Adopted man searched for his birth mother’s resting place but died before he found it – his carer has now completed the mission

Spencer Cowling had cared for Antony Basil Wilson at the Sharon Collins Resource Centre in Brighton until his passing in February. Before Antony passed away, Spencer promised that he would continue to search for Antony’s mother, no matter how long it took.

Now, after a successful plea for information in a Buckinghamshire newspaper, Spencer has successfully located the resting place of Antony’s mother, Grace Ellen Leedham, née Wilson.

Plans are currently being made to reunite Antony with his birth mother by scattering his ashes at the same family plot as his mother.

Antony Wilson was put up for guardianship shortly after he was born in April 1934. Antony was disabled and spent his entire life living in care.

Despite not knowing his mother, Antony had always been determined to locate her final resting place. With the help of his carers, Antony spent years looking for his mother, Grace, but his search was to no avail.

After caring for Antony at the Sharon Collins Resource Centre, Spencer committed to helping Antony track down his mother’s location. His initial research was promising, and a number of details were found about Grace, but ultimately no information was found about Grace’s location.

However, after a chance discovery in July of this year, Spencer’s research took his search to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Marriage records showed that Grace had married and settled in the area with a Herbert Leedham, although Spencer was unable to find any additional information about their lives together.

In a last-ditch attempt to locate Antony’s mother, Spencer turned to the public for help, placing a plea for information in a local Buckinghamshire newspaper.

Shortly after Spencer’s article appeared in the press, he received a call from a Buckinghamshire funeral director, explaining that he had performed Mr Leedham’s funeral service and that he knew of where his family plot was located.

After contacting the site, confirmation was finally received that Grace’s ashes had been scattered on the family plot in High Wycombe along with her husband in 1994.

After completing the search, Spencer has expressed his desire to reunite Antony with his mother and has confirmed that plans are underway to scatter Antony’s ashes on the plot in High Wycombe.

Spencer said: “I cannot believe that our search is finally over. I feel an immense sense of pride that I have been able to do this for Antony. I am extremely grateful to all those that got involved in helping find Antony’s mother.

“We had searched for Grace together for a long time and there were moments where I thought that we would have to give up in our quest. The feeling when we heard the news from the funeral director was truly indescribable and it feels amazing to think that out there, somewhere, Antony will finally be reunited with his mother after all these years.”