THE death of a Royal Marines officer, believed to be the only British fatality in the Gallipoli campaign repatriated for burial, has been marked with military honours.

Captain Cecil Morton, from Colchester, died on May 18, 1915 at a military hospital in Egypt.

The 29-year-old had been injured at Gallipoli while serving as adjutant of the Portsmouth Battalion, Royal Marines Light Infantry.

His family paid to bring his body back to Colchester for burial in 1916.

A service was held at Capt Morton’s grave in St Leonard’s Church, Lexden, to commemorate his death and the 16 other servicemen from Colchester killed during the campaign.

Nine troops from the Essex Regiment were among the dead, including brothers Richard and Frederick Wall who were both killed on August 6, 1915.

Colonel Gary Wilkinson, Commander of Colchester Garrison, said: “It was very rare for soldiers to be repatriated for burial during the First World War.

“Having Captain Morton’s grave here in Colchester gives us a unique opportunity to gather to mark the sacrifice of all Colcestrians killed while serving at Gallipoli.

“The service was a simple and poignant occasion to remember those killed during a hard-fought and controversial campaign.”

The Gallipoli Campaign, which was launched in April 1915, was an attempt to open supply routes to Russia through the Black Sea and knock the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

A total of 56,707 British, French and Commonwealth soldiers were killed before the operation ended in January 1916.

Capt Morton’s grave, which has been cleaned for the centenary, includes a plaque dedicated to the memory of his son, who was born six months after his father’s death and also called Cecil.

A captain in the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, he was killed fighting in Libya in November 1940.

He has no known living relatives.