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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Soldier's Wills New Online service


Terry Carter

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It would have been good if the paper had given the link

Its a terrible piece of lazy journalism from the 'voices being heard' nonsense to the sudden out of context mention of Harry Patch

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I became quite excited when I saw this thread. Damn press - no link and no trace anywhere else. It is really an annoying!

Sepoy

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It doesn't appear that the service is available yet - I did find some old articles from 2012 which stated the information would certainly be on-line by the end of 2012...

Craig

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It doesn't appear that the service is available yet - I did find some old articles from 2012 which stated the information would certainly be on-line by the end of 2012...

Craig

Ah thats all right then. Is it/will it be restricted to Birmingham Soldiers

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The Graun has managed to come up with a different slant on the same press conference or handout. They state that records will be available from Thursday - that is today, without indicating that this is only a first tranche.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/29/first-world-war-soldiers-letters

Keith

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Is it/will it be restricted to Birmingham Soldiers

quote from 'The Guardian' - English and Welsh soldiers' wills – those of officers and Scottish and Irish soldiers are archived separately

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This is the project in which I was involved last year.

There are about 300,000 wills, of English soldiers from Boer war to the 1940s. Most are WW1. There might also be some Welsh - but the Iron Mountain people couldn't tell me when I asked. They were found in the basement of an old MOD building in London a few years ago.

Scottish and Irish soldiers wills are already available free online and have been for a few years. If I can find the links, will post it later.

I believe our lovely government have decreed in statute a flat fee for digital lookup. When I was last involved, I think it was £6?

Might be wrong though. Reason for the fee was because it's part of HMCS wills & probate registry site, not a separate dedicated service.

Regards

Ian

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Found the will for my Gt Uncle. Just wondering whether to pay the £6

Roger

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Foiled again in my efforts to find out more about my Gt-Uncle. Tried a seach no trace...

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Just tried, found two wills I'm interested in and then could not order or pay.

It is a beta site and asks for feedback; which I duly did!

Dave

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I managed to put the will into the "basket" pressed "checkout" but wouldn't send me to a payment screen, just a confirmation screen with a nil amount! Will try later.

Roger

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I have found 2 I am interested in and will try payment after I have cleared it with the Boss !!!!

Soldiers who's bodies were never recovered will [of course] sadly be missing from this data base, which will explain why certain soldier's wills can not be found.

Sorry if I am stating the obvious.

Paul

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Re. Probate Register.

I found this man's will years ago by going to a library & using the Register:

BAKER, WILLIAM J Regt. No.SS/14038 who died 13 August 1915

I can't see him on this site.

What am i doing wrong?

Kath.

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Kath

Maybe his will was from per-service days.THese ones seem to be from paybooks or service records hence them being held separately to "normal" wills. As mentioned above, men killed and not recovered won't be in this list. The Irish wills have the same look and feel as those shown in the BBC article.

Glen

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Falls over on payment and won't continue - the merchant ID shows as 'Test'which is probably the problem.

Craig

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Hi

I have my Grandfathers pay book and there is a page for his will in the book. So does this mean they have the hole pay book or were the will pages torn out ? If so I wonder what happened to the rest of the pay books ??

Paul

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I've successfully paid for one (for a relative, by way of an experiment) and then found that it won't be available until 8 September. £6 a time is awfully expensive if you're keen to have several.

Gwyn

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