Pte Ernest William Bruton, 202636, 9th Battalion Essex Regiment, died in the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital, Doullens, France, on April 8th, 1918, following gunshot wounds in the back of the neck sustained on the battlefield. He was aged 22 and single.

An old boy of Queen Square School and a former member of the Excelsior football team, Luton, he was a son of Hannah Mary and the late Walter Bruton. At the time of Ernest's death his widowed mother was living at 55 Ash Road, Luton.

Pte Frank West, 49094, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in the trenches in France by a shell on April 6th, 1918. He was aged 19, single and the son of George and Annie West, of 111 Guildford Street, Luton.

It was comrade Pte J. W. Harrison (Beds Regiment) who broke the news to the parents in an emotional letter from the Front. He wrote: "He was a lad who was esteemed by us all, and his jovial manner and personality made him popular with all who came into contact with him, from the NCOs to his comrades in the line.

L-Cpl John Robert ('Jack') Eames, 32217, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 7th, 1918. He was the second son of William and Harriet Eames, of 107 Cambridge Street, Luton, to die on the battlefield - Gus Eames was killed in February 1916.

As was often the case, the parents were informed that their son, aged 33, had died instantly and painlessly. Widow Gertrude (nee Warren), whom Jack had married at St Paul's Church, Luton, on January 9th, 1909, was informed separately of his death. The couple had two children.

Pte William Thomas Clark, 20882, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Gentelles on the Somme in France on April 5th, 1918.

He had joined the Army on June 7th, 1915, and went out to France for the first time in the following February. He was wounded in April 1917 but recovered in England and returned to the Front. Prior to enlistment he was employed as a plait dyer by E. W. Hart & Co, Windmill Road.

L-Cpl Ernest David Rattle, 40902, 1st Herts Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 23rd, 1918. His widow, in ill health and with five small children under the age of seven to care for in Luton, had heard nothing from him since March 18th.

Ernest had been promised home leave, and widow Alice at 12 Naseby Road, Luton, was daily expecting a telegram to say he was on his way. But it was not until August 1919 that the War Office concluded that he had been killed in action or died of wounds on March 23rd, 1918.

Pte William James Hinds, 23459, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 3rd, 1918.

William was a son of George and Elizabeth Sarah Hinds, of Rose View, Cumberland Road [now Compton Avenue], Leagrave. He had been wounded in May 1917.

In the 1911 Census William was described as a 19-year-old nurseryman's assistant.

Pte Joseph Walter Shackleton, 307487, 2/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), was reported missing, later presumed killed, in one of the first engagement of the German spring offensive begun on March 21st, 1918.

The only son of Joseph Walter and Cecilia Shackleton, of 189 High Town Road, Luton, he had joined the Army a little over two years earlier and had served in France for 13 months. At the time of enlistment he was engaged on building a breakwater at Dover. His death came at the time he was expecting leave to return home.

Pte George William Draper, 82855, 3rd Battalion Machine Gun Corps, was killed in action in France on March 28th, 1918. He was aged 35 and married with one child.

He had joined the Bedfordshire Regiment (8373) on October 27th, 1916, and was trained at Halton. He first got to France on March 1st, 1917, and after a period of service there was transferred to the Machine Gun Corps, undergoing further training at Mansfield.

Before joining up, George was employed as a straw plait buncher at the bleaching and dyeing works of Rogers & Ashby in Dunstable Road.

Cpl Arthur Ward, 19139, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on April 2nd, 1918. He is buried in St Thomas' Churchyard at Stopsley, although he is not commemorated on the Stopsley War Memorial.

No newspaper reports of his death or funeral have so far come to light, but to have been buried locally he would have died in England, probably, as historian James Dyer suggests, in an English hospital from wounds sustained abroad.

Sapper Frank Percy King, 522158, 483rd Field Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action on the Somme on April 2nd, 1918. He was aged 22 and single.

A comrade wrote to parents Frederick and Martha King at 127 Park Street, Luton: "I have some sad news to tell you. we lost an old Park Street boy, killed the last day we were in the line - Easter Tuesday. He was a jolly nice fellow, a little older than myself, and we had some very nice talks together about Park Street, for he and I were the only two Park Street boys in the Company."

Pte Percy Young, 33150, 9th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was reported missing, presumed killed, on May 3rd, 1917. It was nearly a year later that parents William and Louisa Young, of Breachwood Green, received confirmation of his death on that date.

Percy was the youngest of the couple's four serving sons. He initially joined the Bedfordshire Regiment (5513) in October 1915 and was trained at Halton Park. He went to France and was transferred to the 8th Leicesters in January 1917.

Pte Thomas Carruthers, 30635, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds in France on March 29th, 1918. It was not until the following December that news reached his widowed mother Julia that her son had died of wounds two days after being captured as a prisoner of war.

His Red Cross report said his death followed the shattering of his left upper arm. He was buried in the cemetery at Damery in France.

Driver Harry Tompkins, 90111, 78th Field Company Royal Engineers, died in Abbeville Hospital, France, on Good Friday, March 29th, 1918, from wounds received at Mons.

He was aged 42 and, although born in Luton, Bedfordshire, he was living with his wife and six children in Luton, Chatham, Kent, when he enlisted.

Pte Walter George Dillingham, 26572, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was presumed killed in action in France on March 28th, 1918.

Although born in Luton, a son of Daniel and Sarah Dillingham, of 4a Essex Street, Luton, he had spent most of his adult life living in Bedford. In the 1901 Census he was working as a fishmonger living in Tavistock Place, Bedford, with two visitors - sisters Fanny and Eliza Stokes. On August 12th, 1906, he married Fanny and they were to have three children. In the 1911 Census he was described as a flower hawker.

Pte Frederick George Fleckney, 14538, 9th Royal West Surrey Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 21st, 1918, at the opening of the German spring offensive.

Born on August 11th, 1895, he was the son of the late George (died 1915) and Hannah (died 1906) Fleckney, of Mangrove Green, and he had been living with his married sister Elizabeth Henman at Mangrove, near Luton.