KINGSBRIDGE and District Royal British Legion are holding a memorial to mark the start of the Battle of the Somme in 1916.

Held on Friday, July 1, at the Kingsbridge War Memorial at 10am, the service of remembrance will be led by the Rev Jackie Taylor.

The Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest battle of the First World War. Fought in Northern France, it saw the British and French armies fight the German army in a battle of attrition on a 15 mile front for 141 days.

More than one million men died on all sides and the allies were unable to break through the German lines. It began on July 1, 1916. The first day was a disaster for the British. The allies used their 18-pounder field guns to bombard German trenches for seven days previous and sent 100,000 men over the top.

The Germans however, weathered the artillery fire in deep trenches and came up fighting. As British soldiers advanced, they were cut down by machine guns and rifle fire. 19,240 British soldiers died in this single day and was the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army.

Five men are named on the Kingsbridge War Memorial who died within the dates of the Battle of the Somme - July 1-November 18, 1916 - and their regiments all took part, but there is no concrete evidence of whether or not they were killed there.

Private Harold Clark, 19, was killed on July 20. He served in the 10th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, and was the son of John Luckham Clark and Kate Clark of Waverley Road, Kingsbridge. He was born in late 1896 and is buried at the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery in Longueval.

Second Lieutenant Wilfred Edmund Elliot of the 5th Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment, was the son of Dr Edmund Arthur and Edith Fanny Elliot of ‘Slade’ Kingsbridge. He died on September 26.

There are conflicting reports of his age, from 24 to 39, and he is marked as ‘age unknown’ on the Thiepval Memorial, a memorial to 72,195 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme with no known graves.

Private William Henry Hurrell, 28, served with the 8th Battalion, Suffolk Regiment. He was the son of William and Elizabeth Hurrell and husband of Kate Hurrell, nee Jacobs. Born in late 1888 in South Milton, he was killed on October 2, 1916. He is remembered on the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais.

Private Harold Owen Matthews, 31, served with the Canadian Infantry. Son of William and Emily Matthews of Victoria Villa, Dodbrooke, Kingsbridge, he was born in Dodbrooke on March 1, 1885, he was killed on October 8, 1916.

He is remembered on the Vimy Memorial, a memorial site in Pas-de-Calais which commemorates 11,169 members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force killed during the First World War.

Private William John Stone, 25, served with the 23rd Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. Son of John and Polly Stone of ‘Glyngarth’, Addlehole Road, Kingsbridge and husband of Elsie Stone of Paignton.

He was born in early 1892 and died on November 13, 1916. He is also commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.