A soldier killed in battle just nine months after joining the Army was buried on Tuesday in the churchyard of the village where he grew up.

Private Matthew Haseldin was laid to rest at St Alkelda’s Parish Church, in Giggleswick, near where he was educated as a small boy at the village primary school.

The 21-year-old, who served with 2nd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment, died on November 3, in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, when his patrol was attacked by insurgents in the Nahre-e Saraj district.

Matthew, a former student at Settle Middle School and Settle College, had joined up in February and was deployed to Afghanistan in September.

Hundreds of people, including pupils from the two senior schools and his old primary school, lined the route to the church to pay their last respects.

The coffin – draped in a Union flag and carrying his cap and tunic belt – arrived at 1pm.

It was met by a guard of honour of regimental comrades and a parade including members of the Royal British Legion and the Riders Branch of the Legion.

Matthew’s coffin was carried by six of his comrades into the church where his mother and father, Alan and Jill, and his grandparents, Ron and Glenda, along with other family and close friends, waited his arrival.

Matthew’s uncle, Barry Thompson, spoke movingly about his nephew, describing him as competitive and always wanting to do his best.

“I have no doubt that is how he served his brief time in the Army,” he said.

Mr Thompson also spoke on behalf of Matthew’s parents who recalled how he had worked at Settle’s Naked Man Café and Booths Supermarket and had become a referee in the Craven Junior League before going to live in Cyprus for two years.

They said they were very proud of their son who had changed from boy to man in the 24 weeks of his training in the Army.

Speaking on behalf of Matthew’s close friends, James Wallbank told how Matthew had said he had joined the Army to “see the world and protect the country”.