The remarkable story of Professor Edwin Hancock has emerged following an investigation to trace relatives entitled to inherit his estate.
Professor Hancock, who was born in Marlborough on June 24, 1956, died from cancer aged 67 on January 19, 2024.
Despite his distinguished career and £1.4 million estate, no immediate next of kin could initially be identified.
Probate researchers Fraser and Fraser were brought in to trace his family and began piecing together the life of a man whose work helped lay foundations for facial recognition technology.
Hancock began his career in nuclear physics, but his interest in computing and artificial intelligence developed while he was working night shifts in the 1970s.
The only computer available to him was one he could “sneak time on” between shifts. That early fascination eventually led to research into how computers could recognise patterns and interpret images.
His work helped advance computer vision – technology that enables computers to analyse and recognise images – which has since become widely used, including in facial recognition, smartphones and medical research.
Hancock went on to become a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a professor at the University of York, establishing an international reputation as a pioneer in artificial intelligence.
But his influence extended well beyond his research.
Close friend Charlotte Davies described him as a self-made man who came from a poor background and was passionate about challenging convention.
“He was working in AI before it became popular, monitoring polar ice caps and pioneering the facial recognition technology we use today,” she said.
“He had an eternal sense of curiosity, but he liked to break the rules.”
Hancock also became a strong critic of the British class system and was a committed mentor to more than 50 PhD students during his academic career.
Among them was Xiao Bai, who studied for his PhD under Hancock in 2006 before becoming a professor at Beijing University in China.
He described his former supervisor as an exceptional mentor who treated everyone with equal respect.
Hancock also had a passion for art and was a keen collector. Rare works from his collection were later sold at auction, contributing to the value of his estate.
But while his professional legacy was considerable, finding his heirs proved far more difficult.
Researchers at Fraser and Fraser pieced together information from obituaries, gravestones and other records before discovering that members of Hancock’s family had emigrated to Canada.
Canadian records presented further challenges, but the researchers eventually traced three distant relatives, all living in Canada.
They had no idea they were connected to Hancock or that they were entitled to inherit from his estate.
Mike Pow, case manager at Fraser and Fraser, said the investigation demonstrated the importance of tracing the families behind unclaimed estates.
“Working on Professor Hancock’s case was a real reminder of why we do this work,” he said.
“It has been amazing to learn about this man’s remarkable achievements. His legacy will live on through the lives he touched.”
For Marlborough, the story provides an intriguing local connection to a field which has become one of the defining technologies of the 21st century.
More than half a century after a young Edwin Hancock began developing an interest in computers, his research has contributed to technologies now used around the world.
Meanwhile, his £1.4 million estate has finally found its way to relatives thousands of miles from his Wiltshire birthplace.