Amazing finds in an old trunk

Uncle died and I inherited a box and trunk full of my maternal Grandfather’s documents, Letter home from the front in 1915:

Really brings it home!

Excellent! Worth framing, surely…

Ace! I’d have that framed tomorrow.

We have one of my Grandfather’s WW1 medals which was smashed up in a WW2 bombing in London along with my Aunties house. There should have been three medals only the one was recovered. Irony.

That has to be framed! It rather brought a lump to my throat reading that.

Or maybe an alternative to a frame would be a solid block of Perspex like I’ve seen with some components and the like.

Edit : probably in bad taste…

Wow, almost 100 years old!

When you get it framed, make sure that whoever is doing it knows that the materials that they are using won’t harm the paper of fabric (acid free paper or whatever).

Amazing that is well worth framing. I am creating a blog after my father passed away I found a diary that he hid of his fathers that he obviously wanted me to find, but could not talk about to me directly

My Gramp was on the last military ship that was sank at the end of the Second World War, the diary includes news cuttings, photographs that he took (pictures of ship sinking he took from the life boat!) and letters as well as paperwork notes he took about his time at sea.

It covers his whole life at sea

Remember if you do frame it don’t keep it anywhere it’s going too be in bright daylight.

Hope you don’t mind me sharing a couple more we found – it was really dusty last night! Loved him to bits.

Letter from Brigadier General Taylor to his mum when they were overrun. He was captured and promptly escaped when being transferred between camps.

And this from the local paper which refers to his DCM mentioned in the letter above. Also has his eldest brother who al;so won a DCM arouind the same time.

Great stuff!

What amazing stuff to find. Great moustache too!

I was expecting a picture of a peanut with this…

That top one brought a tear to my eye. Those are priceless pieces of social history, and should be displayed and preserved. Thanks for sharing them 🙂

This is a brilliant way to start the morning. THanks for sharing

Priceless, get some high res scans done, shame to lose items like this, I think you can upload them to a National Image database too, might be something on BBC or IWM site. Thanks

I’d be tempted to donate them either to the regimental museum (from the newspaper cutting, Charles was in the West Yorkshire Regiment – the regimental museum is at Bankfield Hall in Halifax), or even to the Imperial War Museum. They may not end up on display, but at least they would be stored and conserved properly, and you would have access to them at any time.

I thought this was going to be about some threadbare Speedo’s

On a serious note: that’s absolutely amazing. What a find. We had something similar. When my great uncle passed away, we found all his flight manuals from when he flew in the Royal Flying Corp in 1918.

An awesome find … and incredibly humbling.

Stuff like this is priceless. We have a letter that my Grandfather sent to his brother a few days before the war ended, full of stuff along the lines of “we’ve got them on the run now” and “we’ll all be home again soon”. Was returned undelivered as he was killed in the last few days of fighting. Really sad.

Another story – my wife is German, her Grandfather had his arm blown off in the street fighting in Berlin at the end of WW2. He was captured by the Russians and was being marched back to Russia (with not much chance of survival to be honest) but a couple of others escaped and selflessly pretty much dragged him along with them. By the time he got back home his own Mother didn’t recognise him. We’ve got it pretty good these days, eh?

priceless

One thing that always strikes me regarding people of that era is the beauty and emotion they put into their writing. I’ve no idea what the general standard of literacy was – either way, women AND men seemed so much more capable of expressing themselves through words. Letters, stories, poems … whatever it was they chose, they could write with so much warmth and feeling.

Puts our generation of txt spk to55ers to shame.

Top one is beautiful. Got to do some spring cleaning round here…..

either way, women AND men seemed so much more capable of expressing themselves through words. Letters, stories, poems

To be fair, it’s probably only the good ones that get kept…

Quality stuff to be treasured.

Got a bunch of Medals ranging from The Boer War to WW2 from grand and great grand parents along with letters and pencil drawn pictures sent back from conflicts.

The most emotive being those from my grandad from the Orkneys, North Africa and Italy.

The senior Noteeths have a collection of letters & diaries from my grandfather & great-grandfather, including the latter’s account of Gallipoli, where he was serving with the Royal Engineers. My favourite diary entry is one that reads, simply:

“Under heavy fire all day. Made jam.”

The saddest item is probably a letter from my late great-uncle, brimming with excitement about coming home and getting married. Not long after the letter was written, he was killed during the Battle of Keren (East African Campaign). He was 27.

yes dusty indeed.

My G G Uncle Jim was unlucky to be on what was officially cannon fodder(ancient coal fired tub with a max 10 knots).
He was on HMS Aboukir when it was the first ship of WW1 to be sunk by a U boat. He managed to swim to another cruiser in the trio of ships in the patrol, but that too was sunk soon after. He managed to jump off that one and swam to the last boat. Yep, that got hit too and was sunk. I think he was saved by a Dutch trawler. This all happened in a hour. How the ‘F’ he felt after all that I didn’t get to find out and he didn’t get time to think about it as the next day he was out on another ship!

My G G Uncle Charlie was awarded a DCM too (RFC). The Victoria Cross for NCO’s. We don’t have his medal in the family. If the OP has his Uncle Charlie’s then that is indeed a family treasure.

Very humbling when you realise how they lived and died in the trenches ..
Matey and i had a week to kill in northern France before a bike race so decided to have a wander around the ww1 battlefields. We really didnt know what to expect but gradually realised what tremendous hardships and sacrifices were made. The huge cemetry at Tyn cott was heartbreaking but the most poigniant was when we saw a remote cemetry in the distance and decided to pull over and pay our respects. A short climb up a small hill took us to to a British cemetry atop a ridge with around 50 graves, all killed on the same day. Along the ridge, were similar small burial grounds, for as far as the eye could see – all a few hundred yards apart. There we were, modern waterproofs, freezing cold, thinking we had it rough and blubbing like schoolkids.

I defy any one not to be moved …

superb, thanks for taking the time to scan and share.

Found an old clay jar in my Dad’s garage this Christmas with a note from my Nana taped to it saying it should be given to me when I was 21 (19 years ago).

It explains that it’s my Great Great Great Grandfather’s grog pot that he used on a ship in the battle of Navarino in 1827.

Even better, it says that ‘he’s the one in the painting that used to hang in [another long lost relatives] house wearing his medal’ and my Dad has that in his house. Can’t wait to reunite them.

If the OP has his Uncle Charlie’s then that is indeed a family treasure.

I do indeed, and all his campaign medals.
Also, found an envelope filled with several letters from the public expressing admiration for his courage in diving off Blackpool Pier, 1937, into a stormy sea to rescue a Spaniel being repeatedly washed onto the stanchions of the pier. Alongside this are clippings of him being presented with an Animal Welfare medal, the medal, and a letter from the Chief Constable with a citation for bravery which resulted in his medal.

outstanding thanks for sharing.

Wonderful, thanks for posting.

I think you’ll be needing one of these;
http://www.whartonmilitaria.co.uk/details.php?section=britishbadges_infantry&item=BBI0011

Very nice too!

Oh, and VCs are for all any any rank and always have been.
edit; I was lucky enough to march with (and push one in his wheelchair) a bunch of David sterlings “originals” one remberance Sunday and had a few pints with some after. Humbling indeed.