A Hidden Branch of the Family Tree | Heir Hunters S10 Ep8 #FamilySecrets

Ajouté : 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Across the [music] country, heir hunters are searching for long-lost families.

[00:00:04]Hello.

[00:00:07]It's Wednesday [music] in London, and just one case has landed on the heir hunters' desk. It's going to be hugely [music] competitive, so it's really important that we get going quickly.

[00:00:17]They might be about to change [music] someone's life. This is probably one of the most weirdest days I've ever had in my life.

[00:00:24]And I think if I told someone about it, they'd probably take me back to the lunatic asylum.

[00:00:30]In Shropshire, [music] emotions run high after an unexpected knock at the door.

[00:00:36]I don't want his [music] money.

[00:00:38]I want him.

[00:00:40]And that leads to a touching reunion.

[00:00:43]Here's to George. Tell our George.

[00:00:45]Cheers. You'll be missed by all of All the best, George. Cheers, George.

[00:01:03]In London, case manager Amy Moyes has the bona vacantia list issued by the Treasury.

[00:01:09]Every day, probate genealogists like those at Finders search for families of those who have died without any next of kin.

[00:01:18]So, we've just had this morning's um ad through. Um there's one ad today on the list, and it turns out to be a property owner. Um it's the estate of the late Robert Sydney Radmore. Um so, I'm just working [music] with with Ryan on this.

[00:01:36]As soon as the lists are available, [music] it's a race against the clock for any heir hunting firm to beat their rivals to secure any heirs. With only one new case today, the pressure is on.

[00:01:48]It's going [music] to be hugely competitive, so it's really important that we get going quickly. So, we're just trying at the moment to clear off any close kin, and then look as quickly as we can into the maternal and paternal families.

[00:02:02]Mark Forrest was [music] a close friend and work colleague of Robert Radmore, who died unexpectedly, aged 59.

[00:02:10]I knew Robert for just under 4 years.

[00:02:13]Robert and I became very good [music] friends.

[00:02:17]We used to speak quite often, two or three times a week.

[00:02:21]Robert [music] lived in Hemel Hempstead, and Mark got to know him when he worked on an independent film he was shooting.

[00:02:27]He came on board. He was uh assistant director.

[00:02:31]Um he assisted with the lighting.

[00:02:34]He would assist the director of photography. He would help with the location. We had a different level of skill sets. There were some guys who were, you know, established, and others not so. Robert would be the linchpin between the two.

[00:02:46]Robert's promising career was tragically cut short [music] when on the 18th of August, 2015, aged 59, he suddenly passed away.

[00:02:56]It was a complete shock to me. Complete shock to all of us, all of his close friends.

[00:03:01]>> [music] >> Um when I first heard, I thought, "No, it's the It's a mistake. Obviously it's a mistake." I spoke to him a few days before, and we were due to meet soon.

[00:03:11][music] Within the next few days. Yeah, complete shock. He had so much to give.

[00:03:21]In the offices of the heir hunters, case manager Ryan Gregory has already established key information about Robert. We're able to use the address and see that Robert lived on his own since around 1992 when he moved into the property. We can back that up with a marriage search, and uh the initial indications suggest that Robert was a bachelor. Um so, we're not looking at a spouse. Um it's it's hard for us to find any children given that he um evidently didn't marry. So, we're ruling out um issue and a spouse for now. Looking at the electoral rolls for Robert Radmore, we can see he's probably a probably been living in the family home, and probably inherited that. When we look historically through the electoral rolls, he's actually living with um seemed to be his his mother and father, um Emmeline and Sydney Radmore.

[00:04:15]This means that Robert's estate is likely to contain the family home in Hertfordshire, making it a valuable asset for any potential heirs.

[00:04:24]Robert's parents were Sydney Alfred G.

[00:04:27]Radmore and Emmeline Annie Coles.

[00:04:30]They married in 1940 and had Robert, an only child, in 1956. [music] Sydney Radmore passed away in 2002.

[00:04:39]Emmeline [music] Radmore, née Coles, passed away in 2004.

[00:04:43]So, there's no parents that would claim [music] the estate either.

[00:04:46]Mark Forrest didn't know Robert's parents, but heard of them often.

[00:04:50]Robert uh speak about his parents.

[00:04:55]Had fond memories of his parents. I think his dad boxed at an amateur level.

[00:04:59]Yeah, spoke highly of his parents. Very much. Loved them dearly.

[00:05:04]Is he there?

[00:05:06]Right. Okay, fair [music] enough.

[00:05:08]Between them, Amy and Ryan have to tackle both Robert's father's side of the family, Radmore, and his mother's side, Coles.

[00:05:16]Knowing that other companies will be working this case, they'll have to work fast to trace living heirs before another firm beats them to it.

[00:05:24]Okay.

[00:05:26]Which side do you fancy?

[00:05:28]You've got Coles McDermott, or you've got Radmore Pratt.

[00:05:34]Choose.

[00:05:36]Um I'll take I'll take the Coles.

[00:05:40]Prefer Emmeline. I'm hopeful that they've all got interesting names. An interesting or unusual name involved in the research can often help speed things along. In the Radmore case, there were some very interesting and unusual names to work with. The Radmore name itself was quite an unusual one.

[00:05:56]So, what we found out is that the paternal grandparents were called Sydney Bertram George Radmore and Ada Elizabeth Radmore, née Pratt. Uh they married on the 18th of April, 1915. They were living in Islington. I mean, this was during the First World War. Um Sydney was a soldier at the time of marriage.

[00:06:15]Um so, beyond that, they had Gladys um in the same year, and um Sydney, who's the deceased father, they had a few years later in 1918. I'm looking at the maternal family, which is surname Coles.

[00:06:29]So, already that's um much more common surname than Radmore that we're dealing with. From the records, it looks as though the deceased mother was one of three siblings. Um her brother and sister being called John and Margaret. So, again, then they're not the greatest names to be working with. I was really hopeful that as the mother was called Emmeline Annie, that her siblings would have equally interesting names, but they don't. Deceased father was one of three as well. Um we found Gladys A. Marion Radmore, born in 1915. She married Thomas H. State, but she didn't have any children with him. I found out that the deceased paternal uncle, Ronald John H. Radmore, um born in 1932, um so, relatively recently in the scheme of things. Um he passed away in 2000. He was married in 1962. So, I just need to find out whether he had any any children.

[00:07:24]Ryan discovers that Robert's aunt, Gladys, passed away in 1977.

[00:07:29]Without Robert's parents alive, [music] his uncle Ronald's children will be the only heirs on Robert's father's side of the family.

[00:07:37]The search is [music] quickly narrowing down to only a few heirs.

[00:07:42]Other companies may have already discovered this and could [music] be on the trail.

[00:07:46]Camilla, could we have a text for reps to be on standby for London, Hertfordshire? Okay.

[00:07:56]Amy is now looking at Robert's mother's side of the family. Her maiden name was Coles.

[00:08:01]Uncle John Coles um looks as though he's passed away um in the '80s. But with a name like John Coles, I I can't really tell whether he's married or had children until hopefully his death certificate gives me some more info. So, I'm waiting on that. I then move over to maternal aunt, Margaret. Now, there's a really strong possibility, I think, that that she's alive um and has moved to the Sussex area. Um she may now be known as Peggy rather than Margaret, which isn't uncommon, especially for her generation. She was born in the '30s. I've tried to find a number for her. She's not answering.

[00:08:38]It's It's just ringing out without a machine, so I can't leave a message.

[00:08:42]Amy, could I get you to make some calls for me to help? I think she might be a beneficiary, but she's not answering.

[00:08:49]Could you call a few neighbors and just see if if she is home or not.

[00:08:54]So, I'm going to send one of [snorts] our traveling reps to see if we can't catch her at home.

[00:08:59]And if that fails, hopefully they can find out from neighbors whether she's perhaps away on holiday or where she is, or whether she's moved on.

[00:09:07]But there's a breakthrough.

[00:09:09]Amy's team managed to track down a neighbor.

[00:09:12]Yes. Um the gentleman next door said um that she's been a mobility scooter. Um and someone should be in. So, she's just not answering the phone.

[00:09:22]>> She's just not answering the phone. Um but he doesn't know if she has any children or not that we could contact. I don't think she does. Try keep trying the phone number.

[00:09:31]Um but he was in bed cuz he's on night shift, so I woke him up, but >> [laughter] >> he was kind enough to let us know.

[00:09:37]That's nice to hear. Okay. Yeah. Good.

[00:09:40]Thank you. Good news.

[00:09:42]While the team work on finding living relatives, Robert's grandparents' [music] marriage certificate reveals more about them, listing his grandfather as a coach builder.

[00:09:54]>> [music] >> In the 1920s and '30s, Charles could have worked at a firm like the Morgan Motor Company, where cars were custom-built.

[00:10:02]>> [music] >> Martin Webb is the company's archivist today.

[00:10:07]Charles would have developed um >> [music] >> great skills in this. It's not an easy job at all. You needed uh great woodworking skills to create [music] the structural frame of the car.

[00:10:18]Not only accurate from a from an aesthetic point of view, but of course it had to be structurally sound as well.

[00:10:25]Charles would have started [music] as an apprentice and been trained by skilled craftsmen.

[00:10:31]By the mid-1930s, his skills would have been in great demand as it was a boom time for the manufacture of cars.

[00:10:39]They would have been uh building bodies [music] for uh Rolls-Royce and Bentley and other prestigious motor manufacturers. It would have been um fairly long hours. Uh he would have been a reasonably respected craftsman cuz this wasn't easy work at all.

[00:10:55]Only the very wealthy could afford to buy a car until the 1930s, when the costs of motoring came down and an averagely well-off family could then afford to buy a car.

[00:11:07]A simple wooden frame constructed out of a number of pieces of ash. Uh these were handcrafted and then sent into the workshops uh above to be paneled in in uh either steel or aluminum or or some other metal.

[00:11:22]Today, Morgan is the only company in the UK still using traditional methods.

[00:11:28]In the late 1940s, the arrival of mass manufacturing signaled the end of this era and many companies went bankrupt.

[00:11:36]>> [music] >> Coach maker Charles [music] was good with his hands and passed his creative genes down to filmmaker Robert.

[00:11:48]Dad, do you [music] mind just seeing if you can find a Steven with a V R Radmall born in 1962? [music] Yeah, he should still be alive.

[00:11:56]Back in the office, and Ryan has found that Robert's uncle Ronald did have a son, Steven, who lives in London.

[00:12:05]Okay, he might be the only paternal heir. Should I give him a call? Yes, please.

[00:12:09]The only one? Looks like it, yeah. Okay.

[00:12:14]Okay.

[00:12:17]He might be engaged.

[00:12:20]Ryan eventually gets through to what must be a very surprised Steven Radmall.

[00:12:25]Hello, is that Steven Radmall?

[00:12:28]Hello there, it's uh Ryan Gregory at Finders in London. We're a firm of Air Hunters. Um I'm I'm guessing by the um engaged tone on your mobile that someone's been in contact with you about um a deceased estate.

[00:12:42]Right.

[00:12:44]Okay, um so we trace missing beneficiaries to estates. Um we're looking for Steven Radmall, who was born in 1962.

[00:12:54]With pressure mounting and the company's traveling researchers already dispatched in other areas, company MD Daniel volunteers to go and see Steven himself.

[00:13:03]But will he get there before any competitors?

[00:13:09]>> [music] >> Across the country, our next case is in Shropshire, where the search is on for unknown heirs of 68-year-old George Hawksworth.

[00:13:25]He had a close circle of friends and neighbors in his hometown of Telford.

[00:13:30]George is a a a a hell of a personality.

[00:13:33]You either got on with you or he didn't.

[00:13:36]If George thought you was a fool, he'd he'd he'd soon let you know.

[00:13:41]Luckily, I used to get on very well with him.

[00:13:43]Yeah, we had we had some good times, me and George.

[00:13:47]On the 13th [music] of January 2015, ex-army man George passed away [music] after battling a serious illness.

[00:13:55]None of his friends knew of any family or will, so the search [music] was taken up by London-based air hunting firm Fraser and Fraser.

[00:14:05]Um the unusual bit about this case was the name. I've never come across Hawksworth, and usually that's a good sign when you haven't seen a name before cuz it's probably going to mean that it's not particularly common.

[00:14:14]The advantage of George's surname meant that, unlike Smith or Jones, it could be an easy family name for the air hunters to trace and establish heirs.

[00:14:25]The first thing we usually do in a case like this is to contact the neighbors of the deceased to see if they knew anything about him regarding his family or his background.

[00:14:34]Heather Smith was one of those neighbors.

[00:14:37]>> [music] >> George used to love going fishing.

[00:14:40]He liked a tea time drink.

[00:14:42]I'll miss [music] George cuz he was um such a good neighbor and I'd known him for 15 years and he was like the ideal neighbor that you'd want to have.

[00:14:51]George lived [music] alone and Heather didn't ever meet any of his family.

[00:14:56]When I first moved there, I saw a nephew. A nephew came once and never saw him again, but I don't [music] think he had visitors at all, to be honest. He was just you know, kept himself to himself at home.

[00:15:10]Unfortunately, neither Heather nor any of George's other neighbors could provide the air hunters with further information.

[00:15:20]George's [music] death certificate revealed that he was born in Scotland, so Mike began to look for any relatives north of the border. [music] The first thing that we needed to do was to establish whether or not George was married or had any children. Um and after a couple of searches, it looked like he was never married in England or Scotland or had any children. Okay, cool. Hello.

[00:15:42]All right, bye.

[00:15:44]>> [music] >> George's family was the army.

[00:15:47]He was a career soldier and rose to the rank of staff sergeant.

[00:15:52]He completed tours in Northern Ireland, Germany, and Borneo [music] and made lifelong friends throughout his 22 years service.

[00:16:01]I first met George in Northern Ireland.

[00:16:04]I was posted there and George and I were in a room together. We spent all our time in the Queen's Dragoon Guards there and it was a great place to be, especially for young boys cuz there were lots of beer and lots of girls, so we really enjoyed ourselves.

[00:16:21]George joined the army when he was 18 and spent the next [music] 22 years in the illustrious first the Queen's Dragoon Guards, retiring when he was 40.

[00:16:31]Close colleague Dave remembers George was fascinated in mechanics from an early age. He really [music] enjoyed driving and fixing things, whereas we'd just break them. George would would constantly saying, you know, you're driving too fast, you're too high up the gears and things like that. So he was he took more care of the vehicles than we did, I think.

[00:16:56]In 1965, the regiment was posted to Borneo, the largest island in Asia, close to Singapore and famous for its dense rainforests.

[00:17:08]George and I, all of us young young lads, loved [music] it because we were in a such an alien environment at such a young age. First time I and George had traveled outside the United Kingdom and to go halfway around the world, nearly on the equator, weather conditions [music] that we'd never heard of. I know it rains a lot in Northern Ireland, but not as much as Borneo.

[00:17:31]UK troops were sent to Borneo to defend it from Indonesia after a new federation of Malaysia was set up, which was partly under control by the British.

[00:17:43]The mission of the British forces in Borneo was was to defend um Borneo from incursions by Indonesian forces coming across the border. Now, it's worth pointing out that this was a an undeclared war between Indonesia and Malaysia. But the main purpose really was to defend this very long border uh between the Malaysian portion of Borneo and the Indonesian portion, which is called Kalimantan. One of the patrols I did with George was um 16 days away from the camp. That means we had to carry all our food.

[00:18:12]And uh we had to um uh well, we took everything with us and um because we couldn't smoke, because we couldn't clean our teeth, we couldn't wash, um and we had to be quiet. We didn't speak to each other um except late at night. It was all done by sign language and clicks.

[00:18:32]Dave remembers he and George befriending the locals and developing a soft spot for some of the animals.

[00:18:40]When George and I were on patrol, we we came across a orangutan female that had been shot, but clinging to her breast was a small baby orangutan, which we tried to rescue. Uh we realized that we couldn't feed it properly, so we radioed for baby formula milk, baby bottles, [music] and teats, and we were able then to feed this baby orangutan and carry it back to >> [music] >> to civilization and hand it over to the authorities.

[00:19:11]Cheers.

[00:19:12]At the Air Hunters office, for case manager Mike Powell, the unusual surname of Hawksworth made finding George's parents relatively easy through birth and death records.

[00:19:22]>> [music] >> Mike established that George also didn't have any brothers or sisters.

[00:19:27]>> [music] >> The parents of the deceased, we learned, were a Rose Dockerty and a George English Hawksworth. Now, the marriage certificate stated that Rose was married beforehand to a gentleman called Robert Aldridge, but then we obviously had to make sure that the mother of the deceased didn't have any children from her first marriage to Mr. Aldridge. So we had to set about checking the birth indexes of Scotland and England to make sure there [snorts] wasn't any further issue and we discovered that there was none.

[00:19:57]For Mike, the hunt is on to find an heir.

[00:20:01]And he finds out that George wasn't the only one with a long and interesting military career.

[00:20:06]>> [music] >> She's working clearly on fitting out the inside of a plane.

[00:20:16]Heir Hunters track down thousands of rightful beneficiaries every year, but not all cases are cracked.

[00:20:22]>> [music] >> There are thousands of estates on the Treasury's unclaimed list that have alluded the Heir Hunters and remain [music] unsolved.

[00:20:30]And every week more names are published.

[00:20:34]If you want to know if you could be in line to inherit an unclaimed estate, go to www.gov.uk >> [music] >> and search for bona vacantia and click on unclaimed estates list.

[00:20:47]Do you recognize a name on the list?

[00:20:49]Could it be a long-lost family member?

[00:20:52]If so, [music] you could be in line for a windfall.

[00:20:58]To claim an estate of someone who's died intestate, you need to trace your relationship in a direct line from the deceased person's grandparents. They need to supply us with certificates of birth, death, and marriage and identity documents as well.

[00:21:16]As well as the deceased person's name, there will be other bits of information on the list that can help you work out a family connection.

[00:21:24]For example, the year of their birth.

[00:21:27]Often the town they were born in and the place of death is published.

[00:21:33]Sometimes details of their spouse and the place of their marriage are given.

[00:21:39]All of this can give you clues to a long-lost relative and a potential [music] claim of inheritance.

[00:21:49]When considering a claim for an estate, it's very important that a person puts forward a very good case and it's all based on the evidence. What we need are the birth, death, marriage certificates, perhaps something on adoption, >> [music] >> and then we consider the evidence very carefully.

[00:22:05]If an estate is left unclaimed for 12 years, all the money left behind will eventually go into government funds.

[00:22:20]In London, Heir Hunting firm Fraser and Fraser have taken on the case of 68-year-old George Hawksworth, who spent 22 years in the army.

[00:22:30]Case manager Mike Powell has been looking into George's family history for potential heirs >> [music] >> and discovered that his mother, Rose Guthrie, may have provided the inspiration for George's military career.

[00:22:43]On the mother of the deceased's second marriage, we noticed that the mother of the deceased was an aircraft fitter in Paisley, which was in 1945.

[00:22:53]In the Second World War, Rose Guthrie worked making [music] parts to kit out the interior of planes.

[00:23:00]Living in Paisley, Scotland, [music] which had a strong textile industry, she transferred her skills from fabric making to industrial factory work.

[00:23:11]One of the new innovative [music] things that came in in the Second World War was conscription for women. Women between the ages of 20 and 40 who hadn't got children under 14 were called up to work either in factories like Rose did in the locality if they were married or maybe they would go into the forces.

[00:23:29]As part of conscription, women had to choose whether to enter the armed forces or work in farming or industry.

[00:23:37]By December 1943, one in three factory workers was female.

[00:23:43]They were building planes, tanks, guns, and making ammunition needed for the war.

[00:23:49]She's looking at light industrial work in what was probably a very big factory.

[00:23:54]It would have been a small part of the job. What they did was to use very specialized bits of labor. So, instead of learning and going through a whole lengthy apprenticeship, you would learn just one tiny bit of the task.

[00:24:04]Unfortunately, that made it particularly tedious cuz it was very repetitive. But it would have been a very important job and, you know, numerous women like her by being moved into this different part of of industry, not in what you would call garment trades or luxury production, but into really important war work, contributed enormously to the war effort.

[00:24:25]Working long hours, but for the first time earning a good wage of up to 40 shillings a week, the war effort would help shift attitudes to women's role in society forever.

[00:24:36]One of the things that war is about is not just about the men who are fighting, but about the machinery which enables them to fight and particularly in 20th century warfare. So, the production of armaments, of planes, of tanks is absolutely crucial to the war effort.

[00:24:53]And so, you really need to pull in that that female workforce. Voluntary if you can, but if not, compulsory because their work is going to enable you to fight the war.

[00:25:04]George's mother was a strong woman and as the Heir Hunters dug deeper into her past, they found that her wartime conscription developed into a [music] lifelong military career.

[00:25:19]After the war, Rose worked as a civil [music] servant for the MOD until she retired.

[00:25:25]For the Heir Hunters and their search [music] for potential heirs to George's estate, it was Rose's side of the family that case worker Mike Powell [music] delved into next.

[00:25:35]The grandmother of the deceased, Roseann Docherty, married John Guthrie in 1915.

[00:25:40]George's parents were Rose [music] Docherty and George Hawksworth. Rose's mother, Roseann Docherty, married John [music] Guthrie.

[00:25:49]They had an incredible 12 children over a 21-year period.

[00:25:54]Interestingly, John's name is not actually on Rose's birth certificate, making her brothers [music] and sisters half-blood siblings by law.

[00:26:03]This meant that if full-blood aunts and uncles could be established, her siblings would not be entitled.

[00:26:10]So, we knew that there were 11 aunts and uncles of the deceased who were obviously issue from the the marriage of of Rose Docherty and John Guthrie. Um we had a quick look to see if any of them died when they were young and only one died. So, we knew that they're going to be at least 10 aunts and uncles who possibly survived and had children, or were still alive and would be beneficiaries. I spoke to her. She phoned in.

[00:26:33]One of [music] those was Mary McNally, Rose's younger sister by 21 years.

[00:26:38]The Heir Hunters traced her [music] and gave her the news about her nephew, George.

[00:26:43]At first I was shocked, you know, and I says, "No, [music] I says, don't think so. He's younger than me, you know."

[00:26:51]Mary was close to her sister, Rose, >> [music] >> but because of the wide age gap, as George's auntie, she was only 6 years older than him.

[00:26:59]I remember George well, you know. I was in Scotland at the time when he was born. I remember him coming home from the hospital with his mom.

[00:27:08]And I took him out, you know, at that time.

[00:27:11]Uh he was only a little little tiny thing, you know, so my mom put him here. She put a blanket around me.

[00:27:20]And I took him outside and I was walking around the streets with him in this little show.

[00:27:26]It was so funny.

[00:27:28]Mary remembers George as a typical boisterous young boy.

[00:27:32]When he was a kid, yeah, he was >> [music] >> he was a funny wee thing at times, you know. He was always maybe hiding, you know, he'd be hiding. And I was saying, "Where am I?" you know, and things like that and he'd jump out at you.

[00:27:46]>> [music] >> Frighten the life out of you. He was a wee rascal.

[00:27:51]Mary and her daughter, Carol, didn't know George as an adult. She lost touch with him [music] when he moved away from Scotland with his mother.

[00:27:59]Yeah, I did see him, you know, quite a lot when we went on holiday.

[00:28:04]And [music] I mean, that was it.

[00:28:07]And then, as I say, the last time I seen him was at his [music] mom's funeral.

[00:28:12]And then we lost contact, >> [music] >> which was a shame.

[00:28:17]Mary is one of 16 heirs to George's estate.

[00:28:21]Whatever we're getting, I just think it should [music] it would have been nice for him to go, you know, to something to do with the army.

[00:28:29]Instead of [music] I mean, I don't want his money.

[00:28:34]I want him.

[00:28:38]But I don't know.

[00:28:43]Sad. Sad. Sad.

[00:28:49]The case manager, Mike Powell, having searched George's mother's family history for potential heirs, he now needed to complete the whole family picture.

[00:28:59]We're going to keep our fingers crossed that there's not too many stems on this.

[00:29:03]The next stage was trying to work out the paternal side of the family, so the deceased's father, George English Hawksworth, to see if he had any brothers and sisters who obviously may have had children in turn who would be beneficiaries. Do you want to try him first?

[00:29:17]Mike struggled to locate the birth certificate of George's father, but after an exhaustive search through records, Mike eventually [music] found one, but it posed more problems than it solved.

[00:29:30]Once we had the name of the father, George English Hawksworth, we thought it would be a relatively easy name to research as a combination is not particularly common.

[00:29:39]Um however, we immediately hit a bit of a stumbling block when it appeared that George was born illegitimately. He wasn't born with the surname Hawksworth.

[00:29:48]He was born as George English McKinnon and the birth certificate states that he was born illegitimately to Sarah McKinnon who would have been his mother.

[00:29:56]With both George's parents unusually being born illegitimately, all relatives are equally entitled.

[00:30:04]Now they would have [music] to change tack and search for George senior's original birth name of McKinnon.

[00:30:10]This could mean a longer and more difficult search. Yes, perfect. Thank you. Take care now. Bye-bye.

[00:30:17]Bye.

[00:30:19]Eventually they did manage [music] to piece this complicated jigsaw together.

[00:30:24]Being born illegitimately in the 1900s was usually frowned upon by the majority of people. [music] It would have been a bit of a stigma attached to it which is possibly why when she married Herbert Hawksworth in 1917, the mother of the deceased Sarah McKinnon made George take on the name Hawksworth as well.

[00:30:44]George's grandmother, Sarah McKinnon, married Herbert Hawksworth on New Year's Eve in 1917 in Paisley, Scotland.

[00:30:52]George English McKinnon was just 4 years old when his name was changed. The marriage produced further children meaning the possibility of more aunts and uncles for George junior.

[00:31:04]From the marriage of Herbert Hawksworth and Sarah McKinnon we established that there were at least eight half-blood siblings to the father of the deceased George. We also quickly established that the majority of them passed away as children. I think five died relatively quickly which obviously limited the potential for relatives to be found.

[00:31:25]Mike's research [music] finds that on George's father's side only one of George's aunts and uncles [music] is still alive and one cousin.

[00:31:33]In total we've located around 18 beneficiaries. We worked out that there were 16 on the [music] maternal side of the family and only two on the paternal side of the family. It's quite odd in some ways that we've managed to find the rightful beneficiaries who will now [music] benefit from George's estate.

[00:31:49]Now the case is closed, George's effects [music] have been sent to his aunt Mary who is one of his closest living relatives.

[00:31:58]Bucket size him.

[00:32:00]What was he like?

[00:32:03]It must have been one of the official He he should have been at an official dinner.

[00:32:06]>> [laughter] >> official dinners or something.

[00:32:11]He's funny, isn't he?

[00:32:13]It's nice. Yes, it's nice. Fun.

[00:32:15]It's lovely actually.

[00:32:18]Many of the photos and records Mary received show the 15 years George spent as a tank instructor.

[00:32:24]Morris Ashley, a colleague from 1969, [music] remembers his love of the job.

[00:32:30]He made a very good instructor.

[00:32:33]I did a course once when he was one of the instructors on it.

[00:32:37]on a amphibious vehicle and a very very confident instructor.

[00:32:43]Which is probably why he did all the instructing back here in England.

[00:32:48]He was good at his job. Yeah, very good at his job.

[00:32:53]George's aunt [music] Mary and her daughter Carol have the medals from George's career.

[00:32:57]A valuable record of the high esteem [music] with which he was regarded in his regiment.

[00:33:03]To George, Corporal George Hawksworth, for courage and decisive action in halting a stolen Chieftain tank.

[00:33:11]So he got a commendation for stopping someone stealing a tank. Yeah.

[00:33:15]>> [laughter] >> Wow.

[00:33:18]It's fascinating to see all the different photographs of George or his army friends. Really nice.

[00:33:28]>> [music] >> Since George's relatives have all been found, his friends are getting together to remember him.

[00:33:35]George got a commendation. Believe he was guard commander and a recruit stole a tank. And the guy didn't open the doors or that and he just drove straight through the hangar doors. George jumped in the Land Rover with the duty driver and high-tailed it over the tank park.

[00:33:52]But George climbed from the Land Rover onto the burning tank, no mean feat for his physique, pressed the switch, cut the engine and he dragged him out. I think he spent the night in jail. That's quite an honor, a general officer's commendation. First I've heard of it. I didn't know anything at all about that.

[00:34:10]>> Pretty brave man to do that, wasn't For his friends, George's memory lives on through the times they spent together.

[00:34:19]Here's to George, to our George. You'll be missed by all of us. All the best, George. Cheers, George. Cheers, George.

[00:34:24]Definitely not forgotten.

[00:34:26]Yeah, definitely not forgotten.

[00:34:31]>> [music] >> In London, [music] the Air Hunters have been on the trail of heirs to the estate of Robert Radmall who died suddenly with no known family.

[00:34:45]>> [music] >> Case manager Ryan Gregory already discovered one heir on Robert's father's side of the family and managing director Daniel Curran is on his way to meet him.

[00:34:55]>> [music] >> Daniel is going to go and visit the paternal cousin Mr. Radmall and we'll see what happens there.

[00:35:05]We'll verify the information that he gave Ryan over the phone as well about the rest of the family tree.

[00:35:12]Case manager Amy is still trying to establish information about Robert's mother's side of the family, [music] his aunt Margaret and uncle John, to see what heirs exist there.

[00:35:23]If there are none, Steven Radmall could be the only heir with a claim to Robert's estate.

[00:35:29]One of our traveling reps is on the way to see whether the potential address I had for the maternal aunt is correct and if so to try and find out the missing pieces about the the the uncle John Coles as well.

[00:35:46]Daniel has arrived outside the [music] home of Steven Radmall who lives in West London.

[00:35:51]The guy concerned is only one of quite a small family so he he should know most people in the family but it it sounds like he's a bit disconnected and with any luck he'll he'll he'll give [music] me a bit of time to to talk him through the the case. Several firms may have a look at it and speculatively see if there's any heirs to be found. So there's an element of competition. At the end of the day it's the heir to decide whether or not he he wants to work with someone and if he does hopefully he'll choose us to work with him.

[00:36:21]It's a frustrating wait when other heir hunting firms will be close on Daniel's tail.

[00:36:27]No answer at the moment so I'm going to ring the office and see if they've got any any updates or information.

[00:36:33]Often when the reps are going to see beneficiaries in person it can be quite frustrating. People might not want to just open the door to everyone that knocks.

[00:36:42]Meanwhile, Amy is on the phone to traveling rep Stuart.

[00:36:47]Who is at the home of Margaret Coles which Amy is hoping is Robert Radmall's aunt. Oh no. Okay.

[00:36:55]Okay, I'll go back to the drawing board then.

[00:36:59]Oh, I thought I was finished. Oh, I'll go and see who I can find. Speak to you later. Bye.

[00:37:07]Unfortunately she's not the Margaret J.

[00:37:09]Coles that I'm looking for. Um, her parents were different to the ones that we're looking for. She also didn't have a brother John or a sister Emily.

[00:37:19]Now the hunt continues to find the birth certificate of Margaret Coles.

[00:37:24]Amy needs to search records from the right period of time with the right name [music] and the right parents.

[00:37:31]Okay, it's going to be tricky without her birth I think.

[00:37:34]Ryan and Amy are hoping to find a Margaret Coles without a middle name.

[00:37:39]Well, how about this one?

[00:37:41]Plain Margaret Coles. Yeah, Camden, okay. Good so talking to a care home.

[00:37:46]Died in the hospital, isn't it? Former care home. That could be her, couldn't it?

[00:37:50]Yeah, we could be dealing with the sole heir if that's the case. So I mean if the heir is still friendly with us like yours when I spoke to him then we should be good. I might just try and give Daniel a call. Yeah, see see what he's actually doing and let him know that he may well be the sole heir now if he answers.

[00:38:08]If this round of research turns out to be correct and Margaret has passed away and John has passed away both without marrying or having children, it means that we now have a situation where the sole paternal heir that we've found to date will actually be the sole heir to the entire estate.

[00:38:30]>> [music] >> This could be an interesting meeting given that the estate has been valued at a quarter of a million pounds.

[00:38:37]Daniel's been invited into Steven's flat but other people are arriving. Are they other heir hunting firms?

[00:38:45]When you break the news of a the death of a relative to someone there could be a whole range of reactions.

[00:38:51]I've I've seen everything from people being devastated by the news but equally you could have a fairly close relative in terms of someone's mother or father but they don't really have any feelings towards it one way or another.

[00:39:03]You're Steven Radmall. That's correct, isn't it? And your your parents' names, just confirm your parents' names for me.

[00:39:10]Nora Radmall.

[00:39:11]Yep. And Ronald Radmall. So the beneficiaries will be any surviving members of the Coles family and any surviving members of the Radmall family.

[00:39:20]Now you're an only child I understand, is that correct?

[00:39:23]>> No, no, well I >> [cough] >> Excuse me, sorry. [clears throat] I have a brother but he's from my mother's first marriage so So half-brother on your mother's side. So he wouldn't be entitled, he's not on the blood the Radmall bloodline. So there is a house, there's a property involved in Hemel Hempstead. Have you ever been to Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire?

[00:39:43]I have.

[00:39:45]And you so it could be that you now have a share in this property and it could be that from the research we've done you might even be the own only heir to the estate. So it could be quite a decent windfall. This is probably one of the most weirdest days I've ever had in my life.

[00:40:00]And I think if I told someone about it they'd probably take me back to the loony asylum.

[00:40:04]>> [laughter] >> But it's a very interesting day.

[00:40:08]Steven hasn't seen his father [music] for 20 years and as he didn't play a large part in his life is keen to know if the air hunters can tell him anything more about him.

[00:40:18]Yeah, I got my mum and my brother, yeah.

[00:40:19]So as far as I'm concerned that was just it. Cuz my dad might still be alive. I don't know.

[00:40:25]No, your dad passed away in 2000 in in the year 2000 in Barnet.

[00:40:30]He did? He did, yeah. And we can get a copy of his certificate and [music] send you that if you'd like it. We can get copies of >> What did he die of? Can I Do you know?

[00:40:37]We can get a copy of the certificate and send it on to you. Can you do that?

[00:40:40]Yeah, yeah, seriously. I thought so, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. We'll we'll get a copy ordered from Barnet and send you that on on to you. So he died in 2000, so I didn't know that. I try not to preempt or guess uh how the person may react and just deal with it in a in a a sensitive but professional manner.

[00:40:58]Steven then begins to tell Daniel about his daughter.

[00:41:01]She's got a single craniosynostosis which is quite a rare disease.

[00:41:04]>> [music] >> Not being a medical sort of guy but for the first 2 years of your life your brain and your skull grows together and there's a gap and one side wasn't growing so eventually the side it wasn't growing was going to die.

[00:41:18]Basically they got her into hospital very very quickly. Yeah. And did the operation they had to do to save her life and [music] they basically took her skull out and made a new skull.

[00:41:28]Steven is so passionate about the hospital's good work he then makes [music] a staggering admission.

[00:41:34]And I'll sign anything to say I don't want any money.

[00:41:37]I don't want to gain anything out of this apart from Great Ormond Street seeing the benefits because 22 years 23 years I've seen What they did for your daughter. What they done for my daughter. And they do it every day for every for for so many young children. It's I don't want to start crying but it's it's really important.

[00:42:00]>> Yeah, definitely. You know.

[00:42:03]It's been an emotional discussion for Steven so Daniel leaves him to contemplate all he has found out.

[00:42:10]Do your nice family tree and >> [music] >> fingers crossed you know, God willing there'll be a an inheritance for you at the end of the day. But it's lovely to meet you.

[00:42:17]Very >> Good to see you, Steven.

[00:42:18]>> Very nice to meet you. Yeah. Been a pleasure. Great experience.

[00:42:21]>> Yeah.

[00:42:22]Back in the office [music] and Amy is having success ruling out any heirs on Robert's mother's side.

[00:42:29]Although it's not conclusive today it's looking more [music] and more likely that this is the correct death for Margaret Coles and that she's a [music] spinster without children.

[00:42:40]Amy's suspicions were confirmed.

[00:42:42]Margaret had no children and neither did John Coles her [music] brother.

[00:42:46]Steven Radmall is about to receive a very interesting update. I really hope he gets the money, that's all I can say.

[00:42:53]I mean I think it'd be really lovely [music] for him and he wants to do some good with it. So that's even even better to hear.

[00:42:59]And for those who knew Robert his memory leaves another lasting legacy. [music] I'll miss him, yeah, of course. I am I'm missing him every day.

[00:43:17]Sure was a feeling good to make a new friend