World War I veteran from Rotherham added to the grave after an appeal from his niece

A World War I soldier who died of his wounds seven years after the end of the conflict has been included on a local memorial following an appeal by his family.

Private Walter Blackwell was wounded in the fighting at Ypres in 1915 and never recovered until his death in 1926 at the age of 33.

After a campaign led by his 93-year-old niece Betty Quinton, his name was inscribed on a parish tomb in Wales, near his home in Kiveton Park, Rotherham.

Mrs Quinton attended the dedication service today and said her father “would be very proud” of the inscription in honor of her brother.

Private Blackwell was a miner, and after joining the Foresters, Sherwood was trained to dig tunnels under enemy lines where explosives could be placed.

He left a personal account of his service in the army, which revealed that a German shell fell on the shaft where he was working, causing it to collapse and trapping the men below.

He wrote: “We just managed to get out. There were people lying on all sides. Four of us entered the dugout, but the Germans dropped a gas shell on it. My three companions lay dead. I was buried and seriously injured.”

He suffered from the effects of gas poisoning and shell shock for the rest of his life, and eventually had to have his leg amputated.

Previously, the monument only represented those who died as a direct result of the war before 1920.

Mrs Quinton said: “This young man left a village he had never left before to fight for his king and country.

“My father often talked about his brother. He and Walter were very close. “I think Walter’s death broke his heart.”

A soldier and Mrs. Quinton’s father, the Marquess, came from a family of nine sons, and their father was also a miner.

Kiveton Park Colliery gave Private Blackwell a job as a bicycle steward on his return from the Western Front, and he also had his own bicycle repair shop in a shed at home.

However, despite his family’s efforts, his war pension was eventually taken away. Another of his brothers, Arthur, served as an artillery gunner and was also gassed.

Richard Waller, who was acting clerk of the Wales Parish Council when the decision to change the statue was made, said it “righted an injustice”.

He said: “A long time ago the family wrote to the War Graves Commission or the War Office and were told the cut-off date was 1920. This was not correct, as I was advised by the War Memorials Trust; it was the local population who decided whose names would be on the monuments. It was always something that could be done.”

Mrs Quinton added: “I’m very proud that after all these years I have achieved something that my dad couldn’t achieve all these years.”

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