Pte Archie Oliver death Hurry, 238021, 12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on July 16th, 1917. His brother Harry, with whom he enlisted, had died on the battlefield just a few days earlier.

There appears to be no record in Luton newspapers of Archie's death, although family announcements in May 1917 seem to indicate that both Archie and Harry married on the same day - May 21st, 1917, at Christ Church - Archie's bride being Lily May Tuffnell.

It was not until August 1917 that the family of Pte Stanley Thomas Warner, G/15027, 11th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, were officially notified that he was presumed to have died on the battlefield on October 21st, 1916.

The 28-year-old had lived with grandparents William and Emma Warner, of 40 Alma Street, Luton for some years before joining the Leicestershire Regiment (5940) in 1915. He was later transferred to the Royal Sussex Regiment while in France before being reported wounded and missing on October 21st, 1916.

In August 1917, nearly eleven months after he was first reported wounded and missing, Guardsman Cyril Bernard Bryan, 18447, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was acknowledged as presumed to have died on the battlefield on September 25th 1916.

Cyril Bryan was born in London in 1892 and came to Luton about three years before the outbreak of war to work for outfitter Mr Mares, of George Street. He had been the first member of the firm to join the Army after hostilities broke out, and had been wounded three times before going missing.

Pte Albert King, 87202, 149th Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), was killed in action in France on August 3rd, 1917. A letter to widow Louisa Jane said: "Your husband was killed instantaneously by a shell in the early morning, about 2am.

"He with the rest of the team was in a dug-out well behind the front line when their dug-out was hit by a shell. You husband was buried the same day by a padre in a British cemetery, and a cross has been placed over his grave."

Pte William Scrivener, 18757, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment (transferred to 208th Division Employment Corps, Labour Corps - 22240), died probably from shell shock in France when the area he was in came under fire on August 12th, 1917.

It was Capt Stephens, of the Beds Regiment, who wrote to widow Mary Ellen Scrivener at 112 Wenlock Street with the news of her husband's death. He wrote:

Gunner Arthur William Loney, 163241, 32nd Divisional Ammunition Column, Royal Field Artillery, died accidentally in France from a gunshot wound on August 11th*, 1917. He was aged 25 and left a widow and a year-old child.

A chaplain wrote to Mrs Edith May Loney at 169 Wellington Street, Luton, to say he had laid her husband to rest. Gunner Loney was accidentally killed on Sunday night (August 12th*). No further details of the incident were included.

Driver Walter Gylee, 184771, 88th Battery, 14th Brigade Royal Field Artillery, died of wounds in France on August 11th, 1917. He was born and bred in Lincoln but for a time had been a junior assistant with Wootton & Webb pharmacists on Market Hill, Luton.

He had taken his job at Luton after war broke out and was hoping to obtain his full qualifications as a pharmacist. But he joined the R.F.A. in October 1916 and had been in France only a few weeks when he died of wounds received on the battlefield.

Pte Harry Isaac Hurry, 238022, 12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action on August 7th, 1917, although an officer at the Front gave the date as August 8th.

Along with his brother Archie Oliver Hurry, Harry enlisted March 1917. The brothers not only had consecutive service numbers (Archie was 238021) in the Middlesex Regiment, they also married on the same day - May 21st, 1917, at Christ Church - at the end of nine weeks training and before they were drafted out to France.

Sgt Arthur William Groves, 9643, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Belgium on August 6th, 1917. He is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour but may not have had much association with the town as no local address is recorded for him.

His death also appears to have gone unrecorded in the Luton Press, but his step-father was born in the town and members of his family lived here after the war.

Luton-born Company Sgt-Major Harry Parks (DCM), P/154, 16th Rifle Brigade, was killed in action near Ypres in Belgium on July 31st, 1917. His home was in London, and he left a widow and six children.

For the second time in his Army career, Pte Alfred George Cook, 200573, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was reported missing. It was July 20th, 1917, two years after he had been reported missing at Gallipoli, then said to have been killed, then wounded and finally, after six days of wandering, he rejoined his regiment.

Reginald James Payne was my maternal Grandfather born in Dudderston, Birmingham on the 9th November 1896.  He was the 3rd eldest of six children born to Walter & Minnie Payne. 

According to military records, Pte Stanley ('Tom') Toyer, 235151, 2nd Battalion South Lancs Regiment, was killed in action on August 3rd, 1917.

But a lieutenant in his company wrote to parents Alfred and Martha Toyer, of 218 North Street, Luton, to say their son was killed in action on July 31st during the latest advance in the Ypres sector. He was killed by a shell which fell in the trench close to him.

Pte Toyer enlisted in the South Lancs Regiment in September 1916 and had been in France only six weeks when he was killed.

Pte Sidney James Bone, 27319, 7th Battalion Norfolk Regiment, was killed in action on August 2nd, 1917. He was aged 30, and left a widow and daughter.

After nine weeks training with the Norfolks he had been drafted to France in May 1917. He had married Minnie Evelyn Nicholls in 1908 and had a daughter, Gladys. The family home was at 64 Cowper Street, Luton.

Sidney had worked as a dairyman since he was 18, while his father Edwin had been a milk purveyor for 30 years. Edwin and his wife Mary Ann lived in Baker Street.

Pte Horace John Sanders, 27416, 7th Battalion Norfolk Regiment, was killed in action in France on August 2nd*, 1917, about three months after going to the Front. He had been slightly wounded a few days previously but returned to duty almost immediately.

Horace, aged 29, was the elder son of grocer, farm owner and member of the Luton Board of Guardians John Sanders and his wife Sarah Agnes, of 54 Hastings Street, Luton.