Provision for Wives and Families of Soldiers.

This article was published in the Eastbourne Gazette on 9th September 1914. At the beginning of the war there was confusion about the exact allowances given to families, as men joined up. The Gazette published the figures as an encouragement and reassurance for men to enlist.

Provision for Wives and Families of Soldiers

There is a general feeling that the exact provision for wives and families of soldiers should be widely known:

Separation allowance –
for wife, 7s. 7d.;
wife and one child, 8s. 9d.;
wife and two children, 9s. 11d.;
wife and three children, 11s. 1d.;
wife and four children, 12s. 3d.

Compulsory allotment from soldiers pay (on going abroad). –
for wife, 3s. 6d.;
wife and one child, 4s. 1d.;
wife and two children, 4s. 8d.;
wife and three children, 5s. 3d.;
wife and four children, 5s. 3d.

If there is no other source of income the Soldiers and Sailors Families Association allows. –
for wife, 1s. 5d.;
wife and one child, 1s. 8d.;
wife and two children, 1s. 11d.;
wife and three children, 2s. 2d.;
wife and four children, 2s. 6d.

Making a total weekly income of. –
for wife, 12s. 6d.;
wife and one child, 14s. 6d.;
wife and two children, 16s. 6d.;
wife and three children, 18s. 6d.;
wife and four children, 20s.

When the rent is more than 5s. a week, an additional grant may be made by the Soldiers and Sailors Families Association