Remarkable heroism – and terrible carnage

David Nightingale reports on the remarkable, medal-winning bravery of a Chesterfield soldier exactly 100 years ago – and a local church’s unique link to the British Expeditionary Force in World War One.

THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, which started on July 1, 1916, saw slaughter on an unprecedented scale. On that first day, a staggering total of 58,000 British troops were killed or injured. No other day in British military history has seen such carnage…