Pay during WW1

[snoopysue]

When a soldier was serving in a foreign theatre, would his pay have automatically been sent to his next of kin? My great grandfather served in Mesopotamia, he had a wife and six kids at home. I know he didn't like his wife to work, and I know that she later had to work without his knowledge just to make ends meet. They hadn't a large extended family living close by, so help was on hand, but I doubt that they would have had any excess cash.
How much would a soldier be paid? My gr grandfather was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers.

Thanks
Sue

[apowell]

Hi Sue,

A very good question and not very easy to answer- well for me anyway

I've looked at the net and some of my reference books and found some information that may give you an idea but I couldn't find a table of payment awards etc because I think it depended on many different circumstances eg. rank, length of service, good conduct, qualifications gained, and size of family. Also pay was forfieted for AWOL, prison confinements or other offences.

I think soldiers' would have to arrange payments to their families but on some soldiers service papers they included handwritten instructions for pay to be sent directly to their famlies and on my Great Grandfathers papers it's written one third of his wages to be sent to his wife and children. If soldiers were away at the front fighting then their wages would build up and in some cases on there return they would have a large amount of monies waiting.

On another forum I found this:
I came across a newspaper article in which it was stated that married soldiers received 7s. per week, and that their wives were entitled to an allowance of 12s. 6d (3s. 6d. extra if resident in London). Further allowances were available for children, according to number. I also read somewhere servicemen who had served at the Front received a bonus of £5 per year. If a soldier died then all monies due to him would be sent to his next of kin and a pension would then be paid based on his families circumstances.

If I remember Sue you mentioned that your relative became ill with malaria while serving so it's most likely he may have been awarded a war pension for a length of time of indefinitely depending on medical reports but sadly without his service records we will not be able to confirm this.

Regards
Adrian

[snoopysue]

Thanks Adrian

I hadn't even considered an allowance for his wife and family. So the family as a whole could recieve about 19 shillings a week.

I've checked the pension records, and have been unable to find anything convincing - there is a John Jeavons, but no mention of malaria, and the soldier in question was serving in Arras, so it doesn't seem like a match.
This is good background info, so thanks again.

[MarkCDodd]

Australian W1 records are undamaged and complete so I get to see lot more of the correspondence between the soldier, family and armed forces than I do int he British records.

Soldiers can be very specific on who gets what from their regular pay.

Some get regular amounts sent to several people and the left over is banked for the end of the war.

It appears to me the armed forces would make great efforts to fullfill the wishes of thier servicemen.