Pte Sidney Ernest Hoole, 67609, 6th Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 1st, 1918. He was a month short of his 19th birthday.

Born in 1899, a son of Frederick and Kate Hoole, he joined up in September 1917 and had been serving abroad for only three months. Before joining the colours he had been an assistant at the Maypole food shop in Wellington Street, Luton.

Sidney is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour/War Memorial. His mother and three brothers were living at 80 Church Street at the time of his death.

Pte Albert Ernest Bithrey, 41546, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on July 1st, 1918, according to military records.

However his lieutenant wrote to Albert's mother in Luton: “On the night of 29th June he was acting as platoon gunner, and sitting next to me when a shell pitched on his packs and killed him instantly. His body was brought down and buried in a cemetery behind the lines, and a proper memorial has been put up to his memory.”

Cpl Horace Stanley Lowin, 41475, 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, was killed in action in Flanders on April 15th, 1918, the date he was initially reported to be missing. He had completed a year's training at Halton, near Wendover, before being drafted out to France in January 1917.

Born in Luton in 1892, he was a son of George and Florence Lowin, of 253 High Town Road, Luton. In the 1911 Census he was described as a clerk.

He is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour/War Memorial and in the Book of Life created at St Mary's Parish Church in 1920.

Pte Bertie Bleaney, 201383, 4th Essex Regiment, was reported missing, later killed in action, in Palestine on March 27th, 1917. Confirmation of his death was not received by his family until more than a year later.

Born in Houghton Regis in 1895, he had been working on a local farm until joining up with the Beds Regiment soon after the outbreak of war. He had been transferred to the Essex Regiment before he went to Egypt and Palestine.

Pte William James Wells, 38483, 19th Field Ambulance Royal Army Medical Corps, died of wounds in France on June 9th, 1918. No further detail were given in local newspapers.

His death was recorded in the Luton News in just one paragraph, even though he had been elected secretary of the Luton Conservative and Unionist Association in 1913 and featured prominently as an election worker from 1911 until he initially joined the transport section of the Royal Engineers in 1914 at the start of the war.

Pte Frederick Halsey, 2473, 2/1st West Riding Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was one of three stretcher-bearers who died together under enemy shell fire in France on the morning of June 21st, 1918.

In a letter to Mrs Elizabeth Halsey at 6 New Town Street, Luton, Lieut-Col Walter Lister extended his sympathy and wrote: “Your son was on duty in the forward area as stretcher-bear when the relay post at which he was stationed was blown up by a direct hit from enemy fire.”

Sgt Elvin Peggs, 248092, 2nd Battalion London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), was killed in action in France on April 24th, 1918. He was aged 23 and left a widow and one child residing in East Hyde.

Born in in 1895 in Melton Constable, Norfolk, only son of James and Jane Peggs, Elvin was living with his family in Hyde Mill Cottages, East Hyde, at the time of the 1911 Census. Elvin was a farm labourer.

In 1915 he married Mary E. Salmon and they had a daughter, Elizabeth, the following year.

Pte Charles Barker, 42539, 11th Battalion Essex Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on May 28th, 1918. He was a second son of the last James Barker and Mrs Sarah Barker, of 26 Back Street, Luton, to die on the battlefield. Pte Ernest Barker (Beds Regiment) was killed in the First Battle of Ypres in October 1914.

Charles, aged 19, had joined the Royal Field Artillery at Biscot a year before his death and later transferred to the Essex Regiment. Before joining the Army he had been a coal carter employed by Newbold & Martell in Luton.

Sapper John Wesley, 524163, 82nd Field Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action in France on June 12th, 1918. He left a widow, Lillie, whom he had married in Luton a year earlier, and had been in France for only 11 weeks.

An officer wrote to Lillie: “I have to inform you of the death of your husband, who was killed on the night of the 12th whilst proceeding to work. Death was instantaneous. I am pleased to tell you he was saved the awful pain of a lingering death... He was buried officially, and his grave is kept in Army records.”

te Edwin Henry Billingham, 44636, 8th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment, was killed in action in France on May 30th, 1918, just days before his 19th birthday and only weeks after being sent to France.

The son of William and Ellen Billingham, of 39 Westbourne Road, Luton, he had joined the London Regiment (Civil Service Rifles) in May 1917 and, after training at Winchester and Hounslow, was drafted overseas in April 1918 with the Gloucesters.

Pte Arthur Glenister, 14539, 2nd Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, was killed in action near Ypres on November 15th, 1917.

Born in Limbury in 1893, he was one of 11 children born to William and Ellen Glenister. In 1911 the family lived in Salisbury [now Sarum] Road, Leagrave, Arthur working as an engineer in an iron foundry.

Arthur married Nellie Jane Hills at St Paul's Church, Luton, on January 16th, 1913, and the couple were living at 29 Normal Road, Luton. They had two daughters – Gladys, born in 1913, and Hilda, born in 1915.

Pte William Glenister, 25053, 11th Suffolk Regiment, was reported missing, believe killed, on April 9th, 1918. He was the 29-year-old son of William and Ellen Glenister, of 74 Saxon Road, Luton.

A report in the Beds & Herts Tuesday Telegraph on June 3rd, 1919, said Pte Glenister had in fact been officially reported to have died in a German field hospital on July 5th, 1918.

One of 11 children, William was born at Leagrave in 1888 and in 1911 was working as a milkman for Mr Cartwright, Dunstable Road.

Pte Henry James Pool, 69182, 1/6th Northumberland Fusiliers, was reported to have died of wounds sustained in action in France on April 11th, 1918. After 12 months of training in England, he had been drafted to France only a week earlier, on April 4th.

Born in Bromley by Bow in London to Henry John and Louise Annie Pool, Henry was listed as living with his family in Bow in the 1911 Census. By the time he had joined up he had worked at the Diamond Foundry in Luton and his home address was 86 Grange [now St Peter's] Road, Luton.

Pte Ernest Llewellin Godbehear, 44027, 10th Battalion Essex Regiment, died of wounds in France on May 22nd, 1918. He the third son of Thomas James and Emma Godbehear to die, but the first on the battlefield.

Little detail was given in a report in The Luton News, other than to concentrate on his achievements as a boxer. He held the lightweight championship of the 212th Brigade, and was runner-up in the championship of the Division. His parents had received the watch and medals he had been awarded.

L-Cpl Archibald Christopher Allwood, 41386, 13th Battalion Rifle Brigade, had been in France only a month and in the front line trenches just a day or two when he was killed by a shell which dropped into his dug-out on June 2nd, 1918. He and his comrades died instantly.

The former Luton Modern School pupil was the only son of Luton Borough Special Constabulary Inspector Walter Leonard Allwood and his wife Florence Ruth, of 214 Dunstable Road, Luton. Archibald was two months short of his 19th birthday.