HC Deb 27 November 1934 vol 295 cc654-5
22. Mrs. COPELAND

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether he is aware that Mrs. Whybrow, the sexagenarian widow of Captain and Quartermaster F. Whybrow, an ex-ranker officer, formerly of the Border Regiment, is entirely destitute and relying on her only child, a daughter, for food and lodging; and whether he will reconsider this case with a view to the same pension being granted to Mrs. Whybrow as would have been the case had her husband been given the same status as the ordinary holder of a permanent commission?

Mr. HACKING

Pensions in respect of length of service are provided only for the widows of Regular officers and substantive warrant officers Class I. Captain Whybrow did not fulfil either of these conditions, and I am afraid that his case cannot be treated exceptionally.

Mrs. COPELAND

Could not a point be stretched and something be done for this widow of a man who served in the Great War?

Mr. HACKING

All that I would say Is that this lady, much as I deplore her present position, is treated under exactly the same regulations as every other widow of a temporary officer who joined up during the War.