A YEAR-long campaign to add the names of two First World War soldiers to a memorial inside a Grade 1 listed church near Bradford on Avon has ended in success.

They are of William Henry Charles Harford, who died aged 30, on March 12 1915 in the run up to the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium, and Edward James Care, who died aged 35 on April 10 1917 during the Battle of Arras in France.

The Diocese of Salisbury has given approval for their names to be added to the war memorial inside the 12th century St Mary the Virgin Church at Westwood.

Local historian Jill Ross said: “We are planning an extra special Remembrance Sunday service in November to commemorate these men.

“Their names will be added to the First World War memorial sometime this year.

“It is more than 100 years since they both died and it has taken over a year to add their names to the war memorial.”

The £430 plus VAT cost will be paid for by Bryan Harford and his wife, Christine, who live in Bradford on Avon.

Mr Harford is a descendant of William Charles Henry Harford’s younger brother Henry Harford, whose name is already on the WW1 memorial.

Henry Harford died aged 28, died on May 15 1916 of injuries he received during the Siege of Kut in what was once Mesopotamia.

William Henry Charles Harford was born on January 28, 1885, in Monkton Farleigh.

His mother Susan Harford, described on William’s birth certificate as a ‘charwoman’, subsequently became an inmate of the Bradford Union Workhouse at Avoncliff in the Parish of Westwood,

She was still living there in 1887 when she gave birth to William’s brother, or perhaps half-brother, Henry Harford.

William Henry Charles Harford enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment. His younger brother also served in the Wiltshire Regiment.

Mr Care was born in Westwood in 1881, the first-born child of James and Louisa Care. Edward and his two brothers grew up at Staples Hill.

In 1901, at the age of 19, he was still living at home and working for his living locally as a domestic gardener.

He enlisted at Bath and joined the 8th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry.

Reverend Canon Joanna Abecassis, the Vicar of St Mary the Virgin Church, submitted the application to the Diocese Faculty to have the two names added to the memorial.

She said: “We are delighted to receive faculty permission for their names to be added to the war memorial.”

Mrs Ross, of Lower Westwood, who has been in touch with the Harford family, said: "The Parochial Church Council at Westwood are enormously grateful to the Harford family for their generosity."

She says the mason plans to carve the names on a piece of stone which will fit neatly between the two memorials inside the Norman church.