A BOOK commemorating the men of Horley who died in the First World War has been released.
Amateur historian Doug Cox has written the book ahead of the 100 year anniversary of the conflict, to provide people with more information about the 122 names on the Horley War Memorial, in the Recreation Ground, off Brighton Road..
Mr Cox, a former borough councillor, said: "I have just received my first copy of it. I'm very pleased, it looks good."
Mr Cox approached Horley Town Council early last year with the idea of writing Men of Horley 1914-1918: Lest We Forget. The council agreed to fund the project.
Explaining his decision to write the book, Mr Cox, who retired from the motor trade in 2007, said: "I became irritated that when you go into a war cemetery abroad, at the gate there's a little booklet which tells you at the very least which unit a man came from and quite often whereabouts in England he was from.
"It dawned on me that we could find out more about those men in a grave in France and Germany than you could about our own men in Horley.
"And I think we need something like that.
"I think they deserve to be remembered. There's a block on the war memorial which says Henry Webber. He turned out to be the oldest man to be killed in the First World War. He is a great Horley character but a lot of people wouldn't have heard of him."
Mr Cox used the 1911 census to trace all of the men, as well as the Commonwealth War Graves website.
"The main challenge was being certain that the men were identified correctly. We were fortunate that a lot of them are on the 1911 census.
"I think the most surprising thing has been the realisation of how easy it is to make errors in diaries. Back in 1919, when all this lot was being collected by somebody, everything was handwritten with attendant spelling mistakes. There were a lot of errors in transition."
Despite the challenges, the book has been a project of passion for Mr Cox.
He added: "When I was younger, I served as a territorial solider in the parachute regiment and I have always been interested in military history. I rarely spend any holiday where I do not get to a battlefield of some sort."
Men of Horley 1914-1918: Lest We Forget, priced £15.99, will be available at Horley Local History Society meetings from this Saturday. The group meets at Horley Library between 3 and 5pm on Tuesday afternoons and between 10am and noon on Saturdays.
