A MEMORIAL to young men who died in both wars which went missing for decades has been restored to its rightful place in Colchester Town Hall.

The missing tablet, which is dedicated to employees of the Essex and Suffolk Equitable Insurance Society Limited, was rediscovered after a public appeal in the Essex County Standard.

It used to be part of the Essex and Suffolk Fire Office war memorial in a building in High Street, Colchester, but when historian Heather Johnson began her quest to find the tablet it was nowhere to be found.

However after the paper's appeal, Dick Barton came forward, saying he had found it in the archives of Guardian Royal Exchange at a warehouse in Sussex back in 2006.

The tablet was unveiled back in its rightful home in a first-floor corridor at Colchester Town Hall by town mayor Peter Chillingworth.

He said: "I am tremendously pleased that the search to find the dedication tablet has finally, thanks to the painstaking efforts of Dick Barton and Heather Johnson, seen it return to the town after all these years – and less than 200 yards from where it once stood.

“The timing could not be more fitting – coming less than a month after commemorations in the borough marking the end of World War One.

“I was incredibly honoured to unveil the memorial in its new home and enormously grateful to everyone who made the occasion possible.”

After taking over Guardian Royal, insurance firm AXA UK had become the official owner of the tablet. However in May 2018 the company relinquished its ownership rights enabling it to be given a new permanent home in Colchester Town Hall.

Ms Johnson said: “I have to thank everyone who made this unveiling possible.

"All would probably agree that I was rather fixated on achieving an outcome such as this.

"It was so heart-warming, and appropriate, to see the Mayor reveal the tablet, from beneath a Union Jack flag, which all named on the tablet had served under.

“I look forward to seeing the tablet after it has received its final renovation in the New Year. It will then complement its grand surroundings.”

More information about the dedication tablet can be found at https://bit.ly/2EsS3Aa.