An historian is appealing for information to track down the pasts of three men named on a war memorial.

Rainow historian Harry Carlisle has spent two years tracking down the backgrounds of the 667 names on the Park Green War Memorial in Macclesfield.

After painstakingly checking through Ancestry websites, the 1911 census, military records and the Macclesfield Express archives, Harry has found information about the lives of 664 of the men, which are documented in Harry’s new book “Not Just A Name”.

But there are three men named on the memorial who will not feature in the book, as Harry has been unable to find out anything about them.

The remaining three are John Rogers, Arnold Brown and Richard Hall.

Harry said: “I can’t even find out whether they were in the army, navy or air force.

“If anyone has any information to help identify these men, the Macclesfield Reflects group and I would be pleased to receive it.”

There are several reasons the men could be proving difficult to trace.

Harry said: “The last census before the war was 1911, so they could have moved to the area after then.

“I also looked for a man from Rainow called Walter Johnson in the military records and over two and a half thousand men matched that name.

“I found out on the last page of the last paper I was reading he had moved to the Potteries and then Scotland.”

Harry describes his research as “enthralling” and has already almost finished his second book, which chronicles the lives of men named on war memorials from 32 villages about Macclesfield.

He said: “There are another 880 names in that book, with over two hundred coming from Wilmslow alone.”

Harry Carlisle

Former soldier Harry, 77, was inspired to write the books after walking past the memorial in his village one day.

He said: “Like the title of book, I didn’t want them to be just a name. Some men left a bigger footprint than others. There are some I could find a lot about, and some where I could barely find anything about them. But they’re still not just a name.”

Not Just a name is priced at £16

Not Just A Name is priced at £16 and available to buy from Harry directly on 01625428331, and at events organised by Macclesfield Reflects or Cheshire Villages Great War Society.