Magnet fishers discover World War One victory medal

Scroll down for Video

A victory medal dating to World War One has been discovered in a safe by local magnet fishers.

Scott Bryant, of Castleton, found the safe earlier this year when magnet fishing on the Rochdale canal near Queensway with his friend, Marc Brownbill. 

When victory medals were issued, they had the soldier’s first initial and surname, unit and service number stamped on the edge.

 

 

In addition to the medal, the safe also contained a coin commemorating the Queen's Silver Jubilee, ring holders, a token depicting 50 years of Chaddertn British Aerospace and a 100-year coin box which would have held a set of Canadian coins.

Scott said: “I’m looking to trace the family. Marc helped me pull up the safe and has found some information out about the solider. I let him take the lead in doing the research as he is ex-military.

“We would love to try and find the soldier’s family.”

Marc added: “The medal we found was a World War One victory medal awarded for campaign during 1914 and 1919. The only information we had was the name T. Moores, the regimental number T4/088288, it had ‘DVR’ and ‘A.S.C’ at the end.”

Marc’s research led him to discover that the medal’s recipient was Thomas Moores, territorial army and was in the army service corps, involved in transporting horses.

However, Marc and Scott have struggled to find out more about Thomas due to a lack of birthdate, a lack of knowing where he was from, and because a number of service records were lost in a fire after the war.

A medal index card is believed to be the only surviving document relating to Thomas.

 

 

Marc also discovered that Thomas Moores spent some time in hospital for fever in November 1918, and was transferred to another hospital. He also found there is a possibility that Thomas served in Alexandria and Beirut.

Scott took up the hobby of magnet fishing in late 2018, after his stepson introduced him to the activity.

His hobby previously enabled him to reunite a recovered safe with its owner after it was stolen in an armed robbery in Whitworth over 10 years ago, as well as returning jewellery and sentimental items to a Halifax family just months after they were stolen.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/126141/safe-fished-out-of-rochdale-canal-reunited-with-owner-a-decade-after-being-stolen-in-armed-robbery
   
• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/129314/jewellery-found-in-rochdale-canal-reunited-with-owner-months-after-being-stolen

If you have information which can help reunite the medal with Thomas Moore’s family, or any further information about Thomas, please contact the Rochdale Online Newsdesk:

news@rochdaleonline.co.uk