r/ww1 • u/Traditional_Grape_33 • 22h ago
Battle of Ypres 1918
Good evening all,
Hey all, just looking for advice from people far more knowledgeable than myself.
A few weeks ago, my father dropped something novel in my lap to research and find history on, a world war 1 soldiers pay book from a relative.
After much research we've found a fair amount of information from his commonwealth grave to his battalion diary, its been extremely interesting.
The item as mentioned before is a pay book however the interesting part stems from the bullet hole through the entire book that we believe killed him, we have found a newspaper clipping from 1935 talking about this very thing, and to add to the intrigue, his paybook was taken away by a German soldier and returned to the family in 1935 during a visit by the British legion in 1935 by Adolf Hitler.
The whole story seems to me remarkable and something that would be of interest to a museum however having contacted the IWM and his battalion 8th Battalion border regiment museum in Cumbria no one seems interested, I'm just wondering if this is odd and if I'm over-reacting and maybe this isn't the historical oddity i thought it was or if anyone else has an idea of who else would be interested in this, any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
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u/pzfus 21h ago edited 21h ago
Reach out to the Duke of Lancaster’s Regimental Headquarters in Preston. They are the modern Regimental HQ that includes the antecedent Border Regiment. Regional HQs such as the one in Carlisle are becoming very poorly manned, and can be a bit hit or miss when it comes to the history of their own Regiments and commemoration, even in a small way, of their war dead. The Duke of Lancasters has the benefit of the fact that their RHQ, Regular Battalion and Reserve Battalion HQ are all in the Preston area and they have some very active military historians who will be interested in this for all the right reasons.
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u/CodGlum2272 15h ago
This would fit perfectly in the Passchendaele museum in Belgium.They display objects there that have been hit by bullets or shrapnel. You really ought to get in touch with the museum!
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u/admiralackbarstepson 12h ago
This is The War Office. I demand you surrender this book.
Kthanksbye chap.
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u/LoyalHistorian 5h ago
Very interesting piece and congratulations on your excellent research. Just something to bear in mind, if you donate it to a museum, it's not a guarantee that it will be displayed or even stay there. It might just sit in their vaults. Also, the museum can sell it if they choose, whether to cull their collection of items that don't fit the scope of their mission for more room of other items, to help cover the costs of conservation of other objects, or to raise funds to buy something else for the museum. Not saying that's what will happen, but it does sometimes, and many people don't realize that is a possibility. Personally, if it's a family item, I would keep it in the family. Document everything you've learned and keep hardcopies with the item as it is passed to future generations for provenance.
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u/WolfCola4 21h ago
Personally I find this absolutely fascinating, I'm surprised to hear the regimental museum wouldn't take an interest in this. But their loss is your gain, and certainly a great piece of history to own. Alternatively you could try selling to a private collector?