Are you related to this First World War hero?

St Michael’s Church in Offham needs help.

There is a memorial in the church to a former churchwarden, Lt Col Walter Adams Nicholson, who was killed in action during the First World War.

A hundred years after he made the ultimate sacrifice, the church thought it would be good to make contact with any living relatives of Lt Col Nicholson to invite them to join a commemoration service at St Michael’s to be held on Armistice Day.

However, inquires have so far failed to find a living descendant.

Mr Nicholson should not really have been fighting in the First World War. He was of a previous generation and had already done his bit for his country.

Born in 1864, he was destined for a military career, being educated at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. He served in the Boer War in 1901, where he earned the Queen’s Medal with three clasps, and in Egypt and India before retiring from the Army in 1909. In September, 1900, he had married Nora Armitage from Quarrenden, West Malling, and the couple had two children,: John born in January 1906 and Edward born in May 1908.

The family settled in South Park, Sevenoaks, but when war was declared in 1914, Nicholson immediately signed up – at the age of 50 – joining the British Expeditionary Force and sailing to France in February 1915.

In April, he was gassed at Ypres and sent home to recover. He returned to duty in September, was made lieutenant colonel and put in charge of a brigade at the Battle of the Somme. Posted back to Ypres, he was killed on September 4, 1917, by a bomb dropped by an enemy aircraft.

A fellow officer said of him: “He had endured continual discomfort and constant danger, but I never heard him grumble and seldom saw him without a smile on his face.”

If you were related to Lt Col Nicholson please get in touch with the churchwarden Mike Rowe on 01732 849616.