SIXTEEN men whose names were missed off Rawdon’s war memorial have been formally honoured after the omission was rectified.

The men lost their lives in the First War War but they were not listed on the village memorial. But now their names have been added in time for the the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.

John Davies, who carried out research for a memorial book, said: “As Chairman of Rawdon Parish Council, and a historian, I was asked to research the names of those from Rawdon who lost their lives in the war and I discovered that there were 16 men who were either born or lived in Rawdon but who were not named on the memorial. This was probably for a number of reasons. The most likely is that a committee was established to gather the names to be recorded on the memorial and by that time a number of families had moved away from the village.”

The Parish Council has added a plaque to the war memorial this year to commemorate those men whose names were missing.

The memorial book is permanently housed in Rawdon Community Library and there are copies in both St Peter’s Church and Trinity Church.

Ninety nine men from the village lost their lives in the conflict. Rawdon had one of the first officer casualties of the war. Captain Jonathan Knowles of the 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was killed on August 23, 1914 during the Battle of Mons. He was 32 years old. He is buried in Cement House Cemetery near Ypres in Belgium.

The names for the memorial were originally collected in the early 1920s in large part by the mother of George Averdieck. He died from wounds during the war and is buried in the graveyard at St Peter’s Church.

Cllr Davies said: “Sunday was a very busy and moving day starting at 6am with the lone piper playing Battle’s O’er at the Centenary Stone on Littlemoor and ending with the playing of the Last Post on top of the Billing at 6.55pm. We had incredibly large numbers at the service at 3pm. I am delighted that both churches and the Library had many visitors to look at the displays.”

The names which were missing from the war memorial are

Burborough, Charles E; Butterworth, Herbert; Crosthwaite, Stanley C; Cunliffe, Henry; Emmott, Sam; Grant, Joseph; Greaves, William A. G; Harling, James W; Hill, Alfred J; Ibbetson, Albert; Lee , Albert; Lee ,Wilfred; Long, Frederick P; Rushworth, Thomas E; Taylor, William L; Wharton, Alfred.