THE unveiling of a new war memorial in a town hall has marked the end of a three-year campaign by pensioner Robert Harvey.

He was eight when his Merchant Navy brother William, 21, lost his life in 1942 when his ship was torpedoed.

William had survived a similar sinking when one of his previous ships had been attacked by a U-boat. He appeared on a framed scroll of 238 names in Jarrow Town Hall of those lost in the Second World War. But Mr Harvey, who lives in Jarrow, said after refurbishment, the list was moved upstairs in the town hall.

“To see it I had to ask a member of staff to operate an electronic lock and they then stood next to you. It wasn’t a proper memorial,” said Robert.

Robert wrote to a dozen councillors and the issue went to the Jarrow and Boldon Community Area Forum, which raised a grant to produce a brass plaque memorial on a mahogany mount. It has now been unveiled in the town hall.

Another Jarrow resident, Vin Mullen, who has spent 15 years researching the town’s war losses, provided more than 100 names to add to the plaque, which now records 309 individuals.

“Now nobody is happier than me,” said Mr Harvey.

The only war cenotaph in Jarrow town centre was erected in 1921 by the Palmers company in honour of its 1,543 employees from its Jarrow and Hebburn shipyards, iron and engine works who served in the First World War. The names of 145 who died are recorded. But Mr Mullen said his research has shown 836 people from Jarrow died in the First World War, plus 18 civilians, killed by a Zeppelin airship bombing raid. The total for the two world wars was 1,188. Mr Mullen said that, especially with the 100th anniversary next year of the start of the First World War, a new cenotaph was needed recording all of the names of those from the town who lost their lives in the two conflicts.

“Only 15% of those from the town who died are recorded and the rest have been forgotten,” he said.

“Jarrow was a working-class area and many men joined up. In the First World War almost every street lost someone.”

Mr Mullen said that there were also still 57 names missing from the new Second World War plaque.

A spokesman for South Tyneside Council said: “We are currently investigating the feasibility and potential funding opportunities of having over 300 names added to the Palmer’s war memorial in Jarrow, as well as establishing an electronic book of remembrance at the crematorium.”