0:00:02 > 0:00:03Welcome to Heir Hunters,
0:00:03 > 0:00:06where we uncover long-forgotten family secrets and help unite people
0:00:06 > 0:00:09with family money they never knew was theirs.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Today, the Heir Hunters are scouring the country for the beneficiaries
0:00:13 > 0:00:16of an estate worth thousands of pounds.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Hello, Hector Birchwood speaking.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23Someone, somewhere could be about to inherit a substantial sum of money.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26Could the Heir Hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Coming up on today's programme...
0:00:46 > 0:00:49Saving lives under enemy fire...
0:00:49 > 0:00:52You were treating the wounded, but you might very well
0:00:52 > 0:00:54become wounded yourself.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58A case that goes right to the heart of World War II.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01I find out about wartime romances.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Did British girls really fall for the charms of foreign soldiers?
0:01:05 > 0:01:08They were exciting, often taller and better-looking
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and there were a whole load of romances
0:01:11 > 0:01:15and marriages between British women and troops from overseas.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19And an heir hunt with a sting in its tail sends the Heir Hunters
0:01:19 > 0:01:22right back to square one.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25It meant all the research we've carried out until now
0:01:25 > 0:01:27had been a waste of time.
0:01:27 > 0:01:30Plus, how you may be entitled to inherit an unclaimed estate
0:01:30 > 0:01:33held by the Treasury.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:44 > 0:01:45Every year in the UK,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50an estimated 300,000 people die without leaving a will.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52If no relatives are found,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57then any money that's left behind will go to the Government.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02Last year, they made £14 million from unclaimed estates.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04That's where the Heir Hunters come in.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08There are over 30 specialist firms who make it their business
0:02:08 > 0:02:10to track down missing relatives and help them claim
0:02:10 > 0:02:12their rightful inheritance.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15People are entitled to this money. We make sure they get it.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Today, the Heir Hunters are investigating the case of a man
0:02:23 > 0:02:27from Milton Keynes who died years ago without leaving a will.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Despite an unusual name, no family have been found.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38It's a busy weekday morning
0:02:38 > 0:02:42and already heir hunting firms across the country are hard at work.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Heir hunter Peter Birchwood has just received
0:02:46 > 0:02:50a tip-off about a man who died in 2004, but whose case
0:02:50 > 0:02:54has remained unsolved for the past seven years.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59I received an e-mail from a man who thinks he is related to a
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Brian Yanchuk, who died a few years back.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Although a lot of their cases come from the list of unclaimed estates
0:03:06 > 0:03:09that the Treasury publish every Thursday,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13sometimes they receive information from individuals who need help.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21In this case, the person in question, Brian Yanchuk,
0:03:21 > 0:03:23had died without a will in 2004.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27His estate had been advertised, but had gone unnoticed,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31but someone who believed he was his cousin had become concerned
0:03:31 > 0:03:33and contacted Peter.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37I told Peter I thought Brian Alexander Yanchuk
0:03:37 > 0:03:43was my cousin and there wouldn't be many Yanchuks in Milton Keynes.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Celtic Research have been in the heir hunting business
0:03:48 > 0:03:49for the past 40 years.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52The company is run by father-and-son team
0:03:52 > 0:03:54Peter and Hector Birchwood
0:03:54 > 0:03:58and they employ a team of regional heir hunters throughout the UK.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Between them, they solve over 300 cases a year.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Yanchuk is an extremely rare name in the UK.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13It obviously wasn't of British origin,
0:04:13 > 0:04:15so where did it come from?
0:04:15 > 0:04:19There are a whole multitude of them back in Eastern Europe.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23There are villages full of Yanchuks in the Ukraine.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27This could make the team's task much more difficult.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31If Brian Yanchuk was born in the Ukraine, many family records
0:04:31 > 0:04:34and certificates would also be in that country
0:04:34 > 0:04:36and the team would have to enlist the help
0:04:36 > 0:04:40of an Eastern European agent to access them.
0:04:45 > 0:04:50Brian Yanchuk died on 17 December 2004 in Milton Keynes
0:04:50 > 0:04:55in Buckinghamshire, leaving an estate worth approximately £12,000.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57But he left no will
0:04:57 > 0:05:00and only a couple of childhood photos of him survive.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03For Gavin Sweeney, who grew up on Brian's street,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07Brian was a permanent fixture in the neighbourhood.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09He was part of the furniture, you could say,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11part of the street.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14I just remember him having a drink, always having that can in his hand,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18having a fag on the bottom of his stairs and when I got older,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21there was always a "hello", even if he had a drink
0:05:21 > 0:05:25or something like that, or if he's sitting on his steps, on the grass
0:05:25 > 0:05:28or passing by, it was always, "You all right, Gav?"
0:05:28 > 0:05:30"Yeah, Brian, all right, mate," and that was it.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Brian was proud of his flat on the estate and always kept it
0:05:34 > 0:05:37spick and span, as his neighbour June remembers.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39His flat was very clean, you know.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43He used to have spider plants in his bedroom and bathroom
0:05:43 > 0:05:47and his living room, loads of them and that's how I remember him by.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52He was also a regular at the local pub,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56along with his drinking buddy, Jimmy.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59They used to chat and tell each other their problems.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03They used to go to the pub together.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Sadly, Jimmy died
0:06:06 > 0:06:09several years before Brian, and without his friend,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Brian went into a downward spiral.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16He just went downhill since then, you know.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19He went downhill because he didn't have anybody to talk to.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22He only had Jimmy.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26But Brian left his mark on the community he lived in
0:06:26 > 0:06:29and is remembered fondly by the people who knew him.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33We've lost someone, like I say, that has been part of the furniture,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36part of the street, really, and someone that's been there
0:06:36 > 0:06:39for a very, very long time, sadly missed as far as I'm concerned.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41God rest Brian.
0:06:46 > 0:06:47In the office,
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Peter Birchwood has been looking for a birth record for Brian.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53He was worried that, with a name like Yanchuk,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55he might have been born overseas.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59I was fully expecting him not to be registered,
0:06:59 > 0:07:04because he was from the Ukraine or somewhere in Eastern Europe.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08But luckily, on this occasion, his hunch proved incorrect.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13No, here he is, he's born in the Wandsworth area.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18This is a huge relief. Now the team know Brian was born in London,
0:07:18 > 0:07:22they can begin the search for his heirs in this country.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Armed with his date of birth and his date of death,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28they can move on to the next stage of their research.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31Between those two periods,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33there's every possibility he may have married,
0:07:33 > 0:07:37he may have had children, so we look for those events.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40We make sure that if he's married, we know who
0:07:40 > 0:07:44his wife is, if he's got children, we know their names,
0:07:44 > 0:07:49but in this instance, Brian never seems to have married,
0:07:49 > 0:07:53so therefore, doesn't also appear to have had any children.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56With no wife or children in the picture,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00the team must now go up a generation to Brian's parents
0:08:00 > 0:08:02to find out when they were married
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and whether they had any children other than Brian.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Peter sends Hector to Wandsworth Register Office in south London
0:08:11 > 0:08:15to pick up Brian's parents' marriage certificate.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18- Hi, there. Good afternoon.- Hello. - I'm Hector Birchwood.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20I'm just here to pick up a certificate.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Certificates play a crucial role in the heir hunting process.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27They supply vital information, such as dates,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31names of parents, addresses and occupations.
0:08:31 > 0:08:32So a lot is riding on this one piece of paper.
0:08:32 > 0:08:36That's right. The certificate is all done for you. It's in the envelope.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38- Thank you. Have a good afternoon. Goodbye.- Bye-bye.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41It will help the team first, to establish
0:08:41 > 0:08:43whether Brian has any siblings and second,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47to uncover more information about his parents' families.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49If Brian has no siblings,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52the team will have to look for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56If they are still alive, they could be heirs to his estate.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03The certificate tells Hector that Brian's father, Alexander Yanchuk,
0:09:03 > 0:09:08married Violet Smith in Battersea in 1941.
0:09:08 > 0:09:14And it also provides some surprising information about Brian's father.
0:09:14 > 0:09:20Alexander Yanchuk, bachelor, Private number H11058,
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Canadian Field Ambulance.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27His home address is in Fort William, Ontario in Canada.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Although he has a Ukrainian name,
0:09:30 > 0:09:33it appears that Brian's father, Alexander, may have been born
0:09:33 > 0:09:38in Canada and once again, this complicates matters.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40While the team will need to look for records of Brian's mother's family
0:09:40 > 0:09:44in the UK, on the father's side,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47they may have to turn their attention to Canada.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Heir hunting cases often cross borders and continents,
0:09:50 > 0:09:54as families move around in search of work and a better life.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58But how did Brian's father's family end up in Canada
0:09:58 > 0:10:01and what brought his father, Alexander, from Canada to the UK?
0:10:06 > 0:10:10In the 1890s, the Canadian government began to actively
0:10:10 > 0:10:13encourage immigration from Eastern Europe.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Canada was underpopulated and settlers were needed to come
0:10:16 > 0:10:20and occupy its vast prairies and cultivate the land.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25Keen to escape hardship in their own country and attracted by
0:10:25 > 0:10:29offers of free land in Canada, tens of thousands of Ukrainian peasants
0:10:29 > 0:10:32responded to the call.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Thus began a wave of Ukrainian emigration to Canada,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38which continued until the Second World War.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Brian's paternal ancestors
0:10:42 > 0:10:45were probably part of this Ukrainian exodus.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48They settled in Canada, where Brian's father grew up.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53He worked as a farmer there until the Second World War.
0:10:53 > 0:10:54When the war started,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58he joined the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02During the Second World War, Canada made a terrific contribution
0:11:02 > 0:11:03to the Allied cause.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08It had the third-largest Allied navy
0:11:08 > 0:11:10and the fourth-largest air force
0:11:10 > 0:11:15and an army of just over 700,000 men and women,
0:11:15 > 0:11:20and Canada lost 42,000 men and women killed during the Second World War.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Although Canada didn't introduce conscription for overseas service,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27a vast number of people volunteered to go
0:11:27 > 0:11:30and serve alongside the Allies in Europe.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Many of these volunteers were from Canada's immigrant population.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40A large number of the descendants
0:11:40 > 0:11:42and even immigrants themselves,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45that have come from the Ukraine to Canada, felt that they too,
0:11:45 > 0:11:48should play a part. Britain was at war, Canada was at war
0:11:48 > 0:11:50and they should play a part in the fighting.
0:11:50 > 0:11:55The Canadian army numbered 730,000 men and women.
0:11:55 > 0:12:01Of that number, 35,000 served in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05Brian's father, Alexander, was one of those 35,000.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08He worked as a private in a field ambulance.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11The field ambulance was the basic medical unit.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15They were the ones that actually dealt with the immediate casualties
0:12:15 > 0:12:18caused by enemy fire on the battlefields.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22They would transport the wounded men to regimental aid posts
0:12:22 > 0:12:27and from there, to casualty clearing stations and ultimately hospitals.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Alexander's exact role in the field ambulance is unclear,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35but it seems likely he worked as a driver.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38It may very well have been that Alexander, as a farmer,
0:12:38 > 0:12:43drove a tractor on his farm and of course, his driving skills would have
0:12:43 > 0:12:48been transferred into driving ambulances, jeeps or trucks,
0:12:48 > 0:12:52in transporting the wounded from the battlefield.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57When the war ended, Alexander and Violet settled in England.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59Brian came along seven years later
0:12:59 > 0:13:02and they don't appear to have had any other children.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Now that Peter has established
0:13:05 > 0:13:08that Brian was unmarried and had no children or siblings,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12he must expand his search to look for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16In order to do this, he'd normally go up to the deceased
0:13:16 > 0:13:19grandparents on both the mother's and father's side of the family,
0:13:19 > 0:13:24and then try to identify all the children these grandparents had.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27But as Brian's father's side of the family are likely to be back
0:13:27 > 0:13:31in Canada or the Ukraine, Peter turns his attention
0:13:31 > 0:13:34to the maternal family in his search for heirs.
0:13:34 > 0:13:38And now he really has his work cut out.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Brian's mother's maiden name is Smith.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45So his search takes him from one of the most uncommon names in Britain,
0:13:45 > 0:13:46to one of the most common.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53But how does an English girl with the surname Smith
0:13:53 > 0:13:55end up with a Canadian soldier?
0:13:55 > 0:13:59Brian Yanchuk's parents, Violet and Alexander, married in 1941
0:13:59 > 0:14:03and settled in England after World War II, but they weren't
0:14:03 > 0:14:06the only wartime sweethearts.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09I'm meeting historian Dr Lucy Noakes, who I am hoping
0:14:09 > 0:14:13can tell me more about wartime love affairs.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16- Hello, Lucy. Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Brian's dad, Alexander, was a Canadian soldier,
0:14:19 > 0:14:21so why was he over here in 1941?
0:14:21 > 0:14:24He would have been one of many, almost half a million Canadian men
0:14:24 > 0:14:27who came to Britain during the Second World War.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Most of these came over as members of the Canadian forces
0:14:30 > 0:14:33and many came over just before D-day in 1944.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37But many others came over early on in the war and joined as members
0:14:37 > 0:14:40of the British forces. Because of Canada being a dominion,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43Canadian men had the opportunity to join the British Army,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45the RAF and the Navy.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48How might Violet Smith and Alexander Yanchuk have met?
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Violet Smith was a young, unmarried woman
0:14:50 > 0:14:54and although conscription for women wasn't introduced
0:14:54 > 0:14:58until late 1941, before that period, many young women were employed
0:14:58 > 0:15:04in war work, working in the factories, on farms, in services.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06If, like Violet Smith, you were a young woman
0:15:06 > 0:15:10without domestic responsibilities, you were classified as mobile.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13That meant you could be asked to go wherever you were needed,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16such as a munitions factory a long way from home.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Lots of these women for the very first time were a long way
0:15:19 > 0:15:21from parental control.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23They had a greater degree of social freedom
0:15:23 > 0:15:26than they would have had before the war,
0:15:26 > 0:15:29so there was much more opportunity for women to meet young men,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32who were also away from home, for example at dances,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35at army bases and air force bases.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38There was also a lot of social disapproval of this, as well,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41particularly of young women, who were seen by some as being
0:15:41 > 0:15:45more interested in romance and excitement than war work.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50Is it true that British women at the time loved the foreign soldiers?
0:15:50 > 0:15:51It seems so.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54They were slightly different, there were exciting,
0:15:54 > 0:15:56they were often taller and better-looking,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01because they were better fed, and there were a whole load of romances
0:16:01 > 0:16:05and marriages between British women and troops from overseas.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Whether they met at a dance hall or through war work is unknown,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15but the relationship between Canadian soldier
0:16:15 > 0:16:20Alexander Yanchuk and Violet Smith from England flourished.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23The couple married on 20 August 1941.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Why might the couple have married in 1941 and not waited
0:16:27 > 0:16:29until the end of the war?
0:16:29 > 0:16:32There were lots of people who married early on in the war, lots who didn't
0:16:32 > 0:16:36wait until after the war and there were several reasons for this.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39They might have married purely for practical reasons, or at least
0:16:39 > 0:16:42partly purely for practical reasons, it might have been a way of
0:16:42 > 0:16:46ensuring that she had some money, she got a separation allowance.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48She would've got a small widow's pension if he had been killed
0:16:48 > 0:16:52in action, and she'd have been certain of being informed as his
0:16:52 > 0:16:55next of kin if he had been killed, if he was missing in action,
0:16:55 > 0:16:57if he'd been injured.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Also, at the end of 1941, the Canadian government introduced an Act
0:17:01 > 0:17:04which meant that all Canadian servicemen, if they were planning to
0:17:04 > 0:17:09marry a woman abroad, had to declare proof that they weren't already
0:17:09 > 0:17:13married, because we think there'd been some cases of bigamy already.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15They also had to prove they could support that woman
0:17:15 > 0:17:18when they were released from military service, and crucially,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21they had to provide ten dollars a month from their military pay,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25in order to pay their bride's travel to Canada after the war.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29If this couple were thinking already of staying on in Britain, after the
0:17:29 > 0:17:31war, they may not have wanted to spend that money
0:17:31 > 0:17:34and then, of course, they may just have fallen in love.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36It was wartime, it was exciting
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and you never knew what was around the corner, so lots of people
0:17:39 > 0:17:42married very quickly, early on in relationships during the war.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44There were many wartime romances
0:17:44 > 0:17:47and marriages between Canadian soldiers and British women,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49and around 45,000 war brides
0:17:49 > 0:17:53left their homeland for a new life in post-war Canada.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58Alexander and Violet, however, settled in England.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01And why would the UK have appealed to a Canadian soldier so much,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03after the war?
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Canada had particularly strong links to Britain. It was a dominion,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10part of the Empire, there had been a lot of migration
0:18:10 > 0:18:12from Britain to Canada,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16both at the end of the 19th century and after the First World War,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18so there were often strong family links.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21However in Alexander's case, he didn't have strong family links
0:18:21 > 0:18:25to Britain, so maybe it was just because he fell in love
0:18:25 > 0:18:26and they wanted to stay here.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32Still to come...
0:18:32 > 0:18:35the search for heirs to Brian Yanchuk's estate goes right
0:18:35 > 0:18:38to the heart of war-torn London.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41I remember these old tenements and they was three storeys high.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44And there used to be families on every floor.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48How one London family coped after the Blitz tore their city apart...
0:18:48 > 0:18:50They wanted somewhere to live and there wasn't anywhere,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53because half of London was destroyed.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Next the team investigate the case of a man from Sussex,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04who died without leaving a will.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10Sometimes, families are keepers of secrets
0:19:10 > 0:19:14passed down from generation to generation.
0:19:14 > 0:19:16Once these secrets come out into the open,
0:19:16 > 0:19:20they can turn an heir hunt completely on its head.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23This is what happened in the case of Alexander Gibson.
0:19:28 > 0:19:34Alexander died on 22 July 2004 in Brighton in Sussex.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36He was 82 years old.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41He spent the last seven years of his life in a nursing home
0:19:41 > 0:19:45in neighbouring Hove, just a stone's throw from the sea.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49Prior to this, he lived with his mother
0:19:49 > 0:19:52in a flat in the Preston Park area of Brighton.
0:19:58 > 0:20:03Alexander left an estate of £70,000, but died without leaving a will.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07His case was taken up by heir hunter Bob Smith.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09We were originally contacted by the solicitors who had been
0:20:09 > 0:20:13acting on behalf of our deceased, during his lifetime.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16The deceased had died, there were no known family members,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19and they'd sought our assistance to try and locate a family member
0:20:19 > 0:20:21who could administer his estate.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23Bob's first step
0:20:23 > 0:20:26was to establish whether Alexander had a wife and children.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29We tried to identify any marriages of the deceased.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32He was born in Kent and died in Sussex,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34so we stuck to the south-east.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38No marriages were identified, so we then assumed he had no children.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42With no wife or children in the picture, the next thing
0:20:42 > 0:20:46the team had to do was to track down Alexander's parents.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49We then obtained a copy of his birth certificate which gave
0:20:49 > 0:20:50his parents' details
0:20:50 > 0:20:53as John Gibson and Winifred Daisy Gibson, nee Clift.
0:20:53 > 0:20:57As we now had the names of the parents,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00we then identified their marriage which took place in 1920, in Medway,
0:21:00 > 0:21:04and determined they had died before our deceased.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Since Alexander's parents had both passed away,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11the team had to determine whether they'd had any other children.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16We then began a search to look to see whether our deceased had any brothers
0:21:16 > 0:21:19and sisters, and discovered he was an only child.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26Alexander was born on 20 September 1921 in Gillingham in Kent.
0:21:26 > 0:21:31His mother, Winifred, was a tailoress, and his father, John,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33worked in the Chatham dockyard.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37Chatham Dockyard on the River Medway
0:21:37 > 0:21:42began its life in the 16th century, during the reign of Elizabeth I.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47It was here that the Queen's ships were built, repaired and maintained.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51Chatham Dockyard developed wooden sailing ships
0:21:51 > 0:21:55until they were second to none and they took part in quite a few
0:21:55 > 0:21:59major battles, which ended up with being the envy of the world
0:21:59 > 0:22:00and their foreign countries.
0:22:01 > 0:22:06Over the next 400 years, Chatham provided over 500 ships for the
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Royal Navy. Wooden sailing ships were gradually replaced
0:22:10 > 0:22:14by iron ships run by steam engines and in the early 1900s,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18when Alexander's father, John, worked there, Chatham began building
0:22:18 > 0:22:23the Royal Navy's new weapon of war - the submarine.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Captain, I have the ship. Clear the bridge for diving.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29This was an exciting time in the dockyard's history.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Submarine construction would span two world wars,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35enter the nuclear age and provide continued work
0:22:35 > 0:22:40for Chatham Dockyard until the mid-1960s.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42'Diving now, diving now.'
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Alexander's father, John, was employed as a clerk,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48a job which was essential in keeping the dockyard running smoothly
0:22:48 > 0:22:51at such a busy time.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53The clerks in the dockyard either worked for the cashier,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57doing the accounts and the money for the men, or for the
0:22:57 > 0:23:01store superintendent, which would keep an account of all the things
0:23:01 > 0:23:05that entered into the dockyard and left the dockyard on ships.
0:23:05 > 0:23:09It was considered a job for life and the skills you learnt in here,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13in some cases, couldn't be learnt anywhere else.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19After Alexander's father retired, the family moved to Brighton,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22Alexander appears to have spent some time in the Royal Air Force,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25where he was employed as an engineer.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30He then worked for Brighton and Hove Council, delivering school dinners.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38Having established that Alexander was unmarried
0:23:38 > 0:23:41and had no children or siblings, the team now had to expand
0:23:41 > 0:23:45their search to look for more distant relatives.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48We then looked for the grandparents on both the mother's
0:23:48 > 0:23:51and father's side of the family and the list of their children,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54who, of course, would be aunts and uncles of our deceased.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58The grandparents on Alexander's mother's side of the family
0:23:58 > 0:24:00proved easy to find.
0:24:00 > 0:24:06John Clift married Mary Ann Brain in Medway in Kent in 1893.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08They are listed as having eight children,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Alexander's mother Winifred and seven others,
0:24:11 > 0:24:18John, Florence, Eliza, Charles, Lilian, Ethel and May.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Of the seven maternal aunts and uncles,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23five of those had married and had children themselves
0:24:23 > 0:24:25who would be first cousins to our deceased.
0:24:25 > 0:24:28We then had the task of tracking them down.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32One of Alexander's maternal aunts was May Clift
0:24:32 > 0:24:35who married a Leslie in 1939.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38They had three children, including a daughter, Christine.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45Christine would be a maternal first cousin and we believed would be
0:24:45 > 0:24:50one of the family members entitled to a share of our deceased's estate.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53It looked like all the team's hard work had paid off.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56Bob had found his first potential heir
0:24:56 > 0:24:59and he wasted no time in getting in touch.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03When I opened the letter from Fraser & Fraser,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06it was a complete shock and I was surprised.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08I wondered, erm...
0:25:10 > 0:25:14secondly, if it was a bit of a scam
0:25:14 > 0:25:17but then the optimist in you takes over
0:25:17 > 0:25:22and you feel quite excited thinking you might be inheriting.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24Christine was Alexander's first cousin.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26She didn't know Alexander very well
0:25:26 > 0:25:30but she thinks she may have met him once or twice as a child.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34He was always a rather shadowy, reclusive figure
0:25:34 > 0:25:40and I rather heard more about him than actually had contact with him.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Christine agreed to sign with the heir hunters
0:25:44 > 0:25:47and the team then set about contacting the other cousins.
0:25:49 > 0:25:54In total, we had 20 first cousins we believed would be entitled to a share of our deceased's estate.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57We then began contacting those first cousins.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00But just as they were about to sign up the last heir,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03one of the cousins dropped a bombshell.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07Alexander might have a closer relation who the team had not discovered.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13We were told the surprising news that a maternal aunt was, in fact,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16the illegitimate daughter of the mother of our deceased.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24Coming up: all the team's research so far is thrown into disarray
0:26:24 > 0:26:28as it looks like Alexander may have had a sister after all.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33If this information was correct, she would have a prior entitlement to all the other family members
0:26:33 > 0:26:35that we had just contacted.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Every heir hunt depends on identifying the correct records
0:26:43 > 0:26:47to trace back through the generations and help identify living family members.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51One of the ways heir hunters do this is through the census.
0:26:51 > 0:26:57I'm meeting genealogist Anthony Adolf who can tell me how this important set of records came about.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01- Hello, Anthony. Nice to meet you.- Hi.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04So when was the first census?
0:27:04 > 0:27:06The first of the censuses we are talking about
0:27:06 > 0:27:10was taken in 1801 and it was really a government response to complete
0:27:10 > 0:27:14panic at the thought we were going to be invaded by the French.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17They were going to call up as many men as they could to fight the French
0:27:17 > 0:27:22and they suddenly realised they had no idea how many people were living in this country.
0:27:22 > 0:27:24There was also a general concern for public health
0:27:24 > 0:27:29and the Government began to realise they had to know more about who they were governing.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34So they decided to have a census - a headcount - to find out how many people there were.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37So the Government just wanted to find out more information...?
0:27:37 > 0:27:40Yes, they realised they were completely ignorant.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43They had no idea how many people there were in the country.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47So, they made a count. They chose a rather odd way of doing it, though.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51They counted the people leaving the Church of England on Easter Sunday
0:27:51 > 0:27:53and they came up with a figure of about nine million.
0:27:53 > 0:27:58They then had another census in 1811 because they sort of wanted to keep tabs on things.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00This time, they chose a different method.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03They counted the number of people in each parish.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Of course, they got a completely different figure.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11They got more people as they picked up all the non-churchgoers. They came up with over ten million.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15That meant that the population had gone up, they thought, by a million people,
0:28:15 > 0:28:16a tenth, in ten years.
0:28:16 > 0:28:21So there was a huge panic about the country being completely swamped with people
0:28:21 > 0:28:22and we would all starve.
0:28:22 > 0:28:27They decided they had better have censuses every ten years to keep tabs on this growing population,
0:28:27 > 0:28:30which, of course, wasn't growing as fast as they thought.
0:28:30 > 0:28:34When was the first modern census taken?
0:28:34 > 0:28:40- Well, 1841 is the first census that we use for genealogy.- Oh, OK.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43- The ones before then were just headcounts.- OK.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45The 1841 census went hand-in-hand
0:28:45 > 0:28:49with an improvement in record keeping at this time.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52The General Register Office of England and Wales
0:28:52 > 0:28:57was founded in 1836 with civil registration commencing in 1837.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01Looking at it now, how useful is that census?
0:29:01 > 0:29:06Well, it was a good start, but there were a lot of things they didn't do at that stage
0:29:06 > 0:29:08which they then implemented later.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12For example, although they listed every single person in the country,
0:29:12 > 0:29:15they didn't list how they were related to each other.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18So, that's a bit of a nuisance from our point of view.
0:29:18 > 0:29:20Instead of writing down exact ages,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23they said, let's round your age down to the nearest five years.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Well, that's all very well, but not very useful for us.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30Then, maddeningly, instead of asking the question "Where were you born?",
0:29:30 > 0:29:32they just said, "Were you born in this county?"
0:29:32 > 0:29:38So, if somebody came from Staffordshire and was living in Cornwall, his answer is "no".
0:29:38 > 0:29:40That's no use for us, is it?!
0:29:40 > 0:29:43By the next census a decade later,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45the questions asked had been refined.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49The 1851 census did ask people in a household how they were related,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53their exact ages and where they were born.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Why are censuses important to modern genealogical research?
0:29:57 > 0:30:01It's mainly because they tell you how people are related to each other,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04which is basically what genealogy is.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07The other main backbone of genealogy are the birth, marriage
0:30:07 > 0:30:08and death records.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11But to find the right birth, marriage and death records,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14you often need to know when was someone born?
0:30:14 > 0:30:15You need to know where were you born?
0:30:15 > 0:30:18As soon as you know specifically where someone was born,
0:30:18 > 0:30:19you can find a birth record.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23To do that, the best thing is to look in the census cos they'll tell you.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25They are tremendously useful.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29Nowadays, census records can be found on various websites.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32The latest census available to view is 1911,
0:30:32 > 0:30:35as the records are kept secret for 100 years to protect
0:30:35 > 0:30:38the personal information of living people.
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Is there anything particularly interesting about the latest census?
0:30:41 > 0:30:43That's a very nice one.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Partly you can look at the forms which the people themselves
0:30:46 > 0:30:49filled in because the previous ones were filled in
0:30:49 > 0:30:52by the census enumerators, the people who went round counting.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55You can actually see your ancestor filling in a form
0:30:55 > 0:31:01and signing it and writing down what he thought should be listed.
0:31:01 > 0:31:07It gives very good extra information. Particularly useful are,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10they asked married couples how long they had been married.
0:31:10 > 0:31:12That's interesting in itself.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15In some cases with big Victorian families
0:31:15 > 0:31:17they might have been married for 20 years so it's very useful.
0:31:17 > 0:31:19You know when to look for the marriage record.
0:31:19 > 0:31:22It also asked a very moving question.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25They asked how many children the couple had had,
0:31:25 > 0:31:27and how many of them were still alive.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30They were very concerned with public health and infant mortality.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Infant mortality was very high.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36That's often the first time in a family tree you'll suddenly
0:31:36 > 0:31:40realise that one of your ancestors had lost a child, or in some cases,
0:31:40 > 0:31:45it's heartbreaking, they'll have two children alive and ten had died.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49A very interesting, quite moving question.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52It's one of the many things about a census that really brings you
0:31:52 > 0:31:54and your ancestors much closer
0:31:54 > 0:31:58because you do in these records see them as real people.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03The fact that they go every ten years from 1911 back to 1841 means
0:32:03 > 0:32:07you can follow a family through, decade by decade.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10You can see how they develop, you can see when the children appear,
0:32:10 > 0:32:12you can see when they get married.
0:32:12 > 0:32:17That gives you a really good structure on which to base any other research
0:32:17 > 0:32:20and, indeed, the censuses often tell you the story of the family.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25You can follow their fortunes and learn all sorts of things about them.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28No wonder the heir hunters find census records such
0:32:28 > 0:32:31a valuable tool in tracking down families.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33Now it's your turn to research your own ancestors.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Heir hunters solve thousands of cases a year
0:32:44 > 0:32:46and millions of pounds are paid out to rightful heirs.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49But not every case can be cracked.
0:32:49 > 0:32:53The Bona Vacantia Division has a list of over 2,000 unclaimed
0:32:53 > 0:32:56estates where heirs still need to be found.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Bona Vacantia is the Latin term for ownerless property.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01We deal with two types,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04we deal with property of now dissolved companies
0:33:04 > 0:33:07but in this context we also deal with the estates of those who die
0:33:07 > 0:33:10without a valid will or anyone entitled to inherit.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14These cases could be worth anything from a few hundred pounds
0:33:14 > 0:33:17to millions and they are waiting to be claimed.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21Monies raised through Bona Vacantia ultimately go to the general exchequer
0:33:21 > 0:33:22to benefit the country as a whole.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26It's important to note that the Crown doesn't want all the estates,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29at all costs. It's not how it operates.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32It wants kin to be found and that's what we work very hard to do.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37Here are some names from the unsolved list.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39Could you be eligible to inherit a fortune?
0:33:42 > 0:33:46Daisy Violet Lily Rose May Poppy Fern Barnes
0:33:46 > 0:33:50died in Fulham in London in March 2008.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55Does this distinctive selection of floral names ring a bell with you?
0:33:55 > 0:33:56Could you be Daisy's heir?
0:33:58 > 0:34:03Benhilda Tandi died in Lewisham in London in August 2008.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06Benhilda is an unusual first name in the UK,
0:34:06 > 0:34:11as is the surname, Tandi, spelt with an I instead of Y.
0:34:11 > 0:34:15Do you remember Benhilda? Can you help solve this case?
0:34:20 > 0:34:25Dorothy Caroline Geddes also died in London, in December 1996,
0:34:25 > 0:34:29but the vast majority of Geddes live in northern Scotland.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32Were you a friend or neighbour of Dorothy's?
0:34:32 > 0:34:36If no heirs of hers are found, her money will go to the Government.
0:34:36 > 0:34:41Don't forget, distant relatives can't inherit from unclaimed estates.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43So the people that are entitled
0:34:43 > 0:34:46are those that trace their relationship in a direct line
0:34:46 > 0:34:49from the deceased person's grandparents.
0:34:49 > 0:34:53So a spouse would be entitled, children would be entitled,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces, first cousins.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00A reminder of those names again.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04Daisy Barnes, Benhilda Tandi and Dorothy Geddes.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09If you are a relative of anyone on today's list,
0:35:09 > 0:35:11you could have a fortune coming your way.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19Let's return to the hunt for living relatives of Brian Yanchuk,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22who died in Milton Keynes without leaving a will.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30Peter Birchwood from Celtic Research has been investigating Brian's case.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34Brian died back in 2004 and the team have established that he
0:35:34 > 0:35:37never married, or had children.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40So they are now looking for aunts, uncles and cousins
0:35:40 > 0:35:42who could be heirs to Brian's estate.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46As Brian's father's side of the family appear to have
0:35:46 > 0:35:50settled in Canada, the team are concentrating their attention
0:35:50 > 0:35:53on the mother's side, whose surname is Smith.
0:35:53 > 0:35:59We're looking for a birth of a Violet Smith, who was 18 years old in 1941.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05Unfortunately, there are hundreds of thousands of people with the surname Smith in Britain
0:36:05 > 0:36:09but the marriage certificate that Hector picked up from Wandsworth register office
0:36:09 > 0:36:14provides two clues which will help them track down the right family.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18We know that the family is in the Battersea area,
0:36:18 > 0:36:25which is really within three separate registration districts.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28That's Battersea, Wandsworth and Lambeth.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31So the team are able to narrow their search down to this area,
0:36:31 > 0:36:34just south of the Thames in London.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38The second clue is the name of Brian's maternal grandfather.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43We know from the marriage certificate that Violet's father is
0:36:43 > 0:36:48Albert Smith and he works on the railways.
0:36:48 > 0:36:50We might well have several Violet Smiths
0:36:50 > 0:36:55but we can buy each certificate just to make sure that one of them
0:36:55 > 0:36:59has got a father's name which is correct.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02The team eventually managed to identify the correct
0:37:02 > 0:37:05birth for Brian's mother, Violet Smith.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08They can now go on to find her brothers and sisters.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13We know what street they were living in in the Battersea area
0:37:13 > 0:37:16so based on that street address,
0:37:16 > 0:37:19we know that we can look in the registry office, Battersea
0:37:19 > 0:37:27Registry Office, for any other Smith births in that specific subdistrict.
0:37:27 > 0:37:31There are a lot of them but it's manageable.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36The team's painstaking research pays off.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40They discover that Violet's parents, Albert and Nelly Smith,
0:37:40 > 0:37:45had one son, Albert, and five daughters, Violet herself,
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Beatrice, Rose, Lilian and Ivy.
0:37:48 > 0:37:55So a family of six, all born within the same general area,
0:37:55 > 0:38:01all born really within a couple of streets of the original address.
0:38:01 > 0:38:04They stuck fairly close to home.
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Peter quickly discovers that all of Violet's brothers and sisters have
0:38:08 > 0:38:11passed away but four of them have had children,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13including Brian's Aunt Ivy.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16She married a Cecil in 1935 in Battersea
0:38:16 > 0:38:21and they had two children, a son and a daughter, Ann.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26They are both potential heirs to Brian Yanchuk's £12,000 estate.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33Peter needs to confirm that his research is correct
0:38:33 > 0:38:37so he's arranged to go and visit Ann, who lives in Birmingham.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47Mrs Ann Smith is a cousin of the deceased,
0:38:47 > 0:38:54she is the oldest of the first cousins by maybe five or six
0:38:54 > 0:39:01years and we found her by finding her mother's marriage...
0:39:01 > 0:39:07and from the mother's marriage, just who the children were.
0:39:07 > 0:39:14Peter wants to meet Ann face-to-face to go through the family tree with her.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17- Thank you.- Hello.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21This way he can be sure he has identified all of the correct family members.
0:39:23 > 0:39:27They've got the family tree here and you might tell me
0:39:27 > 0:39:32- if I've got anything wrong. Certainly I've got your grandad as Albert.- Yes.
0:39:32 > 0:39:37Marrying to Nelly Beatrice Lilian Potter.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41Yes, that's right, it is Nelly. It was Nelly Potter, yes.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45- And they married in 1908 in Wandsworth.- Mmm.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48- Wandsworth then covered Battersea. - Yes.
0:39:48 > 0:39:53It was only a little bit later that Battersea became its own registration district.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57Ann is able to provide some more information about the family's life in Battersea.
0:39:59 > 0:40:03- St Philip Street, Battersea. - Do you know that street?- Yes.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05That's where they all lived.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10Ann's grandparents, Albert and Nelly,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14moved to St Philip Street during the Second World War,
0:40:14 > 0:40:16probably after their own house was bombed.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19When their children grew up and married,
0:40:19 > 0:40:21many of them stayed in the same street.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25At one point they even shared the same house.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29When we used to go down there, I remember these old tenements
0:40:29 > 0:40:30and they was three storeys high
0:40:30 > 0:40:34and there used to be families on every floor.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38And, in the first one I remember going to,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41was my gran and grandma on the bottom, Aunty Beatrice in the middle
0:40:41 > 0:40:45and Violet Yanchuk on the top one with her husband and her child.
0:40:52 > 0:40:53During the Second World War,
0:40:53 > 0:40:57millions of British homes were destroyed or damaged by bombs.
0:40:58 > 0:41:02This, coupled with a post-war baby boom in the 1940s,
0:41:02 > 0:41:04led to an acute housing shortage.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09As a result, people often had no choice but to share
0:41:09 > 0:41:13accommodation with several families living under the same roof.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16In many cases, houses had no bathrooms
0:41:16 > 0:41:18and no central heating or hot water.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21In them days, they were poor, really.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23When they used to have chops they used to scrape the bone with
0:41:23 > 0:41:25a knife to get every little bit off.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28When they used to have butter, they used to share it.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30They used to weigh it all out so that everybody
0:41:30 > 0:41:33had their own bit of butter.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38I know they used to all live on the top of one another
0:41:38 > 0:41:41but they all seemed to get on all right.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43Having been through the family tree with Ann,
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Peter can now confirm that she is definitely an heir
0:41:46 > 0:41:51and she shares her inheritance with six other heirs on the maternal side.
0:41:51 > 0:41:52I think that's about it.
0:41:52 > 0:41:57- I'm confident that we've got all of the Smith family together.- Yes.
0:41:57 > 0:42:01I would hope within a fairly short time, although I have to say
0:42:01 > 0:42:06it might be a year, then you'll be receiving a little bit of good news.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Thank you very much.
0:42:09 > 0:42:11- Thank you for seeing me.- Thank you.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15For Ann this has been a trip down memory lane.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19After the Second World War, the Smith family began to lose touch
0:42:19 > 0:42:23as Brian's parents and his Aunt Beattie moved out of London.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26They moved them out to Milton Keynes.
0:42:26 > 0:42:32That's how Vi and Beattie became Milton Keynes
0:42:32 > 0:42:35because they moved a lot of Londoners out
0:42:35 > 0:42:37because it was a new town in them days.
0:42:37 > 0:42:39It was a new town, Milton Keynes was.
0:42:40 > 0:42:45In 1946 the UK government passed the New Towns Act to tackle
0:42:45 > 0:42:50the problem of congestion and poor-quality housing in the inner cities.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54Areas of land were designated for the construction of these new towns
0:42:54 > 0:42:58with improved housing, schools, healthcare facilities and shops.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02The new towns were a world apart from the dirty,
0:43:02 > 0:43:04smog-ridden streets of inner London.
0:43:04 > 0:43:09People were enticed there with promises of low-rent council houses
0:43:09 > 0:43:11with indoor bathrooms and hot running water
0:43:11 > 0:43:15and access to extensive lakes, parkland and green areas.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20Brian's parents and his aunt signed up for this new life
0:43:20 > 0:43:23and appear to have spent the rest of their days there.
0:43:23 > 0:43:27The disadvantage was that they lost touch with their family.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29I suppose with my mother moving away
0:43:29 > 0:43:35and Lilian moving away from home and the two sisters going to
0:43:35 > 0:43:39Milton Keynes, we didn't see much of each other after that.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43But for Ann, becoming an heir has allowed her to reconnect with
0:43:43 > 0:43:45her long-lost family.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48I've got in contact with a cousin that I hadn't seen since he was
0:43:48 > 0:43:53young and I've even spoken to his son, which I didn't know existed.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56You know, it's nice to get in touch with people.
0:43:56 > 0:44:02We've exchanged e-mail addresses so we can keep in touch that way as well.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06It's been very good, I'm really overwhelmed with it, really.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11For Mike Smith, who originally contacted Peter to say he thought
0:44:11 > 0:44:16he was related to a Brian Yanchuk, the gamble has paid off.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19Peter has proved that, like Ann, he is an heir to Brian's estate,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21on the maternal side of the family.
0:44:22 > 0:44:27Mike's father, Albert, was a brother of Brian's mother, Violet.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30Albert had two children, Mike and one other.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32They are Brian Yanchuk's first cousins.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36Mike wasn't expecting to inherit any money.
0:44:36 > 0:44:40I didn't think I would get anything. It was just anything.
0:44:41 > 0:44:42It's a bonus, really.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46I was more interested in the facts of what had happened,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49than any inheritance.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52But the experience has stirred up memories for Mike of playing
0:44:52 > 0:44:56with Alexander back in St Philip Street in the 1950s.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59You was working class in them days.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02You were happy with whatever you'd got.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04There was no jealousy of somebody else,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07because everyone was pretty much in the same boat.
0:45:09 > 0:45:15Peter has now signed up all the heirs to Brian Yanchuk's estate on the maternal side of the family,
0:45:15 > 0:45:17seven in total,
0:45:17 > 0:45:21and research on the paternal side is continuing in Canada.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25For Peter it's a satisfying end to a fascinating case.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29We've got everything now that we need to put the claim in.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32That claim is going to go in immediately
0:45:32 > 0:45:35so I hope we'll have it accepted within a few days
0:45:35 > 0:45:38and then we can get the administration started,
0:45:38 > 0:45:42get the whole thing moving and make sure that there is no
0:45:42 > 0:45:45delay in recovering the assets for the family.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59Here are some more unsolved cases where heirs still need to be found.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03The government list of over 2,000 unclaimed estates is
0:46:03 > 0:46:05money that is owed to members of the public.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10Cases get on our unclaimed list after a little while.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14The procedure is that initially the case will come in, we will make some
0:46:14 > 0:46:19inquiries ourselves to see whether we can trace relatives or a will.
0:46:19 > 0:46:23If those initial inquiries don't bring forth anything,
0:46:23 > 0:46:27we will then advertise on our website initially
0:46:27 > 0:46:31and then in the national and local press.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Here are three more unclaimed estates from the list.
0:46:34 > 0:46:36Do these names mean anything to you?
0:46:36 > 0:46:38Are they relatives of yours?
0:46:40 > 0:46:45Elsie Sparrow died on 17 December 2000 in Newcastle upon Tyne.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50The surname Sparrow is particularly common in East Anglia and is uncommon in the North.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53Was Elsie from East Anglia?
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Was she perhaps a member of your family?
0:46:56 > 0:47:01Margaret Schmit died in Holloway in London back in March 1998.
0:47:01 > 0:47:06With German heritage, the name Schmit is historically linked to metalworkers.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10Were you a friend or neighbour of Margaret's back in the day?
0:47:10 > 0:47:12Could you help solve her case which has remained
0:47:12 > 0:47:15unclaimed for over a decade?
0:47:17 > 0:47:19Or did you know Gerald Ford?
0:47:19 > 0:47:25He died on 2 January 2006 in Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28I've got Gerald's death certificate here which
0:47:28 > 0:47:30shows his date and place of birth.
0:47:30 > 0:47:35It says he was born on 1 September 1927 in England.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Was there a Gerald Ford in your family with that same date of birth?
0:47:39 > 0:47:43The death certificate also shows that Gerald was a dockyard worker.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46Did you perhaps work with him on the docks in Portsmouth?
0:47:46 > 0:47:48Can you help solve this case?
0:47:48 > 0:47:51If you think you are related to any of the names today, you need
0:47:51 > 0:47:55to prove your link to the deceased in order to claim their estate.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59If someone thinks they're entitled to an estate that we're dealing with,
0:47:59 > 0:48:01then they need to contact us.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05They can do that direct, or via an agent, it's entirely up to them.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08We need to have a simple family tree,
0:48:08 > 0:48:12showing how they think they are related to the deceased person.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15Nothing complicated, just something straightforward and simple
0:48:15 > 0:48:18and then we will be able to make sure that we're
0:48:18 > 0:48:21talking about the same family and then we will ask them
0:48:21 > 0:48:24to provide certificates of birth, death, marriage
0:48:24 > 0:48:29and also documents of identity to prove they are who they say they are
0:48:29 > 0:48:31and then we can look at the claim.
0:48:33 > 0:48:35A reminder of those names again.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39Elsie Sparrow, Margaret Schmit and Gerald Ford.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42If today's names are relatives of yours,
0:48:42 > 0:48:45then you could have a forgotten fortune coming your way.
0:48:52 > 0:48:57Finally today, let's return to the search for living relatives of Alexander Gibson.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02Heir hunter Bob Smith was looking into Alexander's case.
0:49:02 > 0:49:05He died in Brighton back in 2004.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Alexander had never married and had no children
0:49:08 > 0:49:11and initially he didn't appear to have any siblings.
0:49:11 > 0:49:16The team had been busy signing up cousins as heirs to his estate.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19But one of these cousins then dropped a bombshell
0:49:19 > 0:49:22when she told Bob she thought Alexander had a half-blood sister.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26This revelation was obviously a bit of a shock.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30It meant all the research we had carried out up until now
0:49:30 > 0:49:31had been a waste of time.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34The family members that we contacted would no longer be entitled.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39The half-sister in question was Ethel.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43She was brought up as the daughter of John and Mary Ann Clift,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46alongside her seven supposed brothers and sisters,
0:49:46 > 0:49:49but it now appeared that she was not their daughter at all
0:49:49 > 0:49:53but their granddaughter and her mother was actually Winifred
0:49:53 > 0:49:56who had been passed off as her sister.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59So it was back to the drawing board for Bob and the team,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03who now had to find a birth certificate for Ethel to prove
0:50:03 > 0:50:07she was actually the daughter of the deceased's mother, Winifred.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11When we originally tried to identify her birth, we couldn't because,
0:50:11 > 0:50:14of course, we were using the surnames of both the grandparents.
0:50:16 > 0:50:17With this new information,
0:50:17 > 0:50:20we began looking for a birth of an Ethel Clift,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22daughter of Winifred Clift, between 1911
0:50:22 > 0:50:26and Winifred's subsequent marriage in 1920.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31This new search would make or break the case.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34If the team could find the correct birth for Ethel,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37they would be halfway to finding the right heirs.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44As hoped, their search turned up trumps.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47There was an Ethel Clift born on 18 March 1917
0:50:47 > 0:50:52and her birth certificate gave her mother as none other
0:50:52 > 0:50:54than Winifred Daisy Clift.
0:50:54 > 0:50:59This birth certificate proved that Winifred had had another child.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03As there was no father showing on the birth certificate,
0:51:03 > 0:51:08it suggested that Ethel was actually an illegitimate child of Winifred.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11But there was something strange about this birth certificate.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15On the birth certificate of Ethel, Winifred's address was
0:51:15 > 0:51:18shown as in Chatham in Kent.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22However, Ethel herself was born in Hanwell in London.
0:51:22 > 0:51:26Why did Winifred go all the way to London to have her baby?
0:51:26 > 0:51:29Why did she not have her in Chatham in Kent?
0:51:29 > 0:51:33Pat Thane is a professor of history at King's College, London.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37She's carried out extensive research into unmarried mothers
0:51:37 > 0:51:40and the attitudes they faced in early 20th-century Britain.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45Winifred probably wasn't unusual in having her child away from home.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48This seems to have been quite common.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52Very often it was because they didn't want everyone to
0:51:52 > 0:51:55see them heavily pregnant in their neighbourhood
0:51:55 > 0:52:00because some people might be hostile and disapproving.
0:52:00 > 0:52:05It was also sometimes hard for women to get medical attention in their own neighbourhoods.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09There were some midwives who wouldn't deliver
0:52:09 > 0:52:12the children of unmarried mothers, for example,
0:52:12 > 0:52:16and some places where there were fewer midwives and doctors.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19It's possible that in the middle of the First World War
0:52:19 > 0:52:25when her child, when Winifred's child was born,
0:52:25 > 0:52:28that many doctors and nurses would have been off at war.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32What is certain is that once Winifred had had her child
0:52:32 > 0:52:35she came back to live with her parents
0:52:35 > 0:52:38and her daughter Ethel was brought up as her sister.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40It was very hard for a woman
0:52:40 > 0:52:44to earn enough to support herself and a child.
0:52:44 > 0:52:49A lot of them seemed to have gone back to live with their own parents.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53The child might grow up thinking that Grandmother was their mother.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57In Ethel's case this family secret was passed down through
0:52:57 > 0:53:02the generations as Alexander's cousin, Christine, can confirm.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05I knew Ethel as my Aunty Ethel,
0:53:05 > 0:53:09my mother's elder sister by one year.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13I only found out that Ethel wasn't my aunty when
0:53:13 > 0:53:17I was with my mother one day and my mother said to me,
0:53:17 > 0:53:22"You know, Aunty Ethel isn't really my sister,
0:53:22 > 0:53:27"she was in fact Aunty Winnie's daughter."
0:53:27 > 0:53:30To save the family name,
0:53:30 > 0:53:34my mother's parents had brought Ethel up as their own child
0:53:34 > 0:53:39and then to make the story even more convincing they'd had my mother
0:53:39 > 0:53:43so that it would look more natural.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46Now the team knew that Alexander had a half-blood sister,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49their next step was to see whether she was still alive.
0:53:49 > 0:53:55We were able to confirm that Ethel had passed away in 1991 in Portsmouth
0:53:55 > 0:53:58but she had married and had two children.
0:53:58 > 0:54:00We now had the task of trying to track those two children
0:54:00 > 0:54:05because they would be the entitled family members from our deceased's estate.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08The team were finally on the right track.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10Alexander's half-sister, Ethel, had married
0:54:10 > 0:54:15a Cyril in 1940 in Medway and they had had two sons,
0:54:15 > 0:54:17who would be Alexander's half-nephews
0:54:17 > 0:54:20and his closest living relatives.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23The team managed to find these two sons, Andrew and David,
0:54:23 > 0:54:25living in Portsmouth.
0:54:25 > 0:54:27Finally, they had the right heirs.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32For Andrew, who knew Alexander as Alec,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35the news of his death came as a bit of a shock.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39My brother and I were both very sad that Alec had died.
0:54:39 > 0:54:44My mother died in 1988 and we lost touch with Alec
0:54:44 > 0:54:47because, erm...
0:54:47 > 0:54:49he sort of turned into a bit of a recluse,
0:54:49 > 0:54:56so he became rather unsociable and didn't want any visitors.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58It sort of fizzled out after that.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03Andrew's mother, Ethel, knew that Winifred was her real mother
0:55:03 > 0:55:06and that Alexander was her brother.
0:55:06 > 0:55:07That's at Aaron's wedding.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11But Andrew and his brother, David,
0:55:11 > 0:55:14grew up thinking that their Uncle Alexander was their cousin
0:55:14 > 0:55:17and their grandmother, Winifred, was their aunt.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19Well, we used to call Win "Aunt",
0:55:19 > 0:55:23because, I suppose, they wanted to live the lie.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28My brother often used to wonder why all his other aunties used to send
0:55:28 > 0:55:33him a shilling for his birthday and Aunty Win used to send him a pound!
0:55:35 > 0:55:38But Andrew does have some happy memories of spending time
0:55:38 > 0:55:40with Alexander as a boy.
0:55:40 > 0:55:44Me and my mother used to go to visit Alec on the train
0:55:44 > 0:55:45in Brighton in the late '70s
0:55:45 > 0:55:49and that was quite a pleasant memory for me
0:55:49 > 0:55:51because it was one of the first times
0:55:51 > 0:55:54I went anywhere on a day trip, and then a little bit later,
0:55:54 > 0:55:58in the early '80s, I passed my driving test
0:55:58 > 0:56:00and we used to go in the car.
0:56:00 > 0:56:04Andrew also reveals some fascinating information which deepens
0:56:04 > 0:56:08the mystery of his mother, Ethel's, true parentage.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13Our mother told us that Aunty Win, who was really her mother,
0:56:13 > 0:56:17had an affair with a Russian seaman during the First World War
0:56:17 > 0:56:19and that led to our mother.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23Who was this mysterious Russian sailor?
0:56:23 > 0:56:26Was it a fly-by-night affair or something more serious?
0:56:26 > 0:56:29Andrew believes his grandmother, Winifred,
0:56:29 > 0:56:33may have paid tribute to her sailor in her children's names.
0:56:33 > 0:56:35When Fraser & Fraser told me
0:56:35 > 0:56:39that Alec was actually called Alexander
0:56:39 > 0:56:43perhaps this was taken from the Russian sailor's name
0:56:43 > 0:56:46because my mother's middle name is also Alex.
0:56:48 > 0:56:55Andrew and his brother will now be the sole beneficiaries of Alexander's £70,000 estate.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58As nephews of Alexander's they are closer relatives than
0:56:58 > 0:57:01the cousins the heir hunters originally found.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06For one of these cousins, Christine, being told she was a beneficiary
0:57:06 > 0:57:09and then she wasn't was something of a disappointment.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15I wasn't surprised that I wouldn't be inheriting.
0:57:15 > 0:57:19I was disappointed because everybody would like to inherit something.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23But, of course, I realised that David
0:57:23 > 0:57:28and Andrew were a closer bloodline than I was.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33But for Andrew and David, any happiness they feel on
0:57:33 > 0:57:36becoming beneficiaries is tinged with sadness.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39We would have liked to have gone to the funeral
0:57:39 > 0:57:44and so on and so we were very sad about that.
0:57:46 > 0:57:52For heir hunter Bob Smith, it's been a case of surprises, twists and turns.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57We had no way of knowing that Winifred had had another child.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59We would normally look for children from a marriage
0:57:59 > 0:58:02and there was no previous marriage and you wouldn't naturally assume
0:58:02 > 0:58:05that someone would have had an illegitimate child.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07Despite all the twists and turns
0:58:07 > 0:58:11and disappointments to the family members that we'd originally found,
0:58:11 > 0:58:14I'm very pleased that we have identified the correct family
0:58:14 > 0:58:17members who will share from our deceased's estate.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd