A HEREFORDSHIRE soldier who witnessed the last cavalry charge of the British Army has died aged 107.

Jasper Cecil Hankinson - known as Cecil - was the second oldest surviving British ex-soldier to have fought in the First World War. The oldest survivor, Henry Allingham of Eastbourne, is 10 days older.

Mr Hankinson was "unique", says Dennis Goodwin of the World War One Veterans' Association.

"He was the last man alive to have fought on two fronts in the Great War - France and Palestine," said Mr Goodwin.

He and his comrades in the London Scottish Regiment were pulled back from the front line slaughter of the Somme and sent to Palestine.

Pte Hankinson witnessed the last cavalry charge of the British Army, which took place in the Sinai Desert in 1917 when men of the Worcestershire Yeomanry armed with sabres charged 20,000 Turks, 21 German field guns and three Austrian howitzers.

Mr Hankinson died at a Warwickshire nursing home.