0:00:02 > 0:00:06Every year, thousands of people die with no will and with no apparent relatives.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Tracking down their long-lost families is a job for the heir hunters.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35On today's programme,
0:00:35 > 0:00:40the heir hunters are faced with the emotional story of a family that loses everything.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44To have all those memories disappear
0:00:44 > 0:00:48so suddenly is just heartbreaking.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53And in the quest for heirs, a case takes the hunt across the sea
0:00:53 > 0:00:57to Canada and one of the worst shipping disasters of the 20th century.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03The impact was so quick that most people just drowned in their cabins basically.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I mean, that was the reality of it.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12Plus how you may be entitled to inherit some of the unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Could you have thousands of pounds heading your way?
0:01:18 > 0:01:22Less than one in three people in the UK make a will.
0:01:22 > 0:01:27For those who don't, if no obvious relatives are found, their money goes straight to the Government.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31Last year, a staggering £18 million went to the Treasury in unclaimed estates.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35That's where the heir hunters step in.
0:01:35 > 0:01:40Over 30 companies make it their business to track down the rightful heirs to this money.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Last year alone, they claimed back over £6.5 million.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50Fraser and Fraser is one of the oldest firms of heir hunters in Britain.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54It's run by Andrew, Charles and Neil Fraser.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58One of the areas I enjoy is the sort of mystery element of it.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02And it's being able to deal with that and bring it to a successful conclusion.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05That's one of the thrills of the job really.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09They make their commission by solving cases and signing up heirs.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14Since they began over 30 years ago, they've reunited over 50,000 heirs
0:02:14 > 0:02:18with the whopping sum of over £100 million.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31It's Thursday, the day the Government's list of unclaimed estates is published
0:02:31 > 0:02:34and the team are scouring through the potential cases.
0:02:34 > 0:02:35That's a good possibility.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39As the values of the estates are not known,
0:02:39 > 0:02:44the first job for the heir hunters is to identify those where a property is involved.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47- Well, it's on the border of Wales. - Absolutely.
0:02:47 > 0:02:53Because that's usually a good indication that an estate will be worth a sizable amount of money.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57One case they've chosen is that of Beryl Evans, whose maiden name was Davies.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00After a short spell in hospital,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05she died on the 27th September 2008 in Shrewsbury, on the Welsh borders.
0:03:05 > 0:03:11She left a bungalow and a plot of land estimated to be worth around £100,000,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16making it a potentially profitable case for the heir hunters to pursue.
0:03:16 > 0:03:22Born in 1927, Beryl had lived in the area all her life
0:03:22 > 0:03:26and had worked as a nurse at the local Greenfields Hospital.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31She married Frank Evans, a wood machinist, in 1949.
0:03:31 > 0:03:37They never had children, but had been happily married until his death in 2000.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Frank's sister, Irene, was a great friend of Beryl's.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Beryl was a very kind person.
0:03:45 > 0:03:50She would help anyone and was never disagreeable.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52She was...
0:03:52 > 0:03:58Well, we were more like sisters than sister-in-laws.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02To see Beryl ill so suddenly...
0:04:02 > 0:04:05It was really...
0:04:05 > 0:04:10heartbreaking really to see such a well person
0:04:10 > 0:04:13just go like that.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17Beryl and Frank had lived first in the cottages
0:04:17 > 0:04:21and then in the bungalow on the land that had been in his family for hundreds of years.
0:04:21 > 0:04:27The cottages were of very sentimental value to me.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32They were where I was born and all my happy childhood was there.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37My whole lifetime of memories are there
0:04:37 > 0:04:43and to have all those memories disappear
0:04:43 > 0:04:47so suddenly is just heartbreaking.
0:04:49 > 0:04:55If Beryl had left a will, the property and land could have stayed in the Evans family.
0:04:55 > 0:05:01Sadly, she didn't and now legally only blood relations can inherit, which Irene is not.
0:05:01 > 0:05:07The researchers in the office make a start on tracking down Beryl's family.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12There's going to be a hell of a lot of Davies to Evans.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14It's not the best search.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Davies and Evans are very common names, especially on the Welsh borders,
0:05:19 > 0:05:24and there could be thousands of results, which would take the team weeks to sort through.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30If we had better names, we would be able to do the search from her maiden name to her married name
0:05:30 > 0:05:32and we'd get the name from her marriage.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37I think if we looked for a marriage between Evans and Davies,
0:05:37 > 0:05:41we probably would get 10,000 of them, so it's not something we can do.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45Anyone done a Davies to Davies marriage search in Oswestry?
0:05:45 > 0:05:48The first search produced 40-odd births.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53David Pacifico, Frasers' longest-serving case manager is heading up the Evans job.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Right, can you get somebody to do a marriage search?
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Davies to Davies, Oswestry.
0:05:59 > 0:06:05Despite his 37 years of heir hunting experience, he's struggling to get this case moving.
0:06:05 > 0:06:11To make the difference, to help us, we need the birth of the deceased to find out who are the parents.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14We can then kill them off and go from there.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17And if she has got close kin, then we'll hopefully find it.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21The birth certificate will reveal Beryl's place of birth
0:06:21 > 0:06:23and the names of her mother and father,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27giving the researchers a place to start in hunting for living family.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30But as they go to order the all-important certificates,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34the team face a frustrating setback with the register office.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Unbelievable! Well, this is, to me, it's just typical of this country.
0:06:37 > 0:06:43We're waiting to get certificates because we can't go into a register office and pick 'em up.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45It's all done through a call centre now
0:06:45 > 0:06:49and we've had to pay way, way over the odds to actually get them back today.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51To find living heirs,
0:06:51 > 0:06:57the researchers need to create an accurate family tree, working through each generation.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01The certificates provide crucial names, dates and locations,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05which are the clues the heir hunters rely on to build a tree and find the right family.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09They are the cornerstone of heir hunting. Without them, their job is almost impossible.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11It is very much up in the air.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14It's because you can't walk into a register office Shropshire
0:07:14 > 0:07:17and pick up a certificate. Daft, absolutely daft.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20By the time we get the births...
0:07:20 > 0:07:23We're not going to get that until this afternoon.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25There's no register office to get it.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29This crucial avenue of research is closed off, but the team must do something
0:07:29 > 0:07:36or they could lose this case to the competition. It's time for the investigation to change tack.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38This is a case that can be solved by talking to people.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41It's not going to be solved by waiting for a certificate.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47The team makes speculative calls to people in the Shrewsbury area with the name Evans.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Sorry to trouble you. Would that be Beryl Evans?
0:07:50 > 0:07:54- Ah! Erm, in that case I actually think I've got the wrong number. - There's nothing to worry about.
0:07:54 > 0:07:58Erm, we're just researching into this estate, so...
0:07:58 > 0:08:02They're hoping to speak to someone who may know of the deceased.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07Right, OK. So there's people called Davies living in Sweeney Mountain, in Gobowen.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10OK. Well, obviously, what I'll have to do is try to get hold of Irene
0:08:10 > 0:08:14in Sweeney Mountain and see where we go from there.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16OK, thanks. Bye.
0:08:16 > 0:08:23I've just spoken to a neighbour who has told me that she's left a bungalow and some ground.
0:08:23 > 0:08:31And the neighbour, who coincidentally was called Evans, but I'm sure there's no relation,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34seems to be of the impression that she might have had some brothers
0:08:34 > 0:08:38who have children who live, in theory, not far from Beryl.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44What would have taken hours of database research has been done with a few well-placed phone calls.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47They've got a lead on some family information.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Now they need someone on the ground who can take up the hunt.
0:08:57 > 0:09:03Frasers have a network of travelling heir hunters spanning the length and breadth of the country.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07They go wherever the hunt takes them, sniffing out clues and following leads.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10They pick up records, talk to those who knew the deceased
0:09:10 > 0:09:16and make door to door enquiries, all in the race to find and sign up heirs.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Ex-police sergeant Paul Matthews is their Midlands-based heir hunter
0:09:23 > 0:09:25and is closest the Shropshire/Wales border.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33There's only about six houses in that sort of area where she lived.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37'One of the people hopefully you're gonna see would be a Doreen Evans.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42'It's been suggested that she had brothers and they in turn had sons,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45'living in a place called Sweeney Mountain.'
0:09:45 > 0:09:49But go to that place and
0:09:49 > 0:09:51'knock on all the doors if necessary.'
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Paul's off to the Shropshire villages on the border of Wales,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01where research often involves a more direct approach.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06The office have made some enquiries now from the address. They've spoken to somebody in the area.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12It looks as though it's a working case and hopefully we can find some relatives within a short time.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18You do get some good information by visiting addresses where they used to live.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21It is still worthwhile going and knocking on the door,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24cos sometimes you do get some good breakthroughs from doing that.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30As Paul heads off to do his enquiries, the office have narrowed down their searches
0:10:30 > 0:10:33and have come across something intriguing.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37We could have a bit of a problem because it's possible she might be born illegitimate.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44But only because the best birth that we've got has the same maiden name as...
0:10:44 > 0:10:51The mother's maiden name was the same as the name she was born under, but could be a Davies married a Davies.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Can't rule anything out, you know.
0:10:53 > 0:11:00The heir hunters know from experience that when a child takes their mother's maiden name
0:11:00 > 0:11:03this can mean there's no registered father, making them illegitimate.
0:11:03 > 0:11:07But as they can't actually confirm any of the information with their records,
0:11:07 > 0:11:09they can't move the case forward.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12All hopes now rest with Paul Matthews.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16He's meeting Doreen Evans, who Tony Pledger called earlier in the day.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19She lives in the area and may be able to give Paul some clues.
0:11:19 > 0:11:25What do you know about Beryl, who passed away? Do you know who she was married to?
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Frank, Frank Evans, yes.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Did Beryl ever have visitors?
0:11:31 > 0:11:39- Only Lindup, her second name was, from up Sweeney Mountain. - Whereabouts is that?
0:11:39 > 0:11:42By the little cottages at the end of the road, very near.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44And you turn up there to Sweeney Mountain.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48If Beryl had a regular visitor, they probably knew her well
0:11:48 > 0:11:51and could be key to unlocking some family information.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55The hunt takes Paul towards Sweeney Mountain, where Beryl last lived.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58It's always helpful to speak to someone who's in the area.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02They seem to think there's nephews up in Sweeney Mountain,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09but, er... I don't know where we are.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13Down the small country lanes, the combination of Doreen's directions
0:12:13 > 0:12:16and Paul's hi-tech gadgets have left him scratching his head.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21I don't know, cos there's areas up there as well.
0:12:21 > 0:12:22God knows!
0:12:22 > 0:12:23HE LAUGHS
0:12:25 > 0:12:28GPS, as usual, put me in the middle of a field.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31Whilst Paul goes astray on the Welsh borders,
0:12:31 > 0:12:37back in the office, Fran has had a breakthrough with the Shropshire Records Office call centre.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42The heir hunters can't get their hands on the certificates, but she's found out what's written on them
0:12:42 > 0:12:46and it confirms Dave's suspicions about Beryl's birth.
0:12:46 > 0:12:53- Margaret is the mother. No father. - No. It's Margaret Davies, Treflach.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56That's it. It ties in.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59Margaret Davies of Treflach.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01- Roger.- She was born in Morda House.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05- Morda is right in that right area. - It ties up.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10The information reveals that Beryl's registered place of birth was Morda House,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12which was the local workhouse.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Established in 1792, it was built to house 300 people,
0:13:17 > 0:13:25including the old, the infirm, the orphaned and unmarried girls who fell pregnant,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28such as Margaret Davies, Beryl's mother.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32Workhouse regimes were harsh and conditions spartan.
0:13:32 > 0:13:38But it was at least a place of food and shelter for the local poor.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41The Morda workhouse eventually became Greenfields Hospital,
0:13:41 > 0:13:46the place Beryl went on to work at all her life as a nurse.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50But the heir hunters don't know anything about Beryl's family.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55Thankfully, Paul has finally found his way to the village where she lived for 40 years.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Did you know the lady who passed away?
0:13:57 > 0:14:01He's hoping to tap into the local grapevine for information.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07She was a widow, very independent, quite a hardy old stick.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11The sister-in-law. Who was the sister-in-law married to? Any idea?
0:14:11 > 0:14:14The sister-in-law was her deceased husband's sister.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19- So that's a non-blood relative then I'm afraid. - Is it. Yeah.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22She helped Beryl a lot and used to have her round to lunch.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26Do you know anything at all about Beryl's...? Did she have brothers and sisters?
0:14:26 > 0:14:31Well, apparently, there may be some long-lost relatives in Ireland, who have probably died by now.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33They didn't come to the funeral.
0:14:33 > 0:14:34They don't know where they are.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39I think the sister's trying to trace them. Irene will tell you far more about it than I can.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42- OK.- She's known her for years. I've been here a year.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45- OK. Any idea how long Beryl had lived here for?- Oh, 40 years or so.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47They had the bungalow built.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Yeah, planted those trees across there.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53- Is that the bungalow there?- Yeah. And that enormous garden round it.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54It doesn't look modern.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57It's a mean little bungalow, but the plot is wonderful.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01Paul's discovered that Beryl's regular visitor was her sister-in-law,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Irene, who seems to be the person who knew her best.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10I'm told she's very good for her age, so hopefully
0:15:10 > 0:15:14she can tell us a little bit more about Beryl.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28Will Irene, the sister of Beryl's husband, Frank, give them the breakthrough they're looking for?
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Do you know who Beryl's mum was?
0:15:33 > 0:15:36Margaret Davies, I think her name was.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40Do you know if she had any brothers or sisters?
0:15:40 > 0:15:46Yes, she had at least one... Two sisters, I think.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Were they Oswestry as well?
0:15:48 > 0:15:49Morda, by Oswestry.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52- So it's Morda, Oswestry?- Yeah.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55Do you know if Annie had children?
0:15:55 > 0:15:59She had about four, I think.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Any idea of their names?
0:16:01 > 0:16:03Dennis.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06- Dennis, yeah.- Mary.- Yeah.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Violet.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11Yeah.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14And, er... Oh, there was another one.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16I forget his name.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19It's a male though, yeah?
0:16:19 > 0:16:21- A male, yes.- A son, yeah?- Yeah.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25Irene has confirmed that Beryl did have a sister, Betty,
0:16:25 > 0:16:26who may be deceased.
0:16:26 > 0:16:31She's also confirmed that Beryl's mother, Margaret Davies, had two sisters.
0:16:31 > 0:16:36Mary died without living children, so the family line comes to a dead end.
0:16:36 > 0:16:43But Margaret's other sister, Sarah "Annie", did have children who could be heirs.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46But in the hunt to track them down, the team are about to uncover something
0:16:46 > 0:16:51that could throw a real spanner in the works.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55- God!- I don't know. Have we fallen down here?
0:16:55 > 0:16:58- I'm a bit concerned now.- Right, OK.
0:17:04 > 0:17:09Tracing family members from very little information is the tough part of heir hunting.
0:17:09 > 0:17:15But as one of the oldest probate companies in the UK, established almost 90 years ago,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19Hoopers have a wealth of experience in tracking down missing beneficiaries
0:17:19 > 0:17:21when all other trails have gone cold.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25Could I get someone to look for a death for me? Anna?
0:17:25 > 0:17:27Mike Tringham, chairman of the company,
0:17:27 > 0:17:32started out as a junior researcher and has spent 35 years solving difficult cases.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33Yeah, that's him.
0:17:33 > 0:17:41Sometimes we come across a case which just really looks unsolvable
0:17:41 > 0:17:44and those cases get the juices flowing.
0:17:45 > 0:17:52And cases don't come much tougher than the case of Ernest Phythian, who died in 2003.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55Although the unusual name sounds like it should be an easy hunt,
0:17:55 > 0:18:01for experienced heir hunters it was his name that almost was Mike and Hoopers' undoing.
0:18:01 > 0:18:06We were given the death certificate for Charles Ernest Phythian.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Unusual name in itself.
0:18:08 > 0:18:14If that had been his original name, our job, possibly, would have been a lot easier.
0:18:14 > 0:18:20But the fact was, he adopted that name by change of name back in 1953
0:18:20 > 0:18:27and, in fact, he was born as Ernest McLoughlin and we know that because that's stated in the deed poll.
0:18:28 > 0:18:36Ernest Phythian died at the Moss View Nursery Home in Toxteth, in Liverpool, aged 94.
0:18:36 > 0:18:41Born in 1909, Ernest had been fostered by the Phythian family,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44eventually taking their name as his own.
0:18:44 > 0:18:51Married to his childhood sweetheart, Edna, in 1937, they had 50 years of marriage before she died.
0:18:51 > 0:18:57Ernest and Edna hadn't had any children and no other family members related to Ernest could be found.
0:18:57 > 0:19:02He left no will, but did leave an estate worth £50,000,
0:19:02 > 0:19:09so it was a valuable case for Mike to pursue, even if at first glance it looked unsolvable.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12He was fostered.
0:19:12 > 0:19:19He was fostered by the Phythian family and so he wasn't probably brought up by his parents
0:19:19 > 0:19:23at any stage in his life, or at least not since his infancy.
0:19:23 > 0:19:29So we're already getting a vague idea or vague picture of what might have occurred
0:19:29 > 0:19:34around the time of the deceased's birth.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38As Ernest had never been legally adopted by the Phythians,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42it was his biological parents that Mike needed to look into.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46Mike knew from his birth certificate that Ernest's father was Michael McLoughlin
0:19:46 > 0:19:50and his mother, Edith Greenfield.
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Mike started to search on the only information he had, their names.
0:19:56 > 0:20:03We discovered that there were at least 12 Michael McLoughlins born every year,
0:20:03 > 0:20:10so unfortunately on this rare occasion we had to draw a line under our research
0:20:10 > 0:20:16and that's what decided us to turn our attention to the mother's side.
0:20:16 > 0:20:23The researchers needed to find Edith Greenfield, who would have been of childbearing age in 1909.
0:20:23 > 0:20:26They found over 50.
0:20:26 > 0:20:32That was too many to research, so we tried to narrow it down to the north-west of England,
0:20:32 > 0:20:37covering a number of counties, but the numbers were still too many.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41There were in excess of 20 in Lancashire.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Right, looking for Greenfield.
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Mike's years of heir hunting experience led him to now follow a hunch.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55One of the 20 caught his attention because she had so little documentation.
0:20:55 > 0:21:01There seemed to be no marriage record for her, no death record for her,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03no trace whatsoever for her
0:21:03 > 0:21:11and that immediately raised my suspicions about this particular Edith.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15So she immediately became a bit of a mystery woman.
0:21:15 > 0:21:22So that is when we decided to target her and her family.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25Mike didn't know whether this was the right Edith,
0:21:25 > 0:21:31but working totally speculatively, he found details of her family from the Census.
0:21:31 > 0:21:37She was born in 1882 in Toxteth Park in Liverpool,
0:21:37 > 0:21:40the same place Ernest had been born.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45John and Ruth Greenfield were her parents and she had four sisters,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Amy, Beatrice, Adelaide and Jane.
0:21:48 > 0:21:53And a call to one of their descendants turned up more than Mike could have hoped for.
0:21:53 > 0:21:55What really struck me...
0:21:55 > 0:22:01you know, that moment where you almost fall off your chair...
0:22:01 > 0:22:05was when she mentioned Canada and almost in passing
0:22:05 > 0:22:10she'd mentioned that she thought her mother had relatives who went to Canada.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12I began to think to myself,
0:22:12 > 0:22:17"Well, just supposing, just what if this Edith Greenfield
0:22:17 > 0:22:21"decided that she'd had enough of life in Liverpool,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24"things hadn't been going very well,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29"she parcelled off her new-born child to foster parents, or whatever,
0:22:29 > 0:22:33"and decided to make a new life for herself in Canada?"
0:22:35 > 0:22:39During the 19th century, the Liverpool docks emerged
0:22:39 > 0:22:45as the main emigrant port from Europe to the New World, as it was then known.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50As the steamships got bigger and were able to take more passengers, turn of the century Liverpool
0:22:50 > 0:22:53saw thousands of people coming through the port.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59What happened very commonly is one group of people
0:22:59 > 0:23:02would come out from one area of one community
0:23:02 > 0:23:03and they would write back
0:23:03 > 0:23:06and that would build up a momentum for sort of big swaths
0:23:06 > 0:23:10of communities from areas in places right across Europe to join them.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15So you got communities settling in similar areas in North America also.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18So you had this sort of traffic going across.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21But also you had economic conditions in Britain...
0:23:21 > 0:23:26I mean, you had an urban centre like somewhere like Liverpool, which was overcrowded,
0:23:26 > 0:23:32there was masses of poverty, so on a personal level it was very much a personal choice to improve
0:23:32 > 0:23:38one's opportunities in life, just like anybody emigrating today would probably make similar decisions.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43For Edith, as a single, unmarried mother, emigration may well have been her chance for a better life.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Coming from somewhere like Toxteth she would have been very conscious
0:23:47 > 0:23:53of a lot of people moving through the port who were doing the same thing, so to migrate to another
0:23:53 > 0:23:57country, to North America, perhaps wouldn't have been such a big deal.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02If Edith Greenfield had emigrated to Canada, leaving the young Ernest in the UK,
0:24:02 > 0:24:08the researchers would need the help of their overseas agent to take up the hunt.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13I contacted our office in Toronto and got our man,
0:24:13 > 0:24:17Malcolm, on the case and told him to get stuck into it.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22Mike then started checking Liverpool emigration records,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25trying to glean any information he could about Edith's family.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29It turned out that between 1909 and 1914,
0:24:29 > 0:24:34Edith and two of her sisters, Amy and Jane, emigrated to Canada,
0:24:34 > 0:24:37leaving the other two sisters in Liverpool.
0:24:37 > 0:24:43He also discovered that their mother, Ruth Greenfield, Ernest's grandmother,
0:24:43 > 0:24:48had been caught up in one of the great shipping disasters of the 20th century.
0:24:52 > 0:24:59The Empress of Ireland was built in 1906 by Canadian Pacific to target the emigrant trade.
0:24:59 > 0:25:05It would have taken around the region of 1,500 passengers and crew.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09You know, you would have had in the region of between 700 and 800 third-class passengers
0:25:09 > 0:25:12and then less second-class and then less again first-class
0:25:12 > 0:25:17and then maybe in the region of between 400 and 500 crew members.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21The Empress of Ireland was leaving Canada, leaving Quebec,
0:25:21 > 0:25:27in sort of the late afternoon on May 29th in 1914. Regular voyage.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29There wasn't anything unusual.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35But what happened was, when it was travelling along the Saint Lawrence River,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38some patchy fog began to descend.
0:25:38 > 0:25:43By, sort of, the early hours of the morning, the fog had become very,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45very thick indeed, so the captain,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Captain Kendall, made to decision to stop the ship for safety reasons.
0:25:53 > 0:25:59But another ship was on the river and through the dense fog, it didn't see the Empress of Ireland.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03The Storstad, a Norwegian collier, struck the liner midship
0:26:03 > 0:26:08on the starboard side and inflicted fatal damage.
0:26:08 > 0:26:14The engine room flooded, so the watertight doors couldn't be operated
0:26:14 > 0:26:21and it just... I mean, the damage was so bad that the ship literally listed and sank within 15 minutes.
0:26:21 > 0:26:26So it was an horrific scenario.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29The bulk of people were fast asleep. They didn't know what was happening
0:26:29 > 0:26:34and, of course, the impact was so quick that there was no response time.
0:26:34 > 0:26:41I think they managed to get four lifeboats out, but most people just drowned in their cabins, basically.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43I mean, that was the reality of it.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47And there were over 1,000 fatalities.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51It was a huge, huge tragedy. I mean, on the scale of Titanic.
0:26:51 > 0:26:59Edith's mother, Ruth, a member of the Salvation Army, was on board, bound for England.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03There were about 200 Salvation Army members.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06Possibly Ruth Greenfield was one of these.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11150 of them perished out of the 200, in the region of,
0:27:11 > 0:27:15and they were all coming over for an international conference in the UK.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19So it was quite possible that Ruth was travelling for that purpose.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25After discovering the tragic death of Ruth Greenfield on the Empress of Ireland,
0:27:25 > 0:27:30the Canadian team then managed to find a record of her daughter, Edith.
0:27:32 > 0:27:35Malcolm came up with the goods.
0:27:35 > 0:27:42He discovered a marriage certificate for an Edith Greenfield, which fitted the bill.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45This marriage to an Edward Lane was key.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48It meant Ernest's mother, the elusive Edith,
0:27:48 > 0:27:53finally reappeared in official records and her trail could be picked up again.
0:27:54 > 0:28:01Mike then found out that she'd had a son, John, but was this actually Ernest's mother, Edith?
0:28:01 > 0:28:06And so, was her son, John, really related to Ernest Phythian, born Ernest McLoughlin?
0:28:06 > 0:28:11Mike had been working from hunches all along and still didn't know for sure.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16But looking into John's records, he saw a name that just jumped off the page.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20He was known as John McLoughlin Lane
0:28:20 > 0:28:25and you can imagine our delight when we discovered
0:28:25 > 0:28:29this piece of information, because all the pieces fell into place.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34It vindicated all the work and effort we'd put in.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38McLoughlin was the name that tied them together
0:28:38 > 0:28:42and further investigations confirmed that John was Edith's illegitimate son
0:28:42 > 0:28:44and therefore a half-brother to Ernest.
0:28:44 > 0:28:52In fact, with her husband, Edward Lane, Edith had three further daughters, Marjorie, Enid and Alma.
0:28:54 > 0:29:01The children of these half-brothers and sisters to Ernest would go on to inherit his £50,000 estate.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05In total, there were ten half-nephews and nieces.
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Sheila Milne was a relative Mike found in the UK.
0:29:08 > 0:29:15Although not an heir to Ernest's money, what she gained from him was worth far more to her.
0:29:15 > 0:29:19My parents died when I was in my early 20s,
0:29:19 > 0:29:24so it was a feeling of I was pretty much on my own as far as relations were concerned.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28And then going through all this experience and learning about Ernest
0:29:28 > 0:29:33and learning about my great-aunts and the rest of the family,
0:29:33 > 0:29:35it's been a wonderful feeling.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38It's just I now have more family out there.
0:29:38 > 0:29:43And I would like to get in touch with them.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45Through Mike, Sheila's wish had been granted.
0:29:45 > 0:29:50For the first time in their lives, and through the wonders of modern technology,
0:29:50 > 0:29:55Sheila is about to be reunited with her second cousin, Maureen Boychuck, in Canada.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00- Maureen?- Hi, you!- How are you?
0:30:00 > 0:30:02It's fantastic to speak to you.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04Oh, yes. Same to you.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07I've already got the tears in my eyes.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10Don't start. You'll start me off.
0:30:12 > 0:30:17Oh, what a day! I thought this would never happen.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20It's wonderful.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23It's very emotional. You've got to stop crying.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25My emotion's very weird.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28I've grown up in foster homes.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31I just see my brothers and and my...
0:30:31 > 0:30:37I never knew there was an extended family like there is now. You know...
0:30:38 > 0:30:40It's...
0:30:44 > 0:30:46Ah...
0:30:46 > 0:30:54Well, Ernest's death has actually brought a lot of family back together and reunited a family, which is nice.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58It's a shame that we never got to meet him.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01I'm grateful to Ernest that he didn't make a will.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04He's just made my life so much richer.
0:31:10 > 0:31:17For every case that is solved, there are still those that stubbornly remain a mystery.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22Over 3,000 names drawn from across the country are on the Treasury's unsolved case list.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25Their assets will be kept for up to 30 years in the hope
0:31:25 > 0:31:30that someone will remember and come forward to claim their inheritance.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35With estates valued at anything from £5,000 to millions of pounds,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38the rightful heirs are out there somewhere.
0:31:38 > 0:31:43Today, we've got two cases heir hunters have so far failed to solve.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Could you be the key? Could you be in line for a payout?
0:31:48 > 0:31:53Maria Gomez Lopez, a spinster from Lewisham in London, passed away back in May 2008.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57So far her relatives have proved elusive.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Is this a name you remember from your family?
0:32:02 > 0:32:09Morwynna Harding, born Morwynna Tucker, died in Torrington in Devon in May 2008.
0:32:09 > 0:32:1497 years old, she outlived her husband, Edgar, and daughter, Ruby.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Could she be a distant relative?
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Could you be in line for a payout?
0:32:24 > 0:32:28Finding out just who is entitled to a payout from an estate
0:32:28 > 0:32:34where no will has been left can be a very difficult process and not just for the heir hunters.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37The team at Fraser and Fraser have been looking into the case of Beryl Evans,
0:32:37 > 0:32:41since it appeared on the Treasury's list early this morning.
0:32:41 > 0:32:46- The first search produced 40-odd births.- What about marriages?
0:32:48 > 0:32:52After spending the day knocking on doors of friends and neighbours in Shropshire...
0:32:52 > 0:32:54Did you know the lady who passed away at all?
0:32:54 > 0:32:57Travelling heir hunter, Paul Matthews found Irene Lindup,
0:32:57 > 0:33:00the sister of Beryl's deceased husband, Frank.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Did Beryl have any brothers or sisters?
0:33:03 > 0:33:05She had one sister.
0:33:05 > 0:33:11It turns out that Beryl's bungalow and land, which formed the bulk of the estimated £100,000 estate,
0:33:11 > 0:33:16had been in Frank and Irene's family for generations.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20Irene was even born in the cottages, which were there before the bungalow.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23On Frank's death, the land and property
0:33:23 > 0:33:26passed over to his wife, Beryl, changing the family ownership.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30I've had the key to Beryl's bungalow
0:33:30 > 0:33:37till this week. My brother had the bungalow built,
0:33:37 > 0:33:44but it's pointless me hanging on to the key when it's nothing more to do with me.
0:33:44 > 0:33:49This is the end of it for me.
0:33:49 > 0:33:55There's nothing more for me to go round for now.
0:33:55 > 0:34:00As Beryl sadly left no will, the property won't be staying in Irene's family.
0:34:00 > 0:34:06It and any other money in the estate can now only be inherited by the Treasury or blood relatives,
0:34:06 > 0:34:12Beryl's distant family that she had never actually been in contact with.
0:34:12 > 0:34:17The house was built by her brother, so I think probably the moral thing
0:34:17 > 0:34:20to happen was for it to go to Irene,
0:34:20 > 0:34:24but that's not the way it's going to happen because Irene's not a blood relative.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28So, in the eyes of the law, it goes to the bloodline.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31So it's what happens when people don't make wills
0:34:31 > 0:34:34and the estate doesn't go to where they want it to go to,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36but there you go. We can't change that.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38OK, thanks, Paul.
0:34:38 > 0:34:40Bye.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45There was a sister that married somebody called Roberts and had several children.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47We've got some information.
0:34:47 > 0:34:54Irene has however provided the team with the key family information that will finally move the case forward.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56This other sister married a Roberts...
0:34:57 > 0:35:01and had four children. Dennis.
0:35:01 > 0:35:07Mary, who went off to Liverpool. Violet, who married a Bill Evans, that was...
0:35:07 > 0:35:09and another male.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12So we've got a Davies to a Roberts.
0:35:12 > 0:35:19According to the bloodline, the first entitled to inherit would be Beryl's sister, the elusive Betty.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23But tracking her down is not looking hopeful.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26We can't at the moment identify her birth or anything else.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28I'm told that she died in Ireland.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32It may be something we may never be able to really...
0:35:32 > 0:35:35But what we have got is potentially cousins
0:35:35 > 0:35:37and although there may someone closer outstanding,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41if we can't get anywhere on that, we've got to go to cousins.
0:35:43 > 0:35:48Census searches on the aunts are the next step.
0:35:48 > 0:35:54The Census told us that Margaret Ellen had two sisters,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56a Mary M and a Sarah E
0:35:56 > 0:36:04and that her father was called William and her mum was an "E. A.",
0:36:04 > 0:36:07which we've now found out is an Elizabeth Anne.
0:36:07 > 0:36:12Beryl's mother Margaret Davies did have two sisters.
0:36:12 > 0:36:15One, Mary, died without living children.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20But the other, Sarah "Annie", known just as Annie, looks like she may have living family.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25Let's see if we can marry them up and find an address for one of them.
0:36:25 > 0:36:29One of Annie's children, Dennis Roberts, is coming up on the searches.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31He would be a first cousin to Beryl.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35Trouble is, there's not one, but two in the area.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38'Your destination is ahead.'
0:36:38 > 0:36:42Paul's got a 50-50 chance of picking the right one.
0:36:42 > 0:36:43Thank you. Bye-bye.
0:36:47 > 0:36:52Right, well, we've got two addresses in Oswestry, both of Dennis Roberts.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56Erm, the one we've tried, there's no reply on the phone, so we went round to pop round
0:36:56 > 0:37:00the other one, who's right on age, but unfortunately it's the wrong one.
0:37:00 > 0:37:05So it's the other Dennis Roberts in Oswestry that we've got to go and sort out. So sod's law, innit?
0:37:09 > 0:37:14Half a mile to the next Dennis Roberts.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17Will the real Dennis Roberts please stand up?
0:37:17 > 0:37:21Now the team have good, confirmed, family information,
0:37:21 > 0:37:25they can move quickly on investigating the other cousins.
0:37:25 > 0:37:26- Violet May...- Yeah.
0:37:26 > 0:37:31Born 15th September '24 in Sweeney Road.
0:37:31 > 0:37:34Sweeney as in Sweeney Mountain, yeah?
0:37:34 > 0:37:36- It's a place.- Yeah, Oswestry.- Yeah.
0:37:36 > 0:37:43Violet May Evans, Dennis's sister and a cousin of Beryl's, is found to be deceased.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47But the team have just located her will and her estate has been left
0:37:47 > 0:37:52to her children, John and Susan, who it appears are still in the area.
0:37:52 > 0:37:58That's two first cousins, once removed of the deceased, erm,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00actually living, I think,
0:38:00 > 0:38:07on one of the roads which is on the corner of the first cousin we had, of Dennis.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12So the two children of that Evans one, we have up to date addresses and phone numbers for them.
0:38:12 > 0:38:18And it sort of makes that Dennis address, which we sent Paul round to earlier,
0:38:18 > 0:38:21it makes that stronger because of the closeness of the family.
0:38:21 > 0:38:27Quite often we find that they're living on neighbouring roads and stuff. So that's all good.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Dave contacts one of them, John Evans, to break the news.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36Mr Evans, we're looking into an estate going back through the Davies side of the family.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40We're trying to track down the blood relations, to which your mother,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44had she still been alive, we believe would have been a potential beneficiary.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46But he gets some unexpected news of his own.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Morris? Morris Davies?
0:38:53 > 0:38:56How was he...? How did?
0:38:56 > 0:39:00Erm, we don't know about Morris.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03So this would be your grandmother's sister?
0:39:05 > 0:39:06Right.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11Ah, this is... Can I just say,
0:39:11 > 0:39:16you remember his grandmother having a sister called Alice who married a Mr Morris?
0:39:16 > 0:39:19- Is the only...- Oh, God!- I don't know. Have we fallen down here?
0:39:19 > 0:39:21- I'm a bit concerned now.- Right, OK.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28It's almost the end of the day and just as Dave was thinking they had it all sewn up...
0:39:28 > 0:39:30Right, let's go down to see the troops.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34He's found out there could be a whole other branch to the family.
0:39:35 > 0:39:41Alice Davies, another of Beryl's aunts, married a Llewellyn Morris and they had children.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45It seems there are even more heirs to track down.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49If John Evans is right, that is another branch we didn't know about.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54We need more information about this Alice Davies who married Morris.
0:39:54 > 0:40:00And it may well be that Dennis or Mary will have more information, you know.
0:40:00 > 0:40:01We're getting there.
0:40:01 > 0:40:06And they may even know more about the deceased and her so-called sister.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08That would be even...something else.
0:40:10 > 0:40:15Paul Matthews has been on the go for almost 12 hours and he's only now
0:40:15 > 0:40:19about to see his first heirs and hopefully sign them up.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21And your date of birth? You can't lie on this occasion.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26John and Susan Evans are Beryl's first cousins, once removed.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30- So we've got your grandmother's sister was Alice?- Yeah.
0:40:30 > 0:40:32- She had two children?- Yeah.
0:40:32 > 0:40:34The first child was Marjorie?
0:40:34 > 0:40:37- Marjorie. - Yeah.- The other one was Mickey.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40We've got Marjorie marrying somebody called Roberts?
0:40:40 > 0:40:44- Yeah.- And there's three children, Malcolm, Steven and Penny. - Penny, I think, yeah.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49They are able to fill in lots of the gaps on Beryl's Aunt Alice's branch of the family tree.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54I think we've done very well. We've drained you of information.
0:40:54 > 0:40:58Once they've signed the contracts, the claim can be submitted on their behalf
0:40:58 > 0:41:00and Frasers will make their commission.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05But it seems John and Susan know nothing of Beryl's existence.
0:41:05 > 0:41:13As an illegitimate child born in the 1920s, it looks like she may well have been a family secret.
0:41:13 > 0:41:18All I know is it's on me grandmother's side somewhere,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22but we've never really delved into the family tree or anything,
0:41:22 > 0:41:24so you know, we've no idea.
0:41:24 > 0:41:30We've got family all over the place, but I can't imagine for the life of me who the missing link is.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36- Thank you very much. - And for Paul Matthews it's a successful end to a long day.
0:41:36 > 0:41:41We've made some good inroads. It's nearly half nine at night,
0:41:41 > 0:41:45so I've had 13 hours on the road so far, so well and truly shattered.
0:41:45 > 0:41:47So looking forward to getting home,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51have a bit of kip and then get up in the morning and start all over again.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56The heirs will get their share of Beryl's estate,
0:41:56 > 0:42:00which is thought to be worth £100,000.
0:42:00 > 0:42:05But it's a different story for Beryl's best friend and sister-in-law, Irene.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09Obviously, she's not going to get anything from this.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13And sometimes you have to feel, well, she probably deserves it
0:42:13 > 0:42:19and if only there was a will, then she may be several hundred thousand pounds better off.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23I would have preferred Beryl to
0:42:23 > 0:42:29write a will and we would know then
0:42:29 > 0:42:33who she really wanted to pass it on to.
0:42:33 > 0:42:35I miss Beryl terrible.
0:42:35 > 0:42:37I've got no-one else to go out with.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39She was my bosom friend.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43So this has been a big wrench in my life.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47I'm really sad to have lost everything.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50All I have now is a memory.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58If you would like advice about building a family tree or making a will, go to:
0:43:15 > 0:43:18Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:43:18 > 0:43:22E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk