He may have been prepared to take on the appearance of a clown with the Biscot Pierrot Troupe, but Gunner Edwin Ernest Jeffs was a high calibre classical musician with a promising future when he was killed in action in Flanders on October 4th, 1917, while serving with the Royal Field Artillery.

He was a founder of the Luton Orchestral Society and its highly respected and innovative conductor, to whom glowing tributes were paid. He was seen as "a man who had just begun to develop those glimmerings of genius...as an outstanding exponent and interpreter of the profession he was so well fitted to adorn".

Gunner Jeffs, son of Mrs Clara Annie Jeffs and the late Mr John Thomas Jeffs, of 15 Highfield Road, Luton, also used his talent as a violinist with the popular Biscot Pierrot Troupe. He was pictured with the troupe (second from the right in the middle row) in November 1916, ahead of a fund-raising concert in Luton.

To read more about him, click here.