A SOLUTION is being proposed so that First World War heroine Kitty Trevelyan’s name can remain on the Meavy village war memorial.

Kitty’s name was added to the memorial earlier this year, almost 100 years to the day after she died in France aged just 19 after leaving her home village of Meavy to volunteer for the war effort.

A moving ceremony was held at the memorial in February, attended by Kitty’s great-nephew and Sue Robinson of charity Wenches for Trenches, which campaigned to have her name inscribed alongside men from the village who died.

But objectors have since pointed out that proper consent had not been sought to add anything to the Listed war memorial in Meavy where Kitty grew up.

Now Burrator Parish Council has been approached by the Dartmoor National Park Planning Authority, following their discussions with the War Memorials Trust, with a proposal to rectify matters.

The authority has suggested that the parish council resubmit a Listed Building Application on behalf of Wenches in Trenches for the wording Armorel K. Trevelyan, R.A.S.C. Canteens.

These words would be added to the memorial, and the existing inscription, Kitty Trevelyan, would then be removed. The stone would also be cleaned and the existing names repainted in black. The parish council is asking the public for comments before it comes to a final decision on the wording at its meeting on September 28. It will then submit the application to Dartmoor National Park Authority.

However Sue Robinson of Wenches for Trenches, which paid for the original inscription, said she was not happy with Kitty’s birth name of Armorel being used.

‘She’s only ever been referred to as Kitty. Her family only ever called her Kitty, and in the church at Meavy, on her confirmation records, she is referred to as Kitty, so it seems like absolute nonsense to call her Armorel,’ she said. ‘If that is what the national park authority is insisting on, though, I suppose we shall have to go with it.’

Sue said that the parish council had raised no objection before Kitty’s name was inscribed on the granite memorial and the dedication ceremony held.

‘It is ridiculous, but there is one upside to all this,’ she added. ‘Whereas before Kitty Trevelyan was known only to herself and her family, now everybody in the South West knows her name. I’ve had loads of strangers asking me “What’s happening with Kitty Trevelyan?” so every cloud has a silver lining.’

Mike Nendick, a spokesman for Dartmoor National Park Authority, said: ‘We are looking forward to working with Meavy Parish Council to find a solution to this.’

Kitty was so keen to support the war effort that she lied about her age, leaving Meavy aged just 17 to volunteer in canteens feeding the troops on the Western Front. She died of measles two years later, and is buried in Wimereux Cemetery in Pas-de-Calais in northern France.

Comments on the wording for the memorial can be sent to The Apartment, The Old Bedford Foundry, Lakeside, Tavistock PL19 0AZ, or emailed to [email protected] by September 22.