THE nephew of a soldier who died in the Battle of the Somme is urging an Oxford University college to restore a memorial cross which once stood in its quad.

Martin Ellwood, 81, is lobbying Magdalen College on behalf of his uncle, Lieutenant Geoffrey Ellwood, of the 6th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment.

A student at the college, Lt Ellwood was killed in action on July 14, 1916, aged 25 in Bazentin le Petit Wood.

Father-of-two and grandfather Mr Ellwood is hoping the cross will be brought back from Wheatley to the college so today’s students can see it.

In a letter to the President Prof Sir David Clary, in 2016, he wrote: “The cross was dedicated in the quadrangle on February 8, 1921, in the presence of the Prince of Wales, who was at Magdalen at the time the First World War broke out.

“He laid a special wreath at the ceremony as several of his close friends had lost their lives in the war.”

Mr Ellwood added he was told the cross was moved from the college to Wheatley in about 1940 to avoid bomb damage.

He said: “The cross was originally erected and dedicated to Magdalen students who gave their lives in the service of their country so how can it be acceptable for it to be in Wheatley village?”

Mr Ellwood, a former managing director of an audio-visual company, lives in Wokingham and is a regular visitor to Oxford.

He attended a Remembrance service at the college on November 13, 2016 and saw the names of students who died in the First World War featured on an arch.

Although Mr Ellwood first raised the issue in 2016, the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, he has spoken out now in the hope the college can restore the cross before the 100th anniversary of the Armistice in November.

Prof Clary wrote back to Mr Ellwood, saying: “I have taken soundings in the college. We regret nowadays that the war memorial was taken out of college.

“However, the quad has been redesigned since then and there is no plan to bring the memorial back.”

Mr Ellwood’s uncle has no known grave but his name features on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

Mr Ellwood visited the memorial on July 14, 2016 to lay a wreath and pay tribute.

A dedication on the wreath to ‘Uncle Gussie’ said: “Your family remembers with pride the sacrifice you made 100 years ago today July 14, 2016.”

The Magdalen cross in Wheatley was rededicated in October 1974 to commemorate servicemen from the village who died in the First and the Second World Wars.

The memorial was Grade II listed in November, 2015.