POIGNANT background information about the 62 WWI servicemen honoured on Haslemere High Street War Memorial is being unearthed as a labour of love by town resident Shirley Harrison.

Inspired by the reading aloud of every name recorded on the memorial at the annual Haslemere Remembrance Sundays, Mrs Harrison resolved to find out more about about each serviceman “to bring the past to life”.

Several years on, she has managed to discover something more about all of them and also to find photographs of some of them, and hopes to publish her full account as a book.

One serviceman still remains a bit of a mystery however, and that is Dick Rose. Mrs Harrison has appealed for anyone with information about the serviceman, who gave his life for his country, to get in touch.

“Dick Rose was a butcher’s assistant in Kings Road, Haslemere, who died at the Battle of Cambrai,” she said.“But I haven’t been able to find out anything about his war career.

“There are a few in the lists but they don’t fit him. I have got a lot of information about the servicemen online, from old newspapers, parish magazines and official war diaries.

“Some of the war diaries are very detailed including what the weather was like, and the state of the men’s boots, to what the horses were doing. I am in contact with some descendants. It can be quite sad.

“I have the telegrams breaking the news servicemen had died sent to two families.

“The ages of those who died range from 19 to 43. I was quite surprised how old some were, and also that some were not killed in action, but by illness or friendly fire,” she said.

“Sgt Charles Hunt, 13th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, was 43 when he died. He joined the army aged 18 but worked in Haslemere as a gardener at a house in Fisher Lane, where he met his wife who was the cook. He rejoined the army when WWI started.

“One serviceman Sgt Ernest Myson, 8th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, went down in a hospital ship in 1915 that hit a mine in the English Channel. There were 300 on board and 125 died.

“Captain Charles Pollock, attached to 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment, came from a very privileged background.

“His father was a viscount and a MP. He was mentioned in dispatches in 1917 and went missing in 1918.

“It was thought he had been taken prisoner of war but he had been killed in action, aged 28, in 1918.

“They have all become real people for me and I would like to complete my research next year, which is the centenary of the end of WWI.

“This is all about bringing the past to life,” Shirley added.