THOMAS Lingard grew up on a street overlooking Undercliffe Cemetery, and as a child he may have played among the graves.

He wasn't much older when he joined, within the first hour, the 16th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (First Bradford Pals).

On July 1, 1916 Private Lingard took up position on the front line on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The 16th Battalion were the second wave, closely following the Leeds Pals.

The young soldier was killed in action at Basin Wood, aged 21. He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial in northern France which records the names of 73,357 soldiers missing in action between July 1916 and March 1918.

Thomas Lingard's name also appears on his family's grave in Undercliffe Cemetery. A few yards away lies the grave of Corporal Harry Underwood, killed in action the same day, aged 20. "Because of the closeness of their enlistment numbers - Underwood was number 23 and Lingard was in the early 100s - they would have trained together and probably went over the top together," said Allan Hillary, chairman of the Friends of Undercliffe Cemetery. "They would have died within minutes of each other."

The Somme Offensive, fought by British and French armies against the Germans, took place between July 1 and November 18, 1916 on the upper reaches of the River Somme. The largest First World War battle on the Western Front, it saw more than one million men wounded or killed and was one of the bloodiest battles in human history.

The first day on the Somme was the worst day in the history of the British army, which suffered nearly 60,000?casualties. The First Bradford Pals, fighting side by side, were hit hard. Of 2,000 Bradford Pals who emerged from their trenches at Serre, 1,770 were killed or wounded before lunchtime.

The men were carrying so much heavy equipment that they struggled to climb out of the trench, and when they did they were immediately fired upon. Friends were hit by machine gunfire, cries for help had to be ignored in the desperate advance, and as they moved forward their numbers became fewer and fewer. They took shelter in craters, shell holes and behind the bodies of fallen comrades. When darkness eventually fell, the few survivors crawled back to their trenches, filled with the dead and wounded.

At least 30 men who died in the first few months of the Somme campaign are either buried or commemorated at Undercliffe Cemetery. Some died in hospital, others lost their lives on the battlefield.

On Saturday, July 9 the Friends of Undercliffe Cemetery will pay tribute to those who fell at the Somme with displays of information and memorabilia. The Friends have identified 13 men commemorated and buried at the cemetery, following research by a team of volunteers, and their stories will be displayed at next month's event, attended by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Geoff Reid, and the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe.

"We have memorabilia from descendants of some of the men, and we'd like to hear from other relatives who may have items to loan. We'd also like to invite them to the commemoration day," said Mr Hillary. Memorabilia gathered so far includes items of kit and a glass ginger beer bottle sent to the Pals by Undercliffe firm Milnes and Son.

"It was found by the mayor of Bus les Artois, a village in the Somme area. He often finds items from the battle site in his garden. He handed the bottle to me when I took a group of Bradford City fans out there to unveil a memorial stone," said volunteer Andy Tyne.

There are 142 official war graves in Undercliffe Cemetery, but many of the men who died in the First World War are remembered on family graves.

"We keep finding the graves," said Mr Tyne. "There are at least 30 that we know of from the Somme, but there could be many more."

With 26,000 graves in the 26-acre cemetery, the search is ongoing.

"Our research has brought up facts like when and where the men died. Now we're looking for more personal information, to find out about the men behind the cold facts and figures," said Mr Tyne. "We have some background information about the 13 men whose stories we're highlighting."

Two of them were brothers Fred and William Barraclough of Barkerend, whose names are on the family plot at Undercliffe. Fred had been a soldier for 13 weeks when he was sent to the front. He died a month later, on July 3, from a gunshot wound. His body was conveyed to Undercliffe Cemetery on a gun carriage supplied by Bradford Moor Barracks. Fred had last seen his parents six weeks earlier at his brother Willie's memorial service.

Willie died on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916 - the very first Bradford Pal to die in battle.

The aforementioned Thomas Lingard, a former Hanson School pupil, was the son of a draper. The family had a well-known shop on Westgate, Bradford, and Thomas was a warehouseman.

Particularly poignant is the fate of three men who died on the Somme and ended up in paupers' graves at Undercliffe. They were Corporal Arthur Ellis, who worked for Dennison and Breaks Iron Founders of Thornton Road, killed aged 23; Private Henry Elliott, a slater's apprentice of Ingrow, who died aged 25; and Private Herbert Seymour, who perished aged 19 in Bradford War Hospital.

"The private company which owned the cemetery had 'company plots' for those who couldn't afford a gravestone," said Mr Hillary. "It shows an appalling lack of respect that these three men, who fought and died for their country, were buried this way. Ellis and Elliott were buried with another 24 people."

"They were promised a 'home for heroes' when they returned from the front," added Mr Tyne.

The other men are: Private Fred Townend of Manningham, killed in action on July 29, 1916; Private Charles Davy of Undercliffe, killed aged 41 on July 1; Sergeant Herbert Waddington, a former Bradford Grammar School boy who was quick to volunteer in 1914, although not yet 18, and died on July 1, aged 19; Second Lieutenant Robert Holmes, a Bingley brewer, killed in action on July 1; Lieutenant Colonel Charles Scott a Heaton solicitor, who died two weeks after being wounded at the Leipzig Salient on July 24, 1916; Second Lieutenant Harrison Storey, a Shipley cloth merchant, who died in hospital aged 22; and Corporal James Harwood, wounded at High Wood, described as "the rottenest place on the Western Front". He died a few days after his brother, Joseph, was killed on the Somme.

"The men's stories will be displayed on boards which will be kept here as a historic record and put out on display on November 11 each year," said Mr Hillary.

* The commemorative event is at Undercliffe Cemetery on Saturday, July 9 from 12noon to 4.30pm. Anyone with any information about the men, or memorabilia, is asked to ring (01274) 642276.