Over the years, I have compiled a small but meaningful collection of Great War memorabilia and ephemera. I do not focus on one area such as medals or uniform items, but I do like to collect items with a named provenance.
This then enables me to carry out research to try and tell the story of the man who once owned the particular item that now belongs to me.
One such occurrence happened this week when I was successful with an auction bid for a collection of Trench Art, mostly brass shell cases, some fluted, but interestingly there were British, French and German shells in the lot.
The one that caught my eye, and the reason why I made a bid, was a British 18 pounder shell case that had been made into a trench art ‘gas’ gong, although it is most unlikely that it ever served as a gas warning gong in the trenches. The gong had a plaque attached which states ‘YPRES – Trooper N B Meek. November 1916.’
This souvenir initially posed a puzzle for me, as my first search did not throw up a surviving Medal Index Card for an ‘N B Meek’.
I obviously did not know the man’s Christian name, but the big help in this case was his description as a Trooper rather than a Private. I therefore, knew that I was looking for a cavalry man rather than an infantry man.
A further search narrowed it down to a Medal Index Card for a Nicholas Meek who served as 2231 Trooper in the Northumberland Hussars, a Yeomanry regiment from the north east. Arriving on the Western Front on 5th October 1914, Nicholas Meek was an Old Contemptible.
Sadly, he does not have a surviving Service Record, but I found his medal award on the regimental roll.
Knowing that I was looking for a chap from the North East of England, the 1911 Census return filled in the last piece of information when I found his family and discovered that the N B Meek on the plaque stood for Nicholas Brodie Meek.
In 1911, Nicholas was 16 years of age, living with his parents, John and Margaret and his five sisters, Hilda, Mary, Katherine, Isabel, Monica and Margaret. Nicholas is employed as a farmer’s apprentice, hence why he would be good working with horses and join the Yeomanry. Sadly, the census return also shows that a further three children had been born and died in infancy. Their home address was 58 Robinson Street, Sunderland.
I also noticed that the head of the family, John, was an Engineer’s Foreman, and yet the oldest daughter, Hilda, had filled in and signed the Census return, suggesting that writing was not John’s strong point perhaps?
The Nicholas Brodie Meek ‘gas’ gong will be on display on the Trench Lincs stand at Woodhall Spa show on 18th May.