Luton's People 1914-1918
This page contains a list of soldiers/civilians from Luton and surroundings 1914-1918, and the ancestors of people who live in Luton today. It has been compiled from the 1918 Luton Absent Voters List, Rolls of Honour; and information researched and uploaded by project volunteers and members of the public.
If you find your ancestor here, and there is only basic information available, then feel free to use the comment box to add further information you may already know. The WWI Project Team, can then add this further information to the basic data we already hold.
The sources of this information can be found via the links below. Please feel free to download and use this information, but please please search for and upload your ancestor to the site if/when you find them:-
Absent Voters List
Luton Roll of honour
Before adding anybody to the site, it is always advisable to search for your ancestor first.
Rifleman John Archibald Sives, 209436, 21st (Midland) Battalion Rifle Brigade, died in the 19th General Hospital, Alexandria, Egypt, from appendicitis on February 28th, 1918.
Pte Arthur Phillips, 33131, 8th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was believed to have been killed in action ten months after he was reported missing on May 3rd, 1917.
Pte Christopher Joseph Lathwell, 235369, 1/4th Battalion South Lancs Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 15th, 1918. He left a widow and three children in Luton.
Pte Frederick George Sheppard, 31533, 55th Battalion Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), was killed in action in France on March 18th, 1918. He was aged 23 and single.
Pte Alfred Edward Draper, 80023, 16th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed in action in France on March 21st, 1918, the first day of the final major German offensive of the war.
Sapper Sidney Mooring, 522873, 12th Field Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action in France on March 21st, 1918. He was aged 33 and left a widow, Alice, living at 7 St Paul's Road, Luton.
Pte Sidney Louis Felks, 33000, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was posted missing, later presumed killed in action, in the German spring offensive on the Somme on March 22nd, 1918.
Pte Harold Edward Steevens Phillips, 8344, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was posted missing, later presumed killed in action, on March 21st, 1918, at the start of the German spring offensive on the Somme.
Sgt Sidney Fensome, 19789, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on March 22nd, at the start of the German spring offensive of 1918. He was aged 28.
Pte Albert Claude Woodward, 41541, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on March 22nd, 1918, during the German spring offensive on the Somme. He was aged 19 and single.
Sgt John Goodson, 19064, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on March 23rd, 1918, during the German spring offensive. He was aged 25 and married.
Sgt William Buckingham, 33776, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on March 23rd, 1918, during the German spring offensive on the Somme. He was aged 28 and single.
Pte John ('Jack') Poole, 52107, 12th Battalion Middlesex Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 24th, 1918, during the German spring offensive of that year. He would have been aged 19 on May 12th and was single but with "a sorrowing sweetheart".
Pte William James Bass, 29668, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on March 24th, 1918, early in the German spring offensive.
He had seen 18 months service in France and was previously employed by Mr T. G. Hobbs in Luton.
Pte Leonard Arthur Maynard, 118324, 56th Battalion Machine Gun Corps, died of gas shell wounds in hospital in France on March 25th, 1918. He was aged 24 and newly married.
Pte Walter Henry Halsey, 37787, 7th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 26th*, 1918, during the German spring offensive. He was aged 37 and been married a little over a year.
Pte Albert Joseph Tomlinson, 41419, 11th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was killed in action on March 21st, 1918, the opening day of the German spring offensive.
Pte Frederick William Hoar, 25528, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds in France on March 27th*, 1918. He was aged 23, single and a member of the Lewis gun section.
Pte John Wood, 30700, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 27th, 1918. He had joined the Beds Regiment in July 1916 and was wounded about a year before his death.
Pte William Arthur Smith, 13302, 6th Battalion East Kent Regiment (The Buffs), was killed in action on March 28th, 1918. At the time his widow Nellie was making desperate attempts to contact her husband in the hope he could get leave, as his father was dangerously ill.
L-Cpl Percy John Cobb, 42279, 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 3rd*, 1918. He was aged 19 and single.
Pte Frederick George Fleckney, 14538, 9th Royal West Surrey Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 21st, 1918, at the opening of the German spring offensive.
Pte Walter George Dillingham, 26572, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was presumed killed in action in France on March 28th, 1918.
Driver Harry Tompkins, 90111, 78th Field Company Royal Engineers, died in Abbeville Hospital, France, on Good Friday, March 29th, 1918, from wounds received at Mons.
Pte Thomas Carruthers, 30635, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds in France on March 29th, 1918. It was not until the following December that news reached his widowed mother Julia that her son had died of wounds two days after being captured as a prisoner of war.
Pte Percy Young, 33150, 9th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was reported missing, presumed killed, on May 3rd, 1917. It was nearly a year later that parents William and Louisa Young, of Breachwood Green, received confirmation of his death on that date.
Sapper Frank Percy King, 522158, 483rd Field Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action on the Somme on April 2nd, 1918. He was aged 22 and single.
Cpl Arthur Ward, 19139, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died on April 2nd, 1918. He is buried in St Thomas' Churchyard at Stopsley, although he is not commemorated on the Stopsley War Memorial.
Pte George William Draper, 82855, 3rd Battalion Machine Gun Corps, was killed in action in France on March 28th, 1918. He was aged 35 and married with one child.
Pte Joseph Walter Shackleton, 307487, 2/6th Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby Regiment), was reported missing, later presumed killed, in one of the first engagement of the German spring offensive begun on March 21st, 1918.
Pte William James Hinds, 23459, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 3rd, 1918.
William was a son of George and Elizabeth Sarah Hinds, of Rose View, Cumberland Road [now Compton Avenue], Leagrave. He had been wounded in May 1917.
L-Cpl Ernest David Rattle, 40902, 1st Herts Regiment, was killed in action in France on March 23rd, 1918. His widow, in ill health and with five small children under the age of seven to care for in Luton, had heard nothing from him since March 18th.
Pte William Thomas Clark, 20882, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Gentelles on the Somme in France on April 5th, 1918.
L-Cpl John Robert ('Jack') Eames, 32217, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on April 7th, 1918. He was the second son of William and Harriet Eames, of 107 Cambridge Street, Luton, to die on the battlefield - Gus Eames was killed in February 1916.
Pte Frank West, 49094, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in the trenches in France by a shell on April 6th, 1918. He was aged 19, single and the son of George and Annie West, of 111 Guildford Street, Luton.
Pte Ernest William Bruton, 202636, 9th Battalion Essex Regiment, died in the 3rd Canadian Stationary Hospital, Doullens, France, on April 8th, 1918, following gunshot wounds in the back of the neck sustained on the battlefield. He was aged 22 and single.
Cpl Frederick Chance, 22447, 6th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died of wounds at the 48th Field Ambulance station in France on April 8th, 1918. He left a widow and two children in Luton.
He had been in France for two years, the last seven months after a spell of home leave.
Pte Thomas Ralph Corney, 71953, 137th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed in action in France on April 9th, 1918. He was on stretcher-bearer duty with fellow Lutonian Pte George William Bone MM when a shell claimed them both and the wounded officer they were carrying.
Pte George William Bone MM, 90015, 137th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, was killed in action in France on April 9th, 1918, along with fellow stretcher-bearer and Lutonian Pte Thomas Ralph Corney.
L-Cpl Harold James Hill, 86028, 29th Machine Gun Corps, died on April 10th, 1918, in the 33rd Casualty Clearing Station in France from wounds sustained on the battlefield. He had served in France for around nine months and last wrote home from hospital on the day before his death.