A PHOTOGRAPH believed to have been taken during the first world war could hold the key to unlocking a local woman's family history.

The picture of a man believed to have been a soldier from Tavistock came to Sally Whiffing through her mother's family.

Sally believes the picture would have been of a friend or relative of her grandparents William Reginald Trethewey and Winifred Bella Edwards, whose families both lived in Tavistock.

The photo was taken by Pearce of Tavistock and it is believed the man was in the Royal Artillery Volunteers' Territorial Force.

Sally said: 'I am researching my family history, which includes several Tavistock families, especially Trethewey and Symons.

'As happens in so many cases, I can identify pictures of the main family members, but now I am starting to try and identify the other people who feature in photographs and build up a picture of their lives and the communities that they lived in.

'The man in the photo may possibly have been one of the Jolliffe family, as Reg's brother, Bert Trethewey, married Doris Joliffe, whose father Orlando Joliffe, was proprietor and printer of Tavistock Times.

'I believe that Doris's brother, Orlando Jolliffe, was in the Royal Garrison Artillery — and possibly also another brother, Donald N Jolliffe.

'Orlando Jolliffe and Bert Trethewey would have been of a similar age. If the photograph isn't one of the Jolliffe's, then I have no idea who he could be, but would love to find out who he was.'

From Sally's research she has discovered that the Tretheweys were a mining family, and moved from south west Cornwall to live in and around Tavistock in the 1840s.

Her grandfather Reg Trethewey and his brother Bert both attended Tavistock Grammar School in the 1890s and early 1900s, and their widowed mother lived in Tavistock until her death in 1939.

Bert married Doris Jolliffe in 1922 at Tavistock Parish Church, and in 1907 Reg met his future wife Win Edwards when her family was also living in Tavistock.

The Edwards family lived at Mount Tavy Villas between about 1907 and 1922, but also lived in Plymouth during that period.

Anyone with information on who the man was in the picture or concerning the families mentioned can write to: Editorial, 14 Brook Street, Tavistock, PL19 0HD, or email [email protected]">[email protected]