0:00:02 > 0:00:07Heir Hunters spend their lives tracking down families of people who've died without leaving a will.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10They hand over thousands of pounds to long-lost relatives
0:00:10 > 0:00:14who had no idea they were in line for a windfall.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Could they be knocking at your door?
0:00:32 > 0:00:35On today's programme...
0:00:35 > 0:00:39a man who has lost contact with his brother gets some shocking news...
0:00:39 > 0:00:46The last time I saw him, about eight years and I'm the last one of the family.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50And the story of a man who made a life in Britain,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54but for fifty years never revealed the true details of his past.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Never did he mention family when we used to ask him and he'd say,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02"Well, my mother and father are dead and I've no brothers and sisters."
0:01:02 > 0:01:09Plus the unclaimed estate sitting dormant at the Treasury - are you about to inherit a fortune?
0:01:16 > 0:01:20It's incredible, but true.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Every year two thirds of people in the UK die without leaving a will.
0:01:24 > 0:01:30With no will and no heirs, their entire estate will be absorbed into the Treasury as unclaimed funds.
0:01:30 > 0:01:37In 2007 alone, a massive £18 million was left unspoken for.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Across the country, around 30 heir-hunting companies make it
0:01:40 > 0:01:43their business to track down long-lost relatives,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46hoping to claw back some of the cash for the rightful heirs
0:01:46 > 0:01:49- and at the same time, win themselves a commission.- Mr Galloway?
0:01:49 > 0:01:51- Yes.- David Hadley.- Hello.
0:01:53 > 0:01:59With offices across the UK and Europe, Fraser & Fraser are one of the established firms.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04They've tackled estates ranging from £5,000-£500,000
0:02:04 > 0:02:09and have successfully claimed back more than £100 million for heirs...
0:02:09 > 0:02:14often in the process, reuniting families that have lost touch.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17I'm Margaret. Don't be nervous.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Sometimes we are the link, we are the actual people who put
0:02:21 > 0:02:25people back in touch with each other and that is just so rewarding.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37It's 8.15 am on Thursday at Frasers' Central London headquarters.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42It's the day the Treasury publish the list of unclaimed estates.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Most of the team is already in the office.
0:02:44 > 0:02:51- This one there, she didn't know the deceased but confirmed it was sheltered housing.- So she did?
0:02:51 > 0:02:53But didn't know the deceased.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Partner, Neil Fraser, has been hard at work for several hours.
0:02:56 > 0:03:02He's been sifting through potential cases but he can't find any high value estates.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Generally we have a rule that we try not to work anything
0:03:06 > 0:03:10under the £30,000 sort of barrier, that sort of mark...
0:03:12 > 0:03:19which, if anyone owns a property, they'd certainly have above the value of £30,000.
0:03:19 > 0:03:25Where we have the problem is trying to identify the cases in between the valued property cases
0:03:25 > 0:03:28and down to the lower end of our sort of spectrum.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33The Heir Hunters work on a commission basis and an office
0:03:33 > 0:03:36like Frasers' need a good size estate to cover their expenses.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Just check to see if there are any people with these initials, yeah?
0:03:39 > 0:03:43But when the team is unable to find anything with a high enough value,
0:03:43 > 0:03:48the next best option is to tackle something that will be fast to solve.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52What we're looking at here is a case of Kenneth Wren.
0:03:52 > 0:03:58Now a quick search of our records and in doing a quick look-around for his birth,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01I've been able to find a birth in Romford and that's in 1929,
0:04:01 > 0:04:08and that ties up with four other births, so four other siblings.
0:04:08 > 0:04:14So it looks like the Heir Hunters have already found brothers and sisters for the deceased.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19Kenneth Wren was 79 when he passed away in Essex in 2008.
0:04:19 > 0:04:25He had lived in Romford all his life but died alone in Goodmayes Hospital
0:04:25 > 0:04:31and although he lived in sheltered accommodation for nearly 16 years, none of his neighbours knew him.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41Nor was he well-known in the local community, but surely he must have had a past?
0:04:41 > 0:04:44Case Manager, David Pacifico, has been trying to contact
0:04:44 > 0:04:48the manager of Kenneth's flat to find out about his finances.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51We haven't been able to speak to anybody.
0:04:51 > 0:04:52It is sheltered accommodation.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56We know very little about him at the moment.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Value-wise, I'm not convinced it's got much value.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04To make it onto the Treasury's list of unclaimed estates,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08the personal wealth of the deceased must be a minimum of £5,000.
0:05:08 > 0:05:14As Kenneth was living in a council-funded flat, it is unlikely that he had many savings, but
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Neil thinks the virtue of this case is that it should be quick to work.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24Initially, it looks like we may get near kin, so that's why we're playing with this at the moment.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Fingers crossed, we may find some indication that there's a bit more value than we think there is.
0:05:28 > 0:05:35From the birth records they have on file, the Heir Hunters have already traced four possible siblings.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Kenneth was born in 1929.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40They found three older brothers...
0:05:40 > 0:05:46Henry, Stanley and Clifford and a sister, Gladys, who was born in 1917.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50So we've got a Stanley H and a Gladys EM.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55Now they're the two best names that we've got so we've been able to made headway on those quite easily.
0:05:55 > 0:06:02From their birth certificates, the team can see that Kenneth's father is Alfred, and his mum is Rosetta,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06also known as Rose, and they've traced a marriage to 1908.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09What's this name - Stickwood?
0:06:11 > 0:06:16Head Researcher, Gareth, knows that if the parents married in 1908,
0:06:16 > 0:06:20there is a good chance that the newly-weds will be listed on the 1911 Census.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23Well, I've just found the census of,
0:06:23 > 0:06:28hopefully, Alfred and Rose Wren who are the parents of the deceased.
0:06:28 > 0:06:34The census is taken every ten years and provides a snapshot of each household in the country.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38It includes details of age, marital status,
0:06:38 > 0:06:44number of children and type of work and the information is released to the public after 100 years.
0:06:46 > 0:06:52But after pressure from amateur genealogists, the 1911 Census was made available online in 2009,
0:06:52 > 0:06:58and it's providing Gareth with a very clear picture of the social status of the Wren family.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01It's telling us that they've been married for about two years,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03so that ties in with what we expected to see.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06The father is 24, the mother is 22.
0:07:06 > 0:07:14He's a straw carter and they're living in a one-bedroom house, in 1911, so it's a start.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20The young Wren family were living in Romford.
0:07:20 > 0:07:25The town today is a bustling urban environment but 100 years ago
0:07:25 > 0:07:31it had a very different feel, as local historian, Brian Evans, explains.
0:07:31 > 0:07:37Romford was a small town with that market which was on Wednesdays.
0:07:37 > 0:07:43People came in from 20 miles around but all round the town was green, open fields.
0:07:43 > 0:07:48As I say, if you were a straw carter in Romford, you'd be going out
0:07:48 > 0:07:53to farms collecting straw and piling it on the cart.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57You'd deliver that from the farm to where the straw was needed.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59Straw was used for all sorts of things.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01I mean, a lot of people just used straw for bedding,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04but it was a hard life because you had a very fixed position.
0:08:04 > 0:08:10You weren't flexible in society so you were a hay carter
0:08:10 > 0:08:15and that fixed you really in your relationships with all other people.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20The wife would have to be so careful with the budget and they were brilliant,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24women were brilliant in holding the family together
0:08:24 > 0:08:26and bringing up lots of children on a very small salary.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31You had to do little jobs. She had to do little things herself like perhaps taking in laundry.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37So given Alfred Wren's job, it is unlikely the family would have had much spare cash.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40It also looks like this family may have had a lot of mouths to feed.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46Following the information from the census, Gareth is now looking at the marriage records.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Although they've identified five children,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52he is checking to see if they married and if there are any more.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57They've been born over a period of, well 1911 to 1925, so...
0:08:58 > 0:09:03Half the search I'm only looking for a couple and then as they increase,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05you get more and more names to look for at the same time.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08And the names just keep on coming.
0:09:10 > 0:09:15- Gwendolyn F.- No.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17What's your oldest child?
0:09:19 > 0:09:22Ivy H. We've got a Frederick W.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28They now have 13 children on the tree.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33Neil knows that there's every possibility that these youngsters are Alfred and Rosetta's.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38The mother we know is meant to have been born around about 1889.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41The last birth is in 1931.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45It is perfectly possible in that time for a lady to have children
0:09:45 > 0:09:48up to the age of 42 and indeed after the age of 42.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53So from the oldest, we have one in 1911, 1912, '15, '16,
0:09:53 > 0:10:00'17, '19, '20, '21, '25, the deceased in '29 and then the final one in '31.
0:10:00 > 0:10:06So they're all at last nine months apart so again, perfectly possible all to be in the same family.
0:10:06 > 0:10:13They really need to speak to someone who might be able to verify the family tree.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Case Manager, David Pacifico, thinks he has the answer.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21We've got a possible brother of Kenneth Wren called Clifford Wren.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25If it's right, he's living in East London.
0:10:25 > 0:10:31Born in 1931, he is the youngest of the family and is Kenneth's younger brother by two years.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33It's a breakthrough.
0:10:33 > 0:10:39At 78, not only is he a living family member but he is also an heir.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43We've got no phone number, we can't phone him up or it is ex-directory.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46That leaves only one option.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50David decides it's time to get a mobile agent out to speak to him.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52Hello, Dave Hadley.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55Can you go over to East London?
0:10:55 > 0:10:59It's on the case of Wren. It looks like we've got an address for a brother.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01OK, I'm on my way, David.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07Frasers employ a team of travelling Heir Hunters.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12These skilled researchers spend their days combing the country for information and speaking to heirs.
0:11:12 > 0:11:18It's a detective job, requiring oodles of patience and a large component of empathy.
0:11:21 > 0:11:27Travelling Heir Hunter and Senior Researcher, Dave Hadley, is used to turning up unannounced.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Most of my visits are cold calls.
0:11:30 > 0:11:37I mean the main thing really is just to put the person at ease and...
0:11:37 > 0:11:40convince them that it's not a con, you know, that we're not trying to scam them.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45But there's an added poignancy to approaching close kin.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Clifford Wren is just two years younger than his brother.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54It's been six months since Kenneth's death and there is no way of knowing when Clifford last spoke to him.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57When you contact close kin, it's not nice.
0:11:57 > 0:12:02Sometimes these close kin cases shouldn't really be, what I consider, cases, you know.
0:12:02 > 0:12:08We've had children, we've had parents of the deceased, you know.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10It's not nice when you have to...
0:12:10 > 0:12:12And I've had people break down in tears.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22It's obviously going to be a hard call to make, but it's vital the team speak to Clifford.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27Will this knock on the door open the lid on the Wren case...
0:12:27 > 0:12:32or will Clifford know as little about Kenneth as his brother's neighbours?
0:12:45 > 0:12:50The estates the Heir Hunters investigate in Britain often involve families who've lost touch.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53So of all the cases that we do research in,
0:12:53 > 0:12:58probably about 75 to 80% of them have some form of overseas element.
0:12:58 > 0:13:04But tracing heirs in former Eastern Bloc nations can be tricky...
0:13:04 > 0:13:07One European country to have suffered the full brunt
0:13:07 > 0:13:11of the turbulent nature of the last century is Poland.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16From the full force of the German and Russian invasions during World War II,
0:13:16 > 0:13:22to a long period under communism, the Poles have experienced more than their fair share of upheaval.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Case Manager, Frances Brett, knows this more than most.
0:13:26 > 0:13:31She has worked countless cases in the former Eastern Bloc country.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Polish cases are probably particularly interesting
0:13:37 > 0:13:41because they pose more of a challenge from the point of view of research.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48Once such case was that of Jan Olszewski who died in Halifax
0:13:48 > 0:13:53on 18th April 1998 at the age of 82,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56leaving an estate worth £53,000.
0:13:58 > 0:14:04He had lived in this neat Victorian terrace in Halifax with his wife and companion of fifty years, Kasia.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Although the couple never had any children of their own,
0:14:08 > 0:14:11they were very close to Kasia's nieces and nephews.
0:14:11 > 0:14:19Kasia's niece, Sofia, who is not a blood relative of Jan, remembers her uncle whom she called "John".
0:14:19 > 0:14:24He was just a really lovely, kind person,
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and I think every one of us in the family adored him and liked him
0:14:28 > 0:14:33and you could talk to him, you could have a laugh with him. He was just...
0:14:33 > 0:14:40He was just part of... well, he was a member of our family and took a great part in our family.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44The couple had met in the '50s.
0:14:44 > 0:14:51Kasia was a nurse at the hospital and Jan was working as a wool weaver at that time.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56They were married in 1965 and lived happily together until April 1998.
0:14:56 > 0:15:03It was a tragedy when we lost him because we lost both of them within five days of one another.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06My auntie died. We were all there with her...
0:15:06 > 0:15:11all the nieces and Uncle John
0:15:11 > 0:15:18and he took it very, very badly, obviously because they'd been together for 50 years, longer.
0:15:18 > 0:15:25And then five days later, my uncle John collapsed and died.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29It was tragic, very tragic how it happened
0:15:29 > 0:15:33but he wasn't alone. He's never, ever been alone, he's always had
0:15:33 > 0:15:38family and friends and people around him who care for him, so, you know.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40We were glad we were there.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43At the time it was horrific, but
0:15:43 > 0:15:51at least they got a double burial and double funeral and they were together and they're still together.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57Jan and Kasia were buried in a shared plot at Stoney Royd Cemetery,
0:15:57 > 0:16:01but after the funeral, a surprising fact emerged.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04My uncle John would never make a will
0:16:04 > 0:16:10because there was twenty-something years difference between my auntie and Uncle John
0:16:10 > 0:16:15and when she used to want him to make a will, for both of them to make a will,
0:16:15 > 0:16:22he used to say "Oh, I'm 80 and you're 64 and I'm going to die first
0:16:22 > 0:16:25"and then you can do what you want with it."
0:16:25 > 0:16:33So he never would make a will and as it happened, it didn't work out like that because she died before him.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Because Jan had died after his wife,
0:16:36 > 0:16:43that meant that his small fortune of £53,000 could only go to his blood relatives.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47Kasia's nieces and nephews were not entitled to inherit
0:16:47 > 0:16:54and as he and Kasia had had no children and he had no obvious blood relatives in the UK,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57his estate found its way onto the Treasury List.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02Were there any relatives in Poland entitled to inherit his cash?
0:17:02 > 0:17:07He had no desire at all to go back to Poland, not even for a holiday.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12We used to nag him, "get your passport and we can still go".
0:17:12 > 0:17:16"Oh, go away" he says. "What do I need to go back for?"
0:17:16 > 0:17:21And never, ever did he mention family, when we used to ask him
0:17:21 > 0:17:26and he'd say, "Well, my mother and father are dead and I've no brothers and sisters."
0:17:29 > 0:17:32When Jan Olszewski's name came up on the Treasury List, Fran believed
0:17:32 > 0:17:37with Frasers' connections in Poland this was the ideal case to tackle,
0:17:37 > 0:17:41but they came across an obstacle at the first hurdle.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47To start with, we have the death certificate of Jan Olszewski
0:17:47 > 0:17:53which shows that he was born on the 2nd of February 1914 in Poland.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59Unfortunately, where somebody is born outside the UK,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02no exact place of birth is shown...
0:18:02 > 0:18:04only the country.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09Without knowing where he was born, the team were stuck.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12They would have to go back and trace Jan's movements,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15hoping that this would lead them to his place of birth.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21According to Sofia, her uncle came to the UK during
0:18:21 > 0:18:25World War II and she remembers him telling her stories of that time.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30He joined the Army when he was a very young boy.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Then all about his Army days and what he did in the Army and
0:18:34 > 0:18:38how he drove vehicles in the Army and so forth.
0:18:38 > 0:18:45You know, his ranks were fairly high and he was very active. He did some boxing...
0:18:45 > 0:18:50I mean on the whole, he enjoyed his career in the Army, very much so.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56In 1939, the Germans invaded Poland from the west...
0:18:58 > 0:19:02and the Russians invaded from the east.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05The attack was quick and brutal.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Those of the Polish Army that weren't captured, fled.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Jan had been to military school before the War and belonged
0:19:13 > 0:19:17to the Tatra Highland Unit, which was stationed in Eastern Poland.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24Somehow, he escaped to join the Polish Free Army in the UK
0:19:24 > 0:19:28and after the War was over, he decided to stay on.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32He never spoke of his childhood in Poland.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36We know very little about...
0:19:36 > 0:19:42a life what he would have had before the Army or whether he kept in touch
0:19:42 > 0:19:47with his family while he was in the Army but I can't see that happening.
0:19:49 > 0:19:56Jan's personal history and experiences during the War gave Fran a few areas to research.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01For their searches to succeed, she needed to narrow down his place of birth,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03from the whole of Poland to one area.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07With a little more delving, Fran found he was born in Jedrzejow,
0:20:07 > 0:20:11a small town one hour's drive north of Krakow.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16The real work was about to start.
0:20:16 > 0:20:22Fran contacted fellow Heir Hunter and Frasers' Polish International Manager, Krzysztof Barski.
0:20:22 > 0:20:28My job I think is very necessary in Poland because in Poland
0:20:28 > 0:20:35we have lots of cases where people lost their contacts completely
0:20:35 > 0:20:42and they do not know, families do not know, what happened to their relatives after World War II.
0:20:42 > 0:20:47And researching births and deaths in Poland is not straightforward at all.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53Civil registration in Poland didn't begin until 1946
0:20:53 > 0:20:58and prior to that date, all the records were those kept by the church.
0:20:58 > 0:21:05Many haven't survived and those that do are in any case, by law,
0:21:05 > 0:21:09not open for public investigation.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13This added a new challenge to the investigation.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17There are different monasteries and different organisations.
0:21:17 > 0:21:23Some of them are very secret and do not allow people from outside at all.
0:21:23 > 0:21:30Some of these are less strict but anyway, it's not easy to get access to the registers in the monastery.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35So Krzysztof was facing a massive task ahead,
0:21:35 > 0:21:40and there was still the nagging question of whether Jan had any family in Poland at all.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44The priest helped me to check the registers from
0:21:44 > 0:21:51the beginning of the 20th century and unfortunately we couldn't find the birth record of the deceased.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04Every year, the Heir Hunters tackle countless cases that still remain a mystery.
0:22:06 > 0:22:12Currently, 3,000 names drawn from across the country are on the Treasury's Unsolved Case list.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19Their assets will be kept for up to 30 years in the hope that eventually
0:22:19 > 0:22:24someone will remember and come forward to claim their inheritance.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31With the estates valued at anything from £5,000 to millions of pounds,
0:22:31 > 0:22:35it's just possible you could be entitled to one of these unclaimed estates.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41Mary Devlin died in Leeds on 20th January 2004.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46Was Mary a friend or neighbour of yours?
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Could you even be related to her and entitled to her legacy?
0:22:52 > 0:22:59Linda Susan Jamieson passed away on 11th October 2006 in Sheffield.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03So far, every attempt to find her rightful heir has failed.
0:23:03 > 0:23:10If no relatives can be found, her money will go to the government, but could it be meant for you?
0:23:10 > 0:23:14With all these estates laying unclaimed every year,
0:23:14 > 0:23:18your information could help millions of pounds reach its rightful heirs.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28In London, the team at Frasers are investigating the case of Kenneth Wren,
0:23:28 > 0:23:36who died alone in Goodmayes Hospital in Essex in October 2008 at the age of 79.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Kenneth seems to have been quite reclusive.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43None of his neighbours recall him, but incredibly, the team have found
0:23:43 > 0:23:48a possible 12 brothers and sisters for him, including one brother still living in Romford.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Senior Researcher, Dave Hadley, is on his way to see him.
0:23:52 > 0:23:58The name of the person that they want me to see is Clifford Wren,
0:23:58 > 0:24:03who would be a brother of the deceased
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and they've given me the full details of the family tree
0:24:06 > 0:24:10and it would seem that there's quite a few brothers and sisters.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15Clifford Wren is the younger brother of Kenneth by only two years.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18Dave is hoping that he might be able to confirm the family tree
0:24:18 > 0:24:21and also that he'll want Frasers to work on his behalf.
0:24:26 > 0:24:32It's 11.30 and Dave Hadley has arrived at Clifford's home in Ilford.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34- Is it Mr Wren?- Yes, sir.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36Hello there. My name is David Hadley.
0:24:36 > 0:24:41I'm a representative of Fraser & Fraser, we're probate researchers.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46Born in 1931, Clifford is the youngest of the Wren family
0:24:46 > 0:24:50and lives just three miles from Kenneth's sheltered accommodation.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53Does he know that his brother, Kenneth, is dead?
0:24:53 > 0:24:58Right. What do you know about your brothers and sisters?
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Are you in touch with them at all?
0:25:01 > 0:25:03Er...
0:25:09 > 0:25:11- And who's that?- That's Kenny.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13- Kenneth is that?- Yeah.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18OK. Well, when was the last time you saw Kenneth?
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Ooh, years ago.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23- Yeah?- Yeah!- Are you close?- No.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27OK. Well, I've got to tell you he's passed away.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30- He's died then? - Yeah, he passed away.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34He passed away in...
0:25:34 > 0:25:362008, October last year.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44- God.- It would seem that,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47from what you're telling me, that you're his only surviving brother?
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Are you all right?
0:25:49 > 0:25:50Do you want to sit down?
0:25:50 > 0:25:52A bit of a shock, isn't it?
0:26:00 > 0:26:02OK. Are you all right?
0:26:02 > 0:26:05- Are you going to be all right?- Yeah, I'll be all right.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07OK.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12'It's never easy and there's never an easy way of telling somebody
0:26:12 > 0:26:16'that a close member of the family has died but...'
0:26:16 > 0:26:19he seemed to take it OK.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22He'd obviously not seen his brother for some time
0:26:22 > 0:26:27but even so, it's still a shock and it's still upsetting,
0:26:27 > 0:26:30but, you know, I find that
0:26:30 > 0:26:37the best way of doing this is not to beat around the bush, you know,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and just try to break it to them as,
0:26:40 > 0:26:43sort of, sympathetically as possible.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Just to let you know,
0:26:46 > 0:26:48it's your dad's brother who's passed away.
0:26:48 > 0:26:53Even with his son's help, Clifford is struggling to come to terms with the news.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57It's obviously, you know, taken him obviously by surprise.
0:27:00 > 0:27:03Now I'm the last one of the family.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06It's one of them things.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09The last time I saw him was...
0:27:09 > 0:27:12about eight years.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Last time because...
0:27:17 > 0:27:20I was at Ilford with my daughter,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23and we walked up to the bus stop,
0:27:27 > 0:27:29and she spotted him at first and...
0:27:31 > 0:27:35he just waved and walked on, you know.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43Clifford has agreed to sign with Frasers.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46He is the last of 13 brothers and sisters
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and so will share the inheritance with all of their children.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53He's a little bit sketchy about his brothers and sisters.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Some of the names are different,
0:27:56 > 0:28:00- because there's such big age gaps between them, I think.- OK, bye.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Right, that was Dave Hadley.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06He's been in to see brother Clifford.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09He knew very little about the deceased at all.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Didn't think he had children, had a lady who was on the scene for a while
0:28:13 > 0:28:18but he doesn't know if they ever married or not, so nothing there.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25One of the things he could confirm is that quite a few of the Wren clan are in the Romford area.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28He's given us two possible phone numbers
0:28:28 > 0:28:34on Gladys' stem which is the best bit to probably get information from.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Kenneth's big sister, Gladys, was 12 years older than him.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42She had two children - Maureen and Michael.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47Because they are Kenneth's niece and nephew, they will be heirs.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50Neil has tracked down Maureen's number.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53'Your mother, I think, was one of 13 children in total.
0:28:53 > 0:29:00'Right, I think it all pretty much ties up with what we have or what we're sort of rumoured on,
0:29:00 > 0:29:04'which is good, because it's just when we look for stuff,
0:29:04 > 0:29:08'you find stuff and you think it looks right and then you don't know.'
0:29:08 > 0:29:12'It's very nice to talk to you, Maureen, and I'll get a letter out to you today.'
0:29:12 > 0:29:14'Take care. Bye.'
0:29:14 > 0:29:20Great! So that was definitely worth it. That was Maureen who is going to be a beneficiary on this.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23She's a niece of Kenneth.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26She's actually been able to confirm everything.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29She knew the deceased, knew his old address,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31and knew he had moved into a home.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Value-wise, it's probably still gonna be small.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36We've got nothing to indicate there's going to be any value in it at all.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41Just eight years younger than her uncle, Maureen remembered
0:29:41 > 0:29:45a very different Kenneth to the recluse he had become.
0:29:45 > 0:29:50She described him as "the life and soul of the party in his youth".
0:29:50 > 0:29:53The phone call has also thrown light on the family history.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57In the '30s, Kenneth's father, Alfred, was working as a dock worker
0:29:57 > 0:30:01and his mother, Rosetta, began working as a nurse.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05Life was tough for the family, not least because over the first
0:30:05 > 0:30:0823 years of their marriage, they had 13 children...
0:30:08 > 0:30:11two of which died in infancy.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Kenneth and his brother, Clifford, were the last of a huge clan.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22In all likelihood, we will have the best part of twenty beneficiaries
0:30:22 > 0:30:27and we only have £5,000 to distribute between them, so they're not going to get a huge amount of money.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32However, Neil is a little surprised at the rift between Kenneth and younger brother, Clifford.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38In this case, Kenneth was the second youngest.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42He was probably closest to his one brother who is alive still, which is Clifford.
0:30:42 > 0:30:49Really, as people get into the later years of their life and in this case the beneficiaries
0:30:49 > 0:30:54seem to have known that Kenneth was still alive until fairly recently,
0:30:54 > 0:31:01you would probably have expected them to know a little bit more about him, maybe even his last address.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04There was a rumour that he lived there for 16 years,
0:31:04 > 0:31:10so, it's a little bit shocking that they haven't kept in touch.
0:31:10 > 0:31:16Kenneth may have withdrawn from his family, but the news of his modest legacy
0:31:16 > 0:31:20has brought back family connections long since forgotten.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31The Wren case is a prime example of how families can lose touch,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34even when they live practically next door...
0:31:34 > 0:31:38but the case of Olszewski is one where the Heir Hunters had to look
0:31:38 > 0:31:45to a country over 1,000 miles from Britain to even find out if the deceased had any family at all!
0:31:45 > 0:31:50Jan Olszewski lived in Britain for the majority of his 82 years.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55He never really spoke of having any family in Poland to his niece, Sofia, seen here at her wedding.
0:31:55 > 0:32:03Never, ever did he mention of family when we used to ask him and he'd say,
0:32:03 > 0:32:06"Well, my mother and father are dead and I've no brothers and sisters".
0:32:09 > 0:32:14So when he died just after his beloved wife, Kasia in 1989, and left no will,
0:32:14 > 0:32:18it looked like all his money would go to the government.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21Case Manager, Frances Brett, helped by her Polish colleague,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Krzysztof Barski, started to look for kin in Poland.
0:32:27 > 0:32:32Krzysztof's first task was to look for Jan's birth records.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37He made his way to Jedrzejow, the town where Jan was born.
0:32:37 > 0:32:42It's a small farming community, an hour's drive north of Krakow.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44Well, Jedrzejow is a small town.
0:32:44 > 0:32:50Some of the citizens are farmers and own little land,
0:32:52 > 0:32:56outside the town and they make a living out of it.
0:32:56 > 0:33:04Some people simply go to the larger cities in the area for their jobs and some work in Jedrzejow.
0:33:04 > 0:33:09The birth records he needed to access were likely to have been in one of two places.
0:33:09 > 0:33:17It has one major parish and the monastery, which is also a site
0:33:17 > 0:33:22in Jedrzejow but within the area of Jedrzejow.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32As there is no central civil registry for births before 1946,
0:33:32 > 0:33:38- Krzysztof's first port of call was to the local parish.- Olszewski.
0:33:41 > 0:33:47The priest helped me to check the registers from the beginning of the 20th century.
0:33:49 > 0:33:53And unfortunately we couldn't find the birth record of the deceased.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59So, no success at the parish,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02time for Krzysztof to try the local monastery...
0:34:05 > 0:34:09But there was a snag. Monasteries are usually very resistant to outsiders.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12However, Krzysztof had an idea.
0:34:12 > 0:34:16They keep pointing to us to take the priest with me.
0:34:16 > 0:34:22The priest in the parish seems to be very interested in my job,
0:34:22 > 0:34:24generally in genealogy,
0:34:24 > 0:34:30and also it was a coincidence but his surname was Olszewski,
0:34:30 > 0:34:35the same surname as our Jan Olszewski from England.
0:34:35 > 0:34:40So he got more interested in it than the usual priests do and,
0:34:40 > 0:34:44you know, after talking to him,
0:34:44 > 0:34:49explaining to him what my job is about,
0:34:49 > 0:34:55I suggested to him that it would be a good idea if he could go with me to the monastery
0:34:55 > 0:35:02and talk to their friends to convince them that we are doing this for a very good reason.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10Krzysztof and the priest headed to the Cistercian monastery,
0:35:10 > 0:35:15which was founded in the late 12th century and has always been a big part of the local community.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21It has its own church and parish.
0:35:21 > 0:35:25Krzysztof was praying that the Olszewski family had christened their children here.
0:35:27 > 0:35:34Krzysztof's idea had worked. After the introduction from the priest, the monks were extremely helpful.
0:35:34 > 0:35:40I'm very happy that we didn't give up in the Parish of Jedrzejow because we found the birth record
0:35:40 > 0:35:45of Jan Olszewski in this register of births from the beginning of the 20th century.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49We found his birth record in 1916,
0:35:49 > 0:35:54which is a bit different from what Jan Olszewski gave as his birth date
0:35:54 > 0:36:02but the day and the month is the same, the mother's name and mother's maiden name is the same.
0:36:02 > 0:36:08Two discrepancies are the birth date, actually the year, and the father's name,
0:36:08 > 0:36:15but I checked in this register that there are no other Jan Olszewski than the one that we found.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18So I'm 99% - right now we're 100% sure -
0:36:18 > 0:36:25but at the time when I found this record, I was 99% sure that that's the right one.
0:36:25 > 0:36:32Well, finding the birth record of Jan Olszewski was the turning point in my research.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35When I found his birth record, I know that I'm in the right place to search
0:36:35 > 0:36:42for his possible siblings. So I did the research to look for his brothers or sisters
0:36:42 > 0:36:46and I found that he had five siblings altogether,
0:36:46 > 0:36:54and with knowing the birth dates of his siblings, I could go in those lines and search
0:36:54 > 0:36:58into their heirs, their issue,
0:36:58 > 0:37:02and I was successful in finding the rest of the relatives.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07Jan came from a traditional farming family and it was quite a large one.
0:37:07 > 0:37:15He was in fact one of seven children born in the late 1800s and early 1900s, all in the Jedrzejow area,
0:37:15 > 0:37:19four of whom had gone on to have a number of their own children.
0:37:19 > 0:37:25When Fran drew up the family tree, there were 16 heirs who would inherit from their Great Uncle Jan.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29Slavek Olszewski, the grandson of Jan's brother, Jozef,
0:37:29 > 0:37:34remembers Jan's sisters' stories about his great uncle.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37TRANSLATION: My great aunt was extremely proud of him.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40My great uncle was the youngest of his siblings.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45His family only had a small piece of land and typically in Polish agricultural families,
0:37:45 > 0:37:50everyone was expected to stay at home and help out but despite difficult times,
0:37:50 > 0:37:58they insisted on giving my uncle a good education although then he decided he wanted to join the Army.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08After finishing military school, he left as an officer cadet
0:38:08 > 0:38:11from the Tatra Highland Regiment
0:38:11 > 0:38:17and went to fight in the War and from that point, we lost contact with him.
0:38:17 > 0:38:24With no news from him, Jan's fate was a constant source of debate and speculation.
0:38:24 > 0:38:31We had believed that my Great Uncle was killed in Katyn because the Tetra Highlands Regiment was stationed in
0:38:31 > 0:38:36the Eastern Polish region which was invaded by the Russians in 1939.
0:38:36 > 0:38:42Over a 28 day period in April 1940, in the Forest of Katyn,
0:38:42 > 0:38:48the Russian Army systematically executed more than 22,000 prisoners of war,
0:38:48 > 0:38:51mainly officers and men of the Polish Army.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55It was comprehensive obliteration of the Polish military elite.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58It was said that the bodies were twelve layers deep.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02With so many slaughtered, it's easy to see how the Olszewskis
0:39:02 > 0:39:06would have thought their officer brother was one of the dead.
0:39:06 > 0:39:12TRANSLATION: After what we called the '1954 Political Thaw', so after the death of Stalin,
0:39:12 > 0:39:17it became apparent that many officers had died in Katyn.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21Later on, when they disclosed their surnames of those from Katyn
0:39:21 > 0:39:24who had been exhumed, my great uncle's name didn't come up.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29On the Katyn List, there wasn't an Olszewski.
0:39:29 > 0:39:34There was an Olszewski as such, but not a Jan Olszewski.
0:39:35 > 0:39:40But as time went by, the family were convinced that he must have died...
0:39:40 > 0:39:42if not at Katyn, somewhere else.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47In the 80s, they had him officially declared dead, so it was a big shock
0:39:47 > 0:39:51when they heard that he had been alive and well and living in the UK.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54On the one hand, this whole event has been very sad for us because
0:39:54 > 0:39:58we didn't understand why my great uncle didn't get in touch for so many years,
0:39:58 > 0:40:03but on the other hand, of course, we were glad to find out that he had survived the War
0:40:03 > 0:40:06and didn't die in Katyn like so many other soldiers.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10So the news has brought us equal amounts of joy and sadness.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17And in the UK, the news came out of the blue for Kasia's niece, Sofia.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22Well, it was total disbelief when we knew there was a family over in Poland.
0:40:22 > 0:40:28We had no idea and nothing had ever been mentioned or said that there had been a family in Poland.
0:40:28 > 0:40:33As far as we were concerned, we were his family over here.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36So it came as a total shock and disbelief
0:40:36 > 0:40:42and at the same time, a bit of excitement to know where was a family from him.
0:40:42 > 0:40:48Jan's £53,000 estate was split between 16 Polish heirs.
0:40:48 > 0:40:55Slavek's father bought a tractor with the money, but the family still wonder why he didn't return.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00TRANSLATION: We were extremely surprised because, of course,
0:41:00 > 0:41:04we didn't hear anything from him for so many years.
0:41:04 > 0:41:11After the fall of communism, it was possible to come back again to get in touch more easily in so many ways.
0:41:16 > 0:41:22Why didn't Jan make contact? Krzysztof knows that at the time it was not uncommon.
0:41:22 > 0:41:28Some people after a terrible experience during World War II
0:41:28 > 0:41:34decided to cut off their past. They decided not to go back
0:41:34 > 0:41:39with the memories to those terrible times and to, of course,
0:41:39 > 0:41:44start a new life in a foreign country is helping you to forget about your terrible past.
0:41:44 > 0:41:50We'll never know Jan Olszewski's reasons for abandoning his family in Poland,
0:41:50 > 0:41:56but it is clear he made a real impact on the lives of his wife, Kasia's, family in Britain.
0:41:58 > 0:42:05My auntie and my Uncle John, they took me to Blackpool for day trips,
0:42:05 > 0:42:13and they used to take me for a new dress or a new school blazer when my mum was poorly.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16And yeah, they were part of our lives.
0:42:16 > 0:42:23I'd love if the family had known him the way we had known him,
0:42:23 > 0:42:25because at the end of the day,
0:42:25 > 0:42:31what we've got, there's nobody, you know, nobody can erase
0:42:31 > 0:42:36the memories and the treasures that we possess about them both.
0:42:36 > 0:42:41For they were both lovely people, they truly were.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51If you would like advice about building a family tree or making a will, go to bbc.co.uk.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd