The sword of a First World War solider from Swyddffynnon has been reunited with his family after it was found by two collectors of militaria.

Lieutenant David George Osborne-Jones served in the First World War as an officer in the Wiltshire regiment.

Three years ago, Mike Anthony and his wife, Rhiannon, found the sword at an antique fair in Carmarthen.

Mike said: “We were approached by a dealer of militaria who had what he called a Welsh sword.

“He knew that we collected militaria with a Welsh background. We bought the sword and when we examined it we found a name, regiment and a date.

“My late wife did some research of the family and traced them to the village of Swyddffynnon. She also found a newspaper article and photograph about George Osborne-Jones which said that he was home having been wounded.

“She traced the family and actually talked to them on the phone but hey never returned her call.

“My wife died last October. I was looking through her old laptop for some photographs and found the article on George Osborne-Jones so I decided to try again.”

Mr Anthony proceeded to write a letter to the Cambrian News in an attempt to track the family. Once this was published Mr Osborne-Jones’ niece Mari Osborne Arch made contact.

“I was just a child and I remember seeing the sword at home,” Ms Osborne Arch explained.

“I was about 10 when I first met my uncle. He was a barrister in Singapore. All of his brothers, except my father, went to the grammar school in Ystrad Meurig.

From there he went on to Oxford University and graduated, then he went into law and became a barrister, before emigrating to Singapore.

“He lost everything at the fall of Singapore, during World War Two. He was in a Chinese prison camp for three-and-a-half years.

“In the prison camp they were bored stiff, so he taught Welsh to the prisoners to keep themselves sane.”

In 1945, Mr Osborne-Jones returned home: “I was about 10 when he came back from Singapore, he was quite a tall gentleman but he was only six stone in weight.”

He returned to Singapore, once he was well enough, but returned home to visit Ms Osborne Arch in Newtown when she was around 26 years old.

He later died in Singapore, in 1970, aged 85 years old.