THE NEPHEW of a Flintshire serviceman has expressed his gratitude after a huge effort by researchers found the evidence needed to have him added to a town War Memorial.

The Leader reported how refurbishments to the Buckley War Memorial situated in the Hawkesbury Garden of Remembrance were completed and more than 30 new names added.

Benjamin Lamb, of Brook Street in Buckley, was born in 1902. He left the town after enlisting with the Royal Welch Fusiliers and died in 1922 during the Waziristan War.

His name has never been listed on Buckley’s War Memorial - until now, almost a century later.

Barry Smallwood, Mr Lamb’s nephew, explained: “Ben lived in Brook Street - all the houses there have been bulldozed since. We have photos of him and his medical card.

The Leader:

Image provided by Cllr David Ellis

“My mother, Hannah Smallwood, thinks he walked to Wrexham to sign up with his friend because he was underage.

“She remembered that when she was about four or five, he went away as a young man and he never came home.

“It upset her as a little girl and it upset her later that his name was never recorded on the memorial.

“I never knew him, of course, and it was only when my mother died that I thought I’d try and find out more about him and what had happened to him.”

Mr Smallwood, who turns 75 this week, turned to the Buckley Society for help after finding out about the planned refurbishment works and the possibility of adding names.

Thanks to the hard work of researchers including Carol Shone, Peter Kelsall, Graham Caldwell and others, much more was found out about Mr Lamb.

“1919 is when we think he must have enlisted,” Mr Smallwood said, “because after 1920 they renumbered the soldiers and Ben had two sets of numbers.

“The research found a ‘B.Lamb’ and we had to prove that this was Ben from Buckley.

“When they delved further into it and found a list of his siblings, his address - that clinched it.

“I couldn’t believe it - 98 years later, there was the proof we needed to have him added to the memorial.

“I was so pleased but also sad that my mother couldn’t be there to see it.

“The people who did the research really deserve a medal. I can’t wait to see Carol in real life when all of this pandemic is over so I can give her a big hug and say thank you.”

Carol Shone, of the Buckley Society, said: “As the names came in, we did research them - Barry had given us information about Benjamin Lamb previously.

“Graham Caldwell was able to find out a lot more information that the family didn’t know about.”