Appeal to locate family of Derby WW1 hero’s medal

Military historian and author Paul Reed, who has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 and the History Channel about WW1, took on some extra research to help out.

From the name he was given, he said he found medal records of Pte Newbury, which helped him track down other vital information, such as where he was born and his family, from ancestry databases.

Reed told the BBC that Pte Newbury would have never have seen this medal as it was issued to his family after the war.

“Every soldier who served in that war in the British Army was awarded at least two medals – the one Joyce has, to call it its proper name, is the Inter-Allied Victory Medal.

“That was to commemorate the victory of the Great War that came about following the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

“They were given to all nations that were part of that victory, but the difference with the British ones is they’re all named to an individual soldier so that enables us to trace who they were.”