May to lay wreaths at soldiers’ graves

THE PRIME Minister will travel to Belgium and France today to pay her respects to those who died in the First World War.

Mrs May, inset, will visit two war cemeteries, to lay wreaths alongside the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the Belgian Prime Minister, Charles Michel.

She will start the day with a ceremony at the St Symphorien Military Cemetery in Mons. There she will lay a wreath at the graves of John Parr, the first UK soldier to be killed in 1914, and the last, George Ellison, who was born in York and later lived in Leeds. He was killed on the Western Front at 9.30am, 90 minutes before the armistice came into effect.

The leaders will hold a private meeting before leaving for a wreath-laying ceremony at the nearby Thiepval Memorial.

The memorial bears the names of more than 72,000 members of the Armed Forces who died in battle, and holds an annual commemoration for the Missing of the Somme.

A wreath combining poppies and le bleuet, the two national emblems of remembrance for Britain and France, will be made for the occasion. Mrs May said the visit would be a chance to reflect on the time the countries spent fighting side by side in Europe, but also to look ahead to a “shared future, built on peace, prosperity and friendship”. She added: “At St Symphorien I will have the honour of laying a wreath on behalf of a nation at the graves of both John Parr and George Ellison, the first and last UK soldiers to die during the war.

“That their graves lie opposite each other is a fitting and poignant symbol that brings home the eternal bond between them, and every member of the Armed Forces who gave their lives to protect what we hold so dear.”