0:00:02 > 0:00:08The Heir Hunters have taken on a mystery case in Birmingham and are on the hunt for some heirs.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13Hopefully, all will be revealed. Watch this space.
0:00:13 > 0:00:21They're looking for long-lost relatives who have no idea they could be in line for a windfall.
0:00:37 > 0:00:43Today on Heir Hunters, the team investigate a former member of the Pioneer Corps
0:00:43 > 0:00:46and the mystery of his past life.
0:00:46 > 0:00:52He had a picture of his wife and there was a girl of about 10. He couldn't remember who she was.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56And how an investigation of a Grimsby family
0:00:56 > 0:00:59revealed glamorous origins.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02Due to a huge increase in Grimsby's population,
0:01:02 > 0:01:07there would have been a big need for actresses and singers.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09And plenty of backbone.
0:01:09 > 0:01:16They would do anything to harden their hands up, such as soaking them in methylated spirits.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22Plus how you could be entitled to unclaimed estates where heirs still need to be found.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25Could you be in line for a cash pay-out?
0:01:29 > 0:01:35Every year in the UK, it's estimated that over 300,000 people die without leaving a will.
0:01:35 > 0:01:42If no relatives are found, any money that's left behind will go to the Government.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46Last year, that was a staggering £14 million.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51There are over 30 specialist firms competing to stop this happening.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57They're the Heir Hunters and they make it their business to track down missing relatives
0:01:57 > 0:02:03- and help them claim their rightful inheritance.- It's about reuniting people with what's theirs.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05That's a real good feeling.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16It's early doors in London.
0:02:16 > 0:02:207am to be exact. In the offices of Fraser and Fraser,
0:02:20 > 0:02:25partner Neil Fraser is going through the Treasury list.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Right. Council...in West Sussex.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32Housing Association, Suffolk. Croydon...
0:02:32 > 0:02:39He's looking for estates where the deceased owned property in the hope of a higher value,
0:02:39 > 0:02:45but it's slim pickings today and they struggle to find anything.
0:02:45 > 0:02:52- There's not much on the list. - Thanks.- Case manager Dave Slee has taken on a low-value estate.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57William James Bennett, the deceased, died in September 2009.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01Because the death is a few years old, we have the records.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05He was born in West Bromwich in 1923.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15William Bennett was 86 when he passed away.
0:03:15 > 0:03:21He had been living for some time in this council-funded care home in West Bromwich.
0:03:21 > 0:03:28The staff knew him as Bill. Ena Wright was his care assistant and remembers him fondly.
0:03:28 > 0:03:34He was very respectful. If there was ladies present, he'd open the door and say, "Where do you want to go?"
0:03:34 > 0:03:41"The office is up there," he'd say and they'd toddle off. "I'll be all right now, love."
0:03:41 > 0:03:46To Ena, William could be a breath of fresh air.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49A lovable person. Black Country through and through.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54What you see is what you get. That was it.
0:03:54 > 0:04:01"That's mine or that's you'n," he'd say. "That ain't you'n, it's mine." That's the way he was.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05He was a real special person in his own little way.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09He may have been a charmer, but he had a stubborn streak.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Senior carer Dawn Jones knew his ways.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18He did like attention. If you gave him five minutes, he was happy.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20And then he would trot off.
0:04:20 > 0:04:25'But you would always know if you didn't give him five minutes.'
0:04:25 > 0:04:32The staff would say, "Bill's on the floor again." He'd put himself down and pretend he'd passed out.
0:04:32 > 0:04:38We got the paramedics out and then we were banned because he'd done it so often!
0:04:39 > 0:04:44William was suffering from dementia and didn't appear to have family,
0:04:44 > 0:04:50- but he often mentioned a woman's name.- "That's my Mary." He always referred to her as "my Mary".
0:04:50 > 0:04:55That was it. He never did say anything about anybody else.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58Just his Mary.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03But in all the 10 years he was at the care home, no one ever came to visit him.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08It hurts in a way that he didn't have any visitors.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13But we don't know the circumstances, we don't know what's happened.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17It may have been Bill's choice that he didn't see his family.
0:05:20 > 0:05:26As staff at the care home couldn't trace his family when he died, his name went on the Treasury list.
0:05:31 > 0:05:35And that's where the Heir Hunters picked up the case.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41At this stage, they don't know anything about William, other than his date and place of death.
0:05:41 > 0:05:47They suspect there's no property involved, so this could be a low-value estate.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50It's possible he had some savings.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54The minimum amount to make it onto the Treasury list is £5,000.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56So is it worth it or not?
0:05:56 > 0:06:02Heir Hunters work on commission, taking a percentage of the money received by each heir they sign.
0:06:02 > 0:06:07They need a good-sized estate to cover costs.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12It looks like the case of William Bennett could be challenging.
0:06:12 > 0:06:18Bennett's an incredibly common surname and we have more than one William J Bennett in West Bromwich
0:06:18 > 0:06:20in that time.
0:06:20 > 0:06:27Working backwards from the death certificate, Dave has instructed researcher Emily
0:06:27 > 0:06:29to draw up a family tree.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32- A sub-tree.- A baby tree?
0:06:33 > 0:06:39To Heir Hunters, family trees are vital guides for navigating the sprawling threads
0:06:39 > 0:06:41that tie families together.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46They follow generations until they uncover the rightful heirs.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49I think you picked the right ones.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53Emily found that William's parents' last names were Bennett and Jones.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57At this stage they don't have their first names.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02In order to find them, they have to try to locate the correct records in Birmingham,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05but that's not going to be easy.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10So here we have the name Bennett. Bad enough in its own right.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13With the mother's maiden name Jones.
0:07:13 > 0:07:20Especially in the West Midlands, lots of people from Wales moved over there for work.
0:07:20 > 0:07:24So you have a lot of people with Welsh surnames in the West Midlands.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28We've got a number of Bennetts marrying Jones.
0:07:28 > 0:07:34That's the difficulty when we're dealing with common surnames in large urban areas.
0:07:34 > 0:07:41While searching for William's parents, Emily has made a significant discovery.
0:07:43 > 0:07:49She has found records that prove William was married to a woman called Mary in the '40s and '50s.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54Could this be the Mary that he spoke of so fondly in the care home?
0:07:56 > 0:08:01According to their research, the couple were divorced, but did they have children?
0:08:01 > 0:08:08The Heir Hunters don't think so. They think William's parents and their offspring hold the key.
0:08:08 > 0:08:14How many other marriages are there that are Bennett to Jones in West Brom at that time?
0:08:14 > 0:08:20But there is another way to locate the parents.
0:08:20 > 0:08:26If Dave can find possible siblings, they might find the parents' names from their birth records.
0:08:26 > 0:08:33So anything between 1918 and 1923, in theory, has got to be our man.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36There are a few options and one leapt out.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41We found the birth of a Thirza Bennett, mother's maiden name Jones.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46It's a vital lead. Thirza is a very rare name
0:08:46 > 0:08:51and, incredibly, this Thirza's mother was also called Thirza.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55Same name, same mother's maiden name, same district.
0:08:55 > 0:09:02The dates are right, so Dave is willing to take the risk that this may be William's mother and sister.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07On that basis, he finds a marriage for Frederick Bennett to a Thirza Jones.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Have they got the right family?
0:09:09 > 0:09:13- A good old biblical name. - Is it?- Thirza.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17The Thirza Bennett they think is William's sister was born in 1919.
0:09:17 > 0:09:22She's still alive and researcher Emily has traced a number.
0:09:22 > 0:09:24But this could be a difficult call.
0:09:24 > 0:09:30Breaking the news that a brother has passed away is never easy
0:09:30 > 0:09:33and Dave is hoping that it won't be too much of a shock.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36She is in her 90s so...
0:09:36 > 0:09:41Oh, well. Let's take the bull by the horns.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46If Thirza is in, she could provide the key that unlocks the family tree,
0:09:46 > 0:09:48but it seems no one's home.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54We'll try her again later on. She might even be able to say, "No, I did have a brother William,
0:09:54 > 0:09:58"but it's not your man," and we can eliminate that.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03Otherwise, we think this is the sister of the deceased.
0:10:03 > 0:10:11While Dave's been on the phone, Emily has found another family name passed down the generations.
0:10:11 > 0:10:19We decided to stick to family names and due to the amount of births one of those happens to be Leonard,
0:10:20 > 0:10:25who, on the 1911 Census, with Thirza Jones as the mother,
0:10:25 > 0:10:28there is also a Leonard Jones.
0:10:28 > 0:10:29So...
0:10:29 > 0:10:35Uncle of the deceased called Leonard, possible brother of the deceased called Leonard.
0:10:35 > 0:10:42Emily is making good progress, but only if her hunch about the family names is right.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48They really need to speak to Thirza, the woman they believe is William's sister, to confirm the tree.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50I'm flagging.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55But after the fourth phone call, Dave's ready to give up.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01But once again Emily's saved the day with another number.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06We've just found a niece of the deceased.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Dave's just about to speak to her. Very exciting.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16The woman they hope to speak to is the daughter of Thirza.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21Hello. Good afternoon. Very sorry to trouble you. I'm trying to...
0:11:21 > 0:11:27Coincidentally, this woman is also called Thirza. She's not in, but her husband is.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Right. Where are we?
0:11:36 > 0:11:38Have we got the right family?
0:11:42 > 0:11:49- Coming up: - Don't throw things at me! - Are the Heir Hunters in for a shock?
0:11:49 > 0:11:53This has put the cat amongst the pigeons. It's a bit worrying.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55All the work could be for nothing.
0:11:55 > 0:12:00And did William have something buried in his past?
0:12:00 > 0:12:05His photographs were all we had to go on. Really that is all we had.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09He'd cry and get upset if you tried to dig any further.
0:12:14 > 0:12:20All families change over time. Family members move about and they lose touch.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24With each new generation, connections could be forgotten.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29In the hunt for heirs, researchers often uncover family secrets
0:12:29 > 0:12:35that have fallen through the cracks of history and bring families back together.
0:12:35 > 0:12:41For Hull-based Anna Dunn of DS Researchers, it's a rewarding part of the job.
0:12:41 > 0:12:47For me, it's the joy of a family puzzle, fitting all the pieces together.
0:12:47 > 0:12:54And when Anna took on the case of Peter Willey, she knew this puzzle would be a challenge.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03Peter Wallace Willey died on 28th November, 2008,
0:13:03 > 0:13:09in the seaside community of Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire. He was 78 years old.
0:13:11 > 0:13:18No photos of Peter survive, but Peter Croft of the bowling club knew him as a talented bowler.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24He was a very, very good player. Very quiet. Very soft-spoken.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30Loved the game. He was a man of about my build, possibly a little shorter.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34And at that time certainly a little lighter.
0:13:34 > 0:13:40He was bald and always wore a white hat.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45That was his trademark. Wherever he went, he wore that hat.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49A great character, great bowler. We loved him.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53Peter came to his bowling club as regular as clockwork,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56but always kept himself to himself.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00But his teammate was able to glean bits and pieces of information.
0:14:00 > 0:14:08Peter lived with his aunt. When he was young, he trained as a confectioner.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12And then later on he worked for the Docks Board.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16After retiring from his work as the foreman in stores on the docks,
0:14:16 > 0:14:20Peter lived on a modest income in this rented flat.
0:14:20 > 0:14:26When he died, he left an estate of £42,000 in cash, but he hadn't written a will.
0:14:30 > 0:14:36Up in Hull, Anna was scanning the Treasury list when his name caught her eye.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40The Peter Willey case came from the Bona Vacantia list.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44He had died in Cleethorpes, one of the areas that we cover.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51Anna and her team focus most of their heir hunts on the northern counties.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56And Cleethorpes is close to home, just 40 miles down the road.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02The first stage was to identify the correct Peter Willey.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07I checked the Electoral Roll but couldn't find him on there.
0:15:07 > 0:15:12So I had to look for a birth. And I found a birth in Grimsby,
0:15:12 > 0:15:15which is fairly close to Cleethorpes.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19This birth record gave Anna the name of Peter's parents.
0:15:19 > 0:15:25She then looked for a marriage certificate for them, hoping to work out if they had other children,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Peter's brothers and sisters.
0:15:27 > 0:15:33The marriage certificate for Peter's parents, Wallace Willey and Ivy Hall,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37showed that they were married in the early part of 1930.
0:15:37 > 0:15:45Peter was born later on that year, so one can presume that he was the first born.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51I couldn't find any more siblings, so I assume that he must have been the only child.
0:15:51 > 0:15:57Anna also found that he had been a bachelor all his life and hadn't had children.
0:15:57 > 0:16:02Having ruled out near kin, Anna looked at Peter's mother's side
0:16:02 > 0:16:05to see if she had brothers or sisters.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Looking on the maternal side,
0:16:08 > 0:16:14I discovered that Ivy Hall's parents were Harry Hall and Mary Ann Hall.
0:16:14 > 0:16:20Peter's grandparents, Mary and Harry, lived in Grimsby, a thriving fishing port.
0:16:20 > 0:16:25Anna assumed that they would be involved in the industry, but when she checked the 1901 Census
0:16:25 > 0:16:28she was in for a surprise.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33Harry was listed as a musician and had been throughout.
0:16:33 > 0:16:40And her mother was a theatre attendant. On a previous Census, she had been an actress.
0:16:45 > 0:16:49In the Grimsby/Cleethorpes area, there were three main theatres.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55The Tivoli, the Prince of Wales and the Old Palace.
0:16:57 > 0:17:04Every night they were thronged with workers eager to spend their hard-earned cash.
0:17:04 > 0:17:10Due to the huge increase in Grimsby's population and the amount of income they had to spend,
0:17:10 > 0:17:16there was a need for entertainment. A number of pubs opened, new theatres,
0:17:16 > 0:17:22and there was a need for actresses and singers to entertain the masses.
0:17:22 > 0:17:27Harry and Mary would have been kept on their toes entertaining audiences,
0:17:27 > 0:17:33but they were also busy with their own production - a large Victorian family.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38On the Census records I found that Harry and Mary Ann Hall had nine children,
0:17:38 > 0:17:41seven girls and two boys.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44That was good news for Anna.
0:17:44 > 0:17:50With so many uncles and aunts, Anna was convinced that Peter would have cousins who might be heirs.
0:17:50 > 0:17:56The chances of eight uncles and aunts having children who then had children
0:17:56 > 0:17:58I thought was quite high.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05Peter's uncles and aunts were living in Grimsby in the early 1900s,
0:18:05 > 0:18:11and at that time Grimsby was one of the largest fishing ports in the world.
0:18:11 > 0:18:16Fishing has always been the trade of Grimsby due to our location on the coast.
0:18:16 > 0:18:21In the 14th and 15th century, boats were going out into the North Sea,
0:18:21 > 0:18:27but until the 18th century we were just a small village with a population of 900.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31After then, in the mid-19th century, the industry started to swell.
0:18:32 > 0:18:36It wasn't only fishing that fuelled the growth of the town.
0:18:36 > 0:18:43Grimsby's industry started kicking off in 1846 when we started construction of the Royal Dock.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48Immigrant workers came and stayed and the population began to grow.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Rather than following in their parents' artistic footsteps,
0:18:54 > 0:19:01Anna found that Peter's young uncles and aunts were employed in the fishing trade.
0:19:01 > 0:19:07Out of the girls, four of them were listed as fish net makers around the docks.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12Net making was in high demand so Peter's aunts found themselves employed
0:19:12 > 0:19:15in one of the more lucrative jobs.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19They used wooden needles like this, which they filled with sisal twine,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23and this spool would have measured the size of the mesh.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29And working with rough sisal carried its own cost.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34It was very hard work on their hands - splinters, blisters -
0:19:34 > 0:19:40and they would do anything to harden their hands up, such as soaking them in methylated spirits.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44So Peter's aunts would have been made of tough stuff,
0:19:44 > 0:19:49but had any of them had children who might be heirs to his £42,000 estate?
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Anna was sure that one of the nine would have done so.
0:19:53 > 0:20:00I started my search on the aunts and discovered that some had died in their thirties
0:20:00 > 0:20:03and had never married.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08Those that had married, I couldn't find any children.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12I couldn't find any marriages for the uncles.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16It seemed to me that the branches had all died off.
0:20:18 > 0:20:25It was a massive surprise to Anna. Peter's mother, Ivy, was the only one out of nine to have children.
0:20:25 > 0:20:31So Anna knew if she was going to crack the case, she needed to look at Peter's father's side.
0:20:36 > 0:20:41Coming up: the family fishing connection continues,
0:20:41 > 0:20:48but with no heirs in sight, will Peter's estate of £42,000 end up going to the Treasury?
0:20:55 > 0:21:01Heir Hunters solve thousands of cases a year, ensuring millions are paid to rightful heirs,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04but not every case can be cracked.
0:21:04 > 0:21:10The Treasury has a list of over 2,000 estates that have baffled the Heir Hunters
0:21:10 > 0:21:14and remain unclaimed. These stay on the list for up to 30 years
0:21:14 > 0:21:20and each one could be worth anything from £5,000 to many millions of pounds.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Today we're focusing on three names from the list.
0:21:24 > 0:21:29Are they relatives of yours? Could you be in line for a windfall?
0:21:29 > 0:21:36Pechara Diplock died in New Malden, Surrey, on the 16th of December, 2006.
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Pechara is an extremely unusual name
0:21:38 > 0:21:43and the surname Diplock is an ancient and rare Anglo-Saxon name.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48If no heirs are found for her estate, her money will go to the government.
0:21:48 > 0:21:50Could you be her heir?
0:21:50 > 0:21:55George Twist died in Worcestershire on the 5th of July, 2007.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59So far, all efforts to trace any heirs have failed.
0:21:59 > 0:22:04George's surname Twist is usually found in the north-west of England.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Could you be a Twist entitled to his cash?
0:22:07 > 0:22:12Does the name George Charles Flin have a familiar ring?
0:22:12 > 0:22:17George died in February 1997 in Middlesex Hospital.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21George's last name Flin is spelt with an I instead of a Y.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Perhaps you knew George.
0:22:24 > 0:22:30If the names Pechara Diplock, George Twist or George Charles Flin mean anything to you,
0:22:30 > 0:22:33then you could have a fortune coming your way.
0:22:41 > 0:22:47Hull-based Heir Hunter Anna Dunn was looking into the case of Peter Willey.
0:22:49 > 0:22:55He died in the seaside town of Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire at the age of 78.
0:22:55 > 0:23:03Peter had lived in this flat on a modest income and left a large sum of £42,000, but no will.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07He was a keen bowler
0:23:07 > 0:23:10and club member Peter Croft remembers him.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14A very quiet man, very introverted.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Peter was devoted to his club.
0:23:17 > 0:23:23Peter painted a picture of the old bowls club as it would have been on any afternoon.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27And I personally think it's a wonderful picture.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31The heart of Grant Thorold is that picture, yeah.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37When Peter died in 2008, he had no known family.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40Anna was trying to track down heirs to his estate.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45She had already found out about his mother's remarkable and large family,
0:23:45 > 0:23:51but despite having eight uncles and aunts, there are no cousins on this side.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54It seemed to me that the branches had all died off.
0:23:54 > 0:24:01She was hoping to have better luck when she looked at Peter's father, Wallace Willey, and his family.
0:24:02 > 0:24:08I moved on to the paternal side which I thought would be fairly easy to search for the name Willey
0:24:08 > 0:24:10as it's an unusual name.
0:24:10 > 0:24:15Anna turned her attention to Wallace's sister, Peter's aunt Lena.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Lena married Ernest Wilson and had a daughter, Irene Joan.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Irene Joan was Peter's cousin, but she had passed away,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29so Anna needed to keep up the search to find an heir.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Perhaps Lena had more children.
0:24:32 > 0:24:37When Lena married and had her daughter, she was just 17.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Ernest, Lena's husband and Peter's uncle, was a seaman on the fishing trawlers
0:24:44 > 0:24:47and eventually, became a skipper.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52It would have been demanding work.
0:24:52 > 0:24:58The skipper's role was to bring in the best catch at the best price. That came with a lot of pressure.
0:24:59 > 0:25:04He would fish very hard into gale force winds if possible
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and it was very difficult conditions for the crew.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09They worked long hours.
0:25:09 > 0:25:16If they were doing very well with the fishing, they would often work 18-hour shifts.
0:25:16 > 0:25:22Perhaps all those hours at sea took their toll because Lena split with Ernest when she was still in her 20s
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and she took up with another partner, Harry Howlett.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31Although they never married, she went on to have three more children with Harry -
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Reginald, a daughter and another son.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38They are all Peter's cousins and still living.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41They are heirs to Peter's estate.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45One of Lena's children was Reginald Howlett
0:25:45 > 0:25:48who was Peter's first cousin.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57When Reginald first heard from Anna, he didn't know what to think.
0:25:57 > 0:26:03When Anna rang me up, I thought somebody on the phone was having a joke with me.
0:26:03 > 0:26:08And I just thought, "I'm being wound up here by some of my friends."
0:26:09 > 0:26:14Even though they were first cousins and born just two years apart,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Reginald had never heard of Peter Willey.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22This is because Reginald's mum Lena was a bit of a mystery.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26My parents split up when I was a baby.
0:26:26 > 0:26:33I lived with my dad on his own in Grimsby for approximately nine years.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Reginald's mum Lena had travelled up to Nottingham to find work
0:26:38 > 0:26:42whilst Reginald and his sister lived with their dad in Grimsby.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46My mum used to come over and have days with us.
0:26:46 > 0:26:52She used to come over and take us out for the day quite regular.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56But in 1941, it was all change for Reginald
0:26:56 > 0:27:00when his dad decided he should spend more time with his mum.
0:27:00 > 0:27:07I was a bit of a handful down there and my dad, it didn't seem he could cope,
0:27:07 > 0:27:11so he had written to my mother to say, "You'll have to have him."
0:27:11 > 0:27:14That's when I came over to Nottingham to be with my mother.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18But even then he had no idea about his mother's family
0:27:18 > 0:27:24and he didn't even know her maiden name because she'd been married before.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28I did find out that my mother was married to a sea captain.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31I think he was on the trawlers.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34His name was Wilson, Ernest Wilson.
0:27:34 > 0:27:39Certainly Reginald's mum Lena can't have been conventional.
0:27:39 > 0:27:47To have had four children with two partners and then leave them all was unusual in the '20s and '30s.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51Reginald never knew why she had done it.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53We didn't know why they'd split up.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58I can't recall living with my mum and dad as a pair.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05Lena's eldest daughter Irene Joan has now passed away.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08She was 13 when Reginald was born
0:28:08 > 0:28:12and as his half-sister she didn't have much to do with him.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16She had a daughter called Patricia, known to her family as Pat,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20who is also an heir to Peter Willey's estate.
0:28:21 > 0:28:26Reginald is hoping that Pat can tell him more about his mum Lena and her family.
0:28:26 > 0:28:28I'm going to meet up with Pat.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32And she's going to show me something about the early days.
0:28:33 > 0:28:38And it will be interesting to know what happened in them days.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41Pat has come armed with photographs...
0:28:41 > 0:28:43- Hi.- Hi.- Hello. Nice to see you.
0:28:43 > 0:28:48..and is looking forward to reminiscing about family history.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52I had this tree from Anna. I don't know if she'll send you a copy.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55- There's my mum.- Yeah. - She was definitely born in Grimsby.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58They all seem to come from Grimsby.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01The family may have all been born in Grimsby,
0:29:01 > 0:29:07but Lena bucked the trend, leaving her family behind to work in Nottingham.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12Pat's got something special to tell Reginald about his mum and her time there.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14Right, now...
0:29:14 > 0:29:19- Do you remember Mama working at the ordnance factory?- Yes, I do.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25- You remember that?- I do. I used to sleep on my own while she was working.- She did nights?- Yeah.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28HOOTER SOUNDS
0:29:28 > 0:29:32Reginald's mum Lena was playing a vital role in the war effort.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35With most men serving in the forces,
0:29:35 > 0:29:40women were called upon to take over the jobs traditionally done by men.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45Women made weapons and shells used by the British army
0:29:45 > 0:29:50and daily risked their lives working with poisonous substances.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55Their work was crucial to keeping the engine of war running.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59Hard-working women like Lena toiled day and night.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03Reginald is surprised to know all this happened while he was sleeping.
0:30:03 > 0:30:09- Have you seen this letter? - I don't know.- Look at this. You have to be very careful with it, Reg.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13- Have you got your glasses on? - Wait a minute.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19- This is 19...- Wait a minute. I haven't got my glasses. Oh, I have.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22Look, 1945.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24The war's over.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29- Have you seen that?- No. - No, I didn't think you had.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33It's a letter from the Ministry of Defence.
0:30:33 > 0:30:39"I am sure you are very proud to have been a member of this war team
0:30:39 > 0:30:44"which has made such a magnificent contribution towards winning the war."
0:30:46 > 0:30:48But why would that...
0:30:48 > 0:30:51Is that what went to Mother?
0:30:51 > 0:30:53Yeah, look, "Dear Mrs Wilson..."
0:30:53 > 0:30:58That's what Mama got. Mum kept that for years in her old wallet and then gave it to me.
0:30:58 > 0:31:05- And they used to do nights, you see. - Yeah.- That's what it's all about. - Yeah, it's lovely though, eh?
0:31:05 > 0:31:07- A lovely letter.- It is, yeah.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:31:09 > 0:31:15For Reginald, it's the first time that it has hit home how important his mum's role was.
0:31:15 > 0:31:21Reading that letter from the Ministry about my mother in the munitions factory,
0:31:21 > 0:31:27I felt quite proud that she was amongst the team there.
0:31:28 > 0:31:34And for Pat too, sharing memories of times gone by has been uplifting.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39It was lovely to see that family tree, it was lovely to look at all the names on it,
0:31:39 > 0:31:44go through it with Reg, discuss relations and it was lovely to look at the photos.
0:31:44 > 0:31:50He was able to help me out with people I didn't know and I could do it for him. It was really lovely.
0:31:54 > 0:32:00Back at her office in Hull, Anna is pleased at how the case turned out.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03One of the satisfying aspects of this work
0:32:03 > 0:32:09is allowing people like Reginald to get to know more about family
0:32:09 > 0:32:13or the family that he never knew through whatever circumstances.
0:32:14 > 0:32:16And that's a really good feeling.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35In London, the Heir Hunters from Fraser & Fraser are searching for heirs
0:32:35 > 0:32:37on the estate of William Bennett.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40He died in Birmingham in September 2009.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43Right, where are we?
0:32:43 > 0:32:45Have we got the right family?
0:32:45 > 0:32:49At this stage, they don't know how much his estate is worth,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52but it must be at least £5,000.
0:32:55 > 0:33:00William lived out the last years of his life at Greenhaven Care Home.
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Ena Wright was his carer.
0:33:02 > 0:33:05Well, he was a loveable character.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10Sometimes he was outgoing, sometimes he wasn't. He changed from day to day.
0:33:10 > 0:33:16He'd go out to the park and come back in a good mood if he'd seen something different.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18He'd come and tell you all about it.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23"OK, cock?" Toddle back down to his bedroom, sit on the bed.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27That was it. Push his glasses back up.
0:33:27 > 0:33:34He did have a strong character, but senior worker Dawn knew how to sweeten his moods.
0:33:34 > 0:33:39When he was being bad, I'd come in. They'd say, "Dawn, come sort him out."
0:33:39 > 0:33:43And I'd just say, "Bill, what are you doing again?
0:33:43 > 0:33:46"You're not behaving like a gentleman.
0:33:46 > 0:33:50"If you can't speak to people properly, go to your room, calm down
0:33:50 > 0:33:54"and when you can speak like a gentleman, you can come out again."
0:33:54 > 0:33:58He'd say, "All right, cock. I'll do that for you." And that was it.
0:33:58 > 0:34:04He didn't speak a lot of the past, but he had been a young man during World War Two.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07He had been in the Pioneer Corps.
0:34:07 > 0:34:13William Bennett joined quite late in the war and interestingly, he was only 21 years old.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Basically, they are trained soldiers who carried weapons,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20but tended to be slightly older
0:34:20 > 0:34:23or less fit than the rest.
0:34:23 > 0:34:29A very young William was probably there as he failed the medical to get into the infantry.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33He might have had bad eyesight or flat feet or something.
0:34:33 > 0:34:39The Pioneer Corps were vital in providing support to the main body of troops.
0:34:39 > 0:34:43William was stationed at Bicester, a crucial ordnance depot.
0:34:43 > 0:34:48At the time he joined, which was late in the war and he served mainly post-war service,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51it would have been quite a hectic life
0:34:51 > 0:34:57because the army in Europe was drawing down and people were being discharged at the end of the war,
0:34:57 > 0:35:02but all the equipment had to be sent back to store in case it's needed again.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05William may not have been on front-line duty,
0:35:05 > 0:35:10but he played a part in the mechanics of the wind-down of the war.
0:35:11 > 0:35:14Not long after this, he met his beloved Mary.
0:35:15 > 0:35:22And at the care home, Dawn remembers his room being full of photographs of him and Mary in happy times.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27But sometimes his behaviour hinted at a buried sadness.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32It was only his photographs mainly we had to go on.
0:35:32 > 0:35:39Really, that is all we had to go on because he'd cry and get upset if you tried to dig any further.
0:35:41 > 0:35:43What was it that upset him so?
0:35:43 > 0:35:47Was there more to his past than his wife Mary?
0:35:47 > 0:35:51He did have a picture of his wife who was named Mary,
0:35:51 > 0:35:56then there was another girl, about ten, but he couldn't remember who she was.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00So I don't know who she was.
0:36:01 > 0:36:07The girl in the photograph certainly never visited and neither did any family.
0:36:09 > 0:36:15But the search for William's relatives is continuing in the offices in London.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18This is annoying me.
0:36:18 > 0:36:21Will they discover William's secrets?
0:36:21 > 0:36:28Emily and case manager Dave Slee have drawn up a family tree that they are hoping to confirm.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Dave is on the phone to a family member right now.
0:36:32 > 0:36:36Yes, very kind of you, sir. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Right...
0:36:40 > 0:36:43Have we got the right family? I think we might have.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50Emily is chuffed to bits and so is Dave. It's a real boost to know they're working the right tree.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56It turns out that Frederick Bennett and Thirza Jones had ten children.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01The ones the Heir Hunters have traced so far are Thirza, William's older sister,
0:37:01 > 0:37:05and Leonard, his younger brother, and another brother, Raymond.
0:37:05 > 0:37:12Although Leonard has passed away, one of his daughters, Carol, is alive and well and she's an heir.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15It's time to get a travelling Heir Hunter out to see her.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17Hi, Paul.
0:37:20 > 0:37:26Birmingham-based Paul Matthews is one of a group of specialised probate researchers -
0:37:26 > 0:37:28the human face of the company.
0:37:28 > 0:37:34- They chase leads.- Are you Natalie? - Interview neighbours.- Did he live on his own?- And talk to heirs.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41Paul knows that this case has been a tough one.
0:37:41 > 0:37:47We've got quite a big family. No value, but in this day and age with no values advertised,
0:37:47 > 0:37:49it's all a little bit speculative.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56- Good morning.- Hello.- Carol?- Yeah.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02Carol is William's niece and she knew him as Uncle Billy.
0:38:03 > 0:38:09It's Billy who has passed away. We don't think it's a large estate, but we'll carry on the research,
0:38:09 > 0:38:14bring everything to a conclusion. It could be as low as a £5,000 estate.
0:38:14 > 0:38:20- Obviously, a lot of brothers and sisters, so it could be nobody gets very much at all.- OK.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Paul takes Carol through the paperwork.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27At this stage, the Heir Hunters assume William had no children.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30- Was he married? - He was married, yeah.
0:38:30 > 0:38:36- Who to?- I don't know. I forget her name. - Did he have any children?- Yes.
0:38:37 > 0:38:43Carol has dropped a bombshell. If William had children, they will be first in line to inherit.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Mavis and Brenda.
0:38:46 > 0:38:53This news has thrown everything in the air. Could Brenda or Mavis be the mystery girl in the photograph?
0:38:55 > 0:39:00- Brenda Bennett...- In the office, Dave is now beside himself.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04They have put in many hours of research on what is likely to be a low-value case.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09And it might have been all for nothing.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13This has put the cat amongst the pigeons because if this is the case,
0:39:13 > 0:39:19they'll be entitled in prior claim to the people that we thought were the entitled parties,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22i.e, the brothers and sisters and their children.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27As Dave and Emily go through the databases with a fine-tooth comb,
0:39:27 > 0:39:32in West Bromwich, Paul is making a beeline to see William's brother Raymond.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35He's now at home, so we're going to go round there
0:39:35 > 0:39:39and hopefully sort out whether these people are entitled
0:39:39 > 0:39:43or whether the deceased, Billy, did actually have two children.
0:39:43 > 0:39:48If he had two children, it's them that we need to be signing up.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52So the hope is, once Paul speaks to William's brother,
0:39:52 > 0:39:55the mystery of the missing daughters will be solved.
0:39:55 > 0:40:00In London, Dave and his team are waiting with bated breath.
0:40:00 > 0:40:06The pressing fact that needs checking is whether it's true that William had children.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10In Birmingham, Paul is well aware how much is riding on this.
0:40:12 > 0:40:18The chap we're going to see now is a brother of the deceased, so hopefully, all will be revealed.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20Watch this space.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30- Hello, Mr Bennett. Paul Matthews, Fraser & Fraser. - Fraser & Fraser, yeah...- OK?
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Raymond Bennett is in his late 70s.
0:40:33 > 0:40:38Raymond is 15 years younger than his older brother William.
0:40:39 > 0:40:43Will he know for sure about William's family?
0:40:44 > 0:40:47The only name I know was Mary.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49Any idea of the year and place?
0:40:49 > 0:40:52No idea at all.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56I've just seen your brother Leonard's daughter
0:40:56 > 0:41:02and she thought Billy might have had two children, but is she getting mixed up on that?
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Wherever she got them names from, God knows!
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Was Billy a man likely to have children?
0:41:09 > 0:41:13I don't think our Billy was interested in anything, er...
0:41:14 > 0:41:16- ..getting up.- Oh, right.
0:41:16 > 0:41:19- So he wouldn't be bothered? - He wouldn't.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22So, definitely Billy, no children?
0:41:22 > 0:41:26You can take it from me I've never heard of a Brenda nor a Mavis.
0:41:26 > 0:41:29I wonder where Carol created them from then?
0:41:29 > 0:41:32I've got no idea, mate.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37Well, she's obviously got her wires crossed, got mixed up with somebody else.
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Raymond is convinced that William didn't have children.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45Although Raymond lived in the same city as his brother, they didn't keep in touch.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49He hasn't seen his brother William in decades
0:41:49 > 0:41:53and he is philosophical about the news of his death.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56I haven't heard from him in such a long time.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00You half-expect these things, don't you?
0:42:00 > 0:42:02It's the way things are.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07Right, thanks a lot for your time.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13- OK, cheers.- Cheerio then.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15- Goodbye.- Goodbye.
0:42:18 > 0:42:22In the office, Dave can heave a sigh of relief.
0:42:22 > 0:42:28The heirs we thought are entitled, the brothers and sisters, are entitled. There's no closer heirs.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32But it's not done my blood pressure any good, doing all this today.
0:42:34 > 0:42:39In the end, William's fortune amounted to £6,800
0:42:39 > 0:42:43and it will be split between 20 heirs.
0:42:47 > 0:42:52But there is still the seaside snap of William and his wife Mary in happier times
0:42:52 > 0:42:56with a little girl walking by their side.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00And the question remains - who is she?
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd