Book find sparks off history hunt
A BOOK wrapped in brown paper found in a cupboard in Milnrow has led to a detective hunt by three local researchers from Huddersfield.
The book, To Pay the Price, pictured right, by Silas K. Hocking was a present to a John William Beverley given to him by his cousins, Clara Bell and May Matthews on his twelfth birthday in December 1900.
Even more intriguing was a letter found inside the book from John William Beverley to his mother dated September 26, 1917, from the battlefields of France.
The discovery of the book and letter led to Oldham where John William Beverley was born on December 4, 1888.
A property repairer by trade he joined the 2/10th Manchester Regiment the Oldham Territorials at Whitsuntide 1915, and was sent to Egypt early in 1917.
He was later sent to France where he was wounded in the knee with shrapnel on April 5, 1918.
Transferred to the Lord Derby Hospital, Warrington, he died on May 13, 1918, aged 29 and was buried in Chadderton cemetery on May 24, 1918.
He left a wife and young son.
The finder would very much like to reunite the book and the letter with a relative of John William Beverley.
If you have any information please contact Oldham Local Studies and Archives, 84 Union Street, Oldham, OL1 1DN.
Telephone: 0161 770 4565. Email archives@ oldham.gov.uk.