Redevelopment works of Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, United Kingdom, have lead to discovery of personal letters and belongings dating to the First World War.

The letters were discovered in fragments and as whole pages. They were discovered behind the rear cladding to the timber frame of the Corn Exchange. It is believed that they could only have got there by being dropped from above into a narrow void behind the Corn Exchange hall, rather than being inserted at ground level from within the hall itself. Along with the letters, other items were found including a knife, match and cigarette packets, bottles, newspaper cuttings (including from The Times of India), sweet wrappers, a toothpaste tube, and boot polish. The building known as The Royal Pavilion Estate was used as a hospital for Indian soldiers during the war. One letter dated to April 20th, 1918, from a JC Cocks a patient at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, to his friend Brown a patient at the Pavilion hospital describes how the personal is treating the wounded individual. Another letter from a Private writing from Boulogne base tells how he is healing his knee after having tripped and injured. A third letter was ripped in fragments but it was possible to establish it was addressed to “My Dear May” from a patient in “Section D 120, The Pavilion, Brighton”.

(after Brighton & Hove Independent)