Conducting the service, Reverend Paul Whitehead said: “Today, we accord Lance Corporal Cook the dignity and respect that he is due.”

As the service drew to a close, the famous line from Laurence Binyon’s poem For The Fallen – “we will remember them” – was read out and echoed by military and civilian guests.

After the service, Arthur Cook said he had been surprised to be contacted by a team from the Ministry of Defence requesting a DNA sample.

Asked about the service, he said: “To think that 105 years further on and they still put this effort into a burial is unbelievable, it’s amazing.”

He praised the “forensic” work of the MoD team and the Essex Regiment Museum in identifying L/Cpl Cook.

The team, known as the War Detectives, work to match names to remains of soldiers.

One of the team, Rosie Barron, said L/Cpl Cook was one of 24 soldiers whose remains were discovered near the site in 2014 and 2015.

She added: “He was found with a cap badge and shoulder titles of the Essex Regiment, and he also had a medal ribbon bar with three medal ribbons of South Africa medals, so we knew that this solider had served in the Boer War.

“Based on that, we were able to work out roughly how old he might have been.”