MADAM – Theft at an antiques fair is bad enough, but when it involves the memory of a First World War hero and a slice of our patriotic and social history, it is abhorrent.
A unique early Creagh-Osborne prismatic compass was taken at
London’s Alexandra Palace fair (November 19). It was inscribed with the owner’s name and regiment: H.E.E. Pankhurst, 5th Dragoon Guards. Having served in South Africa, India and Flanders, in 1917 he was awarded the Military Cross but did not live to see the Armistice.