A Shropshire man has launched a new camapign to honour Shropshire’s war heroes on a special internet site. Toby Neal caught up with him to find out more.

Up and down Shropshire there are war memorials of all sorts of different types recording the names of the thousands of men who fell during war.

But now Neil Evans of Telford has launched a major project to set up a war memorial for the internet age, which he has called the “Shropshire Virtual War Memorial.”

He is aiming to put all the names of Shropshire’s war dead on a web site – www.shropshirewarmemorial.org.uk – together with as much extra information as he can glean.

“The web site was created at the beginning of January, and is still in its infancy,” said Neil.

“Through the course of the next 12 months, I hope to upload all my current information.

“It’s the result of three years’ research into Shropshire-related casualties. I have visited nearly 200 locations in the county, and I have researched 6,263 names on 168 Shropshire memorials.

“In addition to this I have a photographic archive of 1,200 war grave photographs, and 400-plus alternative commemorations, from a bookcase remembering a victim, to a simple family inscription.”

Neil, from St Georges, is 24 (“A bit younger than people expect”) and is a support worker for adults with learning difficulties.

He has no military background, nor close family members involved in the military, but says: “I just have had a keen interest in history throughout my life. I’m studying for a history degree with the Open University at the moment. I’m interested in local history, British imperialism, and the military history of Shropshire”

His initial idea was to try to transcribe every name on every war memorial in Shropshire.

“It was initially an interest and a hobby, and it turned into something that could benefit others, such as people tracing their family history.”

A spur was some research into his own family history, which included finding the background of a family member whose name is one of six recorded on a war memorial at Bodelwyddan, North Wales.

“He was Leonard Nuttall, my granddad’s uncle. There’s a tragic tale behind that. The family were always told that he was killed in action. In fact he was wounded.”

After a spell in hospital he was sent to a training camp.

“Although he might have been sufficiently physically recovered from his wounds, he was not mentally, and he hanged himself at St Asaph.”

The truth was not kept from the family by the authorities – rather, it was covered up within the family.

“It was a family secret which was very well kept,” said Neil.

Neil has been dipping into a variety of records to build up his database and is hoping too for a two-way flow of information from descendants of those honoured on the memorials.

“Another thing that I would be very interested in is if people could tell where some of the obscure war memorials are, or if relatives of people who fell in the war have got photographs, I could put them on the web site, with a full acknowledgement.”

Neil says he has undertaken a big task, but adds: “I have photographed about 95 per cent of all the war graves in Shropshire and have a database of over 6,500 names.”

His deep interest in war memorials is, he agrees, rather unusual for somebody of his age.

“I just worry that people my age see it as it is, and don’t see beyond what they see. I don’t call it naivety. I think it’s a lack of interest. I’m probably a very rare breed.”

Now that his embryonic web site is up and running, albeit very much “work in progress”, he wants to get the message out about it so that people can tap into it to help research their family history, and also that people can also get in touch to add information which will flesh out details about the thousands of Shropshire fallen.