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Hartlepool Bombardment soldier to be honoured in beach memorial

News imagePages of the Sea Pte Theophilus JonesPages of the Sea
Pte Theophilus Jones was the first soldier to be killed on British soil during the conflict

A Durham Light Infantry (DLI) soldier is to be commemorated in an event by Danny Boyle to mark the centenary of the end of World War One.

Large-scale portraits of a casualties from the war will be drawn into the sand at dozens of beaches in the UK.

Pte Theophilus Jones died in the Hartlepool Bombardment and is believed to have been the first soldier killed on British soil during the conflict.

He will be honoured at Redcar beach during Pages of the Sea on 11 November.

Drawn in the sand at low tide, his portrait will be washed away as the tide comes in.

News imageSand In Your Eye A large-scale portrait of a casualty from the First World War, designed by sand artists Sand In Your Eye, will be drawn into the sand in many locations and washed away as the tide comes in.Sand In Your Eye
Designed by sand artists Sand In Your Eye, the image will be washed away as the tide comes in

A 29-year-old private in the 18th battalion of the DLI, on the morning of the Hartlepool Bombardment, Pte Jones he left his home on Ashgrove Avenue and made his way to the Heugh Gun Battery.

He was killed there by a shell fired from a German warship.

The first major attack on home soil during the conflict, it lasted less than an hour and left 119 civilians dead and hundreds more injured.

Pages of the Sea is part of 14-18 NOW, the UK's official arts programme to mark the World War One centenary.