FOR Good Samaritan Trevor Faulkner, volunteering to tend a village churchyard turned out to be one of the most fascinating things he’s ever done.

While he was busy cutting the grass at St Margaret’s Church, Downham, Trevor came across a broken old headstone, propped up in the corner.

Trevor, 58, of Castleton Road, Wickford, decided to take a closer look. This was the start of a wonderful story which has brought Trevor together with a local historian, the church and even the Army.

Trevor quickly realised the stone belonged to a very important man, General Alexander Fraser CB.

But who was he and how did his headstone get to be in such a state?

Trevor, who gives up much of his spare time to look after the church, enlisted the help of local history buff Gill Denham.

Trevor said: “I just thought wow, this man was important, surely he deserves a headstone in a better state than this. I asked Gill, and we soon found out about the important things he achieved.”

General Fraser was a regimental hero in the Royal Engineers during the mid 1800s.

He was ultimately responsible for building several lighthouses across India, which was then in the British Empire. In fact, he was known as the “first great Imperial Lighthouse Engineer” and his structures saved hundreds of lives.

Born in Cheltenham in 1824, General Fraser was educated at Kings College, London, before joining the East India Company College in Surrey He was soon posted to India where he became involved in planning the company’s railways.

He was then given the task of building a lighthouse on the Alguada Reef, at the mouth of the Irawaddy River, in Burma.

The 120ft lighthouse became one of the most important in India and even survived the onslaught of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Gill, who lives in Downham, explained: “General Fraser persuaded the Governor of India the Alguada should be built of stone, rather than iron, which was the favoured construction material of the time.

“It was the General who also persuaded the Governor that a lighthouse should be built in this spot.

“The lighthouse took five seasons to build and cost around £100,000. This was a lot compared to other lighthouses at the time. The lights, which could bee seen over 15 miles out to sea, were first used on April 23, 1865.”

Queen Victoria was so impressed with the lighthouse she sent her congratulations to General Fraser and a picture of the structure also appeared in an edition of the Illustrated London News in 1865.

After delving into the life of General Fraser, Trevor and Gill contacted the Royal Engineers who then organised for the headstone to be taken away and repaired.

“It would appear, as it is not a war grave, they had lost track of this regimental hero and his grave,” said Gill.

“They quickly came to the church, removed the stone and set about restoring it.”

On Wednesday, Staff Sgt Sam Law of the Royal Engineers, based in Cambridge, visited the church along with a handful of sappers to hand the headstone back to St Margaret’s vicar, the Rev Stephen Robertson.

Staff Sgt Law said: “We’re really pleased to have been able to do something to restore the headstone.

“We thought it was an important thing to do. This is something we took pride in doing.

“The sappers doing the restoration work have also learnt some skills that will stand them in good stead in the future. We don’t do masonry work usually, so they had to learn and they will now take these skills with them.”

Gill added: “This is such a lovely story which has brought together a lot of people. General Fraser’s work may have saved thousands of lives in the 140 or so years since the lighthouses were built.

“The fact the Royal Engineers were so keen to get involved also shows a very positive side of what they do, both historically and in the present.”

General Fraser – who was responsible for building several other lighthouses – returned to England upon his retirement and married Monica Stores Smith, who was 39 years his junior.

They had two sons, Bruce and Cecil.

Records show in 1891 the family were living in Deal, Kent, but later moved to Essex.

“We believe they might have been the first occupants of Downham Grange and we are tring to trace exactly when it was built,” added Gill.

“Trevor has achieved something very important by doing something about this stone when many people must have simply walked past without noticing it.

“It could even be said there is a similarity in mindset between Trevor and the General.

“I would guess Alexander Fraser would have noticed a large gravestone propped up with a fence post and would have taken the trouble to find out about it.”

Gill and Trevor want to find out more about General Fraser and are hoping to publish a book about his life, with the proceeds going towards the upkeep of the church grounds.

Anyone with information should call Gill on 01268 766077.