A PENSIONER has amassed the biggest collection of handkerchiefs in the UK – including one from the Battle of the Somme.

Brenda Mathews, from Burgess Hill, began collecting hankies at the age of eight after a friend brought her a souvenir from a holiday in Sussex.

The 76-year-old says her obsession was bolstered after tissues replaced cotton hankies, prompting the grandmother to begin collecting commemorative ones.

Brenda said her favourite in the collection is a brown hankie from World War One soldier Frederick William Taylor.

Gifted to her by his widow 15 years ago, the hankie was used to wipe the soldier's brow during the Battle of the Somme.

The Argus: Brenda Mathews, from Burgess Hill, has amassed one of the UK's biggest hankie collection Brenda Mathews, from Burgess Hill, has amassed one of the UK's biggest hankie collection

Brenda, a retired secretary, has amassed her hoard from charity shops, antique fairs and donations, with help from husband Peter, 86.

"I think it must be the largest collection in the country,” she said.

"I've been lucky enough to be given some fascinating hankies that people have treasured over the years, and that encapsulate life-changing moments for them.

"I feel very privileged to have been entrusted with these touching and fascinating mementoes by their owners.”

Brenda added: "I wish that there was a museum that I could entrust them to."

The Argus: Brenda Mathews, from Burgess Hill, has amassed one of the UK's biggest hankie collection Brenda Mathews, from Burgess Hill, has amassed one of the UK's biggest hankie collection

Brenda says her interest in wartime hankies is largely due to her being born on the day US forces dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima.

Her collection includes commemorative hankies featuring maps of the Maginot and the Siegfried lines, where allied and enemy forces fought, while the oldest hankie, from 1886, is called a Fulton's military handkerchief.

Used for imparting military instruction to infantry, it contains life saving tips like how to shelter and trumpet calls.

Two silk hankies in the collection were gifts given to a woman shortly before her husband died at sea during WWII.

Mr Ratcliffe, a soldier, brought the gifts in France and gave them to his wife when he came home on leave in February 1940 - the couple married two days later.

Mr Ratcliffe died when the Lancastria was bombed on June 17 that year.

The Argus: Brenda Mathews, from Burgess Hill, has amassed one of the UK's biggest hankie collection Brenda Mathews, from Burgess Hill, has amassed one of the UK's biggest hankie collection

Peter also found and purchased a hankie at an antiques fair in 2001 which was hand-painted by a prisoner of war.

On the hankie, the prisoner, thought to be William Lamb, painted his ship the SS British Strength, which was sunk by German battleship the Scharnhorst in 1941.

The soldier's sister got in contact with Brenda in 2003 after hearing about her collection.

The collection, which occupies two four-drawer cabinets and a dozen suitcases, is kept inside special pockets made from LP-record sleeves.

The collection also includes hankies from Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and Olympic games.