Pte Frederick Harold Wightman MM, 14761, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras in France on April 23rd, 1917. He was aged 22.

No report of his death appears to have been published in local newspapers around that time, although he is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour as a recipient of the Military Medal. However, a report in the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph (February 1st, 1919)said Pte Wightman had been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry during the Battle of Arras.

Frederick Wightman was born in Hornsey, London. In 1915 he married Lilian Draper in St Albans, but she died the following year.

Frederick's mother, Emma, was living at 78 Wellington Street, Luton, at the time of his death. His father, Clement Edward, had died in Luton early in 1915.

The 1919 report in the Saturday Telegraph said Pte Wightman had sent home a German steel helmet which he found after the Germans had been driven from Monchy. By then the Wightmans were living at 28 Salisbury Road, Luton.