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First World War hospital pictures may help trace mystery soldier

Historians are hoping that photographs of troops being treated in a village hospital during the First World War will help them trace the relatives of a soldier killed during the Battle of the Somme.
The photographs were unearthed when after locals in Shepreth, Cambridgeshire, started searching for the family of Private Edward Wolstencroft, who was treated at the hospital in 1915.
Roy Chamberlain, from Foxton, Cambridgeshire, whose grandmother Mary was a nurse at the hospital, came forward with the photographs in the hope they might help identify the soldier and his family.
The search for Private Wolstencroft began shortly before Christmas after workmen fixing floorboards at Shepreth village hall found a postcard written to the soldier in April 1915 hidden behind wooden wall panels.
Locals want to return the card, which appears to have been written by a woman named "Nellie", to the soldier's family. On the card "Nellie" wrote, "Dear Teddy, Don't think I have forgotten you letter following hoping you are quite all right love from Nellie."
It is thought that the card slipped behind panels after being propped on a shelf.


Data shows that Private Wolstencroft, who came from Edmonton, Middlesex, died at the age of 26 on July 7 1916 – a week after British troops launched their ill-fated Somme attack on German lines.
Records show that he is remembered on the war memorial dedicated to missing First World War soldiers at Thiepval in the Picardie region of France.
Mr Chamberlain, 90, whose father also died in the Battle of the Somme, made contact with villagers in Shepreth after reading about the postcard in the hope his grandmother's photographs might help them trace the Private Wolstencroft's family.
Injured servicemen are seen with nurses in Shepreth village hall, which was used as a military hospital between 1915 and 1919.
Three photographs show injured soldiers in and out of bed with nurses standing by. Cards can be seen sitting on a wooden shelf and one picture shows a soldier in bed near the spot where the postcard was found.
"They're fantastic pictures – but sadly we don't know when they were taken," said village hall booking clerk Louise Barrell.
"We've seen pictures of soldiers and nurses outside the hall but no one can remember seeing photographs taken inside during the First World War.
"Could it possibly be that one of the soldiers pictured is Private Wolstencroft? If anyone recognises anyone in the pictures or knows anything about when they were taken we'd love to hear from them.

Foto's en (c) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/britainatwar/8224757/First-World-War-hospital-pictures-may-help-trace-mystery-soldier.html
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[Yvonne]

Wat er aan vooraf ging:


First World War postcard discovered
(UKPA) – Dec 13, 2010
Villagers have told how a postcard sent to a First World War soldier being treated in hospital nearly a century ago was found by workmen fixing a village hall floor.
They said the card had been hidden behind wooden wall panels at the 100-year-old hall, which was used as a military hospital during the Great War, in Shepreth, Cambridgeshire.
It appears to have been written by a woman named Nellie to "Drum. E C Wolstencroft" of the 3rd Royal Fusiliers at the "Auxiliary Hospital near Royston, Herts" and sent in April 1915.
Locals say searches of military records show that Private (Drummer) Edward Coulton Wolstencroft, of the Royal Fusiliers, came from Edmonton, Middlesex, and died on July 7, 1916 - probably during the Battle of the Somme - when he was in his mid 20s.
Records show that he is remembered on the war memorial dedicated to missing First World War soldiers at Thiepval in the Picardie region of France. The name "Drummer Wolstencroft" can also be found on a village list of soldiers treated at the hospital in Shepreth, which is near Royston.
Villagers have left "virtual flowers" for Private Wolstencroft on a Thiepval Memorial website and they hope to trace relatives of the soldier and are urging anyone with information about him or "Nellie" to get in touch.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission records show that Private Wolstencroft - Service Number L/13456 - was 26 and serving with the 9th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers when he died a week after British troops launched their ill-fated Somme attack against German lines.
Census records show that Private Wolstencroft was the second of 12 children. Records also show that he was the son of Edward Coulton Wolstencroft and Annie Wolstencroft, of 40 Gordon Road, Lower Edmonton, Middlesex.
Mr Wolstencroft was a seaman born in Hulme, Manchester, in 1868, who married Annie Copper, born in Hoxton, Middlesex, in 1872, at Bethnal Green, east London, in 1888.
The postcard, which is marked "printed in Germany", shows a picture of a man, who appears to be a sailor, flanked by two women. Nellie writes: "Dear Teddy, Don't think I have forgotten you letter following hopeing you are quite alright love from Nellie."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i_nzf0sWfFBFkaydmazdEJsaolXw?docId=N0129681292294871753A
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http://www.forumeerstewereldoorlog.nl/viewtopic.php?t=25027
Lost war postcard back with family
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