Pte Ernest Arthur Smith, 6254, 11th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, died of wounds in Flanders on May 1th, 1917. He had been in the firing line for just a few days.

His widow, Fanny at 6 St Paul's Road, Luton, was informed in a letter from the matron of a casualty clearing station in France that her husband was admitted badly wounded. All that was possible was done for him, but he lived for only a few hours. He was hardly conscious any of the time and was unable to send a message himself. He was buried in the British Cemetery.

Arthur Smith, as he was known, enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment in July 1916 and went to France the following December. The action in which he died was his first battle.

A straw hat blocker, Arthur was previously employed by hat manufacturer Mr Hickson, of Princess Street, and later by Stevens and Gee, of King Street.

He married Fanny Baldwin at St Matthew's Church, Luton, on May 13th, 1905, and the couple had two daughters - Eva May, born in 1906, and Winifred, born 1908.