South Yorkshire Times April 28, 1939

Did any Mexborough man – a member of the working men’s club and Institute – lose a wallet in the trenches during the Allied advance of 1918? If so, he can recover his property by calling at the “Times” office. In the wallet is a faded photograph – 2 feet for reproduction – taken at a hospital behind the lines, and one of the four soldiers on it will be the owner.

The faces of all will be recognisable. Here are the facts. During the British advance of 1918 a bandsman found a wallet in the trenches. Stamped on it were the words, Mexborough working men’s club, near Rotherham,(It was probably intended to carry a Clubcard) and in it was a photograph showing three wounded privates and one officer, lying in deckchairs covered with winter coats. Behind the groups to the young nurse.

The wallet was picked up by bandsmen H. J. Ward, now of Barrow-on-Humber, who was then in the 13th east Yorkshire regiment. He has made several attempts to find the owner, and when the Mexborough military band on Saturday gave a concert for the band with which he is now connected he brought the wallet and photograph along. Mr Fred Jackson and his co-bandsmen could not recognise a soldier but undertook to identify him if they could.

Bandsmen H. J. Ward thinks it might help if we give his own regimental associations, since it is probable that the unknown was in the same part of the line. In February, 1918, bandsman Ward was in the 2/7 Dukes West Riding regiment, 62nd division, and in June he went to the 24 K.O.Y.L.I 62nd division, and he was serving here when he found the wallet.