List of British military and naval figures by wealth at death
List of British military and naval figures by wealth at death
Based on figures from probated wills, usually available within a few months of death. Please note that due to inflation, earlier amounts are worth a lot more. It is difficult to convert amounts directly, but one scale put 1,000 pounds in 1914 at 14,000 pounds in 1980. Some of the figures had inherited wealth, whether from land like Lord Lovat and Lord Lucan or from business, like Earl Haig. Bernard Law Montgomery made a lot of money from his memoirs as did Lord Alanbrooke, to a lesser extent.
Active in Victorian and Edwardian times
Person |
Estate value in pounds |
Year of probate |
Inflation-adjusted estate value in pounds in 2004 |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain |
91,370 |
1902 |
6,427,000 |
General in India |
Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts |
77,304 |
1914 |
4,806,000 |
Field Marshall in Afghanistan and South Africa |
Frederick Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford |
68,304 |
1905 |
4,752,000 |
Commander in Zulu War |
George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan |
59,918 |
1890 |
4,271,000 |
Commanded cavalry in Crimean war |
Sir Redvers Henry Buller |
34,992 |
1908 |
2,367,000 |
Army, Second Boer War |
Lord Charles Beresford |
13,122 |
1919 |
391,000 |
Naval commander |
Sir Alfred Gaselee |
12,444 |
1918 |
393,000 |
General, especially Boxer Rebellion |
Sir George Callaghan |
11,990 |
1921 |
344,000 |
Naval commander just prior to World War One |
Sir Evelyn Wood |
11,196 |
1920 |
291,000 |
Army, especially Africa |
Sir William Butler |
9,031 |
1910 |
597,000 |
Army, India |
Charles George Gordon |
2,315 |
1886 |
163,000 |
General in China, killed at Khartoum |
Sir Bindon Blood |
1,785 |
1940 |
63,000 |
Army, especially Northwest Frontier Province of India |
Active during World War I
Person |
Estate value in pounds |
Year of probate |
Inflation-adjusted estate value in pounds in 2004 |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sir Ian Hamilton |
98,055 |
1947 |
2,489,000 |
Gallipoli From a Scottish family with means |
Philip Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode |
36,690 |
1950 |
819,000 |
Cavalry general, especially in Palestine, later C in C india |
Walter Cowan |
33,604 |
1956 |
547,000 |
Admiral, especially Baltic in 1919 |
Sir John de Robeck |
32,763 |
1929 |
1,290,000 |
Commander of naval forces during Battle of Gallipoli |
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby |
30,249 |
1936 |
1,331,000 |
Army commander in Palestine |
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres |
25,161 |
1925 |
930,000 |
Commander in France, 1914-5 |
John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher |
23,808 |
1920 |
620,000 |
First Sea Lord in early part of war after Prince Louis of Battenberg |
Ernle Chatfield, 1st Baron Chatfield |
20,988 |
1968 |
237,000 |
Naval staff officer; First Sea Lord between wars |
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig |
17,599 |
1928 |
687,000 |
C in C France |
John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe |
13,370 |
1936 |
588,000 |
Commanded Fleet at Jutland |
Sir Reginald BaCon |
10,816 |
1947 |
275,000 |
Navy, commanded Dover Patrol |
Sir Horace Hood |
7,681 |
1916 |
337,000 |
Admiral killed at Jutland |
Sir Robert Arbuthnot |
4,885 |
1916 |
215,000 |
Admiral killed at Jutland |
Sir Sackville Carden |
2,829 |
1930 |
116,000 |
Admiral in Mediterranean and at Dardanelles |
William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood |
2,085 |
1951 |
43,000 |
Commanded ANZAC forces at Gallipoli] and in France |
Sir Frederick Stanley Maude |
1,441 |
1918 |
45,000 |
Commander in Mesopotamia (died of cholera) |
Sir Christopher Craddock |
1,055 |
1915 |
55,000 |
Admiral killed at the Battle of Coronel |
Sir Charles Vere Ferrers Townshend |
119 |
1924 |
4,000 |
Surrendered to the Turks at Kut |
Active during World War II
Person |
Estate value in pounds |
Year of probate |
Inflation-adjusted estate value in pounds in 2004 |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat |
1,917,999 |
1995 |
2,402,000 |
Commando leader |
Sir Brian Horrocks |
230,865 |
1985 |
456,000 |
Tank commander in North Africa and North West Europe |
Sir John Glubb Pasha |
205,843 |
1986 |
393,000 |
Commanded Arab Legion (1939-1956) Action in Iraq and Syria |
Bruce Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape |
178,022 |
1981 |
444,000 |
Admiral, especially Battle of the North Cape |
Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein |
159,983 |
1976 |
750,000 |
8th Army in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy |
Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis |
144,926 |
1969 |
1,553,000 |
Burma, Mediterranean, Italy |
Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax |
105,102 |
1968 |
1,187,000 |
Admiral, diplomatic mission to USSR in 1939 |
Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford |
85,438 |
1971 |
787,000 |
RAF Head |
Sir Alan Cunningham |
57,835 |
1983 |
127,000 |
Commanded in Ethiopia and Western Desert |
Sir Claude Auchinleck |
54,624 |
1981 |
136,000 |
Norway, Western Desert, Commander-in-Chief in India |
Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke |
50,580 |
1963 |
689,000 |
Chief of the Imperial General Staff |
Sir Hastings Ismay |
49,612 |
1966 |
601,000 |
Churchill's military advisor |
Sir Arthur Harris |
40,000 |
1984 |
84,000 |
Head of Bomber Command |
Sir Bernard Freyberg |
34,620 |
1963 |
472,000 |
New Zealand commander in Battle of Crete |
William Sholto Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas of Kirtleside |
34,138 |
1970 |
344,000 |
RAF senior commander |
Sir Hugh Dowding |
22,038 |
1970 |
222,000 |
Head of Fighter Command during Battle of Britain |
Sir John Dill |
21,384 |
1945 |
598,000 |
Chief of Imperial General Staff |
Sir Bertram Ramsay |
17,228 |
1945 |
482,000 |
Admiral, especially Evacuation of Dunkirk and D Day |
Sir Andrew Cunningham |
15,310 |
1963 |
209,000 |
Commander in Chief in Mediterranean |
William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim |
12,249 |
1971 |
113,000 |
General in Burma |
Sir Keith Park |
9,946 |
1976 |
47,000 |
Commanded fighters over London during the Battle of Britain |
Sir Adrian Carton De Wiart |
7,654 |
1964 |
101,000 |
General in Norway; head of missions to Poland, Yugoslavia and China |
William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork |
7,381 |
1967 |
87,000 |
Naval commander at Narvik |
Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside |
4,577 |
1959 |
69,000 |
Chief of the Imperial General Staff at ourset of War |
Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory |
2,862 |
1944 |
82,000 |
Senior RAF commander |
See also
- List of British politicians by wealth at death
References
- Dictionary of National Biography