Last Will and Testaments of British World War I Soldiers Available Online

Many British soldiers who served on the front lines of World War I carried with them a handwritten last will and testament.

Often the soldier’s will was kept in his paybook–a booklet that contained identity papers and notes on what the soldier was owed for his service.

Many paybooks and the wills inside them were lost in the chaos of war.

But it turns out that more than a quarter of a million of these wills have been stored by something called Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service.

They’ve been digitized and made available online.

For a fee, families can now see if a relative left a will behind, and, if so, be given access to it.