FRIDAY, September 15, 1916 was the day many of the men listed on Hexham’s war memorial died.

The 4th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers’ A Company was decimated as 22 officers and 695 men went over the top at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.

A roll call three days later recorded 120 of them were killed in action, 236 were wounded and 143 were missing.

Now, as it prepares to mark the centenary of what was actually a series of battles that are collectively referred to as the Battle of the Somme, Hexham Town Council is appealing for help from the men’s descendants.

Deputy Mayor, Coun. Tom Gillanders, said: “We’ve got 52 people listed on the war memorial who died during the battles of the Somme, although it doesn’t give the dates or where they died; just their names, ranks and numbers.

“The thing is, in some cases there is a difference between what is written on the memorial and what has been published (by a local historian), so we are trying to identify exactly who each of the men were.”

The Royal British Legion had only just been formed when its local branch chairman began compiling the list of names to be inscribed on the memorial. “He let the families write in about their husband, brother, son, so that could be how mistakes crept in,” said Tom.

According to the war memorial, for example, Cpl Gerald Pattinson, aged 31, was a member of the Machine Gun Corps when he died, but that had, in fact, been turned into the Tanks Corps two months before the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.

Tom said: “That battle was the first time – the first day – tanks were ever used on a battlefield, so he must have been one of the very first men to die in the Royal Tank Regiment.”

The town council is planning to read out the names of the 52 men who died at the Somme during Hexham’s Remembrance Day ceremony and as such, Tom is tasked with ironing out as many of the discrepancies before then.

“I’d be delighted to hear from any of the men’s families,” he said.

He can be contacted in writing at the Hexham Town Council office, St Andrew’s Cemetery, West Road, Hexham NE46 3RR.