KEEN historian Kevin Richardson has completed the task of tracking down the full details of all 48 servicemen from his parish who lost their lives in the First World War.

It has taken him longer than a year to trace the home addresses, ages, units and final battles of all those named on a village war memorial at Evenwood, near Barnard Castle, County Durham.

Now, he means to compile a book giving all the facts, along with photographs of many of the men and their resting places, and deposit it in a local community centre.

Mr Richardson, a 53-year-old planning executive with a building company, said yesterday: "I'm doing this as a tribute to those who made the supreme sacrifice. I mean to set out a full record about their deeds, so that local people can read about them for many years to come.

"Until now, they have been simply names carved into the stone cenotaph. Now, they can be seen as real people who gave their lives for their country."

As reported in The Northern Echo in July last year, he went to Norway to visit the grave of William Carrick, a naval rating from the village who died in the Battle of Jutland in June 1916.

Since then, he has visited more than a dozen war cemeteries in France and Belgium to photograph other graves, as well as sifting through local, national and regimental records. He is going to those two countries again next month to take more pictures.

The youngest casualty was Private Ralph Heaviside, 18, of Thrushwood, Evenwood, who died in September 1918 after a battle in France. A Northumberland Fusilier, he is buried at Pernes.

The oldest was Gunner William Gray, 40, of Evenwood Gate, who was in the Royal Field Artillery when he fell in an action at Le Becque, in July 1918, and is buried at Terlinchum, in France.

One of several heroes was Private Oliver Rushford, 24, of Morley, near Evenwood, who was in the DLI when killed in the third Battle of the Aisne in June 1918. He is buried at Soissons. He was awarded the Military Medal for bravery.

Mr Richardson would like to hear from any of his relatives, or those of Thomas Applegarth, 24, of the DLI, who died in April 1918 and is buried at Caix, France.

Three of the casualties were in the Royal Navy - Andrew Lynas and John Wren, as well as William Carrick -- and the other 45 were in the army, with the biggest number in the DLI.

Most were killed in France or Belgium - but Private Mark Middlemass, 35, of Stones End, Evenwood, died in the Battle of Vittorio Venato, in Italy, in October 1918, and is buried near there at Tezze. Some of those who fell, such as Private John Maughan, 23, of Clyde Terrace, Evenwood, who was killed on the Somme in October 1916 and is buried at Meaulte, still have relatives in the village.

His great great nephew, also John Maughan, plays cricket for Evenwood.

One puzzle for Mr Richardson is why Private Richard W Conlin, from Lanarkshire, who was in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and died at Ypres in 1914, is named on the memorial.

"I can find no local connection for him, but presume he married an Evenwood girl," he said.

He will soon be starting on another project - tracing the background of 20 men killed in the Second World War, whose names were added to the memorial later.

"But that should be an easier task as there are fewer of them and it will be possible to speak to more of their relatives who still live around the village," he said