Priceless mementos of Shropshire footballing ace Jackery Jones have been tracked down – in a cardboard box in Telford. Ben Bentley opens up the treasure trove of a man who won an FA Cup medal over a century ago.

In the best traditions of British modesty, Danny Clemson’s priceless treasures are kept in an ordinary looking white cardboard shoebox.

Danny, from Dawley, opens it and inside are the trophies and trinkets that tell the remarkable story of one of Shropshire’s most famous foot- balling aces.

Because the England cap badge, the FA Cup replica, the gold watch and the FA Cup winner’s medal belong to Danny’s grandfather, the late great Jackery Jones from Hadley – the Wolverhampton Wanderers defender whose no-nonsense style was legendary and in 1908 helped to steer the boys to victory in the FA Cup – then known and the English Cup.

“When my auntie Alice died, it said in her will the memorabilia should go to the highest bidder within the family,” Danny says, explaining how he came to possess the pieces of footballing history.

“The bidders had to go to Lanyon Bowdler solicitors of Wellington. My mother was well off financially and put in the highest bid for them. I don’t know how much it was but the money was distributed back into the family. That’s how we came to have it.”

Danny, 75, has no idea how much it is all worth today, but there are no plans to sell it.

“My mother took the cup to a jewellers in Wolverhampton to be valued 30 or 40 years ago and they quoted £600 then,” Danny continues. “It’s over 100 years old, it’s got a lot of value but it will never be sold.”

The collection is being left to Danny’s son, Richard, and also contains a number of old photographs, flyers for games, medals for other football competitions and even a stuffed doll of a Wolves player, adorned in gold and black, dating back 100 years.

The whereabouts of the amazing collection came to light following an appeal by the Shropshire Star for existing members of Jackery’s family to come forward after it was revealed that the soccer star’s talents were to go down in footballing history in a new Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hall of Fame for the team’s most celebrated players, including Billy Wright, Stan Cullis, Ron Flowers and Steve Bull.

The appeal unearthed several family members living in the Telford area, including another of Jackery’s grandsons, Philip Jones of St Georges.

But the whereabouts of the great man’s winning haul of footballing memorabilia still remained unknown. Until, that is, the moment Danny opened his copy of the Shropshire Star, read of his grandfather’s Hall of Fame accolade and came forward with the collection.

Danny was only a toddler when his famous grandfather died and has only vague recollections of him being perched on Jackery’s knee.

But reading that article has brought back many stories told in the family about Jackery. How after he hung up his football boots he ran the Buck’s Head pub in Wellington where his mother, Winnie, was born.

And how when Jackery started acting as a football scout for the Wolves he would take his children – three boys and three girls – to home games at Wellington Town.

Or, according to legend, at least try to.

Danny explains: “When my mother was a child my grandad would take them to the match. The children went in through the turnstile but when my grandad went though they said ‘You can’t come in here, you are only scouting for the Wolves’.

“They would not let him in so he had to take the children back out.”

He talks of Jackery’s great passion for other sports including cricket and for country pursuits such as fishing and shooting.

“I’ve taken after him,” says Danny. “He loved his shooting and so do I, and I go fishing every Thursday.

“My mother said Jackery took her fishing to Wappenshall wide hole. And when he took her shooting she dare not cough or sneeze. He was a big pigeon flyer and won a carving set for it. My mother had the knife, fork and steel. I’ve got the knife and steel but I don’t know what happened to the fork.”

Picking up and studying pieces of the collection, Danny is clearly proud of his grandfather’s achievements all those years ago.

One photograph of the Wolves squad from the 1908-9 season is generous in its provision of player information, even revealing each team member’s weight and height.

For the record, Jackery, listed as a right back, weighed in at 13st and 7lbs with a height of 5ft 10ins – at the time the tallest player in the team.

Danny picks up and admires the ornate replica of the original FA cup then turns his attentions to a small gold medal. This is the medal that meant so much to Jackery, presented to him after he won the FA Cup in 1908 against a much favoured Newcastle United side.

Says Danny: “It’s the cup winners’ medal that he always carried with him on his watch chain. We don’t know if the watch was presented to all members of the team or just to Jackery. We’d like to find out.”

He adds: “I am proud. It’s fabulous.”