An appeal has been launched to find the descendants of a 'Battle of Balaklava' war hero after the Scottish soldier’s medals were found in a secret drawer where they had lain hidden for over a century-and-a-half.
David Grant, 71, from Devon, discovered the incredible find using a secret switch, concealed in a crack in the wood grain, while restoring an antique desk in his loft. When pressed it revealed a secret drawer which slid out. Inside, the pensioner was shocked to discover a trio of war medals belonging to Armourer Serjeant Edward Webb who fought in one of the most celebrated episodes of bravery ever recorded on the battlefield.
The Scottish soldier was said to have been one of those among the two-deep line of around 500 infantry from the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment, who stood firm against a force of around 2,500 Russian cavalrymen during the Crimean War (1853-56) in an episode immortalised by historians as “the thin red line".
