An abundance of photographs of Bradford VC Sam Meekosha has come to light in the back numbers of the Bradford Weekly Telegraph.

Meekosha, as Tricia Platts, secretary of the Bradford World War 1 Group explained in Remember When? on January 15, earned his decoration on the front line in Belgium on November 19, 1915, when he defied German fire to lead the rescue of men of the 6th Battalion, Bradford Territorials, who had been buried in mud by an artillery attack.

He arrived home in Bradford promoted from corporal to sergeant. On Friday, January 28, 1916, the Bradford Weekly Telegraph had a front page picture of the city’s local hero, complete with great coat, pack and rifle – and three stripes on his arm.

Inside the 16-page paper were more photographs, few of which can have been seen subsequently.

In one he’s standing at the step of his home in Tennent Street, West Bowling. There’s a cap on his head and a short pipe in his mouth. His Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mark III rifle is held by his younger sister Eleanor.

His other sister, Mary, looks quizzically at the pipe. His mother stands next to her, looking slightly away from the gaze of the camera.

The photographer then persuaded the family to pose for pictures in the kitchen. Sergeant Sam sits in the rocking chair by the kitchen range, Eleanor standing by his side looking at her famous brother. Mrs Meekosha and sister Mary, in their long skirts, sit opposite, looking suitably serious.

News of his homecoming had evidently been put about among friends and neighbours, although in the picture showing Sam shaking hands with one of a group of four bowler-hatted men, he appears to be greeting members of a Sicilian family of New Yorkers, especially the small chap in the overcoat in front. On page 14, Meekosha is seen among the theatre staff and the cast of Excuse Me, which was being staged at the Empire Theatre.

He also features in two other photographs on the same page. In one he and his mother stand with local priest Father Blessing and the head master of St Joseph’s School, Mr J Rice. In the other picture he sits among uniformed St Joseph’s ‘old boys’.

Yet another group photograph published earlier on January 4 shows uniformed Sam with four 6th Battalion men involved in the November 19 rescue. from left to right they are: sergeant Meekosha VC, lance-corporal Scarfe, sergeant Ross (one of the men rescued by Meekosha), lance-sergeant Marchant and lance-corporal J Sayers DCM, who helped in the rescue.

Interestingly, the January 28 Bradford weekly Telegraph also has photographs of a bomb-throwing catapult machine being inspected by Bradford’s Lord Mayor, the top-hatted Councillor Thomas Haworth.

The catapult, described as a ‘West Spink gun’, is being operated by officers and men of the Bradford ‘Pals’. One of the photographs may have been taken abroad for it includes a man wearing a French infantry helmet.