Henry John “Harry” Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years “the Last Fighting Tommy“, was a British supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe and the last surviving combat soldier of the First World War from any country. He is known to have fought in the trenches of the Western Front.^[1] Patch was the longest surviving combat soldier of World War I, but he was the fifth longest surviving veteran of any sort from World War I,

Patch died at 9 a.m. on 25 July 2009, aged 111 years, one month, one week and one day.

Patch’s funeral was held in Wells Cathedral on Thursday 6 August 2009.^[42][43] At 11.00 a.m., the bells of Wells Cathedral were rung 111 times to mark each year of his life. A quarter peal of Grandsire Caters was also rung, half muffled, while quarter-peals were also rung in Bristol and at several churches around the country.^[44][45] His coffin travelled from his home, Fletcher House, to the cathedral where the service commenced at noon.^[46] The theme of the service was “Peace and Reconciliation” and in addition to pallbearers from The Rifles (the successor regiment to the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry), Patch’s coffin was accompanied by two private soldiers from each of the armies of Belgium, France and Germany.^[43]