A LOCAL historian has been acknowledged for his work by being admitted into one of the world's oldest academic associations.

At a recent meeting of their council in central London, the Royal Anthropological Institute admitted academic, historian and local town and county councillor Simon Hancock of Neyland as a Fellow (FRAI).

The world's longest-established scholarly association, the institute is dedicated to the furtherance of the study of humankind

Together, RAI Fellows are said to 'represent collectively an unrivalled body of knowledge'.

The Institute also awards several international prizes, such as the Curl Essay Prize, the Wellcome Medal for Medical Anthropology, the Lucy Mair Medal for Applied Anthropology, and the J.B. Donne Essay Prize in the Anthropology of Art.

Cllr Hancock has spent 30 years studying anthropology, the last seven of which have been dedicated to the First World War and how it affected those at home in Pembrokeshire.

His research has included the role of women, transport, food, and propaganda in the county’s war effort, and this year he is giving a series of local talks on his findings.

He is also working to get the name of Neyland's first casualty in the First World War added to the town's cenotaph in time for events marking the centenary of the start of the war.