The War to End All Wars

Wednesday November 5 2014

Jackie Macadam uncovers some of the final correspondence from soldiers who perished on the battlefields of the First World War.

It was scribbled on a small piece of paper tucked in to his backpack, carefully kept free of the mud from the trenches.

On it the young man stated that he wanted all his goods to be given to whichever of his friends wanted them.

His final letter is just one of the 26,000 from the First World War and around 5,000 from the Second of the last messages home and soldiers’ wills stored within the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The collection went online via Scotland’s People in May this year and provides an absolutely unique glimpse into the minds of young men in the trenches, waiting to go over the top in the morning.

Tristram Clarke and his team were involved in cataloguing the papers. He found it both touching and fascinating.

“The letters and wills come mainly from the pay books of soldiers, sometimes filled in before they left for war and sometimes just before they went over the top.

“Most are short, by necessity, because there is really only a postcard size page to write on, but some are even shorter.

“One will, from W B Grossart, a Private in the 9th Battalion Highland Light Infantry in 1916, is simply one line, written on the bottom of the last letter he got from his mother. In the letter she talks of sending him a box for his birthday tea and some sweets. She sent him some photographs too, and gave him some light family news.

“She ends by hoping that his next birthday will be spent at home with her.

“At the end of the letter, Private Grossart has added the sentence, ‘All that I am possessed of at the time of my death I leave to my mother,’ and dated it October 16 1916.

“Private Grossart died just under a month later on November 1. He never saw his mother again.

“Though it wasn’t a properly recorded will, the will was accepted as legitimate and his wishes carried out because the young man’s intentions were clear and because there are special allowances for soldiers’ wills when they’re facing death and can’t necessarily access witnesses properly.

“Almost all the wills in the collection are from the ‘other ranks’ as officers’ wills tended to be dealt with in a separate department.

“Many of the officers came from wealthier families and their wills tended to deal with larger estates and could be more complicated.

“Their wills are available in the normal civil records available online.

“The real beauty of these ordinary soldiers’ wills is that they are written in the soldier’s own hand. They’ve not been transcribed or printed out, so you can see the actual document that the soldier wrote.

“It gives you a real feeling of nearness and immediacy.”

The last wills and letters from the trenches are a sobering and heartbreaking look at the lives and last thoughts of the men who fought in the war that was supposed to end all wars.

They should never be forgotten.

This is an edited version of a feature from November's Life and Work. Subscribe here.