The Battle of Loos website - Alfred Leeds Yelf, DCM, C.de G. 1888-1977

Theres a wonderful write up of how Alfred Yelf won his DCM at the Battle of Loos on this particular website. I don't know who did the research so I can't credit them but it's an interesting read and full of detail. Alfred Leeds Yelf, DCM, C.de G. 1888-1977

Letters of Agar Adamson, 1914 to 1919, Lieutenant Colonel, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry

The reference above to Yelf seems a bit harsh, especially as there is no context to the remark. It does provide the information that he was a chauffeur for a family called Perley though, so there's something of interest. The regimental record gives his initials as LG and his regimental number as 1506 so hopefully he will be fairly straightforward to identify

Yelf & Yelve : A dictionary of archaic and provincial words, obsolete phrases etc. By James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1846)

Don't panic - The Yelf link is just coincidental, but interesting anyway!

Robert Yelf's advert - The official illustrated guide to the Brighton and south coast railways... By George S. Measom 1853

Henry Yelf's typwriters

Here's a little bit of Yelf-ian that appeared on ebay recently. It's a promotional postcard advertising the virtues of a Monarch typewriter, but the bit that's of interest to Yelfs is the small stamp in the bottom right hand corner. This was obviously added in Henry Yelf's shop in Portsmouth      

I'm by no means a postcard collector, but I was certainly interested in this one - until it went up to about £10, at which point I decided I'd make do with a photo!

William Wheeler Yelf - The Parliamentary Papers of a Convicted Defalcator

The fascinating story of William Wheeler Yelf - respected Methodist minister, owner of Yelf Brothers Printers, pillar of the community and, as it turns out, massive fraudster - has been covered over three postings earlier in this blog. However it was only when going through some Parliamentary papers that I came across the correspondence between the Trustees of the Isle of Wight Savings banks, the Commissioners of the National Debt and William Grey, an accountant who examined the books. Read in a chronological sequence they provide a fascinating look at the methods William Yelf used to defraud the bank over a 15 year period (no impetuous act on his part then!).

Any further commentary on my part would be wasted, so get yourself a nice cup of tea, a pencil and a calculator and settle down for some real-life detective work!

Frederick Yelf - Fishmonger

This rather interesting bill has been in my possession for a while now. As you can see Frederick Yelf was a Shanklin fishmonger and this fortnightly bill from 1931 (it looks as though he made a mistake before correcting it) includes such choice items as chicken, salmon, cod and herrings. I'm not sure, but I believe the stamps were a quick method of paying tax with the company stamp . The money went to the government and it was a lot easier and cheaper than collecting it.

It's a nice item and lucky to have survivied in such good condition.