Son of Tom and Mary Rivers, of Toronto; husband of Lilian F. Rivers, of Croucher's Farm, Crowhurst, Sussex, England

Sue Bush’s father’s dad had served in the Canadian forces during WW1.

Sadly Corporal Tom Langley-Rivers died at Passchendale in 1917 at the age of 32, and his wife Lillian and young son returned from Canada to England.

His granddaughter Sue, 65, of Margaret Street, was surfing the net recently when she discovered that two medals she never knew existed had gone under the hammer.

She said: “My father Thomas John, who was called Jack, had a Death Penny and I inherited that and various other things when my father died. One of my cousins brought over two letters written from the frontline.

“I was looking through the web and on Canadian sites there was a report that a Great War Medal 1914-1918 and Victory Medal had gone up for auction in Norfolk.”

Sue emailed the auction house, who passed on the details to the person who bought them.

On hearing her story, the purchaser agreed to sell them on.

She said: “He sold me the two medals for the price he bought them for.”

In an interesting twist, the man who sold them was an ex-servicemen injured in an IED explosion who had served in the Canadian forces for three years.

Sue, a former building standards officer with Inverclyde Council, said: “He was interested in Canadian soldiers who served in WW1 and my grandfather had a fairly unusual name and he found his medals.”

She is thrilled she has a new memento of the brave grandfather she never knew.

She said: “I’m just delighted to have them.

“It’s 100 years since the war started and coming up for 100 years since he died.”

Tom’s name has been added to the Inverclyde Roll of Honour at the McLean Museum as part of Inverclyde’s Great War Exhibition.

Images relating to Tom Langley-Rivers

Tom L Rivers Death Penny

Tom L Rivers Memorial

Letters relating to Tom Langley-Rivers

Tom L Rivers 1a

Tom L Rivers 1b

Tom L Rivers 1c

Tom L Rivers 2a

Tom L Rivers 2b