A book borrowed from the school library before the First World War has finally been returned, more than a century late.
A man found a copy of Byron's poem in Carmarthenshire, South Wales, and thought he should return it to St Peace's School near Whitehaven. Cumbria gave it to a schoolboy.
Inside the blue cloth-bound book is the name Leonard Evebank, dated 25 September 1911. Born in 1893, Ewbank was a student at St Peace's between 1902 and 1911 before attending Queen's College, Oxford.
Despite his poor eyesight, records show that he was recruited into the 15th Border Regiment in 1915 to fight in the First World War. He was killed by a bullet to the head in action on 23 February 1916 and is buried in the Railway Dugouts Cemetery in Ypres, Belgium, which contains 2,463 graves.
Ewbank is remembered on the school's honor roll as “an Englishman, brave, honest and loyal.”
Headteacher Andrew Keep said the school was “honoured” to recover the book. Keep told the BBC: “It's incredible to think that a part of St Peace's history has returned to us after all these years.”
St Peace is a 430-year-old coeducational boarding and day school costing between £16,000 and £40,000 a year. Rowan Atkinson is an alumnus, two vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge, several professors and three Victoria Cross recipients.
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Featuring the works of Lord Byron, the romantic poet described as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” this book is not the first book to return to the library after a lifetime elsewhere, but it may be one of the most important. Late library books of all time.
In May, a book borrowed from a Helsinki library was returned 84 years late. A Finnish translation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's historical novel, The Refugees, “would not have been the first thing the borrower would have thought of” on December 26, 1939, a month after the Soviet invasion, Heini Strand said. Librarian at the Oodi Central Library, Helsinki.
In July, a canoe made of glass reinforced plastic by Alan Pite returned to Orkney Library after more than 47 years of delay and was discovered during a house clearing. The library's John Peterson said, “Thankfully we don't charge late fees.”
