Ruby Bullen and Harry Parker suicide pact near Bordon, 1935

The farewell note said it all.

“I am very sorry. I wish to be forgiven. I have worshipped Harry and my last wish is that we may be buried together as we would have been together if we had lived.”

Ruby Bullen, originally from the New Forest area, was barely alive when she was found next to her boyfriend. In a suicide pact, he had shot her in the head then turned the gun on himself. For hours she lay next to his body until a local farm worker found them. He was dead and she was barely alive.

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She underwent emergency surgery at a local hospital. For hours, with a police officer at her bedside, she clung to life but died without regaining consciousness. She was just 17.

It was the final chapter in a love affair that could never be fulfilled. If they could never be together in life, they would be forever entwined in death.

Lance Corporal Harry Parker, 20, of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry, was deeply in love with the teenager but her foster father pleaded with him she was too young, with a promise that when she turned 18, he would be more than welcome at their home.

The couple were seen alive at a distance by villagers who took them to be lovers. He was reported missing from his camp – Martinique Barracks, Bordon – and a major search went on for almost 24 hours until the farm worker discovered their bodies in a wood some three miles from where he was stationed.

In his pocket were several letters, which included one addressed to his sister in Yorkshire and one to his commanding officer for whom he acted as personal servant.

As word of the tragedy spread, T J Thompsett, manager of the local International Stores, described the teenager as being very popular with fellow staff and customers. “”You could not wish to meet a more cheerful girl.”

At an inquest into their deaths days later in 1935, her father, labourer Thomas Cole, told how the couple had become infatuated with each other after meeting only met a month earlier. But he admitted that after they had been introduced, he told the lance corporal that he was concerned about their relationship because she was so young.

He told me he loved her and would wait until she was 18.”

The court heard that the lovers had broken their promise not to see each other and a row flared after her mother refused to let them go to the pictures together. When Parker approached him, Cole told him “The best thing is that you clear off.”

The following morning, Cole warned Parker that as he had kept breaking his promise, she would have to go into lodgings. Parker retorted: “If it is a case of me having to give her up, then I might not be responsible for what will happen.”

Coroner A L Bowker asked: “What do you think he meant?” to which Cole replied: “I don’t know.”

The last he saw of his adopted daughter was her going off to work, saying “Cheerio.”

As she did not return that evening, Cole said he became increasingly worried and went to the army camp to search for her. “It was her birthday and we had prepared a special treat for her.

“She was always jolly and singing, and seeking adventure,” said Cole, describing how she had once cycled from their home to Portsmouth where she had spent the night on the beach and only given herself up to the police because she was hungry. On another occasion, she had caught a train to London, all for adventure.

The corner then read out the note she had penned, asking for forgiveness.

The jury returned verdicts that Parker had shot his sweetheart and then committed suicide.