Soldier's Wills New Online service

[cfraser]

I just got my great uncle's. George Leonard Ingham (3rd Salford Pals) made out his short form will on June 27, 1916, 2 days before his battalion was originally scheduled to attack the Leipzig Redoubt south of Thiepval. I posted the will here - http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=172405&hl=

Nothiing extra but great to have anyway.

Cheers

Colin

[JOVE23]

This is only for confirmed KIAs, correct?

[eairicbloodaxe]

By Jove, yes...

Regards

Ian

[Ellis1918]

I found the will I wanted , a Great Uncle , registered on Saturday but did not get the activation e mail back

Tried to log on again today but got the message " there is already an account associated with this e mail address "

The will is still showing in my basket awaiting check out

[Roger H]

I found the will I wanted , a Great Uncle , registered on Saturday but did not get the activation e mail back

Tried to log on again today but got the message " there is already an account associated with this e mail address "

The will is still showing in my basket awaiting check out

Try looking in your spam folder for the confirmation email

Roger

[bigjohn]

I had that so i e mailed the feedback about it. Recieved a message to check spam box but it was not there, So they are hopefully going to activate my account manually.

John

[SiegeGunner]

Soldiers whose bodies were never recovered will [of course] sadly be missing from this data base ...

Not so, it appears. My great-uncle disappeared off the face of the earth on the opening day of the Spring Offensive in 1918 and I have just found and ordered his Will.

[johnboy]

At the risk of making a fool of myself, if these wills are the originlas from paybooks how did beneficiaries know they had been left something?

[roughdiamond]

At the risk of making a fool of myself, if these wills are the originlas from paybooks how did beneficiaries know they had been left something?

Firstly not all Wills were from paybooks which were "Informal Wills", there were other types which are explained here http://www.nas.gov.uk/guides/soldiersWills.asp in an explanation from the National Archives of Scotland.

As for "how did beneficiaries know they had been left something?" the Military would tell them, the same as a Lawyer would if a Will was lodged with them, it was a legal document after all.

Sam

[johnboy]

Thanks for that. So how would a person [beneficiary] obtain for instance, money from the deceased bank account,property etc? I know I had to produce a copy of the will and a death cert. Were things different then or was notice from the military enough?

[MaureenE]

Although not wills, there is another set of records relating to men who died in the British Army called “Soldiers' Effects Records, 1901-60” which are available from the National Army Museum London, although apparently not viewable there.

They are more expensive than the wills from the Probate Service, (England and Wales), the subject of this thread, but it seems likely they include men who died due to disease, whereas I believe the wills in this thread only include deaths in action, or shortly thereafter.

The NAM records are, due to cost, perhaps more of interest to people researching family members, but they could be an avenue for some people. The following link says “The ledgers list a soldier’s name, rank, regiment, date (and sometimes place) of death, but perhaps most importantly they give you the name of the deceased’s next of kin”

http://www.nam.ac.uk/collection/collection-news/soldiers-effects-records-1901-60

Cheers

Maureen

[SiegeGunner]

Not so, it appears. My great-uncle disappeared off the face of the earth on the opening day of the Spring Offensive in 1918 and I have just found and ordered his Will.

My great-uncle's Will became available for viewing last night, and it was made on Army Form W 3297 while he was with a training battalion at Hornsea in east Yorkshire in May 1917, so it was presumably retained on file in the UK .... but not with his service record, which I also have. The 'Informal Will' form recognising it as a valid will is dated August 1919. For my £6 I have learnt where and when he received his training and that he left everything to his mother, so I am more than content that it was money well spent.

[Ellis1918]

Thanks Roger for post no 130

Tried spam and junk and also sent feedback to Beta

Will try and register under a different e mail address

[Ellis1918]

Done it ! Registered under a different e-mail address Activation e-mail came straight back Ordered and paid for

[saw119]

Received the will I ordered yesterday and was very pleased with it as my mans service records were destroyed in the fire. Amongst several things on the various forms that were of interest is the fact that my gt gt uncle saw fit to include his address which was a brilliant piece of extra information to have. If you're umming and ahhhing about whether to get one my recommendation would be a definite yes, especially if the man you're researching has a missing service record. Now roll on the WFA pension index cards!

[kevmc]

I have looked at the

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND (http://soldierswills.nationalarchives.ie/search/sw/index.jsp) site

which has photographs of the wills compared to scanned images on the English site.

It is a stark comparison when you see that there is free access to Irish wills but £6 on English site.

Reminds me of the impact of seeing 1911 Census records when compared to the previous records.

Kevin

[LEUZEWOOD]

I have looked at the

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF IRELAND (http://soldierswills.nationalarchives.ie/search/sw/index.jsp) site

which has photographs of the wills compared to scanned images on the English site.

It is a stark comparison when you see that there is free access to Irish wills but £6 on English site.

Reminds me of the impact of seeing 1911 Census records when compared to the previous records.

Kevin

Must admit, I was disappointed with the quality of the scan when I received my will. I was hoping it would feel like more of an historic document rather than a bad fax!

I would take into account the high volume of scanning that was undertaken, but the NA and Ancestry don't appear to have any problems with the quality of their scans.

[eairicbloodaxe]

And the Irish and Scottish ones were done a few years ago, on older technology... you'd expect todays scans to be far better.

This then raises the question, which I never thought of before. Perhaps what was found were COPIES of the wills, done in the 60s?

Regards

Ian

[roughdiamond]

This info has been published by the National Archives of Scotland on their "Guide to Soldiers' and Airmens Wills" and may explain why there are a lot of unsuccessful searches.

"You have less than a 20% chance of finding the will of a Scottish soldier below the rank of officer in the soldiers' wills series. The wills of only about 26,000 soldiers out of 130,000 soldiers of other ranks who died in WW I survive. For WW II the chance drops to about 17%."

I can't see why this percentage would be different for England and Wales, so you have more chance of finding a Service Record than a Will, but thankfully in some cases Wills exist where Service records don't.

The WW2 figure suprises me more though, I'd have thought the nature of the warfare would have meant a far higher percentage would exist.

As a last resort as his Will wasn't in the Scottish records, I checked the Irish records for the Will of my Gt Uncle Thomas McGuire, although Scottish he was in the Connaught Rangers. Not only was there no match, there was no match at all for the surname "McGuire", just shows how little survived.

Sam

[Guest]

I received the will I ordered within 24 hours of application. There was a form stating that he died in a field hospital at Chauny in 1918, which I did not know and is a part answer to one of the questions I have.

Also there is a handwritten note dated July 1916 with the standard "In the event of my death...." with a different battalion on it. So as one puzzle is half solved another one appears. Well worth the £6 in my opinion.

I will definitely be getting my other relatives wills.

[Ellis1918]

Received the will of my Great Uncle today - L Cpl Arthur Ellis 11852 7th battn York and Lancaster killed 20 Nov 1916

Ony problem the will shows the property and effects left to " my mother Mrs J Ellis 80 Clifton Ave Rotherham "

His mother was Alice Eliza and no connection with Cifton Avenue as far as anyone in family knows . All known addresses show them living in Dinnington in 1911 census and detail from CWGC

His father was John Henry Ellis , could he have amended the beneficiary , the wording " my mother " appears to be slightly different to the rest of the will

[SteveE]

No problem there as I see it. The etiquette for addressing a married woman was to use the husband's name so Mrs J(ohn). Ellis would have been the correct address.

[Ellis1918]

I stand corrected Steve E

Still puzzled over the address

[Muerrisch]

No problem there as I see it. The etiquette for addressing a married woman was to use the husband's name so Mrs J(ohn). Ellis would have been the correct address.

And still was in military circles unti very recently, as for example:

"Mrs David Edwards", "Mr and Mrs D Edwards" "Major and Mrs D Edwards"

My insider knowledge ceased in 1996 so "anything goes" may be in .... it is everywhere else it seems.

[keithfazzani]

No problem there as I see it. The etiquette for addressing a married woman was to use the husband's name so Mrs J(ohn). Ellis would have been the correct address.

Was? Still is around here.