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I've had a reply from my letter from a man who has done a lot of research into Herbert. He has phoned to say that two years ago he contacted one of Herbert's last living relatives, a lady whose mother was a Swann, She passed this information to her brother, none of them were interested. He will hopefully ring me back with her name and address or phone number.

Interestingly, he tells me that he is connected to the Western Front Association and some years ago was trying to do the same for another soldier buried at Countesthorpe.

I'll follow it up if he rings back, but unless the CWGC can persuade them it doesn't look very positive.

As this couple lived local to you it is possible that they would likely use solicitors from the local area. Maybe, one or both even had a family solicitor who had dealt with previous family matters. This might be found from records of earlier generations. A long shot. and a long haul, but could you trawl through solicitors' names from the time and make enquiries from them? I assume you only need the year and place so they might be willing to give you these.

I have relayed your message to our village newspaper The Herald, asking that they will publish the details. The village is ever assiduous in preserving the memory of our fallen servicemen so I hope to hear from them soon.

I've just tried to order a couple of Wills . I have to create an account and they won't accept my email address! Has anyone else had this problem?

The interesting thing here is that life policies were more usually on the breadwinner's life in favour of a wife who was more likely to be bereaved, often being younger and likely to live longer anyway.  Many tales have centred on a wife's policy paying out after only a few years ... 

Good point, Andrew. Don't forget the black widows cases though...