First World War medal found in Waterlooville garden reunited with Royal Navy medic’s grandson

Mark Williams, 71, discovered the 1914-15 British Empire Star medal while scanning the back garden of his Waterlooville home with his metal detector. Inscribed with the name G Waters, Mark enlisted the help of Southsea genealogist, Clare Ash, to try and piece together the mystery of how the medal ended up beneath his suburban garden.

Speaking at the time Mark said: ‘I was obviously surprised to see the medal but I recognised straight away what it was. I knew it was a good find as it had the name of G Waters on the back which would hopefully allow me to find out who it belonged to.’

With Clare’s help, Mark discovered the medal belonged to a William George Waters who was born in Portsea in 1879 and lived at 82 Westfield Road in Southsea.

William joined the navy in 1899 and after the onset of the Great War he served aboard HMS Birmingham, Carlisle and Iron Duke. William was posted to the North Sea where he saw active service during the infamous Battle of Jutland which saw more than 6,000 allied servicemen perish and during which his vessel was the ‘first to sink a German submarine’.

However the big mystery remained as to how Mark could return the medal to William’s family.

Further research revealed William’s great-granddaughter, a Mrs Brenda K Theobold who was believed to be living in Denmead, may be able to unlock the mystery of how the medal ended up in Mark’s garden.

Mark said: ‘We traced back that Brenda used to live in my house which would explain how it may have ended up in my back garden. However after attempts to contact Brenda and her children Scott and Zoe we got no response.’

However William had also been traced to another descendant, a Brian Bowley Nicolson, who at the age 81 was the former Royal Navy chief medic’s grandson.

Mark added: ‘As William’s direct grandson and closest living relative both myself and Clare agreed he had the greatest claim on the medal.’

Mark managed to get in touch with his step-daughter Claire Redsull and reunite the medal with William’s family more than 100 years after it was awarded.

With Brian unable to comment due to ongoing health issues, Claire said: ‘When I told him about the medal his eyes just shone. He’s so proud of his grandfather and sends a huge thank you.’

SEE ALSO: Mystery of Portsmouth death penny solved as Somme hero’s legacy is returned to city

Brian now has the medal presented in a display box at his Kent home.

Claire added: ‘When I gave him the medal he had the biggest smile and just sat looking at it.

‘He did manage to tell me that William had lied about his age and was in fact about 12 years old when he first went into service. If you look at the service record, it does state 12 years old but has been lined through and changed to 18 years old.’

After seeing the photograph of Brian with the medal, Mark said: ‘It’s absolutely brilliant that this medal has been returned to William’s grandson. Whenever you find a personal item it’s great to get it back to where it belongs.

‘It has been a really interesting journey for me to find out about William and the associated history which surrounds the return of troops from places such as the Somme to the field hospitals set up in Gosport and Waterlooville.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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