A SET of First World War medals has been reunited with their owner’s ancestors thanks to an Oxford Mail appeal.

Earlier this month 80-year-old Michael Quirke said he wanted to find the family of the soldier who received the medals he bought in the early 1990s.

Now, they have been handed over to Brian Stepney, who said they belonged to his grandfather William Arthur Schooley, of the Royal Artillery.

He came forward after his wife, Dorothy, read the appeal and realised details inscribed on the medal’s rim corresponded with his grandfather’s.

Mr Stepney, 79, of Botley, said he now wanted the medals to become treasured family heirlooms.

The antique dealer said: “I will make sure we have a family get-together to make sure there is a responsible person who ensures they are passed down through the family.”

The grandfather-of-three said he did not know how the medals came to be sold but now wanted to find out more about his grandfather’s role in the Great War.

He said: “I have learned an enormous amount about my family and as you get older it has become more important to me.”

Before the medals were handed over, Mr Stepney showed Mr Quirke documents to prove his family’s link to William Arthur Schooley.

These included the birth certificate of his mother, Elsie Louise Schooley, his parent’s marriage certificate, which named his mother’s father as William Schooley, and his own birth certificate.

Oxford Mail:

  • Mr Quirke making his appeal

Mr Quirke, a retired steel firm owner, of Oxford’s Townsend Square, said: “I’m more than pleased, I’m delighted. It’s amazing how newspapers can be criticised for a lot of things, but they do an awful lot of good.”

He bought the medals for £8 from a bazaar at Cowley Road Methodist Church about 20 years ago.

The father-of-two said he was inspired to take up the challenge by news of the Great War’s centenary and his own father’s Great War experiences.

His father, John, served in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Somme.

The decorations, kept in a Skipper Brand British Navy Cut tobacco tin, are the Victory Medal, the British War Medal and the Silver War Badge.

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