Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class Herbert Stanley Pestell, RN (M7142), was one of three Luton men lost when HMS Vanguard sank following an internal explosion while at anchor at Scapa Flow on July 9th, 1917. His body was never recovered for burial.

The 26-year-old was the second of three sons of dairyman Frederick William Pestell and his wife Annie, of 17 Burr Street, Luton. He had served an apprenticeship at the Vauxhall and West Hydraulic Co and had been entrusted with the erection of important machinery in various parts of the country.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1914, shortly before the outbreak of war, and a year later was transferred to the Vanguard, on which he went through the Battle of Jutland in 1916 unscathed. He was being recommended for promotion.

He had married dressmaker Elsie Sawyer, of 9 Harper Street, Driffield, Yorkshire, at Driffield Wesleyan Church on April 7th, 1916. Elsie, a daughter of Robert and Caroline Sawyer, remarried in 1918.

Herbert Pestell had been a member of St Paul's Sunday school and church choir, Luton.