The death in action on September 20th, 1917, in the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium of Pte Stanley John Roe, 32254, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment appears to have gone unrecorded in Luton newspapers.

Census and other records, however show that he was the son of David (died 1908) and Kate (died 1914) Roe, both of whom lived only into their 30s. By 1911, Stanley was a 15-year-old foundry worker living at 98 Hitchin Road, Luton, with his widowed mother and a three-year-old sister, Gladys.

Military records mention another sister, Cissie, and a younger brother, William, and a married aunt, Elizabeth Green, with whom schoolboy William was living at 11 North Street, in 1911.

Stanley is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour with an address at 6 Talbot Road, Luton. That was the address of his father's brother Lewis (sometimes spelt Louis) and Emma Roe. Their son William, 27967, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was also destined to be killed in action less than three weeks after cousin Stanley - on October 7th, 1917. Both men are commemorated together on the Luton War Memorial with the Talbot Road address.