CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating the completion of a £10,000 scheme that commemorates one of Britain’s greatest naval heroes.

Admiral Sir Harry Burrard Neale, who rose to become Commander-in- Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, captured or destroyed 20 enemy vessels during his career and also helped to crush a mutiny in the Thames Estuary.

He was MP for Lymington for many years and paid for the first gas lighting to be installed in the town in 1832.

Now a gas lamp monument erected as a thank you to Sir Harry has been given a much-needed facelift. The grade II listed structure, in Bath Road, Lymington, has been restored in a scheme funded by New Forest District Council.

This year sees the 250th anniversary of Sir Harry’s birth in 1765.

His memory is being kept alive by members of the Burrard Neale 250 campaign, a group of organisations that include the Lymington Society and the Hampshire Gardens Trust.

Council leader Cllr Barry Rickman said: “It is important that the people who shaped our history are never forgotten. Sir Harry was a well-respected figure and I’m pleased that the council has been able to support the Burrard Neale 250 project by restoring this important monument to its former glory.”

The work was carried out by Southampton-based JW (UK) Ltd, which has also restored parts of Buckingham Palace and HMS Victory.

Peter Stone, founder of the Burrard Neale 250 campaign, said: “It’s stunning.

“The work has been beautifully done to a high standard.”

Sir Harry lived at Walhampton in a huge house that is now Walhampton School.