Pte Gerald Sidney Brunton. 25529, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 30th, 1916. He was aged 21 and single.

Born near Fakenham, Norfolk, in 1895, he was the son of Frederick William and Martha Elizabeth Brunton. Gerald was one of 12 children, 11 still living at the time of the 1911 Census, when the family were living at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. He was then working as a farm labourer.

Pte Frederick Allen, 20981, 10th Border Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 30th, 1916. He was aged 34 and he and some chums had been fighting with the 16th Battalion Manchester Regiment for just a few days before his death.

Born in Luton in 1882, he was the only son of Arthur and Julia Allen, of 47 Chase Street, Luton. He had originally joined the Bedfords at Ampthill and was a special reservist. But for the commencement of the war he would have completed his Army service.

Pte Alexander Penman, 9385, 2nd Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment, died on September 22nd, 1915, of wounds sustained in action at Bois Grenier in Belgium. He was aged 24 and single.

Born in West Carron, Stirlingshire, Scotland, he had been lodging at 35 Burr Street, Luton, the address of Pte Albert Newbury, who was to be killed in action three days later.

In 1911 Pte Penman was lodging at 10 Butlin Road, Luton, and was an assistant iron moulder at the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road.

Pte Charles Gregory, 3/6858, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 27th, 1916.

Born in 1893, he was the son of Alfred and Florence Gregory, of 15 Langley Place, Luton. In the 1911 Census he is described as working in a foundry. No report of his death appeared in Luton newspapers at the time.

Pte Percy Haydn Day, 15608, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds sustained in action on the Somme on July 27th, 1916.

Born in the summer of 1895, he was the son of Arthur and Mary Jane Day, of 17 Holly Walk, Luton, where Percy was born and where the family had lived for 23 years. The couple had 11 children, eight of them boys.

Prior to enlisting, Percy was employed in the Bute Street warehouse of hat manufacturers Wright and Giddings. He had been educated at Queen Square School and his father was formerly a straw hat manufacturer.

L-Cpl Edwin Granville Harvey, 14925, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme at Longueval on July 24th, 1916. He was aged 21.

He had joined the Colours on September 4th, 1914, and went to France the following April. He was gassed at Hill 60 and blown up by a mine in November 1915, requiring eight weeks of hospital treatment. After 15 months in the trenches he was killed by a shell while serving his Lewis gun.

John Edward Godfrey, formerly Sapper 1611, 2nd East Anglian Division Royal Engineers, died on July 24th, 1916, nearly 18 months after being discharged as medically unfit for military service. Born in Caddington, he was aged 32.

He joined the Royal Engineers in December 1914 and was discharged the following February. He had suffered from heart trouble which developed into jaundice and he died after a long illness.

Pte Aubrey Stanbridge, 27467, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, attached to the 10th Worcesters, was killed in action on the Somme on July 23rd, 1916.

Born in Luton in 1877, his birth registration shows his full name as Haydn Aubrey Stanbridge. He was the son of the late Frank Shapcott Stanbridge (died 1907, aged 54) and Caroline Stanbridge (died 1913, aged 60). His last known address was 77 Wellington Street, Luton, where his mother lived until her death.

Pte Albert Smith, 27481, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was the second son of George and Sophia Smith, of 73 North Street, Luton, to be killed in action on the Somme within four days. He died on July 22nd, 1916, at the age of 21.

His brother, Cpl Frederick Smith, 6289, 2/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment, was killed on July 19th at the age of 24.

Pte Smith had been in the Army only four months, having been drafted as a "Derby" recruit. Prior to enlistment he had worked for blockmaker Mr F. Webb, of Lancrets Path.

Pte Ernest George Foord, 27058, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment attached to the 10th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment, was killed in action on July 22nd, 1916, after serving only three weeks on the Somme. He was aged 29.

Meredyth Robert Owen Williams was born in April 1894. He was the youngest of 6 children born to Alderman Herbert Owen & Edith Jane.

Pte Ernest Barker, 3/7094, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on October 28th, 1914, during the First Battle of Ypres.

Born in December 1892 in Earls Barton, Northants, he was the son of Sarah and the late James Barker, who had married on April 1st, 1888. His widowed mother and three brothers and two sisters came to Luton after the death of James in 1902 and managed a grocery shop in New Town Street. Around the time of Ernest's death they had moved to live at 26 Back Street, Luton.

Cpl Fred Smith, 6289, 2/4th Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on July 19th, 1916. He was aged 24 and one of five sons of Thomas George and Sophia Smith, of 73 North Street, Luton, serving with the Colours.

The Rev A. R. Tucker, a Church of England Chaplain, wrote to Mrs Smith to inform her of the death of her son. He wrote: "I have buried him in a cemetery for British troops. A cross will be erected to his memory over the grave."

Second-Lieut Arthur Haworth, King's Liverpool Regiment, attached to the Machine Gun Corps, was killed in action rallying his men against a German counter-attack on the Somme on July 19th, 1916. He was aged 20.

Sgt William Phypers, 2057, 12th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died in a casualty clearing station in France on July 17th, 1916, after being severely wounded on June 29th and lying unattended in No Man's Land between the trenches for a whole day before being picked up. The spell of exposure was reported to be ultimately the cause cause of his death.