Accrington Web - View Single Post - Where are Thomas Pollard's journal and John Grimshaw's medals?

cimqag · 30-12-2009, 10:15

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!

30-12-2009, 10:15	#7
cimqag Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 2 Liked: 0 times Rep Power: 0	Re: Where are Thomas Pollard's journal and John Grimshaw's medals? 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!