Pte Harry Stanley Smith, 3228, 1/5th Lincs Regiment, who is a Luton man, is one of the few English men who in the great war have been singled out for distinction by our great French ally. He is now lying in Woburn Abbey Hospital, wounded for the third time, and on Thursday [November 18th, 1915] he received the Croix de Guerre from France.

Regimental Quartermaster Sgt E. Scott, 3458, 1/5th Bedfords, whose home is at Grove Road, Luton, and who has just arrived at a Cardiff hospital suffering from dysentery, came home on a hospital ship which was held up by a German submarine.

The submarine sank a steamer which was running parallel with the hospital ship, but before it had time to do anything with the latter beyond summon the officers to it with the ship's papers, a destroyer came in sight and the submarine prudently disappeared.

Pte Horace Victor Battams, serving with the 5th Lincoln Battery, Royal Field Artillery, wrote home to 51 Hartley Road, Luton, to tell of his experiences in the battle of Loos.

"We have done some good work out here," he wrote. "I helped in the charge for I was a bomb thrower, but, thank the Lord, He spared me. There was many a poor fellow killed, but they took what they went for.

The second member of the 1/1st Eastern Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C., to find his way into the casualty list in Gallipoli is Pte A. Robinson, son of Mrs Wellard, of 54 Langley Road, Luton.

This picture should be historic for Luton, said the Beds Advertiser. The sight of a long line of mules going through the town each morning will be unknown after the war. The mules are fine specimens, and belong to the Army Service Corps billeted at Biscot. Our photographer secured the picture at the corner of Leagrave and Dunstable roads.

Stories from the Luton News: Thursday, November 18th, 1915.

A modest start has been made in Luton with another new industry, Messrs W. A. Maylor and Co, of 294 City Road, Luton, having started the manufacture of fancy leather goods at 73 Collingdon Street.

Two Luton sappers were among the first casualties sustained in Gallipoli by No 4 Section of the 1/2nd Field Company of the East Anglian Royal Engineers, Sappers George and Harris being wounded with Second-Lieut M. C. Callis by a Turkish bomb on September 9th when they were at work about 30 yards from the Turkish trenches.

Last week Mr G. H. Barrett, the foreman of the brass foundry of Messrs George Kent Ltd, received a cheery letter from Sapper L. T. Harris, 1150, who was an extremely popular member of the staff of Messrs Kent.

A startling discovery was made early yesterday afternoon [Sunday, November 14th, 1915] by the roadside in Crawley Green Road, a few yards outside the Luton borough boundary.

A Luton man resident in Havelock Road was proceeding along the road when his attention was attracted by a brown paper parcel lying in the hedge bottom close to the foot of a big tree which stands outside the fence of the garden of St Mary's Vicarage.

Stories from the Beds & Herts Telegraph: November 13th, 1915.

Mr Harold Fossey, of 25 Ash Road, Luton, has received a very interesting package from a soldier who was billeted with him for a time, and who is now in the No 2 General Canadian Hospital, Le Tréport, France. He was wounded in the battle of Loos and sends three postcard views of the hospital, which was originally a magnificent hotel run by Germans.

Stories from the Luton News: Thursday, November 11th, 1915.

Alderman John Henry Staddon, of 'Withycombe.' Studley Road, Luton, and a member of the Corporation for 15 years, was unanimously elected Mayor of Luton for 1915-16, succeeding Councillor Walter James Primett, who had held office for two terms and became the new Deputy Mayor.

Luton Modern School, opened 1908. Photo: T. G. Hobbs.

In a time of stress, wouldn't it be advisable to allow lads marking time at school to leave and meet the demand in the town for boy workers to make up for men who had enlisted?

Stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: November 6th, 1915.

A postcard and two letters have been received from Pte Claude Gilder, of the 1/5th Beds, who before enlistment was on our staff. They are mostly bright and full of confidence.

A postcard dated September 8th read: "Received our first mail yesterday. What joyful faces as we read our letters from home - and our best girls! Have got you papers up to August 14th all right, and they were appreciated. I am now engaged temporarily as clerk at Brigade HQ, owing to their clerk being down with dysentery."

The list of names received by the end of October 1915 of men connected with Christ Church and the life of the parish then serving with the Colours in preparation of a Roll of Honour.

A: V. J. Allen, F. J. Allen, W. G. Aylott, H. V. Aylott, C. H. Ansell, F. A. Austin, C. J. Abbott.