0:00:03 > 0:00:09Today, heir hunters are searching for a family of beneficiaries in line to inherit a £50,000 estate.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Could they be knocking at your door?
0:00:30 > 0:00:32On today's programme,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35a confusing birth certificate causes chaos for the heir hunters
0:00:35 > 0:00:39as they search for beneficiaries to a five figure estate.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42It goes from the sublime to the ridiculous.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46And two brothers are amazed to learn how much they had in common
0:00:46 > 0:00:49with a long-lost relative they'd never known.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54Ship building and the sea, I think, have always been in the blood.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Plus, how you could be entitled
0:00:56 > 0:01:00to some of the thousands of pounds held by the Treasury.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03Could a windfall be heading your way?
0:01:07 > 0:01:12Each year the British government receives around £12 million of bonus revenue.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18This staggering amount comes from unclaimed estates left by people who have died without making a will.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23But it doesn't have to be this way.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Throughout the UK there are over 30 companies competing to return
0:01:27 > 0:01:29this money to the families it belongs to.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32These people are known as heir hunters.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36Working for a commission, heir hunting is big business
0:01:36 > 0:01:39involving plenty of detective work.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41So it's not 100% sure that this is the right one.
0:01:43 > 0:01:45But to return family money to the rightful heirs
0:01:45 > 0:01:47can be immensely satisfying.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50What I originally thought was going to be wrong,
0:01:50 > 0:01:53we were just trying for trying's sake, turns out to be right.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55So quite a good result, really.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03The sun's up, it's Thursday morning and across the UK,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06heir hunting firms are scouring the Treasury's list
0:02:06 > 0:02:09of unclaimed estates which has just been published.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12The companies are in a race to find heirs
0:02:12 > 0:02:16and until they do, they won't earn a penny in commission.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19But the higher the value of the estate, the greater the competition
0:02:19 > 0:02:21between rival firms.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25At the offices of Fraser & Fraser in London,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28one name on the list has caught the eye of case manager, Dave Slee.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Hello. Good morning. Sorry to trouble you.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35We're trying to trace the next of kin of a lady by the name of Mrs Vera Humphrey.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40All he has to go on is a name, date and place of death.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43It doesn't sound like a lot but Dave quickly
0:02:43 > 0:02:45puts his years of experience to use and gets on the phone.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49She passed away, we believe, in 2003
0:02:49 > 0:02:53and may have been a resident at Homefield House.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57Vera May Humphrey, formerly Tovey,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01passed away at the age of 86 in Southampton.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06She married widower Arthur Humphrey in 1954 but they had no children.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Vera was quickly welcomed into Arthur's family
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and is fondly remembered by them.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16Alan Bates was Arthur's nephew
0:03:16 > 0:03:20and he and wife Pam were close to Vera for nearly 50 years.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26She was a very bubbly person. She had a lovely personality, actually.
0:03:26 > 0:03:30- But she had an innate laugh, didn't she?- Yes, she did.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34She always, she was always very light-hearted. Children loved her.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38I knew she was a shorthand writer, the same as myself.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42She'd write notes in shorthand and she's the only one could decipher it.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45She'd say, "I think I can do it faster than you."
0:03:45 > 0:03:47I'd say, "I think I can do it faster than you."
0:03:47 > 0:03:50Sadly Arthur passed away in 1975,
0:03:50 > 0:03:55but Vera remained close to his family, until she too died in 2003.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04In the office, it's 8:40am and Dave is on the phone trying to find
0:04:04 > 0:04:07out whether Vera owned her property.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11If she did they'll know this has the potential to be a high value case.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18So would they own the properties, the people? They own the property. OK.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20This is a cracking start.
0:04:20 > 0:04:21If Vera owned her home,
0:04:21 > 0:04:27the team reckon her estate could be worth at least £50,000.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31It would've been a privately owned over 55s development.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34I'm going to speak to the manager of the home now.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39While Dave makes that call, he needs senior researcher Gareth
0:04:39 > 0:04:43to find some concrete information on Vera's ancestry, fast.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49Heir hunters need to build a family tree to establish their next of kin.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53They do this by using public records including birth,
0:04:53 > 0:04:57death and marriage certificates as well as census results.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Available online and in local register offices,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02all this evidence helps heir hunters
0:05:02 > 0:05:05build a family tree for the deceased.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09And making use of these tools, research into Vera's family seems
0:05:09 > 0:05:14to be unfolding very quickly now and Gareth has had a breakthrough.
0:05:14 > 0:05:18We've got a brother of the deceased. Reginald F. Tovey.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24We think we've found him in 1930s Canada.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Vera's parents were Percy Tovey and Bertha Alice Weare.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33The heir hunters believe that as well as Vera, they also had a son,
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Reginald.
0:05:35 > 0:05:40Percy died in 1917 of pneumonia, when Vera was a year old.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Bertha then remarried a Sidney Brown.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45We can go off to cousins.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48We'll definitely have plenty of cousins to find.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52But we'll be doing that without knowing what happened to Reginald, the deceased brother.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55If Vera's brother Reginald is still alive
0:05:55 > 0:05:58he'll be the sole heir to her estate and if he's died,
0:05:58 > 0:06:02his children will be the next in line to inherit.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07The team need to try and find out what happened to Reginald.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09So it's time to head out onto the streets.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20The company has a network of travelling heir hunters based
0:06:20 > 0:06:21all around the UK.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24They're ready to hit the road at a moment's notice,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27following orders from the case managers in the office.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31We need the parents' marriage certificate from Bishop Auckland.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33Their main tasks are to collect certificates,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36check records and sign up heirs.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Dave Slee has called on the services of ex-police officer Bob Barrett
0:06:41 > 0:06:45and armed with his marching orders, he's hit the road.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49I'm on my way to Southampton Registry Office
0:06:49 > 0:06:51to try and get a death certificate of Vera Humphrey.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57The certificate Bob's getting
0:06:57 > 0:06:59will confirm the team are on the right track.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01In the meantime Dave has some calls to make.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05The manager of the sheltered accommodation where Vera lived
0:07:05 > 0:07:08has given him a list of people who may have useful information.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11Time to hit the phones.
0:07:11 > 0:07:17Your uncle was Arthur. I presume that Vera and Arthur had no children.
0:07:18 > 0:07:19No.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23We understand that she owned her property in Homefield House.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26I just wondered if you had a... No.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28So you don't believe there'd be any,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32she didn't own a property at the time of her death.
0:07:32 > 0:07:33No.
0:07:35 > 0:07:38It's good and bad news for the team.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41The bad news is Vera didn't own her home,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45but on the plus side, he's been able to confirm what the team suspected,
0:07:45 > 0:07:49that she had a brother called Reginald.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Dave has also now got the phone numbers of Vera's stepchildren
0:07:52 > 0:07:56Mike and Bob Humphrey, the sons of her husband Arthur.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Dave knows that as stepchildren,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01they cannot legally inherit without a will.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04But they might have more information about Vera
0:08:04 > 0:08:07that could help the team in their search.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10Dave immediately tries to call them
0:08:10 > 0:08:14but he can't reach anyone at home.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18"This number does not receive incoming calls."
0:08:18 > 0:08:20That's no longer in service.
0:08:20 > 0:08:21Last throw of the dice.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25Hello. Yes, sorry to trouble you.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Finally, Dave gets through to one of Vera's stepsons.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32The Homefield House, the manager there has very,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36very kindly gave me your phone number because her first impression
0:08:36 > 0:08:39is that you were the next of kin, of course, as the sons.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43Mike and Bob Humphrey's father,
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Arthur, was married to Vera for 20 years
0:08:45 > 0:08:49and the two brothers have very fond memories of their stepmother.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53My favourite memory of Vera is in her later years when I got to know
0:08:53 > 0:08:58her better, I suppose, and visiting her in those years down in Horden.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01- She was always good fun. - We loved going down there.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04She was always, I've never,
0:09:04 > 0:09:08ever seen Vera without a smile on her face.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11And she was certainly always pleased to see us.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15She was, she was always, well she always said she's proud of her boys
0:09:15 > 0:09:18but you know, that's just the way that she was.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Can I just ask when your father did pass away?
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Dave's phone call to Vera's stepson is very revealing.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28He learns that after Vera's father Percy died,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31she and her brother Reginald were abandoned by their mother
0:09:31 > 0:09:33and put into a home for orphans.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38In the early 1920s there were still scores of orphanages in the UK
0:09:38 > 0:09:41and it was common practice for single parents to put
0:09:41 > 0:09:45children into homes if they weren't able to raise them themselves.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50During the phone call, Vera's stepson is also keen
0:09:50 > 0:09:52to express his frustration that her estate has been
0:09:52 > 0:09:56advertised as unclaimed by the Treasury.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02And of course unfortunately, legally, because you're the stepsons, you can't inherit.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06Yeah, I know. It's the law.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10The law is actually under review and may well change in the future.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Of course, it is frustrating.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Mike and Bob are particularly upset because they know that Vera
0:10:16 > 0:10:19did actually make a will but sadly the solicitors
0:10:19 > 0:10:24have since gone into liquidation and the will cannot be found.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27There was will and she lodged it with a solicitor.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31The only problem is there's no trace of it.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33That money belongs to us.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36It was Dad's money. It was Dad and Vera's money.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40You know, by all the laws of the land and the sky, it's ours.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43However, under British inheritance law,
0:10:43 > 0:10:46the only people the heir hunters will be able to help make a claim
0:10:46 > 0:10:51to Vera's estimated £50,000 estate are blood relations.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57In the office, Dave has completed his phone call
0:10:57 > 0:11:01and is about to receive even more useful information;
0:11:01 > 0:11:04at the registry office in Southampton,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08travelling researcher Bob Barrett has Vera's death certificate.
0:11:08 > 0:11:12I can confirm date of birth 29th May 1916.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Widow of Arthur Edward Humphrey.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17It looks like Weymouth is where a lot of this job's coming out.
0:11:17 > 0:11:22We're definitely trying to find a closer kin than we've already found.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24Gareth says go to Weymouth.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27The information from the death certificate confirms
0:11:27 > 0:11:29the team are looking at the right family
0:11:29 > 0:11:32and their research suggests
0:11:32 > 0:11:36there may be cousins in the Weymouth area through Vera's father Percy.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40These cousins and their descendants would be heirs.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Bob heads for Weymouth, hoping that by the time he gets there,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48the team in the office will have found cousins for him to see.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51Let's see if we can get another address in Weymouth.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53We've got 20 minutes to do it. Starting now.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57But Dom might need more than 20 minutes,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00it seems the Tovey family expanded at a rate of knots.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04We've got lots of siblings, by the looks of it.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07One who is one William Tovey who unfortunately,
0:12:07 > 0:12:09from our point of view, has six children.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12One of whom has three children, another has two.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14One has six children.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16So this is going to, we're looking at an awful lot of heirs, really.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18We're just going through them one by one, trying to get them
0:12:18 > 0:12:20up to date and beat the competition to their doors.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26William Tovey, Vera's grandfather, married Martha Millard
0:12:26 > 0:12:30and on the 1881 census they had 11 children.
0:12:30 > 0:12:35The youngest, Percy, was born in 1880 and he went on to father Vera
0:12:35 > 0:12:38and her brother Reginald.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41But when Gareth digs deeper, something doesn't quite add up.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45On the 1891 census, the 11-year-old Percy
0:12:45 > 0:12:50is listed as the adopted son of a Robert and Amelia Fawcett.
0:12:50 > 0:12:55But Robert Fawcett then went on to marry Ada, Percy's older sister.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01- Robert, he adopted Percy.- OK, yeah.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05- And then he's subsequently gone on to marry Percy's sister, Ada.- Yeah.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Who we think Percy is possibly the illegitimate child of Ada.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Ada was 17 years older than Percy
0:13:13 > 0:13:18so Gareth has a theory he may have been her illegitimate son.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21But this would have a dramatic effect on the research.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23It would move Percy down a generation,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27meaning the cousins in Weymouth would become second cousins,
0:13:27 > 0:13:32and under English inheritance law, second cousins cannot inherit.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38The only way they can confirm their theory is to see Percy's birth certificate
0:13:38 > 0:13:42and fortunately Bob's perfectly placed to pick it up.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47We need that from Weymouth. OK, he's on his way to Weymouth.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51It's 12:30pm and frustratingly the team are no closer
0:13:51 > 0:13:53to finding an heir.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Confirming Percy's parentage is essential and until they clear
0:13:56 > 0:14:01this up or get any news on brother Reginald, they are at stalemate.
0:14:01 > 0:14:03We need to get that birth.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05Coming up:
0:14:05 > 0:14:09The plot thickens when Bob gets hold of Percy's birth certificate.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22Estates can remain on the unsolved list for up to 30 years.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26This offers determined heir hunters the opportunity to return
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and take a fresh look at those trickier cases
0:14:29 > 0:14:32which stumped them the first time around.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36The case of Arthur Frederick Comaskey
0:14:36 > 0:14:39was first advertised by the Treasury in 2002.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42The estate was valued at a healthy £60,000
0:14:42 > 0:14:46so it seemed like a case worth investigating for Peter Birchwood
0:14:46 > 0:14:50and his family run business, Celtic Research, based in Wales.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56We have an awful lot of cases on our files that for some
0:14:56 > 0:14:58reason or another haven't been solved
0:14:58 > 0:15:03but we have a policy that we go over them regularly and Comaskey
0:15:03 > 0:15:10was one that we picked out to do some research as soon as we knew we had a good, reliable agent
0:15:10 > 0:15:13up in Edinburgh who could do the work for us.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Arthur Comaskey was found dead in his home in 2000
0:15:19 > 0:15:22in Westcliff-on-Sea.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24No photo survives of him.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Clive Johnson was Arthur's neighbour many years ago
0:15:28 > 0:15:31and remembers seeing him regularly around the local area.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34He was a jolly man. Well-dressed.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38He always had sort of trousers and a shirt and a nice jacket.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42He always gave the impression he had been a professional of some sort.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46He used to just walk up and down the road and he used to say hello.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48I never saw him with anybody else.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Maybe, as I say, he was always on his own.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56The isolation that Arthur experienced is a common tale.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Every year, hundreds of people in the UK pass away
0:16:00 > 0:16:01with no-one to take care of them
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and when this happens there is a safety net in place.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08It is the job of people like Gary Green,
0:16:08 > 0:16:13a bereavement officer, to manage the death of someone like Arthur.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16In the case of Arthur Comaskey,
0:16:16 > 0:16:22we were informed of his death by the coroner's office
0:16:22 > 0:16:25and the coroner's office were unable to trace any next of kin.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Part of Gary's job as a bereavement officer is also to search
0:16:31 > 0:16:34the house looking for any family connections.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38Firstly we would look at possibly all the mail that was on the floor,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41if the deceased had been there for some time.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43That is, that would give us
0:16:43 > 0:16:46a telltale sign of their up-to-date life.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51We would then go and look in cabinets, drawers, whatever.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55Under the bed and even in the kitchen,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59we've actually found, found some papers there,
0:16:59 > 0:17:01in the kitchen cupboards.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03If we find a will then normally it's bingo.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09In Arthur's case, they found no will or evidence of family in the house.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Therefore they requested that the local authority actually
0:17:12 > 0:17:15deal with the actual funeral arrangements
0:17:15 > 0:17:18and we referred the estate to the Treasury solicitor.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22It seems Arthur was a reclusive character
0:17:22 > 0:17:24but he was committed to his profession
0:17:24 > 0:17:27and worked at Johnson Controls from the early '70s
0:17:27 > 0:17:32as a precision engineer until he was made redundant in 1991.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37Former colleague, Alan Easter remembers Arthur from the factory.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Johnson Controls used to make car seats.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42He used to go around every day,
0:17:42 > 0:17:46checking the component parts were made correctly.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48He was quite a quiet man. Kept himself to himself.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51I don't know anybody who really knew him very well.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Well I know he used to be a member of St John's Ambulance.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57He used to be doing that most weekends. That was his real life, I think.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03When heir hunter Peter started looking for Arthur's family,
0:18:03 > 0:18:07he was looking for aunts, uncles and cousins as beneficiaries.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10As he could find no living relatives on his father's side,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13he concentrated his search on the family of Arthur's mother
0:18:13 > 0:18:15who were from Scotland.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Turned out to be Scottish.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21We knew he'd been an engineer
0:18:21 > 0:18:25but he wasn't born in the area where he died.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30From that we just started trying to do the family tree.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Arthur's mother was Sarah Ann Stewart who married
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Victor Comaskey in 1928 and in the same year they had their only
0:18:39 > 0:18:43child Arthur Frederick, born in Wandsworth in London.
0:18:43 > 0:18:47But work on the maternal side proved complicated.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52This family, on the whole, were not consistent with spelling
0:18:52 > 0:18:58so it did take us an awful lot of time to find the relatives,
0:18:58 > 0:19:04also because the family jumped across the border to England and then back
0:19:04 > 0:19:08to Scotland and then back to England again,
0:19:08 > 0:19:11probably as work directed.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Arthur's maternal grandparents were Adam and Margaret Stewart
0:19:16 > 0:19:20and they had six children, including Arthur's mother, Sarah.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24But it was Adam and his employment in particular that determined
0:19:24 > 0:19:26the fate of this family.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Adam Stuart, the grandfather, was by trade an engine fitter,
0:19:30 > 0:19:36moving between Merseyside and Glasgow with the trade of engine fitter.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41It's a pretty good assumption
0:19:41 > 0:19:43that he's going to be working in the docks.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46It was starting to look like Arthur
0:19:46 > 0:19:49had descended from a long line of engineers,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and in the late 1800s the best place for an engineer was on the Mersey.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01The Liverpudlian shipping industry at this time was booming
0:20:01 > 0:20:05and as an engine fitter, Adam Stewart's skills were valuable.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07It seems he took the decision to move from Scotland
0:20:07 > 0:20:09to Liverpool for work
0:20:09 > 0:20:11and this is where he met his wife Margaret Collie,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14who was born in Birkenhead.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22According to records from this period, Margaret and Adam
0:20:22 > 0:20:26settled into one of the terraced worker's houses, close to the docks.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28After marrying in 1884, they had their first child,
0:20:28 > 0:20:30William, two years later.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37The young Stewart family took advantage of the booming ship building industry
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and Adam took a job with the renowned Laird Brothers.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44In 1858 they'd built the world's first steel ship
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and they did a lot of work for the Royal Navy.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Laird's was obviously the biggest employer in Birkenhead
0:20:52 > 0:20:55and one of the biggest employers in the region.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58The shipyard was huge and obviously,
0:20:58 > 0:21:02it attracted workers from basically all over the country because
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Birkenhead itself was growing and the shipbuilding industry was growing.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08People with skills and trades would be attracted there
0:21:08 > 0:21:12and they obviously worked and lived in the town.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16An engine fitter's job would have involved obviously installing
0:21:16 > 0:21:20the engines and other related machinery into a ship.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24A lot of the time they'd be working in cramped, confined conditions.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29It would be oily, hot, dusty and probably incredibly noisy.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33A skilled tradesman like Adam would be paid possibly 25,
0:21:33 > 0:21:3630 shillings a week.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38At that time, it was quite a good wage
0:21:38 > 0:21:40because he could raise a family and get by on that.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44But a couple of decades later,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47it looked as though the boom time for the shipping industry had sailed.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Immediately after the turn of the century were lean years
0:21:52 > 0:21:56and it's entirely possible that Adam decided to try his luck
0:21:56 > 0:21:59back home in Scotland.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Of course, that was also the early years of the motor industry.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07The skills of an engine fitter could also obviously equally be
0:22:07 > 0:22:10applied to motorcars as they could to ships
0:22:10 > 0:22:15so I'm sure he may well have been among those early car engine builders
0:22:15 > 0:22:18because car engines, in essence, are basically the same
0:22:18 > 0:22:24as marine engines except they used petrol or diesel instead of steam.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Arthur's grandfather Adam was the main breadwinner
0:22:29 > 0:22:31and with six young mouths to feed,
0:22:31 > 0:22:36he had no choice but to take his family where the work was.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Which made the search for heirs that little bit harder.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43They would maybe in one year be in Birkenhead
0:22:43 > 0:22:48and a couple of years later, they'd go back to Glasgow, to Scotland.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51Although it meant that we were looking in two different
0:22:51 > 0:22:54sets of records, we could manage to follow them.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Coming up:
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Peter Birchwood uncovers heirs to Arthur's estate
0:22:59 > 0:23:01who find themselves unsettled by his revelations.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07It's slightly alarming, I suppose, to know that we weren't
0:23:07 > 0:23:12aware of somebody who has been so comparatively close in the family.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21Every year, hundreds of cases are cracked by heir hunters
0:23:21 > 0:23:24across the UK but there are always a few estates that remain a mystery,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27finding themselves in the unsolved file.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Could you help trace the beneficiaries?
0:23:30 > 0:23:34These cases could be worth anything from £5,000 to millions,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37and they're waiting to be claimed.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Today, we have three names from the unsolved list,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43could you be eligible to inherit a fortune?
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Winifred Connie Bartholomew died in November 2003,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53aged 85 in Reading, Berkshire.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Did you know Winifred? Could you be entitled to her estate?
0:23:59 > 0:24:03Eileen Emmuska Lytton died in Lymington in Hampshire
0:24:03 > 0:24:05in September 2003.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07She was 95-years-old.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Eileen's surname is very unusual, does it sound familiar to you?
0:24:13 > 0:24:20Philip William John Oldroyd died in Southall, Middlesex in October 2008.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24Do you remember Philip from many years ago but maybe you lost touch?
0:24:24 > 0:24:26Can you help find his beneficiaries?
0:24:27 > 0:24:30If these three estates are not claimed, the money will go
0:24:30 > 0:24:34to the government, but if the names mean anything to you
0:24:34 > 0:24:37or someone you know, you could be in line to inherit.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46In London the team at Fraser and Fraser
0:24:46 > 0:24:49are trying to find heirs to the estimated £50,000 estate
0:24:49 > 0:24:54of Vera Humphrey, who died in 2003.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59Mike and Bob Humphrey have fond memories of their stepmother.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02She'd sit in front of the TV all day watching Wimbledon
0:25:02 > 0:25:06for the whole fortnight.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09- Yes. Sports stuff, anything really.- Snooker.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11She loved, could name all the snooker players.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16She knew what she enjoyed and she tried to indulge, which is great.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23So far the team have learnt that Vera had a brother but they don't know what happened to him.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27He could have died without having children, so the team are hedging
0:25:27 > 0:25:31their bets and looking for potential heirs in Vera's wider family.
0:25:32 > 0:25:38Vera's father Percy is also causing the team problems
0:25:38 > 0:25:42as he may have been born illegitimately.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Bob Barrett has been sent to Weymouth to find Percy's birth certificate
0:25:45 > 0:25:49and while the team wait for his update, they're hitting the phones,
0:25:49 > 0:25:53calling the dozens of potential cousins who could be heirs.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56Six pages and we've got miles to go.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58Your father, I'm hoping, was George Henry Tovey
0:25:58 > 0:26:01and he was married to Edith Ann, your mum.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04This estate relates to someone who would have been a cousin
0:26:04 > 0:26:08to your father so someone you wouldn't personally know.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Your father's entitlement would obviously pass down to his kids
0:26:11 > 0:26:16so that would be yourself, Leslie, Patricia and Eileen, I think.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19I don't know, was there any other siblings at all? Leonard.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21With Bob still waiting for Percy's birth certificate,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Dave can't help but speculate
0:26:24 > 0:26:27as to why William and Martha Tovey might have listed Percy,
0:26:27 > 0:26:32Vera's father, as one of their own children on the 1881 census.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Obviously we're talking in the 1880s, it would have been highly
0:26:36 > 0:26:39embarrassing to have an illegitimate child.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41Totally frowned upon.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45So by registering your child, your daughter's child as your own,
0:26:45 > 0:26:48it's a smokescreen so that no-one would ever know that
0:26:48 > 0:26:52that child was born illegitimately to your daughter.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58Finally Bob has Percy's birth certificate,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01will Dave's suspicions be on the money?
0:27:01 > 0:27:04- All right, what have we got? - I have one birth certificate.
0:27:04 > 0:27:10- Percy Reginald. Father, William Tovey.- Yeah.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14- Mother, Ada Tovey, formerly Miller. - Ada Miller?
0:27:14 > 0:27:16Yeah. Miller.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Could it be Millard?
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Well, no. It's typed on here, Miller, so...
0:27:22 > 0:27:25That's odd.
0:27:25 > 0:27:30Although Dave and Gareth suspected Percy might have been Ada's illegitimate son,
0:27:30 > 0:27:35the very last thing they expected to find was her father, William Tovey,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39named on the birth certificate as the father of her child.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43It goes from the sublime to the ridiculous.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47If William is the father as the team originally suspected,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51the cousins in the Weymouth area would be heirs.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55But the certificate doesn't make sense and the team are sure there's been a mistake.
0:27:55 > 0:27:58They decided to cross reference Percy's birth
0:27:58 > 0:28:01with another of the Tovey children, Archibald.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06We're thinking if you can perhaps pull up a couple more certificates.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Right.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12It was an afterthought from Gareth and it's a fair shout, actually.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15- I think it's worth doing. - So back to the registry office.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Yeah. Sorry, mate.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22I've requested Archibald's birth certificate,
0:28:22 > 0:28:26purely on the basis to see what the parents' names are.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30It's a bit of a problem because I actually think,
0:28:30 > 0:28:33I still think that Percy is probably the son
0:28:33 > 0:28:37of Ada and she's gone in to register the birth and she's told a few fibs.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41I need that documentation.
0:28:41 > 0:28:46I need it in black and white to say, "This person was the son of X and Y."
0:28:46 > 0:28:49And I don't want their brother and sister's certificate to show
0:28:49 > 0:28:52a different parent because then I've got problems.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56I still think Ada is probably the mother but we might find out now.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03- Hello, Bob.- Right, I've managed to get another birth.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07Archibald. Father, William Tovey.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10- Mother, Martha Tovey.- Yeah.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13Formerly Millard.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16When the team compare the two birth certificates,
0:29:16 > 0:29:19all the information matches apart from the mother's name
0:29:19 > 0:29:22and company partner Neil has his own theory about why this might be.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24We're looking at similarities.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26The addresses and informants are the same,
0:29:26 > 0:29:28the father and the occupations are the same.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31It's a possibility it's just a mistake,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33that for some reason the mother's
0:29:33 > 0:29:35been put down as Ada instead of Martha.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40Neil's theory means the family in the Weymouth area would be cousins
0:29:40 > 0:29:44not second cousins, and so they would be heirs.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48The team are now redoubling their efforts to find people
0:29:48 > 0:29:50for Bob to see while he's still in the area.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Percy's story has been pivotal to the research and it's a story that
0:29:57 > 0:30:00was cut tragically short when he died aged just 37.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05According to Mike and Bob Humphrey, Percy's premature death
0:30:05 > 0:30:07had a devastating affect on his wife Bertha
0:30:07 > 0:30:11and young children Vera and Reginald.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14What happened was that Vera's father died very young
0:30:14 > 0:30:16and the mother had to go out to work.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18They were in lodgings.
0:30:18 > 0:30:20She was leaving the children there, in the lodgings.
0:30:20 > 0:30:25She was frightened of her children not being fed properly and so on
0:30:25 > 0:30:29and she was going out to work and she was simply unable to cope.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Seeing no other way out, Vera's mother Bertha, was desperate.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38She turned to The Muller Foundation,
0:30:38 > 0:30:40a Christian based organisation
0:30:40 > 0:30:43formed by evangelist George Muller in 1836.
0:30:45 > 0:30:48Children who were full or partial orphans like Reginald
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and Vera were most likely to be granted places
0:30:51 > 0:30:55and could stay from infancy through to their mid teens.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58During their stay they were fed and clothed,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01being raised and educated as God-fearing young people.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07In 1918 Bertha wrote to the home asking for help and amazingly,
0:31:07 > 0:31:13almost 100 years later, her appeal still exists today.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18I have a letter here which says,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21concerning Mrs Tovey, the mother,
0:31:21 > 0:31:23"The above named woman is a widow
0:31:23 > 0:31:26"working at a munitions store in Swindon.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29"The children are delicate and the mother is conscious
0:31:29 > 0:31:33"for them to be taken into some sort of institution.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38"Would such a case be a suitable one for your home?"
0:31:39 > 0:31:42So it would appear from that that having been widowed,
0:31:42 > 0:31:46the mother just couldn't cope with looking after her children.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56Admitted to the orphanage in 1918 aged just two and four respectively,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59Vera and Reginald were housed in separate buildings
0:31:59 > 0:32:03and would only have seen each other once a month.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06Their mother Bertha re-married and it's not clear
0:32:06 > 0:32:09whether she had any further contact with her children.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16Life for Reginald and Vera certainly wouldn't have been easy.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19Life in the homes was hard.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25But it was much better than the alternatives that were open to them.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29Vera spent a total of 16 years in the orphanage
0:32:29 > 0:32:32and her elder brother stayed for ten years.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35They were discharged separately,
0:32:35 > 0:32:40Vera leaving in 1934 and Reginald in 1929.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44Vera went off to be a maid in a house in Swindon
0:32:44 > 0:32:48and Reginald went to be an apprentice to a nurseryman in Weston-super-Mare.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55Shortly after, Reginald emigrated to Canada
0:32:55 > 0:32:59and this was the last contact Vera ever had with her brother.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Bob is finally on his way to see one of Vera's cousins,
0:33:07 > 0:33:10a potential heir, who lives in Gosport.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12All I've got to show for the day so far,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16I've got two birth certificates and one death certificate.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19It'd be nice if this gentleman was in and signs an agreement with us.
0:33:22 > 0:33:24After a hard day's work,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27might the team's colossal efforts come good in the end?
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Relief, it seems Ronald Tovey is at home.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37- Her father's name was Percy.- Percy.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42- Oh yeah, Percy was probably the youngest.- Right.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48- Percy was born in Weymouth, when they moved to Weymouth.- 1880.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Ronald Tovey's father was Frederick Tovey,
0:33:52 > 0:33:55a grandson to William and Martha Tovey.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59This makes Ronald Vera's cousin once removed.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03Luckily for Bob, Ronald is a keen genealogist himself.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06William is registered as the father
0:34:06 > 0:34:09but the daughter is registered as the mother.
0:34:09 > 0:34:10Yeah. Very peculiar.
0:34:10 > 0:34:12It's finally home time for Bob.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15As Ronald doesn't have time for a meeting today,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18the office will send him an agreement and, if he signs it,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21they'll act on his behalf to help him claim a share of Vera's estate.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28A few days later, Ronald's had time to reflect upon the surprise visit
0:34:28 > 0:34:32and the revelation of a cousin he never knew, Vera.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37We'd never come across Vera's name in our research into the family
0:34:37 > 0:34:41so this was the first I'd ever heard of her.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45I understand that she was my late father's cousin
0:34:45 > 0:34:47from his uncle Percy,
0:34:47 > 0:34:52who was the youngest of 11 children of the family.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Although we've traced a lot of the other brothers' marriages
0:34:57 > 0:34:59and their children,
0:34:59 > 0:35:05Percy is the very one that we haven't come across anything yet.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11Ronald stands to inherit a share of Vera's estimated £50,000 estate
0:35:11 > 0:35:17and he's already thought about what he may spend the money on.
0:35:17 > 0:35:192012 will be our diamond wedding.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23We might go on a cruise for our diamond wedding anniversary.
0:35:23 > 0:35:29After 60 years, it would be quite intriguing, wouldn't it?
0:35:29 > 0:35:32A few weeks later,
0:35:32 > 0:35:35the heir hunters are tying up the loose ends of their research
0:35:35 > 0:35:36and Dave has finally found out
0:35:36 > 0:35:39what happened to Vera's elusive brother Reginald.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43It would appear that he went out to Canada
0:35:43 > 0:35:47on what was known as the Manitoba Boys' Group.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50It was a ship destined for Halifax, Nova Scotia.
0:35:52 > 0:35:55It would appear that all the boys in the group were orphans,
0:35:55 > 0:35:57probably destined for rural farm work.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03After that, unfortunately the trail goes cold.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09As it stands at the moment, I've located up to 60 paternal beneficiaries
0:36:09 > 0:36:11who would be entitled in the estate
0:36:11 > 0:36:15so the estate's expanding quicker than my waistline at the moment.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18But crucially, Neil has had news from the Treasury
0:36:18 > 0:36:22that the family's claim has been accepted.
0:36:22 > 0:36:27The Treasury have now agreed with us and agreed with my theory, really,
0:36:27 > 0:36:32that Ada is Percy's sister, William is Percy's father,
0:36:32 > 0:36:34Martha is Percy's mother
0:36:34 > 0:36:37and we're dealing with first cousins of the whole blood.
0:36:37 > 0:36:41It's good news, really. There is however some bad news.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43The value's come back at £13,000.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46So we've got an awful lot of beneficiaries, all cousins,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48but the estate's pretty small.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57In 2002 Peter Birchwood of Celtic Research
0:36:57 > 0:37:01began investigating the case of Arthur Comaskey, who died in 2000,
0:37:01 > 0:37:04leaving behind an estate worth £60,000.
0:37:04 > 0:37:07On the maternal side,
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Peter traced Arthur's industrious grandfather Adam Stewart,
0:37:11 > 0:37:15an engine builder, working in the Liverpudlian shipping industry.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20In the late 1800s, Adam decided to return to his homeland of Glasgow
0:37:20 > 0:37:24and jumped on the bandwagon of the next big thing.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Hot on the heels of the steam ship, was the motorcar.
0:37:29 > 0:37:35Back then, manufacturing was done by hand, far from the mass production methods used today.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38The first motorcar designed and built in the UK was
0:37:38 > 0:37:44built by the Glaswegian Scottish company of Arrol-Johnston in 1895.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48Glasgow was by the sea, of course.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52In those days, canals,
0:37:52 > 0:37:54ships were bringing things from all over the world.
0:37:54 > 0:37:58Craftsmen were there, the power was there,
0:37:58 > 0:38:00the iron and steel was there.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04All the essential ingredients for an emergent motorcar industry.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10The shipbuilding industry was tough. It was hard.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13There were big machines, it was hot and smelly.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17Motorcars were much lighter, much easier to work on and work around.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Of course you're working in sort of early garages
0:38:20 > 0:38:23which would have been warm and dry.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27It was a much gentler existence and so attracted a lot of the shipbuilding people.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32Indeed, the motor industry also enticed Adam Stewart away from ship building.
0:38:32 > 0:38:37And 100 years later, his grandson Arthur Comaskey found he too
0:38:37 > 0:38:40had a career as an engineer in the motor industry.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50Adam continued to live and work in Glasgow until his death in 1937.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54Many of his six children, Arthur's aunts and uncles,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56had children of their own
0:38:56 > 0:38:59and they became the focus of Peter's search
0:38:59 > 0:39:02for heirs to Arthur's £60,000 estate.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06We started finding people,
0:39:06 > 0:39:13one of whom is in his 90s and living up just north of Glasgow.
0:39:14 > 0:39:19The rest of the family members we came across in England
0:39:19 > 0:39:21and Scotland so they're all over.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26Adam's son, John Stewart, married Lily McFarland
0:39:26 > 0:39:28and had three children,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31Dorothy, Lily and Harry, Arthur's cousins.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37Lily died so her children inherit her part of the estate.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40One of them, David Preston,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44was taken aback at the discovery of his cousin Arthur.
0:39:44 > 0:39:47It was slightly alarming, I suppose, to know that we weren't
0:39:47 > 0:39:53aware of somebody who has been so comparatively close in the family.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56And David's brother Robert was also intrigued to find out
0:39:56 > 0:39:59more about their elusive relation.
0:40:00 > 0:40:04It did make you think that it's sad that somebody has died
0:40:04 > 0:40:06and didn't leave a will
0:40:06 > 0:40:11and didn't have any friends or family to leave what they owned to.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15It must have been quite sad circumstances for that to happen.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19It wasn't until two years after Peter Birchwood initially
0:40:19 > 0:40:24got in touch with the Prestons and they'd received their cheques
0:40:24 > 0:40:27that they were able to learn about their long-lost cousin.
0:40:27 > 0:40:31I found out about Arthur right at the end.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34My aunt Dorothy contacted me.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39She said, "Yes, I used to meet him when I was a young girl,"
0:40:39 > 0:40:42in the '30s, I suppose it would be.
0:40:42 > 0:40:45Dorothy's aunt lived with the parents
0:40:45 > 0:40:49and was separated from her husband, Mr Comaskey.
0:40:49 > 0:40:55So Arthur was the son and according to Dorothy, you know,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59he was a slightly strange little boy.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05Her description was that in today's terms,
0:41:05 > 0:41:07he might have been suffering
0:41:07 > 0:41:10from some degree of Asperger's or something like that.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Although the family knew very little about Arthur's life,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19it seems Robert and Phillip had more in common
0:41:19 > 0:41:21with their cousin than they first thought.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25The shipbuilding link makes a lot of sense.
0:41:25 > 0:41:30I can understand that if they lived around about Birkenhead,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33that would've been a main centre for shipbuilding.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38That's where my great-grandfather would have got his experience from
0:41:38 > 0:41:43that would have enabled him to move in to working on motor mechanics.
0:41:46 > 0:41:51I was an engineer myself. I worked in the chemical industry.
0:41:51 > 0:41:54My brother, Phillip, is a civil engineer.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58I've got a son who's a civil engineer as well.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00Despite being a somewhat reclusive man,
0:42:00 > 0:42:05Arthur clearly felt at home in the engineering world too,
0:42:05 > 0:42:07much like his long-lost family.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10Both of my brothers are engineers.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13I, of course, benefited from a classical education
0:42:13 > 0:42:17and moved into a non-engineering profession.
0:42:17 > 0:42:22But yeah, it is, it's interesting that it does seem to have...
0:42:22 > 0:42:27Shipbuilding and the sea, I think, have always been in the blood.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31If you would like advice about building your family tree
0:42:31 > 0:42:34or making a will, go to bbc.co.uk
0:43:01 > 0:43:03Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd