Last letters to loved ones from soldiers who never came home

 Eric Fox Pitt Lubbock, who died at Ypres in 1917 aged 24, wrote to his mother: 'Try to forget my faults and remember me only as your very loving son'

 Beautiful thoughts: Michael Andrew Scott, 1916 - 1941, was killed over the English Channel. He told his father: 'That thing which we call "Life" is but a transitory stage in our development'

 The tragic messages trace common themes of love and loss, regardless of age or era.  , Herbert Jones (1940-1982)

 Guardsman Neil Downes, from Manchester, wrote to girlfriend Jane before he died in Afghanistan: 'I hope you have a wonderful and fulfilling life. Get married, have children etc. I will love you forever.'

 Private George Henry Davies, who died aged 28 at Messines in 1917, wrote to his mother: 'I give my life willingly for my country knowing that it is given in a righteous cause'

 Samuel S. Barrington, killed in 1815 in Quatre Bras, wrote: 'If some unlucky ball finished me, I trust I shall not be wholly unprepared to face danger and death'

 Second Lieutenant Eric Heaton, from East Sussex, wrote to his parent from the Battle of the Somme: 'If I fall in battle then I have no regrets save for my loved ones I leave behind'

 

 William Barclay Binning, 1897-1916, told his parents not to grieve before he was killed in Belgium

 Gunner Lee Thornton, who was killed aged 22 in Iraq in 2006, wrote to his fiance Helen: 'I really hope that this letter never gets to you, because if it does that means I am dead'