THE Shuttle/Times and News has helped solve part of the mystery surrounding a memorial to three soldiers who died in the Boer War a century ago.

Poppy Appeal organiser Stan Voss launched an appeal last week for information about Frederick Hall, Ralph Jones and Walter Maunders, whose names adorn a monument at Kidderminster's cemetery. Ralph Jones who was one of the soldiers named on a war memorial.

And a nephew of Ralph Jones, William Groves, quickly contacted Mr Voss when he saw the article to clear up at least part of the mystery.

Mr Jones, 21 when he died, was the youngest of a family of "eight or nine" living in Prospect Hill and went to a school in Green Street in the late 19th century.

He served in the Transvaal, Orange Free State and Cape Colony campaigns of the Boer War with the Worcester Imperial Yeomanry, the equivalent of today's territorial army, and Mr Groves, of Clent Avenue, Kidderminster, still has his medal.

Mr Voss marked the centenary of the trio's death by placing small wooden crosses with poppies on their monument.

The search for information about the other two continues.