Stories from The Luton News, Thursday, July 1st, 1915.

Mrs Boon, of 28 At Ann's Road, Luton, has again been informed that her son, Pte William Boon, has been killed at the front, and this time it is feared the news is true.

In January last Mrs Boon received a letter from a chaplain at one of the base hospitals stating that her son had died in hospital from wounds received in action. It was assumed that a letter from Pte Boon posted the same day had been found in his pockets after his death. In the following week, however, Pte T. Wood, of Bailey Street, came home and said he had left Boon in the trenches very much alive.

This week a letter has been received from Pte A. P. Marsh, whose home is next door to Mrs Boon. In it hew writes: "I have much regret in informing you that your son Will was killed in action on Tuesday last [May 17th]. I was not with him at the time, but it was a great blow to me and his other chums to hear of his fate, as he was very much loved by us all. We send you our deepest sympathy in your bereavement."

A second letter, from Pte George Ellis, also said Pte Boon had been killed and had been "seen to drop".

Pte Boon (pictured, right), aged 18, was officially posted as "missing" on May 17th. He had been at the Front since the early stages of the war.

• The award of the Victoria Cross of Pte Edward Warner (pictured, left), 7602, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was announced in the London Gazette. St Albans-born Pte Warner won the decoration for conspicuous bravery near Hill 60 on May 1st, 1915. He single-handedly held a trench that had been vacated under a German gas attack, but died on the following day from the effects of the gas. King George V presented the VC at Buckingham Palace on November 16th, 1916, to his mother, Charlotte, of Cannon Street, St Albans.

• Pte George C. Wade, 2/1st North Midland Field Company, Royal Engineers, who has been billeted at 277 Hitchin Road, Luton, died suddenly on Tuesday. The regimental doctor had been able to certify that death was due to natural causes, and an inquest will therefore not be necessary. Deceased's home was at 18 Harcourt Street, Skelton, Stoke-on-Trent.

• A letter from Belgium signed "A Rifleman" included a photograph taken in a British trench. He wrote: "I am sending you a photo [shown below] of one of our machine guns ready for action, taken by one of our officers in the trenches. We are waiting for the "Square-nuts" to counter-attack us so that we can meet them in their masses and mow them down with our weapon of surprise. One of these guns equals 60 men firing in the trenches and more accurate shooting with the man behind it. I myself have been out here since September 8th, and I can assure you I have fire a good many thousand rounds from this gun."

• During the past week the following recruits for the 5th Beds have enlisted at the Corn Exchange: J. Gregory, H. Lewin and W. Usher.

• Latest recruits for the Regular Army: H. Allen, H. Birkett, H. Cain, J. Coles, P. Coleman, W. Danding, W. F. Dumpleton, H. Field, E. Folks, A. Foster, F. Healey, W. G. Higgs, C. R. Perry, S. Quince, J. Ryan, G. S. Sayeed, C. Taylor, H. Toyer, H. Turnbull-Hind and F. Workman.

• A happy little group of members of the Royal Flying Corps "somewhere in France" included First Air Mechanic Harold T. Vaughan (third from the left in the photo, right), eldest son of Mr and Mrs A, P. Vaughan, of Maybank, Waldeck Road, Luton. An old boy of Dunstable Road School and former employee of Commercial Cars Ltd, he joined the RFC in July 1914 and was among the first to go France the following month. He had recently received his promotion to First Air Mechanic.

• A meeting of the local Parcels for Prisoners committee was held at the Town Hall on Monday, and it was decided that in addition to sending fortnightly parcels to prisoners of war whose homes are in Luton and the immediate neighbourhood, £15 a month towards the cost of parcels sent to the men from the rest of the county or from other places who have been serving with the county regiment and become prisoners. The dispatch of fortnightly parcels has already been commenced, and another lot will be posted tomorrow.

• The great and increasing demand being made on Luton's electricity undertaking by firms engaged in the manufacture of munitions of war was a reason urged by Town Clerk Mr William Smith at an inquiry on Tuesday for the early sanction of the Local Government Board to a loan for £2,000 for additional plant at the sewage pumping works. New steam pumping plant was required that would consequently render unnecessary the very considerable consumption of electricity for electrical pumping, and leave the corresponding supply of current available to meet increasing demands from elsewhere.

• At the last meeting of the Luton Chamber of Commerce a report was presented with regard to the carriage of straw goods by rail, and to a probable suspension of this traffic. We now understand that in so far as the Great Northern Railway was concerned no alteration was made in the facilities given by the company for this traffic.

• Last night splendid testimony was made to the affection of the people of St Mary's Church gained by the Rev G. F. Sloan during his four and a half years' senior curacy of the parish. There was a large congregational gathering in St Mary's Hall, and Mr Sloan was presented with a purse of gold to the amount of over £30.

• Despite the great deluge yesterday, the Red Cross garden party given by Mr and Mrs Stewart Hubbard, of The Chase, Stopsley, was not by any means the failure that might have been expected. On the contrary, the good number of visitors later on in the afternoon spent a very enjoyable time. When the visitors arrived they sauntered about the grounds and gardens, and were pleasurably surprised to find so magnificent a garden both in size and appearance so snugly concealed at the rear of Mr Hubbard's residence. A musical programme was arranged, and the financial result come to roughly £25.