Mystery of war medals dug up in Smethwick garden
Roger Aston was only expecting to find some vegetables when he went digging in his garden.
But the avid gardener instead unearthed an insight into the life of a First World War soldier after coming across two medals.
And the discovery of the British and German Great War medals in the dirt below his Smethwick greenhouse in Hales Lane sparked an interest in the retired property maintenance man that encouraged him to dig a little deeper into their history.
He discovered that the British campaign medal had belonged to Private Francis Hubball, of the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment.
Using genealogy websites and his local library he began patching together a brief history of Private Hubball and discovered that he died in Flanders in Belgium on October 26, 1917 – almost 96 years to the day before the medals were discovered.
He revealed that Private Hubball was born in around 1884 and had worked as a Cycle Polisher in Smethwick. He married his wife Agnes in 1907 and went on to have four Children,
Frances, Harold, Annie and Frank. The family all lived together at 157 Dibble Road where his wife Agnes remained until 1969.
"The main problem you get is the spelling of names. His last name has also been spelt Hubble in some documents which make it difficult to track his relatives," said the 64-year-old. "I would love to be able to give the medals back to members of his family before next year's centenary."
Mr Aston said he had no idea who the German medal belonged to or how the medals got to the property in Hales Lane in the first place. One theory could be that there were lost by children who were playing with them after the war, but before Mr Aston's house was built in 1939.
If you think you may know members of Francis Hubball's family, contact Roger via email at roger_aston@bt internet.co.uk
