TOPIC:

What a lucky man! Would it have been possible for him to buy himself out of the army while on active service? And did he survive the war?

WINDFALL FOR A BOLTON SOLDIER.
Private William Longworth, a Bolton soldier, at present serving with the 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers in South Africa, has just come in for a windfall of £20,000, through the death of an aunt at Astley Bridge, near Bolton. The estate consists of property, land, and shares. The windfall was quite unexpected, Longworth's aunt dying somewhat suddenly without a will.

(Lancashire Daily Post, 1 February 1902)

£20,000 in 1902 is equivalent to approximately £2,200,000 in 2016.

John William Longworth served in South Africa from the 23rd of October 1899 to the 4th of February 1902, he was a reservist and had been recalled on the 9th of October 1899, a Butcher, actually born in Bolton.