WWI Soldier Reburied With Full Military Honours

A British soldier who was killed in one of the First World War's bloodiest battles has been laid to rest with full military honours almost 100 years after he died.

Sergeant David Harkness Blakey, of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in northern France on 1 July 1916.

The 26-year-old's remains were found during a road widening project near Connaught Cemetery in Thiepval in November 2013 - 97 years after he fell in battle.

He was found with a metal identity tag with 18634 Sgt David Harkness Blakey MM of the R Innis Fus etched on it and a R Innis Fus cap badge.

Identifying dead soldiers from the conflict is rare because tags were usually made from paper or compressed fibres, which quickly decomposed.

Sgt Blakey's home-made metal identity tag is believed to have been made by his wife.

He is only the fifth soldier in 10 years to be identified using personal items, Army chiefs said.

A number of his relatives were found in the North East of England following an appeal, and three generations of his family attended the reburial at Connaught Cemetery.

Among them were Sgt Blakey's granddaughter Helen Coleman, 77, his great-granddaughter Jackie Coleman and her daughter and Sgt Blakey's great-great granddaughter Emma Coleman, 16.

Mrs Coleman's sister Gill, 40, and her two sons and Sgt Blakey's great-great grandsons James, 13, and Jack, nine, also attended.

Police officer Jackie Coleman, 51, from Alnwick, Northumberland, said: "This is a very special and fitting end to our search for him and one we will always treasure.

"Sadly my father is not here to share in this. He and my mother spent many years trying to find David."

Two unknown soldiers - one from the Royal Irish Rifles and another from the Cambridgeshire Regiment - were also reburied.

Sgt Blakey was born in Felling, Gateshead, on 9 November 1889 to coal miner Henry Blakey and his second wife Isabella.

He became a miner at Stargate Colliery near Ryton after he left school.

Sgt Blakey married Sarah Kendall in October 1908 and they settled in her home town of Winlaton.

They had three children: a son, Henry, and two daughters, Vivian Winifred and Isabella.

Sgt Blakey enlisted in January 1915 and by 1916 he had had risen to the rank of sergeant, serving with D Company, 11th Battalion.

On the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the battalion was part of the 109 Brigade of the 36th Ulster Division, which had assembled on the edge of Thiepval Wood.

Sgt Blakey was one of the scores who died that day.

He was posthumously awarded the Military Medal for "bravery in the field", according to a citation in the London Gazette dated 14 December 1916.