THIS is the face of Wiveliscombe's very own unknown soldier who went to war 100 years ago.

He is one of hundreds of men from in and around the town who fought in the First World War and who are remembered in a new book.

Wivey Boys: A Great War Register is a record of the men and women who served in the 1914-1918 conflict.

Sue Farrington, assisted by Glenda Anderson, has spent several years researching the book, which will be presented to the public on Saturday, December 9.

The names of 55 men who made the ultimate sacrifice are recorded on the war memorials in the parish church, while an additional 238 men and women who joined the colours in the first year are listed on a wooden panel at the back of the church.

Wivey Boys, which also lists the names of more than 200 more previously unrecorded people who served during the following three years of the Great War.

In addition to brief biographies of more than 400 people, the book also contains sections on the town’s war memorials and those of the Ten Parishes, a time-line and comprehensive glossary, appendices and more than 300 hundred illustrations, together with details of many other aspects of the war.

There are some fascinating facts, such as one officer who left Ypres at 5am one morning and was home in Wiveliscombe by 5pm the same day; ten young men were held as prisoners-of-war; the women of the town who kept things together at home and contributed with their work in the local Voluntary Aid Detachment; and the Army Service Corps and the Mule Remount Depot, which was based in the farms surrounding the town during the early years of the war.