Second Lieut Charles Frederick Burley, 4th Battalion (attached 10th) Royal Warwickshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on November 18th, 1916. The younger son of leading Luton hat manufacturer Richard Burley, he would not have been 19 years old until December 1st - and still under military age for service abroad.

Richard and his wife Clara Ann, of 18 Leagrave Road, Luton, received the news that their son was missing, believed killed, six days later. A visit to the British Red Cross in London produced nothing further about his disappearance, although the authorities said it was possible for an injured man to remain in what shelter could be obtained for two or three days before being brought in.

Second Lieut Burley enlisted in October 1914 in the 2nd Battalion Public Schoolboys Corps, and went out to the front in November 1915. Returning to England the following April, he undertook a course of training at Lichfield and then received his commission, Gazetted second lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. He returned to the Front and had been there only around seven weeks.

Prior to enlistment, Charles Burley worked in the office at Brown & Green's iron foundry, Windsor Street. His father's main hat factory was in Old Bedford Road.