Staffordshire WW1 chaplain celebrated
Descendants of an Army chaplain, who died in World Ware One trying to save a wounded soldier, have paid tribute to an "extraordinary" man.
Rev Maurice Peel, a vicar at St Editha's Church in Tamworth, served in the trenches, going over the top on more than one occasion carrying nothing more than a walking stick.
He was the grandson of prime minister Sir Robert Peel, who helped create the modern police force.
After being shot once, Maurice chose to return to the front and in May 1917 was killed by a sniper while trying to reach a soldier in no man's land.
His great grandson, Rev David Longe, said he must have felt an "overwhelming calling" to return to the Western Front a second time.
05 Jun 2014
- From the section Stoke & Staffordshire