Council road worker William Vincent, 31, an army reservist from Garsdon, was the first man from the Malmesbury area to make the ultimate sacrifice when the Great War broke out a century ago.

He had been in France with the 3rd Coldstream Guards for just over two weeks when he was mortally wounded in Villers Cotterets Forest near Soissons on September 1.

A fortnight later, Private John Styles, 30, of Alderton, also of the 3rd Coldstream Guards, was killed at nearby Vailly on the River Aisne and was buried by the Germans.

They were soon followed on the fatalities list by Corston labourer Charles Poulton, of the 1st Wiltshire Regiment, and Harry Lewis, from Charlton, of the 2nd Wiltshires.

Coal merchants, bakers, plumbers, grocers, confectioners, labourers and even a sculptor – there was no shortage of men from in and around Malmesbury who answered the call to do their bit for King and country in the summer of 1914.

Meanwhile a Russian hat seller was arrested at Malmesbury railway station 100 years ago this month... on suspicion of being a German spy.

Local historian Charles Vernon gave residents a feel of just what it was like to be living in the town when World War One broke out 100 years ago with a presentation at Malmesbury Town Hall last week.

His illustrated talk, part of Malmesbury Carnival month, covered all aspects of life in the town in August 1914.

Mr Vernon, a member of the local Royal British Legion’s committee opened the presentation with some background on Malmesbury during the years leading up to the war including the establishment of the bacon factory in 1877, the closure of the silk mill between 1900 and 1913 and the shutters coming down on Luce’s brewery in 1912.

As war was declared Malmesbury Post Office quickly found itself in acute need of staff as streams of local men packed their kitbags and headed for France and Belgium. Horses, meanwhile, were requisitioned from Oaksey.

The first man to die from Malmesbury itself was William Wakefield, a regular soldier who arrived in Belgium with the 2nd Wiltshire Regiment on October 7 who went missing presumed killed on October 24.

His death was not confirmed for over a year and his name is carved in honour at the Menin Gate in Ypres – the scene of major commemorations last week when the outbreak of the war was marked.

On the home front the Countess of Suffolk opened Charlton Park as a 40-bed military hospital while tents were put up in its grounds to cope with an influx of refugees from the killing fields of the continent.

Mr Vernon said: “By mid-September two men, two women and five children arrived at Charlton Park from Belgium.

“An old lady of about 80 said the first Germans left her alone, but the next group looted her cottage.

“Four days later it was a burnt ruin. Other stories of ‘barbarous conduct’ followed.”