A SOLDIER who died in the Battle of the Somme a century ago had his gravestone discovered in Devizes Road Cemetery last week.

Private Henry Jordan from the Royal West Kent Regiment was buried in Devizes after dying in October 1916 despite the fact he was from Bromley, Kent.

This was uncovered by Russell Eaves, 46 of Melksham, through the Living Memory project as part of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website which records details of soldiers from over 150 countries that died in wars, such as Private H Jordan.

"It is fascinating to find out that he was buried in Devizes even though he lived in Kent which is rather strange - not to mention that he enlisted at the age of 40," said Mr Eaves.

"I was researching my own family tree and I thought I would look on the website to see if there were any local soldiers who fought there and much to my surprise I found Mr Jordan.

"All of it is really interesting. From the research I have done, I have found very few buried in Wiltshire who died as a result from wounds received in that battle.

"It was quite exciting for me to learn about this. It is intriguing to learn about this man who gave his life to serve his country."

Mr Eaves, who took two of his five children, Shannon, 13 and Georgia, 11, to the grave last week said he was considering to do more research along the same lines as this one.

"The girls found it interesting just like me. It is important I think to learn about this stuff and get youngsters engaged about finding out about these poor, brave souls," he said.