war widows pensions

[Liverbird]

Hello to everyone who may possibly be able to help. I have just received courtesy of our lovely Katy copies of pension details for one of our relatives who was killed in World War One and the pension paid to his wife and children but some one else on the forum may be able to throw some light on my particular questions.
He was killed in action in September 1915 and she was awarded on May 3rd 1916 a pension of 28/6d for her and her seven children, this equates to under £1.50 in the present day but what the value would be now I have no idea. What price a life?

In 1919 she appears again to be awarded a pension of 26/8d for herself, 10 shillings for the first child, 7/6d for the second child, 6 shillings each for the next 4 children and I am presuming by now the eldest child did not count as he possibly was able to work.

We know from family stories how hard this lady worked to support her family and we know also that she applied for help from the Earl Haigh fund but it did not materialise again according to family stories, but from the documents we have now I can see she did receive a sum of £12 which came from the Royal Patriotic Fund, 17 Waterloo Rd, London s.w, the amount was sent to a Mrs Jardine of Hunter St, Liverpool. my question is who was Mrs Jardine was she an agent for this fund what was her role? and did this fund take the place of the Haigh fund?

There is also a document from the Town Hall Committee for widows and dependents who awarded her £9.10s with the names included Miss Mc Cann and M.Ford. this rang bells for me as Mc Cann is a family name for me and I am wondering was any of my family involved in helping people out in these circumstances. I have heard of the Forget me not fund could this be it.

What please is a Ring paper which she was asked to return
What please is a separation order

So many queries but hopefully someone may be able to throw a light on some of them, sure makes you think when we are in the weekend of Remembrance of what we all owe to these men and their families, bless them all.

Thanks to any one who reads this and can help, L.B

[Bertieone]

Mrs Jardine, Royal Patriotic Fund.

http://www.merseysiderollofhonour.co.uk ... war/64.htm

Separation Allowance
http://www.merseysiderollofhonour.co.uk ... war/65.htm

Ring Paper, form of Pensions Book,

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/writ ... -committee

[MaryA]

Well done Bert, I think you have produced the answer to all the queries.

Pitiful amount of pensions awarded, I agree with you, they had a hard time, not all of them were able to remarry to help things out.

[Hilary]

out of interest I google average weekly wage 1919 and came up with this. It was from Hansard

HC Deb 30 July 1925 vol 187 cc671-3W 671W

§ Sir W. de FRECE asked the Minister of Labour whether, taking the 12 chief industries of the country, including transport, he will state the average


I.—RATES OF WAGES OK TYPICAL CLASSES OF TIME-WORKERS IN CERTAIN INDUSTRIES.
Industry. Rates of Wages at—
July, 1914. June, 1920. July, 1925.
Building (40 large Towns)*: Per Week. Per Week. Per Week.
Bricklayers 40s. 7d. 97s. 8d. 73s. 6d.
Painters 36s. 3d. 95s. 2d. 73s. 0d.
Labourers 26s. 11d. 84s. 8d. 55s. 7d
Engineering (16 of the principal Districts)*:
Fitters and Turners 38s. 11d. 89s. 5d. 56s. 6d.
Labourers 22s. l0d. 70s. 8d. 40s. 2d.
Shipbuilding (9 of the principal Districts)*:
Shipwrights† 41s. 4d. 9ls. 3d. 55s. 7d.
Ship Joiners† 40s. 0d. 102s. 4d. 57s. 9d.
Labourers 22s. l0d. 70s. 6d. 38s. 5d.
Railway Service:
Engine Drivers‡ 45s. to 50s.§ 84s. to 102s. 72s. to 90s.
Ticket Collectors 23s. to 27s.§ 66s. 6d. to 74s. 54s. to 58s.
Goods Porters 19s. to 23s.§ 62s. to 68s. 6d. 47s. to 51s.
Dock Labour (10 of the principal Ports): Per Day. Per Day. Per Day.
Ordinary cargo workers 4s. 6d. to 6s. 8d. 15s. to 17s 6d. 11s. to 13s. 6d.
Shipping (Foreign-going Vessels)║: Per Month. Per Month. Per Month.
Able Seamen £5 to £5 10s. £14 10s. £10
Firemen £5 10s. to £6 £15 £10 10s.
Road Transport*: Per Week. Per Week. Per Week.
Tram Drivers (50 of the principal Districts). 30s. 7d. 73s. 3d. 59s 2d.
One-horse Carters (12 large Towns) 25s. 7d. 65s. 53s. 2d.
Printing (27 large Towns)*:
Hand Compositors and Machine Minders on Book and Jobbing Work. 35s. 8d. 88s. 73s. 9d.
Bookbinders and Machine Rulers 33s. 11d. 87s. 6d. 73s. 4d.
Agriculture (England and Wales):
Ordinary Labourers 14s. to 22s.§ 42s. to 46s. 6d. 28s. to 42s.
* The rates quoted are the unweighted averages of

[Liverbird]

Hi there and huge thanks for the input to all, so much information to digest. Looking through papers we have we can see that on the 8th November the family had official news of his death, and by the 13th November word had come that pay would continue for a little while then came a breakdown of what was paid to him.
Allotment from 14th Nov 1914 to Sept 25th 1915 = 316 days @ 6d a day then shows his pay to when he died
Nov 1914 £0.5.0 shillings
Dec 1914 18.0 shillings
Jan 1915 13.6d
Feb 1915 15.10 and a halfpenny
March 1915 £1.2.6d
April 1915 £1.5.6d
May 1915 £2.2.6d
June 1915 £1.13.7 and a halfpenny
July 1915 15.9d
August, Sept 1915 £1.5.11 and a halfpenny

out of these figures pay was forfeited by 4 days @ a 1/- shilling a day = 4.0
I have to ask myself why when he was paid 6d a day


and here is the "killer" sentence at the bottom of these accounts
National Health insurance 1/6d. I always thought health insurance came in later after the war.

It's no wonder so many widows were left having to seek out help where they could, the letter concerning Mrs Jardine came in Dec 1915, this lady must have been working overtime in trying to deal with everyone and things could only have got worse. What a different story with the news this week that all war widows can keep their pensions, they have certainly fought hard for recognition.

once again many thanks, it all adds to our account of how the family coped cheers L.B