Pte George Summerlin, 30601, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on May 3rd, 1917. He was aged 26.

No newspaper report of his death appears to have been published around the time, but in the 1911 Census he is shown living with parents George and Jane Summerlin at 15 Stuart Street, Luton. Also living there was his wife Alice Maud (nee Hill), whom George had married in 1907, and their three children at that time - Leslie, Reginald and Wilfred. Records suggest they later had two daughters.

L-Cpl George Trott MM, 3/7607, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was post missing then killed in action on May 3rd, 1917. He was aged 34.

In a letter to George's widow, Bertha, at 59 Ridgway Road, Luton, Lieut F. N. Sherwell wrote that on the morning of the 3rd, when the battalion attacked the German lines, L-Cpl Trott started off with the platoon and was last seen just over the top of the British trenches. All enquiries possible had been made, but there was no further news of him.

Pte William Souster, 25633, 8th Battalion East Surrey Regiment (ex-3455 Middlesex Regiment), died on May 2nd, 1917, from wounds sustained near Arras earlier the same day. He was aged 33.

William married Emily Hatton, from Dorking, Surrey, at St Cuthbert's Church, Kensington, on August 6th, 1908. The couple lived at 446 Hitchin Road, Luton, and they had five children.

Before enlistment, William was employed as a straw hat factory foreman by Gilbert Brown & Co, 28 Victoria Street, Luton.

Sapper Harry Jeakings, 524257, 484th Field Company Royal Engineers, died on May 1st, 1917, from shrapnel wounds sustained in action in Egypt. He had enlisted in the E.A.R.E. in September 1915 and, after training at Maidenhead, he proceeded to Egypt at Easter 1916.

The son of fruiterers George and Louisa Jeakings, of 94 High Town Road, he was employed at the Davis, Clements & Co hat factory in Frederic Street.

Pte Leonard Smith MM, 35961, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in the Battle of Arras on or just before April 29th, 1917. He was aged 29 and born in Peterborough.

Although his name is included on the Luton Roll of Honour, there is no accompanying Luton address. With no local Press reports of his death, his Luton connection is not clear.

In the 1911 Census he is described as a tailor's presser living in Leicester with Martha Alice (nee Trowell) whom he married about a year previously. The couple were to have three children.

Pte Frederick William Priest, 31980, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in the Battle of Arras some time between April 23rd and April 29th, 1917.

He is included on the Luton Roll of Honour with an address at 3 Denbigh Road, Luton, although other records give an address at 8 Walsworth Villas, Hitchin. No report of his death seems to have been published in the local Press.

Pte Henry Andrews, 32099, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 29th, 1917.

He is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour with an address given as 43 Langley Street, Luton, although street directories from the time of his death suggest that may be a post-war family address. There appear to be no reports of his death in the local Press to provide further information.

Pte Frederick George Manning, 22956, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was posted missing, presumed killed, on or after April 29th, 1917, during the Battle of Arras. The news reached his widow, Rosetta, at her home at 105 Boyle Street, Luton, a month later.

Frederick Manning enlisted on November 1st, 1915, and, after training at Ampthill, was drafted to France in the following July. He was aged 25 and prior to enlisting was employed by coal and coke merchant C. Franklin, of Manchester Street, Luton.

Pte Joseph James Beaver, 32105, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Gavrelle in France on April 28th, 1917. He was aged about 24.

Although he is included on the Luton Roll of Honour but without an address, there appears to be no local Press report of his death at the time and little is known about his life in Luton. Military records say that his parents, James and Elizabeth, were living in London, where Joseph was born, but he was likely to have been living and/or working in Luton before the war.

Pte Frederick William Pestell, 30915, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on April 28th, 1917. He was aged 39.

He was called up in July 1916 and, after a spell of training at Landguard on the East Coast, returned home before being drafted out to France in October. His widow, Elizabeth, received official notification of his death two weeks later at her home at 98 Cobden Street, Luton.

Pte Fred Perry, 33070, Leicestershire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on April 13th, 1917. He left a widow, Alice Maud and six children, two of them adopted as their mother had died and their father was serving in France.

Fred Perry had been discharged from the Army on account of varicose veins after joining up at the outbreak of war. However, in November 1915 he rejoined and spent time training in Luton, Bedford, Halton Camp, Yorkshire and Folkestone. He went to France in December 1916.

Pte Frederick George Gurney, 32223, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at the Battle of Arras on April 28th, 1917. He was aged 22.

His father, Tom Gurney, of 48 Hartley Road, Luton, was given the sad news in a letter from Second Lieut G. Peel, of the Beds Regiment. He said Pte Gurney, the No 1 of his Lewis Gun Team, had suffered no pain as he was killed instantaneously by a shell.

L-Cpl George Kidman, 12387, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on April 23rd, 1917, during the Battle of Arras. He was aged 22.

In a letter to widowed mother Mrs Amelia Kidman, living at 16 Ashton Road, Luton, company commanding officer Lieut D. M. Saunders said L-Cpl Kidman and two friends were killed by a shell while sitting in a trench on April 23rd. He died instantly and suffered no pain.

Pte William Burkitt, 90012, 136th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed on April 28th, 1917, by a shell which made a direct hit on the cellar in which he and four comrades were sheltering during the Battle of Arras. Three of the friends were killed outright.

Second Lieut Leslie Wyndham Mansell, Derbyshire Yeomanry attached to the Durham Light Infantry, was killed in action in France on April 22nd, 1917.

Although his family lived in Bromley, Kent, Leslie had lived in Luton for some time and his father, Mr Harry Milton Mansell, was involved in the cardboard box firm of C. A. Coutts, of the Victor Works, 106 Old Bedford Road, Luton. Leslie was about to enter the firm at London when war broke out.