On 1 Sep at 15:58, Charlie <plink.2RoyTubb@spamgourmet.com> wrote: > On Sun, 1 Sep 2013 15:13:10 +0100, Gordon wrote: > > > I too ordered a will which came in a couple of days. My soldier too > > only wrote a couple of lines leaving all to his mother. This does > > not surprise me as most youngsters would not have owned much in > > those days and only married (and/or older) men would have possibly > > made more detailed wills. > > My soldier had married my Aunt Mabel in September 1914. At about the > same time he voluteered for the 13th Battalion of the Essex regiment > (West Ham).. His will was made out and signed on 9th November 1915 and > he left everything to his mother, not his young (19 year old) wjfe. > This strikes me as odd, but I know from other information in the will > that it's the right man, What do others make of that? He would have > had precious little to bequeeth. > > Sadly he died of wounds in the base hospital at Etaples in May 1917. > Just another tragic loss and a family shattered like so many millions > of others....... So presumably he knew what he was doing when he signed that will. But was he literate? I wonder what was going on when he signed his will? Had an instruction been issued from General HQ? Were the sergeants telling the soldiers what to do? Were they sufficiently shell-shocked to do what they were told regardless? Then these words in that will are a classic. I'm sure I've heard of a case that went to court because the soldier had merely written "Everything to Mother". Who was mother? Was she his biological mother? Or was she his wife, who was generally known as Mother? Was his wife pregnant and already thus a mother? -- Tim Powys-Lybbe tim@powys.org for a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org/