DW took a methodical approach to his impending death.
As early as 1971, he produced an extraordinary twenty three page Will.
Being as ever a staunch believer in re-incarnation, in the Will he made provision for a party to be held on the first anniversary of his death, to which all the persons named in his Will and their partners were to be invited, where they could drink the following toast :
‘To Dennis, wherever he may now be; with the hope that in his next life he will enjoy similar health happiness and good fortune as he was blessed with in his last, and that in our future lives we shall meet and become friends with him again’
He also made provision to give the best part of a hundred people – relatives and friends from the various circles through which he had moved – individual, and sometimes quirky, mementos of his life.
To Johnny Bevan he left his bronze dancing faun, which had sat on the conference table in the London Controlling Section during World War II, and to Dudley Clark he left a pair of soap-stone Chinese Immortals from his desk.
To the Duke of Richmond, who had been in his Officers’ Induction in World War II he left his (strictly against regulations) blue leather covered swordstick-swaggerstick.
Others were to receive more humorous fare – ‘The Most Noble the Marquis of Donegall’, through whom he ended up living in Cadogan Square, received among other items ‘my rolled gold fountain pen that lights up’.
DW was however practical as ever. In the final passages of the Will he added ‘It is possible that owing to accident illness living to an advanced old age or the hazards of these uncertain times I may have found it necessary to part with a number of the items above-mentioned as bequests and my estate be greatly reduced by the time of my death. Therefore I direct that within three months of my death my Will shall be printed and copies thereof sent to every person named in it so that those relatives and friends all of whom have contributed so much to the happiness of my life may at least know that had my prosperity continued they would have received some token of my affection for them’
In the event, the Will was superseded by a much simpler Will.
References : Phil Baker p 584
Provenance : Private collection
