Sgt William Ellingham, one of the first Lutonians to be awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, was killed in action on the Somme on August 18th, 1916. He was a son of Arthur and Annie Ellingham, of 8 Jubilee Street, Luton, and served in the 1st Northumberland Fusiliers.

In November 1915 Sgt Ellingham, then a lance corporal, came to England on leave and married Mabel Louisa Ward from Castleford in the Yorkshire town on November 5th. He had been stationed at Pontefract, Yorks, in 1911 and it was while there he probably met Mabel.

Petty Officer Stoker William Wallace Gadsby, Royal Navy, was the second son of William and Isabella Gadsby to die within six weeks in 1916. He was at the time serving on submarine E4, which, on August 15th, 1916, was sunk in a collision with sister submarine E41 during exercises off Harwich. Both vessels went down, and all hands on E4 were lost.

Younger brother Arthur Edward was killed in action on the Somme on July 5th while serving with the Hampshire Regiment.

Frederick Stanley Marlow was born in 1898 in Chalton, Bedfordshire. He was the eldest of 2 children born to Charles & Kate.

In 1911 he is living with his family in Sundon, near Dunstable in Bedfordshire. He is 13 years old & working as a farm labourer. His father is 36 years old & working at the cement & lime works whilst his 33 year old mother is at home looking after his 5 year old sister Dorothy.

Charles Marlow was born in 1875 in Sundon, near Dunstable in Bedfordshire. He was 1 of 7 children born to William & Sarah Ann.

In 1881 he is 6 years old & living with his family in Sundon. HIs father is 30 years old & working as an agricultural labourer alongside Charles' brother 12 year old Frederick. His mother Sarah 30, is at home looking after his younger siblings, George 9, Clara 4 & 1 year old Esau.

Pte Charles Henry Grace, 23835, 12th Battalion South Wales Borderers, was killed in action in France on August 13th, 1916. He was the son of Arthur and Kate Grace, of Aley Green, and is commemorated on the Caddington War Memorial.

Gwynne Evan Owen Williams was born in Luton in April 1881. He was the eldest son of 6 children born to Alderman Herbert Owen & Edith Jane.

He was a pupil at Bedford Grammar School & in 1911 a medical student living away from home in a student's house in St Pancras whilst studying at University College Hospital in London.

He served as assistant medical officer at Lewisham Infirmary and surgical registrar at the Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital, Greenwich.

Military Medal winner L-Cpl Robert Stokes, 12329, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on August 9th, 1916. He was still listed as "missing" when parents Samuel and Phoebe Stokes, of 10 Alfred Street, Luton, learned that their eldest son, Pte Samuel Stokes, aged 30, had also been killed in France - on October 25th, 1916.

Sgt William Henry Bunyan, 19010, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on August 9th, 1916. He was a Lutonian who had previously served with the Bedfords and had been living at Ash Vale, Surrey, before rejoining his regiment at the outbreak of war.

Sgt Bunyan had lived at 39 Cobden Street for many years and had a sister-in-law living in Collingdon Street. He was born in Luton in 1873 to Mary Ann and the late William Bunyan (died 1876).

Pte George Arthur Young, 13405, 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was serving in East Africa when he died in hospital from an unspecified disease on July 29th, 1916. He was buried in Dar es Salaam War Cemetery in German East Africa (now Tanzania).

His military record says he was born in St Albans [1875] and was residing at Elstree, otherwise little is known about him. However, he is included on the Luton Roll of Honour with an address given as 33 Windsor Street, Luton. His name was also added to a "Book of Life" being prepared at Luton Parish Church in 1919.

Pte Hedley Richard Farr, G/20105, 17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own), was reported to have been killed in action on the Somme on August 8th, 1916. He was aged 38, single and had lived with his widowed mother Eliza (nee Groom) at 32 Liverpool Road, Luton.

Gunner Frederick Dean, 7825, Royal Garrison Artillery, was discharged from military service in 1913 following an operation for gunshot wounds. He had served eight years as a soldier, but after war broke out he was again called up and sent to France.

However, he was not out there very long before it was found necessary to order his return to England, and for 15 weeks he lay in the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth. And there he passed away at around 10.30 am on Sunday, August 6th, 1916, from a lung complication. He was aged 29.

Second-Lieut Richard Norman Butcher, 20th The King's (Liverpool) Regiment, died on August 5th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the Somme on July 30th. He was aged 26 and the son of Bute Street pawnbroker William Joseph Butcher and his wife Lily Rhoda, who lived at Bendrose, Braithwaite Road [later Malzeard Road], off Studley Road, Luton.

Pte William Bavister, 18577, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment died on August 3rd, 1916, in the London General Hospital from wounds sustained on the Somme. He had been in France for around 12 months.

Born in late 1892, he lived most of his life in Westoning, where in 1911 he was a farm labourer living with parents William and Mary (their youngest son) and older sister Ada. The couple had had 10 children of whom only four were still living in 1911.

Pte Albert Rolfe, 18312, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on August 1st, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme. He had been in France since July 27th, 1915.

Born in Chesterton, near Cambridge, he had joined the Army in December 1914, and before enlistment was employed on the Luton Hoo Estate. He was included on a Luton Hoo roll of honour provided by Lady Wernher's agent, Mr James Baker, that was published in The Luton News in July 1915. In that he was listed as Pte R. Rolfe, Beds Regt.

L-Cpl John Prime, 14102, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 31st, 1916. He was aged 23 and the younger son of John and Eliza Prime, of 2 Front Street, Slip End.

He joined the Bedfords in September 1914, having been employed, like his father, by builders T. & E. Neville, Castle Street, Luton. He was one of the Neville workmen who helped in the building of the Luton News building in Manchester Street that was opened in 1913.