14 November 1894

To the executors named in my will.

1. The following lines are additions to and explanations of my will. They merely express my wishes and are in no way to be legally binding upon my executors. On the contrary, wherever it should prove that they contradict the legal meaning of my will, they are to be disregarded.

2. It is my express wish that my body be cremated and my ashes committed to the sea at the earliest opportunity.

3. I wish that immediately after my death a copy of my will be sent to my brother Hermann Engels, Barmen, or, in the event of his death, to Hermann Engels junior, Engelskirchen near Cologne.

4. If at the time of my death Sam Moore is not in England and cannot immediately act as executor, Bernstein and Louise will have to act without him. In that event, and even if Sam Moore should be somewhere in England but not in London, I recommend that they make a copy of my will for their personal use and hand over the original to Crosse and Sons, solicitors, 7, Lancaster Place, Strand, so that they may have it proved and give my executors legal assistance. The latter will immediately have to attend to the following points:

a) To ascertain from Messrs Crosse what steps they must take in order to obtain, as quickly as possible, full control of my balance at the Union Bank of London Limited, Regent Street branch, and the right to dispose of such parts of my capital investments as may have to be sold to cover current expenses.

b) To determine the value of my estate. My furniture, books, etc. will have to be valued. Messrs Crosse will see to this. The value of my investments in securities, shares, etc. at the time of my death can be calculated from the official stock exchange list for securities and shares, with which my brokers, Messrs Clayton & Aston, 4, Tokenhouse Buildings, Tokenhouse Yard, E.C., will provide my executors.

c) As Messrs Crosse will explain to my executors, the various pecuniary legacies ordered in my will are not to be paid out at their full nominal value but are subject to the deduction of the proportion of the estate duty falling upon each of them.

5. In my books will be found recorded various sums of money which I have paid over the course of a whole series of years to Laura and Paul Lafargue, Percy and Ellen Rosher, Edward and Eleanor Marx-Aveling. I expressly wish it to be stated that these sums are not loans owing to me but, on the contrary, were and always have been gifts from me. They are therefore in no wise to be reclaimed.

6. As part of the payment of the legacy I have left to Ellen Rosher, my executors are to employ the reversionary interest in certain sums payable to Percy Rosher after the death of his father and mother—which reversionary interest I purchased from the said Percy Rosher. I wish Ellen Rosher to be credited with the amount I expended, namely, £250 which I paid to Percy Rosher, and £30 in solicitors’ fees which this transaction cost, in all £280.

7. I wish to supplement my will with the following particulars concerning the disposal of the papers I leave behind, namely:

a) All papers in the handwriting of Karl Marx, with the exception of his letters to me, as well as all letters addressed to him, with the exception of my letters to him, are to be returned to Eleanor Marx-Aveling as the legal representative of the heirs of Karl Marx.

b) All letters written to me by Percy and Ellen Rosher, Laura and Paul Lafargue, Edward and Eleanor Marx-Aveling or by my relatives in Barmen and Engelskirchen or by the Beust family in Zurich are to be returned to the writers of the letters.

That is, I believe, all I have to say.

London, 14 November 1894
Friedrich Engels

P.S. It is understood that the honorarium or royalties paid by Swan Sonnenschein for “Capital” and for my “Condition of the Working Class” are to be paid as heretofore—for the former, to the heirs of Marx and the translators (¼ to Laura, ¼ to Tussy, ¼ to Jenny’s children, ⅛ to Sam Moore, ⅛ to Ed. Aveling) and for the latter wholly to Florence Kelley.

From the English.