A Strange Will.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 279, 24 November 1931, Page 8

A Strange Will.

UNUSUAL COMMENT was in the will of Mr F. Stokes, of Hartington, who left £46 053. He bequeathed £25 to the United Methodist Free Church, New Basford, “ with my thanks that a hot-headed teacher in the Sunday School kicked me—literally—out of school Some fifty years ago, my crime being that I was talking to another boy, with the consequence (small thanks to him) that instead of being taught by him I set to work and studied hard on my Sundays, and thereby probably laid the foundations for such success as I had in life.” He left £2OOO to Nottingham University, but bv a codicil he revoked the gift, saying:—“My reason is that the increases in taxes and duties have now got to such a pitch in this country that there will be little left of my savings if I do what I would like to do in the w*ay of legacies. Further, my fifty years’ experience of the university 4 product ’ makes it doubtful to me whether, except in special cases, the training is any good for this work-a-day world.”