Peter Macdonald spent 50 years looking for his brother. The search started with a moment on a train platform in 1967.
The train was pulling away from Preston Railway Station when their father appeared. Peter’s mother held her 10-week-old baby in her arms while 2-year-old Trevor stood behind her. She was escaping to London. Their father lunged through the open carriage window and grabbed Peter from her arms. The train kept moving. In seconds, it was over.
Peter never saw his mother again.
Life Without Each Other
At 6 months old, his father placed him in foster care. He grew up as Peter Macdonald in Accrington, Lancashire, separated from his birth family. His foster parents told him the truth when he was 7. “I remember being sat on a roll-top carpet when they told me everything,” Peter told The Mirror. “They said we’re not your mum and dad, and you have a brother.”
The information floated over his head at first. He was too young to understand what it meant. But by 13 or 14, the questions came. He wanted answers that no one could give him.
Trevor grew up in East London with their mother. Money was tight, life was hard, but he had her. He only learned about his younger brother when he was around 9 or 10. Trevor’s mother was strict and didn’t talk much about Peter, though when she did, she wondered how he was doing.
After losing Peter that day, their mother convinced herself he was better off in foster care. “Mum thought ‘Leave him where he is, he’s probably better off there,‘” Trevor said on ITV’s Long Lost Family.
A Brother Out There Somewhere
Peter found Social Services documents mentioning Trevor Stamp as a teenager. He decided to track down his father, not to form a relationship but in the hope he might know where Trevor was. In 1995, Peter met him at last. “There didn’t seem to be any chemistry there at all,” he recalled. His father confirmed what happened at the station but admitted he had no idea where Trevor had gone.
Peter kept searching. Life carried on around it. He married, raised two daughters, became a grandfather four times, and lost his wife Julie in 2022. Through it all, “Trevor’s been on my mind for over 50 years,” he told the show.
In London, Trevor grew up aware that he had a younger brother somewhere. Their mother thought often of Peter but convinced herself he was better left alone. In 2008, as she lay dying, she began to speak openly about what she had kept hidden. “You could see it in her face when she spoke about it,” Trevor said. “She always said she regretted it, not going back for him.” Before she died, she urged Trevor, “Find him, look for him.”
Trevor tried, but the trail had long gone cold. Peter had been placed in foster care and given another surname. Both brothers searched, yet neither could find the other.
A Reunion Five Decades in the Making
Peter’s daughter Chloe wrote to ITV’s Long Lost Family. The research team searched for anyone named Trevor with the middle initial E, born in 1963. Out of three possible matches, one replied. He lived in London, knew of a younger brother called Peter, and his mother had fled there.
When Peter learned his mother had died in 2008, he almost gave up. “I was going to leave the show. I felt like I couldn’t do this anymore because I was frightened of what was coming next, that maybe Trevor had passed,” he said. But he pressed on.
The show arranged their reunion. Peter traveled from Lancashire to East London, unaware of the date. Trevor knew. When they embraced, Trevor told him it was their mother’s birthday. Peter’s voice broke. “That’s the best present isn’t it? For Mum. What a day,” he said.
Through tears, Trevor thanked him. “Thank you for looking for me.” He also gave Peter the reassurance he had long needed. “When she passed, she did say she was so sorry that she never looked for you. She never forgot you. Before she passed, she always said, find him.”
Trevor also shared what really happened at the station. Their mother had been holding Peter when their father leaned through the train window and snatched him away. Peter had heard the story before, but never like this. “The story I was always told was not as dramatic. It was worse than I thought,” he said.
When Peter finally saw their mother’s photograph, he whispered, “She’s got the look of my daughter.“
Call Me Bruv
Peter brought Chloe and her young daughter, Lily, to meet Trevor. Lily ran straight to her new granduncle for a hug. Trevor, a 61-year-old carpenter who lives with his partner in East London, looked at Chloe and saw his mother staring back at him. “You don’t half look like your nan,” he told her.
Peter asked what he should call his older brother. Trevor or Trev?
“You can call me whatever you want, bruv,” Trevor said.
Bruv worked just fine.
“I don’t want to go home now. I want to stay with Peter for a while,” Trevor said. “Two brothers together at last. It was an automatic connection,” Peter said.
They talk on the phone every week now. Peter plans to visit London again soon. Two brothers separated 58 years ago found each other. Their mother isn’t here to see it, but she made it happen. She told Trevor to find Peter, and Peter’s daughter made sure someone was looking. On what would have been her birthday, her sons came back together.
Read More: Pregnant Teen Chose Adoption – 33 Years Later, She Reunites with Her Son
