MINISTRY of Defence war detectives need help tracing the family of a casualty found on historic battlefields thought to be from Newtown and Rhayader.

During an archaeological dig in 2016 on the western side of the village of St Julien, France, several sets of human remains and artefacts were discovered. A list of possible casualties has been drawn up and the MoD is looking for families in the hope that they will be willing to provide DNA for comparison.

Private Edward G Hughes – Gloucestershire Regiment – was killed on, August 16, 1917, aged 22. He was the son of Evan Hughes and Elizabeth J Price. The family was from the Newtown/Rhayader area. He had two sisters (neither married or had children) and five brothers (Evan, Thomas, William, Jack and Richard). Evan married and had a son, Evan Jnr, who married Eleanor J Williams in 1955. A possible son, Edward C Hughes, was born in 1960 in Newtown. Could you be related to him?

If so, please call 01452 712612 ext 5520/6303/6082/5465.