Finally laid to rest: ten world war one soldiers named
Ten soldiers, who were killed during world war one, are formally identified after their relatives provide DNA samples.
The remains of the troops were found during construction work near the French village of Beaucamps-Ligny in 2009.
The soldiers were serving with 2nd Battalion The York and Lancaster Regiment and were killed in battle on 18 October 1914.
‘Laid to rest’
The discovery will allow relatives to see them laid to rest 100 years on from the outbreak of the war.
They will be reburied with full military honours at a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in October.
Work to identify a further five sets of remains found at the same time is continuing.
The soldiers are:
• Private Herbert Ernest Allcock, 32, born in Leeds, and family now living in Lancashire
• Private John Brameld, 30, born in Sheffield and family now living in Yorkshire
• Corporal Francis Carr Dyson, 26, born in Wakefield and family now living in Derbyshire
• Private Walter Ellis, 31, born in Doncaster and family now living in Yorkshire
• Private John Willie Jarvis, 34, born in Rotherham and family now living in Yorkshire
• Private Leonard Arthur Morley, 22, born in Boxhill, Surrey and family now living in Canada
• Private Ernest Oxer, 28, born in Rotherham and family now living in YorkshirePrivate
• John Richmond, 28, born in Nottingham and family now living in Nottinghamshire
• Private William Alfred Singyard, 30, born in Newcastle upon Tyne and family now living in Lincolnshire
• Lance Corporal William Henry Warr, 27, born in Dorset and family now living in Somerset
Marlene Jackson, great-niece of private Allcock, said: “It was quite a surprise when they initially phoned, I had no idea I had a great-uncle, it was never talked about in the family. They said would I mind giving my DNA, and I did and now it’s confirmed.
“He was the brother of my grandmother Ethel, who died aged 102 in 1988. He had enlisted as a soldier and served in India and Ireland before the war, leaving his wife, also Ethel, and two daughters when he died.
“I feel quite emotional about this, I never knew I had a great-uncle who had died in France. We’re going to the reburial in October.”
‘Closes the book’
Maureen Simpson, granddaughter of Private Brameld, of Sheffield, said: “I think it’s wonderful, I think they’ve done a fantastic job, it just closes the book, doesn’t it, it puts an end to wondering what happened to them.
“My father Arthur was only two when his father was killed, and used to go with the British Legion to France to look at the war graves, in the hope that he would be able to find him, but he never did before he died in 1979.”
“I think my grandfather joined up when he was 18, then came out of the Army for about five or six years, and was in the reserve, working as a table blade grinder in Sheffield, and was then sent for when the war began.”