WW1 P.O.W Pair; Cpl Freakley, 470th (North Midland) Field Company R.E

A British War Medal and Victory Medal pair, correctly and clearly named to 486719 2. Cpl. H. Freakley, R.E. — Hugh Freakley. Freakley served with the 470th (North Midland) Field Company, Royal Engineers — a Territorial Force unit with strong regional roots in the North Midlands, making this pair of particular interest to collectors of Midlands militaria. His original Territorial Force number, (T)599, indicates he had joined up before the war, later being renumbered 486719 as the TF was absorbed into the regular numbering system. He was taken prisoner of war on 21 March 1918 at Noreuil, on the opening day of the German Spring Offensive. He was held at Parchim POW camp in Germany for the remainder of the war. Included with the medals is a photocopy of an original German prisoner-of-war camp record card, listing Freakley alongside other captured men, giving his number, unit, capture date, and place of origin (Stoke-on-Trent).

The 1921 census shows Freakley working as a coal hewer for the Stafford Coal and Iron Company,

A hewer was the miner who worked at the coalface itself, cutting the coal by hand with a pick — the toughest and most senior job underground, as opposed to putters/drawers who hauled it away.

living at 105 Campbell Road, Stoke-on-Trent. He died in 1965, aged 70. A well-documented pair with genuine research value tracing a North Midlands man from the coalface to the Western Front and back.