IT was good to see one of the first Salisbury men to be killed in the First World War remembered and honoured in the paper but many researchers working on the names on their local war memorials may have felt disappointed that it was an officer who was featured. I know I did.

The internet and other modern research tools enable us now to tell the stories of most of the thousands of ‘other ranks’ who also fought and died, many of whom lie in anonymous graves (‘known unto God’) or whose bodies were lost and unburied.

In these more egalitarian times should we not think about featuring them where possible?

Prayers will be said for each man on the Sunday nearest the 100th anniversary of his death in the church of St Andrews, Bemerton.

Next month we will be commemorating Sgt Albert Lodder of 1st Battalion Wiltshire Regiment who died on September 21 and Joseph Fricker, stoker 1st class who served on HMS Cressy, torpedoed with two other armoured cruisers on September 22. This incident caused a national outcry (the three ships went down in an hour) and may well be featured in the national media.

I know there are other parishes in south Wiltshire who are doing similar research.

Bea Tilbrook Quidhampton