In 2010 Wallace's grandson John very kindly donated about 600 assorted documents which had belonged to his grandfather to the Wallace Family Archive at the Natural History Museum, London. Amongst them was a copy of ARW's will, which I have just finished creating a pdf version of. Since it makes quite interesting reading I have decided to put a copy of it on this Website - click HERE to download the 3.48 MB pdf file.
According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB) Wallace's wealth at the time of his death on 7th November 1913 was "£5823 0s. 6d.: probate, 24 Dec 1913, CGPLA Eng. & Wales"1. This amounts to about £250,738.38 (GBP) in today's money according to http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/default0.asp#mid It is interesting to contrast this with the wealth of his friend and colleague Charles Darwin. According again to the ODNB, Darwin's wealth when he died in 1882 was "£146,911 7s. 10d.: CGPLA Eng. & Wales, 1882"2, which equates to a whopping £7,097,270.41 (GBP) in today's money! Darwin's will can be seen here:- http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=YorkProbateSubRegistry&pageseq=1
References
1Charles H. Smith, âWallace, Alfred Russel (1823â1913)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com.bicorn.nhm.ac.uk:2048/view/article/36700, accessed 5 Dec 2011]
2Adrian Desmond, James Moore, Janet Browne, âDarwin, Charles Robert (1809â1882)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com.bicorn.nhm.ac.uk:2048/view/article/7176, accessed 5 Dec 2011]
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