Postcard sparks quest to find families of Nellie and Teddy

They said the card had been hidden behind wooden wall panels at the 100-year-old hall, which was used as a military hospital during the Great War, in Shepreth, Cambridgeshire.

It appears to have been written by a woman named Nellie to "Drum E C Wolstencroft" of the 3rd Royal Fusiliers at the "Auxiliary Hospital near Royston, Herts" and sent in April 1915. Locals say searches of military records show that Private (Drummer) Edward Coulton Wolstencroft, of the Royal Fusiliers, came from Edmonton, Middlesex, and died on July 7, 1916 – probably during the Battle of the Somme – when he was in his mid-20s.

Census records show that Private Wolstencroft was the second of 12 children.

His name is on the war memorial for missing First World War soldiers at Thiepval in the Picardie region of France.

The name "Drummer Wolstencroft" can also be found on a village list of soldiers treated at the hospital in Shepreth, which is near Royston.

Villagers have left "virtual flowers" for Private Wolstencroft on a Thiepval Memorial internet website.

They hope to trace relatives of the soldier and are urging anyone with information about him or "Nellie" to get in touch.

The postcard, marked "printed in Germany", shows a picture of a man, who appears to be a sailor, flanked by two women.

Nellie writes: "Dear Teddy, Don't think I have forgotten you letter following hopeing you are quite alright love from Nellie."