KEIGHLEY soldier Frank Kelly’s day began early on September 3, 1916, with a dawn move into position ready for an attack.

An intense bombardment of the German lines was immediately followed by an assault by Frank and his West Riding Regiment comrades.

The soldiers met very little opposition and gained their objective, but bombing of a nearby brigade meant all the men had to withdraw.

The North Bluff at Thiepval Wood wasn’t a safe haven, however, and one of the many shells blew out a dugout.

Frank was one of six men killed when the dugout – quaintly called Paisley Avenue – was destroyed.

Frank was born in Keighley, 1894, growing up in Ingrow and by the age of 16 working as a fitter for a loom maker.

In 1913, as an 18-year-old fitter with George Hattersley and Son, he attested for the West Riding Regiment’s Territorial Force and the following year qualified as a Second Class Shot.

Frank was occasionally in trouble, for offences such as fighting, going absent and, while serving in France, not keeping a proper lookout.

Frank gained three medals and is remembered on the war memorial plaque at the entrance to St Anne’s Roman Catholic Church in Keighley.