COULD anyone help me solve a family riddle to do with the recent purchase from a York shop in Shambles of a collection of First World War medals that had been awarded to three brothers who once lived in Harrogate and had family links to York?

The family name was Coombes, and my interest in them involves a personal project to record the history of a company of multiple shoe repairers founded by their father, James Coombes, in 1889.

All three brothers were involved in their father’s business interests. Sadly, James’s eldest son, Aubrey Cecil James, never returned from the conflict, and his remaining sons, Leslie Ferdinand Bilton and Reginald Arthur Bertram, were deeply affected by their experiences of the war.

As a former employee of James Coombes & Co Ltd, which I joined in 1958 as post boy and where I spent eight happy years working for the company at their former Harrogate HQ, I am hoping the person who sold the medals (who could well be related to James’s wife, whose maiden name was Bilton) will read this letter and feel they can get in touch with me.

Colin Waite, Killinghall, Harrogate

cwrowels@aol.com