MORE information has come to light about a brave Blackburn soldier features in Bygones last month.

Tom Williams wrote to the Lancashire Telegraph to try and trace the relatives of Archie Forrest, from Knuzden.

He asked for out help after finding a letter written to his grandfather, also Thomas, on July 23, 1917.

Corporal Forrest wrote to the Welsh schoolteacher to update him on the health of his son Owen who had recently been injured.

A few weeks later Clp Forrest was killed when out with a Royal Engineers working party near Ypres in preparation for the advance on Passchendaele.

Mr Williams was intrigued by the unlikely friendship between the weaver from The Cottage in Cabin End, in the trenches since January 1916, and his Uncle Owen who was the son of a schoolteacher from the south-west Wales village of Lawrenn

He is keen to pass on the letter to any surviving relatives of Clp Forrest.

Oxfordshire-based military historian Jim Smithson was touched by the story and has researched official records and the documents of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) to see what more he can discover.

They show that Clp Forrest actually dies on August 26 1917 not August 25 as recorded by the Blackburn Times shortly afterwards.

And they show he is buried at the Wieltje Farm Cemetery in Belgium while Owen Williams survived, went to university and went on to become a senior classics teacher and deputy headmaster of a grammar school.

But the Williams family, especially Tom, a 74-year-old retired banker living in Ipswich, have never forgotten Cpl Forrest and his thoughtfulness after his friend Own suffered a serious head injury in combat.

Mr Smithson told Bygones: "Although the CWGC have no details of Archie Forrest’s next of kin and his service papers no longer exist I was able to track down where he came from.

"The papers that do exist at Kew relating to where his belongings or outstanding monies should go name his mother as Harriet, confirming the mother’s name.

"This allowed me to find him on the 1911 Census as a 14-year-old cotton weaver living at 51 Audley Lane, Blackburn.

"I hope this information will help the family who were trying to track him down.

"As far as I could see he had two younger brothers, one of whom died quite young and was still at home but another who only died a few years ago and probably left family.

"He is listed as dying of wounds on August 26 not 25 as stated in the article.

"He is buried at Wieltje Farm Cemetery in Belgium."

Mr Williams believes Cpl Forrest was the second child of Isaac Forrest and Harriet, nee Fowler.

And he discovered that Talbot House a museum and former solders' club in Poperinghe has a chair donated by friends of Cpl Forrest in his memory.

Mr Williams said: "It seems young Archie made an impact on many in his too short life."