Cyclist Henry Albert 'Harry' James, 3164, 47th London Divisional Cyclist Company, was killed in action in action in France on January 21st, 1916.

He was one of 17 employees of the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road who joined the 17th Battalion London Regiment as a rifleman in September 1914 and transferred to the Cyclist Company when it was formed.

Harry was the only son of Job and Lizzie James, of 2 Wimbourne Road, Luton. He was aged 23.

Company Quartermaster-Sgt Douglas Ritchie, Army Service Corps, died in the Fulham Military Hospital on January 15th, 1916, from double pneumonia.

The 30-year-old Scotsman was the brother-in-law of Charles Cameron, of 51 Belmont Road, Luton, proprietor of Camerons (Luton) Ltd, a printing company based in Cheapside. Douglas Ritchie had been a co-director of the firm until he gave up his business interests to take up aviation. He had gained his pilot's licence before suffering an unfortunate breakdown in health.

Pte George William Rolph, 18924, 2nd Bedfordshire Regiment, is officially listed as killed in action in France on January 15th, 1916. A letter from the battlefield said he was killed by a shell while on sentry duty on January 13th.

An old boy of Queen Square School, he was the son of George and Maria Rolph, of 51 Beech Road, Luton. On leaving school he worked for the British Gelatine Co Ltd in New Bedford Road as a labourer and stayed with them until January 1915, when he enlisted. He was aged 28 and had served for four years in the Territorials.

Pte Stephen George Hare, 8426, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action near Fricourt in France on January 6th, 1916. He was aged 29.

Born in July 1886 at Shillington, he was the son of William (died January 1911) and Emma Hare (nee Redman), who were married in 1872. He had not long finished seven years with the 1st Bedfords in South Africa and other parts of the world when war broke out. He was then working at Skefko and was called up as a reservist in August 1914.

Amos Godbeer Coleman was born in 1884.

In 1905 Amos married Alice Louisa Cheshire in Luton & in 1911 they are living with their 2 year old daughter Lillian Maud Francis in Summer Street, Slip End, Luton. Alice was pregnant with their first son Stanley William Edward. Amos is 27 years old & working as a gardener's labourer.

Writer Third Class Joseph Smith, M/8543, RN, was lost when the cruiser HMS Natal sank as the result of an internal explosion while in harbour in the Firth of Cromerty, on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, on December 30th, 1915. No enemy action was found to be involved, and Joseph Smith's body was not recovered for burial.

Pte Frank William Gilder, 2430, 1/24th Battalion, County of London Regiment, was killed in action at Loos on December 30th, 1915. He was aged 19.

Born in Luton in May 1896, he was the third son of William Everard Gilder and Sarah Sanderson Gilder, of 35 Moor Street, Luton, and had been with the 24th Londons since the outbreak of war. His younger brother Claude had been a member of the Luton News staff.

First-class Gunner Arthur Best, 37371, Royal Garrison Artillery, died in the Keppel Place Hospital, Stoke, Devonport, on December 23rd, 1915, after suffering two attacks of pleurisy while serving in Gibraltar that led to him contracting consumption which led to a haemorrhage.

Gunner Best, the son of Mrs Bacchus, of 61 Ivy Road, Luton, was aged 22. He had enlisted in the RGA about four years earlier, having previously worked at the Diamond Foundry in Dallow Road.

Company Sgt-Major Alfred Saunders, 112, 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifles, died of wounds sustained in action in Flanders on November 24th, 1915.

Born in Winchester, Hampshire, he spent much of his childhood in Studham, where mother Emily was still living. His sister Ellen had married Frederick G. Smith in 1912 and was living in Holly Street, Luton.

Alfred had married Linda Malin, from Burton-on-Trent, Staffs, on October 9th, 1911, in Folkestone, Kent, where his wife and young son David Malin Saunders (born July 16th, 1912) were living at the time of his death.

Lieut Nelson Johnstone, 2/2nd Midland Brigade Field Ambulance, R.A.M.C., stationed at Kings Lynn, died suddenly at Cambridge while undergoing an operation at a military hospital.

An Irishman aged 41, he had at the time of the 1901 Census been living with his first wife Frances, whom he married in Ireland in 1898, and baby daughter Kathleen at 76 Wellington Street, Luton, while he was a physician and surgeon involved with the Luton Medical Institute in Waller Street.

Driver Amos Charles Moody, 2720, 3/2nd Field Company, East Anglian Royal Engineers, died in the early hours of Saturday, December 10th, 1915, after being ill for two or three days with pleurisy and double pneumonia.

Before he enlisted on July 24th, 1915, he was a postman attached to the Luton Post Office, to which he came about three years earlier from Marlow, Bucks. His home was at Marlow and he had been a telegraph messenger there prior to his appointment at Luton. An ardent footballer, he was quartered at 11 Edward Street, Luton, and was 20 years of age.

Pte Harold Alfred Field, 1722, 1/1st Eastern Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed by a stray bullet as he sheltered in a tent during a storm at Gallipoli on November 27th, 1915. He was aged 19.

Pte Field, whose home was as 28 Richmond Hill, Luton, had been employed by the hat firm of Messrs Clay and Sons at Waldeck Road. The son of Charles and Ellen (nee Bone) Field, he was also a member of the Territorials for two years before the outbreak of war.

Pte Arthur Wallace Woodcroft, 18612, 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on November 27th, 1915. Some military records name him as Arthur Walter Woodcroft.

He was 28 years old and the son of Arthur and Emily Woodcroft. Married in April 1909, he left a widow, Beatrice Maud (nee Mitchell), and two children, Elsie Maud (born December 24th, 1910) and Ronald Arthur (born November 12, 1913). The family lived at 66 May Street, Luton.

Acting L-Cpl Percy William Tilcock, 1485, 1/2nd Field Company, East Anglian Divisional Engineers, died on the hospital ship Glenart Castle on November 26th, 1915, from wounds received at Gallipoli. He was buried at sea in the Mediterranean on the same day.

Aged 20, he was the son of William and Emily Tilcock, of 60 Brunswick Street, Luton, and had worked at Vauxhall Motors before enlisting. He had joined the Engineers in September 1914.

A single man, he had been engaged to a Miss Pedder, of 57 Lyndhurst Road, Luton.

Harry Clarke was born in Bromley, London in 1886.

On 8th October 1905 he married Nellie Elizabeth Ennever in St Andrew's Church, Bromley.

In 1911 he is 25 years old & living with his family at No 2 Maple Road Luton & is working as an iron moulder at the gas stove factory. His wife Nellie is at home looking after their 2 sons Henry 5 & 2 year old Alfred. Harry's 66 year old mother Selina is living with them & working as a charwoman. They also have a boarder, 23 year old Bernard McDade who is an iron moulder for rain water pipes.