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 Sidney George Peters, 26088, 9th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died on September 9th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme.

The news about their eldest son reached his father George and mother Alice at their home in Bury Road [now St Thomas's Road], Stopsley, two weeks later through an army chaplain at the No 36 Casualty Clearing Station in France. The wounds Sidney had sustained were so grievous that moving him was an impossibility, they learned.

Pte Thomas James Swain, 18970, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was killed in action on the Somme on or shortly after September 10th, 1916. He was aged 21.

The son of Luton Corporation employee Arthur Swain and his wife Jane, of 30 Arthur Street, Luton,

he had enlisted in August 1914. Previously he had been employed for 18 months by Messrs Powdrill.

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.

Pte William Cooper, 20266, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on September 18th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme. He was aged 21 and died on an ambulance barge in France.

Born in Ayot St Peters in June 1895, Herts, he was one of ten children born to John and Ann (Annie) Sophia Cooper, who were living at 352 Hitchin Road, Luton, at the time of his death. In the 1911 Census William was a farm labourer living with his parents and three older brothers and two old sisters at 44 Round Green, Luton.

Pte Christopher Perry, 22395, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 15th, 1916. He was aged 47.

Born in Luton in 1869, he married Emily Jane Crook in Luton in 1893. He had a married daughter, Rose, and a son, William, and in 1911 the family were living at 24 Spring Place, Luton. The address on the Luton Roll of Honour is given as 4 Park Place, Luton.

Pte Walter Henman, 19546, 8th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 15th, 1916. He was aged 21 and the second son of William and Alice Henman, of Breachwood Green, to die in France in 11 days.

Born on April 24th, 1895, Walter Henman had undergone 11 months of training at Ampthill before going to the Front in January 1916. Prior to enlistment he worked as a farm labourer for Mr W. Ivory at Winch Hill Farm, near Luton.

Pte Thomas Richard Buller, 18754, 6th Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, died on September 5th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the Somme.

He was born in Banbury in 1888 and spent his life there until at least 1912, when he married Olive Annie L. Price there. His death seems to have gone unreported in the Luton Press, but the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website gives his wife's address as Aero Cottage, Oak [Oakley] Road, Leagrave, suggesting a possible link with the Hewlett & Blondeau aircraft factory.

Luton-born Pte Herbert Owen Sawyer, 18362, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 5th, 1916.

Born in 1885 to flour miller Frederick Sawyer and his wife Annie, he spent most of his life in Ponders End, Middlesex, to where his family moved after 1891, when they were living at 20 Melson Street, Luton.

Herbert married Mary Ann Susan Swain at St Matthew's Church, Ponders End, in October 1910, and the couple had two children, Florence (born 1911) and Jessie (born 1913).

Pte Charles Wood, 27844, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 5th, 1916.

Born in 1878, he was one of ten children of widow Mrs Louisa Wood and the late Mr George Wood (died 1908), of 74 Hitchin Road, Luton. Three sisters living at home were sent news of Charles' death.

Before enlistment he was a straw hat blocker working for Mr E. Burgess, 28 Old  Bedford Road. He attested under the Derby Scheme and was called up in March 1916. He went to the Front just five weeks before his death..

Pte Fred Harper, 13942, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on on the Somme on September 4th, 1916. He was the first man in Offley to volunteer for war service and the sixth man from the village to perish on the battlefield.

In a letter to his widow Mary Elizabeth, the captain of his company wrote that her son's body was recovered and given a proper burial. However, he is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, suggesting he had no known grave and where he was buried may have been destroyed or not relocated.

Pte Samuel James Carter, 27755, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 4th, 1916.

Born in 1880, Samuel was the only son of the late Alfred (died 1904) and Clarissa Elizabeth (died 1887) Carter. The family were living at 57 Hastings Street at the time of his birth, and later moved to Stanley Street and then Bury Park Road.

In early 1916 he married 41-year-old Minnie Foster, of 12 Wood Street, Luton, just a week or two before going to France. For upwards of six years he had lodged at 12 Bridge Street.

Pte Horace Fensome, 13261, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was presumed killed in action on the Somme on or after September 3rd, 1916.

Born in 1892, he was the son of Samuel and Ellen Fensome, of Ramridge End Lane (later Ashcroft Road), Stopsley. Prior to enlisting he was a farm labourer.

He is commemorated on Stopsley War Memorial.

Pte Ralph Green, 34816, 1st Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers, died on August 30th, 1916, from wounds received in action on the Somme on August 27th. He was the second son of Luton Town FC Secretary Mr Charles Green and his wife Ellen (nee Shaw), of 73 Hazelbury Crescent, Luton.