“My uncle was the second of four generations of Army officers in our family. His loyalty to the British Armed Forces was lifelong and unwavering.”
As the Executor for his uncle Dennis’s Will, Matthew Stone was not at all surprised to learn that Dennis had left a generous donation of £10,000 to the Army Benevolent Fund (ABF). A former soldier himself, Dennis Stone had supported the charity for 19 years raising over £600 for the ABF.
“Dennis was one of four consecutive generations of Army officers in our family,” explained Matthew “My grandfather served in the Cheshire Regiment from 1914 to 1922 and fought at Gallipoli. My father served in the Royal Army Service Corps and the Royal Norfolk Regiment during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Matthew continued: “I served in the Queen’s Own Hussars and then the Royal Yeomanry from 1985 until 2001, and now my niece – Dennis’s great-niece – has just become an Army doctor in the newly formed Royal Army Medical Services. My grandfather was commissioned in November 1914 and my niece in November 2024: almost exactly 110 years after her great-grandfather.”
Dennis was one of four children and Matthew’s father was his elder brother. Matthew said: “The family lived in Manchester, where my grandfather was the chief executive of a local business following his own Army service.”
While he was aware of his grandfather’s military service, Matthew has only recently discovered that his grandfather had fought in the Gallipoli campaign during World War 1. “I wanted to refurbish his 1914 infantry pattern sword and present it to my niece when she passed out of Sandhurst recently,” Matthew explained. “So I went through my grandfather’s papers and I discovered the information, along with his medals.
“I don’t think my grandfather spoke very much about that period of his life, but his bravery and dedication to the Army clearly shone through, as uncle Dennis and my father both felt inspired to follow in his footsteps.”
Dennis completed his National Service in the Cheshire Regiment during the 1950s, in the immediate post-Second World War era.
“When he left the Army, he qualified as a chartered accountant and ended up as the senior finance director at one of the biggest clothing manufacturers in the UK,” said Matthew. “For most of his married life he lived in Roxburghshire in Scotland, but moved further south after his wife fell ill, to Oakham in Rutland. Eventually, after my aunt died, Dennis had a health scare himself. So, he moved to Bishop’s Waltham, in the South Downs National Park, to be closer to his family.”
“Fostering a sense of community was so important to my uncle. Even though he only lived in Bishop’s Waltham for 15 years, he soon became an integral part of the local society. He joined the church choir almost immediately after he arrived!”
“Uncle Dennis was guided in life by my grandparents’ strong morals, and by his own religious values. He was a lifelong Christian and was an integral part of the church community in every place he lived.”
“He had been the church treasurer in Oakham, and a church warden in Roxburghshire before that,” explained Matthew. “So, being an active part of church groups was clearly very important to him.”
Along with his generous donation to the ABF, Dennis also left gifts to other causes he cared about, including Bishop’s Waltham Parish Church and the Benevolent Society of Chartered Accountants, which supports accountants through hard times. “He was involved in all of these organisations quite significantly, and he wanted to ensure they could continue doing important charitable work,” explained Matthew.
“With such a strong and enduring connection to the Army, our family cares passionately about providing the right support to soldiers and their families who are in need. I’m delighted that my uncle left a gift in his Will to the ABF, and as the Executor it was a great pleasure to transfer the funds myself.”
“Every penny and every person count. Even the smallest donation can make a huge difference to a soldier or veteran in need,” said Matthew. “Furthermore, donations made to registered charities are exempt from inheritance tax, in that the value of the gift is deducted before calculating the taxable estate.
This potentially reduces the overall liability of inheritance tax, which means leaving a gift in your Will is a very efficient way to make a charitable donation. So, I would encourage anyone to think about leaving a gift to a cause they care deeply about, just as my uncle has done.”