BRADFORD Pals enthusiast David Whithorn got in touch about three World War 1 medals that he spotted listed to ‘Pte A.Lee, W.Yorks Regt’ on EBay.

To his credit, Mr Whithorn, who was born, grew up and married in Bradford and developed a life-long interest in the Great War while still at school, put all he could afford into saving these medals from dealers and was delighted to, as he put it, 'win them'. This is the story of the man who won the medals which Mr Whithorn has pieced together.

"I immediately contacted the vendor who then searched among the effects he had just been given of a recently deceased old lady and he sent me a pack of photographs and documents to go with the medals.

"They helped me to piece together the life and very tragic story of this soldier – Allen Lee of the 1st Bradford Pals.

"He was born in 1881 in Brighouse. The family moved to West Bowling by 1901. Allen and his elder brother, William, would become dyer’s labourers at the Bowling Dye Works. Edgar Nicholl worked in the same department.

"Through Edgar, Allen met Lily Nicholl and in 1911, they married. They lived in Round St, West Bowling and they would have a daughter, Mary, born in November 1914.

"In Bradford at the outbreak of war in August 1914, there was a rush to join the colours. The formation of the Bradford Battalion in September saw 1000 Bradford men join and complete the battalion in a week.

"Allen, William and Edgar all tried to enlist together. Only Allen and Edgar were accepted. Allen Lee thus became 16/772 Pte A.Lee, 16th WYR (1st Bradford Pals). In the package were photographs of Lee in the first dark blue uniform of the ‘Pals, a photograph too of a group of Pals in civilian clothing all wearing the famous Bradford Pals lapel badges.

"Private Lee arrived in Egypt with the rest of the Pals in December 1915 and came back to France in March 1916 when their War Diary begins. An entry on June 6, 1916, states that ‘772 Pte Lee ‘D’Coy’ was granted home leave.

"However he was back with the Pals for the fatal attack at Serre on July 1, 1916, when with his company he attacked from Bradford Trench and in this attack, Lee was wounded.

"A letter from Lee to his wife dated July 28 was sent from Whitehill hospital in Scotland. His wife had sent him copies of the Bradford Daily Telegraph in which were appearing increasing numbers of the photographs of the Bradford Pals who had been killed or wounded in that devastating attack that July morning.

"Lee wrote: ‘I have received the papers and I thank you very much. There are still a great many men missing who went over on July first. I have wrote a list out of my own section and fourteen section and not half of them have been mentioned in the paper’.

"He returned to the Bradford Pals in France. The 16th and 18th battalions of the Bradford Pals were disbanded in early 1918 and Lee found himself now part of the 15/17th West Yorks, formerly the Leeds Pals.

"In March 1918, this composite battalion effectively ceased to exist in a week after facing the massive German Spring Offensive. Lee, a corporal by this time, was captured along with hundreds of the 15/17 West Yorks at a last stand in the village of Moyenville. ‘

"The package I bought included the little blue card Lee had posted back to his family informing them he was now a prisoner of war. I could not realise just how tragic this story would now become.

"The next card in the package was formal notification from Switzerland to Mrs Lee that Allen Lee had died in the prison camp hospital in July 1918 and he had been buried in the cemetery at Berlaimont.

"What makes this so tragic is the date of this card, 9/11/18. This would have arrived in Bradford about a week afterwards. Bradford would have been celebrating the Armistice, the Lee family looking forward to Allen coming home. Then this card arrived. We simply cannot imagine today the reaction this card would have caused.

"The final realisation brought everything that I had discovered home to me, The old lady who had recently died, her precious things being sold on, was indeed Mary, the daughter of Allen and Lily Lee.

"Mary died on Christmas day last year, just a month after her 100th birthday and now these things had come to me. Mary was probably the last child of a Bradford Pal who lost his life in the Great War – my duty in finding these medals like this was now very clear.

"I have followed the story of the Bradford Pals all my life. It will be an honour for me to look after these items for the rest of my own life and tell others the story behind them. Already I have shared this discovery with both the Bradford WW1 Research Group and the PWO Yorkshire Regiment Museum so this information will now be preserved.

"But best of all, these medals, papers and story will now be coming with me each July to France as I take school parties around the Great War battlefields.

"The high point comes when I take the party to Serre, to stand where the Pals stood that fateful July morning and tell so many young people the story of the Bradford Pals – one they will get to know better thanks to these discoveries. The story of Allen Lee, his family and the Pals is one they will not forget."