0:00:02 > 0:00:07Heir Hunters specialise in tracking down people entitled to money from someone who has died.
0:00:07 > 0:00:13They hand over thousands of pounds to family members who had no idea they were in line to inherit.
0:00:13 > 0:00:19- We didn't know he still existed. - Their work involves painstaking investigation.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Uncle Stanley. You knew that name instantly.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26But it can bring back long-forgotten family memories.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30My mother left me this bible. I've kept it all these years.
0:00:30 > 0:00:36Most of all, though, their work is about giving people news of an unexpected windfall.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40Could the Heir Hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:43 > 0:00:46Coming up: it's all in a name.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51We're struggling slightly with the surname. Young is very common.
0:00:51 > 0:00:57The Heir Hunters are led down a blind alley in the search for relatives of a London man.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Hang on a minute. That's wrong.
0:01:00 > 0:01:06The pioneering aircraft designer whose planes transported spies during World War Two.
0:01:06 > 0:01:11To actually see and touch an aircraft he was responsible for
0:01:11 > 0:01:13was something special.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18Plus how you could be entitled to inherit unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:28 > 0:01:34Thursday morning in London. Overnight, the Treasury's Bona Vacantia division
0:01:34 > 0:01:38has published its latest list of unclaimed estates.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43One name in particular has caught the eye at Fraser and Fraser
0:01:43 > 0:01:49- and researcher Debbie is already hard at work.- I'm working on the job of Wilfred Young.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Otherwise Wilfred S Young.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58The team know that Wilfred Young was born in Islington in 1921,
0:01:58 > 0:02:05but although they started work early this morning, for boss Neil it looks a rather tricky case.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11We're struggling slightly with the surname. Young is very common.
0:02:11 > 0:02:17It's not an easy task for anyone. It's not an easy task for us and we do it every day of the week.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21It's tricky, it's a challenge, but that's what research is.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27Keen to get ahead of other competing firms, the Heir Hunters have already spoken to a neighbour
0:02:27 > 0:02:31and established that Wilfred was a bachelor who never had children.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35We wonder if you're connected to this family.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41Now they're trawling marriage and birth records to see if he had any brothers or sisters,
0:02:41 > 0:02:47but as Young is such a common name, the search is throwing up a myriad of possibilities.
0:02:48 > 0:02:54Wilfred Young died in May, 2011, in Camden, London.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56He was 89 years old.
0:02:56 > 0:03:03To his friends, like neighbour Linda Cummings, he was known by his middle name of Stanley.
0:03:03 > 0:03:09I knew Stanley for about 14 years. He lived here and he was very friendly.
0:03:09 > 0:03:15We often helped him out. We supplied him with clothes and did the odd bit of laundry.
0:03:15 > 0:03:22Because he always used to go out in these sandals with no toes or anything.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26He was just Stanley. That was him.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31A quiet and reserved man, Stanley liked his routine.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38You knew at 9 o'clock when the door slammed where he was going - off to the pub for his couple of pints.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41He used to collect the glasses in the tavern.
0:03:41 > 0:03:46Towards the end of his life, Stanley spent more time alone at home,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50but was still keen to keep his mind active.
0:03:50 > 0:03:57He loved crosswords and word searches. He'd sit for hours with them. He'd get a bit annoyed
0:03:57 > 0:04:03if he couldn't finish it, but he really did love to do them. He was such a nice guy.
0:04:07 > 0:04:13Despite the fact that Stanley lived in a small rented flat and appeared to have few possessions,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17his estate is estimated to be worth around £20,000.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22For the Heir Hunters, who work for a pre-agreed percentage,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26it's a case worth pursuing, but progress is slow.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Researcher Dan has been drafted in to help out.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35Unfortunately, like everyone else, we've come to a bit of a dead end. Young's quite a common name.
0:04:35 > 0:04:41We've just got to keep looking, basically, and hope something else turns up.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47The team want to establish whether Stanley had any brothers or sisters.
0:04:47 > 0:04:54They urgently need to rule out some of the many permutations of Young births, marriages and deaths.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58I've been going through and speculatively looking at marriages.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02And we've just disproved yet another one.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04Unfortunately.
0:05:04 > 0:05:11Determined to stay ahead of the competition, Ben sends Eisha to the Islington Register Office
0:05:11 > 0:05:19to collect birth and marriage certificates for people who could be Stanley's parents and siblings.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23- If you can get that marriage... - I'll write it down. I'll ask.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27If you just get them to confirm Wilfred.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31I'll make a list of the births to get from Islington.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Hopefully, we'll be lucky and they'll do them.
0:05:35 > 0:05:41As Eisha heads off to Islington, travelling Heir Hunter Ewart Lindsay waits on standby.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48He's one of the company's flying squad of senior researchers,
0:05:48 > 0:05:52willing to go wherever the case takes them in the search for heirs.
0:05:52 > 0:06:00It's their job to canvass neighbours, collect certificates and, hopefully, sign up heirs.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Sometimes it can be quite tricky finding people.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08We know our job, so it does become quite easy after a while.
0:06:08 > 0:06:14Ewart's been told by the office to head towards Islington because that's where Stanley was born.
0:06:14 > 0:06:21It's likely his siblings were born there, too, and they or their descendants could still be here.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Essex Road. It's all happening in Islington.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29In the office, Ben has drawn up a speculative family tree.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34He thinks he's found a brother called Douglas Young and other siblings,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37but he needs written proof.
0:06:37 > 0:06:44We're still waiting for certificates from Islington. The sheer volume of records for Young is unbelievable.
0:06:44 > 0:06:51It's a tense wait for Ben. It's likely that other heir hunting firms are also working this case,
0:06:51 > 0:06:53so time is of the essence.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Hello, Eisha.
0:06:55 > 0:07:02Finally, he gets the call he's been waiting for. Researcher Eisha has managed to get the certificates
0:07:02 > 0:07:04and she has crucial information.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Whoa! Hang on. That's wrong, then.
0:07:07 > 0:07:13The Douglas Young Ben thought was Stanley's brother is, in fact, his father.
0:07:19 > 0:07:26Born in 1891, Douglas married Stanley's mother Ethel Taylor in 1914.
0:07:26 > 0:07:32Records show that he had an interesting job working on London's busy Underground network.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39Working for the Underground, for London Transport, tended to be something that was passed down
0:07:39 > 0:07:41from father to son at one time.
0:07:41 > 0:07:48And it was a job that you could have for life if you wanted or you could work your way up.
0:07:48 > 0:07:54On Stanley's birth certificate, Douglas's occupation is listed as a railway gateman.
0:07:54 > 0:08:01It was an often arduous and time-consuming job, manning gates to let people on and off the train.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08You have a uniform and you have free travel and everything else,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11so it was a responsible and respectable job.
0:08:11 > 0:08:18In the rush hour, you could imagine it was really quite a problem letting people off and then on.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23It meant that every train had to have a number of gatemen, one between each coach,
0:08:23 > 0:08:27and it took a long time to get people on and off.
0:08:27 > 0:08:33In the 1920s, the introduction of automatic doors meant the gatemen's job became obsolete,
0:08:33 > 0:08:37freeing up Douglas to go onto bigger and better things.
0:08:38 > 0:08:44We know that by 1943, in the middle of the war, Douglas was a station manager for London Transport.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47He'd moved up the system considerably.
0:08:47 > 0:08:53From mid-1940, the Blitz led to the use of many Underground stations as air raid shelters.
0:08:53 > 0:09:00Thousands of people crowded the Underground, often sleeping there overnight to escape the bombing.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05It was very much the working classes of London, particularly people from the East End,
0:09:05 > 0:09:10who'd been bombed out of their homes, who invaded the Tube, against official advice,
0:09:10 > 0:09:15and stayed down there and had to live in the Tube.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18They thought it was probably the safest place to be.
0:09:18 > 0:09:25It was Douglas's responsibility to make sure the station operated as normally as possible.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29The trains had to come through the station as usual,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33even though people would have been sheltering on the platforms.
0:09:33 > 0:09:39In the early days, they were just hunkering down on the platforms while trains came in.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43They marked out a line on the middle of the platform
0:09:43 > 0:09:46to separate out the passengers from the shelterers.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Douglas was likely to have had more than one station under his control.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55It was a tough and often perilous job.
0:09:55 > 0:10:01A lot of London Transport staff were killed or injured during the war.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06Sloane Square station, for example, had a direct hit in 1940
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and a lot of people were killed.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12It was a responsible job, but also a tough, stressful job.
0:10:12 > 0:10:18Their contribution to the war effort, if you like, was just as serious as anybody else's.
0:10:23 > 0:10:30The search for heirs to Stanley's £20,000 estate is gathering momentum.
0:10:30 > 0:10:36Now the team have managed to identify his parents and have birth and marriage certificates,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40case manager Ben is able to clear up some initial mistakes.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45The potential births that we had for siblings of the deceased...
0:10:45 > 0:10:51Out of one, two, three, four, five, six, we know that four are definitely wrong.
0:10:51 > 0:10:58The reason we know that is the mother's name's different, so the only sibling, full blood,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01that we've located is Jessie Ethel Young.
0:11:01 > 0:11:07After going down several blind alleys, the team have managed to establish
0:11:07 > 0:11:13that Stanley had a sister called Jessie, but death records show she died a spinster in 2002.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19The Heir Hunters think it's likely that Stanley had other siblings
0:11:19 > 0:11:23and so potentially some nieces and nephews,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26but will they get to them ahead of the competition?
0:11:26 > 0:11:33Michael Young? It's concerning an unclaimed estate of someone dying without leaving a will. Your uncle.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47Finding and signing up heirs is always the main aim for the Heir Hunters,
0:11:47 > 0:11:54but to be able to uncover some fascinating family history is always a welcome bonus.
0:11:54 > 0:12:00That was the case with Kathleen Mary Davenport, who died in 2011.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05As Kathleen didn't leave a will, her estate was advertised by the Treasury solicitor.
0:12:05 > 0:12:11Fraser and Fraser case manager Dave Slee immediately spotted its potential.
0:12:11 > 0:12:16By obtaining a copy of the death certificate, we were able to establish
0:12:16 > 0:12:20that Kathleen was resident in a nursing home prior to her death.
0:12:20 > 0:12:27However, prior to that, electoral registers suggested she owned her own property in Richmond, Surrey.
0:12:27 > 0:12:34From our point of view, that's quite exciting because Richmond is an affluent suburb of London
0:12:34 > 0:12:41where the rich and famous live and we were hoping that her property was worth a lot of money.
0:12:46 > 0:12:54Kathleen Davenport passed away on July 26th, 2011, one month after her 90th birthday.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58She spent her last days at a care home near London,
0:12:58 > 0:13:03but she had lived a full and exciting life. To her friends, like Antony Hornyold,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Kathleen was always known as Kate.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10I met Kate when we both arrived in Accra
0:13:10 > 0:13:14to work for the British High Commission in Ghana.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20Since then, I've known her for the remainder of her life, which was 49 years.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24She was an attractive and intelligent person,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28quite outgoing, particularly on social occasions.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34After the end of the Second World War, Kathleen married a man who worked for the Colonial Office.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39In 1949, he was posted to Ghana and Kathleen went with him.
0:13:39 > 0:13:45It was to be the beginning of a lifelong love affair with this vibrant West African nation.
0:13:45 > 0:13:51She loved Ghana and the Ghanaians and she was very good with them
0:13:51 > 0:13:54and they liked her very much, too.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00In 1957, Kathleen's marriage broke up and she moved back to Britain.
0:14:00 > 0:14:06She worked for several years as a secretary in London, but always longed to go back to Africa.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09In 1962, she got her chance.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14She saw an advertisement by the Commonwealth Relations Office
0:14:14 > 0:14:18for secretaries needed at the High Commission in Accra.
0:14:18 > 0:14:24And, having loved Ghana, she applied for it and got the job.
0:14:25 > 0:14:33When I think of Kate, I think of a person with a great enthusiasm for life, for people,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36for animals, birds and flowers.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41And someone with a warm and attractive personality.
0:14:41 > 0:14:47After many years abroad, Kathleen eventually moved back to the UK and set up home in Richmond.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52For Heir Hunter Dave Slee, this was an obvious starting point
0:14:52 > 0:14:56to try to find out more about Kathleen and her family tree.
0:14:56 > 0:15:04Once we knew the address for Kathleen, one of my colleagues went to the flats and door-knocked,
0:15:04 > 0:15:10and asked the neighbours what they knew about her. We got really lucky with the inquiry.
0:15:10 > 0:15:17It would appear that the neighbours and the deceased had all moved in at the same time
0:15:17 > 0:15:20so they'd known her for a number of years.
0:15:20 > 0:15:25Kathleen's neighbours were able to give Dave a lot of crucial information,
0:15:25 > 0:15:30including the fact that she was divorced and had no children.
0:15:30 > 0:15:37Having found out at this point that her estate was worth around £22,000, the next step
0:15:37 > 0:15:43was to find out if Kathleen had any brothers or sisters.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47Records showed that Kathleen was born in 1921
0:15:47 > 0:15:55and that her parents, Arthur Davenport and Agnes Thorn, had married in 1917.
0:15:55 > 0:16:02A thorough search of birth records indicated that she was the only child born to that marriage.
0:16:02 > 0:16:09Her mother died in 1937 and her father subsequently remarried, but there were no children there.
0:16:09 > 0:16:14So there was neither full-blood near kin or half-blood near kin.
0:16:14 > 0:16:22With no siblings in line to inherit, Dave had to focus on finding aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26And when he started looking into Kathleen's father's family,
0:16:26 > 0:16:29he stumbled across some interesting information.
0:16:29 > 0:16:35Kathleen's father, Arthur Davenport, was born in 1891 in Sheffield, south Yorkshire.
0:16:35 > 0:16:41A check of the 1911 Census showed that he was living with his parents.
0:16:41 > 0:16:46At that time he was 19 and he was an apprentice engineer.
0:16:46 > 0:16:53On Kathleen's 1946 marriage certificate, her father's occupation was listed as aircraft designer
0:16:53 > 0:16:59and further investigations revealed that he had worked for one of the most important aviation companies
0:16:59 > 0:17:01in British history.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06Westland Aircraft was formed in 1915 at Yeovil in Somerset.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10At first it built aircraft under licence for other manufacturers,
0:17:10 > 0:17:16but before long the company began to design and produce its own planes.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22Westlands, by the time the Second World War came around, were a major aircraft producer.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25They built army aircraft, the Wapiti.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29And they had several designs they were working on.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34Arthur Davenport had been with Westland since the very beginning,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38starting off as chief draughtsman at the age of 24.
0:17:40 > 0:17:47He was involved in the design aspect of the company, all the way through until post-Second World War.
0:17:47 > 0:17:54So he was a very important employee and one who progressed eventually to become Chief Designer
0:17:54 > 0:17:58and Chief Technical Officer.
0:17:58 > 0:18:05In the 1930s, Arthur became involved in designing what was to become an iconic British military aircraft,
0:18:05 > 0:18:11the Lysander. It was to play a critical role in the Second World War.
0:18:11 > 0:18:17The Lysander's probably most famous for its role with the SOE, the Special Operations Executive,
0:18:17 > 0:18:24where they would fly out of airfields in Britain with spies and equipment on board, radios,
0:18:24 > 0:18:28explosives, and they would land in a field in occupied Europe
0:18:28 > 0:18:32and drop off those agents and equipment to the Resistance.
0:18:32 > 0:18:38The fact that Kathleen Davenport's father had such a prominent job
0:18:38 > 0:18:41was a huge bonus for Heir Hunter Dave Slee.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47We were told that Arthur Davenport, Kathleen's father, was an aircraft designer,
0:18:47 > 0:18:53so we went immediately onto the internet and checked this out and we found a lot of information
0:18:53 > 0:18:57that was really helpful for our investigations.
0:18:57 > 0:19:03By looking at census records, Dave found out that, like his daughter Kathleen, Arthur was an only child.
0:19:03 > 0:19:10From our point of view, this is worrying. This is one side of the family with no heirs at all.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16If it's the same on the mother's side and she's an only child, end of story. There's no heirs.
0:19:16 > 0:19:23With her father's side of the family a dead end, everything now rested on whether Kathleen's mother,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Agnes Thorn, had any brothers or sisters.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30If she was an only child, as well as the deceased's father,
0:19:30 > 0:19:35this would mean there would be no heirs entitled whatsoever.
0:19:35 > 0:19:42If this was the case, Kathleen's £22,000 estate would end up in the Government's coffers,
0:19:42 > 0:19:47but a search of marriage and birth records threw up a glimmer of hope.
0:19:47 > 0:19:54It was a real relief for us to discover that the deceased's mother was one of nine children.
0:19:54 > 0:20:01This meant there's every likelihood that there would be descendants alive entitled to Kathleen's estate.
0:20:03 > 0:20:08But it still wasn't plain sailing for the Heir Hunters.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Knowing there's eight siblings to the deceased's mother,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16we've now got to individually check each of those stems
0:20:16 > 0:20:24and we quickly whittled down to find that, in fact, six of those stems died out with no children,
0:20:24 > 0:20:29so we're really panicking now that there's less and less heirs likely to be entitled.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35And as the search progressed, there were more surprises in store.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39There's nothing worse than doing all the work on a case, paying out
0:20:39 > 0:20:44and six months down the line someone shows us a will.
0:20:45 > 0:20:53Thousands of rightful beneficiaries are tracked down by the Heir Hunters every year,
0:20:53 > 0:20:59but not all cases can be cracked. There are thousands of estates on the Bona Vacantia list
0:20:59 > 0:21:03that have eluded the Heir Hunters and remain unsolved.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08To claim the estate of someone who's died intestate,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13you need to trace your relationship in a direct line from the deceased person's grandparents.
0:21:13 > 0:21:20They need to supply us with certificates of birth, death and marriage and identity documents.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24Today we focus on two cases that are yet to be solved.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27Could you be the beneficiary?
0:21:27 > 0:21:33Golda Samuels died in Homerton, East London, on 18th November, 1999.
0:21:33 > 0:21:40Research shows that Golda was born in 1918 to Jewish parents Maurice and Rose Samuels,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42who were originally from Russia.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48The Heir Hunters believe Golda also had a relative called Max Samuels who died in New York
0:21:48 > 0:21:54and may have been an uncle, but so far efforts to trace living relatives have failed.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00Did you know Golda? Are you the relative Heir Hunters are looking for?
0:22:00 > 0:22:07Next is the case of Edgar Arthur Guest who died on 1st March, 2005, in East Dulwich in London.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11The majority of people with the surname Guest live in the Midlands,
0:22:11 > 0:22:16so although Edgar died in London, it's possible he came from another part of the UK.
0:22:16 > 0:22:23Perhaps you have the answers that could help solve this case. Perhaps you're a relative of Edgar.
0:22:23 > 0:22:28Edgar and Golda's estates remain unclaimed and if no one comes forward,
0:22:28 > 0:22:32their money will go to the Government.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36If it belongs to someone else, we simply don't want it.
0:22:36 > 0:22:42Here are those names again. Golda Samuels and Edgar Arthur Guest.
0:22:42 > 0:22:47If you're one of their relatives, you could have a windfall coming your way.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55Thursday morning at the offices of Fraser and Fraser
0:22:55 > 0:23:03and the team is on a desperate chase to solve the case of Wilfred Stanley Young, but it's not an easy task.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10It's a bit in the air at the moment. It's a common name and we're not sure if we've got the right birth.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13They're working out several avenues.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17Until we get something to prove we're on the right track,
0:23:17 > 0:23:23it's just doing a lot of work and hopefully something comes of it.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29After several false starts, the team has managed to establish that Wilfred Stanley Young
0:23:29 > 0:23:34had a sister called Jessie, who died a spinster in 2002.
0:23:34 > 0:23:40Case manager Ben Cornish has a hunch there are more siblings, although so far he's not found them.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Anyone else got anything good?
0:23:43 > 0:23:46No? Got anything good?
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Wilfred Young died in London in 2011 aged 89.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58He was known to his friends by his middle name of Stanley.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Stanley lived downstairs in the flats where I live.
0:24:01 > 0:24:07He was a bit lonely and used to shuffle about, come down the landing.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11He'd be coming out just as I did and he'd say hello in the mornings.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14And that's how I met Stanley.
0:24:14 > 0:24:20Stanley had, at one time, been a well-known face at his local pub,
0:24:20 > 0:24:24but as he got older, he grew more introverted.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28He never really seemed to speak and have a conversation.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33He seemed to permanently be out there to greet you going to work.
0:24:33 > 0:24:39I think he was looking for a bit of company, but he didn't have much to say.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44Sadly, a burglary at his home left him even more reclusive.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49I know he was in the services because he had a lot of medals.
0:24:49 > 0:24:55He was very proud of them and when he got burgled, he was bitterly upset and didn't want to go out.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00He was frightened of losing the little bits he did have.
0:25:00 > 0:25:06Just the big sofa that he had and big piles of crossword books because that was his hobby.
0:25:10 > 0:25:17- In the office, there's been a breakthrough. - This has our deceased on there.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Jessie, we know she dies a spinster.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25The Heir Hunters have found Stanley on the 1949 Electoral Register,
0:25:25 > 0:25:33living at an address in Holloway, North London, together with his parents and at least one sibling.
0:25:33 > 0:25:38There's a Gordon mentioned with the family. It gives us an address.
0:25:38 > 0:25:44We've just checked that and there's still a Young family living there up until quite recently.
0:25:44 > 0:25:50We're still not sure if Gordon is a sibling of the deceased. We need to ask a few questions.
0:25:50 > 0:25:56A further search of birth, marriage and death records reveals that Gordon has now passed away,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01but it appears he did marry and have at least one child, Michael.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06If the information is correct, he'd be Stanley's nephew and an heir to his estate.
0:26:06 > 0:26:13Ben thinks he's found an address for Michael in Islington and wastes no time in mobilising
0:26:13 > 0:26:15travelling researcher Ewart Lindsay.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18- 'Hi, Ewart.'- Hi, Ben.
0:26:18 > 0:26:25We've got a potential heir, born in 1948. Potentially a nephew of the deceased.
0:26:25 > 0:26:31Ewart heads straight for the address and, without making an appointment, goes to see if Michael is in.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36Will this be the first heir on this very frustrating case?
0:26:36 > 0:26:44Michael Young? It's concerning an unclaimed estate of someone dying without leaving a will. Your uncle.
0:26:44 > 0:26:51To make sure he's got the right person, Ewart checks the research against information from Michael.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57- What's your occupation?- Last occupation, I was a packer/loader.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00- Have you been married? - Yes, divorced.
0:27:00 > 0:27:06The office got it right. Michael is the son of Stanley's older brother, Gordon.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10He hasn't seen his uncle for more than 30 years.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14We always called him Uncle Stan. That was all.
0:27:14 > 0:27:18I mean, he was a friendly guy as I remember him.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21When we was kids, he often used to pop round.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25It's a great result for the Heir Hunters.
0:27:25 > 0:27:31Mr Young, he's signed up with us, that's pretty good. He was one of eight children.
0:27:31 > 0:27:38He's given me all the details of his siblings. He didn't know much about his aunt and uncle. It's OK.
0:27:39 > 0:27:46And back in the office, the team is making great strides in the search for Stanley's other heirs.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51- What's going on?- Can we find her? She might actually still be alive.
0:27:51 > 0:27:57The team has been able to establish that as well as Gordon and Jessie, Stanley had one other sibling -
0:27:57 > 0:28:00his younger brother Leonard.
0:28:00 > 0:28:06Although he's long since passed away, Leonard's three grandchildren will be entitled to a share
0:28:06 > 0:28:08in Stanley's estate.
0:28:08 > 0:28:14Ben's managed to make contact with all of them and is hopeful they'll sign up with the company,
0:28:14 > 0:28:19but there's still work to do before he can wrap up this case.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23The team has to trace Michael Young's seven brothers and sisters.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27They're Stanley's nieces and nephews and heirs to his estate.
0:28:27 > 0:28:34It's the call Ben has been waiting for - Michael's sister and Stanley's niece, Pauline.
0:28:35 > 0:28:40We're working on the estate of a gentleman, Wilfred Stanley Young.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44Uncle Stanley. You knew that name instantly.
0:28:44 > 0:28:51He's hoping Pauline can furnish him with details that could help solve this tricky case.
0:28:51 > 0:28:58She has confirmed the whole family. To get an actual niece of the deceased who knows the family
0:28:58 > 0:29:02is great. She's confirmed everything we've got.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07Pauline tells Ben that her father Gordon was Stanley's older brother.
0:29:07 > 0:29:13He and his wife Beatrice had eight children. Seven of them, including Pauline and Michael,
0:29:13 > 0:29:18are heirs to their Uncle Stanley's estate. One of them, Lynn, has passed away,
0:29:18 > 0:29:22so her two children will inherit her share.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26After a difficult start with a very common surname,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30the final piece of the puzzle has now slotted into place.
0:29:30 > 0:29:35The Heir Hunters are confident they've found all 11 beneficiaries to Stanley's estate.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38And boss Neil is pleased.
0:29:38 > 0:29:43It's a case which we've had to work to solve. We've gone down lots of wrong avenues
0:29:43 > 0:29:48and had to think outside the box. That has enabled us to find near kin.
0:29:48 > 0:29:53Ben's worked pretty well. It's a £20,000 estate.
0:29:53 > 0:29:58So we're limiting on the edge of whether it's financially viable for us to work.
0:29:58 > 0:30:03Being able to find near kin in just one day of research
0:30:03 > 0:30:07certainly makes it viable for us to finish off.
0:30:07 > 0:30:12A couple of weeks after she helped fill in the gaps for the Heir Hunters,
0:30:12 > 0:30:18Stanley's niece Pauline is meeting up with her older brother Keith, who is also in line to inherit.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24Together they're sharing fond memories of the man they knew as Uncle Stan.
0:30:24 > 0:30:30Stanley was, like, really easygoing and nothing seemed to bother him.
0:30:30 > 0:30:36You'd never see him get worked up about anything. He just took days as they came, took life as it come.
0:30:36 > 0:30:42Up until the age of five, Keith lived in the same house as Stanley and the rest of the young family.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47He remembers his uncle as a quiet but quirky character.
0:30:47 > 0:30:53- He used to have a loom. He used to make all these scarves and things. - I can't imagine him making scarves.
0:30:53 > 0:30:57We used to get Christmas presents, a scarf he'd made on his loom.
0:30:57 > 0:31:03I used to see him regularly of a morning going out on his scooter.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08This weird little scooter it was. Like a souped-up hair dryer.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13He used to just potter along and disappear in the distance on it.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18- Did he always wear sandals then as well?- As far as I can remember, he wore sandals all his life!
0:31:18 > 0:31:23Pauline hadn't seen Stanley since her wedding day 33 years ago,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26but Keith had been in contact more recently.
0:31:26 > 0:31:32I was quite sad to think that he passed away and we didn't even know that he still existed.
0:31:32 > 0:31:40That's the bit that gets me. Stanley is gone and we didn't even know that Stanley was still alive.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45I think it's sad that he's died on his own, with none of us knowing.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48To me, it's sad that he had no one with him when he died.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53- A really sweet person. So inoffensive.- Yeah.
0:31:53 > 0:31:58- A gentle giant.- Yeah. In sandals. - In sandals, yeah!
0:32:10 > 0:32:16In London, the Heir Hunters were trying to find beneficiaries to the £22,000 estate
0:32:16 > 0:32:20of Kathleen Davenport, who died in 2011.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25As a secretary for the British High Commission,
0:32:25 > 0:32:31Kathleen had spent many years in Ghana, but she'd started her working life closer to home.
0:32:33 > 0:32:40When the war came, she joined the WAAFs. She must have done quite well because she got a commission.
0:32:40 > 0:32:45She must have shown leadership qualities and intelligence.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50The WAAFs were members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53Established at the start of WWII,
0:32:53 > 0:32:59it grew from 1,700 members to 180,000 by 1943.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05Engaged in 15 types of duty, from catering to maintaining aircraft
0:33:05 > 0:33:10and controlling planes in operations rooms, WAAFs were a vital part of the war effort.
0:33:11 > 0:33:17By joining them, Kathleen was perhaps following in the footsteps of her father, Arthur Davenport,
0:33:17 > 0:33:20a well-known aircraft designer.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Her father was the designer of the Lysander aircraft,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27very highly respected in that field.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32The WAAFs reformed as the Women's Royal Air Force in 1949
0:33:32 > 0:33:36and fully integrated into the RAF in 1994. And it was here
0:33:36 > 0:33:42that Kathleen turned when she needed help in later life.
0:33:42 > 0:33:48The RAF Benevolent Fund helped Kate buy a flat on Richmond Hill. It was a lovely flat.
0:33:48 > 0:33:56There were beautiful views all round and Kate became very fond of the area
0:33:56 > 0:33:59and walked a lot. She also had a small dog.
0:33:59 > 0:34:03I think she had a happy time in Richmond.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09The search for beneficiaries to Kathleen's £22,000 estate
0:34:09 > 0:34:13was proving tough for Heir Hunter Dave Slee.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17Kathleen was an only child, divorced with no children of her own.
0:34:17 > 0:34:23Her father, Arthur, had no siblings so there were no heirs on that side of the family.
0:34:23 > 0:34:30Her mother, Agnes, did have eight brothers and sisters, but six died without having any children.
0:34:30 > 0:34:37The remaining two, Rosetta and Elma, were his last hope for finding heirs.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42Although we were whittling down each stem to find that there were no descendants,
0:34:42 > 0:34:48we eventually found that there were two stems that had descendants alive.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54A check of marriage and birth records revealed that Agnes' older sister Rosetta married
0:34:54 > 0:35:00and had three children, Kathleen's first cousins - Olive, Margaret and Phyllis.
0:35:00 > 0:35:06Although they've long since passed away, two of the cousins had children themselves.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11Dave had found his first heirs to Kathleen's estate.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15We're really relieved now. We've got no paternal heirs.
0:35:15 > 0:35:23We had a huge maternal family that was whittling down and eventually got heirs on two stems.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26We were very, very relieved.
0:35:26 > 0:35:32The next step was to contact the heirs to tell them about their possible inheritance.
0:35:32 > 0:35:39Dave began with Margaret's older daughter, Valerie, Kathleen's first cousin once removed.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42I met Kathleen when I was younger.
0:35:42 > 0:35:48Kathleen, I believe, moved to Salisbury. I moved to Bournemouth when I was 19.
0:35:48 > 0:35:50So we lost touch.
0:35:50 > 0:35:56Mother used to talk about her. I believe she's in some family photographs,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00but because of the distance we weren't that close.
0:36:01 > 0:36:07Although their families didn't remain in contact, it seems they had one thing in common -
0:36:07 > 0:36:13just like Kathleen's father, Arthur, Valerie's father Leslie spent much of his working life
0:36:13 > 0:36:15at Westland Aircraft.
0:36:15 > 0:36:20My father was working in the tool room in 1938.
0:36:20 > 0:36:26It was then called Petters. He used to do the electrics on the planes.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30That's my father, Leslie Stark, in the tool room.
0:36:30 > 0:36:35And there he is at the machine that he often used.
0:36:36 > 0:36:43Contacting Valerie first was to turn out to be a huge stroke of luck for the Heir Hunters.
0:36:43 > 0:36:50Valerie was really helpful to us because she was able to confirm the heirs descending from one stem,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52her grandmother, Rosetta.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56Also she had a family bible, which was crucial.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01That enabled us to confirm with the information in it
0:37:01 > 0:37:06all the aunts and uncles of Kathleen, the deceased, on the maternal family.
0:37:07 > 0:37:13Written by Kathleen's grandparents, the family bible lists the full names and dates of birth
0:37:13 > 0:37:19of all of their nine children, including Kathleen's mother, Agnes, and Valerie's grandmother, Rosetta.
0:37:21 > 0:37:26My mother left me this bible. I've kept it all these years.
0:37:26 > 0:37:33It's a family heirloom so I shall always treasure it and I hope to pass it on to my daughter.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37The information in the family bible, coupled with his own research,
0:37:37 > 0:37:42led Dave to his next heir - Valerie's cousin, Richard.
0:37:43 > 0:37:50I think when the Heir Hunters first made contact with me to a degree I was puzzled.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56I knew the surname Davenport, I didn't know Kathleen.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00So it was quite a mystery.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05Keen to know more, Richard conducted his own online research.
0:38:07 > 0:38:12All I did was to explore what I could find on the internet.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16There was a little bit about Arthur Davenport.
0:38:18 > 0:38:24Until the Heir Hunters tracked her down, Valerie had no idea that by working for Westland,
0:38:24 > 0:38:28her father had much in common with Kathleen's father, Arthur Davenport.
0:38:28 > 0:38:34Both she and her cousin, Richard, are keen to know more about their family's links with aviation,
0:38:34 > 0:38:40so today they've come to the Shuttleworth aeronautical collection in Bedfordshire
0:38:40 > 0:38:45- to meet chief engineer Jean-Michel Munn.- Hello. Jean Munn.
0:38:47 > 0:38:54They want to see first-hand how his work on the Lysander made Arthur's name as a pioneer of aviation.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58Well, this is what I wanted to show you.
0:38:58 > 0:39:05A Westland Lysander, which, of course, is one of Arthur Davenport's designs.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09One of the interesting features of this aircraft is the slats and flaps
0:39:09 > 0:39:13which are all out and down at the moment.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18Uniquely, they would deploy completely automatically.
0:39:18 > 0:39:24So as they come out, they draw the flaps down and so the wing alters shape
0:39:24 > 0:39:29- according to the speed the aeroplane flies at.- Oh, I see.
0:39:29 > 0:39:36Arthur's wing design enabled the Lysander to fly incredibly slowly without stalling or losing control.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41It could land almost anywhere because it needed hardly any space to slow down.
0:39:41 > 0:39:47This made it perfect for the job of dropping spies into Nazi-occupied France under cover of night,
0:39:47 > 0:39:54as pilots had to land wherever they could, usually in small fields marked out by the Resistance.
0:39:54 > 0:39:59Other features you'll see are the huge undercarriage, massive wheels,
0:39:59 > 0:40:07made for landing on rough, unprepared fields. And also the position the pilot sits in.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12He's got an excellent field of view. He can see over the nose for landing.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17What were the features Arthur was involved in designing?
0:40:17 > 0:40:22Well, he had overall control of the design team,
0:40:22 > 0:40:29so he would have been involved in all aspects and working with the individual guys under him.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34- He would control the whole... - From start to finish?- Yes.
0:40:34 > 0:40:39It's been a rewarding trip for the cousins. At the end of their tour of the museum,
0:40:39 > 0:40:43they take a moment to reflect on what they've learned.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48It's been a wonderful experience to discover about a distant relation
0:40:48 > 0:40:51who I only actually knew by name,
0:40:51 > 0:40:55although coming from Yeovil I knew his connection with Westland.
0:40:55 > 0:41:03But to actually see and touch an aircraft he was responsible for was something special.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Absolutely marvellous. Very proud.
0:41:05 > 0:41:11But there's a final twist in the tale of Kathleen Davenport's unclaimed estate.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14The team has spent weeks tracking down all seven heirs,
0:41:14 > 0:41:19but now partner Neil has received some very surprising news.
0:41:21 > 0:41:27It's about 3 or 4 months since we've finished the research on this case.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32And there's been some major developments. We've located a will.
0:41:32 > 0:41:37This will, obviously, takes priority to everything we've done.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42The beneficiaries we've already found will no longer be entitled.
0:41:42 > 0:41:48Kathleen had left her entire estate to the charity which had helped her through hard times,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51the RAF Benevolent Fund.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56For Kathleen's relatives, the money is now in the right hands.
0:41:57 > 0:42:04When we first heard from the Heir Hunters that there was a likelihood that we would have a windfall
0:42:04 > 0:42:09of an undetermined amount, well, we were quite pleased, obviously.
0:42:09 > 0:42:14But as it turns out, it wasn't to be. I think we were quite pleased
0:42:14 > 0:42:20that Kathleen Davenport's money has actually gone to somewhere she wanted it to go.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25The expenses we have encountered is obviously the staff working on this case,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29which we still have to pay, the certificates we purchased,
0:42:29 > 0:42:35the time going out to see the beneficiaries. It's money we're not going to be able to recover,
0:42:35 > 0:42:41so finding a will, it's good for the estate. It's what the deceased wanted.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44But from Frasers' point of view, it's very expensive.
0:42:44 > 0:42:50For the RAF Benevolent Fund, however, it's a welcome windfall.
0:42:50 > 0:42:55It means RAF service personnel, past and present, will benefit from the legacy
0:42:55 > 0:42:58of this great aviating family.
0:43:00 > 0:43:06If you would like advice about building a family tree or making a will, go to:
0:43:26 > 0:43:28Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd