(A six minute read).
I see no reason for not starting the appeal now to help in the identification of the man I am calling Mr.Tregantle. Since nineteen eighty-three, when he was buried, he has been known locally as “Some Mother’s Son”. These words are inscribed on his headstone at Horson Cemetery in Torpoint, Cornwall, UK.
Whilst cutting back overgrowth in one of his fields at Trethill Cliffs near Tregantle Fort in January of nineteen eight-two, a farmer found the gentleman’s skeleton. Trethill Cliffs is a ten minute drive or an hour’s walk from the gentleman’s final resting place.
To bring a focus to our appeal, let’s run through the details as we know them.
Mr.Tregantle was found by the farmer on 22nd January nineteen eighty-two. Only his skeleton remained, and none of his clothing, nor shoes, remained on him, or about him. (Edit 28.04.2025. It is now known that "Some Mother's Son" did have some articles of clothing with him including some form of backpack and an overcoat. Evidence was given by the farmer who found his body, and a journalist who saw it mentioned in a newspaper dating back to the time of his discovery). Two documents lay about him. A British passport with an embossed issue date on it but all other details destroyed by time and nature, and a Blue Merchant Navy Discharge Book, again, all details on it destroyed by time and nature.
Close by to him was a pouch with coinage in it, some dating from the late nineteen seventies. Close by to him was a copy of the Sun newspaper, dated nineteen seventy-eight.
The coroner’s report details no foul play detected and no self-harm detected. The gentleman was thought to have been aged between twenty-five and thirty years old when he died.
Assuming the passport was his, we can assume he was British.
Assuming the Merchant Navy Discharge book was his, we can assume he had something to do with the Merchant Navy.
Assuming the coins were his, we can assume he had been there since the late nineteen seventies.
Assuming the Sun newspaper was his, we can make an assumption that he may well have been there since at least nineteen seventy-eight/nineteen seventy-nine ish.
If we are to take the above evidence as accurate, (for the time being), we could be looking for a gentleman, let’s say, aged around twenty-seven, that had affiliations to the Merchant Navy, had been missing since around nineteen seventy-eight, his body found in nineteen eighty-two.
Local police and CID made great efforts to try and identify the gentleman. Taking nearly a year to complete their investigation they managed to reduce the number of possible names attributed to the issue date on his passport of twelve thousand, down to twenty-three that they could not account for. As far as we know, the names which were collected from Newport Passport Office were checked against National Insurance records, circulated to local police forces for examination, and then onto the Merchant Navy for them to check through their records.
Of course, Mr.Tregantle’s name could have got missed in this investigation, and he may not be one of the twenty-three names that remain unaccounted for, but it would be interesting to know these twenty-three names, if they still exist. Mr.Tregantle was subsequently buried on 24th October nineteen eighty-three.
I am waiting on a Freedom Of Information request to come back to me, and I am also waiting on further communication from Devon and Cornwall Police to see if we can delve further into whatever documentation may still exist. The Police Museum in Okehampton have not been given any dated evidence from Mr.Tregantle’s case and they said that that would mean it is unlikely the Police have any either. I will wait for confirmation though. (Updated edit 28.04.2025. It seems that no evidence remains at all from the discovery of "Some Mother's Son's" skeleton and surrounding belongings).
So, to try and identify Mr.Tregantle, why not spread our appeal for help.
We are gently and sensitively looking for relatives, friends, workmates who have been missing a gentleman they knew, or were related to, in the late nineteen seventies.
If Mr.Tregantle was twenty-seven in nineteen seventy-eight, he would be, let’s say, seventy-four years old now.
If his parents are still alive, they would be approximately ninety to a hundred years old.
If he has, or had brothers, sisters, cousins, they would be of a similar age to him, let’s say approximately seventy to eighty years old.
If Mr.Tregantle had children, they could be approximately fifty-two to fifty-eight, similar ages if he had nephews and nieces too.
If he had grandchildren they would be in their thirties, thereabouts.
If Mr.Tregantle was married or had a partner, they would be roughly his age, for arguments sake, around seventy-four.
And if Mr.Tregantle had godchildren they would be of a similar age to the children's ages, in their fifties, or thereabouts.
Friends and workmates? Friends aged between sixty-seven and eighty-seven? Workmates between the ages of sixty-seven and one hundred years old?
So, our appeal is going out to parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, children, nephews, nieces, partners, grandchildren, (even great grandchildren), godchildren and even aunts and uncles, who again would be of a similar age to his parents, approximately ninety to a hundred years old. Our appeal to these people is, are you missing a relative who disappeared from your lives in the mid to late nineteen seventies, who would have been around twenty-seven years old at the time and was almost definitely something to do with the Merchant Navy? Please do get in touch if you can feel the rings of truth around this story.
Similarly, to friends and workmates, are you missing a friend or a shipmate from around the mid to late nineteen seventies who for some reason seemed to disappear off the face of the earth? Please do get in touch if so.
I am tentatively in touch with the Police, the UK Missing Persons Unit and Journalists. I am also in touch with a former policeman who was at the scene of the discovery of Mr.Tregantle's body in nineteen eighty-two and was involved in the ensuing investigation to try and name him. This former policeman has been very helpful to me.
I in no way pretend to be the aficionado on the subject of Missing Persons and Unidentified Bodies, but I have a part to play, and this is my part for the moment, initiating a gentle and sensitive search for family and friends of Mr.Tregantle, also known as ‘Some Mother’s Son’.
He is buried and has been cared for by the local community since nineteen eighty-three. So many people walk past his grave on a daily basis, and so many people say hello, and just wonder, who is this man?
Is it time for us to find out? Please do share this appeal if you think it’s the right time and the right thing to do. Thank you.
Potential important edit 28.04.2025. Between February 18th and February 20th 1978 there was a huge blizzard in the Southwest of the UK.
COULD IT HAVE BEEN THAT "SOME MOTHER'S SON" GOT CAUGHT IN THE BLIZZARD OF 18TH-20TH FEBRUARY 1978, HUNQUERED DOWN FOR PROTECTION, AND HE SUCCUMBED TO THE COLD. FOCUSING ON THIS TIMEFRAME OF 18TH-20TH FEBRUARY 1978 COULD AWAKEN MEMORIES OF THE FAMILY, FRIENDS AND WORKMATES OF "SOME MOTHER'S SON"-COULD.