A DORSET soldier’s remains have been identified and buried with full military honours 100 years almost to the day after he died.

Lance Corporal William Henry Warr, from Lyme Regis, was one of 15 British soldiers found buried in a French field five years ago.

The soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the Yorks and Lancaster Regiment were discovered during drainage work outside a French village in 2009 and 11 of them were later identified from DNA samples.

Lance Corporal Warr’s nephew Alan Warr, 61, from Yeovil provided the DNA proof and with wife Jane was at the ceremony to re-bury the previously unnamed soldiers.

Mr Warr’s father – the youngest of 15 children – was William’s brother.

Mr Warr, from Yeovil, said: “It was marvellous. The mayor gave a very moving speech which brought a lump to the throat.”

The First World War soldiers were buried last week with full military honours at a Common-wealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Y Farm Cemetery set among the ploughed fields of Bois Grenier village, near Lille in northern France.

A Ministry of Defence specialist team was able to identify the 11 from DNA samples after tracking down relatives of soldiers killed at the scene on October 18, 1914.

If they have no identity tags, clues can be found from boots, buttons, uniforms and historical records.

If investigators suspect an identity, then they draw up a family tree to track down relatives. Lance Corporal Warr was born in Lyme Regis in 1887 and even though his name does not appear on the town’s war memorial Vernon Rattenbury, of Lyme Royal British Legion, has been researching his life.

Mr Rattenbury said: “I have been researching those from Lyme and the surrounding area that fell in the Great War for the past six years so had already researched him a while back and knew of his story.

“I have also been researching those from Lyme who came home again as I think it is important that all their stories are told otherwise they may disappear completely.

“I am just so pleased that Lance Corporal William Warr has been finally found and laid to rest with the respect owed to him. Although not on the Lyme War Memorial he is still a ‘Son of Lyme’ and will be remembered as such.

Lyme Museum director David Tucker said: “I was very surprised when the Bridport News got in touch with me concerning Lance Corporal Warr.

“I’d watched the burial service on the BBC news but had no reason to suspect that a Lyme man should have been in the Yorks and Lancaster Regiment.

“As conscription didn’t start until two years later, Lance Corporal Warr would very likely have been a professional soldier.

“It just highlights what a fantastic job the Commonwealth War Graves Commission do ensuring that 100 years after his death that William Warr now has a marked grave with a Portland Stone gravestone above him.”

William’s brother Charles died a few days after his brother and both are commemorated on Broadwindsor’ war memorial.