A VILLAGE war memorial containing the name of a prisoner who died after being forced to work on the infamous Burma Railway is to be rededicated.

Egginton Village Hall contains a wooden plaque with the names of troops from the village who served in both world wars, including five who were killed in action.

Among them is Private Leonard Fairbrother, a Sherwood Forester, who is thought to have trained at Egginton barracks and married a local woman before being stationed in Singapore.

Three weeks' later, the Foresters were overrun by the Japanese army and Pte Fairbrother was shipped off to the railway, where he died and was buried in the Kanchanaburi war cemetery.

Nothing else is known about him.

"It's a tragic tale yet we know so little," said Egginton historian Tony Wassell.

The hall has recently reopened after a renovation project and the memorial will be rededicated at 11am next Tuesday.

The ceremony will be conducted by the Rev Stewart Rayner.

Mr Wassell and Professor Rainer Goldsmith, also from Egginton, have been researching the history of the five men who died in the wars.

They have produced a display which will be shown to children at Egginton Primary School prior to the rededication ceremony.

Four of the soldiers – Pte Walter Knight, Pte George Dicken, Sgt Thomas Haywood and Rifleman James Griffin – were killed in the First World War.

But, again, the historians only have scant information about three of them.

Only the relatives of Rifleman Griffin, whose family were associated with Egginton for 100 years and now live in Stretton, are known. He died in 1916 at the first Battle of the Somme.

Mr Wassell said: "It's quite remarkable that in the First World War – which took place not long after 1900, when the population of the village was just 412 – 53 people from Egginton fought and only four died."

The plaque also names 29 locals who served in the Second World War.

Now the historians are appealing for information about those who died and are listed on the memorial.

"We've got some basic information about them but we can't get any further," said Prof Goldsmith. "We're not sure where the relatives are now – they seem to have lost touch with the village.

"It would be great to hear from them."

The memorial hall was also used as a hospital in the First World War for troops injured on the frontline.

Two graves nearby contain the names Pte Friend Puttick and William Dibley, a driver for the Royal Field Artillery, both of whom died in 1918.

Anyone with information about any of the soldiers listed should call Mr Wassell on 01283 732447.

For a comprehensive round-up of Remembrance Day events, see tomorrow's Evening Telegraph.