WWI soldier's Brentwood grave to get headstone

Groom Herbert William Pope (second from right) joined the Army in 1915 but was discharged with a year to live in 1918 after tuberculosis was diagnosed

A man has said "it is fantastic" that his great-grandfather's unmarked grave is to receive a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstone.

Herbert William Pope served in the Army for most of World War One before dying in 1919 of tuberculosis.

His great-grandson Neil Tester spent months trying to track down his grave before finding it at Great Warley Cemetery in Brentwood, Essex.

The headstone will be unveiled at a rededication service later.

Herbert married Fanny, who died 1929, and they had one son Ernest, who died in 1970 - he had not told the family where his father was buried

Mr Tester, 63 and from Clapham in London, said there was "no family folklore" about the location of the grave so it proved "extremely difficult" to find.

He began the search in January 2019 because his mother and her sisters - Acting Cpl Pope's granddaughters - were "all desperate to find out where it was".

• WW1 soldier's bugle used for Last Post at service

• 'It would have broken a lesser man sooner'

• Missing soldier 'returns from dead'

Herbert Pope enlisted in early in 1915 from Surrey and was assigned to the Romsey Remount Station, handling horses needed for the war effort.

He had been a groom before the war, working for landed estates, including one owned by the Rothschilds in Buckinghamshire.

His granddaughters - including (left to right) Valerie Tester, 87, and Angela Cole, 77 - were keen to resolve the mystery, said Neil Tester

Mr Tester said he focused his search on Surrey, where the corporal lived for most of his life, and London, where he died in an Army hospital.

Cpl Pope's widow Fanny and son Ernest were living in Weybridge, Surrey, at the time and most of the family continues to live in the county.

"I thought it'd take me six days not six months to find the grave," Mr Tester said.

"But we were looking in the wrong place and I was flabbergasted when we found him in Essex."

It is believed this photograph could have been taken when Herbert worked at an estate owned by the Rothschild family

In June 2019, the freelance copy editor visited the London Metropolitan Archives and had "the crucial breakthrough".

Mr Tester said: "An archive researcher said, 'Ever thought about where his parents are buried?'."

Their death certificates revealed they had died in Brentwood and a borough council officer traced their unmarked graves - and that of their son - to the now redundant Great Warley Cemetery.

Herbert's experience with horses must have been vital during World War One, when the animals were used for carrying supplies, ammunition and the wounded

"I was getting really desperate and ready to give up," said Mr Tester.

"It is fantastic - we can now honour him properly and pass on the location of his grave to future generations."

Director of external relations at the CWGC, Liz Woodfield, said: "It is a privilege to finally be able to mark his grave with a headstone which we will care for in perpetuity."