PRIVATE Sidney Arthur Blay left behind three children when he died during the First World War.

The 39-year-old, who was from Oxford, died in battle on May 3, 1917, in Vis-en-Artois, France.

He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal and his name is recorded on France’s Arras Memorial.

Now his family will see his name honoured again at the Turning the Pages ceremony today.

Great-grandmother-of-four Ha-zel Bleay requested that the name of Private Blay, who was her husband’s grandfather, be read out after finding out about the special event in the Oxford Mail.

Mrs Bleay, whose husband Sidney died aged 74 in 2000, said: “Private Blay’s wife Bertha was left quite young with three children – Alfred, Ellen and my mother-in-law Doris Eba was the youngest.

“It is just lovely that Oxford has the ceremony. I didn’t know about it before I saw it in the Oxford Mail.”

Mrs Bleay, 82, who is from Marston, but now lives in Thame, added: “If my husband had been alive he would have wanted to go himself.

“I thought it was a good idea.”

She will be attending today’s ceremony with her daughters Jane Gibson and Sally Pether.

Private Blay, who served with the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, was born on January 8, 1878, in Paradise Street, Oxford.

He joined the army in 1916 after working as a servant at Oxford University’s Balliol College.

The Turning the Pages ceremony, held every other month to honour Oxfordshire men killed during the two world wars, takes place at Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral at 11am.

  • Do you know any of the other names on the list today? Call reporter Emma Harrison on 01865 425430.

LIST OF NAMES TO BE READ

The Queen's Own Oxfordshire Hussars
First World War 1914-1918
James Johnson, M.M.
Arthur Edward Jones
George William Jones
William Thomas Stephen Jones
Hugh Kidman
Second World War 1939-1945
George Quigley
John William Rymill
William Lionel Howard Sansbury
Frank Steadman
Frederick George Stone

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry                       

First World War 1914-1918
Sidney Arthur Blay
Edward Capp
William John Grant
Alfred Lavender
James Parker

Second World War 1939-1945
William Kenneth Dunn
Peter Albert Hands, M.C.
Frederick Victor Mace
William Reynolds
Colin Eric Willcocks