0:00:02 > 0:00:06Heir hunters specialise in tracking down people who are entitled to money from someone who has died.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09If we don't do the work to inform them,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11it's money which is going to go to the Government.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15They hand over thousands of pounds to relatives who had no idea
0:00:15 > 0:00:19- they were in line to inherit.- If you get nothing, then we get nothing.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22Their work involves painstaking investigation.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24What the hell is going on here?
0:00:24 > 0:00:28But it can rekindle long forgotten family memories.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32He was a gentle, kind young man.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37But most of all, the work is giving people news of an unexpected windfall.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40I was absolutely gobsmacked.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Coming up - the heir hunters grapple with the mammoth case of a man
0:00:51 > 0:00:53who died over a century ago.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56It's gone on to four, effectively five, pages now.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The mysterious case of a popular vicar who drifted
0:00:59 > 0:01:01apart from his relatives.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05I find it rather strange that a public figure like a reverend
0:01:05 > 0:01:08would die without contact with his family
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and also without having made a will.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Plus, how you could be entitled to inherit unclaimed estates
0:01:14 > 0:01:15held by the Treasury.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Could a fortune be heading your way?
0:01:23 > 0:01:24It's a Tuesday morning
0:01:24 > 0:01:27and the team at heir hunting firm Celtic Research,
0:01:27 > 0:01:31run by father and son team Peter and Hector Birchwood,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34are getting stuck into a very unusual case.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37Eventually, we'll have something to give to the heirs.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Case manager Saul Marks, who runs the firm's north west office,
0:01:41 > 0:01:45has travelled 150 miles from his base in Liverpool to
0:01:45 > 0:01:47the Northamptonshire Records Office,
0:01:47 > 0:01:52where he hopes to unearth some vital information on a 113-year-old case.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57- I'm here to look at some records for the village of Staverton. - Come through, Mr Marks.- Thank you.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Saul is on the hunt for relatives of a man called William Hall,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06who died in 1899.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Right, I'm after some parish records for Staverton.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16- OK.- Erm, marriages for the 1800s, 1810s.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19- OK.- Up to about 1815.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25And then baptisms probably from about 1770 to about 1890...1790, sorry. OK.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Because this case is so old, Saul has to trawl through
0:02:28 > 0:02:32yards of microfiche records to get the information he needs.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35It looks like he could have a long day ahead of him.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41I'm currently in about 1794, so we need to move on a bit from that.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Most of the heir hunters' work comes from the Treasury's
0:02:44 > 0:02:47bona vacantia list of unclaimed states.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49But this job was different from the start.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53The firm took on this case after being contacted by a woman
0:02:53 > 0:02:56called Valerie Foley, who had spent several years trying to prove
0:02:56 > 0:03:00that her family was entitled to inherit from William Hall's estate.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05She started her research after the death of her great-aunt Sisi.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08Sisi had left a large tin trunk, erm...
0:03:08 > 0:03:12with lots and lots of family documents,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15amongst which was the start of the research
0:03:15 > 0:03:17to the link with William Hall.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Born in 1824, William Hall was a wealthy farmer
0:03:21 > 0:03:25from the village of Staverton in Northamptonshire.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27He inherited the farm from his father
0:03:27 > 0:03:30and the Hall farm was really quite substantial.
0:03:32 > 0:03:36At various times, he had bought up parcels of land
0:03:36 > 0:03:41and property in the surrounding area and when he actually died, his estate
0:03:41 > 0:03:46consisted of a number of properties and a large amount of farmland.
0:03:46 > 0:03:52On 9th April 1899, 74-year-old William died a mysterious death.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57The cause of death was listed as "found drowned in a pool".
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Erm, we were actually able to look up some newspaper reports
0:04:01 > 0:04:03from the time about this.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08He was found on a Sunday morning and he'd been out walking on his estate
0:04:08 > 0:04:09late on a Saturday night
0:04:09 > 0:04:12and that was the last time he'd been seen alive.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15In contrast to most of the cases that Saul's company deals with,
0:04:15 > 0:04:18the deceased in this case did leave a will.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23William Hall made a number of bequests in his will.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Once he'd completed making those bequests,
0:04:25 > 0:04:31he divided the residue of his estate into six equal portions.
0:04:31 > 0:04:37Each of those portions was bequeathed to the children of each
0:04:37 > 0:04:42of his six aunts and uncles who had all already predeceased him.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45But at least one portion, that belonging to
0:04:45 > 0:04:49the descendants of William's uncle Thomas, has never been claimed.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53And it's this Thomas Hall that Valerie Foley's great-aunt Sisi
0:04:53 > 0:04:56had been trying to prove she was related to.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58There were lots of Thomas Halls in the family.
0:04:58 > 0:05:04Her own father was Thomas, her grandfather was Thomas
0:05:04 > 0:05:07and her great-great-grandfather was Thomas Hall.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11So I thought, "Let's have a see if we can find who Thomas Hall was."
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Was he indeed the man mentioned in William Hall's will?
0:05:17 > 0:05:23In 1899, the value of Thomas Hall's share was just over £381.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26That's about £36,000 in today's money.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29A substantial windfall for Valerie and her family,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33if she could trace her bloodline back to Thomas Hall.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35But after several years of trying,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39she drew a blank and decided to call in the experts.
0:05:39 > 0:05:40I initially got in touch with Saul,
0:05:40 > 0:05:45because I think I'd got as far as I could physically go with the research
0:05:45 > 0:05:49on William and the link to - maybe, maybe not - one of my Uncle Thomases.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55I was limited in lots of angles of my research,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58records too early for me to find.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02So that was the reason I made the choice to say to somebody,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05"Could you verify what I'd got already?"
0:06:05 > 0:06:09In Saul's hands, the case took an unexpected turn.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14During my research, I was able to prove, beyond any question,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18that Mrs Foley's family, sadly, weren't related to the deceased.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23Although it was the same surname, Mrs Foley's ancestors, her Halls
0:06:23 > 0:06:26and her Thomas Hall, came from the Edmonton area of north London
0:06:26 > 0:06:29and the deceased's family were very deeply rooted
0:06:29 > 0:06:33in the village of Staverton, going back many, many generations.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37So, sadly, I had to explain to Mrs Foley that after all her work
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and her ancestors' work that she wouldn't be entitled to inherit.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45Far from being disappointed, Valerie was delighted that someone,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48somewhere, might be in line for a windfall.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51Thank goodness someone else has taken it on.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55To be very honest, I was quite relieved.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59I was battling something which I was never going to be able to achieve,
0:06:59 > 0:07:03but then Saul can hopefully find the right people
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and it would be such fun.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09With a £36,000 estate still unclaimed,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12it could be a job worth doing for Saul and the firm,
0:07:12 > 0:07:16who work on commission for a percentage of the estate's value.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20But finding the descendants of a man who died more than 100 years ago
0:07:20 > 0:07:22is no mean feat.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24And if the family turns out to be large,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Saul could have a lot of hard work in store.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Today, he's come to the Northamptonshire Records Office
0:07:31 > 0:07:34to try to find out more about William Hall and his family.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37Some of those are missing but that shouldn't, hopefully, be a problem.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Right, OK.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42From the information provided by Valerie, Saul has drawn up
0:07:42 > 0:07:47a rudimentary family tree showing William Hall's paternal grandparents
0:07:47 > 0:07:49and some of his uncles and aunts.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51But in order to prove his findings are correct,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55he has to study parish records dating back more than 200 years.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01The first part is to try and find the births of all these aunts and uncles,
0:08:01 > 0:08:08which will be, hopefully, anywhere from about 1775 to about 1795.
0:08:10 > 0:08:11It's an arduous task,
0:08:11 > 0:08:15as the records are all handwritten they can be difficult to decipher.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20What looks like Tamoulane Gulliman, there's the G, you see,
0:08:20 > 0:08:24son of Thomas and Sarah Bulliman.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Hours later, Saul manages to find baptism records
0:08:28 > 0:08:30for all of William Hall's uncles and aunts
0:08:30 > 0:08:33and the marriage listing for their parents Samuel and Elizabeth Hall
0:08:33 > 0:08:37reveals some interesting information.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39I thought I'd have a quick look back and see
0:08:39 > 0:08:45if I could find the marriage listing for Samuel and Elizabeth Hall,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48that's the deceased's grandparents, and here I've got it.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Erm, and they married in 1778
0:08:51 > 0:08:57and their first child was conceived before the marriage, as well.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00These people, like one or two of the others we've come across,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02were married by licence, not by banns.
0:09:04 > 0:09:11It cost money to be married by licence, so it could suggest that
0:09:11 > 0:09:15they were, perhaps, slightly better off than some of their neighbours.
0:09:15 > 0:09:19Alternatively, getting married by licence was a much quicker way
0:09:19 > 0:09:23of doing it than being married by banns and, as such,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25you might want to get married quickly
0:09:25 > 0:09:28if you were about to have a baby, like this couple were.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Saul has discovered that William Hall's grandparents
0:09:32 > 0:09:37had 14 children in total, 12 of whom survived into adulthood.
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Six of them went on to have families of their own
0:09:40 > 0:09:42and it's their descendants that would be in line
0:09:42 > 0:09:44to inherit William's fortune.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46With this new information,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Saul is able to update William's family tree.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51There's no doubt about it,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53that coming to see the original records is
0:09:53 > 0:09:57so much more informative than doing them from transcripts online.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Obviously, it's a long trek from our Liverpool office,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03but it's definitely been very worthwhile today,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06I've really been able to confirm what I had thought
0:10:06 > 0:10:10about the make-up of this family and the construction of this family
0:10:10 > 0:10:13and we can now move forward and see if we can contact the heirs.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15Satisfied with his progress,
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Saul heads back to Liverpool to continue his search for heirs.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23But this already complex case is about to get even more tricky.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27When we're dealing with a case where someone has died so long ago,
0:10:27 > 0:10:30there are so many people who have died with a vested interest,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32so instead of stepping from generation to generation,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34we're stepping from will to will.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Heir hunters' work can come from a variety of sources.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47Each week, the Treasury publishes a list of unclaimed estates.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49But sometimes, cases are referred by solicitors
0:10:49 > 0:10:51or friends of the deceased.
0:10:52 > 0:10:57That's what happened when a reverend called Edward Morris died in 2011.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00His case was passed on to the team at the country's biggest firm
0:11:00 > 0:11:02of heir hunters, Fraser & Fraser.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Case manager Bob Smith was in charge.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07We were contacted by solicitors,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10a friend of the deceased had walked into their offices,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14explained that he'd died, that they couldn't trace a will
0:11:14 > 0:11:17and they had no knowledge of any family.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22The job immediately struck Bob as an unusual one.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25I find it rather strange that a public figure, like a reverend,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29would die without contact with his family
0:11:29 > 0:11:31and also without having made a will.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39Reverend Edward Morris died on 4th March 2011.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41He was 68 years old.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44To friends like Father Nigel Griffin, Reverend Morris was
0:11:44 > 0:11:48always known as Ted and he is remembered with great affection.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52The first time I met Ted was when he came to dinner with another friend
0:11:52 > 0:11:57and we had a wonderful evening together, he was a very amusing man.
0:11:58 > 0:12:04He was really quite quiet, but once conversation started rolling,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09he became much more expansive and had a fund of wonderful stories to tell.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Father Griffin and Ted worked closely together for six years
0:12:12 > 0:12:16at the Imperial College Healthcare Trust in west London.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18Ted was here as the lead chaplain,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22so he was in charge of about half a dozen chaplains, and we all
0:12:22 > 0:12:26were an ecumenical team, I happen now to be a Roman Catholic,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28he's Church of England,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32but we worked hand in glove and were very close colleagues.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36As a hospital chaplain, Ted's job was to provide patients with
0:12:36 > 0:12:38spiritual support and friendship.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40A role in which he excelled.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45Ted was particularly good with, what you might call, the lost souls,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48people who were right on the margins of things,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51people who really didn't seem to have any hope in them.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56And he was wonderful at being able to give them encouragement
0:12:56 > 0:13:01and really give them the sort of support that they needed.
0:13:01 > 0:13:06Ted left the hospital in 2008, after 20 years' service.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09But sadly his health began to deteriorate and he moved
0:13:09 > 0:13:13into a residential community for retired clergy in Surrey.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16I knew he'd gone to the homes of St Barnabas,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18because his health had meant that he really,
0:13:18 > 0:13:20really wasn't coping by himself,
0:13:20 > 0:13:25and I thought moving there would give him a new lease of life,
0:13:25 > 0:13:29so it came as really quite a shock to discover that he'd suddenly died.
0:13:29 > 0:13:32I don't really know why Ted didn't make a will.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37I think, very probably, he really didn't think he was about to die
0:13:37 > 0:13:39and, probably like so many of us, I think,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42something he always intended to do, but didn't get around to.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Although Bob and the team were working on a referral,
0:13:48 > 0:13:50there was always the chance Reverend Morris' case
0:13:50 > 0:13:54could crop up on the Treasury's list of unclaimed estates,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57where rival heir hunting firms could pick it up.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00To stop this happening, Bob had to act fast.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03But at the start, he had very little to go on.
0:14:03 > 0:14:08The only information we had about the Reverend Morris was that
0:14:08 > 0:14:10provided by his death certificate.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15That he died on 4th March in 2011 in Lingfield in Surrey.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20That he'd formerly lived in London and, I think, Gloucestershire.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Although Reverend Morris died in a retirement home, Bob and the team
0:14:24 > 0:14:27soon discovered some information which made the case worth working.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31He actually owned a flat in west London.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35The value of that flat - obviously properties in London -
0:14:35 > 0:14:37is, you know, pretty good.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40And on that basis, we were more than willing to try
0:14:40 > 0:14:44and locate the family members and prove their entitlement.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47The firm works on commission for a percentage of the estate,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50so the higher the value, the more potential profit.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55But it only gets paid if the team finds and signs up heirs.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58Having established that Reverend Morris never married
0:14:58 > 0:15:00and had no children, the next step was to find out
0:15:00 > 0:15:04if he had any siblings, who would normally be next in line to inherit.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10As the death certificate had provided us with a place and date of birth,
0:15:10 > 0:15:14we were able to obtain a copy of the Reverend Morris' birth certificate,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17which obviously gives us the names of his parents.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20Once we'd established their names, we could find their marriage
0:15:20 > 0:15:23and see if he had any brothers or sisters.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Reverend Morris' parents were Edward Alfred Morris
0:15:27 > 0:15:32and Agnes Mary Murray Beck. They married in Middlesbrough in 1931.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35But records show they had no other children, which meant Bob
0:15:35 > 0:15:39and his team were now looking for aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45There's two ways of looking at the fact that there were no near kin,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48ie, brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53There's more chance of a more distant relation being happy with us
0:15:53 > 0:15:57to represent them, obviously, a brother or sister.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58So in that respect,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01I was quite pleased that there were no near relations.
0:16:01 > 0:16:05But, of course, when you are looking into the extended families,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08it means more research and more man-hours.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11By looking at his father's birth certificate,
0:16:11 > 0:16:13Bob established the names of Reverend Morris'
0:16:13 > 0:16:18paternal grandparents as Joseph Morris and Alice Shilvock.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22From there, they were able to look for the family on census records
0:16:22 > 0:16:26and he uncovered some interesting details about their lives.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28The paternal family actually
0:16:28 > 0:16:33originated from the Worcestershire area - Stourbridge, Worcestershire,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37but had ended up in Middlesbrough by the 1911 census.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39Worcestershire to Middlesbrough is some distance,
0:16:39 > 0:16:40particularly at that time.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44I can only assume that the paternal grandfather's occupation
0:16:44 > 0:16:48as a blast furnace foreman had taken him
0:16:48 > 0:16:51to some sort of job in the Middlesbrough area.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56In the second half of the 19th century,
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Middlesbrough was the fastest growing town in Britain.
0:16:59 > 0:17:04Its population swelled from just 5,000 in 1851
0:17:04 > 0:17:08to around 140,000 by the turn of the century.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11People came to the town from all corners of the country,
0:17:11 > 0:17:14searching for work in its thriving iron industry.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18The main factor that led to Middlesbrough's growth, of course,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21was the finding of iron in the Eston Hills
0:17:21 > 0:17:24and later in the Cleveland Hills to the south of Middlesbrough.
0:17:24 > 0:17:29And this then led to the erection of a whole series of blast furnaces
0:17:29 > 0:17:31in and around Middlesbrough and along the banks of the River Tees.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34And, of course, to provide the labour, the skills
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and the workers for these ironworks,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40you needed workers who weren't available locally,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43so they had to be brought in. And as iron production expanded,
0:17:43 > 0:17:46then, of course, the population expanded very rapidly.
0:17:47 > 0:17:49By the mid-1870s,
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Middlesbrough was producing around one million tonnes of iron a year,
0:17:53 > 0:17:56a quarter of Britain's total output.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59The town had become not just the biggest iron producing district
0:17:59 > 0:18:04in the country, but the biggest iron producing district in the world.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08In its heyday, Middlesbrough primarily produced railway iron.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11So the thousands of miles, well, there were thousands of miles,
0:18:11 > 0:18:12of railway track around the world -
0:18:12 > 0:18:16America, South America, South Africa, India and Australia and so on,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20they were supplied by Middlesbrough companies.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Census records show Joseph Morris and his family moved to
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Middlesbrough around the turn of the century.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28By then, it was a well-developed iron and steel town
0:18:28 > 0:18:31with plenty of opportunities for work.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33But his job as a blast furnace foreman
0:18:33 > 0:18:35was not for the fainthearted.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Joseph Morris would work long hours, would be very hot,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41very dirty atmosphere.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45It would be a long, hard, arduous working day.
0:18:46 > 0:18:47It could be dangerous.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Remember, the temperature inside the blast furnace would be
0:18:50 > 0:18:56somewhere around 15 or 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit.
0:18:56 > 0:18:59There was potential for lots of accidents and for explosions
0:18:59 > 0:19:02and of course if you look at local newspaper records,
0:19:02 > 0:19:06you can find many examples of workers who'd been killed
0:19:06 > 0:19:09or injured as a result of these accidents.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12In the early 20th century,
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Middlesbrough became a major force in steel production.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20The material was widely used in ship and bridge construction
0:19:20 > 0:19:22and it's likely that Reverend Morris' grandfather Joseph
0:19:22 > 0:19:26could have had a hand in building some major landmarks.
0:19:26 > 0:19:32Middlesbrough's company was famously known for the Sydney Harbour Bridge,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35but also for the Tyne Bridge, the Auckland Harbour Bridge
0:19:35 > 0:19:37and many other bridges across the world.
0:19:41 > 0:19:46The 1911 census showed that as well as Reverend Morris' father Edward,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Joseph and his wife Alice had nine other children,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52six of whom survived into adulthood.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54These would be Reverend Morris' aunts and uncles
0:19:54 > 0:19:57and they or their living descendants
0:19:57 > 0:20:00would be entitled to a share in his estate.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03It was a daunting task for case manager Bob Smith.
0:20:03 > 0:20:10Having six branches of the family to research can be quite complicated.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Families become fractured, lose contact with each other
0:20:13 > 0:20:18and also Morris is quite a common surname.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Common names and big families can slow research down.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24And the pressure was on for the team to find heirs
0:20:24 > 0:20:27before this case reached the Treasury's unclaimed list.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Could they solve the mystery in time?
0:20:36 > 0:20:39Heir hunters track down thousands of beneficiaries every year.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42But they can't crack every case.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44The Treasury's unclaimed list still contains many
0:20:44 > 0:20:46that have yet to be solved.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49So, we'll administer the estate
0:20:49 > 0:20:52and then when the administration is completed,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55we'll put the case on the unclaimed list,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59so that people may still come forward and claim it.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01Today, we're focusing on two cases
0:21:01 > 0:21:04which have so far eluded the heir hunters.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06Could you be the beneficiary they're looking for?
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Could you be in line for a cash windfall?
0:21:10 > 0:21:14First is the case of Denise Lucie Octavie Jeane Janovtechnik
0:21:14 > 0:21:19who died in Wimbledon, south-west London on 28th November 2005.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Despite her unusual name, the heir hunters have
0:21:23 > 0:21:27so far been unable to track down any of her relatives.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29Does this name ring any bells with you?
0:21:30 > 0:21:32It could suggest a French connection,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36is it a name you recognise?
0:21:36 > 0:21:38Next is the case of Ronald Arrowsmith
0:21:38 > 0:21:44who died on 21st October 2011, in Sandwell in the West Midlands.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47The Arrowsmith name is most common in the north-west of England.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51Are you an Arrowsmith? Could Ronald be a long lost family member?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54If so, thousands of pounds could be coming your way.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59Both Denise and Ronald's estates remain unclaimed
0:21:59 > 0:22:02and if no-one comes forward, their money will go to the Government.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05When considering a claim for an estate,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09it is very important that a person puts forward a very good case.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11And it's all based on the evidence.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13What we need are the birth, death, marriage certificates,
0:22:13 > 0:22:15perhaps something on adoption.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17And then we consider the evidence very carefully.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Those names once again -
0:22:19 > 0:22:24Denise Lucie Octavie Jeane Janovtechnik and Ronald Arrowsmith.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32In Liverpool, Saul Marks,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35a case manager with heir hunting firm, Celtic Research,
0:22:35 > 0:22:37is trying to track down beneficiaries to the estate
0:22:37 > 0:22:42of a man called William Hall who died more than 100 years ago.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45It's very interesting for us to work cases
0:22:45 > 0:22:48where we are in a completely different timeframe from normal.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52William Hall, a farmer and grazier from the village of Staverton
0:22:52 > 0:22:56in Northamptonshire, drowned in a pool on his land in 1899.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00An inquest at the time heard that he may have become disorientated
0:23:00 > 0:23:04in the foggy weather that night and stumbled into the water.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06A bachelor, with no children of his own,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09William made a will which divided up most of his estate
0:23:09 > 0:23:13between the children of his six paternal uncles and aunts.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16But one portion belonging to his uncle Thomas' children
0:23:16 > 0:23:18has not yet been claimed.
0:23:18 > 0:23:25The value of Thomas Hall's share of the estate, his one sixth,
0:23:25 > 0:23:30in 1899 was just over £381.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34In today's money, we believe that's about £36,000.
0:23:34 > 0:23:40So, if we can find heirs to Thomas Hall's branch of the family,
0:23:40 > 0:23:44then they will hopefully be sharing about £36,000.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Saul was asked to look into the case by a woman called Valerie Foley,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51who believed she was related to Thomas Hall.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54But Saul proved she wasn't, so the hunt goes on.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00This means the real heirs to this £36,000 estate are still out there.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02If Saul and the team can find them quickly,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05it could mean a healthy profit for the company.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08But this case is far from straightforward.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13The problem with working cases like this is that many of the heirs
0:24:13 > 0:24:16over several generations have actually died.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19So instead of working down the families
0:24:19 > 0:24:24generation by generation, we have to work down will by will.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27When it comes to heir hunting, time is money.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29The more work and effort required to solve a case,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31the less profit for the firm.
0:24:31 > 0:24:32So the pressure is on
0:24:32 > 0:24:35for Saul to find William Hall's living heirs fast.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Now back from his trip to Northampton,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40he's got his hands on some documents
0:24:40 > 0:24:42that he hopes could unlock this tricky case.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46Once we'd established from the trip to Northampton that the family
0:24:46 > 0:24:48I traced was the right family,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51I was then able to order some wills
0:24:51 > 0:24:55of some of the descendants of Thomas Hall,
0:24:55 > 0:25:00who I believed would have been heirs had they been alive.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04So, I actually ordered four wills, which I've received today.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08William Hall's uncle Thomas had seven children.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10As all of them have long since passed away,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13the money left to them by William will automatically go
0:25:13 > 0:25:15to the beneficiaries named in their wills.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19As copies of all wills made in England and Wales after 1858
0:25:19 > 0:25:22are held at the Probate Service in London,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24the team in the London office,
0:25:24 > 0:25:26led by company co-owner Hector Birchwood,
0:25:26 > 0:25:31has stepped in to help out with what's fast becoming a mammoth task.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35One of the wills they've found is that of Jane Waite,
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Thomas Hall's youngest daughter.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40"This is the last will and testament of me, Jane Waite,
0:25:40 > 0:25:45"wife of William Waite of Staverton in the county of Northampton, shoemaker."
0:25:45 > 0:25:48It appears that Jane divided up her estate between her husband
0:25:48 > 0:25:50and her five children.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53The London office has also sent Saul a will for who they think
0:25:53 > 0:25:55is one of her sons, Fred Waite.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59It could hold the key to finding the first heirs.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04So, Fred Waite of 20 Baker Street in the city of Leeds...
0:26:07 > 0:26:12..Erm, died on 2nd November 1935. This is the wrong probate.
0:26:13 > 0:26:15They've ordered me the wrong probate.
0:26:18 > 0:26:19Oh.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24The Fred Waite whose will Saul needed
0:26:24 > 0:26:27died in 1934 in Buckinghamshire.
0:26:27 > 0:26:28But it's a common name
0:26:28 > 0:26:31and Saul has ended up with the will of a different man.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36It's a setback, but Saul's determined to keep moving forward.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41Even though we've hit this obstacle today in terms of not being
0:26:41 > 0:26:44able to see Fred's probate, Fred's will,
0:26:44 > 0:26:50Fred's branch is really only one small stem of this tree.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55If we look at the fact that the deceased's uncle Thomas Hall
0:26:55 > 0:27:02had seven children, Jane Hall was the youngest of those children,
0:27:02 > 0:27:07so there are all her brothers and sisters' families to find.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11There's a lot of heirs that are going to be found on this estate.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14A few days later,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Saul is still waiting to receive a copy of Fred's will.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20In the meantime, research has continued.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24This is where we're at with Jane Hall's tree.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27It's gone on to four, effectively five, pages now.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32Obviously, there are quite a few people there who, hopefully,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34should still be alive.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36We don't know whether they're heirs yet,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40because that depends on the probates higher up above them in the tree.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43He's also started to trace the descendants of one
0:27:43 > 0:27:45of Thomas Hall's other children.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Yesterday, we were able to crack open the branch of Charlotte Hall,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51who was Jane's sister.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Now, Charlotte had seven children, I think,
0:27:55 > 0:27:57and one of her eight children
0:27:57 > 0:28:00and one of her children had all this many people.
0:28:00 > 0:28:06So, we've been feverishly lapping up all these people called Gardner
0:28:06 > 0:28:09and we've got to go through exactly the same process.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13Their tree will be bigger than this one, many of them will be heirs.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16But again we can't just trace the family down like normal,
0:28:16 > 0:28:20because it all depends entirely on the probates.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23With so many people to trace, the work is piling up
0:28:23 > 0:28:25and it's clear that tracing beneficiaries
0:28:25 > 0:28:27is likely to take some time.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30And even if they do find the heirs,
0:28:30 > 0:28:32there's no guarantee that they'll sign up with the firm.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34It's a big gamble for Saul and the team.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41As the day unfolds, Saul has news on the elusive will of Fred Waite.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45We've spent most of today waiting anxiously for Fred Waite's probate.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48It transpires I'd actually made a small mistake
0:28:48 > 0:28:52in that he didn't leave a will, it's in administration,
0:28:52 > 0:28:55which means that his estate automatically passes
0:28:55 > 0:28:57to his three daughters in equal shares.
0:28:57 > 0:29:03His eldest daughter Jessie was one of the probates that we picked up
0:29:03 > 0:29:08a couple of days ago and she leaves all her estate to a charity.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12So, her share of this will go to that charity in due course.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17When the team looks into what became of Fred's youngest daughter, Annie's share of the estate,
0:29:17 > 0:29:21they discover just how hugely complex this case is.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25The money will end up in the hands of her third husband's stepdaughter.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27The deceased in this case,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31which is where this money will come to Jeanette from, will be her...
0:29:34 > 0:29:42..second stepfather's first wife's first cousin, twice removed.
0:29:44 > 0:29:49Now, if you want to get any more complicated
0:29:49 > 0:29:52and distant than that, I challenge you to try.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56Saul has also managed to make good progress
0:29:56 > 0:29:59with Charlotte Hall's branch of the family.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02By searching through her will, and those of her many descendants,
0:30:02 > 0:30:04he's managed to trace Richard,
0:30:04 > 0:30:07the great-great-great-grandson of Thomas Hall.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11When Saul phoned, I was really quite surprised,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13cos it's not the sort of call you expect.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16The fact that he knew something about my family and my parents,
0:30:16 > 0:30:19it was my dad he mentioned in particular,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21and because he got some information on him,
0:30:21 > 0:30:24the more interesting it became from my point of view.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28And as luck would have it, Richard is an amateur genealogist
0:30:28 > 0:30:32and has been researching his own family tree for more than 13 years.
0:30:32 > 0:30:33When Saul called
0:30:33 > 0:30:36and I mentioned I was interested in family history as well
0:30:36 > 0:30:39and I knew some of the names,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42he seemed a little bit surprised and he was quite pleased, I think,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44that I was able to provide him with some more information
0:30:44 > 0:30:46that he hadn't already got.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49And, hopefully, can have a look at it
0:30:49 > 0:30:51and if he comes up with any anomalies,
0:30:51 > 0:30:54and I'm sure I've got some anomalies on what I've done,
0:30:54 > 0:30:56we'll identify them and we'll get it straight.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01And Saul was able to fill in some gaps in Richard's family history.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04It was quite interesting that he'd got clearly a lot more information
0:31:04 > 0:31:07on certain parts of the family than I'd gathered.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10In particular, he was aware of the will of William
0:31:10 > 0:31:13and to find out that we were potential beneficiaries
0:31:13 > 0:31:15was quite interesting.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19I suspect the amount of money that will be divided eventually
0:31:19 > 0:31:22is not too great, but I don't think that's the interesting aspect,
0:31:22 > 0:31:26it's the connection with someone that died 100 years ago
0:31:26 > 0:31:28and how his family evolved.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31Because Richard's mother left her estate to her grandchildren,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35any money there is from William Hall's estate will skip Richard
0:31:35 > 0:31:37and go straight to his two children.
0:31:37 > 0:31:40I'm delighted to know that my children will inherit something
0:31:40 > 0:31:42that they weren't expecting.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45It might not be much, but it's something.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52Finding Richard is a great result for the company.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54But there's still a long way to go
0:31:54 > 0:31:57before this difficult case is wrapped up.
0:31:57 > 0:31:59These sorts of cases really are complex
0:31:59 > 0:32:00and this is a prime example of this.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05We have to work very methodically from one probate to the next,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09to the next and it does take longer and it can be more complicated.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11But we are managing it, it's fine,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13it's something that we're used to doing
0:32:13 > 0:32:15and we're clearly having some success, somewhere.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28In London, the team at heir hunting firm Fraser & Fraser
0:32:28 > 0:32:31was working the case of Reverend Edward Morris,
0:32:31 > 0:32:36a former hospital chaplain who died in 2011 without leaving a will.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38The company had been approached by a solicitor
0:32:38 > 0:32:42who needed help in tracking down the Reverend's missing relatives.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Case manager Bob Smith was running the research.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50We had no real indication as to the value of the Reverend Morris' estate.
0:32:50 > 0:32:56The fact that he owned a flat in London was enough information
0:32:56 > 0:32:58for us to decide that this was certainly a case that,
0:32:58 > 0:33:02you know, we'd be more than interested in working.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06Reverend Edward Morris was born in 1942
0:33:06 > 0:33:10and grew up in the seaside town of Redcar in Teesside.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12According to his friend, Father Nigel Griffin,
0:33:12 > 0:33:14who knew the reverend as Ted,
0:33:14 > 0:33:17he was in a very different line of work before he joined the church.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21Well, Ted's original career was as a chemical engineer
0:33:21 > 0:33:24with ICI on Teesside.
0:33:24 > 0:33:29But in his mid-20s, he went to King's College in London
0:33:29 > 0:33:32to train for the Church of England ministry.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36It was to be the beginning of a long and illustrious career in the church.
0:33:36 > 0:33:38Ted later moved to Oxford
0:33:38 > 0:33:40where he became chaplain to St Edmund Hall,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43one of the university's colleges.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47Edward had a very strong academic bent
0:33:47 > 0:33:51and whilst he was at Oxford, Ted did his DPhil,
0:33:51 > 0:33:56his doctor of philosophy degree, in the philosophy of Heidegger.
0:33:57 > 0:34:01And was very much an academic, but also somebody who wanted to
0:34:01 > 0:34:08give a practical application to his academic understanding.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11Later on, whilst working as a hospital chaplain,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Ted got the chance to do just that.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17As well as being a chaplain working on the wards
0:34:17 > 0:34:21and with the staff of the hospital, he was a lecturer in medical ethics.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25He taught at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School of Imperial College.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30Outside of work, Ted had many interests.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32He was quite a rounded personality,
0:34:32 > 0:34:35so he was very much interested in music.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38In fact, he was a cello player himself,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42and very much enjoyed attending concerts and listening to music.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44And he was a popular man
0:34:44 > 0:34:46with friends scattered all over the world.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49I attended his funeral with quite a number of colleagues
0:34:49 > 0:34:51from the hospital here.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Looking around the chapel at the funeral,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57it was amazing to see how many different people there were.
0:34:57 > 0:34:58I certainly hadn't realised
0:34:58 > 0:35:01how many different connections with different people he had.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05There was a lovely get-together afterwards and people were able
0:35:05 > 0:35:09to exchange stories about Ted and really remember him with great love.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17But despite his reputation as a warm and genial man,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20it seems Ted had, for some reason,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23lost contact with his relatives in the north-east of England.
0:35:23 > 0:35:25It meant case manager Bob Smith had his work cut out
0:35:25 > 0:35:27in trying to track them down.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32From the 1911 census, Bob and his team had discovered
0:35:32 > 0:35:35that Reverend Morris' father, also called Edward,
0:35:35 > 0:35:40had nine brothers and sisters, six of whom survived into adulthood.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43These would be the Reverend's uncle and aunts
0:35:43 > 0:35:45and they or their living descendants
0:35:45 > 0:35:48would be in line to inherit a share of his estate.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52The team now set about trying to find marriages
0:35:52 > 0:35:53and children for them.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56And they had a strategy to help narrow down the dozens
0:35:56 > 0:35:58of potential options.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04When we're dealing with common surnames, it's usual to stick
0:36:04 > 0:36:10to the area, particularly, where the family originated from.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12In this case, it was Middlesbrough.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18So, by doing that, we were eventually able to identify marriages
0:36:18 > 0:36:22for some of those six branches of the family
0:36:22 > 0:36:25and as a result of finding those marriages,
0:36:25 > 0:36:28we could identify children, some of whom were still alive.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34Reverend Morris' Uncle John married a woman called Annie May Phillips.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38The couple had three children - Alice, Geoffrey and Bronwyn -
0:36:38 > 0:36:40first cousins to Reverend Morris.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Alice and Geoffrey have now passed away,
0:36:44 > 0:36:46but Bronwyn is still alive and well.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49The team was on the brink of finding its first heir.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54Bronwyn Morris is a rather, sort of, unusual combination,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57particularly in the Middlesbrough area.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Her parents had married there, they died there.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04She herself was married there and had stayed fairly local.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06So it was quite easy to track her down
0:37:06 > 0:37:08and once we had contacted her,
0:37:08 > 0:37:10she provided a great deal of information
0:37:10 > 0:37:12about the rest of the family.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Bronwyn is Reverend Morris' last surviving first cousin
0:37:15 > 0:37:19on his father's side. She had no idea he had passed away.
0:37:19 > 0:37:23I was very shocked to know what it was all about
0:37:23 > 0:37:25and what had happened to Edward.
0:37:25 > 0:37:30Because he was young, he was only, I think, in his sixties
0:37:30 > 0:37:34and I wasn't expecting such an early death,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37cos I think he was quite a healthy person.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Although she hadn't heard from her cousin for many years,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43Bronwyn and Edward had been close as children.
0:37:43 > 0:37:46I knew him as a little boy growing up,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50being with his parents and with my parents.
0:37:50 > 0:37:55So I'd had a lifetime of being with Edward as a little girl
0:37:55 > 0:37:57and growing up with him.
0:37:57 > 0:38:01I remember Edward as just a quiet boy
0:38:01 > 0:38:06and a much loved son by his parents
0:38:06 > 0:38:10and a nice gentle sort of man.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14He was very, very polite, extremely polite.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17Their friendship continued into adulthood
0:38:17 > 0:38:20and Bronwyn was invited to attend Edward's ordination
0:38:20 > 0:38:21at Durham Cathedral.
0:38:21 > 0:38:27We had a lovely reception afterwards that he'd arranged.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30It was a very jolly occasion, it was lovely.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34I think Edward's profession suited him perfectly.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39He was a gentle, kind young man
0:38:39 > 0:38:46and I think he would be very interesting to listen to.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49I think the community would like him very much.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52Edward even conducted the wedding ceremonies
0:38:52 > 0:38:54for two of Bronwyn's daughters.
0:38:55 > 0:39:01He just took over the church and he was extremely good
0:39:01 > 0:39:07and gave a lovely talk about it all
0:39:07 > 0:39:10and made a very happy marriage for them.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12I think having Edward there as the vicar
0:39:12 > 0:39:16made it a very personal experience,
0:39:16 > 0:39:21because, you know, he was there taking over the ceremony
0:39:21 > 0:39:25and the whole family were there and it was lovely.
0:39:29 > 0:39:30Bronwyn was one of 13 heirs
0:39:30 > 0:39:34on Reverend Morris' father's side of the family.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37But on his mother's side, it was a different story.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Given that the paternal family was quite large,
0:39:40 > 0:39:44when we traced the maternal family on the 1911 census,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46there were only five children,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49so it was quite a relief to know that we weren't going to be faced
0:39:49 > 0:39:55with the same problems of a common name and also a large family.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Reverend Morris' maternal grandparents were called
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Thomas Beck and Mary Murray Beck.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Agnes, Reverend Morris' mother, was their youngest child
0:40:05 > 0:40:09and out of her four siblings only one went on to have children.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15The research on the maternal family of Reverend Edward Morris was very, very easy.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19We were dealing with a very, sort of, unusual name, Beck.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21They'd stayed in the Middlesbrough area
0:40:21 > 0:40:25and one of the maternal aunts, Lydia, that's an unusual name.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29We were quickly and easily able to identify her marriage
0:40:29 > 0:40:31and find children from her marriage.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35In total, case manager Bob and his team
0:40:35 > 0:40:38found just two heirs on the maternal side.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42I think the fact that we'd had to look to both paternal and maternal families,
0:40:42 > 0:40:48the fact that we only have 15 heirs in total is relatively unusual.
0:40:48 > 0:40:52You'd probably be looking to more, sort of, 30, 40.
0:40:52 > 0:40:57So, I was quite pleased that we didn't have that much to do in the end.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Reverend Morris' property will have to be sold
0:41:00 > 0:41:03before any of the heirs can receive any money.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06But they could be in for quite a windfall.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Given the likely value of £200,000-£250,000
0:41:09 > 0:41:12and the fact that we've only traced 15 heirs
0:41:12 > 0:41:15means that most of those family members
0:41:15 > 0:41:18are going to receive a sizeable sum.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22Certainly something that will enhance their lives.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27His cousin Bronwyn has no idea yet how much money she will get,
0:41:27 > 0:41:30but whatever there is will come in helpful.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36I think getting this inheritance, I would like to help my family.
0:41:36 > 0:41:38A couple of my children at the moment,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42have some very serious health problems
0:41:42 > 0:41:45and a couple of the little girls are at university now,
0:41:45 > 0:41:47struggling with their fees.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50So it would be nice to give them a little treat as well.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56I think Edward would be very happy to know that the money is going
0:41:56 > 0:42:02to help the family in general with some nice little treats in store.
0:42:02 > 0:42:04Because I think we all enjoy a little treat, don't we?
0:42:07 > 0:42:09But for her, more important than the money,
0:42:09 > 0:42:12has been the opportunity to remember the cousin
0:42:12 > 0:42:15who drifted apart from his family so many years ago.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20I'm so pleased that he's had a good life and it sounds to me
0:42:20 > 0:42:25as though Edward has had a very happy life in his work.
0:42:25 > 0:42:30So, I think that makes me feel contented to know.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33And I think his parents loved him so much
0:42:33 > 0:42:37that I think they would be very happy to know
0:42:37 > 0:42:43that Edward's had a good, happy life and fulfilled what he wanted to do.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50If you would like advice about building a family tree
0:42:50 > 0:42:53or making a will, go to -
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