BELLS will ring out tomorrow (Tuesday) in tribute to the Darlington soldier killed 100 years ago in the First World War bombardment of Hartlepool.

Lance Corporal Alix Liddle, of the 18th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, was hit by the first shell fired by German warships at the Hartlepool Headland on December 16, 1914.

He was a 25-year-old colliery accountant who, in his spare time, was a bell-ringer at St Cuthbert's Church in Darlington.

The Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Association (D&NDA) of Church Bell Ringers is remembering 41 campanologists who lost their lives in the Great War, and L-Cpl Liddle is the first.

"We thought it would be appropriate to commemorate them by doing what bell-ringers do best: ringing bells," said Chris Enzor, of the association.

Mr Enzor, of Piercebridge, will be one of eight people ringing the special quarter peal. "It will be half-muffled," he said. "A piece of leather is tied to one side of the clapper to produce an echo effect . It is very mournful to hear."

In a quarter peal, each of the eight bells is rung a minimum of 1,250 times. It will take about 45 minutes, starting at 7.30pm, and listeners are welcome.

Over the course of the next four years, the D&NDA will be ringing quarter peals on the 100th anniversary of the deaths of two soldiers from St Andrew's Church, Bishop Auckland; of a Company Sergeant Major whose home tower was at St Oswald's Church in Durham, and of a Bombardier from St John's Church in Shildon. Two more soldier-campanologists from St Cuthbert's in Darlington will also be remembered, starting with Pte Jack Stewart on May 24 next year.

L-Cpl Liddle grew up in Carmel Road, and worked as an accountancy clerk with Pease and Partners, the firm which controlled most of the collieries in south Durham. He married Clara Main on April 27, 1914, and they lived in Sylvan Grove. He was one of the first to volunteer for the Darlington Pals regiment when war broke out in August 1914, and was sent to guard the east coast against invasion – which was why he was in Hartlepool when the bombardment began.

When he was buried in West Cemetery on December 20, thousands of people lined the streets as the procession passed.

Hartlepool, of course, is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the bombardments with a day of events, including the unveiling of a memorial and a live theatrical production in the evening that will conclude with the ringing of church bells.

For more information on L-Cpl Liddle, go to The Northern Echo's First World War website, thenortheastatwar.co.uk. For more information on the church bell ringers association, go to dandn.awardspace.co.uk