THE name of a First World War heroine may have to be removed from the Meavy village war memorial — just a few months after it was added. 

Kitty Trevelyan’s name was added to the Meavy memorial as part of a project by the charity Wenches in Trenches to commemorate forgotten women of the First World War. 

Kitty Trevelyan left her home in Meavy aged 17 to become a civilian volunteer worker with the Army Canteens in France where she died of illness aged 19 in 1917.

However, Dartmoor National Park Authority is insisting that the lettering should be removed as it was unauthorised.

Burrator Parish Council was asked by the planning authority to seek retrospective planning permission on behalf of the charity for the addition of the name to the memorial. However, this met opposition from the War Memorials Trust, which has offered to advise the parties involved on how best to record Kitty’s name appropriately.

The War Memorials Trust has suggested that the young woman’s name might best be remembered and honoured on a separate granite stone, laid at the foot of the current granite war memorial. 

In light of this, the parish council has withdrawn the retrospective planning application. 

A spokesperson for the council said: ‘We concluded from the objections raised that more time was required for the charity Wenches in Trenches, its supporters and the Parochial Church Council to come to an amicable arrangement with the War Memorial Trust and the Meavy residents who have expressed concerns. 

‘The trust’s suggestion of a separate stone wedge close to the existing memorial bearing Miss Trevelyan’s name may be the preferred solution but this is not for the parish council to decide.

‘It is regrettable that the national park is insisting that the lettering is removed but there is nothing the parish council can do in the light of the objections.’