Harwich Maritime Museum has rediscovered the medals of two ex-servicemen in its collection which it wants to use in a new exhibition.
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Curator John Goodchild said: âWe donât know the provenance. Probably people died, and they were clearing out attics and the medals ended up with us at one stage.
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âWe want to display the medals and tell people what they are about, why they got the medals, and why they were in Harwich.”
William Walter Jordan Hards was born 1892, in Redhill Surrey.
He is thought to have moved to Dovercourt High Street in 1916 and worked as a sub mariner.
William was aged 25 and the acting chief stoker when he was killed on January 31, 1918, after the submarine E50 struck a mine off Denmark.
William and wife Florence Smith had two daughters – Winifred Dorothy Louisa and Florence Mary Cavell, who later married Arthur James Chenery.
Mr Goodchild said: âSubmarines in 1914 to 1918 were very hit and miss, it was very new technology.
âI have come across other individual photographs of people on that crew which I am pretty confident William is in, as it was taken just before he set sail, so I am looking for those photographs.
Jack Quaintance, born in 1924 in Sheppey, Kent, joined the Special Operations Executive or ‘Churchillâs Secret Army’, sometimes known as the Baker Street Irregulars.
In 1945 Jack joined the Royal Navy, serving on HMS Ajax and then transferred to the Merchant Navy and in 1957 he joined Trinity House and moved to Harwich.
Jack joined the Grange Band and died in 2006.
He has a street named after him in Ontario.
Mr Goodchild says Jack probably came to Harwich because of his new jobâs better working conditions, and said there must be relatives of his or people who know them because Jack had two daughters
He added: âI have some information on these two former servicemen but I have a number of blanks, especially on their local livesâ.
If you can help, call John Goodchild on 07760 184152 or email good@goodchild.ndo.co.uk
