Crewe-Jennings/James

Download Subtitles

Transcript

0:00:02 > 0:00:05Every year, thousands of people die with no close family

0:00:05 > 0:00:06and without making a will.

0:00:06 > 0:00:10He was one of these guys who seemed to keep himself very much to himself.

0:00:10 > 0:00:14If no relatives come forward, their money will go to the Government,

0:00:14 > 0:00:16and that's where the heir hunters come in.

0:00:16 > 0:00:20They're experts in tracking down long-lost family members who

0:00:20 > 0:00:22have no idea they're in line to inherit.

0:00:22 > 0:00:27I'm trying to trace a lady who may have been born in 1942.

0:00:28 > 0:00:30Their work involves painstaking research...

0:00:30 > 0:00:34She could have completely changed her name. It's going to be a needle in a haystack.

0:00:34 > 0:00:37..and it's a competitive industry, with thousands of pounds at stake.

0:00:37 > 0:00:41We're going to look into this quite urgently cos it's got potential.

0:00:41 > 0:00:45The heir hunters also shine a light on fascinating family histories...

0:00:45 > 0:00:48Nobody who worked here was allowed to talk about it

0:00:48 > 0:00:51to their friends, their family or anybody else.

0:00:51 > 0:00:55..as well as reuniting relatives and bringing back memories.

0:00:55 > 0:00:58This is wonderful. I found a family I never knew I had.

0:00:58 > 0:01:02Above all, it's about giving people news of an unexpected windfall.

0:01:02 > 0:01:04Could the heir hunters be knocking on your door?

0:01:10 > 0:01:11Coming up...

0:01:11 > 0:01:13A case that delves into the secret

0:01:13 > 0:01:16life of workers at the mysterious Bletchley Park.

0:01:16 > 0:01:20It wasn't until the secret came out in 1975 that people turned

0:01:20 > 0:01:23to their partners and said, "That thing in the news, guess what?

0:01:23 > 0:01:27- "That's what I did during the war." - And investigations uncover

0:01:27 > 0:01:30one woman's remarkable fight for working-class rights.

0:01:30 > 0:01:33Would have given Mrs Thatcher a run for her money!

0:01:33 > 0:01:36Plus, how you could be entitled to inherit unclaimed estates

0:01:36 > 0:01:38held by the Treasury.

0:01:38 > 0:01:40Could a fortune be heading your way?

0:01:47 > 0:01:50It's midday on Monday in central London,

0:01:50 > 0:01:53and in the office of heir hunting company Fraser & Fraser,

0:01:53 > 0:01:56lunch has been forgotten as a pile of new cases have just been

0:01:56 > 0:01:59released by the Treasury's Bona Vacantia division.

0:02:02 > 0:02:07Case manager Gareth gets straight onto one case that catches his eye.

0:02:07 > 0:02:10We're looking at the estate of a Kathleen Crewe-Jennings.

0:02:10 > 0:02:14What we know, at this stage, is her surname, when she passed away.

0:02:14 > 0:02:19Crewe-Jennings. Her maiden name was Green. She resided in Birmingham.

0:02:19 > 0:02:22It looks like she owned the property and had lived there

0:02:22 > 0:02:23and owned it since the '70s.

0:02:25 > 0:02:26Because she owned a property,

0:02:26 > 0:02:30the team estimate that the case is worth around £300,000.

0:02:33 > 0:02:41Kathleen Crewe-Jennings died on 28 March, 2013, in Birmingham, aged 94.

0:02:41 > 0:02:43It seems she wasn't well-known by her neighbours

0:02:43 > 0:02:46and no photos survive.

0:02:46 > 0:02:49But what is known about Kathleen, whose maiden name was Green,

0:02:49 > 0:02:52is that she played an important role in a top secret, code-breaking

0:02:52 > 0:02:54operation in Bletchley Park.

0:03:01 > 0:03:05Bletchley Park is a country house built in 1938.

0:03:05 > 0:03:08It was bought by the Government to house an organisation

0:03:08 > 0:03:11called the Government Code and Cypher School.

0:03:13 > 0:03:18'We know, from one of the few surviving official wartime records,

0:03:18 > 0:03:20'that a Miss K Green worked in'

0:03:20 > 0:03:23the Communications Signals office sometime in 1944.

0:03:25 > 0:03:28As far as we know, they were mostly young women who'd just left

0:03:28 > 0:03:29school, so with a typical education,

0:03:29 > 0:03:34but not necessarily a university education for this particular job.

0:03:34 > 0:03:36They would have to be trustworthy, they'd have to be

0:03:36 > 0:03:40capable of working accurately and quickly under great pressure.

0:03:40 > 0:03:43They were certainly vetted to make sure that there

0:03:43 > 0:03:46was nothing about them that means they might be indiscreet.

0:03:47 > 0:03:50The first they knew about what they were going to be doing would be

0:03:50 > 0:03:53when they got off a train at Bletchley Station,

0:03:53 > 0:03:56were brought into here, signed the Official Secrets Act

0:03:56 > 0:03:59and taken to their place of work.

0:03:59 > 0:04:03And Kathleen would not have been able to tell anyone about her work.

0:04:03 > 0:04:07Secrecy was absolutely essential to what went on at Bletchley Park.

0:04:07 > 0:04:09Nobody who worked here was allowed to talk about it

0:04:09 > 0:04:13to their friends, their family or anybody else

0:04:13 > 0:04:15because if the enemy had found out what was going on here,

0:04:15 > 0:04:19they may well have sent aircraft to attack Bletchley Park.

0:04:20 > 0:04:23After serving her country as a young woman,

0:04:23 > 0:04:27Kathleen married late in life, when she was 57 years old.

0:04:27 > 0:04:29As her husband, Edmund Crewe-Jennings,

0:04:29 > 0:04:32passed away before her, and the couple had no children,

0:04:32 > 0:04:35the team are now trying to track down any siblings

0:04:35 > 0:04:38she might have, and the pressure's on.

0:04:38 > 0:04:40Any estate that's got a property on

0:04:40 > 0:04:42is going to have all the competition.

0:04:42 > 0:04:45We've really got to, you know, crack on with it as soon as we can.

0:04:47 > 0:04:49According to Kathleen's death certificate,

0:04:49 > 0:04:53she was born in Birmingham on 28 November, 1919,

0:04:53 > 0:04:57so using this information, Gareth runs some searches online.

0:05:00 > 0:05:06We've got a potential birth of a Kathleen W Green in Bedford

0:05:06 > 0:05:08which, obviously, isn't Birmingham. Um...

0:05:08 > 0:05:12The information on the death certificate is Birmingham.

0:05:12 > 0:05:14But it's the only one that we've got in the right quarter,

0:05:14 > 0:05:16so we're looking at it anyway.

0:05:23 > 0:05:25The information doesn't quite match up.

0:05:25 > 0:05:29For Gareth and the team to go ahead and research Kathleen's family,

0:05:29 > 0:05:32based on the Bedford birth certificate, is a huge gamble.

0:05:34 > 0:05:36One of the most obvious risks is, you know,

0:05:36 > 0:05:38we could be working the family, the wrong family,

0:05:38 > 0:05:40and competition could be working the right family,

0:05:40 > 0:05:44so, you know, it's important we get the right record.

0:05:44 > 0:05:47Heir hunters work on a commission basis, earning money by taking

0:05:47 > 0:05:51a percentage of the estate, which is agreed with any heirs they find.

0:05:51 > 0:05:54But unless they can beat the competition and find

0:05:54 > 0:05:57the right birth, they won't be able to find any heirs or earn any money.

0:05:59 > 0:06:02We're hopefully going to get the deceased's marriage certificate.

0:06:02 > 0:06:03That will tell the father's name. Um...

0:06:05 > 0:06:07And maybe some decent informants as well.

0:06:07 > 0:06:09And what we're also going to try

0:06:09 > 0:06:14and do is get the potential birth in Bedford. Er...

0:06:14 > 0:06:17If we can get a copy of that, then, obviously, the date of birth

0:06:17 > 0:06:20will help us confirm whether it's the correct one.

0:06:20 > 0:06:24I'm still concerned that the deceased is supposed to be

0:06:24 > 0:06:25born in Birmingham.

0:06:26 > 0:06:28To get hold of the certificates,

0:06:28 > 0:06:32- Gareth gives travelling researcher Ewart Lindsay a call.- Hi, Ewart.

0:06:32 > 0:06:34Where are you, mate?

0:06:34 > 0:06:37If you've finished afterwards, could you head over to Bedford for me?

0:06:37 > 0:06:40Cheers, mate. Let me know. Cheers. Thanks. Bye.

0:06:44 > 0:06:47Ewart Lindsay is one of the company's army of travelling

0:06:47 > 0:06:50researchers based all over the UK.

0:06:50 > 0:06:52His job, out on the road,

0:06:52 > 0:06:54is to make enquiries with friends or neighbours of the deceased,

0:06:54 > 0:06:59collect documents and certificates and, crucially, sign up heirs.

0:07:00 > 0:07:02Once you've made contact with a family,

0:07:02 > 0:07:05then that's when all the stories come out, you know?

0:07:06 > 0:07:08I love that side of it.

0:07:08 > 0:07:11Having sent Ewart off to collect the certificates,

0:07:11 > 0:07:14all Gareth can do now is go with his gut instinct.

0:07:14 > 0:07:17We often have to make an educated guess. Um...

0:07:17 > 0:07:19And sometimes, you're just going with instincts.

0:07:19 > 0:07:22With the chance of competition hot on their heels,

0:07:22 > 0:07:25Gareth makes the risky decision to work up the family tree,

0:07:25 > 0:07:28using the Bedford birth anyway.

0:07:28 > 0:07:31What we still don't know is if the birth is correct but, um...

0:07:33 > 0:07:36..if it is right, the 1919 Bedford birth,

0:07:36 > 0:07:39then I think her parents are actually Frank and Winifred.

0:07:41 > 0:07:44For now, Gareth and the team work on the principle that Kathleen's

0:07:44 > 0:07:47parents were Frank Green and Winifred Powell

0:07:47 > 0:07:51and begin searching for any other children they might have.

0:07:51 > 0:07:53Surname's Green. Mother's maiden name's Powell.

0:07:53 > 0:07:55That's quite a common combination.

0:07:55 > 0:07:58It's turning out to be a lot of work,

0:07:58 > 0:08:01and the team aren't even sure if it's the right family.

0:08:01 > 0:08:03But it's a risk they have to take to try

0:08:03 > 0:08:06and get ahead of the competition.

0:08:06 > 0:08:09At the moment, we don't know if we've got the deceased's birth.

0:08:09 > 0:08:11We don't know if we've got the deceased's parents that go with

0:08:11 > 0:08:14the birth that we're not sure is correct.

0:08:17 > 0:08:20This is purely just difficult surnames.

0:08:21 > 0:08:24Finally, Gareth gets the make-or-break phone call from Ewart.

0:08:27 > 0:08:32Thank you very much. Cheers. Thanks a lot. Bye. Um...

0:08:32 > 0:08:36So we've got details about the deceased's marriage back. Er...

0:08:36 > 0:08:40and it's confirmed, basically, that the father is a Frank William Green.

0:08:40 > 0:08:42The birth that we've been working,

0:08:42 > 0:08:47we think the father is Frank W Green, so it's got to be the same.

0:08:47 > 0:08:48From our point of view, it's brilliant news

0:08:48 > 0:08:51because it's confirmed, you know,

0:08:51 > 0:08:55everything that we were speculating about is actually correct.

0:08:55 > 0:08:58So, I'm sitting here, saying, "I think it was wrong."

0:08:58 > 0:09:00Turns out it was right.

0:09:01 > 0:09:02It's a huge relief,

0:09:02 > 0:09:06and knowing that all their hard work hasn't been in vain allows the team

0:09:06 > 0:09:09to really crack on with their search for Kathleen's siblings.

0:09:09 > 0:09:12And we've just got a lot of names.

0:09:13 > 0:09:16She's probably just an only child.

0:09:16 > 0:09:18With so many potential siblings to check,

0:09:18 > 0:09:21they can't be 100% sure for now.

0:09:21 > 0:09:24But it's looking like Kathleen is an only child.

0:09:24 > 0:09:27So the team decide to expand their search and look to Kathleen's

0:09:27 > 0:09:32father's family first in the hope of finding aunts, uncles or cousins.

0:09:32 > 0:09:35We think, and I'm quite confident, that

0:09:35 > 0:09:43the deceased had an Aunt Lilian and an Aunt Elsie. Um...

0:09:44 > 0:09:49But we're still missing a few names, which I'm trying to work out now.

0:09:51 > 0:09:53And we haven't got anything on the maternal side yet.

0:09:53 > 0:09:55As their research continues,

0:09:55 > 0:09:58Gareth and the team gradually build up the tree.

0:09:58 > 0:10:01So we've got five kids, by the sounds of it, on the paternal side.

0:10:02 > 0:10:05Kathleen's paternal grandparents, Thomas and Amy,

0:10:05 > 0:10:08had six children, including her father, Frank.

0:10:08 > 0:10:10One died as a minor,

0:10:10 > 0:10:14and the rest of Kathleen's aunts and uncles have since passed away,

0:10:14 > 0:10:17so the team are hoping there may be cousins and cousins once removed,

0:10:17 > 0:10:21who are in line to inherit if Kathleen is an only child.

0:10:22 > 0:10:24I don't think there's any near kin.

0:10:26 > 0:10:29I'm hoping there's no near kin.

0:10:29 > 0:10:30But having ruled out siblings

0:10:30 > 0:10:34and focused all their attention on researching the wider family,

0:10:34 > 0:10:38new information suddenly comes to light that changes everything.

0:10:38 > 0:10:41We've got a potential sister of the deceased and she's passed away,

0:10:41 > 0:10:44but she had, certainly, two children.

0:10:49 > 0:10:52Heir hunts can often uncover fascinating family histories,

0:10:52 > 0:10:55many of which shine a light on the strength of

0:10:55 > 0:10:57human nature in difficult times.

0:10:57 > 0:11:00The search for heirs to the £7,000 estate of Sandra James

0:11:00 > 0:11:02was one such case.

0:11:03 > 0:11:07Heir hunting company Celtic Research, headed up by father

0:11:07 > 0:11:09and son team Peter and Hector Birchwood,

0:11:09 > 0:11:11has offices in London, Liverpool and Wales.

0:11:13 > 0:11:16Their South Wales branch is run by another father and son team,

0:11:16 > 0:11:21Phil and Donovan, a pair who relish a good challenge.

0:11:21 > 0:11:26'We particularly concentrate on cases that would be'

0:11:26 > 0:11:29deemed to be more difficult to solve,

0:11:29 > 0:11:32that are niche against the competition.

0:11:33 > 0:11:35When the case of Sandra James appeared on

0:11:35 > 0:11:37the Treasury Solicitor's list of

0:11:37 > 0:11:40unclaimed estates back in October 2012,

0:11:40 > 0:11:42it immediately caught their eye.

0:11:43 > 0:11:47We cover all of South Wales and also Bristol and Glamorgan.

0:11:48 > 0:11:52And Sandra died in Swansea, so it fell into our area.

0:11:53 > 0:11:58Sandra James died on 17 February, 2012,

0:11:58 > 0:12:01aged 67 in a residential home in Swansea, South Wales.

0:12:03 > 0:12:05Born with Down's syndrome, as a young child

0:12:05 > 0:12:07she then contracted polio,

0:12:07 > 0:12:10a disease which caused her to become severely disabled,

0:12:10 > 0:12:13and spend many years of her life in care.

0:12:13 > 0:12:15Polio is a waterborne virus

0:12:15 > 0:12:19that affects the spine, and it depends

0:12:19 > 0:12:23on what level of the spine it affects to the extent of your paralysis.

0:12:23 > 0:12:26Some people can get polio and they're not paralysed at all.

0:12:26 > 0:12:28Other people can get polio

0:12:28 > 0:12:31and are paralysed from the waist or even the neck down.

0:12:32 > 0:12:37In the '40s and '50s, polio was the dreaded disease

0:12:37 > 0:12:39and was every parent's nightmare.

0:12:39 > 0:12:42In fact, it was called in those days "infantile paralysis".

0:12:44 > 0:12:48Since the introduction of a vaccine in the 1960s,

0:12:48 > 0:12:51the disease has been completely eradicated in Britain.

0:12:51 > 0:12:54But during Sandra's childhood, the virus was rife.

0:12:55 > 0:13:00Sandra would've been one of the just under 20,000 cases of polio

0:13:00 > 0:13:06between 1940 and 1949. And at that time, there was a 10% mortality rate.

0:13:06 > 0:13:10And for those children that did survive, one in ten children

0:13:10 > 0:13:15suffered from irreversible paralysis and faced a difficult life ahead.

0:13:16 > 0:13:20It would be very different for Sandra now if she had contracted polio

0:13:20 > 0:13:24as compared to when she did in the '40s and '50s.

0:13:24 > 0:13:26Many children were encased in iron lungs.

0:13:26 > 0:13:30There's different treatment nowadays for respiratory diseases.

0:13:30 > 0:13:35Many children had to go through numerous, very painful bone surgery

0:13:35 > 0:13:40with pioneering techniques, some of which worked, some of which didn't.

0:13:40 > 0:13:43Many children in the '40s and '50s

0:13:43 > 0:13:46missed an awful lot of their education.

0:13:46 > 0:13:49Nowadays, education is taken to the hospital.

0:13:49 > 0:13:53So it is a very different world indeed nowadays to having polio

0:13:53 > 0:13:56as it was in the '40s and the '50s.

0:13:58 > 0:14:02As Sandra died in a nursing home with no known family, case manager

0:14:02 > 0:14:06Donovan took on the challenge of finding heirs to her £7,000 estate.

0:14:07 > 0:14:12The first thing I needed to do was order the death certificate,

0:14:12 > 0:14:15or actually pick up the death certificate from Swansea,

0:14:15 > 0:14:18because it was in our area and it wasn't too far away.

0:14:18 > 0:14:23A death certificate usually reveals the date and exact place of birth

0:14:23 > 0:14:27of the deceased, but in this case, things weren't quite so simple.

0:14:29 > 0:14:32It didn't really tell us exactly where she was born.

0:14:32 > 0:14:35It just said "London", which could be anywhere.

0:14:36 > 0:14:39It's just a minefield, especially when she...

0:14:39 > 0:14:41If she doesn't have a middle name,

0:14:41 > 0:14:45or the person doesn't have a middle name, it becomes more difficult.

0:14:48 > 0:14:51With a population of nearly ten million people in Greater London,

0:14:51 > 0:14:53searching for a record with no idea of borough

0:14:53 > 0:14:56or area was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

0:14:58 > 0:15:02But finding out where Sandra was born and tracing her parents and

0:15:02 > 0:15:06any other children they might have was crucial to the investigation.

0:15:08 > 0:15:11I knew from the death certificate she was born somewhere in the UK,

0:15:11 > 0:15:14and I knew I was going to find it somehow.

0:15:14 > 0:15:19Sometimes it takes years to find them, something it takes a day.

0:15:19 > 0:15:21But you don't give up.

0:15:22 > 0:15:25After a trawl through the online records, eventually,

0:15:25 > 0:15:27Donovan seemed to be in luck.

0:15:27 > 0:15:32There was only one particular Sandra James who had been born

0:15:32 > 0:15:33in the same quarter in London.

0:15:35 > 0:15:37But, sadly, it was too good to be true,

0:15:37 > 0:15:41and when further research revealed it wasn't the right Sandra James,

0:15:41 > 0:15:45it seemed the investigation had stalled at the very first hurdle.

0:15:46 > 0:15:49Don't have her birth certificate, we don't know who the parents are.

0:15:49 > 0:15:53Erm, we don't know where she was born. We're stuck, basically.

0:15:53 > 0:15:56We didn't know what else to look for.

0:15:56 > 0:16:00But Donovan was determined not to be beaten.

0:16:00 > 0:16:03And together, he and his father Phil work through all the possibilities.

0:16:03 > 0:16:05You've got the date of birth

0:16:05 > 0:16:09and it just doesn't add up that the person doesn't exist.

0:16:09 > 0:16:12Then, your options are very few.

0:16:12 > 0:16:14Either they died very young

0:16:14 > 0:16:17and were never registered or they were adopted.

0:16:19 > 0:16:24The next step I took was to e-mail the office in London to check for

0:16:24 > 0:16:28adoptions for a Sandra being adopted by a James family.

0:16:28 > 0:16:30That's all we can go with,

0:16:30 > 0:16:35and the exact date of birth we've got on the death certificate.

0:16:35 > 0:16:40They checked and they found that there was two possible adoptions.

0:16:40 > 0:16:45So we would have to order both of them with a check saying

0:16:45 > 0:16:49the date of birth has got to be that particular date of birth.

0:16:50 > 0:16:53When the checks came back, it turned out that Sandra had indeed

0:16:53 > 0:16:58been adopted, and suddenly the investigation was back on track.

0:16:58 > 0:17:00The birth certificate for Sandra...

0:17:00 > 0:17:03Adoption records revealed that Sandra was adopted

0:17:03 > 0:17:08on 17th September, 1945, when she was just six months old.

0:17:08 > 0:17:11Her adoptive parents were David James and Edna Veal.

0:17:15 > 0:17:20Since 1926, child adoption has had legal status in England and Wales,

0:17:20 > 0:17:24which means the estate of anyone adopted after this date

0:17:24 > 0:17:28will go to their adoptive family, rather than their birth family.

0:17:28 > 0:17:32Knowing this, Donovan quickly looked into Sandra's adopted parents.

0:17:32 > 0:17:36First thing we do is we would check if they had any other children

0:17:36 > 0:17:42themselves, because maybe Sandra had a brother or a stepbrother.

0:17:42 > 0:17:44Maybe the parents were married twice.

0:17:44 > 0:17:46We would check for that as well.

0:17:46 > 0:17:51Erm, but what we found is she was an only child.

0:17:51 > 0:17:55Sandra had no siblings that could inherit, so it was time to

0:17:55 > 0:17:59look to the wider family to trace any aunts and uncles of hers.

0:17:59 > 0:18:00If they found any,

0:18:00 > 0:18:04they or their children would now be heirs to the £7,000 estate.

0:18:04 > 0:18:08Donovan discovered that Sandra's mother Edna was one of nine children

0:18:08 > 0:18:12born to Martha and John Veal in 1908 in Aberdare,

0:18:12 > 0:18:14in the county of Glamorgan

0:18:14 > 0:18:15in South Wales.

0:18:15 > 0:18:17An area which, at the time,

0:18:17 > 0:18:19was at the heart of Britain's coal-mining industry.

0:18:22 > 0:18:26Sandra's grandfather, John Veal, a hewer cutting coal in the mines,

0:18:26 > 0:18:29was one of hundreds of thousands of men toiling to keep up

0:18:29 > 0:18:31with the high demand for Welsh coal.

0:18:33 > 0:18:35'Here, deep in the earth,

0:18:35 > 0:18:38'men dig the black fuel for Britain's furnaces.'

0:18:39 > 0:18:42A hewer was somebody who actually cut the coal.

0:18:42 > 0:18:44It wasn't just hacking wildly at the coal.

0:18:44 > 0:18:49You actually cut a channel down through the coal

0:18:49 > 0:18:53and then went on your side and then cut a channel under the coal.

0:18:53 > 0:18:57Prop it up, make sure it doesn't all come down, and then stood back,

0:18:57 > 0:19:01withdrew the props, and you hew large lumps of coal about that size.

0:19:02 > 0:19:04With few other employment opportunities

0:19:04 > 0:19:08available in the area of the time, as soon he was old enough,

0:19:08 > 0:19:10John's only son, Ronald, joined his father

0:19:10 > 0:19:13working in dangerous conditions in the pit.

0:19:13 > 0:19:16Of course, most of them would have accepted that by the time

0:19:16 > 0:19:19they came 12, at that period, 14 years old, they would go underground.

0:19:19 > 0:19:23The boy had to lift the coal up by hand, put it in the box,

0:19:23 > 0:19:26and then drag or carry the coal box back to the dram,

0:19:26 > 0:19:28which is a wheeled vehicle.

0:19:28 > 0:19:31Load it up very carefully, and then come back for the next box

0:19:31 > 0:19:33and keep doing that all day.

0:19:33 > 0:19:36It sounds easy, but if you're working in a seam about 2ft 6, 3ft high,

0:19:36 > 0:19:39it means he's banging his back, banging his elbows.

0:19:39 > 0:19:41Young boys at that age are awkward anyway.

0:19:41 > 0:19:44And working in cramped conditions underground

0:19:44 > 0:19:46caused serious health issues.

0:19:46 > 0:19:49Lung disease is more prevalent in South Wales Coalfield

0:19:49 > 0:19:52than any other part of Britain, any other coalfield in Britain.

0:19:52 > 0:19:54Erm, basically, because the coal is small.

0:19:54 > 0:19:57So when they're cutting the coal, that dust is coming out,

0:19:57 > 0:19:59they're breathing it. It's going in the lungs.

0:20:00 > 0:20:03Years of labour down the mines eventually

0:20:03 > 0:20:07took its toll on John Veal, and, sadly, he died aged just 40,

0:20:07 > 0:20:11leaving his wife and nine children behind.

0:20:11 > 0:20:14But, at the time, it wasn't just those who worked down the mines

0:20:14 > 0:20:16that had a short life expectancy.

0:20:17 > 0:20:20TB is known as the disease of poverty.

0:20:20 > 0:20:26So it was caused, basically, by bad air in the house, bad diet,

0:20:26 > 0:20:28bad living conditions.

0:20:28 > 0:20:31It is a disease associated with poverty and poor living.

0:20:32 > 0:20:36With TB killing more people in the mining towns of South Wales

0:20:36 > 0:20:39than anywhere else in Britain at the time, how many of Sandra's

0:20:39 > 0:20:42relatives would survive?

0:20:42 > 0:20:45You'll find children dying very young

0:20:45 > 0:20:50and even dying in their teens and mid-20s.

0:20:56 > 0:21:00Heir hunters trace thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year.

0:21:00 > 0:21:02But not all cases can be cracked.

0:21:02 > 0:21:05There are thousands out there that have eluded the heir hunters

0:21:05 > 0:21:07and remain unsolved.

0:21:09 > 0:21:12Today, we're focusing on two Scottish cases.

0:21:12 > 0:21:15Whereas in England and Wales unclaimed estates are dealt with

0:21:15 > 0:21:18by the Treasury Solicitor and their value is not revealed,

0:21:18 > 0:21:25in Scotland, they're advertised by the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, who do list the value.

0:21:26 > 0:21:29Could you be the beneficiary they are looking for?

0:21:29 > 0:21:33Could you be about to inherit some money from a long-lost relative?

0:21:33 > 0:21:37First up is a case worth just over £10,000.

0:21:37 > 0:21:4180-year-old Julian Nowak died in hospital in Edinburgh

0:21:41 > 0:21:44on 1st August, 2006.

0:21:44 > 0:21:46While he died in Scotland,

0:21:46 > 0:21:50it appears he was actually born in Poland on 18th February, 1927.

0:21:52 > 0:21:54Did you know Julian?

0:21:54 > 0:21:58Do you have any idea when and why he moved from Poland to the UK?

0:21:58 > 0:22:02Perhaps you have some clue that could help trace family at home

0:22:02 > 0:22:06or abroad and find the rightful beneficiaries to his estate.

0:22:07 > 0:22:11Next is the case of Isabella Pirie Cruickshank,

0:22:11 > 0:22:16who was born on 25th August, 1926, in Auchterless, Aberdeenshire.

0:22:19 > 0:22:24When she passed away in Dundee on 23rd April, 2007,

0:22:24 > 0:22:28she left an estate worth £2,852,

0:22:28 > 0:22:32which, so far, no family have come forward to claim.

0:22:32 > 0:22:35It is believed she lived in Montrose,

0:22:35 > 0:22:37a seaside town on the Angus coast.

0:22:37 > 0:22:40Does her name mean anything to you?

0:22:40 > 0:22:42Perhaps you were a neighbour of hers.

0:22:42 > 0:22:46Both these estates remain unsolved, and if no family can be found,

0:22:46 > 0:22:49the money will go to the Government.

0:22:50 > 0:22:54Do you know anything that could help solve the cases of Julian Nowak

0:22:54 > 0:22:56and Isabella Pirie Cruickshank?

0:22:56 > 0:22:59Perhaps you could be the next of kin the heir hunters are looking for.

0:22:59 > 0:23:03If so, you could have thousands of pounds coming your way.

0:23:11 > 0:23:15In London, the team are hard at work tracking down heirs to

0:23:15 > 0:23:19the £300,000 estate of Kathleen Crewe-Jennings.

0:23:21 > 0:23:25Kathleen died in Birmingham in 2013.

0:23:25 > 0:23:29After marrying Edmund Crewe-Jennings later on in life at the age of 57,

0:23:29 > 0:23:34she had no children or any close family who could inherit.

0:23:34 > 0:23:36As a civil servant, she had dedicated the earlier

0:23:36 > 0:23:41part of her life to a career which began at Bletchley Park.

0:23:41 > 0:23:44The purpose of the Government Code and Cypher School was quite simply

0:23:44 > 0:23:47to decipher any messages that were in code

0:23:47 > 0:23:51and then exploit the information in them to brief senior officers,

0:23:51 > 0:23:54senior personnel, like Churchill, and support the war effort.

0:23:56 > 0:23:59It's believed that the work carried out at Bletchley Park

0:23:59 > 0:24:02shortened the war by as much as two years.

0:24:02 > 0:24:06But it has been a fiercely guarded secret ever since.

0:24:06 > 0:24:11It wasn't until the secret came out in 1975 that in many cases

0:24:11 > 0:24:14a lot of people, wives, husbands, turned to their partners and said,

0:24:14 > 0:24:17"That thing on the news, guess what? That's what I did during the war."

0:24:17 > 0:24:20It is seen as a great honour. People are now able to talk about it

0:24:20 > 0:24:22and realise that their work was appreciated.

0:24:22 > 0:24:26But, for many years, they had to keep very, very quiet about it.

0:24:26 > 0:24:29It is not quite the code-breaking that went on at Bletchley,

0:24:29 > 0:24:32but in the office, the team have been making good progress

0:24:32 > 0:24:35unlocking the secrets of Kathleen's family tree.

0:24:35 > 0:24:39Led by case manager Gareth Langford, they have discovered that Kathleen's

0:24:39 > 0:24:44father Frank was one of six children born to Thomas William Green.

0:24:44 > 0:24:47And one thing in particular has caught Gareth's eye.

0:24:47 > 0:24:50One of the interesting things we noted about Frank's father

0:24:50 > 0:24:53was that he was a parchment maker.

0:24:53 > 0:24:55We're a company that deal with records - birth,

0:24:55 > 0:24:59death and marriage records - and his father dealt with, you know,

0:24:59 > 0:25:04the parchment that all those records have been historically taken on.

0:25:08 > 0:25:12Parchment is specifically the split skin of a sheep.

0:25:12 > 0:25:15Parchment making goes back before Christ, we are

0:25:15 > 0:25:17into sort of three, 4,000 years BC.

0:25:18 > 0:25:20Early examples

0:25:20 > 0:25:23would include the Dead Sea Scrolls which is 450 BC.

0:25:23 > 0:25:24But there is art that goes back

0:25:24 > 0:25:26and there's the written word that goes back.

0:25:26 > 0:25:31Once you write on sort of a skin, it's going to be called parchment.

0:25:31 > 0:25:34Today, there are only three or four companies

0:25:34 > 0:25:37in the world practising traditional parchment making,

0:25:37 > 0:25:38but in Thomas Green's time,

0:25:38 > 0:25:41before the advent of paper, things were very different.

0:25:43 > 0:25:45This guy would have been a busy man.

0:25:45 > 0:25:48In the 1850s, parchment was in demand.

0:25:48 > 0:25:51Lots of people going to school, lots of people graduating

0:25:51 > 0:25:55from university, the demand for parchment was never stronger.

0:25:57 > 0:26:00Status wise, parchment makers were up there.

0:26:00 > 0:26:02You're talking the same as cabinet-maker,

0:26:02 > 0:26:05you know, wheelwright, these sort of things.

0:26:05 > 0:26:06These are highly-skilled people,

0:26:06 > 0:26:08producing something that's highly valued.

0:26:10 > 0:26:14The parchment that he made back in 1880 will still be around today.

0:26:14 > 0:26:18There's a document or documents somewhere written

0:26:18 > 0:26:21and produced on his work.

0:26:22 > 0:26:23It's almost bizarre that

0:26:23 > 0:26:28when you look at man's history it's all documented on parchment.

0:26:28 > 0:26:31It's commonly thought that if early man had not

0:26:31 > 0:26:35written on parchment we would know a fraction of what we know today.

0:26:36 > 0:26:39In the heir hunters' office, official records are what's

0:26:39 > 0:26:41helped them piece together Kathleen's family.

0:26:41 > 0:26:44They've revealed that amongst her grandfather

0:26:44 > 0:26:47Thomas Green's descendants, there are seven cousins.

0:26:47 > 0:26:50All of whom are potential heirs to her estate.

0:26:50 > 0:26:52And as the team turn their attention to Kathleen's

0:26:52 > 0:26:57mother's family, Gareth gets wind of a huge spanner in the works.

0:26:59 > 0:27:01Basically, we've got

0:27:01 > 0:27:06a potential sister of the deceased who's born just before the marriage

0:27:06 > 0:27:16and...it looks like she marries and has children so, erm, if it is,

0:27:16 > 0:27:21if it is the deceased's sister then they'd be the entitled parties.

0:27:21 > 0:27:23Rather than being an only child,

0:27:23 > 0:27:28it looks like Kathleen might in fact have had one sister, Elsie Green.

0:27:28 > 0:27:30It's a last-minute discovery

0:27:30 > 0:27:33that threatens all the work they've done so far, as any nieces

0:27:33 > 0:27:38and nephews of Kathleen's would now inherit ahead of cousins.

0:27:38 > 0:27:40The surname's Green, it's, you know,

0:27:40 > 0:27:43it's also equally possible is just a coincidence of names.

0:27:44 > 0:27:47Until we can confirm it, we've got to work both avenues.

0:27:49 > 0:27:52Until they can get hold of a copy of Elsie's birth certificate,

0:27:52 > 0:27:55they won't know for sure if she's Kathleen's sister

0:27:55 > 0:27:59but they can't afford to ignore the possibility,

0:27:59 > 0:28:02so they hedge their bets and set about chasing maternal cousins

0:28:02 > 0:28:05and any potential nieces and nephews.

0:28:05 > 0:28:10Soon, they uncover some possible contact details for a niece.

0:28:10 > 0:28:14We are not 100% sure whether it's right or not.

0:28:14 > 0:28:18There's only one way to find out. So Gareth gives her a call.

0:28:18 > 0:28:25You are not part of the family? OK. OK. I see. Oh, right, OK.

0:28:25 > 0:28:28OK, very sorry to have troubled you. Lovely, thank you, bye-bye.

0:28:30 > 0:28:33Yeah, there's absolutely no connection to her family whatsoever.

0:28:33 > 0:28:38Erm...that's annoying.

0:28:38 > 0:28:42With one possible niece ruled out, and having not yet found any contact

0:28:42 > 0:28:44details for any others,

0:28:44 > 0:28:47the team aren't getting anywhere with near kin.

0:28:47 > 0:28:50But they have managed to make some headway with the maternal cousins,

0:28:50 > 0:28:52which leaves Gareth in a tricky position.

0:28:55 > 0:28:59The decision now needs to be made, do I write to the potential

0:28:59 > 0:29:07cousins, now, erm, or wait to see if the near kin's right or wrong?

0:29:07 > 0:29:10My instincts are telling me that the near kin is right,

0:29:10 > 0:29:13so I'm going to wait.

0:29:13 > 0:29:17It's a risky decision as rival firms are likely to be working this case

0:29:17 > 0:29:21at the same time and they can't afford to give them any advantage.

0:29:21 > 0:29:24But Gareth has chosen to go with his gut instinct and, after

0:29:24 > 0:29:28a stressful day at the office, all he can do now is wait and see.

0:29:29 > 0:29:32The following day and the all-important certificate

0:29:32 > 0:29:35has arrived but will it bring the news that Gareth wants?

0:29:35 > 0:29:39Right, have you got the Jennings? Brilliant.

0:29:42 > 0:29:48All right so, our Elsie May that I thought may be the near kin...

0:29:48 > 0:29:51is definitely not part of our family.

0:29:53 > 0:29:56And, strangely, her mother's maiden name is Boswell, not Powell.

0:29:56 > 0:30:00So it's a mis-entry on the records.

0:30:01 > 0:30:05It's not the result Gareth anticipated but, luckily,

0:30:05 > 0:30:07because they continued the hunt for cousins,

0:30:07 > 0:30:09the team are still on track with the investigation.

0:30:09 > 0:30:12And they've made good progress with Kathleen's mother's

0:30:12 > 0:30:16- side of the family.- She was born in Wrexham, that completely threw us.

0:30:16 > 0:30:20So far we've got one stem up-staked on that side.

0:30:22 > 0:30:26So, it's full team ahead to work out the other lines of the family tree.

0:30:26 > 0:30:31Now we've got the information, that little bit of extra information, now they're falling out quite easily.

0:30:31 > 0:30:33Shall I do a copy of that bit?

0:30:35 > 0:30:37And pretty soon they're able to confirm that there are

0:30:37 > 0:30:42a total of 11 first cousins and cousins once removed of Kathleen's,

0:30:42 > 0:30:47and that they are indeed entitled to a share of her £300,000 estate.

0:30:47 > 0:30:51One of those cousins once removed is Douglas Powell Jones.

0:30:52 > 0:30:55It's now just over a month since he learned he was an heir

0:30:55 > 0:30:57and the news is still sinking in.

0:30:59 > 0:31:01When, when Gareth Langford rang me

0:31:01 > 0:31:05I said... I think my words to him

0:31:05 > 0:31:07were, "Have you got the right person?"

0:31:07 > 0:31:11To be honest with you I just felt numb for a few seconds.

0:31:12 > 0:31:17Considering I haven't spoken to her for...since I was 15 years of age.

0:31:19 > 0:31:22- You wouldn't think that I'm entitled to anything.- As a child,

0:31:22 > 0:31:25the time Douglas spent with Kathleen was brief.

0:31:25 > 0:31:30Mother would take me round to Auntie Winnie's and Uncle Frank's

0:31:30 > 0:31:36but I never used to stay long. I was too impatient to get out at that age.

0:31:37 > 0:31:40I didn't see a great deal of Kathleen.

0:31:40 > 0:31:43But when I did see her she was always very pleasant with me,

0:31:43 > 0:31:47I do remember that, very, very vividly.

0:31:47 > 0:31:49As time went on, Douglas saw less

0:31:49 > 0:31:51and less of his civil servant cousin.

0:31:51 > 0:31:53I didn't know she got married.

0:31:55 > 0:31:58Because she was... She'd lived away for so long.

0:31:58 > 0:32:02I always had it in my mind that she'd been a career woman

0:32:02 > 0:32:05and she'd got no time for any ties.

0:32:06 > 0:32:09But being contacted by the heir hunters has reminded

0:32:09 > 0:32:12Douglas of the importance of family ties

0:32:12 > 0:32:16and a copy of the tree sent to him by the company has arrived today.

0:32:16 > 0:32:18He's signed an agreement that will help him claim his share

0:32:18 > 0:32:23of the inheritance in return for an agreed percentage of the estate.

0:32:23 > 0:32:26But for Douglas, it's about far more than the money.

0:32:26 > 0:32:31It means a lot, it means that I can, I can look back and think

0:32:31 > 0:32:35because I've got... I haven't got any photographs of my grandmother

0:32:35 > 0:32:39or my grandfather, I don't know whatever happened to them.

0:32:39 > 0:32:41This is quite... It's quite exciting.

0:32:41 > 0:32:46To think I would... I never thought I'd ever have anything like this.

0:32:51 > 0:32:53Oh, it's really, really interesting this.

0:33:00 > 0:33:03In South Wales, father and son team Phil and Donovan

0:33:03 > 0:33:06were making good progress in the hunt for heirs

0:33:06 > 0:33:08to Sandra James's £7,000 estate.

0:33:09 > 0:33:11In a crucial breakthrough,

0:33:11 > 0:33:15they've discovered that Sandra had been adopted in 1945

0:33:15 > 0:33:17and that her adoptive mother, Edna,

0:33:17 > 0:33:21was one of nine children born into a mining family in the Welsh Valleys.

0:33:22 > 0:33:26I then found the siblings of Edna.

0:33:26 > 0:33:29I then checked if any of them had died young

0:33:29 > 0:33:32because in those days

0:33:32 > 0:33:36a lot of children died young from all types of diseases.

0:33:36 > 0:33:43But I did find one, Elsie, who died young at the age of 12 from TB,

0:33:43 > 0:33:47which could be related to her father being in the mining industry.

0:33:49 > 0:33:51While, sadly, Elsie died as a child,

0:33:51 > 0:33:53the rest of Edna's brothers and sisters

0:33:53 > 0:33:56all went on to marry and have children of their own.

0:33:56 > 0:33:58It was these cousins of Sandra's

0:33:58 > 0:34:00that the heir hunters now needed to trace.

0:34:02 > 0:34:05Once I found Edna's brothers and sisters,

0:34:05 > 0:34:07the family tree started to come together.

0:34:09 > 0:34:14It was quite easy to find marriages for her sisters,

0:34:14 > 0:34:16cos they were all roughly married in the same area,

0:34:16 > 0:34:19which I checked and it seemed to be correct.

0:34:20 > 0:34:23So they were all born and married in the same place.

0:34:23 > 0:34:28And some of them married husbands with unusual surnames,

0:34:28 > 0:34:30one of them being Venn.

0:34:30 > 0:34:33His research revealed that one of Edna's sisters,

0:34:33 > 0:34:35Sandra's aunt, Eunice,

0:34:35 > 0:34:39married Leslie Venn in 1944 and went on to have two children.

0:34:40 > 0:34:42And with a bit of extra research,

0:34:42 > 0:34:44it wasn't long before Donovan managed

0:34:44 > 0:34:46to track their daughter, Julie, down.

0:34:47 > 0:34:52And then I found a telephone number, an address for her,

0:34:52 > 0:34:56on the electoral rolls and gave her a call.

0:34:56 > 0:34:59Once Julie confirmed who she was,

0:34:59 > 0:35:04I knew I was speaking to one of Sandra's heirs to her estate.

0:35:06 > 0:35:07The rest is history.

0:35:09 > 0:35:12Sandra's cousin, Julie, hadn't seen her since they were both young,

0:35:12 > 0:35:14but becoming an heir has brought back

0:35:14 > 0:35:16fond memories of family visits.

0:35:18 > 0:35:19Sandra loved company.

0:35:19 > 0:35:25And I remember her as always laughing and any little joke

0:35:25 > 0:35:27and she'd crack up with laughter.

0:35:27 > 0:35:31Again, because I think she could feel the happiness from her mother

0:35:31 > 0:35:35and from the family welcoming them.

0:35:35 > 0:35:38It turns out that the story behind Sandra's adoption

0:35:38 > 0:35:39was a remarkable one.

0:35:40 > 0:35:43She wasn't the first baby my auntie adopted.

0:35:43 > 0:35:50My Aunt Edna adopted a little boy first of all,

0:35:50 > 0:35:54and a wealthy family who wanted a little boy of their own

0:35:54 > 0:35:56came into the picture somehow.

0:35:56 > 0:35:59I don't know how Social Services operated in those days,

0:35:59 > 0:36:03but it seemed they could just come along, back to the family, and say,

0:36:03 > 0:36:07"This child is not in the right situation here with you

0:36:07 > 0:36:09"and we'd like him back.

0:36:10 > 0:36:14"And we know you wanted a little girl initially, so here is Sandra.

0:36:14 > 0:36:16"Would you like her?"

0:36:18 > 0:36:20As Sandra was born with Down's syndrome,

0:36:20 > 0:36:23her adoption was a huge commitment

0:36:23 > 0:36:25and when she contracted the polio that would affect her

0:36:25 > 0:36:29for the rest of her life, it was Edna who took on her full-time care.

0:36:31 > 0:36:34It made my auntie's situation even sadder

0:36:34 > 0:36:38because she had adopted this baby,

0:36:38 > 0:36:41erm, not knowing that she had polio

0:36:41 > 0:36:45but certainly gave her the best life she could possibly have given her.

0:36:46 > 0:36:50Edna worked hard to make ends meet and provide for Sandra.

0:36:50 > 0:36:53My auntie cleaned and she was very proud of this.

0:36:53 > 0:36:56She cleaned for Harry Secombe's mum

0:36:56 > 0:37:01and that was her attachment with the glitterati of Swansea.

0:37:01 > 0:37:04And I'm sure if she would have been here today, she'd be

0:37:04 > 0:37:09cleaning for Catherine Zeta-Jones' mum or, at least, Bonnie Tyler.

0:37:09 > 0:37:12She loved it!

0:37:12 > 0:37:13She really was a lovely woman.

0:37:13 > 0:37:16She didn't have much in the world but whatever she had,

0:37:16 > 0:37:18she would give you her last.

0:37:20 > 0:37:23As one of nine children, growing up in the heart of South Wales'

0:37:23 > 0:37:25industrial mining community,

0:37:25 > 0:37:29Sandra's mother, Edna, was no stranger to hardship.

0:37:29 > 0:37:32And it transpires that in Sandra's grandmother,

0:37:32 > 0:37:35she had an extremely strong female role model.

0:37:35 > 0:37:38Martha Dennis was born in 1887

0:37:38 > 0:37:42and married miner John Veal in Aberdare, in 1903.

0:37:42 > 0:37:46After being widowed at a young age and witnessing the working class

0:37:46 > 0:37:49struggle first-hand, she became an ardent political campaigner.

0:37:52 > 0:37:56She was a very active member of the Labour Party...for years,

0:37:56 > 0:37:58she was on every committee.

0:37:58 > 0:38:01Erm, held meetings in the house,

0:38:01 > 0:38:07debated with anyone who'd care to listen, talk and give an opinion.

0:38:09 > 0:38:14We actually had a letter from the House of Commons when Martha died,

0:38:14 > 0:38:19saying what a sad loss it was to her family and to the Labour Party

0:38:19 > 0:38:23and thanked my mother, who the letter was addressed to,

0:38:23 > 0:38:26for the time and effort she'd put in.

0:38:26 > 0:38:29At the end of the letter, my favourite bit is,

0:38:29 > 0:38:34"I hope that your grief will be somewhat lessened by the fact

0:38:34 > 0:38:38"that your dear mother did a great deal,

0:38:38 > 0:38:41"in her memorable life, to

0:38:41 > 0:38:46"ameliorate the conditions of the class to which she and I belong."

0:38:48 > 0:38:50And that's my very favourite bit and, I think,

0:38:50 > 0:38:53sums up what my grandmother was all about.

0:38:55 > 0:38:58A working-class woman in the early-20th century,

0:38:58 > 0:39:03Martha was inspired to fight for the rights of miners and their families.

0:39:03 > 0:39:06So, Martha would have seen the sort of poverty that was going on.

0:39:06 > 0:39:09The dirt, the dust, you know, the deaths.

0:39:09 > 0:39:13Erm, there was constant childbirth going on, she wanted something

0:39:13 > 0:39:16different and saw the Labour Party as being a way out of it all.

0:39:19 > 0:39:22As issues such as health, wages, houses

0:39:22 > 0:39:25and working conditions became more and more important, the mining

0:39:25 > 0:39:30communities of South Wales were a hotbed of political activism.

0:39:30 > 0:39:34So, in about 1910, 1911 there were big strikes across South Wales.

0:39:34 > 0:39:37There was a huge one in the Rhondda, which is know colloquially as the

0:39:37 > 0:39:39Tonypandy Riots but also there was another strike,

0:39:39 > 0:39:42known as the "Block Strike" in Aberdare at the same time.

0:39:42 > 0:39:44So, she would have seen this going on.

0:39:44 > 0:39:48In 1912, the Minimum Wage Strike went on right through Britain.

0:39:48 > 0:39:51So she would have been, probably, involved with that as well.

0:39:51 > 0:39:55Perhaps she would have been on the streets demonstrating, marching...

0:39:55 > 0:39:58And with the closing of hundreds of mines in the 1920s

0:39:58 > 0:40:02and '30s, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest

0:40:02 > 0:40:04against unemployment benefit cuts.

0:40:04 > 0:40:06As a politically active woman

0:40:06 > 0:40:09at the time, Martha would have been in the minority.

0:40:09 > 0:40:12But in the matriarchal society of the Welsh Valleys,

0:40:12 > 0:40:15she was more than able to stand up for her beliefs.

0:40:16 > 0:40:19The "Welsh Mam" is a favourite character, like the "Jewish Mam".

0:40:19 > 0:40:22People listened to them, they ruled the roost.

0:40:22 > 0:40:24Whether the men liked it or not, she probably told them

0:40:24 > 0:40:26exactly what she thought anyway.

0:40:28 > 0:40:32I think women felt important because

0:40:32 > 0:40:35they were so important in keeping

0:40:35 > 0:40:40the large families, that was often the case, keeping them ticking over.

0:40:40 > 0:40:44Without the mam, the Welsh mam,

0:40:44 > 0:40:47the whole system would fall apart.

0:40:47 > 0:40:52I think, perhaps, if she'd had a chance of an education, her life

0:40:52 > 0:40:57would have been very different because she was an intelligent woman.

0:40:57 > 0:41:01She was driven by politics, would've given Mrs Thatcher

0:41:01 > 0:41:03a run for her money!

0:41:04 > 0:41:09And it seems within her own family, Martha's political legacy lives on.

0:41:09 > 0:41:12I daren't not vote for the Labour Party.

0:41:12 > 0:41:13SHE LAUGHS

0:41:13 > 0:41:17As my mother, Eunice, would say, "Mam would turn in her grave!"

0:41:19 > 0:41:21Sandra's grandmother, Martha Veal, was the matriarchal

0:41:21 > 0:41:24figure at the head of a large family.

0:41:24 > 0:41:26And whilst heir hunter Donovan might well have tracked down

0:41:26 > 0:41:30one cousin of Sandra's, he still had a lot more to find.

0:41:31 > 0:41:34I was hoping that she would be able to help me

0:41:34 > 0:41:39with the rest of the tree because she was a cousin and she was not

0:41:39 > 0:41:43a second cousin or she wasn't further down the family tree.

0:41:43 > 0:41:46She was quite high up and she could, potentially,

0:41:46 > 0:41:47tell me a lot about the family.

0:41:49 > 0:41:52Julie could indeed fill in a lot of the gaps

0:41:52 > 0:41:54and, thanks to her help, Donovan was able to

0:41:54 > 0:41:57track down 11 heirs on the maternal side of the tree.

0:41:57 > 0:42:01Along with the two heirs he found on Sandra's father's side,

0:42:01 > 0:42:05it means Sandra's estate will now be divided amongst all 13 heirs.

0:42:05 > 0:42:07For heir hunter Donovan,

0:42:07 > 0:42:10it's a job that was only made possible by one thing.

0:42:10 > 0:42:13From finding the adoption certificate really put us

0:42:13 > 0:42:16on the path to solving the case, basically.

0:42:16 > 0:42:18If we wouldn't have found that,

0:42:18 > 0:42:21I would still be sitting here trying to figure out where she was born.

0:42:24 > 0:42:27Donovan was determined to solve the case, he looked at it

0:42:27 > 0:42:30as a challenge because he couldn't find anything on it.

0:42:30 > 0:42:34He was absolutely stumped and once he got the adoption,

0:42:34 > 0:42:37he started finding people, he was over the moon.

0:42:37 > 0:42:43He's enjoyed his time finding the heirs and speaking to them

0:42:43 > 0:42:46and listening to their stories.

0:42:46 > 0:42:49And it seems a shared inheritance from Sandra has united

0:42:49 > 0:42:52her family and brought a new appreciation of their history.

0:42:52 > 0:42:56We've still been in contact more often now

0:42:56 > 0:42:59because we've been running stories by each other and seeing what

0:42:59 > 0:43:04we can remember, and only happy memories

0:43:04 > 0:43:07come from chatting about it.

0:43:07 > 0:43:10Just having a lot of fun going over the old times.