rodonisle Posted 27 January , 2020 Share Posted 27 January , 2020 This foot locker just found in Melbourne RSL basement belonging to Edward John EJ Howells MC. He was head of the Australian War Records section in the Middle East just after the war. Any other info from the group? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 27 January , 2020 Share Posted 27 January , 2020 (edited) Perhaps this man ? London Gazette reference 1st awardLG:31093/1 Jan 1919 Rank Captain Regiment 'D' Field Troop Australian Engineers Decorations MC MC at Makhadet Hajla, Palestine Mar 1918. Engineer from Melbourne. Born Barrow, Lancashire, 20 May 1882. MiD London Gazette 14/6/18 Edited 27 January , 2020 by charlie962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rksimpson Posted 27 January , 2020 Share Posted 27 January , 2020 Hi I presume you have these - https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=144938 https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=144937 Just put his full name in here - https://www.awm.gov.au/ Service records here - https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6994623 regards Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodonisle Posted 28 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 28 January , 2020 Thanks for the replies. I have years worth of info on Howells. The trunk is a new find and I am trying to learn about such footlockers - who issued, other purposes, etc. It is braised metal, pretty beefy for just "records." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rksimpson Posted 28 January , 2020 Share Posted 28 January , 2020 (edited) Hi With the trunk, given his position I would suggest it was secret or sensitive documents or communications, stored and kept under lock and key. What does it say under stationary on the front? regards Robert Edited 28 January , 2020 by rksimpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasemuseum Posted 28 January , 2020 Share Posted 28 January , 2020 The "trunk" is fairly typical of a legal documents box of the period. These were stored at solicitor's offices with important papers belonging to clients. Similarly banks used to store the boxes in their vaults. The boxes were the property of the client not the bank. I have a similar box that has been passed through my family for several generations that holds all of the birth, marriage and death certificates going back to the mid c19. The painted note on the front appears to be "STATIONARY WITH CARE", which would suggest that one owner was using it for blank official forms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodonisle Posted 28 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 28 January , 2020 Thanks. Yes, at the end of the war, Howells was made head of the military records section and traveled around the former Ottoman areas of the Mideast. His letters refer to some items later displayed in Canberra when the museum was built. You might explain why the box stayed with Howells as private property, it is assumed until his death - whereupon much of his effects of that sort were given to the RSL. It has a maker's mark showing it was made by "S. Gregson & Sons, Bury Lanc. 1917." As I am "next of kin" I am torn by wanting the box for my family military archives, or leaving it in Australia as a tiny bit of history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie962 Posted 28 January , 2020 Share Posted 28 January , 2020 2 hours ago, rodonisle said: As I am "next of kin" I am torn by wanting the box for my family military archives Easily the best option! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rksimpson Posted 28 January , 2020 Share Posted 28 January , 2020 I would agree too with the above sentiment. Here it is just another military item, with you it is a piece of family history with a story to tell. regards Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodonisle Posted 28 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 28 January , 2020 OK ... the regiment has voted ... (to quote a Highland regimental joke). I will see if I can get it. Time to return to Oz anyway. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4thVBGH Posted 31 January , 2020 Share Posted 31 January , 2020 I have two of these, one marked to the 35th Battalion also marked Stationary with Care.....though only one marked to a Sydney NSW manufacturer dated 1915 Here's a link to a similar trunk in the AWM Collection. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C974783 No I've no details of introduction, etc though they seem to have been a popular item to appropriate for personal use. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
museumtom Posted 31 January , 2020 Share Posted 31 January , 2020 I have the exact same locker with Q.R.R. on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodonisle Posted 31 January , 2020 Author Share Posted 31 January , 2020 QRR? Persons name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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