A new gravestone has been put up in Alton Cemetery by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in memory of First World War soldier Private Victor Walter.

The grave of Private Walter is part of a guided tour of the cemetery being led by Chris Carling as part of War Graves Week on May 16 at 3pm.

Chris said: “His gravestone has just been installed this year after all this time of being unknown. He was one of the Old Contemptibles.”

The Old Contemptibles were the highly trained and professional British Expeditionary Force serving in France and Flanders between August 5 and November 22, 1914.

They earned the nickname by defying Kaiser Wilhelm II’s order to disregard ‘Sir John French's contemptible little army’.

Military historian Steve Roberts said Victor Walter was born at Bridgwater in Somerset in 1885, the son of Charles and Edith Walter.

By 1903 they lived at 3 Fitzroy Road, Regents Park, London, and on January 20 that year Victor enlisted in the Bedfordshire Regiment in London, joining the 2nd Battalion and being appointed a lance corporal in April.

On January 19, 1906, he was transferred to the Army Reserve, but rejoined the 2nd Battalion in May before being transferred to the 1st Battalion in February 1907.

He served in India until December 1908, coming home to Alton to marry Agnes Elizabeth Farrant on June 28, 1907. They had two sons, Victor William, born September 5, 1907, and Charles, born August 24, 1912.

Appointed a bandsman in 1910, Victor reverted to private in 1911 and was transferred to the Army Reserve in 1912.

But on August 4, 1914, war was declared and Victor was mobilised the following day. He went to France on August 26, rejoined the 1st Battalion and qualified for the 1914 (Mons) Star.

On October 12 the battalion attacked Givenchy, which was heavily shelled with the battalion suffering 17 casualties. The next day the Germans pushed the battalion back 300 yards, with 146 soldiers killed, wounded or missing.

Victor was hit in the left knee and the right side of the stomach. He was taken to a dressing station in a house cellar and remained there until October 16 when the battalion re-occupied the village. Prisoner Victor was left behind when the Germans withdrew.

Chris said: “His doctors attributed his later pleurisy and pneumonia to laying on the cold cellar floor.”

By October 20 Victor was back in the UK via 15 Field Ambulance, No 8 Ambulance Train and Hospital Ship St Petersberg. He was discharged to 3rd Depot Battalion on December 3 but suffered from coughing and chest infections.

On November 11, 1915, he was admitted to Fulham Military Hospital with pleurisy and pneumonia. Discharged as no longer fit for military service on January 14, 1916, he died of pleurisy and pneumonia on May 18, 1916.

Chris said: “He lived at 2 Bow Street in Alton, and I wonder if he has any relatives that still live in the town. And it would be amazing if we could get a photo of him.”