank you very much. Bye.

Bob, can you go down Camden, please?

Camden Register Office?

Bob Smith is one of Fraser's travelling researchers.

He's been doing the job for 23 years, but this is his first mission today.

See you later, everyone. Bye-bye.

Camden Register Office? OK? Lovely.

David Pacifico is feeling the pressure of wasted time.

Somebody's on their way now to Camden.

-<

-Stressful morning?

Yes, it's just frustrating. Frustrating, but...

Bob knows that this kind of mix-up is common in London, where each borough has its own register office.

This can happen quite a bit. We establish where someone lives in London,

but they may well have died someone else, perhaps in a hospital,

therefore the death certificate would be held at a different office.

While Bob hopes his taxi will pick up some speed, Ewart makes his way to John Chambers' flat.

His task is to find a neighbour who might be able to give the team some useful in formation.

But in the capital city, it might not be that easy.

People are not how they used to be, not as friendly.

Nobody knows their neighbours these days.

And that's not the only problem with heir hunting in London.

With the meter ticking, it doesn't look like Bob's going anywhere fast.

Looks like there's a lot of traffic on the roads today. Road closures, etc. It may take us a little while.

Will Ewart have any more luck with John Chambers' former neighbours?

As you can see, there's quite a few numbers for 1 to 61.

And nobody's answering.

It's now 10 o'clock and Bob has finally arrived at Camden Register Office.

Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a minute. Cheers.

Within minutes, he's got what the team have been waiting for all morning.

John Chambers' death certificate states that he died at a hospital in Camden.

That's why his death was registered here and not in Westminster.

But there's no time for regrets.

Will the certificate give them the breakthrough they need?

OK, he dies on 29th March 2007...

Born on 28th August 1926, but it doesn't give a place of birth.

So, they finally got John Chambers' date of birth.

Back at base, they spring into action to find their man.

But the good vibrations soon peter out.

Unbelievably, out of the hundreds of John H Chambers in their records,

there isn't one who was born on that date.

It's a huge disappointment for the team, but then Neil comes up with a left-field idea.

I think it's going to be this one.

Knowing that some people go by their middle names, he decides to switch the first two names around.

And we have a Henry JF, born in Holborn, in the right quarter.

Flipping the names is the second massive gamble of the day.

But just because they've found a Henry J with the right birth date doesn't mean he's the right person.

It's 50-50, I think, at best. Although we've got everyone working on it,

we've got everyone working on it cos we've got nothing better to work.

They quickly start researching Henry John Chambers,

and it doesn't take long for them to come up with the names of his parents.

Neil's still uncertain about whether it's the right family.

None of us are going to put our houses on it, and put money on it,

but it's the best we've got, so we'll work at it, really.

Coming up...

the hunt for the Chambers family takes the team unexpectedly far afield.

-I'd like you to go to Southampton.

-Southampton?

Yeah, sorry about that.

People change their names for different reasons and, when they do,

it makes the heir hunters' job even harder.

Nine years ago, Fraser & Fraser were faced with another case when names and records did not match up.

It was the case of a Neta Axen, sometimes known as Nettie,

who died aged 95 in East London, leaving an estate worth £25,000.

Initially put us in a real problem area. The death certificate said she was born in 1904.

It says she was born in London.

It says she's a married lady, married to a Mr Axen.

It doesn't give his Christian names at all.

We couldn't, however, find the marriage,

cos we didn't know who to cross-check that back against.

We didn't have any Christian names for the husband, to work it through that way,

and we couldn't find her birth certificate because we didn't have her maiden name

to look for a birth certificate, so huge problems from the start.

As Neta had spent the last few years of her life in a Jewish care home in Hackney,

Neil assumed she'd been part of the strong East End Jewish community.

He made some inquiries and got his first break.

We were able to identify the name of the husband,

and that was Isodore Axen.

And from having Isodore, we were able to search back and find her marriage.

This was to the surname of Shadatsky.

This was a major breakthrough for the team.

But it only gave them the first piece of their jigsaw.

We then thought we had her maiden name, it sounded very Russian,

or at least eastern European.

It tied up with the age, but it didn't lead us to any birth certificates.

The Benefits Agency believes that she was born in London.

The hospital and her doctors' registers all said she was born in London.

But, despite all that, Frasers couldn't find any record of a Neta Shadatsky born in London.

The team hit a standstill.

But then Neil had an idea.

He knew from the marriage certificate that Isodore and Neta

had married at the Great Synagogue on Commercial Road.

And from this, he managed to track down a copy of the couple's Jewish marriage certificate.

The Jewish register,

the Jewish certificate, gives slightly more information than the English certificate.

That told us that Nettie was born in Russia.

So all the information we had confirmed, all up to date through every inquiry,

that she was born in London proved false.

The fact that Nettie had moved to England from Russia,

probably when she was just a child, change the direction of Neil's hunt.

And looking at the history of the region can explain the reason

behind the immigration of hundreds of families like Nettie's.

At the turn of the century in Russia,

the Jewish population was under

increasing pressure from anti-Semitism,

which then led to violent outbursts called pogroms,

when they were attacked and the areas where they lived were burned.

Nettie was one of about 150,000 Jews who came to London from Russia to escape the pogroms.

The reason people came was because they thought, in England, they weren't directly persecuted.

There were not laws targeting Jews in particular, telling them

what they couldn't do and where they couldn't live.

Ironically, even though the Jews left Russia to escape persecution, they still faced it across Europe.

In fact, in the 1930s, when Nettie would have been in her mid-twenties, and living in London,

politician Oswald Mosley set up the British Union of Fascists,

nicknamed the Blackshirts, and they organised provocative marches through Nettie's area.

We're often told that Hitler is mad.

Well, I've got another view, myself.

Bill Fischmann lived in the East End near Nettie.

He remembers Mosley's marches.

Then, of course, you've got this megaphone, telling us, "All of you, get to Cable Street!

"The fascists are marching to the south, near the river."

And we went through a side turning, and the police were marching and we came into a barricade.

But what I shall never forget about that

was to see bearded Jews next to Irish dockers,

building barricades, and there, they were stopped.

And that was the famous battle of Cable Street.

Neil's discovery that Nettie's name and birth information

varied on different records was not an uncommon occurrence.

People living year will have changed their names to fit in, or because it's easier,

because people cannot say or spell a complicated Russian name.

You might not have anglicised it on arrival,

but if you found it easier, possibly, to get ahead with a more anglicised name.

On Nettie's Jewish marriage certificate,

Neil found evidence that Nettie had a brother called Phillip.

Knowing more about her history, he now tried to track Phillip down, using different name combinations.

We found his birth. We then couldn't find his death very easily

until we had played a round again with the surname of Shadatsky

and found that he had actually died under the surname of Shade.

It was a huge problem. We got so many variations on it.

This was a lucky break, but once again, it led to a stalemate.

Unfortunately, he was never married, he was a bachelor

and, although we've made break after break after break,

and we've jumped several steps along the way,

and we've made very good progress in our research, we've hit another brick wall.

With no children born to Nettie's brother, Phillip,

the team have no more leads to chase.

But Neil still believes that some living relatives do exist.

Yes, I think there are beneficiaries. Where are they?

My feeling is, probably, they'll be in Russia.

I don't know that, though.

So it looks as if Neta Axen's estate might be staying with the Government.

Much to Neil Fraser's disappointment.

I basically have to draw a line, I have to say,

"Neil, this is one which got away."

It doesn't make me happy, it makes me quite angry

that I've started something and I can't finish it.

If you can shed any light on the life of Nettie,

or can prove that you are related to her,

then you could be entitled to her £25,000 estate.

Take a look at our website at bbc.co.uk/heirhunters

for details on what to do next.

Today the team at Fraser & Fraser have been trying to find heirs

to the £60,000 estate of a John Henry Chambers.

This morning the team struggled to find a birth record for John Henry Chambers

that matched the birth date on his death certificate.

Then Neil had a radical idea.

He swapped John Henry's names around and bingo!

He found a record of a Henry J Chambers with the right birthday.

But is this just a coincidence?

Or is Henry J the same person as the John Henry who died?

It's 11 o'clock and the office team are fact-finding for Henry J Chambers.

They discover that he had a father who died in 1973,

whose death certificate is held in Hendon Register Office.

With nothing else to go on, Neil decides they need this certificate.

It may contain some crucial information to prove that Henry J is the same person as John Henry.

The third travelling heir hunter of the day is called up for action.

Hello, Bob Barratt.

'Hello, Bob, it's Marcus.'

Hello, Marcus.

-'Hello mate, can you go to Hendon?'

-Hendon?

-'Yeah.'

-Right.

-Yeah, no problem, cheers.

-'All right, mate, bye.'

Ex-policeman, Bob Barratt, has been poised for action all morning.

Right, 14 miles away but I think that's as the crow flies.

With Bob on his way to Hendon,

the office now have the opportunity to advance the case.

Neil studies the names he's added to the family tree

and notices something unusual about them.

Most people either have no middle name or one middle name.

It's less likely to have two middle names.

Is this a clue which will help the team crack the case?

Neil decides to act on his instinct.

Now what I've done is search under the surname of Chambers

in the registration district of London City, which is where the father's born.

I'm looking for other children who have three initials -

two middle names.

We've found in the past that when you have one person with lots of names

then you also can have some of their siblings.

Neil's new search strategy has given the team four possible

aunts and uncles to Henry John Frederick Chambers.

All with two middle names.

These are potential siblings or uncles of the deceased.

Erm, we're going for them mainly because they've got three names.

Four hours into the case and the team might be getting somewhere.

Neil looks up his three initialled names in the electoral roll

and finds the address of Frank George Edwin Chambers in Southampton.

Unfortunately he's died, but Neil quickly realises he's just stumbled across another clue.

I think I've got family living next door to that, Lillian.

There's a person called Chambers living next door.

Could he be another member of the same family?

He only moved into the street in 2003,

which is two years before his father died

and his father used to live next door to him.

This could be the team's first heir,

but he very nearly slipped through the net.

Because I was doing different searches at the time,

I sort of slipped that there was someone with the same surname living next door!

I'd sort of scrolled past cos he'd only moved into the house in 2003

and he's possibly going to be at work - I'd skipped past his neighbour

who's an older lady who would know more about the families.

Obviously ignoring the fact that he possibly could have been a relative

which he is...

He may be a relative, but he isn't in.

Hello Mr Chambers, my name's Neil Fraser,

I'm a specialist genealogist and a probate researcher, phoning from central London...

Neil leaves a message.

..And if you ask to speak to Neil Fraser or David Pacifico,

we'll be able to tell you what it's all about. Thank you very much.

We're not convinced we have the right birth.

If we have we've been lucky and we can put that down to experience,

if we haven't, it's one of those things.

Coming up, Marcus thinks they're on the home straight.

-Can we just do this?

-Yep.

-Cos I think it's right.

Every year, there are over 3,000 unclaimed estates added to the Government's list

and you might be able to help the heir hunters solve one of them.

Jacqueline Owen died in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk,

in June 2004, aged 51.

She left nearly £17,000.

Did you know Jacqueline? Are you one of her relatives?

Mark Green died in February 2007 in the Wirral, Merseyside.

Mark was 80 and left an estate worth £23,000.

Are you entitled to Mark's money?

Should you get his cash?

William Kerridge died in Canterbury, Kent in March 2005, aged 96.

He left a personal fortune of £60,000.

Are you part of William's family?

Do you know someone who is?

If you have any information regarding any of these unclaimed estates,

then take a look at our website -

On the Henry Chambers case, Frasers' travelling heir hunter, Bob Barratt,

has finally arrived at Hendon register office to pick up

what could be Henry's father's death certificate.

Could this be the confirmation they need

that they are working the right case?

Hi, Marcus, right, I've got a certificate for Henry Arthur Charles Chambers.

Bob gives Marcus the vital information from the certificate.

Died 22 October 1973,

born 22 January 1904.

And his address was 35 Sandringham Flats...

-'Yep?'

-And the informant, John Henry Chambers, son.

-Of the same address.

-'Lovely!'

It's great news for the team.

The certificate contains even more information than they hoped for.

The fact the person on the death certificate had the very same address as the deceased

makes it even more certain that they're on to the right family.

Right, we've got the death of the father from Hendon.

-It was Henry Arthur Charles Chambers.

-Yep?

-Died, 22 October, 1973.

-Yep.

-Of 35 Sandringham Flats, Charing Cross Road.

-Right.

-It's right.

-We've got the right birth of the deceased. It's good.

Right, are you gonna tell them downstairs or shall I go down now?

I'll go.

It's fantastic news. But Neil knows it's too early to celebrate.

What we don't know still is if we've identified

the correct siblings of the father of the deceased.

I'm a lot happier now we have the right family.

Now they have Henry Chambers' father's date of birth,

they can trace his parents - William Chambers and Florence Robinson.

From them, they work out his siblings,

this time without relying on guesswork.

Although the three name clue was right,

it only uncovered four brothers and sisters.

In fact, there was another sibling - Doris Chambers.

But because she didn't follow the pattern of having two middle names, they hadn't found her.

And just as they're piecing the family tree together,

the cousin that Neil called earlier finally rings backs.

Hello, Mr Chambers? Hello, it's Neil Fraser. Thank you for calling back.

I think I may have got a message from your neighbour as well as I left a message on your answerphone!

Having a family member on the phone is a golden opportunity for Neil to double-check their research.

We have Bertie, Dolly, Reggie and...

..Artie.

Roger confirms all of his aunts and uncles and the fact that they were known by their second names.

It seems turning the names around was an inspired guess on Neil's part.

But Roger's wondering who in his family has died.

OK, who do you think's possible?

Right, OK. Yes, you are correct.

If we're dealing with the same John, yes, we're more than likely...

Unusually, Neil's revealed who's died.

Now he needs some more information from Roger.

There's Bertie who was married to Alice O'Connell,

I think they had just one daughter, Patricia.

Um, I'm yet to track down Patricia,

I know she was born in '49.

Not entirely sure where she is at the moment.

Oh, cos I know her father, Bertie, died in Elstree...

It's a great result for Frasers.

The call has led them to a second heir -

another cousin of Henry John Chambers, called Patricia.

Roger's proved invaluable to the research

but the important thing for Frasers is to sign him up

so they can help him submit his claim for his share of the estate.

OK, OK, well, it'll be my colleague, Bob Barratt, if we put down 5pm.

No problem and nice talking to you, sir. Hopefully Bob will be able to see you about 5pm today.

At last, Frasers are in a position to send their travellers out to see heirs

and, crucially, get their commission.

Bob Barratt's ready for the command.

Hi Bob, listen, we've got an appointment for you,

-I'd like you to go to Southampton!

-Southampton?

Yeah, I'm sorry about that!

We've got a cousin that Neil spoke to and has arranged about 5pm

or however long it takes you to get there - he's in there now.

-Speak to you later, Dave.

-Thanks, Bob, bye.

While Bob refuels for his 80-mile journey to Southampton,

Neil's feeling rather pleased with himself.

We took three or four very big,

wild stabs in the dark,

and relied on a bit of experience, a bit of luck,

and that's come through so it's possible that we're quite a bit ahead of other people.

It's possible that they're waiting for certificates and stuff to come back,

whereas we've now got onto it so it's fine.

Travelling heir hunter, Ewart, is also on the case.

He's being asked to head over to North London to see Henry John Chambers' other cousin, Patricia.

So after nine hours of gambling and guesswork,

the case is finally coming together.

And it seems now they're definitely on a winning streak.

They've discovered that the missing sibling, Doris,

that they added to the tree earlier,

had two children, Andrew and Jennifer.

That's two more of Henry's cousins and two more heirs.

David Pacifico calls Jennifer.

What's happened her is that a person related to your late mother has recently died

and this is the reason why we're trying to track down the Chambers family.

One of my colleagues is meeting with Roger probably as we speak,

who, as you know, lives down Southampton way.

Because I thought, you know, if you were going out a little later,

one of my colleagues who's there now could meet with you in half an hour.

But if that's not convenient, obviously...

Well, 11th is next Tuesday if you do want to pop in to see us or...

Thank you very much indeed. Thank you, bye-bye.

Doesn't want to be seen just now,

but she's coming up next Tuesday and wants to come in and see us.

I know!

They'll have to wait to see Jennifer,

but Bob Barratt's about to meet the first heir,

Henry John's cousin, Roger.

To make all their work worthwhile,

it's crucial he comes away with a signature.

And Ewart's just arrived at Patricia's house.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi.

I wasn't sure which door to actually...!

-You've come through the back door but that's all right!

-Oh!

Frasers have called ahead, so she's aware that her cousin,

Henry John Chambers, has died.

The first thing that Ewart has to do

is confirm that Patricia is from the right family.

Right so... Aunts and uncles.

Erm, obviously coming down through your father's side,

that's the blood line we're doing.

-Can I just go and get the Bible?

-Yeah.

-The names we called them by weren't the names that they were christened.

-Right.

Lots of families keep books that contain all the crucial information about their history.

It gets passed through generations, and Patricia is the current holder of the Chambers' family Bible.

She knows that Henry John's father also went by his middle name.

Yes, he was, actually.

He wasn't Arthur. His actual name was Henry.

-Henry Arthur?

-Henry Arthur.

-Was he married?

-Yes.

Married to...?

He was married to Nellie. Nellie...Nellie...Nellie...

-And her maiden name was Cook.

-Had one son?

-Yes.

-What was his name?

-Johnnie.

-What do you know about Johnnie?

Johnnie Chambers was born on the 28th of August in 1926.

-He was actually nearer my mum's age...

-Yes.

..so when...

when my mum died, he came to visit us and just arrived down the bottom of the garden.

-I hadn't seen him since I was a little girl.

-In 2001?

-Yes, that's when I last saw him.

-That's when you last saw him.

-Hmm.

Confident they've tracked down the right heir,

Ewart now needs Patricia to sign up with Frasers,

so they can put forward her claim to her cousin's £60,000 estate.

Nice to meet you. Bye-bye.

In Southampton, there's no joy for Bob Barratt.

After all this hard work, he hasn't come away with a signature.

I've left an agreement with him,

I've completed a family questionnaire,

and hopefully Mr Chambers will ask us to make the claim on his behalf.

Has Ewart had more luck with Patricia?

-Thank you very much.

-You're very welcome. Cheerio.

-Take care.

-OK, thanks a lot. Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

Seemed very happy.

She signed, so it's one-up for me. Fantastic.

Job well done for me, I should say.

I'm off home now.

It's pouring with rain and I just can't wait to get home.

But for Patricia, it's not about the money.

An unusual thing to happen.

You read about things like this happening

and, I think, the whole process of tracking people down

is incredibly exciting.

I found that - how people actually traced me -

was something that, um, was like being part of a detective story.

Pleased with how the day's panned out,

there's just one task left for David Pacifico -

to print out the completed family tree.

PRINTER DRAWER RATTLES

But nothing's simple.

At least someone can see the funny side.

But things didn't get any easier for David.

Within a week, Roger Chambers decided not to use Frasers to help him submit his claim.

Patricia, who'd already signed, changed her mind,

but there was one piece of good news.

Their cousin Jennifer came into the office.

Any other questions at all you want to ask me?

When she saw the evidence of the team's hard work, she agreed to sign.

I'm quite happy and, as I say, I'm very impressed with the brochure.

-OK, David. Nice to meet you.

-Thank you very much.

-Thanks a lot.

It was particularly nice because we didn't have anything, really, to go on at the beginning,

and his birth wasn't under the name which we thought it was,

so it took a short while to get going. Once we did, we found the family.

It's very nice that we can actually now confirm

that the family are entitled, and will benefit, to his estate.

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