Vimy medal, other memorabilia, found under English hedge
Police in Britain are trying to unravel the mystery of a how a valuable collection of Canadian war memorabilia — including a Military Cross awarded to a B.C. soldier in 1917 for "conspicuous gallantry" at the landmark Battle of Vimy Ridge — wound up tossed "under a hedge" in the north England city of Leeds.
The stunning find, which includes other significant military decorations, letters from the First World War and a number of vintage photographs, has prompted a public appeal from West Yorkshire Police in a bid to reunite the artifacts with their rightful owner in Britain or Canada.
The collection may have been dumped by a burglar who didn't realize the value of the items, police have speculated. But the clues contained in the box of treasures suggest they once belonged to relatives of Samuel Buttrey Birds, a Yorkshire-born Canadian soldier in the 1914-18 war who was also a notable architect in Vancouver.
"A significant portion of a family's history is contained in this box," police said in a statement. "Despite an exhaustive search of police systems and databases, officers have been unable to trace the owner."
Birds, born in England in 1871, emigrated to Canada in 1907 and was working as an architect in Vancouver in when the First World War broke out in 1914.
Birds, 43 when the war began, was old enough that one of his sons — Frederick Arthur Birds — would also see action overseas during the conflict.
Among the items discovered in Leeds was a medallion given to the Birds family when the younger man died in a plane crash at Malta.
There were also newspaper clippings recounting the wartime activities of various other members of the Birds clan, highlighted by those of Samuel Buttrey Birds.
Serving as a captain with the Vancouver-based Seaforth Highlanders, the 72nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, S.B. Birds earned his Military Cross in the battle that has been described as a coming-of-age moment for Canada.
For his courageous actions at Vimy Ridge, where Canadian troops captured a key stronghold in the French countryside on April 9, 1917, Birds was honoured for leading his company "with the greatest fearlessness to its objective under terrific artillery, machine gun, and rifle fire, and consolidated it," according to the official citation.
Birds' exploits at Vimy were also recorded in the regimental history of the 72nd Battalion: "No one who was there can forget, for instance, the wonderful work of Capt. S.B. Birds, who, with that uncanny coolness which was a source of wonder to all ranks, led his own Company at the start, and later directed affairs on the spot with a disregard of danger that seemed almost fatalistic."
The Military Cross found in the box of artifacts appears to be a miniaturized version used by recipients of the award for social events.
Birds was decorated again in 1917 for his battlefield leadership at Passchendaele, after which he was promoted to major.
Following the war, he returned to Vancouver and joined a prominent architectural firm that became Twizell, Birds & Twizell.
He is also believed to have worked for a time in California before his death in 1960.
Among the existing B.C. buildings that Birds designed are the Chalmers Presbyterian Church, a protected Vancouver heritage site, and a vintage set of tenement dwellings on Fisgard Street in Victoria.
Yorkshire police were inviting anyone with knowledge of the military artifacts to contact them via the website www.westyorkshire.police.uk
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Vimy+medal+other+memorabilia+found+under+English+hedge/3163114/story.html#ixzz0r3lrq6cV
Police in Britain are trying to unravel the mystery of a how a valuable collection of Canadian war memorabilia — including a Military Cross awarded to a B.C. soldier in 1917 for "conspicuous gallantry" at the landmark Battle of Vimy Ridge — wound up tossed "under a hedge" in the north England city of Leeds.
The stunning find, which includes other significant military decorations, letters from the First World War and a number of vintage photographs, has prompted a public appeal from West Yorkshire Police in a bid to reunite the artifacts with their rightful owner in Britain or Canada.
The collection may have been dumped by a burglar who didn't realize the value of the items, police have speculated. But the clues contained in the box of treasures suggest they once belonged to relatives of Samuel Buttrey Birds, a Yorkshire-born Canadian soldier in the 1914-18 war who was also a notable architect in Vancouver.
"A significant portion of a family's history is contained in this box," police said in a statement. "Despite an exhaustive search of police systems and databases, officers have been unable to trace the owner."
Birds, born in England in 1871, emigrated to Canada in 1907 and was working as an architect in Vancouver in when the First World War broke out in 1914.
Birds, 43 when the war began, was old enough that one of his sons — Frederick Arthur Birds — would also see action overseas during the conflict.
Among the items discovered in Leeds was a medallion given to the Birds family when the younger man died in a plane crash at Malta.
There were also newspaper clippings recounting the wartime activities of various other members of the Birds clan, highlighted by those of Samuel Buttrey Birds.
Serving as a captain with the Vancouver-based Seaforth Highlanders, the 72nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, S.B. Birds earned his Military Cross in the battle that has been described as a coming-of-age moment for Canada.
For his courageous actions at Vimy Ridge, where Canadian troops captured a key stronghold in the French countryside on April 9, 1917, Birds was honoured for leading his company "with the greatest fearlessness to its objective under terrific artillery, machine gun, and rifle fire, and consolidated it," according to the official citation.
Birds' exploits at Vimy were also recorded in the regimental history of the 72nd Battalion: "No one who was there can forget, for instance, the wonderful work of Capt. S.B. Birds, who, with that uncanny coolness which was a source of wonder to all ranks, led his own Company at the start, and later directed affairs on the spot with a disregard of danger that seemed almost fatalistic."
The Military Cross found in the box of artifacts appears to be a miniaturized version used by recipients of the award for social events.
Birds was decorated again in 1917 for his battlefield leadership at Passchendaele, after which he was promoted to major.
Following the war, he returned to Vancouver and joined a prominent architectural firm that became Twizell, Birds & Twizell.
He is also believed to have worked for a time in California before his death in 1960.
Among the existing B.C. buildings that Birds designed are the Chalmers Presbyterian Church, a protected Vancouver heritage site, and a vintage set of tenement dwellings on Fisgard Street in Victoria.
Yorkshire police were inviting anyone with knowledge of the military artifacts to contact them via the website www.westyorkshire.police.uk
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Vimy+medal+other+memorabilia+found+under+English+hedge/3163114/story.html#ixzz0r3lrq6cV
