A chance find at an antiques fair led a history enthusiast on a journey to discover the story behind the first Ramsgate man buried after being killed during the First World War.

Graham Jansen has been researching the story of L Cpl Oliver John Thomas Smith after a friend showed him an old photograph of the soldier.

When he looked behind the photograph, bought at a Bromley antiques market, a medal index card fell out, revealing details of Oliver’s name, rank and regiment with references to his death on January 7, 1915.

Mr Jansen said: “Oliver is wearing a London Fire Brigade uniform in the picture and hidden inside the frame were references to his name and regiment.

“Being a family researcher, I immediately went looking for clues and discovered Oliver had been wounded at La Bassee and died at the London General Hospital, Wandsworth.

"Hopefully we’ve helped to resurrect the memory and sacrifice made by such a brave young Ramsgate man from simply an old photograph"

“He was born in December 1886 in Thanet and his parents were John Smith and Eliza Celia Smith (Newman) who lived at 8 Bloomsbury Road, St Lawrence.

"When I looked him up on the 1911 Census I discovered he was at Deptford Fire Station, aged 25 years and single.

“In the 1915 Electoral Register he was living at Southwark Fire Station, Southwark Bridge Road.

“He married Emma Grace Wrench in December 1911, in Camberwell, and they had a son called John Oliver Smith born December 3, 1912, in Southwark.”

A newspaper article dated in 1915 described the funeral and said there were hundreds of people lining the route to pay their respects from Bloomsbury Road to St Laurence Church.

It read: “There was scarcely a dry eye among the women folk, for many had sons and husbands at the front, and many of the sterner sex had to battle hard with their emotion when the coffin covered by the Union Jack, on which rested the deceased’s cap, bayonet, and belt, was lifted from the hearse.”

Oliver Smith is remembered with honour at St Laurence Churchyard, where he was given a full military funeral in 1915.

He was the first man killed in the war to be returned home to Ramsgate due to the complications of repatriating bodies in the early days of the war.

Mr Jansen said: “Hopefully we’ve helped to resurrect the memory and sacrifice made by such a brave young Ramsgate man from simply an old photograph.

“It’s satisfying being able to resurrect those who are no longer with us or those whose lives have been forgotten.

“We are very lucky to have so many resources available for family history research in this country.”