0:00:02 > 0:00:04Heir hunters specialise in tracing beneficiaries
0:00:04 > 0:00:08who are entitled to money from people who have died without leaving a will.
0:00:08 > 0:00:14The Treasury update their list of all their unclaimed estates every month.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Sometimes the deceased has become estranged from their family.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Sometimes the rightful beneficiary isn't even a blood relative.
0:00:22 > 0:00:27Either way, the heir hunters make sure any unclaimed money goes to the right people.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31If we don't do the work, it's money which is going to go to the Government.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35It involves painstaking research.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39I've just got the marriage of the deceased's parents.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42But it can reunite people.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Nice to meet you both.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47It's all about getting an unexpected windfall.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50So could the heir hunters be knocking on your door?
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Coming up...the story of a Victorian couple who attracted the world's media.
0:00:59 > 0:01:04They're mobbed in their carriage. Terrific media attention.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06And I think that was a first.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09A story of enduring friendship...
0:01:09 > 0:01:12She would do anything for my mum, she really would.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18Plus, how you could be entitled to inherit unclaimed estates held by the Treasury.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?
0:01:26 > 0:01:28It's early morning in London,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31and at heir-hunting firm Fraser & Fraser,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34case manager Gareth Langford and researcher Emily Talbot
0:01:34 > 0:01:37are working a very unusual case.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Sometimes you feel like you're going round in circles.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43They're trying to trace a man called Rupert Speyer,
0:01:43 > 0:01:47who is the final beneficiary in an extraordinary investigation.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50But Mr Speyer is proving hard to find.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52It's such a good name.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54It should fall out, but it's not.
0:01:55 > 0:01:56Progress is slow.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59The team thinks he may be living abroad.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04- Is Prince Albert a place?- Mmm.- Oh, right.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06I was wondering if it was a pub!
0:02:08 > 0:02:12But today's investigation is one of the last pieces of a jigsaw puzzle
0:02:12 > 0:02:15that stretches back more than 100 years.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Unlike most investigations,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21which start when a person dies without leaving a will,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24this case is about an acre of land in southwest Wales,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28a school and a Victorian Act of Parliament.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31You have to be very alert as to when an event happened,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34as to who the beneficiaries are going to be.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38And the investigation has taken the heir hunters around the world.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43A lot of the things that have happened in this estate are overseas.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46We're looking in Italy, possibly France,
0:02:46 > 0:02:47and America.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51The case centres around an acre of land
0:02:51 > 0:02:52in Llangennech in Carmarthenshire.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56It was donated in 1887,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58so the village could build a school.
0:02:58 > 0:03:01And the benefactor was Algernon Sartoris.
0:03:02 > 0:03:07Algernon Sartoris was a product of his father's money and his mother's celebrity.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09He was a minor member of the landed gentry.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12His father was a Member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15His mother was Adelaide Kemble.
0:03:15 > 0:03:20And she was quite a famous person in 19th-century Britain.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24She was a member of a famous acting dynasty.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Following in her family's footsteps,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30Adelaide became a celebrated opera star.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35After she married, she became equally famous as a hostess in Victorian society.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38People like Frederic Chopin, Charles Dickens,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41Frederic Leighton, all were close friends of Adelaide's.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45So Algernon would have grown up surrounded by celebrity and glamour.
0:03:47 > 0:03:52Algernon Sartoris donated the land to the village of Llangennech in Carmarthenshire
0:03:52 > 0:03:54in 1887, to build a school.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56And that sparked a community effort
0:03:56 > 0:03:59to raise money to complete the project.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02That school has long been demolished,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05and all that remains is the land and a derelict canteen building.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07The present-day head teacher
0:04:07 > 0:04:11has always been fascinated by the school's history.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14After being given the land,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18the local industry - the tinplate works and the miners -
0:04:18 > 0:04:20worked very hard and donated a lot of money
0:04:20 > 0:04:22towards the building of the school,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26together with some very rich, supportive people in the area.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30So, really, it was a village venture
0:04:30 > 0:04:32that built the school.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Well, I've lived all my life in Llangennech,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39did attend the school...
0:04:40 > 0:04:42..and had a good time in the school.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45The school was well attended.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48The little garden in the school,
0:04:48 > 0:04:51where we were given gardening lessons and what-have-you.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Um, it was a community school.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57And it was a very happy school.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01The original school was built just two years after Algernon's donation.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03It closed in the early 1970s.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06All that's left is this building,
0:05:06 > 0:05:07which was the canteen.
0:05:07 > 0:05:12The original school has been replaced by two new schools in the village.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Both are thriving today.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19We have 236 children in the school,
0:05:19 > 0:05:22all aged between...coming up fours to seven.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25When they are seven, they move to the junior school
0:05:25 > 0:05:27and there's over 200 pupils as well
0:05:27 > 0:05:30in the junior school.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34All the staff work very hard, and the children are very important to us.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38If the children are happy and receive a good standard of education,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42I think the numbers that attend the school reflect on that.
0:05:47 > 0:05:48Partner Charles picked up the case
0:05:48 > 0:05:53after the heir hunters spotted an advert looking for Algernon Sartoris's relatives.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56This is a typical Schools Sites case for us.
0:05:56 > 0:06:01They are unique, in that they are specific pieces of land
0:06:01 > 0:06:04that were given away for the creation of a school.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06The Victorians were very philanthropic
0:06:06 > 0:06:09and it was a great philanthropic era,
0:06:09 > 0:06:14where people were giving money, or land, in this case, away for specific purposes,
0:06:14 > 0:06:17for the benefit of the wider population.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21And Victorian politicians made sure
0:06:21 > 0:06:25that benefactors who donated land for the creation of schools were protected.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30There's a specific provision in the Schools Sites Act legislation
0:06:30 > 0:06:34which says that once the land has stopped being used for the purpose of the school,
0:06:34 > 0:06:39then the land goes back to the original person who gave it away.
0:06:39 > 0:06:45This was a huge carrot to encourage people to give land away,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48on the basis that, if the school failed, and they decided to close it,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50then the donor would get it back.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56The heir hunters' starting point was Algernon and his family.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59But they were going to have to delve deep into records,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01because Algernon died more than 100 years ago.
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Now, if the case can be solved,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07the land will be passed to his heirs.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12And only if the heir hunters crack the case will they earn a percentage of the estate.
0:07:13 > 0:07:14These cases are quite complex.
0:07:14 > 0:07:19Firstly because we're looking at people who were alive
0:07:19 > 0:07:22and giving land away in the 1840s, 1850s,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25so we're often now looking at beneficiaries
0:07:25 > 0:07:28who are perhaps five, six or seven generations down.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31There is going to be a mixture of wills
0:07:31 > 0:07:34that we need to find, to find who the beneficiaries are.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37So we're not necessarily just looking at the blood lines.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42So the heir hunters will have to look at wills and who inherited from various estates,
0:07:42 > 0:07:45as well as following Algernon's family tree.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51The team have already unearthed a marriage certificate for Algernon,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55and the document told them something remarkable about the Englishman.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00Algernon led a privileged life growing up in Victorian Britain.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07But when he turned 21, his family sent him across the Atlantic to make his fortune.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11In 1872, Algernon was travelling to America.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14He'd been sent there by his father to go and make something of himself.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19He was an Army officer and he was travelling to America to join the British Legation in Washington,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22to take up a post in the Diplomatic Corps.
0:08:23 > 0:08:28America would have been a fascinating place to arrive in 1872.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32It was seen as a place of opportunity,
0:08:32 > 0:08:36seen as a place where a young man like Algernon
0:08:36 > 0:08:38might be able to make something of himself.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43On the other hand, it would also have been a place which,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47compared to England at the time, might not have featured the same kind of high society,
0:08:47 > 0:08:50the same kind of glamour, the same kind of social life.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55And it was while he was on the ship the Russia, destined for America,
0:08:55 > 0:09:00that he met and fell in love with a 17-year-old girl called Nellie Grant.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03And by winning her hand in marriage,
0:09:03 > 0:09:05his own place in American history.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12When they leave to go on their honeymoon, they're mobbed in their carriage.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Terrific media attention.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Heir hunters trace the relatives
0:09:21 > 0:09:23of people who have died without leaving a will.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27It's their job to track down relatives to make sure they get the money.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29Otherwise, it goes to the Treasury.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33We're responsible for proving the claim
0:09:33 > 0:09:37and to make sure the heirs get their rightful assets.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41And this was the challenge for Saul Marks from heir-hunting firm Celtic Research
0:09:41 > 0:09:45when he picked up the case of Sarah Carson.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48This case was very, very difficult to solve,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51simply because the surnames involved were so common.
0:09:51 > 0:09:54The deceased's surname was Carson, the mother's maiden name was Sharp...
0:09:54 > 0:09:56These are very common names.
0:09:56 > 0:09:57Carson is an Irish surname.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02There's lots of Irish families and descendants of Irish families in the Liverpool area,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05so there were lots of Carson families, lots of Sharp families
0:10:05 > 0:10:07and it was really tough going.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Sarah Carson, known as Sheila to her friends,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15died in a nursing home in Bootle, north of Liverpool, in 2007.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17She was 84.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21For the last 30 years of her life,
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Sheila's best friend was Elsie,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27and Elsie's daughter Irene recalls that it was a shared passion
0:10:27 > 0:10:29that brought the two women together.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34Sheila loved to play the piano and the organ.
0:10:34 > 0:10:35She had an organ at home.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39And my mum loved music.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42My mum played the violin in the Liverpool Youth Orchestra
0:10:42 > 0:10:44when she was young.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Sheila would always be playing on the organ.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51If you mentioned a tune, she would sit down and just play it.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53If she'd heard it before, she could play anything.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56My mum loved dancing.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59They had about two or three evenings a week
0:10:59 > 0:11:01that they used to go out dancing.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05They were as different as chalk and cheese.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Sheila didn't care about clothes.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10She didn't... My mum loved clothes.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13My mum loved jewellery. Sheila never wore any jewellery.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18Sheila wasn't bothered whether her hair was styled or anything.
0:11:18 > 0:11:23She was really interested in her music more than anything else.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Sheila was included in all of Elsie's special celebrations.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31She was my mum's friend and constant companion,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34so if it was a birthday party or Christmas,
0:11:34 > 0:11:39we would always include Sheila, and ask Mum to come along with Sheila.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42I think she would have loved a family of her own. She did love my family.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47She loved my daughter and my son-in-law and my grandchildren. She was really fond of them.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51She really did. She would do anything for my mum.
0:11:51 > 0:11:53She really would. Anything at all for my mum,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55because...Mum was such a...
0:11:55 > 0:11:57such a good friend to her.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07Heir hunter Saul Marks picked up the case in 2009.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11And like a lot of investigations, he started with very little information -
0:12:11 > 0:12:14just Sarah's name and her date of birth.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20We were able to establish quite early on that Sarah Carson had not married
0:12:20 > 0:12:22and didn't have any children.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24So the next step was then to look for siblings.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30So Saul would have to look deeper into Sarah or Sheila's family tree.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32If she had brothers and sisters,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34they or their children would be heirs.
0:12:35 > 0:12:36If she was an only child,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40then Saul would have to look at her parents' family to trace living beneficiaries.
0:12:43 > 0:12:44Saul had a breakthrough early on.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47He found Sheila's birth certificate,
0:12:47 > 0:12:49which gave the names of her parents -
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Thomas Carson and Elizabeth Sharp.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Once we established
0:12:54 > 0:12:57that the names we were researching were Carson and Sharp,
0:12:57 > 0:13:02really, my heart sank, because no genealogist wants to be dealing with names as common as that,
0:13:02 > 0:13:08especially together in an area where, you know, Carson is a very common Irish name.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Saul's next step was to find Sheila's parents' marriage certificate.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19Once he had that, he quickly discovered the names of her grandparents too.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23Sheila's paternal grandfather was Thomas Carson
0:13:23 > 0:13:27and her grandfather on her mother's side was Harold Sharp.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30But although Saul had quickly gone up
0:13:30 > 0:13:32two generations of Sheila's family,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35he also realised he had to look further into her family tree
0:13:35 > 0:13:37to find living relatives.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42We also established, eventually, after a lot of hard work,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44that there were no brothers and sisters,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48so we had to start looking for cousins of the deceased, who might be heirs.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Census records showed that Thomas Carson Senior, Sheila's grandfather,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57was an Irishman from County Down,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00who arrived in Liverpool some time in the 1870s.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06He was one of tens of thousands of Irishmen who fled Ireland and its economic hardships.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Liverpool's huge sea port was full of job opportunities.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17Although the potato famine saw a tremendous influx -
0:14:17 > 0:14:19I mean, the worst year, Black 1847,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22at least 300,000 Irish arrived in Liverpool -
0:14:22 > 0:14:25but if you go back before that, the 1841 census,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28you've got nearly 50,000 already in Liverpool.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Which indicates, actually, that Liverpool really is almost like the capital of Ireland itself,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35in terms of its population.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39Liverpool was the obvious choice for Irish people seeking work.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43Liverpool, in many respects, is the nearest place that wasn't Ireland.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47But people stay in Liverpool precisely because it's a thriving port,
0:14:47 > 0:14:50and a thriving port has got a great demand for labour.
0:14:50 > 0:14:55Newly arrived Irish migrants like Thomas, who might not have specific skills or qualifications,
0:14:55 > 0:14:57but if he's got some physical ability,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00and is there at the right time when the ships are there,
0:15:00 > 0:15:02there's a likelihood that he might get some work.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05There's no job security. There's no guarantee of labour,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09but other the other hand, to a certain extent, you're your own boss.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13The Irish immigrants dominated work in the docks,
0:15:13 > 0:15:17and that was something that was welcomed by other groups living in the city.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20Liverpool, I think, is a good example
0:15:20 > 0:15:24of the way that migrant labour can really work rather well,
0:15:24 > 0:15:28precisely because the Irish are prepared to do the heavy, the dirty work.
0:15:28 > 0:15:33Other people could go higher up by saying, "Well, I don't do that because I'm not Irish."
0:15:35 > 0:15:40Typical jobs would have included loading and unloading tons of cargo from the great sailing ships.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42The work would have been gruelling,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44but there were plenty of attractions
0:15:44 > 0:15:47for people who had arrived from across the Irish Sea.
0:15:49 > 0:15:51Every street corner, there's an Irish pub.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55Every block, there's a parish church - an Irish Catholic church.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58The music halls are full of Irish delights.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Liverpool is the capital of Ireland in England
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and certainly there is a degree of economic prosperity there.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Even though you might be at the bottom of the ladder, you're at least not starving.
0:16:15 > 0:16:20For heir hunter Saul, other records began to help build up a picture of the Carson family.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23The 1911 census revealed to us
0:16:23 > 0:16:27that Thomas Carson, the deceased's grandfather,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30was born in Kilkeel in County Down in Ireland
0:16:30 > 0:16:33and his wife Mary, Mary Brown,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36she was born in Clontibret in County Monaghan,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40which is quite some distance away from Kilkeel.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45The Irish couple almost certainly met not in their homeland,
0:16:45 > 0:16:47but in Liverpool.
0:16:47 > 0:16:50And it's likely the Catholic church played a vital role.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55The church is putting on a whole range of social activities,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59again to make sure that people stay within the faith.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02So, Thomas and Mary could well have met at dances,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05sports events, a whole range of social activities,
0:17:05 > 0:17:08which were part and parcel of keeping people Catholic,
0:17:08 > 0:17:11keeping them Irish, keeping them together.
0:17:17 > 0:17:18For heir hunter Saul,
0:17:18 > 0:17:21his job was far from over.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24He knew Thomas and Mary had settled down in Liverpool,
0:17:24 > 0:17:27but did they have more than one child,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29Thomas, who was Sarah's father?
0:17:30 > 0:17:34If the answer was yes, their offspring would be heirs to Sarah's estate.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36But it wasn't going to be straightforward.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39There were a million John Carsons and James Carsons
0:17:39 > 0:17:42in the area, all born around the same time,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45so...one step forward and two steps back.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Heir hunters track thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56But not all cases can be cracked.
0:17:56 > 0:17:57There are thousands of estates
0:17:57 > 0:18:00on the Treasury solicitors' unclaimed list
0:18:00 > 0:18:04that have eluded the heir hunters and remained unsolved.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08So we'll administer the estate
0:18:08 > 0:18:10and when the administration is completed,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12we'll put the case on the unclaimed list,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15so that people may still come forward and claim it.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17But today we are focusing on two cases
0:18:17 > 0:18:20that have come from another list of unclaimed estates,
0:18:20 > 0:18:25known as the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer List, or QLTR.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28This list is published in Scotland,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31and unlike the bona vacantia, it includes values.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34Both of the names today have confounded the heir hunters.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Could you be the beneficiary they're looking for?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44First...
0:18:49 > 0:18:51Heir hunters have tried hard to trace his relatives
0:18:51 > 0:18:54but so far, they've drawn a blank.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56If his beneficiaries are not found,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00his £2,798 estate
0:19:00 > 0:19:01will go unclaimed.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07Next, can you shed any light on this case?
0:19:14 > 0:19:17The heir hunters have come to a full stop and need your help.
0:19:17 > 0:19:18Are you related to Jeanie?
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Or perhaps you knew her?
0:19:20 > 0:19:22Perhaps you are an heir
0:19:22 > 0:19:26who is entitled to a share of her £13,000 estate.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29Both Robert Lyle's
0:19:29 > 0:19:31and Jeanie MacGillivray's estates remain unclaimed.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35If no-one comes forward, their money will go to the Scottish Government.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Do you have any clues that could solve these two cases
0:19:39 > 0:19:41published on the QLTR?
0:19:41 > 0:19:45If so, you could have a windfall coming your way.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53Heir hunter Saul Marks from Celtic Research
0:19:53 > 0:19:57is looking into the case of retired musician Sarah Carson,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59known to her friends as Sheila.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01She died in 2007
0:20:01 > 0:20:04without leaving a will and with no known relatives.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07She spent her life in and around Liverpool
0:20:07 > 0:20:12and Saul has traced her family arriving in the city in the late 1800s.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Thomas Carson, the deceased's grandfather,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18was born in Kilkeel in County Down in Ireland
0:20:18 > 0:20:21and...his wife Mary, Mary Brown,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25she was born in Clontibret in County Monaghan,
0:20:25 > 0:20:29which is quite some distance away from Kilkeel.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33So we came to the conclusion that Thomas and Mary had actually met in Liverpool
0:20:33 > 0:20:36as part of the Irish ex-pat community in Liverpool.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41Sheila's grandparents on her father's side,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Thomas and Mary Carson,
0:20:43 > 0:20:44were Roman Catholics.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48And faith played a huge part in their granddaughter Sheila's life.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Sheila never missed going to church on Sundays.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53She always went to Mass on Sunday.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55But...
0:20:55 > 0:20:58she liked to go to where they had a Latin Mass.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02So she used to get a taxi every Sunday morning to church.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05But... And I know she gave quite a lot to charity.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10And she was very pleased, because all my grandchildren have been christened
0:21:10 > 0:21:13into the Catholic faith, because my son-in-law's Catholic.
0:21:15 > 0:21:17So, she loved it when she came to the christenings.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Anything to do with them, or First Communions.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23Sheila never spoke of her family,
0:21:23 > 0:21:24But her love of music
0:21:24 > 0:21:27did give Irene and her mum an insight into her roots.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33I think the passion from music possibly came from some of her Irish background,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37because when she was younger, she played in ceilidh bands.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40She played Irish music. It was Irish bands
0:21:40 > 0:21:43that she got into to start off with, with the accordion.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47I presume that both her mother and father were from Ireland.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52But she never really talked about ever having been to Ireland
0:21:52 > 0:21:55or...anything about her family in Ireland.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Heir hunter Saul has established that by 1911,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08one of Sheila's grandfathers, Thomas Carson, and his wife, Mary Brown,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10had four children -
0:22:10 > 0:22:14James, Thomas - Sheila's father - Sarah and John.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19This was good, because there were clearly four children who had survived
0:22:19 > 0:22:24most of their childhood and were likely to have lived out a good long life
0:22:24 > 0:22:26and probably married and hopefully had children.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30The bad part of this was they had one first name each,
0:22:30 > 0:22:32and they were very common names,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35and there were a million John Carsons and James Carsons
0:22:35 > 0:22:38in the area, all born around the same time.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40So...one step forward and two steps back.
0:22:42 > 0:22:44Sheila's father, Thomas Junior,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47married Elizabeth Sharp in Liverpool in 1922.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49On their marriage certificate,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52it states Thomas is a marine fireman.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55The unusual job title is a clue to the massive change
0:22:55 > 0:23:00the city's port was undergoing in the latter part of the 1800s,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03as the great sailing ships gave way to steam power.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07This has a major effect on the docks,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10because accommodation has to be increased,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13so new docks are opened
0:23:13 > 0:23:15and older docks are rebuilt
0:23:15 > 0:23:18to accommodate this increasing number of steam ships.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22The steam ships become increasingly more economical,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25with new types of engine.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29They can compete with sailing ships on many of the long-distance routes.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32The fuel improvements carry on
0:23:32 > 0:23:34through into the 1880s.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38So steamers are taking more and more of the trade off sailing ships.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43Thomas Junior's job as a marine fireman
0:23:43 > 0:23:45was to stoke the coal fire on board ships,
0:23:45 > 0:23:47which produced steam to power them.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51Working conditions for Thomas were pretty horrendous.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54It would be hot and it would be dirty.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59What he would be doing is not just shovelling coal
0:23:59 > 0:24:01into the fire box of the boilers.
0:24:01 > 0:24:04He would be regulating that fire.
0:24:04 > 0:24:06He would be cleaning out the ashes and the clinker,
0:24:06 > 0:24:09keeping the steam pressure at a regular level.
0:24:09 > 0:24:11It was a skilled job.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13And, of course, this was all done
0:24:13 > 0:24:16while the ship was pitching and rolling at sea.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20And this dangerous work may have taken him across the Atlantic.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23We know where Thomas lived.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28And we can make a deduction that his employment was close by.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30In which case, it's possible that he was employed
0:24:30 > 0:24:34on one of the Cunard liners that were based around there.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38In which case, he would be sailing across the Atlantic,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40principally to New York.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Back at the office,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Saul was pinning hopes on finding descendants of Thomas's siblings,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54James, Sarah and John.
0:24:54 > 0:24:55But it was not good news.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00We looked first at James Carson, who was the eldest brother
0:25:00 > 0:25:01of the deceased's father, Thomas.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04He was born in 1894.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09And he signed up with the Army in 1911, which was a few months after the census.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12He joined the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15But actually, perhaps James wasn't so loyal,
0:25:15 > 0:25:17because he actually deserted in 1913.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23But he had a change of heart, and signed up at the outbreak of World War I.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28But tragically, James was wounded in France just a month later
0:25:28 > 0:25:30and died in November 1914.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34What it did prove to us was he wasn't married.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36He'd had no children.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38So that was one branch of this family
0:25:38 > 0:25:40where there were going to be no heirs.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43So that was a bit of a disappointment, but there were still two branches,
0:25:43 > 0:25:46in that Thomas had a sister, Sarah, and another brother, John.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50And the research into Thomas's other siblings, John and Sarah,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Sheila's uncle and aunt,
0:25:52 > 0:25:53had been slow going.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58And so far, Saul has not been able to trace any of their living descendants.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05So once we put the Carson research on the paternal side to one side,
0:26:05 > 0:26:07we moved from Carson, which is a very difficult name,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10to Sharp, which is a very difficult name!
0:26:10 > 0:26:14But Saul had more luck looking at the maternal side of Sheila's family.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19We established fairly early on through the censuses
0:26:19 > 0:26:21that there were actually nine children in the family.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25Elizabeth was one of nine, so there were a number of different names
0:26:25 > 0:26:28to combine with the Sharp surname.
0:26:28 > 0:26:34And that really made our statistical probability of finding heirs somewhat higher.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38Sheila's mother, Elizabeth, had eight brothers and sisters -
0:26:38 > 0:26:42James, Sarah, Annie, Laura, Albert,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44George, Mabel and Mary.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47And once he had all their names,
0:26:47 > 0:26:49he started to look at their marriages.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53There was one in particular that was slightly easier than the others.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57She had a sister named Mabel, who married a William O'Connor,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00and the name combination of Sharp and O'Connor
0:27:00 > 0:27:04was just about uncommon enough for us to be able to trace their children and grandchildren.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Saul has traced 28 heirs in all.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10One of them, Anne Blundell,
0:27:10 > 0:27:12is Mabel's granddaughter,
0:27:12 > 0:27:14and Sheila's cousin once removed.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17She will have a share in the £13,000 estate.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21It was a massive shock.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Er...because although I knew that Sheila had died,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27I know that she'd never married or anything.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31But I didn't expect anything at all.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35So, it was a massive shock to all the family.
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Although Anne hadn't seen Sheila for many years,
0:27:39 > 0:27:40she still remembers her.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Sheila had come with her accordion, and with an old tape recorder,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48the old boxed type tape recorders.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52And she'd record me and my sister singing nursery rhymes.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54And she was full of fun.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Erm...quite a bubbly person.
0:27:57 > 0:28:02But then, after that, I don't recall anything.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11Anne and another of Sheila's heirs, Susan Getty, a cousin once removed,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14are looking forward to meeting Irene,
0:28:14 > 0:28:17who they hope will be able to fill in the missing years of Sheila's life.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21It'll be lovely to find out what she was up to.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25And...put all of the jigsaw together.
0:28:25 > 0:28:26- Nice to meet you.- Hello.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30- This is Susan. Hello.- Hello, Susan. Lovely to see you.
0:28:30 > 0:28:31Nice to meet you both.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36Irene explains how her mum, Elsie, and Sheila were great friends over many years.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41- I think she had my mum on a pedestal. - How did she meet your mum?
0:28:41 > 0:28:43Well, because they danced.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47- Oh!- Yeah. My mum was the dancing queen.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49Oh! OK.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53And my mum really did look after... My mum was 11 years older than her.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57- My mum did look after her.- Did she? - Yeah, she did look after her.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59- She needed somebody to look after her.- Yeah.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Well, why was that? What had happened to her?
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Well, it was just that she didn't bother with herself.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09- She wasn't really interested...?- She didn't care, really.
0:29:09 > 0:29:10But my mum wasn't like that.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14My mum was the exact... They were chalk and cheese. My mum was the exact opposite.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17Well, I can tell by you - you're a very glamorous lady.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21I'm not as glamorous as my mother was, and I'm not as good a dancer.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26Sheila lost touch with her family after her mother died.
0:29:26 > 0:29:30And Irene is able to let them know what happened to her after that.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32This is a really nice one.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35Aw!
0:29:36 > 0:29:40And in turn, Irene has found out about Sheila's earlier life.
0:29:40 > 0:29:41That's her father.
0:29:43 > 0:29:44And her mother.
0:29:45 > 0:29:46And Sheila.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49It's been fascinating. I've really enjoyed it,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52because I had no idea what she was like when she was younger.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54So it's quite enlightening for me, really,
0:29:54 > 0:29:56to be able to pass on to my family.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00I'm just glad to learn more about her.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Cos I didn't know that she danced.
0:30:03 > 0:30:08So, erm...I'm taking away a lot more knowledge about her, her life.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13- But I'm glad that she found what she thought of as family.- Soul mates. - Yeah.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15- Like a soul mate, wasn't she?- Yeah.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18- Lovely, absolutely lovely to meet you.- It was nice.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30The heir hunters at London's Fraser & Fraser
0:30:30 > 0:30:33are investigating the case of Algernon Sartoris,
0:30:33 > 0:30:38who donated an acre of land in the village of Llangennech in Carmarthenshire in 1887.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42Under the Victorian Schools Sites Act,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45if the donated land stops being used as a school,
0:30:45 > 0:30:47it must return to the benefactor.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50But now, more than 100 years later,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52it's a puzzle for the heir hunters to unravel.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56We need to find out who that person's beneficiaries are,
0:30:56 > 0:31:00either under a will, or where there's no will, on an intestacy.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03The old school has long since been demolished
0:31:03 > 0:31:06and has been replaced by two new schools,
0:31:06 > 0:31:08which are at the heart of Llangennech life.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12It's a traditional Welsh village.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14Schools are growing year by year.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19Actually both schools, I would say, are full to capacity at the moment.
0:31:21 > 0:31:2513 years before Algernon Sartoris donated land,
0:31:25 > 0:31:27he was on board the ship the Russia,
0:31:27 > 0:31:29when a chance meeting with a teenage girl
0:31:29 > 0:31:32steered both their lives onto a different course.
0:31:34 > 0:31:3817-year-old Nellie Grant was the only daughter of Ulysses Grant,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41the 18th President of the United States.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43Grant also had three sons,
0:31:43 > 0:31:45but Nellie was his favourite.
0:31:47 > 0:31:49Nellie Grant was born in 1855,
0:31:49 > 0:31:52in what was essentially a log cabin in Missouri.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56Her father had just resigned from the US Army,
0:31:56 > 0:31:59and for the first years of her childhood, growing up,
0:31:59 > 0:32:01the family experienced quite a bit of hardship.
0:32:01 > 0:32:03Her father failed at farming.
0:32:03 > 0:32:05He failed at business.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09But the family's fortunes and Nellie's fortunes took quite a dramatic turn
0:32:09 > 0:32:14when, during the Civil War, her father, Ulysses Grant,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16rose to become head of the US Army.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22And after that, he was elected as President of the United States for two terms.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25So, from a log cabin in Missouri,
0:32:25 > 0:32:29at the age of 13, Nellie went to live in the White House.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35He served as President of the United States from 1869 to 1877.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39But his reputation as a military leader and politician
0:32:39 > 0:32:41is somewhat mixed.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46Certainly, he lost a lot of men in the Civil War,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49but so did others, and were less successful.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52He finished the war. As far as his Presidency is concerned,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55certainly, he did not drive things through.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59Nonetheless, in many ways, for however weak he was,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02and whether or not he was a poor judge of character,
0:33:02 > 0:33:06certainly he did in many ways have a progressive agenda.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10As Ulysses Grant battled to prove his worth as President,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14his daughter Nellie was becoming something of a socialite.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17One of the things that the American newspapers says about Nellie
0:33:17 > 0:33:20is that she might have been slightly too fond of parties,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23slightly too fond of the Washington social scene.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27And also that she was surrounded by a number of eager admirers.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32And so in 1872, both to remove her from her suitors
0:33:32 > 0:33:34and also perhaps to enhance her education,
0:33:34 > 0:33:35the decision is made
0:33:35 > 0:33:38that Nellie should undertake a grand tour of Europe.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42And it was on the return trip home she met the young Englishman.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46Algernon would have known who Nellie Grant was, undoubtedly,
0:33:46 > 0:33:50because of her tour of Europe and her meeting with Queen Victoria.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55And so this was, in some respects, something of a coup for Algernon.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57But Algernon wasn't without his own charms.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Apart from his own good looks,
0:34:00 > 0:34:04he was also apparently worth 60,000 a year.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Um, which equates to well over a million dollars in today's money.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13But the news was not entirely welcomed by the President and his wife.
0:34:13 > 0:34:16One the one hand, they didn't want her to leave.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20They wanted, actually, Algernon to become an American citizen,
0:34:20 > 0:34:22so that they could all live together.
0:34:22 > 0:34:28At the same time, the Grants believed that Nellie had done rather well for herself.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31They thought that Algernon's family was rather a posh family
0:34:31 > 0:34:34and that she was going to be leading the high life
0:34:34 > 0:34:36in the English countryside.
0:34:36 > 0:34:37So, um...
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Grant was prepared to write to Algernon's father
0:34:41 > 0:34:43to find out whether he was a suitable husband or not,
0:34:43 > 0:34:47but he didn't put anything in the way of the marriage.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51The Grants did insist on a long courtship,
0:34:51 > 0:34:53and when the couple finally married two years later,
0:34:53 > 0:34:57the event captured the imagination of the world's press.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03They were so worried about the press camping outside the White House
0:35:03 > 0:35:07that they insisted that all the curtains should be closed.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11The wedding was conducted by candlelight, the light of loads of candles.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15It was a very glamorous and lavish wedding.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18There was a lot of news about how expensive all the dresses were,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22how extraordinarily expensive and luxurious all the flowers were,
0:35:22 > 0:35:28that they were married on a carpet that had been sent by the Sultan of Turkey...
0:35:28 > 0:35:31So tremendous interest.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33When they leave to go on their honeymoon,
0:35:33 > 0:35:36they're mobbed in their carriage.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Terrific media attention.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40And I think that was a first.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Back in the office, the team had built up a picture of Algernon.
0:35:48 > 0:35:51They had found records showing he had four children -
0:35:51 > 0:35:54George, Algernon Junior,
0:35:54 > 0:35:55Vivien and Rosemary.
0:35:57 > 0:35:58George died in infancy.
0:35:58 > 0:36:02Algernon Junior, who would have inherited his father's estate,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04had one child, Herbert.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Because this is a Schools Sites, it's all about wills.
0:36:08 > 0:36:11That's the key part of information that we need.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14Gareth is unable to find a will for Algernon Junior,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18nor for his son, Herbert, or for Herbert's grandfather, Algernon Senior,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21who donated the land for the school.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24Herbert's father, Algernon Sartoris,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26now he passed away in 1907.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29I think he probably passed away in France.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31It is almost impossible...
0:36:31 > 0:36:34to obtain a copy of a will in France.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39As Herbert's father, Algernon, died over 100 years ago abroad,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42the search for living heirs is not going to be easy.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46The team will have to delve further into his family.
0:36:46 > 0:36:51Herbert had seven children with his first wife, Alix Jeuffrain,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54and none with his second, Constance Poppy Richard.
0:36:55 > 0:36:58Because the team can't find a will for Herbert
0:36:58 > 0:36:59and cannot trace his children,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02they looked at who Constance left her estate to,
0:37:02 > 0:37:04because they would be beneficiaries.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08If we can find his marriage, we can go through the wife's family.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12Records show that Constance left her estate to two friends,
0:37:12 > 0:37:15Antony Speyer and Elizabeth Blammier.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17Emily has traced one of the beneficiaries.
0:37:17 > 0:37:22We have the death certificate of Antony Francis Carl Speyer.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24It says he's born in South Africa.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27And he dies in 2004.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32So the team now has to trace Antony's son, Rupert Speyer.
0:37:32 > 0:37:37Because he benefited from his father, he is now a beneficiary in the Schools Sites case.
0:37:39 > 0:37:42We know that he was living in Bristol
0:37:42 > 0:37:44up until about 2005.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47After that, he disappears.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50So we're thinking maybe he goes to South Africa.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54Searching abroad is always expensive,
0:37:54 > 0:37:57so Emily first turns her attention to Rupert's ex-wives.
0:37:59 > 0:38:01I know that Rupert was married three times.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05Um...and he's had children with two of his wives.
0:38:06 > 0:38:08Can't find any of them.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11So now I'm going to try and go through
0:38:11 > 0:38:13either of the ex-wives.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19But it is while Emily is looking for them that another member of the team has a lucky break.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23They've stumbled across a business testimonial Rupert posted on the internet.
0:38:23 > 0:38:25And there's a telephone number.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30I think Dan's found an address for Rupert Speyer in Cape Town.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33So Gareth's just going to get the phone and give him a call.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36And, hopefully, that address will be right.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39But the research looks like it may be a dead end.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43So, the actual number is...
0:38:44 > 0:38:46..is saying it's busy.
0:38:46 > 0:38:50Um...from past experience today, that's not a good sign.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55But the team has had more luck looking into Elizabeth Blammier,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58the other friend Constance left her estate to.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Elizabeth died in 2010.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05Her three children are beneficiaries to Algernon's land in Wales.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10One of them, Simon Gould, was pleasantly surprised to hear the heir hunters' news.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15Gareth explained the history, going back to 1870-something,
0:39:15 > 0:39:20the fact that we weren't actually related to the individual concerned,
0:39:20 > 0:39:23but that there was a connection via my mother.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26One of the challenges I had
0:39:26 > 0:39:30was that the name that he knew the lady as - Constance.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34I knew her as Poppy, which was one of her middle names,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36which was how we referred to her.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39But once I'd made that connection, then it kind of made sense.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44And Simon is grateful that a little-known Victorian Act of Parliament
0:39:44 > 0:39:47will benefit him in the 21st century.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51The act involved has certainly done me a bit of a favour,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53although I don't think we'll be getting rich on it.
0:39:53 > 0:39:59There's some financial benefit, that through that rather convoluted path, they've ended up with me.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02And there's an added benefit too.
0:40:02 > 0:40:07The fact that somehow I've suddenly become connected to the daughter of a President sounds very impressive.
0:40:07 > 0:40:12I don't think genetically that achieves much for me, but it's a good dinner party story.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21Back in the office, Emily and Gareth are still trying to trace Rupert Speyer,
0:40:21 > 0:40:26whose father Antony was a beneficiary to Algernon's grandson's estate.
0:40:26 > 0:40:29The team has found a number for him in South Africa.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32Gareth hasn't been able to get through,
0:40:32 > 0:40:34but he's going to give it one more try.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37I am hoping that you a Mr Rupert Travis Speyer.
0:40:38 > 0:40:39Excellent.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42Finally, the search is over.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44It looks like Gareth has got his man.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46All done - yeah!
0:40:46 > 0:40:48Woo!
0:40:48 > 0:40:51I think he said it was half past five or six o'clock in South Africa.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54He's out by the swimming pool, he's got a large glass of whisky.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56He's very interested in what we've got to say
0:40:56 > 0:41:01and hopefully, he'll come on board with us.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06Finding Rupert is one of the final pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09And later, by email, Rupert is signed by the heir hunters.
0:41:09 > 0:41:15So far, there are four heirs in total entitled to a share of Algernon's land.
0:41:15 > 0:41:20The research is complete and has been submitted to trustees.
0:41:20 > 0:41:22The case hasn't been valued yet,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26but the heir hunters think it is worth between £20,000 and £40,000.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30But what happened to Algernon Sartoris,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33the Victorian gentleman who donated the land in the first place,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37after marrying Nellie Grant, the daughter of a US President?
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Cracks apparently started to show in the marriage.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45Algernon, it became clear, was a drinker.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48And also, there were suggestions, sometimes quite public suggestions,
0:41:48 > 0:41:50that he was something of a philanderer.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54Nellie and Algernon spent increasing amounts of time apart
0:41:54 > 0:41:56and the fact that their marriage was not a happy one
0:41:56 > 0:42:00became a matter of public gossip on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03In one notable example, in the summer of 1883,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Algernon travelled to America whilst Nellie stayed at home in England.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09And during that trip American newspapers reported
0:42:09 > 0:42:12that he was seen entering and leaving the house of a young English widow
0:42:12 > 0:42:14in the middle of the night.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19Algernon died alone on the isle of Capri in 1893.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22And the American newspapers, at least, were glad to see the back of him,
0:42:22 > 0:42:26some describing him as "a vulgar bore who was cruel to his wife and children" in their obituaries.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30And so Nellie Grant was finally free from her unhappy marriage.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35The papers may have been unkind about Algernon Sartoris,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38but his act of generosity to a tiny village in Wales
0:42:38 > 0:42:40more than 120 years ago
0:42:40 > 0:42:43still has a lasting legacy today.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46He did a good deed for the village.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49And we have benefited, you know.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52There was good education here
0:42:52 > 0:42:56and we have inherited two lovely schools just up the road
0:42:56 > 0:43:00from what was started on this spot.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07If you would like advice about building a family tree
0:43:07 > 0:43:09or making a will, go to...
0:43:16 > 0:43:19Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd