1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment

Private William Johnson

Pte William Johnson, 269206, 1/1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on April 28th, 1918, during the German spring offensive. He was aged 33.

William's death was not recorded in local newspapers until the Beds & Herts Tuesday Telegraph of September 2nd, 1919, said his death was by then presumed. On the day of his deaath he went out with a message under very heavy shell fire.

Private Thomas Alfred Cook

Pte Thomas Alfred Cook, 204219, 1st Herts Regiment, died in a casualty clearing station in France on August 20th, 1918, from wounds sustained in action the previous day.

Born in Luton in 1887, a son of Thomas and Alice Cook, of 10 Clarendon Road, Luton, Thomas was engaged in the cost office at Vauxhall works before joining up in May 1917.

He had married Martha How from Round Green in 1909 and by the time of the 1911 Census they were living in Turners Road with two young boys, Harold Thomas (born 1910) and Dennis (1911).

Private Percy Pipkin Ward

Pte Percy Wood, 200885, 1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Flanders on April 26th, 1918. He was a single man, aged 19, who had been in the Army for three years but in France for only two months.

Pal Pte Harold Merkins wrote to parents Arthur and Sarah Ward at 51 Frederic Street, Luton, that their son was “sniped through the head” and his death was instant.

Private Ballantyne Blake

Pte Ballantyne Blake, 269159, 1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment, was reported missing, on July 31st, 1917, following the battle of St Julien. It was nearly a year later that widow Ada Blake was officially told the War Office had concluded that he was killed on or soon after that date.

A comrade had said he saw Pte Blake shot through the head by a machine gun bullet, and he had been left for dead. No further information had been obtained.

Private William Mather

Pte William Mather, 202793, 1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment, is recorded as killed in action in France on March 30th, 1918. He had been Superintendent of the Beech Hill Children's Homes in Dunstable Road, where his wife Emily was Matron.

William had joined the Colours 18 months previously, rising to Corporal but reverting to Private on going out to France. He was initially reported as missing.

Private Albert Edward Munt

Pte Albert Edward Munt, 269647, 1st Battalion Herts Regiment, was killed in action on July 31st, 1917. He was reported missing from that date, but his widow was still awaiting definite news in the following March.

Pte Munt, a native of Wheathampstead, married Lillian Florence Bent in St Albans in early 1911 and the couple moved to Luton. They lived at 11 Oxford Road, Luton, and Albert worked for Messrs Burgess's mineral water works in Luton.

Private Walter Watton Page

Pte Walter Watton Page, 269777, 1st Battalion Herts Regiment, died on July 31st, 1917, from wounds sustained in action in Belgium. He had joined the regiment the previous September and underwent training at Halton Camp.

Born in Peckham, London, the son of butcher Walter Page and his wife Alice, Pte Page had built up his own hairdressing business from the family home at 21 Bailey Street, Luton.

On July 28th, 1915, he married Alice Maude Ada Robins at Luton Parish Church and they had a daughter, Mollie Winifred, born on June 30th, 1916.

Corporal Albert Edward Napier

 

Cpl Albert Edward Napier, 14025, 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was killed in action trying to recover trenches on May 23rd, 1915. He was aged 23.

He was the youngest of four then serving sons of James and Ann Napier, who ran the Moor Path Tea Rooms at 58 New Bedford Road, Luton. He had been drafted from India at the outbreak of war.

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