Somme selfies: Jimmy Hepburn, one of the few to be named

In the run-up to July’s centenary of one of the bloodiest battles in human history, The Independent is publishing a different Tommy’s picture every day

James Hepburn, one of the few to be identified. He died in 1964, aged 62

A teenaged Scottish soldier stares cheekily at the camera just before or during the terrible battle of the Somme. He has “Scottified” his uniform by turning up the corners of his tunic and is wearing his gas-mask holder as a sporran. The soldier has been identified as Jimmy Hepburn who was born in Birse, near Aberdeen, in 1898. He survived the war to have two wives, nine children, at least 20 grandchildren and a still expanding army of great-grandchildren. He died in 1962, aged 64. On each day until the centenary on 1 July, we are publishing a “Selfie from the Somme” – an image chosen from a collection of more than 700 long-lost photographs brought to light by The Independent in recent years.