0:00:01 > 0:00:04Heir hunters specialise in tracking down people
0:00:04 > 0:00:07who are entitled to money from someone who's died.
0:00:07 > 0:00:09It was difficult to find you, actually.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Sometimes the deceased has become estranged from their family.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16Sometimes they simply haven't left a will.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Either way, the heir hunters must make sure
0:00:18 > 0:00:21that any unclaimed money goes to the right people.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25When the heir hunters contacted us, it was amazing.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30Their work involves painstaking investigation.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33So these kids could all be right, all be wrong or half and half.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35But it can bring families back together.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38That's lovely!
0:00:38 > 0:00:39Most of all, though,
0:00:39 > 0:00:43the work is about giving people news of an unexpected windfall.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:51 > 0:00:53Coming up on today's programme -
0:00:53 > 0:00:55the death of an Essex man
0:00:55 > 0:00:58leads the heir hunters to a colossal family tree.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01What's happening is we've got a large top line
0:01:01 > 0:01:03and then each of those top line
0:01:03 > 0:01:05are having massive families themselves.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08And an emotional family meeting.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10- Hello, Nell!- Hello, darling!
0:01:10 > 0:01:11Long time no see.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Plus how you could be entitled to inherit
0:01:14 > 0:01:17unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:27 > 0:01:29London.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32And at the country's biggest firm of heir hunters, Fraser & Fraser,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35boss Neil has picked up a new case.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Ralph Leonard Kenneth Hammond died in Rayleigh in Essex
0:01:38 > 0:01:41just before Christmas last year.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43So a pretty fresh case.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46Heir hunters' work can come from a variety of sources.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48Each week, the Treasury Solicitor
0:01:48 > 0:01:51publishes a list of unclaimed estates.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55Cases are sometimes referred by solicitors or concerned neighbours.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57Today, the heir hunters are acting on a tip-off
0:01:57 > 0:02:00that Ralph died without leaving a will.
0:02:00 > 0:02:01If they can't find beneficiaries,
0:02:01 > 0:02:03his estate will go to the government.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07And it's thought to be of substantial value.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08He owns a property,
0:02:08 > 0:02:12so we're probably looking at a case with a value of about £160,000.
0:02:12 > 0:02:13On a case like this,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16the heir hunters will take a percentage of the estate
0:02:16 > 0:02:18in return for their work.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21But they'll only get paid if they find Ralph's heirs.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Born in 1922, Ralph Hammond was 89 years old
0:02:28 > 0:02:30when he died at his home in Rayleigh in Essex.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34Friend and neighbour Stuart Thomson used to keep an eye on Ralph
0:02:34 > 0:02:36and do odd jobs for him.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40He was always jolly. He was always pleased to see somebody.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43We knew he liked his football. He liked Arsenal.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46And he loved his cricket.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48He always used to talk about his cricket.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50He used to go to Chelmsford.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53As far as we all knew, there was no relations.
0:02:53 > 0:02:54He never mentioned family.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58The only person he did mention a couple of times was his mother.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00A very private and personal man, he was.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Sadly, Ralph lost his sight towards the end of his life.
0:03:04 > 0:03:08But it didn't stop him keeping up with what was going on in the world.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11He was a funny guy. He had these different radios.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14All tuned into different radio stations.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17So when he wanted to listen to something, he had one radio on.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20If he wanted to listen to something else, he'd put the other one on.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23If he wanted to listen to something else, he'd put the other one on.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Sometimes you'd go in there and you've got three radios going.
0:03:26 > 0:03:29Although for his impairments, he looked after himself.
0:03:29 > 0:03:33And he didn't want to intrude on people's help.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35When I found out he'd passed away,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37it was a sad thing for me, I must admit.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Because he was such a lovely man.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44What can I say? He was such a lovely man.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51In the office, the investigation to find beneficiaries
0:03:51 > 0:03:53to Ralph's estate is in full swing.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Call him after 12:00 and make an appointment
0:03:56 > 0:03:58because apparently, he's out until then.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01The team are working on a tip-off,
0:04:01 > 0:04:03but it won't be long before this case
0:04:03 > 0:04:05is advertised by the Treasury Solicitor.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09And that will mean rival heir hunting firms could pick it up.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11So they have to work fast.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14So these kids could all be right, all be wrong or half and half.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16The first thing they've been able to establish
0:04:16 > 0:04:19is that Ralph was a bachelor and had no children.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24This means the heir hunters must now look to the wider family tree.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27Thomas and Alice.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29- Thomas...- Thomas Frederick.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32They will look to see if either of Ralph's parents
0:04:32 > 0:04:34had brothers and sisters.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37If any of these aunts or uncles had children,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39then they would be heirs to Ralph's estate.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42Right name, right place. Who knows?
0:04:42 > 0:04:44But it's easier said than done.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48As case manager Jo Ibrahim gets to grips with the investigation,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50it soon begins to dawn on her
0:04:50 > 0:04:54that Ralph's father was part of a huge family.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56This case is quite big.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58We've got ten uncles and aunts of the deceased
0:04:58 > 0:05:00just on the paternal side.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03And they all seem to have quite a lot of children,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05so it's quite a big family.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Jo has only recently become a case manager.
0:05:08 > 0:05:13With the discovery that Ralph's father was part of a massive family,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15it's becoming clear that this is not going to be
0:05:15 > 0:05:17an easy one to cut her teeth on.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21I believe he went and saw you earlier today.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23She can't fall at the first hurdle.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26And on this job, there are lots of them.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29It's what they call a massive one!
0:05:29 > 0:05:33She decides the only way to deal with so many stems of the family
0:05:33 > 0:05:35is to divide and conquer.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39And she drafts in more and more researchers to help with the work.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44Do you want to take this one, Ben? That one? Yeah.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46At the moment, we're just looking at the family,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49making sure that someone is working on each part of the family
0:05:49 > 0:05:52to try and see if we can get more people up to date.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57But because it's so big, we're having to give out stems to each person.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Cheers. Thanks. 'Bye.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Ralph Hammond's father had 11 brothers and sisters.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Six of whom went on to have big families.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Which means that Ralph had dozens of first cousins.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13If any of these cousins are alive, they would be heirs.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15If they, too, have passed away,
0:06:15 > 0:06:17then their children would be in line to inherit.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20It's a dauntingly large family,
0:06:20 > 0:06:23but a challenge that some of the team relish.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24It's an enormous tree.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28And what's happening is we've got a large top line
0:06:28 > 0:06:30and then each of those top line
0:06:30 > 0:06:32are having massive families themselves.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36We're having, you know, if there's eight or ten on the top line,
0:06:36 > 0:06:40each child from that top line is having seven or eight children themselves.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42And it's just like a fountain coming down.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44It's going to be enormous.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48The sheer size of the job means that Jo really has her work cut out.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50As head of this investigation,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53the onus is on her to make sure it runs smoothly
0:06:53 > 0:06:55and gets solved fast.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59Everyone in the office, even senior staff like case manager Dave Slee,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02is working to her lead.
0:07:02 > 0:07:03I feel sorry for Jo.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08It's a hell of a big family tree to cut her teeth on.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10So...she's doing well.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14But Jo has more help just ready and waiting.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19The company has a team of travelling heir hunters
0:07:19 > 0:07:23who are out on the road and ready to go wherever they're needed.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25It's their job to collect certificates,
0:07:25 > 0:07:28make enquiries and sign up heirs.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30I think we've got our work cut out with this one.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Out on the road today are Bob Smith,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Dave Hadley and Bob Barratt.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39All in the Essex area, waiting to be dispatched.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43Bob Smith is about to get further instructions from Dave Slee,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45who has been working on the stem of one of Ralph' uncles,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48George Hammond.
0:07:48 > 0:07:49I've got an address for you.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52OK. Which stem's it on?
0:07:52 > 0:07:55If you go top line, George Arthur Hammond.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59I don't know what your tree shows. Does it come down to Dorothy Elizabeth Hammond?
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Yeah. She marries Alfred.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07OK. We've got her being born 1900, Romford.
0:08:07 > 0:08:081901, yeah.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11- Go to Hornchurch and then phone us and we'll let you know.- OK.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15- Thank you, Bob. Speak to you later. - Yeah. 'Bye.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19The heir hunters think they may have located a cousin
0:08:19 > 0:08:24who would be an heir to Ralph's estimated £160,000 estate.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26So Bob is hitting the road.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32In the office, the whole team is still working on the Hammond case.
0:08:32 > 0:08:33It's a risky strategy.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35If it doesn't get solved,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38or another firm of heir hunters gets in first,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41the company will have wasted money and manpower.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Technically, we have three family trees working in the office.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47Jo's got the original one we've been working with,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Tony's gone upstairs to update the current working tree
0:08:50 > 0:08:52and we're working on a copy at the moment
0:08:52 > 0:08:54which is actually in two bits.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Jo has got a not-easy task at the moment.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00She's controlling probably about five or six managers.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05Me, a partner, and 20 researchers, as well.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08I think they've got four people out on the road working, as well.
0:09:08 > 0:09:10So not an easy task for Jo.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13She's not been in this game a huge amount of time and certainly,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15this is probably the biggest job she's had to run.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17I quite like the big families because
0:09:17 > 0:09:19in some cases, the research can be quite quick now.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21And there's no fun in that.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Essentially, that's what we are, we're researchers.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27It's nice to be able to do research and do it throughout the day.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28We look at a stem, we move on.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30We look at another stem, we move on again.
0:09:30 > 0:09:31The advantage is we've got numbers,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34so we can look at a large job all in one go.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37It is just the sort of work they relish.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40It seems like most of the office is tackling branches
0:09:40 > 0:09:42of the Hammond family tree.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46Currently, we're having a look at Alice and Ruth Richardson.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Um...found a marriage so far for Alice,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53but can't find anything else for her since.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55She had two children, by the looks of it.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57One of them died infant
0:09:57 > 0:10:00and the other one seems to have disappeared.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02At the moment, it looks like the right people,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05but obviously, without certificates, we won't know for definite.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07And it's quite an early stage.
0:10:07 > 0:10:09Because the family are quite a large family,
0:10:09 > 0:10:13it can easily be the right people in the wrong sort of place.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16So hopefully, by speaking to the family, we might know a bit more.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20In Essex, travelling researcher Bob Smith
0:10:20 > 0:10:23has arrived at the home of Edward Vinton.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27Mr Vinton's mother was Ralph Hammond's first cousin,
0:10:27 > 0:10:31so he may be entitled to a share of the estate.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35It's now down to Bob to check that he is indeed a family member
0:10:35 > 0:10:37and if the office's research is correct.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42If it is, then Mr Vinton is an heir to Ralph's estate.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44Was your mum married more than once?
0:10:44 > 0:10:46No. Just that once.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Just the once.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51And your brothers and sisters, can you name them?
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Who's the eldest?
0:10:53 > 0:10:55My sister.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57What was her name?
0:10:57 > 0:11:00- Gwendoline Doris. - Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Do you know when she was born?
0:11:02 > 0:11:04Um...
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Well, she's between nine and ten years older than me.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11OK, so about 1922, 23?
0:11:11 > 0:11:12Yeah. Yes.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15It's good news for the team.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19Bob confirms that Mr Vinton is Ralph's first cousin once removed
0:11:19 > 0:11:21and therefore, an heir to his estate.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24On a case like this, the heir hunters
0:11:24 > 0:11:26will help a relative claim their share for a percentage fee.
0:11:26 > 0:11:29And Bob leaves a contract for Mr Vinton to sign.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32It's been a worthwhile visit.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Although he was very helpful in terms of giving us information
0:11:36 > 0:11:38about his own particular branch of the family,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41he didn't remember the deceased.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43But still very useful. Lovely chap.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45And it will enable us to contact other family members
0:11:45 > 0:11:49so we can sort of move them forward quickly.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54And the search for heirs is really gathering pace now.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57In a different part of Essex, travelling researcher Dave Hadley
0:11:57 > 0:12:00has been dispatched to see another potential heir.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02The team believe Alex Grover
0:12:02 > 0:12:05is another first cousin once removed to Ralph
0:12:05 > 0:12:07and so entitled to a share of the estate.
0:12:07 > 0:12:09- Mr Grover?- Speaking.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Dave Hadley. Pleased to meet you. There's my card.
0:12:12 > 0:12:16But Dave needs to make sure their research is correct.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Can you call out your brothers and sisters for me?
0:12:18 > 0:12:20Call out their names.
0:12:20 > 0:12:21- The eldest, Frederick.- Frederick.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25- Mm-hm.- Did he have a middle name at all?
0:12:25 > 0:12:29- Don't look at me, he's your brother. - I know he is, yeah.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33In the office, the team have been hard at it for several hours.
0:12:33 > 0:12:35And they're beginning to get
0:12:35 > 0:12:38the enormous paternal family tree under control.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40We're now getting to the point where
0:12:40 > 0:12:43we're looking at the holes in, um...in the tree.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46So we're starting to concentrate on little bits where there's no address.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50So...I think...
0:12:50 > 0:12:52we've got something on every stem, as far as I'm aware.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54So we're really just trying to finish off the bits.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58But that's only 50 percent of the job.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Case managers Tony Pledger and Ben Cornish
0:13:01 > 0:13:04begin to work on Ralph's mother's family.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Right, OK. The maternal is...
0:13:07 > 0:13:11you've got the mother of the deceased is Eveline Hilda Letton.
0:13:11 > 0:13:15Eveline Letton had almost as many brothers and sisters as her husband.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17Nine in total.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20But only five of these siblings lived to be adults.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Any children they had would be cousins to Ralph
0:13:22 > 0:13:25and so heirs to his estate.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28And Tony quickly uncovers that one of Ralph's aunts
0:13:28 > 0:13:31had an interesting working life.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34We think that we've found her as a servant
0:13:34 > 0:13:36on the electoral roll in London
0:13:36 > 0:13:38in the 1930s.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40She's living in the same house as,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42this is why we think she's the servant of
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Esmee Tondiman
0:13:45 > 0:13:47the Ranee of Pudukota.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50It looks like the heir hunters have uncovered
0:13:50 > 0:13:53a real-life upstairs downstairs story.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58It would not have been acceptable for servants
0:13:58 > 0:14:01to have a child out of wedlock,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04nor would it have been acceptable for most servants
0:14:04 > 0:14:06to marry and remain in service.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13At the beginning of their search,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17heir hunters often have very little information to go on.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19But the process of tracing heirs
0:14:19 > 0:14:23can sometimes reveal some intriguing family history.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26It's something a bit unusual and interesting.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Based in Liverpool, Saul Marks of Celtic Research
0:14:30 > 0:14:33specialises in estates that have sat unclaimed for several years.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35The toughest to crack.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37And this next case was no exception.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41Arthur Thorne died in 2003
0:14:41 > 0:14:45in Raynes Park, London, aged 92.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48He never married, nor had children
0:14:48 > 0:14:50and it appeared he had no family.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54But he was a dedicated member of his local church.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57Sarah Colley was part of the same congregation.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02I think I would have been about six or seven when I first Arthur
0:15:02 > 0:15:05because that was when I started to come to church
0:15:05 > 0:15:07with my grandparents and my parents.
0:15:07 > 0:15:08He was a sidesman here.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Took it in turns with my grandfather and two other people.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Arthur's role would be to hand out the books to the congregation
0:15:17 > 0:15:20as they arrived, and then collect the collection
0:15:20 > 0:15:24and take it up to the altar to be blessed at the end of the service.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28I remember him sitting in his own special pew,
0:15:28 > 0:15:31collecting the money, and being introduced to him
0:15:31 > 0:15:34and saying hello at each service.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Arthur was very polite, I remember that.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40Shook hands, always said good morning, always had a nice smile.
0:15:40 > 0:15:46It's very sad that people can lose touch completely with their family,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48so maybe Arthur found fulfilment here.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Arthur died without leaving a will,
0:15:53 > 0:15:55which meant that his estate was published on
0:15:55 > 0:15:58the Treasury Solicitors' Bona Vacantia list.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01If a living heir could not be traced, then the money would
0:16:01 > 0:16:04go to the government rather than Arthur's family.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08Heir hunter Saul was keen to stop this from happening.
0:16:08 > 0:16:13We picked this case from the Treasury Solicitor's list of unclaimed estates
0:16:13 > 0:16:18in the summer of 2011, and the reason we picked this one in particular
0:16:18 > 0:16:20was it looked like the value would make it
0:16:20 > 0:16:22worth our while researching.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27Arthur's estate was estimated to be worth around £18,000.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30If Saul could find and sign up heirs,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33he'd get a pre-agreed percentage of the estate,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35but the Bona Vacantia list gives heir hunters
0:16:35 > 0:16:38very little information to work with.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42We started with the deceased's name, date of death and place of death.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45That tends to be all we have to start with on any of our cases.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51One of the first things I did was to find the deceased's date of birth,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54which I was able to do because he died in 2003,
0:16:54 > 0:16:59and the 2003 death indexes allow us the date of birth.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02We established fairly early on in this case that the deceased
0:17:02 > 0:17:05was born in the first few months of 1911,
0:17:05 > 0:17:06which made it very easy for us
0:17:06 > 0:17:08to just look him up on the 1911 Census.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12And it was this crucial document that unlocked the case for Saul,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16explaining why it had sat unclaimed on the list for several years.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20The 1911 Census was only published in 2009,
0:17:20 > 0:17:21so there was a six-year period
0:17:21 > 0:17:24when this case really was pretty much impossible.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27But once the census was published,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Saul was able to find Arthur living at an address in London,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34a home he shared with his parents and five brothers.
0:17:35 > 0:17:40Arthur was one of six sons born to Edward Thorne and Ellen Forbes.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43His eldest brother Thomas died in 1933,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45but the rest of his brothers,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Harry, Edward, Frederick and William, all married.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Any of their children would be heirs to Arthur's estate.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55The deceased's eldest brother Thomas seemed to die quite young,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59in his 20s, so once we'd established that he'd not got married earlier
0:17:59 > 0:18:00and had children, which he hadn't,
0:18:00 > 0:18:02we could rule his line out completely.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Of the surviving four brothers, we found marriages for all of them,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09and we actually found deaths for all of them,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11and they'd all had families of their own
0:18:11 > 0:18:14from each of their marriages, so we knew that this case
0:18:14 > 0:18:17was going to be all about finding nieces and nephews of the deceased.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21As Saul researched each of Arthur's brothers,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24he found it unusually easy to trace beneficiaries
0:18:24 > 0:18:27using death indexes and the Census.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30Normally, we use a lot of birth, marriage and death certificates
0:18:30 > 0:18:32in our work to try and track people down.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35In this particular case, we didn't actually need to use any.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38What we did was we used the indexes and the census
0:18:38 > 0:18:41to be able to solve the case,
0:18:41 > 0:18:43and then we could just speak to the heirs
0:18:43 > 0:18:46and they led us to the other heirs, and the case was solved.
0:18:46 > 0:18:51But there was one detail that cast his research into doubt.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55One of the odd things I came across in this case was that
0:18:55 > 0:18:59the deceased's brother Frederick had married in London
0:18:59 > 0:19:01and had some children in London,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and then there seemed to be other children born
0:19:04 > 0:19:08to the same name combination of parents, but in Weston-super-Mare,
0:19:08 > 0:19:10and that's quite unusual,
0:19:10 > 0:19:13because obviously two different sides of the country.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15Could this be another couple with the same name?
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Or had Frederick and his wife Lily
0:19:18 > 0:19:22moved their family 150 miles west from their native London?
0:19:25 > 0:19:28When Saul traced one of the couple's youngest children,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31Christina Morrison, he found the answer.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34When the heir hunters contacted us, it was amazing.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37It was just unbelievable to think that we had an uncle
0:19:37 > 0:19:41who was still alive in 2003, and quite sad too.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Dad joined the army when he was quite young,
0:19:45 > 0:19:49and during the war, when the Blitz was on in London,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53Mum and the three oldest children
0:19:53 > 0:19:55were evacuated out to Weston-super-Mare,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58where the rest of us were all born.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02During the build-up to World War II,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05the fear of attack from German bombers prompted the government
0:20:05 > 0:20:07to evacuate Britain's towns and cities.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Nearly 3,000,000 people, most of them children,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13were uprooted from their homes
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and sent to the relative safety of the countryside.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18The government were very keen
0:20:18 > 0:20:22that we could get rid of as many useless mouths, as they were called,
0:20:22 > 0:20:28from the likely areas that would be bombed, to get them to safety.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Evacuation was never compulsory.
0:20:31 > 0:20:36The government quite rightly saw that that would be a morale disaster,
0:20:36 > 0:20:39to force people to go, and so they had to put in a lot of effort
0:20:39 > 0:20:42to convince people to send their children away
0:20:42 > 0:20:43or to go away themselves,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and this went on from about 1937 onwards,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50they were beginning to put these kind of ideas,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53propaganda involved, getting people to think
0:20:53 > 0:20:55that it would be a good idea
0:20:55 > 0:20:58to move their children from danger itself.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02Terrified by the prospect of a German bombing campaign,
0:21:02 > 0:21:06thousands of families fled to safer rural and coastal areas.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Many, like the Thornes, never returned home,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13and lost contact with their extended families.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15I'm sure it was horrendous for them
0:21:15 > 0:21:18when they left all their family behind.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20It must have been very, very difficult.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Very lonely, and Mum was from a big family herself,
0:21:24 > 0:21:26and she left them all behind,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28but she was more frightened that the children would be killed.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Obviously, evacuation was hugely emotional.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34For many families, it was the first time they've ever been split up.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37Families on the whole moved a lot less.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Many families never went on holiday, for instance.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43You were day-to-day in contact with your siblings
0:21:43 > 0:21:47and your children and your parents all your life.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50It became clear to Saul that he was dealing with a family
0:21:50 > 0:21:53who had become fragmented by the war.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56His job now was to piece all the Thorne brothers
0:21:56 > 0:21:58and their families back together,
0:21:58 > 0:22:03and in turn, reunite them with their uncle Arthur's £18,000 estate.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08We assumed that, as our dad died so young,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10the other brothers had virtually followed suit,
0:22:10 > 0:22:12because we didn't keep in touch with any of the family.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19But all that might be about to change.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21As a result of Saul's search for heirs,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Arthur Thorne's remaining family members
0:22:24 > 0:22:26have been put in touch with each other.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29I can't tell you how excited we all are
0:22:29 > 0:22:31to know that there's more family around,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and we're looking forward so much to seeing them.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37It'll be the first time that some of Arthur's family,
0:22:37 > 0:22:40separated by war, have ever met.
0:22:40 > 0:22:43- It's lovely to meet you. - You're a complete stranger!
0:22:43 > 0:22:47I can't take my eyes off... I can't take my eyes off of you.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Heir hunters use their specialist skills to track down
0:22:58 > 0:23:01thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year,
0:23:01 > 0:23:03but not every case can be cracked.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06There are around 2,000 names
0:23:06 > 0:23:09on the Bona Vacantia list of unclaimed estates
0:23:09 > 0:23:12that have eluded the heir hunters and remain unsolved.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Cases will stay on the unclaimed list for a period of 12 years
0:23:17 > 0:23:21from the date that the administration has been completed,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25and that's a period of time that people still can come forward
0:23:25 > 0:23:27and claim the estate.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Today we're focusing on two cases that stumped the heir hunters.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Could you be the heir they've been looking for?
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Could you be in line for an unexpected windfall?
0:23:39 > 0:23:41First is the case of Gordon Stead.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44He died in Shipley in West Yorkshire
0:23:44 > 0:23:48on 9th April, 2011 at the age of 84.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Gordon was born in Bradford,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54and his parents were William Stead and Alice Patchett.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57The heir hunters believe he may have been married twice,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00but so far, they've only found records of one marriage,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03to a Barbara Slater in 1953.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Do you have any more information about Gordon?
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Could you be one of his relatives?
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Next is the case of Tex Orrico,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14a jazz musician who died in Marylebone in London
0:24:14 > 0:24:17on 28th September, 2009.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Heir hunters believe the name Orrico may come from Nigeria,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25and could be a variation of Oriaku or Oriaky,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28but unless someone knows where Tex was born,
0:24:28 > 0:24:31it could be difficult to trace his relatives.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33Could you be related to Tex, or do you know
0:24:33 > 0:24:37anything about his family history that could help crack the case?
0:24:37 > 0:24:42Both Tex Orrico and Gordon Stead's estates remain unclaimed,
0:24:42 > 0:24:44and if no one comes forward,
0:24:44 > 0:24:46their money will go to the government.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49If it belongs to someone else, we simply don't want it,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52so we're very pleased when people come forward.
0:24:52 > 0:24:53So do you have any clues
0:24:53 > 0:24:57that could help solve the cases of Tex Orrico or Gordon Stead?
0:24:57 > 0:25:01If so, you could have an inheritance coming your way.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09In London, the team at heir hunting firm Fraser and Fraser
0:25:09 > 0:25:12are working on the case of Ralph Hammond,
0:25:12 > 0:25:15and they're already dealing with a mammoth family tree.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18So you can try and sort all that out, start from the beginning.
0:25:18 > 0:25:19Let Jacko do that.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22Case manager Jo Ibrahim is running the research,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and the entire office is working flat out to try and find heirs.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30Michael, do you want to sort this lot out?
0:25:30 > 0:25:32What's going on here?
0:25:32 > 0:25:36Ralph Hammond passed away in December 2011
0:25:36 > 0:25:38in Rayleigh in Essex.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40He was 89 years old.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43He spent the last few years of his life living alone,
0:25:43 > 0:25:47but he had plenty of company from friends and neighbours,
0:25:47 > 0:25:48like Stuart Thompson.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52He was very, very jolly, but very private.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55He was always pleased to see somebody,
0:25:55 > 0:25:58somebody he could trust, basically.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Although he lost his sight towards the end of his life,
0:26:01 > 0:26:03he still managed to keep active.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08Not much is known about Ralph's background,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11but it's thought he served in the RAF
0:26:11 > 0:26:14and worked at the oil refinery in Canvey Island.
0:26:17 > 0:26:18He liked people to visit,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21but he did seem to like his own company.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23He got on really well. He used to cook his own dinners,
0:26:23 > 0:26:28he used to go and make himself a cup of tea when he wanted to.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32When I found out he'd passed away, it was a sad thing for me,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36I must admit, because he was, again, he was such a lovely man.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43It's been a very busy morning in the office,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47as the team gets its teeth into Ralph's huge family tree.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49They've found out that Ralph's father
0:26:49 > 0:26:52had 11 brothers and sisters,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54six of whom went on to have big families,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57so Ralph had a lot of first cousins.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00But most of these first cousins have passed away,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03which means their children or grandchildren
0:27:03 > 0:27:04are in line to inherit.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07It looks like there are dozens of beneficiaries,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09but the fact that most of them seem to have stayed
0:27:09 > 0:27:14in the south-east of England is making them easier to track down.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16For us it's looking quite good, though.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18We're coming up on a lot of stems,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20we're coming up on a lot of beneficiaries
0:27:20 > 0:27:21and we're getting to speak to people,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23so fingers crossed, we're doing quite well.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28Jo has three travelling researchers on the road in Essex,
0:27:28 > 0:27:31and they've already had success in treating heirs.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36We've got a case at the moment where somebody's passed away
0:27:36 > 0:27:37without leaving a will,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40and we believe that that person is related to you.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45So far, most of the work has been on Ralph's father's side of the family,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48but as case manager Tony Pledger is discovering,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52there's some interesting family history on his mother's side.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55We have an Ella Letton living in the same house as,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57and that's why we think she's a servant of,
0:27:57 > 0:28:02Esme Tondaiman, the Rani of Pudukota.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06Ralph's mother, Eveline Letton, had nine brothers and sisters.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10One of them, Ella, had a son, Leonard.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Controversially for the time, he was born out of wedlock
0:28:13 > 0:28:16and Ella did not stay with his father.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Leonard is Ralph's first cousin,
0:28:18 > 0:28:22and the team have been to see him to inform him that he's an heir.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26We had a ring of the doorbell, and there was this strange chap.
0:28:26 > 0:28:27I shook hands with him, and he said,
0:28:27 > 0:28:31"I've come about a possible legacy for you as a possible heir."
0:28:31 > 0:28:33I said, "Well, I haven't got any relations,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36so I don't know where this comes from,"
0:28:36 > 0:28:39and he said, "Well, it looks like you might have.
0:28:39 > 0:28:41"Who was your mother?"
0:28:41 > 0:28:43So I said, "Well, she was Ella Letton."
0:28:43 > 0:28:48Ella Letton was born in 1888 at Mucking in Essex.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52As an unmarried mother, she had no choice but to go out to work,
0:28:52 > 0:28:54and Leonard recalls spending months
0:28:54 > 0:28:58living apart from his mother when he was growing up.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00I was sort of farmed out in different families
0:29:00 > 0:29:03for a great deal of time until the war.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Eventually I found out that I was staying with all these people
0:29:06 > 0:29:09because my mother could not look after me on her own.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10It's as simple as that.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13She would have to give up work, and that wasn't possible.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16And at this time, for Ella to keep her job,
0:29:16 > 0:29:20she might have had to be discreet about her son.
0:29:21 > 0:29:23It would not have been acceptable
0:29:23 > 0:29:27for servants to have a child out of wedlock,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31nor would it have been acceptable for most servants to marry
0:29:31 > 0:29:33and remain in service.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35Most women in particular would have expected
0:29:35 > 0:29:38and been expected to retire on marriage,
0:29:38 > 0:29:40so it would have been very unusual to have a son,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43and that's perhaps why she kept the son
0:29:43 > 0:29:46relatively low-key in her life.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51Thousands of young women worked in service in the interwar period,
0:29:51 > 0:29:53but Ella was no ordinary servant.
0:29:53 > 0:29:56In fact, she was a sought-after society cook,
0:29:56 > 0:29:59who spoke fluent French.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04My mother was quite a self-made lady, she started off as a servant
0:30:04 > 0:30:09in life, and then graduated up to the cooking status where she got
0:30:09 > 0:30:14quite successful, and she cooked, I know, for a lot of people in the
0:30:14 > 0:30:18Park Lane area, and used to travel to Scotland to prepare meals up there.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24Once, she was involved in cooking a meal for Von Ribbentrop,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28when he came over in 1938, when he was German Foreign Minister,
0:30:28 > 0:30:33and she said, "I missed the chance to poison him!"
0:30:34 > 0:30:37A cook was a very senior position in the household, it was,
0:30:37 > 0:30:38along with the housekeeper,
0:30:38 > 0:30:41one of the most senior female roles that you could have.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44It meant that you would have had authority over other servants.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47It was well-paid, the living conditions were quite good.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Hours would have been long, that doesn't mean that there was
0:30:50 > 0:30:53no time off in the day, but it would have been an early start
0:30:53 > 0:30:55and a late finish, and, yes,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58there would have been a lot of pressure to get it right, especially
0:30:58 > 0:31:04if you're cooking for upper-class society dinner parties and so on.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09She told me that a lot of the cooking that she did was French.
0:31:09 > 0:31:13When she died, I was clearing out some of the stuff
0:31:13 > 0:31:17and I found two very large cookbooks, all handwritten,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20all in French, in my mother's handwriting.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24As to who she cooked for, I never met anybody,
0:31:24 > 0:31:27I was never introduced to anybody, so, in actual fact,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29I have no idea who she cooked for.
0:31:31 > 0:31:35Electoral rolls from the 1930s show that Ella had at least one
0:31:35 > 0:31:39very grand employer, Esme Tondiman,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42the wife of the Maharaja of the Indian State of Pudokkottai.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47In 1915, the mixed-race marriage between the Australian
0:31:47 > 0:31:52socialite, known as Molly, and the Maharaja caused a public scandal.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55The couple were ostracised by the British establishment who
0:31:55 > 0:31:59refused to recognise her as the Maharani.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04After her husband's death in 1928, Molly moved to Mayfair in London,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06where Ella Letton became her cook.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10To learn that my mother was eventually
0:32:10 > 0:32:15cooking for the Maharaja's wife, would be quite a good thing to
0:32:15 > 0:32:20know, and it shows me what heights she achieved her cooking skills.
0:32:20 > 0:32:23Ella's life seems to be a very successful life,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25she had perhaps the career that she wanted,
0:32:25 > 0:32:29but, we might look back and ask ourselves -
0:32:29 > 0:32:30Was it sad for her that she didn't
0:32:30 > 0:32:33get to bring up her own children personally?
0:32:33 > 0:32:38I was extremely fond of my mother, and she always treated me well,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42and when she visited me, she always came armed with a good book or
0:32:42 > 0:32:45a present or something for me, which I was always very grateful for,
0:32:45 > 0:32:49but when I lived with her I found out more about what she was like,
0:32:49 > 0:32:50and she was a good woman.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52I sadly missed her.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59Back in the office, the heir hunters are still working
0:32:59 > 0:33:02the case of Ella's nephew, Ralph Hammond, and they may have
0:33:02 > 0:33:06finally broken the back of the giant paternal family tree.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09It's just a huge family, and we are trying to put
0:33:09 > 0:33:13the meat on the bones, really, now. To complete the research
0:33:13 > 0:33:18and find the last heir is certainly going to be weeks, if not months.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21They think they have now identified most of the living relatives
0:33:21 > 0:33:23and out on the road,
0:33:23 > 0:33:28the three travelling researchers are seeing as many of them as they can.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31And this is the Hammond family tree.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33Fantastic.
0:33:33 > 0:33:35That's the agreement.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37That's it, Dennis and Robert, that's it, isn't it?
0:33:37 > 0:33:40- we haven't got any other brothers or sisters?- Nope.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43The team now knows of around 90 heirs to Ralph's
0:33:43 > 0:33:47estimated £160,000 estate.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51Partner Neil is hoping most of them will sign up with the company.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55We have got some beneficiaries who are the only heirs on the stamp,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58so therefore they are entitled to £20,000.
0:33:58 > 0:34:00We have also got some heirs
0:34:00 > 0:34:03who are only entitled to £50 - £100,
0:34:03 > 0:34:04so it is important for us that we
0:34:04 > 0:34:07get to see the beneficiaries who are entitled to £20,000,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11and just write to the beneficiaries who are entitled to £100.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14It's a very careful balancing situation.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17For new case manager, Jo, this job,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21with its sprawling family tree has been a baptism of fire, but thanks
0:34:21 > 0:34:25to her own hard work, and the support of her team, she has managed
0:34:25 > 0:34:30to avoid the many potential pitfalls and crack this completed case.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33The travellers have done really well, spoken to lots of heirs
0:34:33 > 0:34:36today, and everyone in the office has done lots and lots of research.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38I'm pleased with how well it has come out,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40and considering the pure amount of people
0:34:40 > 0:34:42that was on the tree originally,
0:34:42 > 0:34:47I am pleased with how much we managed to do in such a short space of time.
0:34:49 > 0:34:51A few weeks later,
0:34:51 > 0:34:55and Neil has heard news on the final value of Ralph's estate, and it is
0:34:55 > 0:35:01even better than that £160,000 he had originally estimated.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03In the last three weeks a claim has been
0:35:03 > 0:35:07accepted by the Treasury Solicitor, that claim has been
0:35:07 > 0:35:12valued at £270,000, approximately twice the value I thought it was.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Jo, who has been managing this case,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17it's one of the first cases that she has really properly managed,
0:35:17 > 0:35:21and to have a case with this many beneficiaries handled
0:35:21 > 0:35:23in this way, with such speed, is really quite incredible,
0:35:23 > 0:35:26and I'm very proud of what she's done.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35In Liverpool, Saul Marks of heir hunting firm, Celtic Research,
0:35:35 > 0:35:37was trying to find beneficiaries to
0:35:37 > 0:35:40the £18,000 estate of Arthur Thorne.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42He died in London in 2003,
0:35:42 > 0:35:46and had been a well loved figure in his local church.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49I think I would like Arthur to be remembered for what he was,
0:35:49 > 0:35:54which was a nice, self-contained, very polite person.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57I remember him as being very formal, always shaking hands,
0:35:57 > 0:35:58saying, "Good morning."
0:35:58 > 0:36:01It would be nice if Arthur could be remembered by his memory
0:36:01 > 0:36:06at least being reunited with his relatives that are still alive.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11One of those relatives is Christina Morrison,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14whose father Frederick was Arthur's older brother.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17She remembers her uncle as a talented musician who had
0:36:17 > 0:36:20an exciting working life.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23Arthur was always known to the family as Archie.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26He was a very handsome, dapper man.
0:36:26 > 0:36:32Worked in Harrods and he was musical and played the piano.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Pauline Rainsford is another of Arthur's nieces.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39When she got the call from the heir hunters about her uncle,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42it was a name she hadn't heard for a very long time.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45I didn't know that Uncle Archie had died,
0:36:45 > 0:36:47though I thought he must've done.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50So, when somebody got in touch with me
0:36:50 > 0:36:53it came as a bolt out of the blue.
0:36:53 > 0:37:00The fact that Archie was alive in 2003 is crazy, because we could
0:37:00 > 0:37:04have all enjoyed each other's company, he would have,
0:37:04 > 0:37:08he might not have enjoyed us so much, but we would have liked
0:37:08 > 0:37:12to have seen him, as we would with any of our other family.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16It has made me think back to my Uncle Archie, it has made me
0:37:16 > 0:37:21think back to my childhood, and I wish I knew more about him.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25I have fond memories of him, he took me to places I would never
0:37:25 > 0:37:31have gone in my early years, he was delightful, he was delightful,
0:37:31 > 0:37:35and I would hope other people had the same memories of him.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Heir hunter, Saul Marks, discovered that Arthur was one of six
0:37:38 > 0:37:42brothers, all of whom had died before him.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45Four of these brothers had married and had children,
0:37:45 > 0:37:49and these were all heirs to Arthur's estimated £18,000 estate.
0:37:49 > 0:37:53The heirs I spoke to on this case all remembered their Uncle Archie
0:37:53 > 0:37:56quite well, he was a popular figure from their childhood,
0:37:56 > 0:37:58but they had all lost touch with him over many, many years,
0:37:58 > 0:38:02so none of them were aware that he had actually passed away.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06And it wasn't just Arthur that the Thorne family had lost touch with.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09Because of the threat to the capital city during the Second World War,
0:38:09 > 0:38:12some of the family had gone from West London to the West Country
0:38:12 > 0:38:14and never returned.
0:38:14 > 0:38:15Consequently,
0:38:15 > 0:38:20the next generation of Thornes knew virtually nothing about one another.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Often, families found it very difficult to reunite after
0:38:23 > 0:38:28the war, because over that long period of time people do change,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31and they adapt, and they evolve, especially children,
0:38:31 > 0:38:35so, often children would have gone away at nine and they came back at
0:38:35 > 0:38:4014, 15, they were now young adults, they were almost unrecognisable, they
0:38:40 > 0:38:45would certainly have evolved and changed from the people they were.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48For the Thorne family, the heir hunters investigating their
0:38:48 > 0:38:53Uncle Arthur's estate has opened up a whole new world.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58I think we're all very excited to know that we have got cousins,
0:38:58 > 0:39:03I'd like to learn a bit more about their dads, our uncles,
0:39:03 > 0:39:09and I think it would be just fun to see them.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13Today, Christina is travelling from Somerset
0:39:13 > 0:39:18and Pauline from Sussex to the home of their cousin, Nell, in Shepperton.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21Nell is the eldest of the three cousins.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25A bit nervous. Yes.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29It will be quite an experience, it will be nice to see them.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33These three ladies have never been in a room together before.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36I'm feeling very excited, and looking forward very much to
0:39:36 > 0:39:40seeing my cousins, and I hope they are looking forward to seeing me.
0:39:40 > 0:39:47I am very curious to find out about my father's past life
0:39:47 > 0:39:50and his brothers, because although I knew they existed
0:39:50 > 0:39:54they seemed to have stretched to the four corners of the country.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59- Hello!- Hello, Nell!
0:39:59 > 0:40:01- Hello, darling!- Long time no see.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05Nell and Pauline have not seen each other for more than 30 years,
0:40:05 > 0:40:09and Christina has never met either of her cousins.
0:40:10 > 0:40:11Hello.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15- Hello.- Are you Christina?- I'm Chris. And you are Nell.- Yes.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18I haven't seen you before, have I, darling?
0:40:18 > 0:40:19No, you haven't, it's lovely to meet you.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23- It's very kind of you to come.- Hello.
0:40:23 > 0:40:27- Hello, how are you?- I'm very well, and you?- Lovely to meet you.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29You are a complete stranger.
0:40:29 > 0:40:31Here we are, Nell, here's a little something for you.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33- That's very kind of you. - And a little something for you.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Oh, my goodness, how kind of you! That's lovely!
0:40:36 > 0:40:38I can't take my eyes off you!
0:40:39 > 0:40:42Over a cup of tea, the ladies soon settle down to swapping
0:40:42 > 0:40:45stories about their long-lost uncle.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Do you know anything about Uncle Arthur?
0:40:48 > 0:40:50He was always Uncle Archie.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52Yes, we only ever heard him as Archie.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57He was a brilliant guy, really nice. Really kind.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01But it's the photographs they've brought along to share that
0:41:01 > 0:41:04really bring the family stories to life.
0:41:04 > 0:41:09So, this is our grandmother with her six boys.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14That's Archie, Fred, we think Tom,
0:41:14 > 0:41:17Harry, and my dad, Ted.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21My dad adored his mum and he was absolutely heart- broken
0:41:21 > 0:41:23when she died.
0:41:23 > 0:41:25And even though they have not shared the last few
0:41:25 > 0:41:30decades of their lives, it seems they have an awful lot in common.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36This one, of Uncle Fred, now, my brother has got this up on his wall.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39- Crazy!- He treasures it.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43And didn't he win the Army heavyweight boxing title?
0:41:43 > 0:41:46When he won that, my mum and dad were at the Albert Hall.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49My mum got so excited, the man sitting in front of her,
0:41:49 > 0:41:53she banged her hands down and squashed his bowler hat!
0:41:53 > 0:41:54LAUGHTER
0:41:54 > 0:41:58With this unique opportunity to meet up and share family history,
0:41:58 > 0:42:01the cousins can't help but return to talking about the person who
0:42:01 > 0:42:03brought them all together.
0:42:03 > 0:42:04There's Archie.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06- Did you hear that he worked in Harrods?- Yes.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11- And also he was a very good pianist? - I just remember the voice.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13It was my dad's funeral.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16I knew he could sing, but in the church where you get this
0:42:16 > 0:42:20echoing and everything, oh, it was so beautiful, it made me cry.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23After such an enlightening day,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27the cousins feel pleased with all they can take away from their meeting.
0:42:27 > 0:42:30I was very, very happy to see everybody and it was
0:42:30 > 0:42:34so lovely to meet Christina.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38I haven't met Pauline for about 30 years, I think it is.
0:42:38 > 0:42:42It's been great fun, and maybe we will meet up in the future,
0:42:42 > 0:42:43who knows?
0:42:43 > 0:42:46I think Archie's got a lot to answer for and I think he's a lovely,
0:42:46 > 0:42:48lovely man for bringing us all together.
0:42:51 > 0:42:58If you would like advice about building a family tree or making a will, go to:
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