Pte Leonard Hurd, 3449, 1/5th Bedfords, died on August 16th from wounds sustained at Gallipoli the previous day. The only son of Charles and Elizabeth Hurd, of 32 Beech Road, Luton, he was aged 19 and had been employed at the Diamond Foundry, Dallow Road.

He had joined the Territorials about six months before the outbreak of war, and when drafted to the Front was in Capt Cumberland's Company.

Writing his last letter to his mother and sisters prior to going into action, he said: "We have landed in the thick of it. We even camped under shell fire, and we think nothing of it, and here we are - 'safe as houses'. We stood watching the Turkish artillery trying to shell our gunboats, but they could not hit them, The gunboats have been firing back and have silenced the enemy.

"I saw an air raid on two of our boats, but they fired at it almost at once. They must have damaged her because she went back in a hurry. I feel A1."

Pte Hurd was born in Clapton, London, on February 21st, 1896. In 1901 the family, including Leonard and his sisters Florence, Ellen and Harriet, were living in Hackey before moving by the time of the 1911 Census to Beech Road, Luton - minus Florence. Charles was a water meter engineer, presumably working for Kent's, Elizabeth was a blouses machinist and Harriet was a chocolate packer at the CWS Cocoa Works. Leonard was an engineering apprentice.