I AM a frequent visitor to the battlefields of the First World War and, when in the right area, like to see the graves of my namesakes.

There are not many Middlebrooks as it is a relatively uncommon name.

The grave of one of them is in Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium, the largest British War Cemetery in the world.

He is Private E Middlebrook, 1st Battalion East Lancashire Regiment, aged 19, killed in action July 31, 1917, the opening day of what became known as the Battle of Passchendaele.

I visited his grave again recently and thought it sad that, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records provide the Christian names of most casualties, they do not show what the E of his name stands for.

Records show that his parents were John and Mary Ellen Middlebrook, 19 Further Wilworth, Blackburn.

Is there anyone in the Blackburn who can tell me what Private Middlebrook's Christian name was?

It is unlikely that he is a close relative, but my father came from a North Country family and I do feel an affinity with all the Middlebrooks who died in the wars.

MARTIN MIDDLEBROOK, 48 Linden Way, Boston, Lincs PE21 9DS.