Soldier carved out pastime in trenches

To pass the long wait before the next dreaded outbreak of conflict during the First World War, a soldier serving with a Yorkshire regiment managed to take his mind off the horrors around him by seeking solace in wood-carving.

Lance Corporal Christopher Peacock, who came from the Middlesbrough area, managed to carve a series of intricate designs into his briar pipe while he was stationed in the trenches during the Great War almost a century ago.

His pipe has now been presented to a North Yorkshire museum which is dedicated to his former regiment, the Green Howards, by one of L/Cpl Peacock's descendants, Sandra Jones of Middlesbrough.

The museum has also been presented with L/Cpl Peacock's Military Medal he was awarded in 1916, according to the Green Howards Gazette. But the report did not carry any further information about his action.

Museum assistant at the Green Howards Regimental Museum in Richmond Susan Langridge said: "We are always pleased to receive personal items from former Green Howards, because they help to bring the history of the Regiment to life.

"Peacock's pipe – with its teeth-marks on the stem showing it was used – is a remarkable piece of work, and we are very grateful to have it, and his Military Medal, in the collection." L/Cpl Peacock managed to cut a depiction of the cap badge of the Green Howards, including the words "Princess Alexandra" and "The Yorkshire Regiment", into his wooden pipe.

The Green Howards were then known as Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment, while elsewhere on the pipe are the words "France Somme 1916", "Belgium Ypres 1917" and "Italy 1918".

L/Cpl Peacock, who survived the war, even found space to carve two Yorkshire Roses.