Mr Patch, who was known as the Last Fighting Tommy, was the last living soldier to have fought in bloody battle of Passchendaele, at Ypres, in 1917 in which more than 70,000 troops died.

The veteran's death follows that of Henry Allingham, also a veteran of the Great War who died on July 18 at the age of 113.


Mr Patch, who was a machine-gunner in the Duke of Cornwalls's Light Infantry, died on Saturday morning at Fletcher House care home in Somerset where he was living.