Two young brothers pose for the camera in pictures arm-in-arm, and side-by-side, the close fraternal bond between them clear to see. Their expressions are largely impassive yet hint at a steely determination, the promise of unknown and exciting futures ahead. Within a decade of these photographs being taken, one of the brothers would lay buried in a battlefield in East Africa, 3,000 miles away from his grieving family in Sheffield.
Many of the records held with us at Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library have been rescued from the brink of being lost forever by helpful members of the public. These include items found abandoned in vacated buildings, in cellars, attics and even in skips. An interesting recent example is a small box of photographs (a selection of which are pictured here) salvaged from a skip on Rockley Road, Hillsborough, by a local resident Alan Harrison. Recognising how the photographs provide an interesting snapshot of local life back in the first half of the 20th-century, Alan passed them to Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library where archivist Tim Knebel has tried to piece together the identities of the individuals in the uncaptioned pictures. 
A moving story has emerged from the discarded photographs: a tale of two brothers, torn apart by war, which seems timely to share for Remembrance Day.
The photographs represent a scenario all too common to families whose lives have been shattered by war. In May 1935, the brothers came together with fellow residents on Bamforth Street, Hillsborough, to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V - jubilant scenes encapsulated in the picture below (one of several in the collection which show how the street marked the occasion). Just a few years later, such celebratory scenes were replaced by contrasting ones of sombreness and sorrow as the country was thrust into the midst of another devastating World War.
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Although the identities of the subjects of the photographs were initially unknown, several of them had the details imprinted on the back: Mr J. E. Squire, 36 Bamforth Street, Sheffield 6, seemingly referring to the photographer. The only photograph in this collection which referred to a named subject was one (pictured below) showing a Second World War grave carrying the inscription: Pte J. Squires [sic], 2/Camerons together with the soldier's service number. A search of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website revealed that the name had been misspelt on the grave marker (evidently a temporary one, rather than a permanent memorial, erected in the aftermath of the soldier’s death). The soldier in question was 23-year-old Private John Ellis Squire of Sheffield, who served in the 2nd Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders, during the Second World War. Squire was killed on 15th March 1941 in the Battle of Keren - an offensive against an Italian stronghold as part of the East African Campaign. He is buried at the Keren War Cemetery in Eritrea, East Africa.
Investigations have shown that John Ellis Squire was the son of John Ellis Squire senior (1895-1967) and Rosella Squire (nee Dodd) (1897-1985). The Squire family lived at 36 Bamforth Street, Hillsborough, Sheffield. The densely-packed terraced houses on Bamforth Street were demolished decades ago, swept away as part of slum clearance projects of the 1960s/1970s. The photographs (evidently taken by John Ellis Squire senior) documenting the George V Silver Jubilee celebrations of 1935 and other street scenes which feature the Squire family and friends/neighbours back in the 1930s therefore preserve an interesting picture of a once vibrant residential community long since vanished (the terraced houses on Bamforth Street have now given way to a series of industrial units). It is almost certain that that the main subjects of the photographs are John Ellis Squire junior (1918-1941) and his younger brother Eric Squire (1921-2015) pictured as school-boys c. 1930.
Whilst John Ellis Squire junior’s life was cut tragically short in East Africa, records suggest that his younger brother Eric lived a long life in his home town of Sheffield until his death in in 2015, aged 94. It seems Eric treasured the memory of his big brother John to the last, the brother who was denied the opportunity to grow old as he was. The photographs of the brothers together as school-boys, as well as the picture of John’s war grave in Eritrea, were evidently kept together in a small box, which ended up discarded after Eric’s death before being found in a skip in Hillsborough earlier this year, presumably thrown away as part of a house clearance. Thanks to the intervention of Hillsborough resident Alan Harrison, who spotted the box by chance as he walked past the skip one day (and was curious to see what lay inside), the photographs have been safeguarded. John Ellis Squire junior’s story of sacrifice can now be preserved forever at Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library alongside the stories of thousands of other Sheffielders who have laid down their lives in the service of their country.
At this time of remembrance, the inscription John’s Sheffield family have left on his war grave 3,000 miles away in Eritrea (as revealed on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website) is especially poignant:
"HE DIED THAT WE MIGHT LIVE. NOW HE RESTS
WHERE NO SHADOWS FALL. MUM, DAD AND ERIC"
