A war hero who was missed off a south Norfolk memorial will have his name added after a historian urged the parish council to take action.

Albert 'Ray' Childs will join his brother Harry and 16 others on the Hethersett War Memorial after Bea Ewart, village historian and joint author of a book on the memorial, raised her concerns.

Councillors agreed that it was an appropriate time to make the change, with the memorial set to be cleaned and enhanced later in the year.

Mrs Ewart said that the absence was likely to have been an accident.

'He could have been put on but it looks as if they didn't know about him. Either that or the family were so cut up about their youngest son dying that they didn't want to do anything or tell anyone,' she said.

Mr Childs was gassed during active service in France 1918. Although he continued to serve in the war, he returned home to be hospitalised when his health deteriorated to 'a precarious state'.

He died aged 24 in 1919 and was buried in St Remigius Churchyard.

The village stalwart - whose family name was honoured at the naming of Childs Road - was known to many as the secretary of the juvenile branch of the Rechabites Club and secretary of Hethersett Cricket Club.

The addition will mark the second occasion that a name has been to the war memorial - Norman Folkard was included in 2011 after he was killed in action in 1956 during the Cyprus Emergency.

Hethersett Parish Council is also supporting a new website, set up by councillor Peter Steward, which looks at the village and the men who served in both war.

For more information visit the site at www.hethersettatwar.weebly.comDo you have a Hethersett story? Contact reporter Lauren Cope on lauren.cope@archant.co.uk