Pte. Francis VALENTINE - S/17195 1st Btn Gordon Highlanders Died 23/03/1918 - aged 19 Memorial ref (Bac-Du-Sud cemetery, Bailleulval) I.B.1.
I am employed by North Yorkshire Police. Amongst many of my jobs (!) I look after lost/found property. One day quite a while ago - some three years - a chap (known to me through my job. A likeable chap but an alcoholic for as long as I have known of him) handed in a bag of property found in a Harrogate street.
The items in this bag were a real treasure trove! Amongst other things, were assorted WW1 medals for two soldiers - one being Pte VALENTINE. There was also the note that the soldiers family would have received accompanying the medals. There was an assortment of coins, an old camera, binoculars, tin and tobacco from Princess Mary's 1914 Christmas Fund and other items. One of these items was a silver pocket watch from about 1885 - engraved Louis VALENTINE. From extensive enquiries I made, I believe Louis VALENTINE to be Pte VALENTINE's father (though he did also have a brother of that name aswell).
Whilst the items were in my possession I spent many hours, maybe days, without success, to find an owner/loser for them. Due to the amount of work I'd put in, I'd made it clear that the property should NOT be returned to the finder without me first speaking to the chap who handed the items in. My intention was to ask if we could hang on to them for a while. However, I don't know how (!), but this chap attended the station one day whilst I wasn't here and someone returned the goods to him. I was absolutely gutted, so much so that I do believe I shed a tear or two. This brave young man had died abroad, fighting for his country, his mother and father had lost a son, etc and now those memories of this man, I just knew, were going to be sold on for maximum strength cider.
To cut a very long story short, the items had been sold on for "cider money" for £300. I tried to persuade a manager up at HQ to part with £300 so we could take possession of the items but he was having none of it. I eventually managed to get the items back from the finder, who'd retrieved them from who he had sold them on to, buying them myself. (Though that was a story in itself!). Since then I have made many enquiries as to who they could belong to and how they came to be where they were.
About three years along the way I've discovered that Pte Valentines father had come to England, aged about 21, from Italy (where he was born). He was actually en route to America but stopped off in Liverpool. He met a lady, fell in love and settled in Leeds as an ice cream manufacturer, one of the very first I should think. I have, briefly, met one of Pte Valentines siblings' granddaughters.
Having discovered so much about this young boy, the mystery still remains though as to how all these items actually got from his relatives, to where they were found nearly 100 years later! Regardless of that though, I would be grateful for Pte Valentines name to be placed on a memorial! (I have now submitted this young man for inclusion on the Virtual Memorial as I have yet to find his name on any memorial.)
