Did you know the first British soldier killed in the war was John Parr?
He had been a golf caddy before joining the army. He was no older than 16 at the time of his death so almost certainly lied about his age at enlistment. Parr was killed just to the north east of Mons on 21 August 1914.
George Edwin Ellison was the final British soldier killed in the war. He had served throughout the war, having been recalled to the army before the outbreak. On the 11 November 1918, an hour and a half before the armistice, he was killed on the outskirts of Mons.
By pure coincidence the graves of Parr and Ellison are in the same cemetery and face each other.
Photograph – © Commonwealth War Graves Commission
