Dundee and The Great War of 1914-1919

The Soldiers' Wills 1857-1966 Project in the National Archives of Scotland

The special series of soldiers' wills in the National Archives of Scotland forms a remarkable record of the sacrifice of Scots who served in the ranks during the period 1857-1966. It is especially rich for the First World War, containing about 26,000 wills out of the total of about 130,000 men of other ranks who fell. When considering the Battle of Loos it is appropriate to describe the soldiers' wills, because about 1,200 documents can be linked to the men who fell in late September 1915. Unsurprisingly, given the scale of the losses, the wills form the earliest sizeable group of documents within the series. So difficult was it for the authorities to be certain when exactly many men perished in the battle, that many dates of death were noted inexactly, for example as 25-28 September 1915. This paper outlines what the wills series contains and the cataloguing project to make them available for use.

The records form part of the archive of H M Commissary Office, Edinburgh, the official place for recording testaments of persons dying in Lothian and the Borders, and furth of Scotland, until its absorption into Edinburgh Sheriff Court in the late twentieth century. Together with the wills recorded in the sheriff courts, the Commissary Office records (ref. SC70) form one of the most popular resources in the MAS. The soldiers' wills form a hitherto unknown and neglected addition to this rich seam of documents. They consist mostly of wills sent to Edinburgh by the War Office once it had completed out its work of settling a dead soldiers' estate. Very few wills were subsequently recorded as part of the 'confirmation' procedure by which an executor was authorised to deal with an estate, hence the obscurity in which they were long kept.

The vast majority are single sheets taken from the soldier's pay book or service book, and most men followed the brief wording of the example printed there: 'In the event of my death I give the whole of my property and effects to ..." These original documents are written and signed by the soldier, which lends them an immediacy lacking in the recorded wills. Other personal touches are the names and addresses of the beneficiary, who was usually one or both of the parents, and less often a brother, sisters or other relation. Some men bequeathed favourite possessions, for example the veteran soldier Lance Corporal William Wood, of the 5th Battalion Highland Light Infantry, who mentions his souvenirs from his service during the Boer War, as well as his 'smokes cabinet', to be left to his son when he reached fourteen. The wills could be unwitnessed, and were often written before the soldier went abroad.

Because the pay books and service books were used for useful or necessary information, sometimes pasted to the back of a will various documents can be found: records of weapons or gas training, inoculations, eye examinations, the kit lists checked off before the soldier embarked for overseas, and a French vocabulary to help the soldier ask locals for creature comforts, or just the whereabouts of the enemy (or the English). More personal documents can sometimes be found: fragments of the poems or songs popular in the trenches, a prayer for victory over the Germans and over sin, and even a suicide note.

In order to try to prevent wills being lost in the field, the War Office devised other types of forms which were retained in army record offices. One type was popular with the Scots Guards, with the result that the regiment has a higher proportion of its dead

represented among the wills than all others. The wills come in many shapes and sizes beside the standard forms; the smallest is the simple will inscribed on the back of a snapshot of a group of soldiers, who presumably include the dead man, T N Walker of the KOSB, who was killed in action in 1918. The largest was written by Japanese Army clerks in 1943, and bears the fingerprints of the witnesses and officials who authenticated the last wishes of a prisoner of war.

British soldiers, in common with other soldiers over the ages, enjoyed the legal privilege of making a valid will orally while on active service, for example declaring dying wishes in the field. In one instance a stretcher bearer gave testimony on behalf of a soldier who died of his wounds on the Western Front. In another touching case, a mother recorded an interview with her dying son in a Cambridge hospital. The War Office relied on declarations by witnesses in establishing the existence of what were termed nuncupative wills. They treated in the same way cases where a will was missing but known to have been written, so these cases include testimony from family members, friends or comrades.

The War Office often went to lengths to obtain evidence. If no written will existed they requested evidence from soldiers' letters which mentioned their wishes for the future. This has ensured the survival of a small but rich seam of letters from men on active service in all theatres of the war, which testify to their courage and good humour. They took care not to alarm their families with descriptions which were too candid, and concern for their families' welfare is very evident from references to the arrears of pay and dependants' pension to which they would be entitled. Although the letters add little to the large number of extant letters from the trenches preserved in various archives and libraries, they are remarkable documents which possess special value in the context of the wills.

As part of the NAS's aim to improve preservation to the records in our care and access to them, the Court & Legal Records Branch undertook a project to catalogue the wills, for which there was no adequate finding aid. In partnership with the Scottish National War Memorial Trust we developed a database of all the soldiers' wills, based on the Rolls of Honour. The resultant catalogue was launched in November as part of the NAS's online electronic catalogue. At the same time the database was also made public in the search rooms. It enables more structured searches, and links directly to the digital images which have been created of some First World War wills, and all 4,750 wills from the Second World War. Unfortunately the fragile state of the wills has meant that the original documents cannot be produced to readers. Fortunately anyone wishing to see one can request the creation of digital images to see in the search rooms. Further details of this service are available on the NAS website: www.nas.qov.uk.

Iain D. McIntosh, 2022