An Angus man has delved into the depths of history to identify the unknown First World War heroes of Edzell.
Roger Moult of Montrose spent months investigating the history of the men on the Edzell United Free Church roll of honour for the First World War as part of a university dissertation.
Edzell UF Church was based in Dalhousie Street and became Edzell South Church of Scotland at the union in 1929. It was closed around 1940 and the building was demolished around 30 years ago.
Roger’s work has identified 28 of the 30 UF men whose pictures still remain from the list and included in the village roll of honour and his completed dissertation is now available at the Angus Archives near Forfar.
“I do not have any personal connection to Edzell UF Church but I became interested in the roll of honour when I saw it at Angus archives when I was considering possible topics for my final dissertation,” said Mr Moult.
“The roll of honour consists of 30 photographs of men associated with the church who served in the First World War.
“Six of the men were killed in the war. The dissertation identifies 28 of the 30 men and outlines their own or their family’s link to Edzell and, where possible, to Edzell UF Church.
“As time has passed since the end of the war, many of the names on war memorials are unknown to people who now see them. Apart from brief notes of names, ranks and units, there is no other information.
“It is not known when the roll of honour was put together.”
Mr Moult made it his mission to identify the men, three of whom are pictured, and cement their links to the village. However, he encountered a little-known problem during his investigations.
“Researching First World War soldiers is much more difficult than might be expected because the war department building in which the First World War soldiers’ service records were stored was bombed in the Blitz in September 1940,” he said.
“According to experts, records survive for only 25-30% of soldiers, but what survives may be incomplete or damaged by fire or water and unreadable in places.”
Roger’s work is on show at the Angus archives centre in the Hunter Library at Restenneth, near Forfar.