Penair School, Cornwall, needs your help

13 March 2026

Penair School is participating in this year’s Malcolm Doolin Award for Local History Research. Their project is called Beneath the Battlefields and students are uncovering the stories of Cornish men linked to the First World War and to the later 1919 Levant mining disaster.

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πŸ”Ž They are seeking records, photos, letters, medals, diaries, or contact with descendants of: 

  • Edwin Francis Pascoe – Born Colorado (1897), family from St Just. Died in the Levant disaster, 1919.
  • James Vingoe Trembath and the Trembath family of St Just – A family hit by multiple tragedies; James died in the man engine failure at Levant.
  • Leonard Semmens – Born 1894, Penzance area. One of nine children; four brothers were miners. Died in the Levant disaster, 1919.
  • John Paynton Ninnes – Born Manaccan, 1896. POW in April 1918; died 1979.
  • Richard John Rolling – Born Falmouth, 1899. Died 23 March 1916, buried at Cambrin. Family have no surviving photographs; any images or unit photos from the 251st Tunnelling Company would be invaluable.

If you can help, or know someone who might, they would love to hear from you. Together, they say, we can preserve these stories for future generations.

Please email TTuruelo@penair.cornwall.sch.uk

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