RETIRED teacher David Priestley has at last discovered the facts about a tragic chapter in his family's history - thanks to a 90-year-old edition of The Northern Echo.

He spent a long time questioning relatives and searching old documents at his home in Staindrop, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, to find out how Louisa Armstrong died during the First World War

She was the girlfriend of his great uncle, Gordon Priestley, of the 6th Battalion Durham Light Infantry, who was killed in action in Belgium in October 1917.

Mr Priestley said: "I heard vague stories about Louisa being killed in a fall at a quarry around the time of the war, but could not find any official trace of the tragedy and did not even know which year it happened.

"I became even more anxious to know more when I found a photograph of her among my late grandparents' belongings. I knew she was a cook at Barnard Castle School but that was about all."

However, he then asked the Bishop Auckland registrar to search for a death certificate.

The official produced one showing that she was killed on March 1, 1916, by falling into Summerson's quarry at Cockfield.

Mr Priestley was then able to look up The Northern Echo of that year to find an inquest report.

The report related how she lost her way in the dark during a heavy snowstorm, plunged into the quarry and lay undiscovered for 29 days, despite a search of the area by police and boy scouts.

The 27-year-old had visited an aunt in Cockfield, then set off to walk three-quarters-of-a-mile across the fell to Cockfield station to catch a train to Barnard Castle. The inquest jury returned a verdict of accidental death, but pointed out the need for a fence at the roadside to prevent walkers straying onto the fell in the dark.

A large number of mourners turned out for Louisa's burial at Evenwood, where she was brought up, and where she was known to some people as Louisa Dixon.

Mr Priestley said: "It is a sad story, but now at least I know the truth and can write this part of the family history.

"I am grateful to the registrar and The Northern Echo for helping me to find the full facts."