The Hidden Treasures of Bona Vacantia in Wales

Genealogists have unearthed a trove of over 150 unclaimed estates in Wales, revealing a unique opportunity for potential heirs. Finders International, delving into the bona vacantia list - Latin for "ownerless goods" - has identified individuals in Wales who passed away intestate, leaving no will or apparent next of kin. Remarkably, regions like Gwynedd and South Glamorgan have witnessed 52 such instances, with similar cases in Clwyd, Mid Glamorgan, and Gwent. In these situations, the estate defaults to the Crown, managed by the treasury solicitor, until a rightful heir is found.

Navigating the Path to Claim Your Inheritance

The pursuit to reclaim these assets is not without its challenges. Since 2014, cuts in funding to the bona vacantia division mean no proactive will search is conducted before an estate is listed as ownerless. This places the onus on family members and potential heirs, who have a 12-year window from the estate's reporting to the Crown to stake their claim. The list by Finders International includes names like Stephen Anthony Price of Abergavenny, Kevin Thomas of Bangor, and James Laurence Williams of Bridgend county, among others. You're invited to peruse the list, organised by area, to discover if you recognise any names that could lead you to a rightful inheritance.

Anglesey

• Peter John Sanders (21/04/1939-17/04/2012)
• Michael O’Loughlan (29/09/1937-23/02/2014)
• Jennie Griffiths (04/03/1924-25/04/2011)

Conwy

• Peter Allan Talbot (30/12/1946-10/03/2014)
• David John Evans (28/07/1949-04/05/2023)
• Robert Griffiths (18/11/1945-15/01/2020)
• May Roberts (30/05/1944-19/09/2014)
• Margaret Hall Boydell (31/03/1911-16/09/1997)
• Dilys Hopwood Jones (13/09/1920-15/10/1994)
• Frank Regan (23/02/1925-13/06/1997)
• Edward Frederick Luckarift (23/01/1920-29/03/2010)
• Rafal Tomaszewicz (23/10/1912-02/04/2003)
• Margarita Christina Millard (02/10/1910-11/05/1997)
• Michael Park (23/12/1944-27/02/2008)

Cardiff

• Ishak Ali (05/01/1934-17/05/2013)
• Janet Broomfield (18/04/1957-03/02/2015)
• Dudley Hendy (07/11/1945-17/11/2021)
• Angela Mary Jeffries (15/05/1947-10/03/2015)
• Leslie John Hankerd (26/12/1938-20/11/2019)
• Ronald Morland (05/01/1946-26/05/2016)
• John Kwame Nuamah (16/06/1941-22/11/2021)
• John Reilly (05/02/1941-05/05/2018)
• Terence Richards (13/06/1947-10/01/2023)
• Nicholas Sharma (27/06/1938-18/08/2019)
• Sheila Mary Thomas (25/08/1937-09/07/2020)
• Royston Tucker (23/02/1934-03/01/2013)
• Albert Kenneth Turberville (08/05/1946-12/02/2020)
• James Jordan (06/04/1945-14/07/2012)
• Evelyn Briggs (unknown-30/01/1999)
• Cameron Cassidy (19/01/1971-02/08/2010)
• Nicholas Daniel Gabrilenko (12/01/1924-30/03/2001)
• Joan Lewis (04/12/1919-26/05/2011)
• Rashid Osman Magan (11/01/1946-11/08/2002)
• Neede Poder (unknown-15/12/1996)
• Wladyslaw Polchlopek (27/06/1926-34/04/2003)
• Noel George Rodrigues (23/11/1914-27/08/2000)
• Frank Spiteri (23/09/1933-21/09/2005)
• Frederick Thomas (17/10/1931-18/04/2010)
• John Thomas (07/06/1932-06/08/2001)
• Aloke Kumar Dutta (27/08/1930-18/07/2002)
• Henrique Santos (25/05/1924-13/06/2000)
• John Shiels (30/11/1951-18/08/2006)
• William Walsh (10/11/1920-03/02/2009)
• Lionel Harris Williams (12/11/1927-22/09/2009)
• Stephen Mark Timothy Duggan (26/09/1961-27/07/2010)
• Rushford Gordon (05/01/1910-17/12/2000)
• George Gray (08/07/1911-24/03/1999)
• John Jones (03/08/1943-04/03/2006)
• Zanis Kampers (07/12/1924-27/01/1995)
• Myra Christine Mills (08/08/1936-05/10/1996)
• Hugh Ravenau (04/02/1921-31/07/2001)
• Bernard Tallmeister (13/08/1924-16/09/2000)
• Arthur Smith (unknown-24/07/1997)
• Brian Davies (10/10/1919-02/01/2000)
• Emanuel Bigeni (unknown-20/06/2000)

Ceredigion

• No-one on the list

Carmarthenshire

• Benjamin Sturgess (16/11/1937-23/03/2017)
• Teresa Mary Llewelyn (13/09/1936-01/10/2013)
• Imogene Martyn (12/04/1944-04/08/2019)
• Jan Wojtkiewicz (28/10/1926-16/03/2013)
• Joseph Kretusz (18/07/1907-11/01/2004)
• Catherine Moffat (unknown-06/12/2001)
• William Evans (27/12/1921-22/09/2007)
• Anne Anthony (19/02/1923-17/09/2006)
• Sarah Davies (22/12/1921-19/07/2001)
• Ivy Maude Owen (03/03/1914-16/01/2007)
• Richard Desmond Walters (03/03/1933-26/11/2009)

Caerphilly

• Herbert Michael Miller (11/06/1925-22/05/2004)

Clwyd

• Maureen Frances (08/10/1943-03/10/2020)
• Winifred Shelton (29/09/1914-19/11/2009)

Bridgend

• Roger John (29/10/1946-05/06/2003)
• Franciszek Parda (12/09/1924-21/08/1999)
• Carlton Willis (unknown-21/03/1999)
• Phillip Lewis (01/11/1948-14/06/2020)
• Antoni Wojtaniec (01/01/1922-25/04/2008)
• Barrie John (12/02/1951-13/11/2019)
• James Laurence Williams (19/12/1951-20/09/2023)

Denbighshire

• Malcolm George Roberts (02/12/1961-11/06/2022)
• Dorothy Mary Gee (23/06/1941-10/10/2020)
• Desmond Thomas Johnson (02/10/1946-21/02/2021)
• David Glyn Jones (29/01/1946-08/12/2014)
• Dennis Thomas (13/12/1939-28/02/2012)
• Albert Behm (25/05/1925-17/08/2014)
• Jean Glendinning (18/08/1931-14/-1/2001)
• Peter Lawrence Johnson (27/05/1933-30/12/2004)
• David John Jones (unknown-09/02/1998)
• John Jacob Williams (01/01/1918-11/05/1997)
• Olwen Jones (27/07/1937-24/12/2004)
• Catherine Elizabeth Dorothy Kendall (unknown-20/05/1994)

Dyfed

• John George Mason (22/03/1971-20/10/2017)
• Mary Morforwyn Lewis (13/11/1927-08/01/1997)
• Stanley George Shaw (17/05/1931-08/12/1993)
• Heather Caple (11/04/1941-04/07/1994)
• Abbie Elizabeth Mary James (17/04/1938-11/03/2005)
• Ann Marlon Pitman (23/07/1940-03/02/1992)
• Frederick Richard Smart (unknown-11/01/1995)
• Jan Pincsuk (unknown-12/05/1995)

Flintshire

• Dyreck Littlewood (12/05/1934-28/01/2011)
• Frances Williams (28/08/1910-24/11/2002)

Gwent

• Jim Jones (unknown-30/08/1995)
• David Robert Powell (18/05/1956-21/04/2019)
• Stephen Anthony Price (26/08/1968-04/08/2022)
• Kathleen Smith (11/08/1932-09/11/2012)
• David Hooper (16/09/1953-06/06/2023)
• Cheryl Tutton (27/11/1955-05/02/2023)
• Frederick Macey (11/05/1920-02/06/2009)
• Terence Evans (03/09/1939-09/05/2000)
• Nickolas Vicoras (13/12/1913-01/10/2007)

Gwynedd

• Caroline Ann Brown (12/01/1954-09/11/2019)
• Vivian Michael Brownray (01/09/1920-27/08/2005)
• Kevin Thomas Carr (12/10/1953-15/04/2023)
• Dudley Joseph Gee (15/04/1943-27/09/2022)
• Griffith John Griffiths (11/06/1919-12/06/1999)
• Francis John Hookham (02/03/1945-09/03/2002)
• Gladys Hughes (02/11/1919-01/02/1995)
• Pawel Kazimierz Kalinowski (01/02/1927-29/11/2013)
• Thomas Isaac Martin (23/06/1934-01/04/2014)
• Mair Eluned Owen (02/06/1929-02/11/2012)
• Christopher John Packer (20/01/1936-20/12/1999)
• Gwilym Meurig Roberts (26/02/1933-20/03/2005)
• Margarita Annelise Sander-Long (04/12/1917-12/05/2013)
• James Sheehan (08/07/1940-27/04/2008)
• Robert Vivian Thomas (16/10/1929-31/05/2013)
• Boleslaw Wozniak (01/11/1918-05/01/2009)
• Marian Wilczynski (12/12/1916-01/04/2006)
• Stefan Hrynyk (01/01/1925-19/05/2011)
• Stanislaw Osiak (19/03/1916-03/03/1998)
• Lawrence John O’Dell (19/06/1958-04/10/2016)
• Eluned Evans (unknown-13/08/1998)
• Richard Parry Evans (unknown-25/05/1998)
• Jozef Mocarski (24/03/1912-10/01/1999)

Merthyr Tydfil

• Bernard Morris (24/02/1930-26/01/2009)
• Megan Gwyther (12/08/1919-19/02/2001)
• Hilda Moroney (19/09/1910-27/06/1999)
• Leon Sean Roper (23/07/1954-27/04/2021)
• Ann Thomas (25/07/1928-19/10/2019)
• Maldwyn Thomas (05/10/1936-28/11/2021)
• David Reginald Mather (31/05/1928-10/09/1997)
• Malcolm John Howard (27/07/1950-27/12/2017)

Monmouthshire

• William Vaughan (11/11/1932-13/08/2009)
• Dudley Walters (02/07/1923-03/10/2006)

Newport

• Desmond Ahmed (unknown-24/02/1994)
• Rudi Hommel (18/10/1926-26/10/2007)
• Vladimirs Kazlausks (13/11/1958-03/12/2015)
• John Howard Llewellyn (06/09/1938-28/04/2003)
• Fay Reed (08/02/1941-27/04/2005)
• Mair Whiting (05/09/1942-20/09/2010)

Neath Port Talbot

• Ashley Charles Howell Williams (21/01/1949-23/02/2013)
• Kenneth Miller (15/05/1937-21/11/2020)

Powys

• William Henry Harding (29/08/1923-12/09/2003)
• Margaret Ann Jenkins (unknown-04/01/2000)
• Edgar Schattschneider (15/09/1925-26/07/2009)
• Gwendoline Maud Ford (18/06/1923-02/06/2002)
• Iris Mary Woodfine (18/09/1920-05/08/2002)

Rhondda Cynon Taf

• John Phillips (21/05/1931-21/04/2004)
• Carole Anne Jones (03/10/1943-13/03/2018)
• Lilian Olwen (23/04/1921-16/12/1993)
• Lazar Milinovic (27/03/1925-11/07/2007)
• Gertrude Liesbeth Margarete Bethell (unknown-31/03/1999)
• Elizabeth Mary Morris (07/01/1911-22/12/2008)
• Doris Morgan (07/01/1911-22/12/2008)
• Colin Carter (05/08/1938-06/04/2021)
• Jacqueline Jane Davies (25/09/1964-19/102020)

Swansea

• Tedor Joseph Kuzaj (unknown-10/12/1995)
• Patrick Llewellyn (unknown-05/12/2000)
• Michael Nolan (07/03/1945-20/09/2005)
• Iwan Romaniw (19/01/1920-10/07/2006)
• John Oswald Walsh (unknown-09/12/1994)
• George Aubrey Lewis (01/01/1945-28/09/2004)
• Peter Mitchell (18/10/1929-13/05/2008)
• Keith Perkins (11/08/1946-11/01/2022)
• Leslie Smith (23/05/1930-10/02/2006)
• Betty Annie Tuck (02/11/1911-18/02/1998)
• Nathaniel Kristoffer Whitehouse (12/04/1971-03/01/2021)
• Iris Florence Hayes (14/08/1909-10/08/1998)
• Anthony Colin Hill (15/11/1953-19/09/2022)
• Peter James Musgrave (03/04/1947-10/11/2022)
• Richard Hammond Thomas (09/08/1912-07/04/1994)

Vale of Glamorgan

• Michael Park (23/12/1944-27/02/2008)
• George Brennan (30/04/1941-21/05/2008)

Wrexham

• Frances Kathleen Rowley (06/10/1914-16/04/2003)
• Athol Ernest Cowen (18/01/1942-04/10/2010)
• Elizabeth Hayes (15/01/1944-25/07/2017)
• Margaret Ellen Jones (13/06/1926-31/08/2007)
• Maidie Kirkham-Thomas (06/04/1923-06/01/1999)
• Malcolm McGifford McCleery (19/07/1927-14/05/2009)
• Anna Parys (09/03/1911-06/01/2002)
• Kevin Roberts (29/05/1968-21/02/2017)
• William Roberts (09/04/1910-27/03/1995)
• Gwym Owen (23/07/1929-13/10/2019)
• Dennis Hughes (27/08/1921-18/07/2003)
• Paula Robinson (25/10/1966-26/01/2011)