Pte James Lamb, 235257, 8th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, was killed in action on July 29th-30th, 1917, when a shell fell on his trench. A comrade with him escaped simply because he had gone to get his rifle.

A letter to widow Mrs Elizabeth Sarah Lamb from the Front said: "Your husband, Pte Lamb, of my platoon was killed last night at about 12 o'clock. The Boches were shelling us pretty heavily, and your husband was in a bay with one other, Pte Sullivan, who went to get his rifle. While he was away a shell came and dropped on the front part of the trench where your husband was. He took shelter in a hole under the trench, but was buried. He was dug out with all speed, but death was instantaneous."

Pte Lamb, a builder's labourer, enlisted in the Herts Regiment in August 1916 and was drafted out to France seven months before his death. While there he was transferred to the Lincolnshire Regiment.

Born in Manchester in 1879, James Lamb came to Luton as a baby with his family. He married Elizabeth Sarah Ward, from Kensworth, in 1898, and they had two children - Olive Beatrice (born 1903) and Madge Ruth (1906) - living with them at at 20 Baker Street, Luton. A third child, Aubrey William (born 1901), was living with his mother's parents at Kensworth in 1911.

James's late father Walter had completed 21 years in the Dorsetshire Regiment; brother William had served 3½ years in the Bedfordshire Regiment before being discharged as unfit; brother Harry, born in India, had twice seen service in India before being invalided out after 12 month's later service in the war; brother John was still serving. Three brothers-in-law had been killed during the war, and a fourth one, Co-Sgt-Major C. Ward, was still serving after 24 years in the Bedfords.