TREASURES OF THE TIME CAPSULE
We reveal the remarkable stories behind the mementos Daily Express readers gave to be buried in the War Horse Memorial
AWONDERFUL treasure trove of First World War artefacts will be buried in a time capsule beneath the national War Horse Memorial at Ascot, Berkshire, next summer, thanks to the generosity of Daily Express readers.
The mementos include medals, coins, horse brasses, photographs and a soldier’s paybook.
After a blessing at the Garrison Church, Windsor – spiritual home of the Household Cavalry – they will be placed in a brass shellcase that was discovered on the Somme battlefield and then stored for posterity in the stone plinth on which the 8ft 6in-tall bronze horse will stand.
Many of the items have fascinating family stories behind them which readers have been proud to share. Here is a selection…
AN ‘OLD CONTEMPTIBLE’
No soldiers had a greater love for the brave war horses than the farriers whose job was to look after the animals’ wellbeing and make sure they were fit enough for duty.
So the medals won by Farrier Staff Sergeant Joseph Creighton are particularly poignant.
Born in County Down, Northern Ireland, he was a professional soldier who had joined the Royal Field Artillery aged 16 in 1903 as a shoesmith – becoming one of the seasoned warriors that men who enlisted in 1914 called affectionately the “Old Contemptibles”.
He arrived in France within a month of war breaking out and one of his medals is the Mons Star. A brass clasp on the ribbon denotes that he served under fire during the Battle of Mons, the first major conflict of the war.
His grandson Richard Gardner, from Epsom, Surrey, said: “My grandfather lived until he was 96 but in all that time he never mentioned the war. We know that one of his jobs was to put down badly injured horses so that must have left an indelible mark on him.”
Sgt Creighton’s medals were put in a frame years ago and kept by one of Mr Gardner’s cousins in California. The Daily Express articles on the War Horse Memorial prompted Mr Gardner to ask where the medals were and he was told by his cousin’s son “they’re somewhere in the garage, I think”.
The four medals are in almost mint condition, even after the best part of 100 years, and they are typical of the ones awarded to millions of men who served in the conflict.
The 1914 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal became known as Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, the name of three characters in a popular newspaper cartoon strip.
Sgt Creighton’s fourth medal, with George V on the front and fixed to a maroon ribbon, is the Army long service and good conduct medal.
KEEPSAKES UNDER THE BED
Like many family heirlooms, Bombardier Walter Smythe Mills’ medals were put in a safe place but then, inevitably, forgotten about. “They were under the bed for at least 15 years,” said John Rank, who has donated the medals.
He was the executor of a family will and the medals belonged to his wife’s aunt’s husband’s father, who served in the Royal Field Artillery.
Bombardier Mills died aged 30 in July 1918 – less than six months before the war ended – and is buried in Ste. Marie Cemetery in Le Havre, northern France. His medals are the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
He was also commemorated with a memorial plaque known as a Dead Man’s Penny. More than 1.5 million were produced in honour of those who died – each inscribed with their name. Because the plaque is more than four inches wide it sadly won’t fit into the time capsule. “When my wife read about the War Horse Memorial it brought tears to her eyes,” said Mr Rank, from Dartford in Kent.
“It reminded her of her father, who was an artillery horse driver during the war. He never spoke of anything that happened to him during his years at the front but we know he was with the horses at Passchendaele, Ypres, the Somme and in the Dardanelles, so we guessed he must have witnessed horrific sights.”
BATTLEFIELD WHISTLE
One of the most haunting sounds from the conflict was the whistle blown to signal men to go “over the top” of the trenches to fight. Philip Ashford has donated a whistle that belonged to his grandfather, Walter Ashford, a sergeant in the Heavy Machine Gun Corps.
He was later promoted in the field to Lieutenant after the Corps was turned into the Tank Corps (later the Royal Tank Regiment) and the whistle would have been attached by a lanyard to his Sam Browne belt. Mr Ashford, of Kessingland, Suffolk,said there is little doubt the whistle would have sent many men to their deaths.
ANTIQUES FAIR TREASURE
When Jennifer Forrest saw a horse brass engraved with the name Dobbin in a £20 box of assorted items at an antiques fair she fell in love with it. “It had clearly been lovingly made by a soldier because the spelling of European isn’t right,” said Mrs Forrest of Kinghorn in Fife, Scotland. “Dobbin was a universal name for farm horses in those days, so maybe the soldier who cared for the horse was a country boy.” The brass has been hanging next to Mrs Forrest’s calendar at home for many years but when she read about the time capsule she thought it would be the perfect place for it.
TOMMIES’ PENNIES
Express reader and coin collector Jim Miller treasured his pennies dated from 1914 to 1918, because he knew there was a good chance the coins had jingled in the pockets of Tommies in the trenches.
So when he read about the War Horse time capsule he knew that was where his pennies should be buried.
Jim, of Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk, said: “You can see guns and tanks in museums but holding these coins in your hand really brings home to you that this war was all about people.
“It was also about the terrible suffering of millions of animals and they deserve to be remembered too.”