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| Last wish of Ypres soldiers: I leave everything to mum | Last wish of Ypres soldiers: I leave everything to mum |
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| A game of noughts and crosses and a will leaving a collection of Sir Walter Scott books to his best friend and the rest of his possessions to his mother was all that was found of Philip Woollatt. | A game of noughts and crosses and a will leaving a collection of Sir Walter Scott books to his best friend and the rest of his possessions to his mother was all that was found of Philip Woollatt. |
| The first world war soldier’s pocket book – containing the informal will that all servicemen carried – was found furrowed by a bullet after a battle in July 1916 in which it is presumed the 21-year-old died. | The first world war soldier’s pocket book – containing the informal will that all servicemen carried – was found furrowed by a bullet after a battle in July 1916 in which it is presumed the 21-year-old died. |
| Wollatt’s final will and testament is one of 10 being released by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to coincide with the centenary of the first battle of Ypres. Ceremonies marking the anniversary of the battle and the flooding of the Yser plain at Nieuwpoort – key events that blocked the German advance and marked the start of almost four years of gruelling trench warfare – will be held in Belgium this week. | Wollatt’s final will and testament is one of 10 being released by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to coincide with the centenary of the first battle of Ypres. Ceremonies marking the anniversary of the battle and the flooding of the Yser plain at Nieuwpoort – key events that blocked the German advance and marked the start of almost four years of gruelling trench warfare – will be held in Belgium this week. |
| Mud-stained, dust-covered and disintegrating, the last wills and testaments of 278,000 soldiers who died on the battlefields of the first world war had been in danger of rotting away in government archives around the country. But now the originals have been brought together and are being preserved in a state-of-the art facility. | Mud-stained, dust-covered and disintegrating, the last wills and testaments of 278,000 soldiers who died on the battlefields of the first world war had been in danger of rotting away in government archives around the country. But now the originals have been brought together and are being preserved in a state-of-the art facility. |
| Copies have also been digitised and made available to the public online as part of a modernisation programme to mark the centenary of the start of the war. The wills, which were carried around by soldiers at all times, were key to ensuring that the soldiers’ estates were administered in accordance with their last wishes. | Copies have also been digitised and made available to the public online as part of a modernisation programme to mark the centenary of the start of the war. The wills, which were carried around by soldiers at all times, were key to ensuring that the soldiers’ estates were administered in accordance with their last wishes. |
| In a joint project between HMCTS and Iron Mountain – the company brought in to look after the documents – the wills of 10 soldiers who have grave-markers side by side in the Ypres town cemetery extension were opened and examined – and a telling similarity was found. They were all from different regiments and different parts of the UK and died in different places, at different times, but most of them left their worldly possessions to their mothers. | In a joint project between HMCTS and Iron Mountain – the company brought in to look after the documents – the wills of 10 soldiers who have grave-markers side by side in the Ypres town cemetery extension were opened and examined – and a telling similarity was found. They were all from different regiments and different parts of the UK and died in different places, at different times, but most of them left their worldly possessions to their mothers. |
| They included William Cowell, who died on 5 May 1918, eight months after arriving at the frontline. His hastily handwritten note bequeaths all his property and effects to his mother, as did those of frontline medic Joseph Wallis Shaw, 22, Cecil Christopher Iley, 28, of the Army Cyclist Corps, Sidney Lowe, age unknown, and Joseph Houghton, 28. The will of Horace Henry Cook, who died in August 1914, requests that all of his property be left to his girlfriend. | They included William Cowell, who died on 5 May 1918, eight months after arriving at the frontline. His hastily handwritten note bequeaths all his property and effects to his mother, as did those of frontline medic Joseph Wallis Shaw, 22, Cecil Christopher Iley, 28, of the Army Cyclist Corps, Sidney Lowe, age unknown, and Joseph Houghton, 28. The will of Horace Henry Cook, who died in August 1914, requests that all of his property be left to his girlfriend. |
| The will of Private Jacob Conroy, 28, was never found after he was killed on 25 September 1915. Witness statements made by his sister and brother to the War Office are recorded, explaining that when Private Conroy was home on compassionate leave he said he intended to leave everything to his sister, Elizabeth. | The will of Private Jacob Conroy, 28, was never found after he was killed on 25 September 1915. Witness statements made by his sister and brother to the War Office are recorded, explaining that when Private Conroy was home on compassionate leave he said he intended to leave everything to his sister, Elizabeth. |
| Ypres was the site of five major battles during the first world war because of its strategic position on the route to the coast. The area is still so littered with munitions that the Belgian army’s bomb disposal squad says it is called out about 3,000 times a year to defuse, unearth or simply collect live shells, grenades and other explosives. | Ypres was the site of five major battles during the first world war because of its strategic position on the route to the coast. The area is still so littered with munitions that the Belgian army’s bomb disposal squad says it is called out about 3,000 times a year to defuse, unearth or simply collect live shells, grenades and other explosives. |
| Britain’s courts minister, Shailesh Vara, said the archive was a “treasure trove” of documents. “In the year of the 100th anniversary of world war one, it is important to remember those who laid down their lives,” he said. “This will be an invaluable tool for historians, genealogists and anyone who wants to add detail to their family tree.” | Britain’s courts minister, Shailesh Vara, said the archive was a “treasure trove” of documents. “In the year of the 100th anniversary of world war one, it is important to remember those who laid down their lives,” he said. “This will be an invaluable tool for historians, genealogists and anyone who wants to add detail to their family tree.” |
| The soldiers’ wills form part of a huge archive of 41m wills now being preserved by Iron Mountain on behalf of HMCTS. Qadir Ahmed, data centre manager at the firm’s purpose-built storage centre in Birmingham, said it had now digitised soldiers’ wills going back to the Crimean war and from as recently as the Falklands conflict. “The key elements to preserving these documents are temperature and humidity. Our techniques are very sophisticated and we even filter the air coming into the facility.” | The soldiers’ wills form part of a huge archive of 41m wills now being preserved by Iron Mountain on behalf of HMCTS. Qadir Ahmed, data centre manager at the firm’s purpose-built storage centre in Birmingham, said it had now digitised soldiers’ wills going back to the Crimean war and from as recently as the Falklands conflict. “The key elements to preserving these documents are temperature and humidity. Our techniques are very sophisticated and we even filter the air coming into the facility.” |
| Although many of the documents had arrived in a poor state, he said, they now made up 8,000 cubic metres of scientifically protected history. | Although many of the documents had arrived in a poor state, he said, they now made up 8,000 cubic metres of scientifically protected history. |
| Scanned copies of wills held in the archive can be ordered from www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/searching-for-probate-recordsfor £10. |