By David Lynch
COULD you be the lost heir to the fortune of someone who passed away in Oxfordshire without any known family?
There are millions of pounds of unclaimed money and property which have been left in the care of the government.
When someone dies but has no known relatives or a will, their money passes into the hands of the Treasury.
The government department holds all estates of more than £500 in a regularly updated document called the Bona Vacantia (vacant goods) list.
Anyone can make a claim to the list for up to 30 years, providing they can prove they held a relationship with the person on the list.
The Bona Vacantia Division website says: “If you believe you are entitled to claim an estate which has been dealt with by BVD, please send a family tree which shows how you are related to the person who has died, and include the dates of birth, marriage and death of all those on the tree.
“If it appears that you may be entitled to claim the estate, BVD will then ask you to supply documentary evidence that proves your entitlement.”
These documents can include a birth certificate and other identification, but there is a limit to how distant a relative can make a claim.
Spouses, children and parents are given first priority over an unclaimed estate, but relatives as distant as half-aunts and uncles can also be made an heir if there are no closer relations.
Though the government does not directly employ heir hunters, as made famous by the BBC television series, the Bona Vacantia division of the Treasury acknowledges families often enlist their help to uncover their blood ties.
In February, law firm Blake Morgan was commended for helping a family to trace its link to an unclaimed estate in Oxford.
This led the family to inherit a terraced house in the city which was estimated to be worth between £100,000 and £200,000.
READ AGAIN: How an Oxford law firm helped a family inherit a £100,000 house in the city
A terraced house. Picture via Pixabay.
Below are some of the 64 unclaimed estates of people who have died in Oxfordshire which are still waiting to be claimed – anyone who recognises a name as a near relative could be in for a windfall.
The list
Gerald Barber: a bachelor, born May 13, 1932; died August 14, 2004 in Oxford
Alfons Bernataniec: a bachelor, born March 16, 1916 in Poland; died June 20, 1991 in Wallingford
Olga Katharina Martina Brantner: a spinster, born July 08, 1913 in Eggenberg, Germany; died October 5, 2000 in Wallingford
Edith Briggs: born November 7, 1911; died November 25, 1999 in GiffordAhmed Roy Bullock: a widower to Mary Bullock; born August 01, 1924 in Oxford; died October 25, 2018 in Oxford
Kenneth Brian Butler: a bachelor, born March 28, 1933 in Oxford; died December 13, 2007 in Bicester
Herbert Byfield (AKA Herbert Ednatious Byfield): a bachelor, born May 19, 1927 in St Mary’s Jamaica, died December 5, 2000 in Oxford
Lilian Carden: a widow; born December 10, 1905 in London; died November 13, 1998 in Oxford
Patrick Casey: a bachelor; born June 7, 1904 in Ireland; died January 28, 1991 in Oxford
Ilia Chapnik: died July 8, 1997 in Oxford
David Donald Leslie Compton: born July 25, 1930 in London; died June 30, 2004 in Banbury
Joan Cooper: a widow, born January 25, 1941 in Bolton Greater Manchester; died September 18, 2009 in Banbury
Dorothy Lilian Cox: a spinster; born September 08, 1937; died October 11, 2005 in Farringdon
Jan Darczyc: a bachelor, born October 20, 1916 in Poland; died February 01, 2003 in Kingham
Maud Clara Davis: (AKA Clara Maud Davis) born February 12, 1913 in Bristol; died October 24, 1999 in Sandford-on-Thames
Malcolm Vivian Doutre: born May 4, 1937; died May 9, 2013 in Oxford
Alexandra Mary Ebers (nee Borisango) born December 12, 1926 in Ukraine; died December 15, 1999 in Oxford
Susan Ely: born December 13, 1953 in Henley; died August 15, 2016 in Henley-on-Thames
Daniel Edward Fitzgerald: born January 13, 1945 in Kent; died September 13, 2018 in Oxford
Harold Nicholas Garlick: a bachelor, born September 27, 1920 in Scotland; died July 26, 1994 in Oxford
Luigi Gigliotti: born November 16, 1940 in Italy; died December 13, 2018 in Kidlington
Kenneth Anthony Gonsalves: a bachelor, born October 27, 1932 in Guyana; died May 4, 2001 in Oxford
Elizabeth Hedwig Greenaway (nee Anton): a widow, born November 30, 1909 in Graudenz, Germany; died January 3, 2005 in Faringdon
Lily Griffiths: a spinster, died March 19, 1997 in Summertown, Oxford
Christopher Stephen Friedrich Hackett: born December 16, 1941 in England; died September 18, 2018 in Henley-on-Thames
Amrita Haldar: born November 01, 1930 in India; died August 23, 2015 in Chipping Norton
George Harper: a bachelor, born February 17, 1919 in Oxfordshire; died November 28, 2004 in Banbury
Francis Henderson: a bachelor, born August 27, 1920; died December 27, 1995 in Wallingford
Caroline Juliana Johnson: a spinster, born July 30, 1940 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa; died November 24, 2002 in Oxford
Raymond Johnson: born October 27, 1935 in England; died January 4, 2010 in Banbury
John-Jack Kearney: born April 15, 1940 in the Irish Republic; died September 16, 2001 in Oxford
John Keleman (AKA Jonas Keleman): a widower; born July 14, 1915 in Hungary; died July 13, 1995 in Headington, Oxford
Jacques Alain Labarre: a bachelor, born November 24, 1928 in France; died April 28, 1991 in Oxford
Charles Lacey: born August 08, 1916; died November 07, 2000 in Wallingford
Elfrieda Leitner: a widow, born July 24, 1922 in Austria; died November 16, 2003 in Oxford
Hryhary Lyha (AKA George): a widower, born June 11, 1917 in Poland; died January 26, 1999 in Oxford
Dorothy Mansfield (AKA Dorothy Rose Mansfield): A spinster, born August 30, 1912 in England; died October 22, 1989 in Wallingford
Alistair McDonald: born April 12, 1910 in Glasgow; died December 20, 2007 in Oxford
Norman McErlean: born May 16, 1947; died May 31, 2004 in Oxford
Susan Moth: born July 17, 1944 in Winchester, Hampshire; died July 19, 2018 in Oxford
Sheila O’Connor: a spinster, born February 10, 1925 in Ireland; died August 31, 2006 in Wallingford
William O’Connor (AKA William Joseph O’Connor): a bachelor, born June 19, 1912 in Ireland; died July 31, 1993 in Oxford
Patrick John O’Malley: a widower to Rose Christian; born August 10, 1936; died May 09, 2018 in Oxford
Josephine Peacock (nee Fowler): born November 4, 1939 in Chipping Norton; died December 18, 2018 in Banbury
Fedir Petrenko: a bachelor, born February 05, 1915 in Stry, Ukraine; died August 17, 1999 in Bicester
Purghottam Vithaldas Popat: born February 01, 1922 in India; died November 11, 2003 in Banbury
Judith Reynolds: a widow, born June 23, 1942 in Oxford; died April 4, 2008 in Oxford
Stefan Rosickyj: born November 11, 1925 in Poland; died September 22, 2002 in Banbury
Charles Smith: born August 24, 1941; died February 18, 2004 in Oxford
Florence Lilian Ivy Smith: a spinster, born January 09, 1907 in Swindon; died October 7, 1997 in Henley on Thames
Simon Smith: a widower, born September 12, 1914; died March 06, 2006 in Standford in the Vale
George Smythe: born February 2, 1920 in Ireland; died December 10, 1996 in Banbury
John Spence: born August 9, 1926 in County Durham; died November 27, 2001 in Oxford
Thomas Joseph Sullivan: a bachelor, born May 8, 1930 in Ireland; died February 1, 2008 in Oxford
Madeleine Syz (AKA Hélène Madeleine Syz; Hélène Madeleine Syz de Vismes; Madeleine Gernler): a spinster, born November 29, 1910 in Switzerland; died May 12, 1993 in Bullingdon
Rose Talbot: a widow to Reginald Walter Hayward Talbot, born August 2, 1911 in Oxford; died January 3, 2001 in Oxford
Hilda Lillian Thompson: a single woman, born October 20, 1924 in Clapham; died March 16, 2007 in Oxford
Marianna Franziska Anna Von Kahler: a spinster, died November 13, 1993 in Oxford
Gerald Bernard Walsh: a bachelor, born December 02, 1956; died May 16, 2006 in Oxford
Ellen Wells (nee Bowers): born May 20, 1905 in England; died August 6, 1990 in Wallingford
Lillian Weston: born December 25, 1918; died September 03, 2003 in Oxford
Francis Reginald White: died July 19, 1991 in Banbury
Arthur Wright: a bachelor, born May 1, 1920; died December 12, 2004 in Sandford-on-Thames
Elizabeth Wyatt: born February 11, 1930 in Oxford; died December 18, 2014 in Kidlington
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