Where are Thomas Pollard's journal and John Grimshaw's medals?

[cimqag]

I have been researching Coldstream Guardsman Thomas Pollard, who fought in the Peninsular War (1809-14). He lived in Henry Street in Church until his death in December 1859. He was buried in St James' Churchyard in Church.

I recently managed to track down his nine-bar Military General Service Medal (one bar on the medal ribbon for each battle he was in) which was awarded to him in 1848 and saw it for the first time in December. It had been bought at auction in the 1970s. The medal has now been purchased by the Coldstream Guards Association for their collection.

Pollard also wrote a journal/memoirs. Extracts appeared in the Accrington Observer in 1941 when its then owner, also called Thomas Pollard (grandson of the above and headmaster of Church Kirk school) died at his home in Blackpool. Both medal and journal were together then and handed over to Church Urban District Council (now under Hyndburn District Council) but they became separated at some point and I have not been able to trace the journal’s whereabouts.

I tried the present local authorities, museums, local studies departments, county record office, The National Archives, National Army Museum, Guards Museum, Coldstream Guards Regimental HQ (all in London), medal collecting magazines, medal tracker in print and online.

I may be distantly related to Thomas Pollard's brother-in-law and Battle of Waterloo veteran, John Grimshaw. There is now a plaque installed at Immanuel Church in Oswaldtwistle where Grimshaw was buried in an unmarked grave. He too was awarded the Military General Service Medal (his had four bars) and the Waterloo Medal (1815). This was sold by Spinks medal dealers in 1973 but they do not keep records of buyers so far back. I have been unable to trace either of these medals.

Does anyone know the whereabouts of Thomas Pollard’s journal and John Grimshaw’s medals?

[Atarah]

Are you the lady who recently had an article in the local paper? You must have spent many hours in the Public Record Office, but ..... I firmly believe that in the bowels of the Record Office at Preston, will be tucked away your diaries. Unfortunately its just knowing WHERE to look for them i.e. knowing which index to look at. I have found that they have some amazing items tucked away, although it was only by a fluke that I located some of them. I even found they have some baby clothes from an Ashworth family from Clayton le Moors, from ... oooh, must be mid 1800's. It took me a long long time though to locate them. It depends which Council name they are filed under! Dont give up though!

[garinda]

If the grandson left them to Church Urban District Council, how did the medal end up in a commercial saleroom?

Though happily the medal seems to have a fitting home now, after the sale.

Good luck, I hope you find them.

[garinda]

Hmmmm, 'bought in the seventies'.

I bet a lot of treasures were 'lost', that were in the care of the Urban District Councils, after being donated for safe keeping, when they were amalgamated under Hyndburn B.C.

I wonder whose pocket the money went in from the sale of such items?

[Bob Dobson]

Ive just searched the county library index - no Pollard items there. Have a looksee at the County Record Office site. I have a mate who is keen on the Peninsular war so will ask him.A medal SHOULD be in the county museum's care, though, for instance, Towneley Hall and the Harris Museum, Preston are not run by them.

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Bob Dobson

Ive just searched the county library index - no Pollard items there. Have a looksee at the County Record Office site. I have a mate who is keen on the Peninsular war so will ask him.A medal SHOULD be in the county museum's care, though, for instance, Towneley Hall and the Harris Museum, Preston are not run by them.

The lady has already said she has been to the Record office at Preston.

I tried the present local authorities, museums, local studies departments, county record office, The National Archives, National Army Museum, Guards Museum, Coldstream Guards Regimental HQ (all in London), medal collecting magazines, medal tracker in print and online.

The Medals are now in the care of the Guards Museum.
I have already been in contact with the lady and when these dammed holidays are out of the way
I will be going to Fulwood and rooting thro the archives there.
My first thoughts were the same as Garinda, who aarf inched the medals when Church offices were shut back in 73.
What we need to know is what happened to the soldiers diary.
Military Medals and Badges should be in Military Museums, like at Fulwood, not some arf arsed museums like County, Blackburn or Townley, where an items existence depends on the whim of the curator, or some tin pot council.

Retlaw.

[cimqag]

Many thanks to everyone who has responded so quickly to my request for sightings of Thomas Pollard's journal and John Grimshaw's medals. I too had wondered what happened to Thomas Pollard's MGS medal between 1941 and the mid 1970s but now that it is safely with the Coldstream Guards, it doesn't really matter.

One curious thing was that, according to a medal expert, the ribbon on the MGS medal was the wrong ribbon and actually from a Waterloo medal which, I believe, is slightly wider. Who had changed the ribbons? When and why? Whose Waterloo medal did the ribbon come from? John Grimshaw's? Did his Waterloo medal end up with the Pollards after Grimshaw's death in 1851 rather than with his widow? (Answers on a postcard, please!) Doesn't really matter - I'm pretty sure we shall never know but it's intriguing!

I suspect that Thomas Pollard's journal was written in a notebook in the mid C19th , probably not very substantial and, at best, easy to have become hidden in a pile of papers and documents and remained there, or, at worst, thrown away and has long since rotted in a landfill site.

Over the many years of my research the County Record Office at Preston has been very helpful. I have visited on several occasions but because I cannot easily get there, a friend has also been in person to investigate as he knows someone who works there. Accrington Local Studies Department have pulled out all the stops for me for which I am very grateful. I suspect that the journal is either in private ownership (preferably with someone who reads this forum!) or has long since been destroyed.

I may put it on a back burner but I never give up!