Tracing WW2 police constables

If you have a family member who was part of the war effort during World War Two, then a discovery of long-lost medals could be of interest.

A historian is trying to track down relatives of volunteer Special Police Constables after 50 long service medals were discovered in a store room.

It is hoped they can finally be given to the families.

Richard Wilson has the full report below.

91-year-old Joyce Astley was reunited with her father's Special Constable long-service medal after reading about Mick Stothard's campaign in a local paper

John Boyd Elliott was a first world war veteran before becoming a special constable in the 2nd world war

Anyone who recognises a relative in the below list - and who would like to claim a medal - should contact Mick Stothard on 0191 371 0276.

• James F Allan
• James Arnott
• Stanley Barber
• Thomas H Barker
• Thomas E Belcher
• Christopher Brown
• John S Brown
• Thomas Calvert
• James L Childs
• Ian M Compton
• William L Cook
• Robert Craig
• Ernest T Cunnel
• Bernard A Falconer
• Robert S Foreman
• William G Foreman

• Reginals Forster
• Robert D Hall
• Thomas W Hardie
• Henry T Hardy
• Joseph W Hindmarsh
• Stephen M Holmes
• Robert ADC Hudson
• Thomas Jewitt
• John Y W Johnson
• Derreck L Kennerley
• Dudley H Kent
• Oliver V Lintern
• George Matthewson
• David Milligan
• William E Mitcell

• Archibald Moffett
• Albert W Moore
• James E Motion
• George W Pape
• William R Pape
• Norman T Pearson
• Stephen L Pearson
• Trevor B Phillips
• Harold E Plummer
• Joseph G Robinson
• Alfred C Sloane
• Frederick C Smith
• William E Toft
• James Tyson
• Albert Urquhart
• Douglas Wallace
• William Mck Wallace
• Frederick H Williams
• John R Wills

Northumbria Police and the North East Police History Society are trying to trace relatives of the owners of 50 World War II Special Constable long service medals.

They are thought to belong to First World War veterans who served as Special Constable in the Second World War.

They were passed on to the history society by Northumbria Police after staff found them in storage.

Mick Stothard is helps run the history society. He has already found homes for two of the medals, reuniting them with two daughters of the WWII Special Constables, aged 92 and 82.

Mick said: "Many of these men, if not all of them probably served with the North East and Border regiments in the First World War and were Special Constables in the Second World War."

Mick's grandfather had seven medals, the last being the Special Constable long service medal.

He says he would love to return the newly found medals "to the proud families."

The history society have polished up the and attached them to a ribbon and pin.

They are all engraved and in their original boxes.

Northumbria Police and historians are trying to trace relatives of the owners of fifty World War Two medals.

They were given to war veterans, who served as Special Constables.

The medals were found in storage by police staff.