0:00:02 > 0:00:05In Yorkshire, the heir hunters are searching for the beneficiaries
0:00:05 > 0:00:10to an unclaimed estate worth an estimated £200,000.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13They're looking for long-lost relatives
0:00:13 > 0:00:16who have no idea they're in line for a windfall.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Could they be knocking on your door?
0:00:39 > 0:00:40On today's programme,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43the battle's on, as the heir hunters
0:00:43 > 0:00:46come up against a rival on the road...
0:00:46 > 0:00:49They're climbing all over this case while I'm at the house.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52..and the death of an elderly Devon woman
0:00:52 > 0:00:54leaves her descendants speechless.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57I never thought for one second Ruth had any money.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01When Saul contacted me I said, "There's a mistake here".
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Plus, how you may be entitled to inherit
0:01:04 > 0:01:06some of the unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:16 > 0:01:20Every year in the UK, an estimated 300,000 people
0:01:20 > 0:01:23die without leaving a will.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26If no relatives are found, any money that's left behind
0:01:26 > 0:01:28will go to the Government.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Last year, they made £12 million from unclaimed estates.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37That's where the heir hunters come in.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40They make it their business to track down missing relatives,
0:01:40 > 0:01:43and help them claim their rightful inheritance.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46One of the great parts of this job
0:01:46 > 0:01:50is not only bringing good news to people about inheritances
0:01:50 > 0:01:53that they're entitled to, but also reuniting families.
0:02:00 > 0:02:02It's seven in the morning
0:02:02 > 0:02:06at the offices of heir hunters Fraser & Fraser,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10and boss Neil Fraser has been scanning the Treasury's weekly list of unclaimed estates.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14His instincts are telling him one of the cases could be worth a lot of money.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19We're going to look at the estate of Ian Thomas Walter Milner.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23He's from Derby, dies in 2009,
0:02:23 > 0:02:26and it looks as though he owns a property.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32So, value-wise, we're talking maybe £150,000, £200,000.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37The fact the deceased has two middle names should help their search,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39so it makes the case even more appealing to Neil.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46There are going to be several Ian Milners.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51There are possibly going to be two or three Ian Thomas Milners.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56I expect we'll only find one Ian Thomas Walter Milner.
0:02:58 > 0:03:03Ian Milner died aged 60 on 9th November 2009 in Derby.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09He never married, and lived for most of his life
0:03:09 > 0:03:11in this semi-detached house in Mickleover,
0:03:11 > 0:03:16a small town of 17,000 people, which although now a suburb of Derby,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18is often referred to as "the village" by locals.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24For the last 20 years of his life,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Ian worked as a cleaner in his local supermarket.
0:03:27 > 0:03:29Martin Reeve was his boss there,
0:03:29 > 0:03:32and the two struck up a close friendship.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36From the very onset, we got on.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38Ian was a really nice guy.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42He always spoke...well every morning.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46He always had a smile and a few words to say.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Ian was a very hard-working guy. You could always rely on him, as well.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55The two men shared a love of dogs.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01Ian was very passionate about his pet - Sheba, a dog.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05I know he spent pretty much every hour with Sheba.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09He didn't seem to have family or friends, really, around him,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12in the local area that looked out for him,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16so I felt some compassion towards him,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19to try and help him the best I could.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24In the office, the search for any beneficiaries to Ian's estate begins.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Good morning. I apologise for troubling you so early in the morning.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31I'm making enquiries about a neighbour of yours who lived at number 59.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36Case manager Dave Slee has got hold of a number for Ian's neighbour in Mickleover.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41We think he was from Shardlow area. So you knew the mother?
0:04:41 > 0:04:45Phone calls like these can give the heir hunters
0:04:45 > 0:04:48the head start they need with a case, and put them ahead of the competition
0:04:48 > 0:04:51at this crucial early stage.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Did Ian have any brothers or sisters, as far as you're aware?
0:04:56 > 0:04:58He was an only child, was he? Take care now. Bye-bye.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02The neighbour has given Dave the basic information he needs
0:05:02 > 0:05:06to start building up Ian's family tree.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10It seems he was the only child of Benjamin Milner and Mary Halford.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17I'm fairly confident, as one can ever be,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19that there's no near kin,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21so the deceased had no brothers and sisters.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24This is key information for the heir hunters,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28as it means they won't waste time looking for siblings,
0:05:28 > 0:05:33and instead start on the search for cousins. But Dave's a bit wary.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40The risk is taking a neighbour's information
0:05:40 > 0:05:44that the deceased was an only child as gospel.
0:05:46 > 0:05:51But Dave's an experienced heir hunter, and he's willing to take a chance,
0:05:51 > 0:05:55so the team start their search for Ian's cousins.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58It looks like his father, Benjamin Milner, was part of a large family,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02so it's likely there will be heirs on that side.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05But at the moment, Dave can't even find Benjamin Milner
0:06:05 > 0:06:08on the 1911 census.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Are you doing a year each side, Amy?
0:06:11 > 0:06:15The family we have identified would mean that the deceased
0:06:15 > 0:06:19had a number of paternal aunts and uncles.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23If they're wrong, then we could spend ages researching the wrong family.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Meanwhile, researcher Dominic
0:06:27 > 0:06:30has started looking into Ian's mother's family.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Born Mary Halford, she appears on the 1911 census,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37along with her father, Thomas Halford, and her mother, Alice,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40but there's no sign of any other children from that marriage.
0:06:42 > 0:06:47It looks like, on the maternal side, there isn't going to be any heirs, but we don't know that for sure.
0:06:49 > 0:06:50If Ian's mother was an only child,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53there's no chance that he will have any cousins
0:06:53 > 0:06:56on her side of the family who would be entitled to inherit.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00That means that the team could be relying on the paternal side
0:07:00 > 0:07:04to provide them with legitimate heirs.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10Luckily, Simon's making good progress with the Milner family tree.
0:07:12 > 0:07:16On the '11 census there were six siblings,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and there's another one born after '11,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21so we've got quite a few,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24so hopefully somewhere, amongst all those,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28there will be some cousins of the deceased.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Ian's father, Benjamin, was one of seven children
0:07:33 > 0:07:36born to Charles Milner and Eliza Massay.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39The children were all born in and around Burton-on-Trent,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42so Simon is looking for marriage records in the same area.
0:07:44 > 0:07:47I've got a marriage of an Alice C Milner in Stoke-on-Trent,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49which is not quite the right area,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53but it's nearer than any of the others.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54Dominic has been waiting
0:07:54 > 0:07:57to tie up the maternal side of this investigation,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00and now he's got the means to do it.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04That's Thomas's death. That's Alice's death.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09Simon's given him Ian's maternal grandparents' death certificate.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16The informant on Thomas Halford's death was his widow, Alice.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19When Alice died six years later,
0:08:19 > 0:08:23the informant on her death was her daughter, Mary, Ian's mother.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Dominic thought these certificates might show that Mary had a brother
0:08:29 > 0:08:31or sister who hadn't shown up on the census.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36This could have led to nieces and nephews
0:08:36 > 0:08:38who'd have been entitled to a share of Ian's estate.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41But it wasn't to be,
0:08:41 > 0:08:43and the maternal side of this investigation
0:08:43 > 0:08:45is now officially closed.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53But as one door closes, another opens.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56While looking through probate records,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Dominic has come across a copy of Ian's mother Mary's will.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05It shows she left an estate worth £125,000, in 1994.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09That would indicate to me
0:09:09 > 0:09:12she probably owned the property when she died.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15You would hope that when we get that probate record back,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18it would show the deceased, Ian Milner,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21was the one who received all that money,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24and it might indicate there is some value to this case,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26so it is worth us throwing everything at it.
0:09:29 > 0:09:35If the house was worth £125,000 in 1994,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37the housing boom means it's almost certainly worth
0:09:37 > 0:09:42the £200,000 Neil originally estimated.
0:09:42 > 0:09:43That's great news for the team.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Heir hunters work on commission,
0:09:47 > 0:09:50taking a percentage of the amount claimed by each heir.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53So now they know it's a high-value case,
0:09:53 > 0:09:58they can afford to up the manpower on this job and really go after it.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Veteran case manager David Milchard, AKA "Grimble", joins the team.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08We've got nobody on the mother's side,
0:10:08 > 0:10:12but it looks like there's quite a large family on the father's side.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14Might just whittle down a bit.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18The team have discovered that
0:10:18 > 0:10:22out of Ian's six aunts and uncles on his father's side,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24at least three of them died without children,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28so they are now focusing on Ian's aunt Ada, in Bradford.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Unfortunately, she married Johnson and there are lots of Johnsons,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37so we're having a little trouble doing anything with Jack and Harry Johnson at the moment.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41They're all potentially cousins of the deceased.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46What Simon has managed to establish is that Ada and Walter Johnson
0:10:46 > 0:10:52had five children - Marjorie, Charles, Annie, Jack and Harry.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55But when it comes to finding their children,
0:10:55 > 0:10:59it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02Harry Johnson, who is the child of Ada,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06we've got eight marriages for Harry in Bradford, when he'd be in his 20s and early 30s,
0:11:06 > 0:11:10so we have no way of knowing which is the right one without getting it.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15At times like this, the only thing to do is call in the cavalry.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18My thinking is getting Dave Mansell over to Bradford.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Dave Mansell is one of the company's senior researchers on the road.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29He's part of a crack team of heir hunters based all over the country.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32Their job is to follow up any lead...
0:11:33 > 0:11:36..be the first at the heir's door,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40and make sure they are the company they decide to sign up with.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45Right now, Dave needs to get over to Bradford Register Office,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48and chase down the vital certificates
0:11:48 > 0:11:51that will prove they're on the right track.
0:11:51 > 0:11:55There's an Ada Frances Milner,
0:11:55 > 0:11:57to that Walter Johnson.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01Now, I'm getting a lead on the Jack stem.
0:12:01 > 0:12:02Yeah?
0:12:02 > 0:12:05I might hopefully have a current address,
0:12:05 > 0:12:07so we shouldn't be too far off on that.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10The heir hunters desperately need a breakthrough.
0:12:10 > 0:12:16This is a high-value case, and rival firms will be hard on their heels.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20But Simon is still struggling to find that elusive first heir.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22We did have three marriages.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24We think we've got rid of two, which left just that one.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27- She's not on the phone? - No, no phone number found.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29I know, it's shocking, isn't it(?)
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Coming up, every heir hunter's nightmare.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37I've just been talking to somebody else about that.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40- Have you got someone with you? - Yes.- OK, sorry to bother you.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43A rival from another company catches up with Dave
0:12:43 > 0:12:45at the worst possible moment.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47- Is that someone else, like yourself?- Yes.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56Heir-hunting is all about making sure the right people get the money
0:12:56 > 0:12:58that's due to them.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00But it can also bring families back together,
0:13:00 > 0:13:02as in the case of Ruth Sedgbeer,
0:13:02 > 0:13:05whose £25,000 estate
0:13:05 > 0:13:09appeared on the Treasury's list in November 2009.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15The case was picked up by Saul Marks
0:13:15 > 0:13:19of heir-hunting company Celtic Research.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24The deceased in this case was Ruth Sedgbeer, who died aged 80.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28She was born in 1929, in North Devon.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Ruth Sedgbeer was a true Devon maid.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35She was born and lived her whole life in Rustic Cottage,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37in the tiny hamlet of Gunn.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41For her, an excursion to South Molton,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44which is about seven miles away,
0:13:44 > 0:13:46was quite a journey,
0:13:46 > 0:13:51which she undertook only because of her cats,
0:13:51 > 0:13:53usually to take them to the vet.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54As well as her cats,
0:13:54 > 0:13:59Ruth's other great love was her local church, in Gunn,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02where she was a loyal member of the congregation.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06She would never come to church without wearing a hat.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10On ordinary Sundays, she would wear a bright-red beret,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12but on festive occasions,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16she always sported a straw boater with a bright green ribbon around it.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21Ruth looked after the church for the whole of her life.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25If she found a leak in the roof, I would know about it very quickly,
0:14:25 > 0:14:30and Ruth would always say, "And what are you going to do about it?"
0:14:31 > 0:14:35She was a determined lady, very independent-minded.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40When she was 20, Ruth went to work for a local family,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45where she was employed as a mother's help for over 50 years.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49My mother simply couldn't imagine life without Ruth.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52She was incredibly important in our family.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54She was part and parcel of everything
0:14:54 > 0:14:56that happened in family life.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00She made no bones about the fact that she didn't like children when we were small.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04We kind of went in the same category as peas and chocolate,
0:15:04 > 0:15:06which were her other two dislikes.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08I remember this, as a child.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Just about tolerable, but basically to be avoided.
0:15:12 > 0:15:15But in her way, I think she was very fond of all of us as a family.
0:15:16 > 0:15:21Ruth lived with and cared for her elderly parents until they died.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24She never married.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28When you consider the time she was born, 1929,
0:15:28 > 0:15:32a lost generation of young men after the First World War.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Many women from that era didn't marry
0:15:37 > 0:15:40because there was actually a shortage of men.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43She was a shy person,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47who didn't relate to other people particularly well.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50She much preferred animals, loved them dearly.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55And I think she was very happy looking after her parents,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57and leading that sort of quiet life.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03When Saul first started work on the Sedgbeer case in 2009,
0:16:03 > 0:16:06his first task was to check the online records
0:16:06 > 0:16:09of births, marriages and deaths,
0:16:09 > 0:16:11which told him that Ruth's parents' names
0:16:11 > 0:16:14were Reginald Sedgbeer and Agnes Johnson.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Presuming this to be correct,
0:16:18 > 0:16:22we were able to look up other Sedgbeer-Johnson births,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25to see if there were any siblings, and there weren't.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28So I looked for the marriage of her parents,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31and there was no Sedgbeer-Johnson marriage, either.
0:16:33 > 0:16:38An amateur genealogist might have been stumped by this apparent dead end,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41but Saul was able to call on his years of heir-hunting experience,
0:16:41 > 0:16:43which helped him make his next move.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48I had a feeling that Johnson and Johnston are very similar names,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51and it could always be that the two names
0:16:51 > 0:16:53had simply been mis-transcribed.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55One was right, and one was wrong.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58Sure enough, Saul found there were two records
0:16:58 > 0:17:02of two Johnston-Sedgbeer marriages in the area,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04and five Johnston-Sedgbeer births.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08It can be very satisfying to solve a little riddle like that,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11where perhaps things aren't as they seem.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15You need a certain amount of lateral thinking,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18so, yes, once we can open a case up like that, we can get on with it.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Like Smith and Jones, Johnston is a very common name,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27which makes it very hard to research,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30but a quick check revealed that Saul's luck was in.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Johnstone is a very Scottish name,
0:17:33 > 0:17:35and this family were entirely from Devon,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38and there aren't that many Scots in Devon,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41so what we were able to do was establish
0:17:41 > 0:17:45this was in fact the only Johnstone family in this area.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Saul immediately started calling
0:17:48 > 0:17:51all the Devon-based Johnstones that he could find.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54All the people I spoke to in this family were incredibly helpful.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58They were willing to lend their time and their memories
0:17:58 > 0:18:00to compiling this fantastic tree.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05I quickly discovered that the deceased mother, Agnes Johnstone,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09was the youngest of 13 children, so it was an enormous family.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Ruth's grandparents were James Johnstone and Sarah Thomason,
0:18:15 > 0:18:21who met and married in 1881, in Betws Garmon near Mount Snowdon, in North Wales.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28James's family were Scottish shepherds
0:18:28 > 0:18:30who had moved down there for work,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34while Sarah was the daughter of a foreman in the local slate quarries.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36James was always chasing work as a shepherd,
0:18:36 > 0:18:42and shortly after marrying Sarah, the couple moved back to Dumfries in Scotland.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45But then came a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
0:18:45 > 0:18:49to take part in one of the great agricultural experiments of the Victorian age.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57In 1818, wealthy Midlands industrialist John Knight
0:18:57 > 0:19:00and his son Frederick bought the Royal forest of Exmoor,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04with the radical idea of turning it into a thriving agricultural business.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11The Royal forests had been remote moorland described as
0:19:11 > 0:19:14a filthy, barren ground for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17We were looking at a time of agricultural improvement,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20where the technology to improve the land was there.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22We had lots of people living in cities that hadn't previously,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26because of the Industrial Revolution, and suddenly areas of England
0:19:26 > 0:19:30that were unfarmed and were seen as waste became the focus of attention.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35You could look at them and say, "If we could reclaim these, we could get food from them."
0:19:35 > 0:19:40John Knight literally saw Exmoor as covered in, sort of, seas of waving corn.
0:19:40 > 0:19:41That's what his ambition was.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47Livestock also played an important part in the Knights' vision.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49They decided to import
0:19:49 > 0:19:53herds of hardy Scottish black-faced sheep, which could withstand the harsh conditions.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00And this is where Ruth's grandfather James Maxwell Johnstone came in.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04They also brought down not just the sheep
0:20:04 > 0:20:06but the shepherds with them, and of course these shepherds
0:20:06 > 0:20:09knew how to shepherd in mountain areas and in the West Country,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and in this part of the West Country,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14there wasn't that sort of local knowledge
0:20:14 > 0:20:18of how to keep sheep and livestock going through the harsh winters.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23Ruth's grandparents couldn't refuse this offer of guaranteed work,
0:20:23 > 0:20:28so they joined a remarkable migration of Scottish shepherds and their sheep to the South.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35Many made this epic 600-mile journey from the Scottish Lowlands to Devon on foot,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38herding their sheep ahead of them.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Others loaded their animals onto boats and even trains,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45and they were then driven the last 30 miles or so up onto Exmoor.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53It's not known how James and Sarah made their way south,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56but they did travel with three young children,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01and when they eventually arrived, they moved to the remote Hoar Oak Cottage.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04They lived there for the next 17 years,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06and went on to have ten more children.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10Ruth's mother, Agnes, was the youngest,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13and shortly after she was born in 1904,
0:21:13 > 0:21:14James died,
0:21:14 > 0:21:16leaving Sarah to bring up
0:21:16 > 0:21:18all 13 children on her own.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24It was an unbelievably hard life for these Scottish families,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28but the scale and ambition of the Knights' vision was breathtaking.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34The area that the Knights had was about 10,000 acres.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Within that, there were no roads, there were no villages, there was nothing.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And by the time the Knights had finished,
0:21:41 > 0:21:46they'd built about 16 farms, a village, a church, a school,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49and, in effect, what they'd done was created the largest parish in England.
0:21:49 > 0:21:56But sadly, the Knights' dream of turning Exmoor into viable farmland was doomed to fail.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58They simply ran out of money.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Not even the greatest Victorian ingenuity could contend with
0:22:04 > 0:22:07the wet climate and acidic, water-logged soil.
0:22:08 > 0:22:13But whilst nature won the battle, man and sheep definitely left their mark.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17They have completely changed the face of the landscape.
0:22:17 > 0:22:22So when you look at that, in terms of the judgment about whether the Knights were successful or not,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26you could say their legacy is in these farms and in changing the face of Exmoor for ever.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30Coming up, Saul comes across a woman who holds the key
0:22:30 > 0:22:33to tracing Ruth Sedgbeer's heirs.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36She really was an heir hunter's dream.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Heir hunters solve thousands of cases a year,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47ensuring that millions of pounds are paid out to rightful heirs.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50But not every case can be cracked.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52The Treasury has a list of over 2,000 estates
0:22:52 > 0:22:56that have baffled the heir hunters and remain unclaimed.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02These estates stay on the list for up to 30 years,
0:23:02 > 0:23:07and each one could be worth anything from £5,000 to many millions.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Today, we're focusing on three names from the list.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15Are they relatives of yours?
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Could you be in line for an unexpected windfall?
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Maria Carmen Navarro died in Hove, East Sussex,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28on 23rd December 2007.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Navarro is a Spanish and Italian surname, meaning "Basque speaker",
0:23:32 > 0:23:37and could her death so close to Christmas jog any memories?
0:23:37 > 0:23:40So far, no-one has come forward to claim her estate.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50Edith Stallion died aged 87 on 16th May 1997
0:23:50 > 0:23:52in Mile End, London.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56If no heirs of hers are found, her money will go to the Government.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03Bryan Arthur Daniel Tebbut
0:24:03 > 0:24:08died on 5th January 2003 in Haywards Heath, West Sussex.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11He was born on 10th July 1929,
0:24:11 > 0:24:15the year of the infamous Wall Street Crash that led to the Great Depression.
0:24:15 > 0:24:18His estate is also unclaimed.
0:24:22 > 0:24:25If the names Maria Navarro, Edith Stallion
0:24:25 > 0:24:28or Bryan Tebbut mean anything to you, or someone you know,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32you could have a potential fortune coming your way.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45At Celtic Research's Liverpool office, heir hunter Saul Marks
0:24:45 > 0:24:47was still working the case of Ruth Sedgbeer,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52the Devon maid who died aged 80 in the tiny hamlet of Gunn,
0:24:52 > 0:24:54where she'd lived her entire life.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59I remember talking to her, on one of the last times I visited her in the cottage,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and remarking with her how 80 years ago she'd been born
0:25:02 > 0:25:05just upstairs, and here she was,
0:25:05 > 0:25:07sitting just downstairs.
0:25:08 > 0:25:13Ruth's funeral was an important occasion for the whole village.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16All her friends and acquaintances
0:25:16 > 0:25:21and people perhaps that she didn't realise were friends, were here,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23and we all remembered her with great affection,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and thought to ourselves that we're not likely
0:25:26 > 0:25:29to have another character like Ruth
0:25:29 > 0:25:31in our midst again.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33She was a one-off.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Ruth had left behind a £25,000 estate
0:25:37 > 0:25:41but, as yet, there was no-one to inherit it.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Saul had discovered that Ruth's mother, Agnes,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48was one of 13 children of Exmoor sheep farmers
0:25:48 > 0:25:50James and Sarah Johnstone.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54Although Johnstone is a common name,
0:25:54 > 0:25:58it turned out there was only one Johnstone family in North Devon.
0:25:59 > 0:26:05I was able to actually track down heirs in almost every branch of the family,
0:26:05 > 0:26:11with each person giving me numbers for someone else in another branch.
0:26:11 > 0:26:13So it was really a snowball effect.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Eventually, Saul's research led him to his first heir -
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Ruth's second cousin, Bette Baldwin,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25a great granddaughter of James and Sarah Johnstone,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28and also a keen amateur genealogist.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33She really was an heir hunter's dream.
0:26:33 > 0:26:39This lady had done a great deal of research into the family history.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43She had a lot of documents and a lot of knowledge,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47and she had done a lot of work on the social history of the family,
0:26:47 > 0:26:51as opposed to just the bare bones of the names and dates.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56She had done a lot about the history of how her family were Scots
0:26:56 > 0:26:58and came to live in Devon.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Because I had been doing the research on the Johnstone family,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05from whom Ruth and I are both descended,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08and the link to the 13 children
0:27:08 > 0:27:12and the sheep-raising on Exmoor,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16I was able to give him quite a lot of that information.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Hearing about Ruth's death was a shock to Bette.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Thanks to her research into her family history,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27she'd been down to visit her cousin a few times,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30and she vividly remembered the first time they met.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34I knocked on the door, wondering what was going to happen,
0:27:34 > 0:27:40and actually felt a real "zush" of excitement, because I thought,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45"Whose face am I going to see when she walks round this door?"
0:27:45 > 0:27:51And there she was, and in fact it was like looking at my mother
0:27:51 > 0:27:54just before the end of her days.
0:27:54 > 0:28:01Sort of a very sweet, white-haired lady in a pretty cotton dress.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Through Ruth, Bette heard more about her great-grandparents,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11James and Sarah Johnstone, and their life in a remote cottage on Exmoor...
0:28:13 > 0:28:17..a subject that had fascinated her from an early age.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21One of the stories that my mother always told
0:28:21 > 0:28:24was about Granny Johnstone,
0:28:24 > 0:28:28and that she had been born in a cottage
0:28:28 > 0:28:31overlooking Mount Snowdon,
0:28:31 > 0:28:37and then she lived in a cottage on the moor and had 13 children.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41That was the bit of oral history which I'd heard from a tiny girl
0:28:41 > 0:28:42and that captured me, then.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47Bette was amazed to hear she was going to receive
0:28:47 > 0:28:50a share of Ruth's £25,000 estate.
0:28:50 > 0:28:54I never thought for one second Ruth had any money,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57and in fact when Saul contacted me, I said,
0:28:57 > 0:28:59"There's a mistake here.
0:28:59 > 0:29:04"She lived a very simple life, she had no money."
0:29:04 > 0:29:07But apparently there was.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12In the end, Saul found 39 heirs to Ruth's estate.
0:29:12 > 0:29:18From one elderly lady, who lived alone in a cottage in Devon,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22her estate will be shared out among so many cousins,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26both on her maternal and paternal sides, so a lot of people will benefit from this.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31One of the these beneficiaries was John Bowden,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33Ruth's second cousin
0:29:33 > 0:29:36and a great-grandson of James and Sarah Johnstone.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38His son Will had grown up in the area,
0:29:38 > 0:29:42and knew all about his family's link with Hoar Oak Cottage.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48We've used it as a base, really, and walked to it or past it,
0:29:48 > 0:29:52or made a point of passing by, just because we've got a family interest in it.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Will was delighted when he heard from Saul
0:29:57 > 0:30:01that he had a long-lost cousin, Bette, who shared his interest in the Johnstone family.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06Bette and her husband Jim came down and we all had lunch together
0:30:06 > 0:30:11at Mum and Dad's, and we started looking through old photographs and comparing family history.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14It was lovely to be able to put two cousins back in touch
0:30:14 > 0:30:17who had never really known of each other's existence.
0:30:17 > 0:30:20It's lovely to bring warmth as well as money.
0:30:20 > 0:30:27The money component of it is far and away outweighed by the fact that I met up with Will.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31Since they met, Will and Bette have discussed their shared dream
0:30:31 > 0:30:34of preserving the now dilapidated Hoar Oak Cottage.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38Realising that we've both got this interest,
0:30:38 > 0:30:42we decided if we combined our energies, we'd have a far better chance of achieving it.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Today, they're making the eight-mile journey across rugged Exmoor
0:30:49 > 0:30:52to see where their great-great-grandparents lived,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55and get a sense of what life here was like over 100 years ago.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Will's a trained conservation architect,
0:31:00 > 0:31:04and his vision is to restore Hoar Oak into a camping barn
0:31:04 > 0:31:08or an outdoor classroom, where people can come to learn about and experience
0:31:08 > 0:31:12the nature and history of this unique landscape.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19When you're there, all you hear is sheep baa-ing,
0:31:19 > 0:31:21birds singing,
0:31:21 > 0:31:26the wind blowing, and the water trickling by in the stream,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29and that sense of quiet and solitude,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32and you see no other buildings.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36What do you think Ruth would have made of all of this,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40us coming out here and trying to knock the old place back into shape?
0:31:40 > 0:31:45I think she would have been really pleased that you and I had met up as a consequence of all this.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48I think she'd have been really pleased.
0:31:48 > 0:31:50But I think, like a lot of that generation,
0:31:50 > 0:31:56- they've been a bit baffled that we were interested in resurrecting the cottage.- Yeah.
0:32:01 > 0:32:05The life of the Johnstone family on Exmoor has now all but disappeared.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10Thanks to Ruth's legacy, two of her descendants have joined forces
0:32:10 > 0:32:13to make sure their memory will never be forgotten.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Heir hunters Fraser & Fraser have been investigating the case
0:32:26 > 0:32:30of Ian Milner, who died aged 60 in Mickleover, Derby.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37A quiet man, Ian was well thought of by his colleagues at the local supermarket, where he worked.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43I'm very pleased that I met Ian, worked with him,
0:32:43 > 0:32:50we got on very well, and it was a privilege to know Ian.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52Ian had quite a tough life.
0:32:52 > 0:32:58His father was a coal merchant, and so Ian, one of his first jobs in life,
0:32:58 > 0:33:04was to deliver coal, which is not the easiest job in the world.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07I think he paid for that in his health later on in life.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14The heir hunters have discovered that Ian inherited his semi-detached house from his mother,
0:33:14 > 0:33:19and as a result, his estate is worth an estimated £200,000.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26Although there's been no sign of any competition so far,
0:33:26 > 0:33:32a high-value case like this is bound to attract the attention of rival heir-hunting firms.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37The company have decided to send two senior researchers, Dave Mansell and Bob Barrett,
0:33:37 > 0:33:40up to Yorkshire to try and stay ahead of the competition.
0:33:42 > 0:33:45- No phone?- No, none of them got phones, this is the problem.
0:33:45 > 0:33:47If they had phones I could've phoned them.
0:33:47 > 0:33:48Leave it with me, blue eyes.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53I wish you luck! All right, then. OK. Bye.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Whenever possible, the office like to call ahead,
0:33:56 > 0:34:01so the heirs know to expect a visit, but this is a race against time,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03so they have no choice but to turn up unannounced.
0:34:07 > 0:34:11But after a couple of attempts, Dave's not having much success.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16He's been through several addresses on his list, and still no joy.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22And Bob's not having much luck in Stoke, either.
0:34:22 > 0:34:24Problem Bob's got at the moment is he's in a traffic jam.
0:34:24 > 0:34:29He's a bit worried whether he'll be able to get round to see everybody.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34He's got potentially six calls to make.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37Back in Bradford, Dave's down to his last address.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42If this next heir isn't at home, then the whole day will have been wasted.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47I'm off to the last-chance saloon now,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51to see if Jacqueline Johnstone that was is at home.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55And perhaps we'll have a bit more luck and find somebody
0:34:55 > 0:34:59who is an heir actually at home, so we can talk to them about the family.
0:35:00 > 0:35:03The team's research counts for nothing
0:35:03 > 0:35:07until Dave can meet an heir and get an agreement signed.
0:35:07 > 0:35:13Were you originally a Johnstone? Is your dad Jack Johnstone?
0:35:13 > 0:35:15Your mother Mary Elkington?
0:35:15 > 0:35:18At last, after an hour of doorstepping,
0:35:18 > 0:35:20Dave has finally met an heir.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24Jacqueline is the daughter of Jack and Mary Johnstone
0:35:24 > 0:35:25and a cousin of Ian Milner.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Once inside, Dave talks Jacqueline through the process
0:35:30 > 0:35:35and manages to get some more information about her family that will help complete his research.
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Do you have some siblings, brothers and sisters?
0:35:39 > 0:35:41Yes, two brothers, two sisters.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44It's all going like clockwork,
0:35:44 > 0:35:48until suddenly they're interrupted by a knock at the door.
0:35:48 > 0:35:53Yes, I'm just talking to somebody else about it. Yes. It's all right.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56- I'll come back in a minute. - It may be a while.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59From triumph to potential disaster.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03Another heir-hunting company has turned up on the doorstep,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05hoping to speak to Jacqueline.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08- Is that someone else like yourself? - Yes.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13This is not the first time that Dave's almost come face to face
0:36:13 > 0:36:15with a rival heir hunter.
0:36:15 > 0:36:17But now he needs to move quickly.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19- Do you want me to get him on the phone?- Yeah.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25Jacqueline calls her brother, Steven, who lives nearby.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28- Are you wanting me to tell Steven anything now? - Shall I have a quick word with him?
0:36:28 > 0:36:33Would you just have a quick word with this gentleman that's here, please, Steven? Hang on a minute.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38If rival heir hunters are already in the area, then it's vital
0:36:38 > 0:36:43that Dave sees as many heirs as he can in person, as soon as possible.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46Right, when I've finished with Jacqueline I'll come across and see you.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48Thank you, bye-bye.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51Dave prepares an agreement that he can leave with Jacqueline.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56Shall I come with you to Steven's? Cos I don't know, you know, all this,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59so if he wants... And then you do Steven's as well,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03- and then if he agrees to go with you, and then we can both sign. - Why not?
0:37:03 > 0:37:06Luckily, Steven lives just around the corner,
0:37:06 > 0:37:09so they should be with him in a few minutes.
0:37:09 > 0:37:13- Where's your car? - I'm facing down here.- Down here.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18With the competition breathing down Dave's neck, every second counts.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23Hello, it's Dave Mansell. Can I speaking to Grimble as a matter of urgency, please.
0:37:23 > 0:37:27David's on the phone, so Neil takes the call.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30They're climbing all over this case, while I'm at the house.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34They've been in contact with one of the heirs this morning,
0:37:34 > 0:37:39and with this heir that I'm seeing now, on her mobile phone this morning.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45It's a tricky situation, but at this point there's nothing the office can do about it.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49Neil relays the bad news to David.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53- What's he got?- Erm, competition.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Meanwhile Dave and Jacqueline have made it round to Steven's house.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02I think you're expecting me, are you?
0:38:02 > 0:38:06Hello, I'm David, David Mansell from Fraser & Fraser. Hello, Steven, nice to see you.
0:38:06 > 0:38:07Come on in, sis.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Dave needs to pull out all the stops and give his best sales pitch,
0:38:12 > 0:38:15to convince these two that they are the company to go with.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19...Which means you can cancel this contract seven days from midnight tonight,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23without any obligation. That's your cooling-off period.
0:38:23 > 0:38:29They're both impressed with what they hear, and decide to sign up there and then.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33- Lovely. Thanks, David.- Nice to have met you. Been a pleasure.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37- And you, Jacqueline. Thanks for bringing us up here. - It's a surprise, in't it?
0:38:37 > 0:38:40It's a surprise, yeah.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44Because we've never had any touch, any contact with the Milners,
0:38:44 > 0:38:48so we were totally unaware of anything of this nature at all,
0:38:48 > 0:38:50and how big the family was, actually.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54For Dave Mansell, it's been a great result.
0:38:54 > 0:38:56We started off very early this morning,
0:38:56 > 0:38:58it's 20 past five in the afternoon now,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01but at least we've got signatures on paper,
0:39:01 > 0:39:06and it's nice people to see, when we eventually found somebody to talk to.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09So, yeah, it's been worth it, it's been a good day.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12So we'll head back now.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17A good day indeed. It's less than 12 hours since Ian Milner's name
0:39:17 > 0:39:21first appeared on the Treasury's list, and the company have signed up two heirs.
0:39:24 > 0:39:26But Dave knows the work has just begun.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29There are many more heirs to contact on this case.
0:39:38 > 0:39:43A few days later, and there's some unexpected and unwelcome news.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Steven and Jacqueline have been contacted by another heir-hunting firm,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51who've undercut their rate of commission.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54It's a blow for Neil and the whole team.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58It looks as though those beneficiaries are going to go with one of the other firms.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01It's a shame, it's a real shame.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05How hard all the staff worked to get on to that, but it's how it happens.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Some days you win, some days you lose.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10This particular stem we've lost on.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13But it's not all bad news.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17In the end, there are 29 heirs in total on the Milner case,
0:40:17 > 0:40:20and the company managed to sign up 20 of them.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23One of these heirs was Carole Bamford,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26the granddaughter of Ian's Aunt Alice.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31Carole is Ian's first cousin once removed,
0:40:31 > 0:40:34and will inherit a share of his £200,000 estate.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38But Carole had no idea that her cousin even existed.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44I was quite surprised to find out about Ian.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46Actually, I was shocked more than anything.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50My brothers were as well, not just myself. And my husband.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54Cos we didn't think there was anybody left called Milner.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Although she can't remember her grandmother, Alice,
0:40:57 > 0:41:01her death had a profound effect on Carole's family.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06When Alice died, my grandad, who was blind, who was her husband,
0:41:06 > 0:41:12he couldn't cope, so they had to put my mum and her two brothers
0:41:12 > 0:41:16into a home in Birmingham, which was Father Hudson's Homes, and that's where they grew up.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Carole's got three daughters of her own and grandchildren,
0:41:19 > 0:41:23so she knows exactly how she's going to spend her inheritance.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28I will give those, I think, a nice holiday.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30I think everybody says they'll have a good holiday, won't they?
0:41:30 > 0:41:33so I'd like a holiday that I won't forget.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38But that's not quite enough for Carole.
0:41:38 > 0:41:43She's determined to honour Ian's memory, so a few weeks after being contacted by the heir hunters,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46she's come to pay her respects.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51I've come to the crematorium, now, where Ian was cremated and his ashes are,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55so I'm just going to say a prayer or something for Ian
0:41:55 > 0:41:58and tell him, you know, we're sorry we weren't there to comfort him.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Hoping to find out more about the cousin she never met,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11she's also contacted Ian's old boss, Martin Reeve.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14- Hello, Martin. My name's Carole.- Hi.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18She's able to build up a picture of Ian, the kind of man he was,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21and the things he enjoyed.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25He sounds a bit like my family. The things what people have told me, what he's done.
0:42:25 > 0:42:27He liked a drink, just like us.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31I like being on my own, whereas Ian liked to be on his own.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35So I think, really, we've got something in common, and that's...
0:42:35 > 0:42:37That's even better.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43But, same as I say, there's a lot more I want to know about him,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45and the book's not closed yet.
0:42:49 > 0:42:57If you would like advice about building your family tree or making a will, go to -
0:43:20 > 0:43:24Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd