Pte William Brooks, 43555, 182nd Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), was killed in action on the Somme on September 24th, 1916. He was aged 35 and left a widow,Annie, and four children - Baden, Edith, Elsie and Madge.

Pte Harold Ronald Kempson, 43563, 140th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), died on September 22nd, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme. He was aged 34 and had lived at 18 Inkerman Street, Luton.

Born in Luton in 1882, the son of David and Elizabeth Kempson, he had married Florence Mary (nee Going) in 1909. In 1911 the couple were living at 20 Hampton Road, Luton, with their 10-month-old son Albert Edward. At the time Ronald, as he was known, was a straw hat machinist. He had previously served in the Beds Regiment (5323).

Pte William Fensome, 21426, 12th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, died at a casualty clearing station in France on September 20th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the battlefield the previous day.

The Battalion was a 'Bantam' unit to which William was able to join in September 1915 after failing a height test to enlist in other regiments earlier. He was therefore below the regulation 5ft 3in in height.

Cpl Percy Bertram Stimson, 2723, 24th Battalion London Regiment (The Queen's) is recorded as dying of wounds on September 17th, 1916. But a sergeant who wrote to his parents said he had been seen by comrades to be wounded during a charge on September 18th but was not among the men picked up by his regiment's stretcher bearers.

Cpl Stimson, who had celebrated his 22nd birthday six weeks before his death, was the son of Frank and Annie Stimson, of 45 Alma Street, Luton. He had been employed in the warehouse of Messrs Vyse, Sons and Co.

Cyril Burberry Gibbons was born in Luton on 17th January 1895. He was the youngest of 5 children born to Henry & Henrietta.

Henry Gibbons was the owner of a drapery establishment at Denmark House No 2 Park Street, Luton.

Frederick Edward Garrett was born in 1899 in Luton.

In 1911 he is living with his family at 80 Queen Street. His father Frederick Edward is 31 years old & a house painter, his mother Ellen Daisy is 30 & a straw hat finisher. Frederick is 11 years old & at school with his 8 year old sister Olive May & brother Horace who is 6.

Frederick joined the 2/1st Sussex Yeomanry, a cyclist brigade, providing home service.

Bert Gardner was born in Luton in 1884, 1 of 12 children born to Philip & Mary (aka Kate).

In 1911 Bert is 20 years old & working as an assistant for a straw hat manufacturer. He is living at No 25 Stockwood Crescent, a 6 roomed house with his father Philip, 64 a mercantile clerk, his 64 year old mother Mary & 2 of his siblings. His sister Maud is 32 & a straw hat finisher & his brother Frederick William is 30 & is also an assistant for a straw hat manufacturer. Florence Joy is living with them as their general domestic servant.

Pte Frederick Thomas Sharp, 3/8705, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Ypres on April 19th, 1916. He was aged 29 and the father of six children.

Pte Sharp, of 21 Essex Street, Luton, joined the colours in October 1914 and was drafted to the Western Front in October 1915. He fought at Ypres, Messines and Vimy Ridge and was gassed in December 1915. On recovery he returned to the trenches.

He formerly worked as an iron moulder at the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road. He was also well-known in athletics circles and was a harrier.

Cpl Sydney Francis Waring, 4083, who was wounded in the 1/5th Bedfords charge at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915, died in the 2nd Eastern General Hospital, Brighton, on March 26th, 1916, following a second operation. He was aged 31 and left widow May and two children living at 26 Elizabeth Street, Luton.

Before the war he was employed at Messrs J. C. Kershaw and Co's hat warehouse in George Street, and was a well-known cricketer who had been in the cricket team that won the Luton and District League in 1914.

Colin Campbell Daniels was born in Salford, Lancashire in 1894, the eldest of three children born to William Robert and Lily.

In 1901 he is seven years old and living at 52 Old Lane, Chadderton, Oldham, Lancashire. His father is working as a weighing machine fitter and his mother is at home looking after Colin, his five-year-old sister Edith and his two-year-old brother William.

Lieut Edmund Wallis Beck, Acting Adjutant of the 8th Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds in hospital at Boulogne on January 9th, 1916. He had been seriously wounded near Ypres on December 19th, 1915, while giving warning of a gas attack. He was aged 26, born in Poona, India, on July 27th, 1889.

Before leaving England, Lieut Beck represented his regiment while dining with the King and Queen. He was educated at Bracondale School, Norwich, and Wellingborough, where he was captain of the 1st eleven, and he shot at Bisley for his school.

Ewart Alfred Mouse was born in July 1895.

In 1911 He is 15 years old & working as a block maker. He is living at No 7 Hazelbury Crescent with his family. His father Edward is 44 & also working as a block maker, his mother Amelia is 43. Ewart's 2 brothers are living here too, Percy is 24 & a clothes & draper's shop assistant & Edward James is 3 years old.

Lieut Stanley Burnet, 17th Training Squadron, Royal Air Force, died in a flying accident at Yatesbury, Wiltshire, on May 31st, 1918. He had joined the Royal Flying Corps on March 4th ahead of it becoming the RAF and earned his flying certificate in a Caudron Bi-Plane at Ruffy-Baumann school in Acton.

Henry A Brooks was born in Dunstable in October 1887. He was 1 of 13 children born to Albert & Emma.

Pte Frank Boutwood, 4626, B Company, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died in the 5th Southern General Hospital at Portsmouth on October 23rd, 1915, from complications arising from dysentery contracted in Gallipoli. He was aged 34.

His death meant that Luton had its first experience a funeral of one of its Territorials who had been on active service with the 1/5th Bedfords in Gallipoli. He had been invalided home about a month before his death suffering from dysentery, but complications set in and he passed peacefully away in the presence of his relatives.