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.

At the time of Gerald's death the family were living at 9 Vicarage Street, Luton. He had worked at the Luton Gas Works in Dunstable Road, and his father was an insurance agent with the Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society.

A sergeant in the platoon wrote to tell Pte Brunton's parents the news in a letter that arrived three weeks later. "I am proud to say that he fought with gallantry, and died bravely for his King and Country," wrote the sergeant.