WW1 plaque found in Leicestershire school cupboard returned to family

Allison Kirby, the great-granddaughter of Frank Kirby, said it was "incredible" to find out about the plaque

A school has returned a memorial plaque for a World War One soldier to his family after staff discovered it tucked away in a store cupboard.

Gunner Frank Herbert Kirby was 26 when he was killed in the war and the plaque is a tribute from his widow Emma.

It was found at Kibworth Mead Academy in Leicestershire when history department staff were organising a Remembrance Day display.

It is still not known how the plaque ended up at the school.

Lee Holmes, a history teacher at the school in Kibworth Beauchamp, said: "To mark Remembrance Day the history department decided to make a display dedicated to soldiers fallen from the village.

"Somebody had a brief recollection that we had this plaque in the cupboard.

"We took it out, we had no idea how it got there and that sparked our interest - we felt like such a personal item needed to be reunited with Frank's family."

It is still not known how the plaque ended up at Kibworth Mead Academy

The school posted a message about the plaque on Twitter, which was picked up by several people and eventually, they were put in contact with the soldier's great-granddaughter, Allison.

Ms Kirby, 50, had spent some during the coronavirus lockdown researching her family history.

She said it was "incredible" to find out about the plaque.

"I knew Frank existed, I knew he was in the military, was killed in action and where he was buried but just didn't know this plaque had existed so it's lovely to have it now," she said.

Mr Kirby was buried in Belgium after the war

Despite being born in Australia, Ms Kirby said her great-grandfather does have links to the county.

"He was one of eight children and his parents lived in Leicester - they had three children in Leicester then they moved to Australia," she said.

The family eventually moved back to Leicester and Frank Kirby had worked at Aylestone Road Gas Works before becoming a soldier.

Mr Holmes said how the plaque ended up at the school was still a mystery.

"We carried out quite a lot of research into the fallen soldiers from the village and our former students, and Frank doesn't appear to have any link with us or the village, so how he's ended up in our cupboard we're not quite sure," he said.