PM’s unique tribute to fallen of the Great War

THERESA MAY will mark the Armistice commemorations by paying tribute to the first and last UK soldiers to be killed in the First World War.

As part of events to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the war, the Prime Minister will on Friday travel to St Symphorien Military Cemetery in Mons, Belgium.

There she will lay a wreath at the graves of John Parr, from North London, who was 17 when he became the first to fall in 1914, and to George Ellison from Leeds. He was killed, aged 40, on the Western Front at 9.30am on November 11, 1918, just 90 minutes before the Armistice took effect.

By an extraordinary coincidence, the two soldiers are buried opposite each other at the cemetery.

Mrs May will then travel to France, where she will have a working lunch with President Emmanuel Macron in the town of Albert in the Somme region.

The two leaders will lay wreaths at the Anglo-French Thiepval Memorial, the site of an annual commemoration for the Missing of the Somme.

A special wreath will be made for the occasion combining poppies and ‘le bleuet’, France’s emblem of remembrance.

Mrs May said: ‘I’m proud to represent the immense gratitude of our nation at these commemorations and share these moments of reflection with our friends and partners in Europe.’