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Codicil to Engels’ Will  
26 July 1895

I, Friedrich Engels, of 41, Regent’s Park Road, London, formerly of 122, Regent’s Park Road, same place, declare this to be the first codicil which I add this day, 26 July 1895, to my will dated 29 July 1893. I revoke the legacy of £3000 made in my said will to my niece Mary Ellen Rosher, the wife of Percy White Rosher, and bequeath to her instead the sum of £2230; and I further bequeath to her the expectancy of the said Percy White Rosher to certain moneys, to the payment of which he is or was entitled in the event of the death of his parents under their marriage settlement – which expectancy I purchased from him for the sum of £240, costing me an additional £30 solicitor’s fees, together £270. I direct that all money payments made by me without consideration to Percy White Rosher, his wife Mary Ellen Rosher, Paul Lafargue, his wife Laura Lafargue, Doctor Edward Aveling, his wife Eleanor Marx, Eugen Oswald and Friedrich Leßner, or to any of them, shall be regarded as gifts to the respective persons, and I accordingly bequeath them to them. I bequeath to Doctor Ludwig Freyberger, of 41, Regent’s Park Road, London, in recognition and appreciation of the untiring care with which he has attended me for years as a physician, without ever accepting any payment, the sum of £80 for each full year elapsed from 1 July 1893 until my death; and further the sum of £50 for the portion, however small, of the year from 1 July prior to my death until the day of my death. But I make

3. Codicil to Engels’ Will – 26 July 1895

this legacy conditional upon his making no claim against me or my estate for his medical services. I authorize and direct my executors, before disposing of the letting of my house No. 41, Regent’s Park Road, on the housing market, to give the said Louise Freyberger, named in my will as Louise Kautsky, who is now the wife of the said Doctor Freyberger, the option to take over this lease upon condition that the rent be paid, the conditions stipulated in the lease be fulfilled, and my estate and the executors be secured against all claims of the landlord under the lease; the said decision shall be communicated in writing within one month after my death to one of my executors other than the said Louise Freyberger. Whereas in my said will I directed that all family letters written by or addressed to Karl Marx which at the time of my death are in my possession or under my control shall be delivered by my executors to Eleanor Marx-Aveling, I hereby revoke the said direction concerning the family letters and direct instead that all letters written by or addressed to the said Karl Marx (except my letters to him and his letters to me) which at the time of my death are in my possession or under my control shall be delivered by my executors to the said Eleanor Marx-Aveling as the legal personal representative of the said Karl Marx; and I further direct by this codicil that all letters in my possession at the time of my death from my relatives in Barmen and Engelskirchen, from Percy W. Rosher or his wife Ellen, from Paul Lafargue or his wife Laura, from Doctor Edward Aveling or his wife Eleanor Marx, from Doctor Ludwig Freyberger or his wife Louise, and from the Beust family in Zurich shall be returned by my executors to the respective letter writers. Accordingly, I hereby revoke the legacy contained in my said will in favour of August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein concerning “all letters (except the aforesaid family letters from Karl Marx)” and bequeath instead to the said August Bebel and Eduard Bernstein all letters (except those which this codicil directs to be delivered to Eleanor Marx-Aveling, and except those otherwise disposed of by this codicil). And subject to the foregoing, I confirm my said will. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this above-written day and year.

Friedrich Engels

Declared and signed by the above-named Friedrich Engels as a codicil to his will in the presence of us present at the same time, who in his presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses.

Ada Pearce, nurse, 41, Regent’s Park Road  
S. Nichols Nichols, cook, 41, Regent’s Park Road

Translated from the English.