Keen historian John Pringle is nearing the end of a project to trace the graves of all the 125 men honoured on his town's main war memorial.

After four years of detective work he has only seven more resting places to find of troops from Barnard Castle, County Durham, who died in the First World War.

He tracked down most quite easily as they lived locally and still have relatives in the area. But others were more difficult, as they had no local family connection.

Two he traced recently were bank clerks who worked in Barnard Castle before being called up for war, but had no permanent local address.

Ernest Gall, of Barnes, near London, worked at Barclays Bank branch in the town before he joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He was killed at Ypres in 1915.

Richard Butler of Batley, West Yorkshire, served at the local National Provincial branch before he joined the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. He died in India early in 1919.

Mr Pringle, 47, said yesterday: "It was hard to discover anything about these two. But once I found where they worked and their home addresses I could look up their war records."

Another difficult one was Linsley Harrison. He was from Gateshead, but lived in Barnard Castle briefly before joining the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He was killed at Gallipoli in 1915.

There was also a problem tracing Thomas Stokeld. He was from Hartlepool, but lived for a time in Barnard Castle before joining the Durham Light Infantry. He died at Ypres in 1916.

The seven still to be traced are David Elliott, John Hall, Ernest Lee, Thomas Errington, George Stout, Thomas Hunter and Arthur Emerson. The latter returned after the war but died shortly afterwards. His place of death and burial have not yet been discovered.

Mr Pringle said: "If I can find a clue about where they lived or worked I'll go on to get their service records. These should show where they were killed and buried."

He has been to war cemeteries in France and Belgium several times as well as sifting through military records at Kew in London, studying war details on the Internet and examining old newspaper reports.

Mr Pringle started his hunt after seeing the name of a relative, John Pringle, 19, who was killed in France in 1918, on a memorial in Morpeth, Northumberland.

He decided the 125 men on the memorial at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, should have their full details recorded rather than only their names. He intends to produce a book once the project is completed.

Anyone with information about the seven remaining casualties is asked to contact Mr Pringle on 01833-637801.