Today’s episode focuses on the life of Derek Lynsdale, who died in October 2010 in Kent leaving an estate in the region of £270k! Derek lived with his mum until she passed and then continued to live in the family home until his own passing. He was a regular church goer and the local priest remembers him as a quiet, shy man.

This case was sent via Bon Vacantia to senior case manager Ryan Gregory, who leads the team on a journey to discover all the entitled beneficiaries of Derek’s estate!

Derek never married and had no children, so Ryan and the team needed to discover if Derek had any siblings, so they start at the very beginning, and try to find Derek’s birth certificate. A simple job you think? But no! The record of Derek’s birth was from a colony of Burma!

The team then turned their attention to Derek’s parents – George and Jean, who married in 1936. Both grew up in Burma and met at university in Rangoon – the then capital of British Burma.
Jean went onto be a Zoologist and George a Secretariat to British government.

Now they have the parents details they discovered Derek had no siblings.

Ryan and his team then turned their attention to trying to trace any aunts, uncles or cousins on the maternal side of the family tree. None were found! So they change to the paternal side… Derek’s grandparents had 4 children. One sister died as an infant, but the rest survived, so Ryan try’s to trace active lines on this side of the tree. He discovers two of Derek’s uncles had children, great news!

But had his uncles and cousins followed Derek’s family to the UK after the Japanese invaded Burma?!

William (Derek’s uncle) headed to Australia, where the family remained. Ryan managed to trace 2 cousins still in Australia, who would be beneficiaries to the estate.

Derek’s other uncle (Clement) did follow Derek’s family back to the UK. And via his death certificate, Ryan was able to find Derek’s cousin Susan!

Susan was shocked to be told she was to inherit anything from Derek’s estate.

She reflects on a childhood spent in Burma. She has many fond memories of Derek ad growing up in Burma, but remembers the bombing vividly. A very traumatic experience for a child. At 6years old, Susan had a narrow escape. Her and her parents fled Burma, first to India, then to the UK. Where Susan lives now.

Ryan was able to locate all the beneficiaries to the estate, but more than that, he was able to put the long lost cousins back in touch from opposite sides of the world!