Is There A Scottish will search like England & Wales?

[Dazscuba]

Looking at a chap who is from Scotland and wondered if there is a search I can do for Scottish wills like I can for England & Wales?

thanks Daz

[Scotsmac]

Try,

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/advanced-search#{"category":"legal"}

 

Best Wishes

Keith

[Dazscuba]

Thanks Keith, think this site you have to pay for? Is there a site that’s free?

Daz

[alf mcm]

Daz,

  Searches are free on Scotlandspeople. and this is the only source for Scottish Soldiers Wills. I have found the Soldiers Effects usually confirms what is shown in the Wills, i.e. everything left to wife or mother.

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

[Dazscuba]

Alf still having trouble as it wants me to buy credits so will not show me anything.

looking at 

Private 7928 Joseph Hyndman (joined under Hayman) 

KOSB

died as PoW Germany 7th Nov 1914

 

cheers Daz

[alf mcm]

Daz,

   I have had a look and there is no Soldiers Will shown on Scotlandspeople for Joseph Hyndman {or Hayman}. It is a while since I started on Scotlandspeople, so I forgot you had to buy credits to search. Once you have bought credits you can search for free. Credits are used up when you actually look at the records.

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

[Dazscuba]

 Thanks for the above and the quick replies

Daz

[ss002d6252]

Was he ordinarily resident in Scotland before the war ?

 

Craig

[Derek Black]

58 minutes ago, Dazscuba said:

died as PoW Germany 7th Nov 1914

Being a prisoner will likely be why there's no existent Will for him.

It's hard to imagine scenario where his Paybook would have ended up back with the British authorities.

 

Derek.

[Dazscuba]

Graig yes an ordinary citizen and convicted of a couple of offences and maybe that’s why he changed his name to get into the army?

 

Derek, not sure but I think on his army effects it shows something to the effect “Will in favour, Mo Flora”. Not sure if that means he had a will or not. Please see attached 

Ancestry.co.uk

[Derek Black]

That info comes from his service records, not his paybook that he carried with him, which these Wills on ScotlandsPeople come from.

"Mo(ther), Flora"
 

Cheers,

Derek

Edited 17 December , 2018 by Derek Black

[Dazscuba]

Cheers Derek that makes sense 

on a second note is there a list of fallen for Scotland?

cheers Daz

[ss002d6252]

6 minutes ago, Dazscuba said:

Graig yes an ordinary citizen and convicted of a couple of offences and maybe that’s why he changed his name to get into the army?

 

Derek, not sure but I think on his army effects it shows something to the effect “Will in favour, Mo Flora”. Not sure if that means he had a will or not. Please see attached 

Ancestry.co.uk

If noted as such in the effects it means there was a physical Will somewhere which was seen by the War Office - whether that came from one made during his time in military or had been made pre-war and left with the family it is impossible to tell without being able to see the Will.

 

Craig

Edited 17 December , 2018 by ss002d6252

[Derek Black]

4 minutes ago, Dazscuba said:

Cheers Derek that makes sense 

on a second note is there a list of fallen for Scotland?

cheers Daz

 

Indeed there is,

The Scottish National War Memorial - SNWM.

 

Although there are duplications, omissions and a few other issues.

 

https://www.snwm.org/roll-search/?id=1724343&searchid=4d6b3c718da4551992bfc309ea8409ef&page=1

 

Cheers,
Derek.

Edited 17 December , 2018 by Derek Black

[Dazscuba]

Thanks Craig I will have to keep looking 

 

again thanks Derek will have a look now

 

Daz

[ss002d6252]

1 minute ago, Dazscuba said:

Thanks Craig I will have to keep looking 

 

again thanks Derek will have a look now

 

Daz

There are large numbers missing across England, Scotland and Ireland from the soldiers wills - far more than just by chance. I looked at the figures in the past and the missing % were roughly the same. Ireland for example has only 9000 out of an estimated 35000, so circa 26%. There are plenty of cases from the effects records I've seen where wills are recorded but cannot be located.

Craig

[Dazscuba]

Craig sounds like I may have more stacked against me finding the will than anything but will still keep at it in and Amongst. 

You never know at some stage I may be shocked 

 

thanks again for all your help 

[rolt968]

A will left with the family and not processed via the war office would if presented at the sheriff court appear in the normal wills  (also at scotlandspeople) not the soldiers' wills. (I can't find it.)

 

There seem to be a number of possibilities:

1. There was a will left with the battalion at home which was processed but now lost.

2. A will was left with the family, which they produced after he was reported as having died (they would have had to be quick off the mark, I think). The will was not then presented in a sheriff court, which I think would have been OK in Scots law at the time if no-one else claimed what ever inheritance there was. Would it have been OK for the War Office?

3. The soldier's record said there was a will in favour of the mother, but he himself had the will and it was lost.

 

RM

[Dazscuba]

RM thanks for the above interesting 

[Heid the Ba]

11 hours ago, rolt968 said:

2. A will was left with the family, which they produced after he was reported as having died (they would have had to be quick off the mark, I think). The will was not then presented in a sheriff court, which I think would have been OK in Scots law at the time if no-one else claimed what ever inheritance there was. Would it have been OK for the War Office?

The Will would only be recorded in the court books if it was founded on, which would only be if Confirmation was required.  If he didn't own any heritable estate (land, buildings etc.) it is unlikely his estate would be large enough to require Confirmation. Then, as now, many estates were dealt with informally without any court process and the Will is never recorded anywhere.

[rolt968]

19 minutes ago, Heid the Ba said:

The Will would only be recorded in the court books if it was founded on, which would only be if Confirmation was required.  If he didn't own any heritable estate (land, buildings etc.) it is unlikely his estate would be large enough to require Confirmation. Then, as now, many estates were dealt with informally without any court process and the Will is never recorded anywhere.

Thank you.

You put that much more clearly than I could/did. It's a few years since did wills. I tend to remember the practicalities rather than the detail!

RM