THE history of the First World War has been poignantly brought to life for primary school children with the discovery of a rare and moving diary.

Written in the trenches by a young soldier who died in action, it was found by his niece, Jill Pemberton, the headteacher of Fountains School, in Grantley, North Yorkshire, when she was sorting through her late mother’s belongings.

It was written in 1915, the year before Walter Taverner was killed in action, aged 19, and his words are now giving youngsters at Mrs Pemberton’s school a glimpse of life in the trenches.

And for Mrs Pemberton, 56, who vaguely knew her mother, Vera, had an older brother who died in the war, the small, red leather-bound diary has helped her picture him as a real person.

Following months spent drilling and training, which included bayonet fighting and digging trenches, young Walter boarded a ship headed south. He writes of passing Gibraltar and “in sight of Algiers, North Africa”.

Shortly afterwards, he writes of his ship being under aircraft fire at Salva Bay. He talks of “rough times” in the trenches and marching at night.

“Attack on our left,” says one entry. “Plenty of bombs flying about,” adds another.

He talks about one colleague being hit in the knees.

In the heat of battle, many of his entries remain matterof- fact, only hinting at the horrors he faced: “Thirteen and 14 platoons got lost. Nearly cut off,” he writes. In October, after more than a month on the front line, he reveals: “Our trenches only 15 yards from Turks.”

Youngsters at the school have found his story fascinating.

Mrs Pemberton said: “Both world wars happened many, many years ago for our children.

This brings the whole thing alive for them.

“They have heard the story of my family and see how we are all linked to the past and how all of this is still very much alive in people who are alive today.”

Walter’s last entry says he will continue in a new diary.

No trace of it remains, and it is thought to have been destroyed with him.

His name is on a war memorial in Jerusalem to those who fell in Egypt and Palestine.

■ Read Walter Taverner’s full story in The Northern Echo on Monday.