A FORMER Barnsley Pal who collected postcards while serving in the First World War has had his extensive collection acquired by a local historian.
Jane Ainsworth became aware of a special collection of postcards and decided to buy Private Tom Bradbury’s haul ‘for Barnsley’.
Private Tom, of D Company of the 13th Battalion of the York and, Lancaster Regiment, acquired more than 200 postcards.
Born in 1881 and dying in 1956 at the age of 75, he wrote on some but sent them all home to his family at 6 South Street, Barnsley, to keep for him.
They were purchased at auction in 2023 by Neville Ashby of Ilkley, who split them into separate lots to sell on eBay, before Jane stepped in.
She told the Chronicle: “Unfortunately I missed some special postcards early on of individual soldiers and rare groups because I was unaware of the collection and these commanded high prices.
“Neville was very helpful when I explained my interest and I succeeded in buying the rest of the collection.
“I was intrigued when I discovered that the collection was from a Barnsley Pal and I organised the postcards into chronological order: camps in England, scenes in Egypt and many places in France and Belgium, putting them into protective sleeves in two card index boxes.
“Unfortunately, there were no photos of Tom or his family, but I researched their story.”
The two Barnsley battalions trained locally before going to various camps.
They were posted to Egypt at the end of 1915 but then transferred to the Western Front in March 1916 and notably took part in the infamous Battle of the Somme.
The Sheffield City Battalion and Accrington Pals in the lead had suffered most severely, but of the 1,442 men of the two Barnsley battalions that had gone over the top in their support, 175 officers and men had been killed outright and 392 wounded, of whom 35 later died of their wounds.
Despite their catastrophic losses, they continued to serve on the Western Front, including the Battle of Arras a year later before being combined into a single battalion in early in 1918.
The Barnsley Pals were reduced to a remnant during the German spring offensive, but the battalion was rebuilt to participate in the final victorious ‘Hundred Days Offensive’.
“Unfortunately, Tom’s service records have not survived for any personal details, including whether he was granted any leave to return home to see his family,” Jane added.
“He would have been traumatised by his experiences on the battlefield and devastated by the injuries suffered by his comrades or their slaughter.
“We have recently passed the 110th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War and creation of the Barnsley Pals battalions plus the 108th anniversary of the notorious Battle of the Somme.
“I intend to donate the collection with my research to Barnsley Archives soon.”
