Appeal to find war hero’s family as his medals are discovered in secret desk compartment
An appeal to find the descendants of a ‘Battle of Balaklava’ war hero has been launched after the soldier’s medals were found in a secret drawer where they had lain hidden for 150 years
Pensioner David Grant from Brixham, Devon, was restoring an antique desk in his loft when he discovered the trove belonging to Armourer Serjeant Edward Webb, who fought in one of the most celebrated episodes of bravery ever recorded on the battlefield.
Serjeant Webb was among a twodeep line of around 500 infantry from the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment, who stood firm against a force of around 2,500 Russian cavalrymen during the Crimean War (1853-56) in an episode immortalised by historians as ‘the thin red line incident’.
His medals were hidden behind a panel in a Victorian writing slope activated by a spring mechanism concealed in a crack in the wood grain, which Mr Grant discovered while brushing away cobwebs. Serjeant Webb’s photo was found along with the medals, a lock of hair and a watch fob presented to him on leaving the army.
Staff at Baldwin & Sons auctioneers on The Strand in London put out an appeal to trace Serjeant Webb’s descendants ahead of the medals going under the hammer on 15 September (when they sold for £3,800), and hope that someone looking at his photo might see a resemblance.
Serjeant Webb later returned to civilian life after completing more than 30 years’ service. A watch fob also found in the drawer is engraved ‘To Armor Sergt E. Webb From The
Sergts XCI PLH June 9th 1874’ which is understood to have been the date of his leaving. It is believed that his widow later placed his personal effects in the secret drawer for safekeeping before her family later sold it.
The writing slope was eventually acquired by David Grant’s Londonbased grandmother who gifted it to him as a schoolboy. Records which might have helped trace Webb’s descendants were destroyed in a fire which swept through the National Archives in Kew in 2014.
If you have information on Serjeant Webb’s family, or what happened to him after he left the army, you can contact Baldwin & Sons via their website: www.baldwin.co.uk/contact