Appeal to find memorial to Admiral Benbow

Vice Admiral John Benbow was born in Coton Hill in 1653 and rose up through the ranks of the Royal Navy.

Andrew Finch, from Wattlesborough, near Shrewsbury, today called for people to come forward to help find a display case containing items linked to Benbow which used to be kept in the old Furrows garage in the town.

Mr Finch said he felt the former officer had been "forgotten" in his home town.

He said: "Vice Admiral Benbow is one of Shrewsbury's most famous sons yet his birthplace has all but forgotten him and fails to honour this man with any recognition or any form of statue."

Mr Finch said there is a memorial to Benbow at St Mary's Church and at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich.

He said years ago there was a display at the old Furrows garage but it disappeared when the site was redeveloped in 2004.

He said: "One wall was partly made up of a wall of Benbow's birthplace. Within that wall was a glass case and in that case was a section of sycamore tree with a key hanging from a rusty nail. It was said that this is where Benbow hung his house key before running off to sea."

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But he said mystery surrounds the whereabouts of the display case and the items it contained. Shropshire Council spokesman Simon Alton said the items were not in the county's museum service.

He said: "It wasn't acquired by Shrewsbury Museum at the time the garage closed and we don't have it now."

Benbow joined the Navy at the age of 25.

He saw action against Algerian pirates before joining the Merchant Navy. In 1688 he returned to the Royal Navy and was commissioned.

Mr Finch appealed for anyone with information about what happened to the display to contact him on (01743) 885048 or e-mail finchclean@aol.com