An amazing find in the attic: a suitcase with personal belongings of a soldier of the First World War

A suitcase with the belongings of a soldier of the First World War has been found in the UK. The mother of Private Ted Ambrose, who was killed in the Battle of the Somme, hid her son's belongings in the attic. 90 years later, Ambrose's great-nephew found his well-preserved belongings.

In July 1916, Private Ambrose was severely wounded in the head, arm, and leg during an artillery barrage on the Somme River in France. The soldier was taken to a hospital in Etaples, 40 miles from Calais. The wounded man's mother, Sarah, wanted to visit her son, but was refused. Ambrose's brown leather suitcase was sent to his native Hertfordshire, UK.

Medallion with the image of Private Ted Ambrose

The suitcase was found by Ambrose's 82-year-old great-nephew

For 90 years, things have not lost their appearance at all

Among the personal belongings were found a prayer book, a leather bag with fragments of the shell that inflicted fatal wounds on the private, and a brooch from his beloved Gladys with the inscription: "The Lord protects me and you when we are apart." The suitcase also contained a pipe of burnt tobacco, a letter from his farmer father wishing him good luck, and posthumous medals.

Medallion with the image of Private Ambrose's girlfriend

Ambrose went to the front with the 6th Bedfordshire Regiment after nine months of training. Before the Battle of the Somme, he was hospitalized with measles and returned to the front on 1 July. On the day he was fatally wounded, another 100 men from his regiment were killed and wounded. The soldier was buried in a cemetery near the hospital in Etaples, France.