Hoping to find Muriel Barker, known to be in Eastbourne

In 1948, Muriel Barker (at the time, unmarried and Muriel Lade) was a bridesmaid at her cousin’s wedding.

Seventy years later, her cousin passed away, and now Muriel is in line to inherit half of her estate.

The only problem: nobody knows where she is.

Edna Mabel Hearne was an elderly widow in Harrow, north-west London.

She lived alone and when she passed away did not leave a will.

I am Kirsty Gray, a half-first cousin twice removed of Edna’s and a probate genealogist in Wiltshire, and I was asked by Edna’s full-blood cousins to deal with her estate.

Her house was filled with old family photographs, newspaper articles, and letters.

In one of the old newspaper articles, pasted into a photograph album, was a report on Edna’s wedding to her husband, Meshak Hearne.

At the bottom of the column was the name of the bridesmaid, her cousin, Muriel Lade.

Over the page, a photograph of the two women together with Edna’s husband outside of the church.

Letters between the two cousins continued for some time after the wedding, past Muriel’s own marriage to Anthony Barker in 1969 and her move to Eastbourne shortly afterwards.

Muriel and her husband lived on Lushington Road up until his death in 2007.

Muriel stayed there until five years ago, when she disappears into thin air.

My company, Family Wise Limited, and I have tried everything we can think of to find Muriel, from dental surgeries to Facebook posts, but to no avail.

She is known to still be in Eastbourne, and to still be alive.

Perhaps you know her, or someone who does.

If so, you may be able to help Muriel reconnect with her family.

Please contact me on 01249 476777 or email [email protected] if you can help.