THE year was 1814 - towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars - and a wealthy young Englishman who hobnobbed with royalty set off on a journey through Belgium, Holland, Germany and France.

He kept a diary about his adventures, beautifully written in copperplate, using a quill pen, on gold-edged, hand-made paper, bound in a red Moroccan leather cover - the initials FIA stamped on it in gold.

Now a retired Oldbury history teacher has produced a book about the diary, which is shrouded in mystery because the author has not yet been identified.

Strangely, his record of a momentous year, during which he was invited to the investiture of Prince William of Orange in the Netherlands and shared a coach with nobility to the first attempts at peace talks, turned up in Lye, where it had been damaged in a fire at a small frying pan business But who was FIA - if those were, indeed, his own intials - and how did his diary end up in a Black Country town never noted for its landed gentry?

Historian Pat Dunn, of Church Street, Hagley, former head of the subject at Oldbury's Perryfields High School, has spent the last 12 years puzzling over the diary and trying to chase down leads that might shed a light upon just who "FIA" was and how his diary came to be in Lye.

She has drawn a blank - but has now published the book Diary of a Young Englishman (Travelling in Belgium, Holland, Germany and France in 1814) in the hope that it might prompt someone to come forward to help solve the mystery.

Mrs Dunn, an 81-year-old widow, who worked at Perryfields High for more than 20 years and is a member of both Hagley and Lye and Wollescote historical societies, became fascinated by the enigma after the diary was passed to her by Inga Bulman, daughter of the late Lye politician and historian Wesley Perrins, in 2003.

By the end of the 19th century the diary had become a rough notebook for the owner of a small frying pan factory in Lye and it had also been used as a flower press.

"It's intriguing - we don't know if 'FIA' were the author's initials or stood for something else," said Mrs Dunn.

"His father had rubbed shoulders with the King of England and his son and he obviously came from a very posh environment.

"So the puzzle is, who was he and how did his diary end up in a little frying pan factory in Lye?"

Whoever he was, the author of the diary was extremely well-heeled - he had letters of introduction to wealthy continental bankers and members of the European aristocracy, employed a young servant, stayed in expensive accommodation and enjoyed going to the theatre, even though he did not understand the language.

One entry, dated March 30 1814, is his account of the investiture of Prince William of Orange, beginning: "In the morning about 10 o'clock went to Nieue Kirk where the ceremony of installing the Prince was to take place - About Eleven (the Church being quite filled with Spectators and the decorations being very handsome) the Princesses entered attended by their Chamberlains and Pages & shortly after came the Prince Hereditary & Prince Frederick followed by a Train of Chamberlains, Pages, Gardes d'honneur &c &c...."

Mrs Dunn suspects the writer might have been a member of Birmingham's Attwood banking family but efforts to find out more through Birmingham University and Library, Coutts Bank - where the young man kept his money - and Napoleonic societies have come to nothing so far.

There was also no joy when she checked with the Royal Dutch Archives, who lost many documents during the Second World War.

Mrs Dunn has been helped in the preparation of the book by Geoff Beard, of Kinver, who worked with her in the history department at Perryfields High School and who has set the scene with historical notes about the times in which the diary writer lived.

Technical computer "wizardry" has been provided by Andrew Wood and the book, published by Russell Press and priced at £4.50, is now available from Mrs Dunn on 01562 883748 or through the Black Country Society.uk