THE search is on for the family of a brave Redditch man who won the Albert Medal for gallantry in 1913 for saving the life of a young boy.

Allan Stanistreet, from Somerset, is researching the history of those who were awarded the civilian medal for acts of courage between 1866 and 1971.

Mr Stanistreet has found that Redditch man George Irish was one of those awarded the medal for his daring on the day of April 27, 1913.

A boy, William Leonard Browning, had fallen into a sewer while playing and disappeared.

Irish ran to the rescue and jumped down a sheer drop of 14 feet to follow the boy, despite the shaft being just two and a half feet wide.

Amazingly, he found the unconscious Browning and supported him with the water level up to his head.

Help finally arrived and though Browning appeared dead, he was eventually revived.

Irish was off work for three days suffering from shock from exposure.

But for his act of selflessness he was awarded the Albert Medal of the Second Class by King George V at Buckingham Palace on August 12 the same year.

The Albert Medal was discontinued in 1971 and surviving recipients were invited to exchange it for the George Cross.

Sadly, Irish was killed in action just three years later during the First World War.

He died during the carnage of the Battle of the Somme on August 22, 1916, aged just 23.

He was serving with the 14th battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment.

His name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial overlooking the Somme battlesite which bears the names of 72,000 other British and South African soldiers who died in battle but who have no known grave.

His name is also inscribed on Redditch's war memorial outside St Stephen's Church.

The only other information Mr Stanistreet has is that Irish was the son of Mrs Elizabeth Irish of 2 Back, 10 Britten Street, Redditch.

Anyone with details can write to Mr Stanistreet at 12 Normandy Avenue, Watchet, Somerset TA23 0TU or call the Redditch Advertiser on 453539.