0:00:02 > 0:00:07In the UK, around 30 million adults haven't made a will.
0:00:07 > 0:00:08If they die with no known relatives,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10their money could go to the Government
0:00:10 > 0:00:12and that's where the heir hunters step in.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19We've got an awful lot of near kin, but we're not getting any heirs.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23They use specially honed research skills to trace long lost relatives.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27We know who the deceased is and they don't.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30And it's quite a large estate, which is interesting.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34They delve into the past and uncover family secrets.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37There were meant to be three sets of twins.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39- Do you agree or not?- No.- No. Two?
0:00:39 > 0:00:42- Four.- Oh, God!
0:00:42 > 0:00:45It's a race against time to beat the competition.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48We always treat ever case like this, that it will be competitive,
0:00:48 > 0:00:51hence researching it as quickly as possible.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54And bring news of an unexpected windfall.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Hopefully he'll be proud that it went to his family members.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?
0:01:04 > 0:01:05Coming up,
0:01:05 > 0:01:10the heir hunters pull out all the stops to track down beneficiaries.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14There is a couple of people that we want still to trace.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17Shall we just carry on working till nightfall?
0:01:17 > 0:01:22And a 12-year search for heirs lifts the lid on an amazing family secret.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25"Honorary Major Joseph Napier Tew has been
0:01:25 > 0:01:29"dismissed from service by sentence of general court marshal."
0:01:29 > 0:01:33Plus, could a fortune be heading your way?
0:01:33 > 0:01:35Find out how you could inherit unclaimed estates
0:01:35 > 0:01:36held by the Treasury.
0:01:46 > 0:01:47Tuesday morning in London,
0:01:47 > 0:01:50and at the offices of probate researchers Finders,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52they staff are knee-deep in a complicated job.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57'We're working on a case today of Alan George Parnell,
0:01:57 > 0:01:59'a bachelor who died without issue.'
0:01:59 > 0:02:02We're looking at paternal, maternal families,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05which both seem to be huge.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Research started a couple of days ago, but it's only today that
0:02:08 > 0:02:11boss Daniel Curran and his team have begun to make headway.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13PHONE RINGS
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Hello. Would you be available for a visit today?
0:02:16 > 0:02:19Although the company received this case as a referral
0:02:19 > 0:02:21from a firm of solicitors,
0:02:21 > 0:02:24they can't be sure they're the only ones looking for heirs.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27A case that you think might be privately referred,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29it could end up with someone else through some other means,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32so we treat everything with the same degree of urgency.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35You don't want to take a chance. You never really know for sure.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Alan George Parnell died in November,
0:02:44 > 0:02:492012 at a nursing home in Ashton, Northamptonshire.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51He was 87 years old.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56Michael Wadsworth was his friend for the last 16 years of his life.
0:02:56 > 0:03:03Got to know Alan because he was a regular giver to our church.
0:03:03 > 0:03:09I became the treasurer of the church and therefore I visited him
0:03:09 > 0:03:14to pick the giving up, not every week, but maybe once a month.
0:03:14 > 0:03:20And I got to know him. And I could see that he liked company,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23so I started to visit him more often.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Alan had served in the Essex Regiment during World War II
0:03:26 > 0:03:30and was badly injured in Normandy during the D-Day landings.
0:03:32 > 0:03:38They were bombarded with shells and he received a serious leg wound.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42He couldn't walk and he lay in the wood.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45And the Germans came, they found him.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49And he tells me they looked at him and saw what he was like,
0:03:49 > 0:03:54and they thought, "He's not going to be of any use to the allies any more
0:03:54 > 0:03:55"in this war."
0:03:55 > 0:04:00They patched him up and left him and he lay there overnight.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03And the English came along the following day,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06and he was taken off to a field station...
0:04:06 > 0:04:09where his leg was amputated there.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13He was just 19 years old at the time.
0:04:13 > 0:04:20It must have been traumatic, but he didn't seem to make a lot of that.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23He felt probably that he was glad to be alive.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28And decided, I think, probably to make the best of it.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33He loved a laugh. He's always got a smile.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36I think he was a lonely man in many ways.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38He loved to talk to the ladies.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42I think he really would have loved to have got married,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44but he never did.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56Many of the cases that heir hunters deal with involve people who
0:04:56 > 0:04:59have completely lost touch with their family,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01but Alan Parnell was different.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03He'd maintained close contact with a first cousin,
0:05:03 > 0:05:05and after Alan died,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10he and another relative contacted solicitor Jim Kearns.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12They had a will in place,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15but on looking at the will it proved to be invalid.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19So I quickly established that we had a intestacy on our hands,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21and so advised them that they
0:05:21 > 0:05:24needed to establish who all the beneficiaries would be.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30In the will, Alan had left his whole estate to his brother Maurice,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33but as he had died two years previously, the money would
0:05:33 > 0:05:37now have to be divided up amongst Alan's closes living relatives.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39There was just one small snag.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44The cousins had no idea how many other relatives Alan had.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47They were able to tell me a lot about the family,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50but they had very little knowledge of the paternal side...
0:05:50 > 0:05:52of the case.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55So there was going to need to be a lot of research
0:05:55 > 0:05:57to be done to establish who they are.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03We really don't have the resources to find all the family members,
0:06:03 > 0:06:08and there's a lot of research involved in order to trace them.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Jim immediately realised it was a case for the heir hunters
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and passed the information on.
0:06:23 > 0:06:24Now in the office,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28the search for Alan's missing heirs is in full swing.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30We got hold of a copy of the deceased's birth certificate,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and on it, it lists his parents as George William Parnell
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and Annie Parnell, formerly Nourish.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40Finding the deceased's birth certificate is usually
0:06:40 > 0:06:43the first step in the hunt for heirs.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46Armed with the names of the mother and father, the team can establish
0:06:46 > 0:06:48whether they had any more children
0:06:48 > 0:06:50who could be heirs to the estate.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52The team do already know there is
0:06:52 > 0:06:53at least one younger sibling,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55a brother called Maurice,
0:06:55 > 0:06:56who died before Alan,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58leaving him most of his money.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02Effectively, the deceased inherited his brother's estate,
0:07:02 > 0:07:07and the combined estates form part of the deceased's sole estate
0:07:07 > 0:07:10and that's the one we're working on now.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14The money from his younger brother means Alan's estate is all
0:07:14 > 0:07:19the more valuable - an estimated £100,000.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21As the heir hunters work on commission for a percentage
0:07:21 > 0:07:24of the estate, it's a case well worth working.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28We want to make sure that we do a good job and do it thoroughly.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Having established that Alan never married nor had children,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36and that his parents and brother died before him,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39the heir hunters are now looking for any aunts or uncles whose
0:07:39 > 0:07:41descendants could be in line to inherit.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46We know there are a couple of maternal cousins alive,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49or believed to be cousins. We have to verify that.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51By studying birth and marriage certificates,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Danny and the team have discovered that Alan's paternal
0:07:54 > 0:07:58grandparents were called Edward Parnell and Sarah Fish.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01They had 14 children, 5 of whom died as infants,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05leaving Alan's father George with eight brothers and sisters.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08Only one had no children, which means the team now has to
0:08:08 > 0:08:12track down the descendants of seven of Alan's aunts and uncles.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14PHONE RINGS
0:08:14 > 0:08:16This is another uncle,
0:08:16 > 0:08:20so we've just got to see if there's any issue to this marriage.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24It's clear the heir hunters have their work cut out.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27A huge family means a huge amount of research work,
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and the team will be keen to start finding
0:08:30 > 0:08:33and contacting beneficiaries as soon as possible.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Have a quick look at that.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39There is a couple of people that we want still to trace.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41Shall we just carry on working till nightfall?
0:08:44 > 0:08:48But could the next phone call crack the case?
0:08:48 > 0:08:50Hello. Is that Jill?
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Hi, it's Daniel Curran here.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Thanks... You're on the way to your holiday, are you? OK.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Well, what it is, is we're just finishing off tracing
0:08:59 > 0:09:02a number of beneficiaries to the estate of Alan Parnell.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Danny has made contact with a woman he believes is
0:09:05 > 0:09:09the granddaughter of one of Alan's paternal uncles.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13One of the deceased's paternal uncles was Frank Alfred Parnell,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17who was born in 1892 and died in 1964.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19He had three children.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23So Frank Alfred Junior, a first cousin to the deceased,
0:09:23 > 0:09:25had four daughters.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29And the lady that we're now going to see, Jill, is traced.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Jill, the daughter of Alan's first cousin Frank,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35has agreed to meet the heir hunters to discuss the matter further,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38so Danny calls in one of the company's travelling researchers.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46The travelling researchers are a vital cog in the heir hunting wheel.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49They work on the road, collecting documents, talking to neighbours
0:09:49 > 0:09:52and, crucially, meeting and signing up heirs.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58Jill, the potential heir to Alan's estate, lives in Great Yarmouth.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01But today she happens to be on holiday in Berkshire,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03so Stuart is dispatched to track her down.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08I've spoken to the lady, who is making her way down here.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10But we're trying to get in very quickly to see her
0:10:10 > 0:10:13and have the contracts signed.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17We're trying to short cut things by seeing her in her hotel rather
0:10:17 > 0:10:20than wait, and that's what we aim to do.
0:10:23 > 0:10:25Hello, is that Jill?
0:10:25 > 0:10:28Oh, how long do you have to go, do you think?
0:10:28 > 0:10:29Oh, brilliant!
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Take it easy. See you in a minute.
0:10:32 > 0:10:33OK, bye.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Could Stuart have the team's first heir in his sight?
0:10:39 > 0:10:41- Stuart. Nice to meet you.- Hello.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Hopefully, it's worthwhile you coming all this way
0:10:47 > 0:10:49because you're a beneficiary.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51Did you know about that?
0:10:51 > 0:10:54No. Only from the phone call I had this morning.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Well, it's a chap called George Alan Parnell.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00He died in November last year.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04You said George. Because I've done part of our family tree
0:11:04 > 0:11:06and a George just came into it somewhere.
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Yeah, so that does sound a bit more familiar.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11That's very helpful to us. Well...
0:11:11 > 0:11:16it's been described that you are the first cousin, once removed.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19After Stuart explains how Alan fits into her family tree,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23Jill signs a contract for the heir hunters to work on her behalf
0:11:23 > 0:11:25in return for an agreed percentage of any inheritance
0:11:25 > 0:11:27which may be coming her way.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31It's a great result for the team,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34particularly as Jill is an amateur genealogist.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38She actually, her hobby, is keeping a family tree,
0:11:38 > 0:11:39which is absolutely great.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45But there's still a long road to travel before the team's
0:11:45 > 0:11:47work on this case is done.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50Seems to die as a bachelor. I can't find a marriage for him.
0:11:50 > 0:11:54So...a couple of lines that might have died out on that one.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Some cases are tough nuts to crack,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03but at heir hunting firm Fraser and Fraser,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06boss Neil does not like to admit defeat.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10Heir hunting's pretty tricky, pretty hard.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15When we initially can't get on to a case, it doesn't mean we've given up.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18It's just the start of it, really, for us.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22It will be a case which we may not be able to solve for the first week,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24maybe the first month.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26Sometimes it's considerably longer.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28For more than a decade,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32the case of a woman called Ellen Gibson had the heir hunters stumped.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37We started it in 2000, and it wasn't until 2012
0:12:37 > 0:12:39that we broke on to the family and started making headway.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Ellen Gibson died on the 17th of January,
0:12:54 > 0:12:582000 at a nursing home in Worthing, West Sussex.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00She was 81 years old.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Her former neighbour Ron Herndon
0:13:02 > 0:13:04remembers her as a very private woman.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09I can't recollect anyone coming to visit Ellen.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12I'm not aware of any friends she had.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16No photos of Ellen survive, and all that's really known about her
0:13:16 > 0:13:19life is that she'd been badly hurt in an accident.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Ellen fell off a horse and she must have broken her back...
0:13:24 > 0:13:28because there's no way she could stand or walk or anything.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36Well, it's very tragic. She couldn't have been very old.
0:13:36 > 0:13:38For that to happen to someone...
0:13:39 > 0:13:43I can't believe how I'd feel about it. It's terrible.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Despite her disability, Ellen continued to live alone
0:13:47 > 0:13:50until shortly before her death.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53She was looked after regularly by a number of nurses
0:13:53 > 0:13:55and people that came,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58so she seemed to get by and seemed happy enough.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09Ellen's estate was published on the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia
0:14:09 > 0:14:12list of unclaimed estates in 2000.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14For veteran case manager David Pacifico,
0:14:14 > 0:14:17it was immediately clear that this would be one worth working.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21We knew that it was quite a high value estate,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23in the region of about £60,000,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26so it was worth looking into it.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29The original research revealed that Ellen
0:14:29 > 0:14:30never married nor had children.
0:14:30 > 0:14:35So to find beneficiaries, the team had to look further into her family.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37But the research was hampered by the fact
0:14:37 > 0:14:39that Ellen had been born abroad.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Ellen was born in India and this was confirmed by the death
0:14:42 > 0:14:47certificate, which would show in which country she was born.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49To check for her birth or baptism record,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52we would have to go to the British Library,
0:14:52 > 0:14:55where they have got Indian records there.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57After sifting through hundreds of records,
0:14:57 > 0:15:01the team finally tracked down a baptism certificate for Ellen.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03From the baptismal certificate,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06we knew she was born the 31st of December, 1919
0:15:06 > 0:15:08at a place called Bangalore,
0:15:08 > 0:15:12and was shown to be the daughter of Thomas Moore Gibson and Ellen Gibson.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16The next step was to find out if Ellen had any brothers or sisters.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20If she did, they or their descendants would be her next of kin
0:15:20 > 0:15:22and in line to inherit a share of her estate.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29But despite a thorough search of records,
0:15:29 > 0:15:32the heir hunters could find no trace of any siblings.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36With her being an only child, we'd obviously be looking for aunts
0:15:36 > 0:15:39and uncles and descendants of aunts and uncles,
0:15:39 > 0:15:42both on her father's side and her mother's side.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47As baptism certificates do not give the mother's maiden name,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50the team decided to concentrate their efforts on the paternal
0:15:50 > 0:15:52side of Ellen's family. In so doing,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56they uncovered some fascinating information
0:15:56 > 0:15:59about her father's life and death.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02Thomas Moore Gibson died on the SS Empire Mermaid
0:16:02 > 0:16:07in 1941 during the Second World War.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16Thomas Gibson was a second engineer officer in the Merchant Navy.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19He worked on cargo ships carrying vital supplies into Britain.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21It was a perilous place to be.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27As the war progressed, these ships became prime
0:16:27 > 0:16:31targets for the enemy in what became known as the Battle of the Atlantic.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35The Battle of the Atlantic is probably the longest campaign
0:16:35 > 0:16:37the Navy fought at sea.
0:16:37 > 0:16:38It's basically defending
0:16:38 > 0:16:42the supply lines and getting ships across the Atlantic,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44and it's the German's attempt to try and cut that off -
0:16:44 > 0:16:48principally with U-boats, but the Luftwaffe also participated.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52On the 26th of March, 1941,
0:16:52 > 0:16:55the SS Empire Mermaid was on the last leg of her
0:16:55 > 0:16:58voyage from the east coast of America to Hull
0:16:58 > 0:17:01when she was attacked by a long-range German aircraft.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Being aboard a ship under attack must have been terrifying
0:17:07 > 0:17:10because you've got high-pressure steam, fires
0:17:10 > 0:17:15running at 300 degrees centigrade, hot coals, the ingress of water...
0:17:15 > 0:17:18It... I think it's almost unimaginable.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24The ship sank two days later.
0:17:24 > 0:17:2923 men lost their lives, among them Thomas Gibson.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31His body was never found,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34but he was commemorated at a memorial in London, along with
0:17:34 > 0:17:38thousands of other merchant seamen who died during the war.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41The Merchant Navy was absolutely vital to the war effort.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45No Merchant Navy, you don't get supplies to keep civilians alive,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48you don't get munitions for the Army and the Navy
0:17:48 > 0:17:50and the Air Force to fight with.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53It's absolutely vital. You can't underestimate it.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00A search of marriage and birth certificates revealed that
0:18:00 > 0:18:04Thomas Gibson had two siblings - Andrew and Jessie.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Sadly, Jessie died as a baby.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08And although Andrew went on to marry,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12he died at the age of 28 leaving no children.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15It was bad news for the heir hunters.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18It means the paternal line is dead.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21With nowhere left to go on Ellen's father's side of the family,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24the team had to turn their attention to the maternal side.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27They knew that Ellen's mother died in 1961,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31but her death certificate did not show her maiden name.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34The fact that we knew her name but not her maiden name was very
0:18:34 > 0:18:37frustrating because we knew approximately where she was born,
0:18:37 > 0:18:40but without the maiden name we couldn't identify the birth.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45Without this information, it was impossible to find out
0:18:45 > 0:18:48if Ellen had any maternal aunts and uncles
0:18:48 > 0:18:50and the heir hunt ground to a halt.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53It would be 12 years before it was up and running again.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05Heir hunters track down thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09but despite their best efforts, not all cases can be cracked.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12In fact, there are thousands of estates on the Treasury's
0:19:12 > 0:19:18Bona Vacantia list that have so far eluded the heir hunters.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21When the Bona Vacantia Division passes money to the Treasury,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23it puts the case on its own claim list
0:19:23 > 0:19:25and it stays on there for 12 years to be claimed.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28If someone makes a valid claim within that period,
0:19:28 > 0:19:30then the money is paid back.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33Today we're focusing on two cases that are yet to be
0:19:33 > 0:19:35solved by the heir hunters.
0:19:35 > 0:19:37Could you be the beneficiary they're looking for?
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Could you be about to inherit some money from a long lost relative?
0:19:43 > 0:19:46First is the case of Tina Kim Barnett,
0:19:46 > 0:19:51who died on the 17th of December, 2007 in Isleworth, Middlesex.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58Tina was born on 4th July, 1937 and her maiden name was Hill.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01She sometimes used the name Lillian Joan Hill.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07Despite this information, there has been no success in tracing
0:20:07 > 0:20:09heirs to her estate.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Could Tina be a member of your family?
0:20:11 > 0:20:14Could you be in line to inherit a share of her estate?
0:20:17 > 0:20:20Next, do you recognise the name Louise Icilda Carby?
0:20:20 > 0:20:27She died on the 11th of May, 2012 in Hampstead, north London.
0:20:27 > 0:20:33She was born on the 1st of April, 1925 in Jamaica and never married.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36She's thought to have moved to the UK in the 1950s
0:20:36 > 0:20:38and worked as a cleaner for British Rail.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43Both Tina and Louise's estates remain unclaimed,
0:20:43 > 0:20:47and if no-one comes forward, their money will go to the Government.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50The money raised by the Bona Vacantia Division is passed
0:20:50 > 0:20:54annually to the Treasury and it goes into the consolidated fund
0:20:54 > 0:20:57to benefit the country as a whole.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Do you have any clues that could help solve
0:20:59 > 0:21:03the cases of Tina Kim Barnett or Louise Icilda Carby?
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Could you be a long lost relative?
0:21:05 > 0:21:09If so, you could have thousands of pounds coming your way.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18At heir hunting firm Finders,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20the team is trying to track down beneficiaries
0:21:20 > 0:21:23to the £100,000 estate of Alan Parnell.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26Are you in touch with any of your cousins who maybe know a bit
0:21:26 > 0:21:27more about the family?
0:21:27 > 0:21:31So far, they've had some success in tracking down Alan's father's
0:21:31 > 0:21:32side of the family.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37So, having mapped out most of the paternal family,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39I think we're just missing one more person -
0:21:39 > 0:21:42a descendant of Edward Nathaniel Parnell.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46But now they need to concentrate on the maternal side.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57Alan Parnell was born on the 28th of August, 1925.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00Throughout his life, he stayed close to Geoff Pearson,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02his first cousin on his mother's side.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07He was quite a happy man, really.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10He had a few jokes here and there, you know.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15I used to go and fetch him in the car,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18and he used to come over and have an evening together here.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21He always liked to come over because I make my own bread
0:22:21 > 0:22:23and stuff, you know.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25And...we'd have a half of beer and a sandwich,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28and we'd have a chat for the evening, you know.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34He used to like museums and...
0:22:34 > 0:22:38old cars, old airplanes.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42And I used to take him out in the car and we used to go round these.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47He was a good friend...
0:22:47 > 0:22:49and we got on well together.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58When Alan died, Geoff and another cousin took a copy of Alan's will
0:22:58 > 0:23:00to a local solicitor.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03But the will turned out to be invalid, which meant that Alan's
0:23:03 > 0:23:05estate would have to be divided up
0:23:05 > 0:23:08amongst his closest living relatives.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11As a first cousin, Geoff was entitled to inherit,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14but he had no idea how many other relatives might also be heirs.
0:23:19 > 0:23:20I just knew his father.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24I didn't know any of his other relations at all.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26The solicitor called in the heir hunters,
0:23:26 > 0:23:31who soon realised that the case was far from straightforward.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Arthur seems to die as a bachelor. I can't find a marriage for him.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38And I don't think there's going to be a probate.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43- OK.- And that's it. - And that's it on those two,
0:23:43 > 0:23:46so a couple of lines that might have died out on that one.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49From marriage and birth certificates,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Danny and the team have been able to establish the names of Alan's
0:23:53 > 0:23:56maternal grandparents - George and Elizabeth Nourish.
0:23:56 > 0:23:57And the research has thrown up
0:23:57 > 0:24:00an interesting fact about George's occupation.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Her father, George Nourish, was a shoe finisher,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06which seemed to be a common occupation
0:24:06 > 0:24:08in Northamptonshire around that time.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13By the end of the 19th century,
0:24:13 > 0:24:16shoe making was a booming industry in Northampton,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20with 250 factories employing thousands of people.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24As the industry grew in Northampton, then people,
0:24:24 > 0:24:26particularly from more country areas,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28came into Northampton,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32increased the population and started to work in shoe making
0:24:32 > 0:24:34and then in the shoe factories.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37It was a really great opportunity to get employment.
0:24:37 > 0:24:38As a shoe finisher,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42George Nourish would have been responsible for making sure the
0:24:42 > 0:24:46soles and heels were perfect before the shoes were boxed up to be sold.
0:24:46 > 0:24:47But it was far from an easy job.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Life would have been quite hard,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58and one of the occupational hazards would be
0:24:58 > 0:25:02he would be inhaling the gas fumes, which would have been used to heat up
0:25:02 > 0:25:06the inks and the waxes that he would have used on the bottom of the shoes.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10And there were plenty of other dangers.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12The noise caused a lot of nervous problems.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Obviously health and safety rules and regulations mean you
0:25:15 > 0:25:16now wear ear protectors,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20but obviously back then there was no such thing.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23So, they were quite dangerous places to work in.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Wages were not high.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27And as the team has discovered that George
0:25:27 > 0:25:29and his wife had ten children in total,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33it's likely he would have struggled to support his family.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37It is a hard job. Wages would have fluctuated.
0:25:37 > 0:25:39He could have been paid weekly.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41He could have been paid on piece work rates,
0:25:41 > 0:25:44so depending on how much he could produce.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47And I think it would have been a hard life and a struggle.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57Of Alan's mother Annie's nine siblings, at least four went
0:25:57 > 0:26:01on to have children, so the heir hunters have their work cut out.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Yeah.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14I just need the date of birth.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Danny's discovered that one of the sisters, Jenny,
0:26:17 > 0:26:18had two children.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20One, Leslie, has now passed away.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24But he thinks he may have tracked down his older sister.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27We're at the point now where we're just going to ring up
0:26:27 > 0:26:29a cousin to the deceased, who is 91.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Someone who's of a good age, hopefully
0:26:32 > 0:26:35will have a good memory of the family.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40PHONE RINGS
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Oh, hello. My name's Daniel Curran.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46We're trying to trace some relatives to an estate of someone
0:26:46 > 0:26:50that's passed away. Do you remember an Alan Parnell?
0:26:50 > 0:26:52It's the right person.
0:26:53 > 0:26:54And what's more,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58she's a mine of information about Alan's mother's family.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Lovely. Thanks very much for your time. Thank you. Bye-bye.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06If I'm as well as her at 91, I'll be very happy.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10The cousin was also able to clear up
0:27:10 > 0:27:12something that had been puzzling the heir hunters.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15She confirmed that her brother had a son.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17There's a rumour he had no issue.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19As it transpired,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22his father married a lady who'd had previously been married,
0:27:22 > 0:27:27so in the indexes the birth of their son was recorded using the mother's
0:27:27 > 0:27:30maiden name and not the name she married under the second time.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36The man in question is Leslie Horne,
0:27:36 > 0:27:41Alan's first cousin once removed and a possible heir to his estate.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44It's vital the firm reach him before any rival companies.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48And, once again, they call in a travelling researcher.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Can you get hold of John Boylan?
0:27:52 > 0:27:53So you need to text him
0:27:53 > 0:27:57- and just say, "We've got another one for you to go and see."- OK.
0:27:57 > 0:27:58That the details.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Travelling rep John is one of the firm's most experienced researchers.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04And it's clear he loves his job.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07You get to talk to people from all walks of life,
0:28:07 > 0:28:10and their histories are always interesting.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13When you're coming with potentially good news,
0:28:13 > 0:28:18it's amazing how receptive they usually are to you.
0:28:18 > 0:28:19It's quite nice.
0:28:19 > 0:28:24After a short drive, John is all set to visit his next potential heir.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29This looks like our last call.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32The windows are closed, I don't know if there's anybody going to be in.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34We'll have a look and see.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39John is hoping to confirm that Leslie is indeed a beneficiary
0:28:39 > 0:28:41to Alan's estate.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44And that he'll agree to let the heir hunters
0:28:44 > 0:28:48handle his claim in a return for a percentage of his inheritance.
0:28:48 > 0:28:49- Mr Horne?- That's it.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51- John Boylan.- Nice to meet you.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53- I understand you knew I was coming. - I did, yeah.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55John explains to Leslie
0:28:55 > 0:28:58that Alan Parnell was his father's first cousin.
0:28:58 > 0:29:00Your father is no longer with us.
0:29:00 > 0:29:06And therefore you then become in line to potentially receive
0:29:06 > 0:29:11a proportion of any inheritance that there may be attributed to him.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15The news has come as a surprise to Leslie.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18It's a name that really doesn't ring a bell.
0:29:18 > 0:29:21I wish it did, because I know most of my family
0:29:21 > 0:29:24but that side of it doesn't.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27My father passed away when I was 19.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32We just lost touch after the wake we had for him and I never saw
0:29:32 > 0:29:37his sister and her husband and that side of the family again.
0:29:37 > 0:29:38Thanks very much.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40- Cheers, bye-bye.- Bye.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46It's been a successful visit.
0:29:46 > 0:29:47Danny, please.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50- ON PHONE:- 'Yeah, I'll just put you through.'
0:29:50 > 0:29:51Thank you.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53- 'Hi, is that John?'- Yeah, hi, Danny.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Good result at the end of the day. He has agreed.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00I've got all the details, got the contract signed.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03'Fantastic you got the full set?'
0:30:03 > 0:30:04- Yeah, we have.- 'Well done.'
0:30:06 > 0:30:10A few days later, the heir hunters are well on the way
0:30:10 > 0:30:12to putting the case of Alan Parnell to bed.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15So the estate of Alan George Parnell
0:30:15 > 0:30:18was fully resolved with 41 heirs being found.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23There was 9 on the maternal side and 32 on the paternal side.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27At the end of the day, we do a big family tree,
0:30:27 > 0:30:29get all the certificates, documents and proof
0:30:29 > 0:30:32and everything together, so it's quite a substantial report.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34It all worked out quite well.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37It's a very interesting family tree from the heirs' point of view.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40They can pass it on to their family in the future and keep a record
0:30:40 > 0:30:44of all their various relatives that have been uncovered in this process.
0:30:48 > 0:30:50With an estate valued at around £100,000,
0:30:50 > 0:30:54some of the heirs will be in for a substantial windfall.
0:30:58 > 0:31:01But for Alan's cousin Geoff, whose visit to the solicitors
0:31:01 > 0:31:04sparked this whole search, more important than the money
0:31:04 > 0:31:08is the chance to remember the good times with his friend and relative.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14I do miss the old boy because we had some good times.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21He was always just pleased to see you
0:31:21 > 0:31:25and talked about anything rather than himself.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34That's my memories of Alan, he was a good friend.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49Not all cases are solved quickly, but the heir hunters rarely give up.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53They periodically revisit estates that have previously eluded them.
0:31:53 > 0:31:57And as boss Neil, from probate researchers Fraser and Fraser
0:31:57 > 0:32:00has discovered, sometimes a new approach enables them
0:32:00 > 0:32:04to crack the case years after it was first advertised.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06Ellen Gibson was one of those cases.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08It wasn't until we had a second look at it,
0:32:08 > 0:32:1212 years after we first started it, that we were able to solve the case.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22Ellen Gibson was born in Bangalore, India, in 1919,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26but spent her final years in Worthing, West Sussex.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29No pictures of Ellen have survived, and Ron Herndon,
0:32:29 > 0:32:33her neighbour for many years, says she lived a reclusive life.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35I never saw her outside the bungalow.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40I never cast eyes on her once in all those years.
0:32:40 > 0:32:44When she was younger, Ellen had been disabled in a horse-riding accident
0:32:44 > 0:32:47and had to be cared for by nurses in her home.
0:32:47 > 0:32:52Ellen was very badly incapacitated.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56I can't recollect seeing anyone other than the nurses.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00I don't think she had friends or family or anything.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11Ellen never married nor her children and had no brothers and sisters.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18So the heir hunters were looking for her aunts, uncles and cousins.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21Case manager David Pacifico had already established that
0:33:21 > 0:33:25Ellen's father's side of the family was a dead-end.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27The fact that there's no relatives on the paternal line,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29therefore looking only at the maternal line,
0:33:29 > 0:33:34it was important to identify full details of the mother's full name.
0:33:34 > 0:33:35Without this name,
0:33:35 > 0:33:38the team could not track down Ellen's uncles and aunts.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43Back in 2000, the original research drew a blank but 12 years later,
0:33:43 > 0:33:46the team was determined to leave no stone unturned.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49We were looking for the marriage of the parents,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52which would confirm what the mother's maiden name was.
0:33:52 > 0:33:56And I know we had great difficulty in identifying it.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59We did look at one or two Ellen somethings,
0:33:59 > 0:34:01because we knew the name was Ellen.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04We even researched one particular
0:34:04 > 0:34:07Ellen family that ended up in Australia.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09We contacted the family
0:34:09 > 0:34:11but it subsequently proved that was the wrong family.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14It was back to the drawing board.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Finally, after several more weeks of painstaking research,
0:34:17 > 0:34:19the team had a breakthrough.
0:34:19 > 0:34:24We found the marriage of the parents in Madras in 1919.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27Happened to be the same year as the deceased was born.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31She was born three months after the date of her parents' marriage.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35Subsequently, we then knew what the mother's maiden name was,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39then I knew we had a very good chance of identifying the family.
0:34:40 > 0:34:43According to her marriage certificate,
0:34:43 > 0:34:46Ellen's mother's maiden name was Tew.
0:34:46 > 0:34:49Armed with this information, the heir hunters were able to find her
0:34:49 > 0:34:52birth certificate, which contained some fascinating
0:34:52 > 0:34:55information about her father, Ellen's grandfather.
0:34:55 > 0:34:59Our deceased mother Ellen was born in 1892.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01Daughter of Joseph Napier Tew and Ellen Tew,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05showing his occupation as HH Nizam's Police.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10Joseph Napier Tew served as a police officer
0:35:10 > 0:35:14in the Indian state of Hyderabad in the late-19th century.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22At that time, although much of India was under direct British control,
0:35:22 > 0:35:28Hyderabad was one of 600 states governed by a nizam, or prince.
0:35:28 > 0:35:29Each princely state
0:35:29 > 0:35:31would have had its own ruler.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35It would have had its own system of law.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38It very often had its own military as well.
0:35:38 > 0:35:43But they would have accepted British control of their foreign affairs,
0:35:43 > 0:35:48and they also would have agreed to a British resident or British adviser.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54In 1884, Asaf Jah VI took over as Nizam.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00He really was beloved of his people.
0:36:00 > 0:36:05He was really admired and looked up to by the people of Hyderabad.
0:36:05 > 0:36:10At the same time, he himself had a fairly lavish lifestyle.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14He was one of the richest men of his time.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18He had a lot of money at his disposal and he spent it freely.
0:36:18 > 0:36:23His favourite things to spend it on were, first of all, clothes,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26second of all, jewels, and, third of all, cars.
0:36:26 > 0:36:27Indeed, it is said that
0:36:27 > 0:36:31a whole wing of his palace was turned over to his wardrobe.
0:36:31 > 0:36:35Perhaps aware that his charmed existence depended on the British,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39the Nizam was very conspicuous in his loyalty to the Crown.
0:36:39 > 0:36:41And Europeans like Joseph Napier Tew
0:36:41 > 0:36:44enjoyed a privileged position in the state.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48India in the 19th century would have been a highly racialised place.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52What that meant is that regardless of his position
0:36:52 > 0:36:56within the police, that he would have been treated very well.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01We don't know exactly what his kind of living circumstances would
0:37:01 > 0:37:04have been or indeed what his salary would have been,
0:37:04 > 0:37:06but I think we can gather that he
0:37:06 > 0:37:11would have had a pretty privileged place within Hyderabad society.
0:37:19 > 0:37:22This new information about Ellen's grandparents
0:37:22 > 0:37:26allowed the heir hunters to finally open up this complicated case.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30Once we'd identified the grandparents' names, we were able
0:37:30 > 0:37:34to identify at least seven siblings of the deceased mother.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37One of these siblings was called Gustovas Tew.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41In 1903, he married a woman called Blanche Pitt,
0:37:41 > 0:37:45and the couple had five children. First cousins to Ellen.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48One of the five children died as a minor.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51There was another of the children who was married
0:37:51 > 0:37:53but died with no children.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55One we know is still alive.
0:37:55 > 0:38:02The remaining two, Dorothy and Sylvia, died in 2004 and 2009,
0:38:02 > 0:38:05but because they were still alive when Ellen died in 2000,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08they had what's known as a vested interest.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11Something which can complicate the search for beneficiaries.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15What this means is we stop following the bloodline.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19The beneficiary would have been entitled had they still been alive.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21Instead of following their bloodline, we now
0:38:21 > 0:38:25follow their line of inheritance, their will, if they've left one.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32As it turned out, neither women left a will,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35so the heir hunters had to go back to tracing their descendants.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38They discovered that while Sylvia died a spinster,
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Dorothy did indeed have a family.
0:38:40 > 0:38:45Dorothy had two children, one of whom called Robert who I spoke with.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49He was pleased that he was one of the correct members of the family.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56At last, the team had the breakthrough it had been hoping for.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58As Ellen's first cousin once removed,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01Robert Dick was an heir to her estate.
0:39:01 > 0:39:04And for him, it was a welcome opportunity to find out more
0:39:04 > 0:39:08about a side of his family which had always remained a mystery.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13The initial reaction was, "Oh, that's interesting."
0:39:13 > 0:39:15I didn't know anything about my mother's side of the family,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19other than a little bit about her parents.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23I had traced my father's side of the family back a couple of generations,
0:39:23 > 0:39:26but, you know, I might be able to find out what happened on her side.
0:39:26 > 0:39:27So that's what intrigued me.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29In particular,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32Robert is keen to learn about his family's connection with India.
0:39:32 > 0:39:36When my mother's paperwork was passed to me when my father died,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39I saw her passport and it said that she was born in Kazipet,
0:39:39 > 0:39:43which was a third of the way between Bangalore and Madras.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46I thought, "Well, it would be nice to go there sometime."
0:39:46 > 0:39:49But I was very interested in the Indian side of the whole operation.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57Robert was happy for the heir hunters
0:39:57 > 0:40:00to submit his claim on Ellen Gibson's estate,
0:40:00 > 0:40:03and agreed that he would pay them a percentage of his inheritance.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06Most heir hunters provide a family tree,
0:40:06 > 0:40:09and today, boss Neil is visiting Robert to give him the tree
0:40:09 > 0:40:13and tell him all about his and Ellen's family history.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18Mr Dick knows absolutely nothing about his family history,
0:40:18 > 0:40:21or his family background. I think it's going to be fascinating for him.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24I'm quite looking forward to giving him some of the information.
0:40:24 > 0:40:27For me, it's nice just to be out of the office.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34- You must be Neil Fraser.- Mr Dick, nice to meet you.- Do come in.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38Neil talks Robert through his completed family tree.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42In particular, he has some interesting information
0:40:42 > 0:40:45about his great grandfather, Joseph Napier Tew.
0:40:45 > 0:40:48Before he joined the Nizam of Hyderabad's police force,
0:40:48 > 0:40:51it seems he had a successful career in the Army.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55So what we were able to find from the London Gazette is some of the
0:40:55 > 0:41:00history of your great-grandfather, the grandfather of the deceased.
0:41:00 > 0:41:05The first one we have here, published 22nd of January 1875,
0:41:05 > 0:41:09"21st Foot, Lieutenant Joseph Napier Tew,
0:41:09 > 0:41:11"to be instructor of the musket."
0:41:11 > 0:41:14Joseph Napier Tew was promoted quickly through the ranks
0:41:14 > 0:41:17and was made an honorary major in 1884.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25He's had a 21-year career in the Army, he's made it up to
0:41:25 > 0:41:29honorary major, a paymaster, while serving out in India.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32You can imagine he had a very nice life.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38Which was a little shocking when we found this, the next entry for him.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41London Gazette, 12th of February 1886.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44Just read out what it says there.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48"Paymaster and Honorary Major Joseph Napier Tew
0:41:48 > 0:41:53"has been dismissed the service by sentence of General Court-Martial,
0:41:53 > 0:41:56"dated first of December 1885."
0:41:56 > 0:42:01Joseph was found guilty of the misappropriation of 16,000 rupees.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05More than £200,000 in today's money.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09This must've been a major embarrassment to the British Army.
0:42:09 > 0:42:12Their paymaster, the gentleman in charge of all their finances
0:42:12 > 0:42:16and making sure all their officers' pay gets divvied up correctly,
0:42:16 > 0:42:19has been found with his hand in his pocket.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26All news to me. Brilliant. Fascinating.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29I'll have to go to India!
0:42:29 > 0:42:31I think you'd love to go to India.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33I would love to go to India, yes, I would love to have a look into it.
0:42:35 > 0:42:38In total, the heir hunters managed to trace descendants
0:42:38 > 0:42:41from three of Ellen Gibson's maternal aunts and uncles,
0:42:41 > 0:42:44all of whom will inherit a share of her estate.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47But for Robert, the money is less important than
0:42:47 > 0:42:51the chance to find out and fill in the gaps in his family history.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54I suppose I must be grateful for Ellen dying intestate,
0:42:54 > 0:42:57otherwise I would never have found out any of this
0:42:57 > 0:43:01and perhaps some good has come of it anyway.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05So, yes, it's interesting and I'm grateful to her.