1. Harry Patch was not the longest-surviving soldier of the First World War, but he was the fifth-longest-surviving veteran of any sort from the First World War, behind British veterans Claude Choules and Florence Green, Frank Buckles of the United States and John Babcock of Canada.
At the time of his death, aged 111 years and 38 days, Harry Patch was the third-oldest man in the world, behind Walter Breuning and Jiroemon Kimura.
Harry Patch was born in the village of Combe Down, near Bath, Somerset, England.
Harry Patch appears in the 1901 Census as a two-year-old boy along with his stonemason father William John Patch, mother Elizabeth Ann and older brothers George Frederick and William Thomas at a house called "Fonthill" in Gladstone Road.
Harry Patch left school in 1913 and became an apprentice plumber in Bath.
Harry Patch went through a series of short-lived attachments to several regiments, including the Royal Warwickshire Regiment before being posted after completing training to the 7th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, serving as an assistant gunner in a Lewis gun section.
Harry Patch fought on the Western Front at the Battle of Passchendaele and was wounded, when a shell exploded overhead at 22:30 on 22 September 1917, killing three of his comrades.
Harry Patch had a two-inch piece of shrapnel removed from his groin; as there was no anaesthetic remaining in the camp he chose to have the operation done without anaesthesia.
Harry Patch was removed from the front line and returned to England on 23 December 1917.
Harry Patch received eight medals and honours; for his service in the First World War, he received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
On 9 March 2009, Harry Patch was appointed an Officer of the Legion d'honneur by the French Ambassador at his nursing home in Somerset.
Harry Patch received the award from Jean-Michel Veranneman de Watervliet, Belgium's Ambassador to the United Kingdom, at a ceremony in the Ambassador's residence in London, on 22 September 2008, which coincidentally was the 91st anniversary of the day he was wounded in action and three of his closest friends killed.
Harry Patch received two commemorative medals: the National Service Medal and the Hors de combat medal, which signifies outstanding bravery of servicemen and women, who have sustained wounds or injury in the line of duty.
Harry Patch married Ada Emily Billington at the Parish Church, Hadley, Shropshire on 13 September 1919.
Harry Patch subsequently married Kathleen Alice Joy at Mendip Register Office on 5 June 1982.
At the age of 100, Harry Patch moved to Fletcher House Nursing Home in Wells, where he found a companion in Doris Whitaker.
Harry Patch consistently refused to discuss his war experiences until approached in 1998 for the BBC One documentary Veterans, on reflection of which, and with the realisation that he was part of a fast-dwindling group of veterans of "the war to end all wars", he agreed.
Harry Patch was featured in the 2003 television series World War 1 in Colour and said "if any man tells you he went over the top and he wasn't scared, he's a damn liar".
Harry Patch reflected on his lost friends and the moment when he came face to face with a German soldier.
Harry Patch recalled the story of Moses descending from Mount Sinai with God's Ten Commandments, including "Thou shalt not kill" and could not bring himself to kill the German.
In November 2004, at the age of 106, Harry Patch met Charles Kuentz, a 107-year-old Alsatian veteran, who had fought on the German side at Passchendaele.
Kuentz had brought along a tin of Alsatian biscuits and Harry Patch gave him a bottle of Somerset cider in return.
In December 2004, Harry Patch was given a present of 106 bottles of Harry Patch's Pride Cider, which has been named after him and produced by the Gaymer Cider Company.
In July 2007, marking the 90th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele, Harry Patch revisited the site of the battle in Flanders, to pay his respects to the fallen on both sides.
On this occasion, Harry Patch described war as the "calculated and condoned slaughter of human beings" and said that "war isn't worth one life".
On 27 September 2008, in a private ceremony attended by a few people, Harry Patch opened a memorial on the bank of the Steenbeek, at the point where he crossed the river in 1917.
Also in September 2008, Harry Patch visited the nearby Langemark German war cemetery and laid a memorial wreath on the grave of an Imperial German Army soldier who was killed in action on 16 August 1917; the day that Private Harry Patch's Division had attacked and taken the village of Langemarck during the Battle of Passchendaele.
In October 2008, Harry Patch launched the 2008 Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal in Somerset.
On 11 November 2008, marking the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, together with fellow veterans Henry Allingham and Bill Stone, Patch laid a commemorative wreath for the Act of Remembrance at The Cenotaph in London, escorted by Victoria Cross recipient Johnson Beharry.
On 18 July 2009, with the death of Henry Allingham, Harry Patch became the oldest surviving veteran and the oldest man in the United Kingdom.
Harry Patch came out unscathed, unlike Patch and the last Alpine Front veteran, 110-year-old Delfino Borroni of Italy, who died on 26 October 2008.
Harry Patch was the last surviving Tommy, since the death on 4 April 2009 of Netherwood Hughes, who was still in training when the war ended.
Harry Patch was ripped open from his shoulder to his waist by shrapnel and lying in a pool of blood.
Harry Patch was beyond human help and, before we could draw a revolver, he was dead.
On 16 December 2005, Harry Patch was awarded an honorary degree of Master of Arts, honoris causa, by the University of Bristol, whose buildings he helped construct in the 1920s.
Harry Patch was chosen for this honour as he was a member of the workforce that originally helped build the tower, which was opened on 9 June 1925 by King George V, an event which Patch attended.
Harry Patch died at Fletcher House at 9 am on 25 July 2009, aged 111 years and 38 days.
Harry Patch's death came seven days after that of fellow veteran Henry Allingham, the last veteran of The Royal Naval Air Service and founding member of The Royal Air Force, aged 113.
Harry Patch was the last male First World War veteran living in Europe and the last British male known to have been born in the 1800s.
Harry Patch's funeral was held in Wells Cathedral on 6 August 2009.
Harry Patch's coffin travelled from his home, Fletcher House, to the cathedral where the service commenced at noon.
The theme of the service was "Peace and Reconciliation" and in addition to pallbearers from The Rifles, Harry Patch's coffin was accompanied by an honour guard of two private soldiers each from the armies of Belgium, France, and, most symbolically, from the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Harry Patch was buried at St Michael's Church, Monkton Combe, near his parents and brother.
Michael's daughter suggested Harry Patch after reading an article about him.
In mid-2009, Harry Patch recorded some spoken word parts for UK heavy metal band Imperial Vengeance, to be included on the title track to the album At the Going Down of the Sun.
The song was about the horrors of the trenches and Harry Patch read part of the poem For the Fallen.
Harry Patch's portrait, painted from life by the artist Bill Leyshon, was commissioned by the Western Daily Press in 2007 and is in the collections of Somerset Museums Service, Taunton.
In 2009 Harry Patch's portrait was painted by Dan Llywelyn Hall and was exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery and is in the collections of Bath's Victoria Art Gallery.
Harry Patch's hard won pacifism can be seen to sit uneasily with contemporary jingoism and militaristic rhetoric.