If I had pots of money I would spend time on ebay buying up all the dead man s pennies there are on there. I always think it s sad to see them up for sale, no family member left to cherish them? Nobody in the family interested in keeping them ? I suppose it could be tempting because they appear to be fetching quite a lot now that the centenary is here.

I could never sell or get rid of my great uncle s though, just as I would never be able to part with the telegram from the King -the first news the family would have received about the death- nor the war office eneloppe it had come in and never the three statutory medals.

The Dead Man s penny or Widow s penny as it was known was a 12-centimetre disk made out of bronze it has the image of Britannia with an oak spray with leaves and acorns,an imperial lion, two dolphins that represent Britain’s sea power,the emblem of Germany’s eagle being torn to pieces by another lion,the deceased s name is cast into the plaque,the words, ‘He died for freedom and honour’