A FALLEN soldier from County Durham will be remembered properly this armistice centenary after his misspelled name was amended on one of the most celebrated memorials in Europe.

John Joseph Hodgson has no known grave and is commemorated on the war memorial in Coundon, near Bishop Auckland, and on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, in Ypres, Belgium.

However, on the Menin Gate his name since its unveiling in 1927 had been spelled "Hodsgon" instead of "Hodgson".

Originally from Murton Colliery and born in 1892, Mr Hodgson died on August 13, 1917, in the Battle of Passchendaele.

It is thanks to his family that his name was corrected more than 100 years after his death - and in time for the anniversary of Armistice Day this Remembrance Sunday.

His great-nephew Michael Lee said: "We want to pay tribute to people who made this amazing sacrifice. The least we can do out of respect is make sure any details, information and spellings are correct.

"For me it is fitting that 100 years after his death it has been corrected on the Menin Gate, the most famous memorial in the world."

Mr Lee, of Stockton, contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission after spotting the mistake in pictures taken by family members at Ypres.

Relatives shared the photographs at a 50-strong gathering to mark the centenary of his death last year at Coundon's war memorial.

In 1911, the 19-year-old Mr Hodgson was a mine surveying student at a coal mine and was boarding with a family in Ferryhill.

He married one of the nine children living in the house, Ethel Cockayne, in 1912 and some time later the couple moved to Coundon.

Within a few years he joined the Durham Light Infantry as a soldier and enjoyed rapid promotion through the ranks to Second Lieutenant in the 184th Tunnelling Company of the Royal Engineers.

The family received news of his death by telegram - the day before the postman knocked with a parcel containing a crucifix made by a soldier at the front for his sister Abigail.

Mr Hodgson left behind a daughter, Monica who was born in 1913 and a son, John Joseph, who was born in 1917, shortly after his death.

Mr Lee has been unable to locate any living descendants of his great-uncle but has appealed for them or anyone who may know them to get in touch via The Northern Echo.