Sam Sweeney has honoured the death of Richard Howard, a soldier killed in WWI, by playing his finished instrument in Ypres.

A violin left unfinished by a soldier killed in battle has been played at his grave to mark the centenary of his death. Private Richard Howard, who died June 7, 1917 in the Battle of Messines, began making the instrument in 1915 before enlisting. Later completed by a luthier in Oxford, it was purchased by folk musician Sam Sweeney in 2009, who played the violin at Howard’s grave in Ypres.

“It was incredible. About 100 people were there and some of his descendants came. His granddaughter did a reading of a poem she wrote about him. It was very moving. It’s amazing – his family has been reunited because of this violin,” Sweeney told BBC News.

Mary Sterry, Howard’s granddaughter, was unaware of the circumstances of his death. “I was very interested to learn about him because I had heard nothing except ‘your grandfather died in the war’. People in those days didn’t talk about it for fear of upsetting someone. My mother was 11 when he died. I have to say the news when it got to me...