Petty Office Stoker Francis Harold Armitage, RN (K16328), was a Luton man 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.

A son of Thomas and Elizabeth Armitage, of 43 Tennyson Road, Luton, the 26-year-old had recently been promoted from Leading Seaman and was second in charge of the engine room. He had served on Vanguard during the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and come through unscathed.

Pte Joseph Bransome, 22530, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, died in hospital on July 8th, 1917, from wounds sustained on the battlefield on July 1st. He was aged 33.

Pte George Charles Sharp, 87044, 17th Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), was killed in action on June 15th, 1917.

Comrade Pte A. Tew wrote to widow Rose from the Edmonton Military Hospital: "His last word and thought were of his wife and child. He did not suffer any pain as he was shot through the head and was killed instantly just as we were getting relieved from the trenches. It was hard lines, for in another half-hour he would have been out of the danger zone."

Pte John Anderson, 37585, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 28th, 1917. It was nearly a further two months before widow Annie learned from a chaplain that her husband's body had been found on the battlefield by a member of another regiment.

The chaplain wrote that Pte Anderson had taken part in the successful attack on enemy trenches on June 28th and was killed as the Bedfords were coming out of the line. He had been shot through the head. John had enlisted in February 1917 and had been in France only six weeks.

Pte Horace Fensome, 203933, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 28th, 1917.

A battalion chaplain wrote to widow Mrs Florence Annie Fensome, at 100 Baker Street, Luton, to say her husband had been killed in a successful attack, but he suffered no pain. He was buried in a little cemetery close behind the line, and the battalion were erecting a cross over his grave.

Pte Fensome had joined up just over a year earlier, and had been in France only 11 weeks, seven weeks in the trenches.

Pte Reginald Walter Pakes, 60184, 32nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was killed in action in Belgium on June 7th, 1917. He was aged 22.

His mother Harriet Mary Pakes, of 31 Malvern Road, Luton, was first informed from London that he son had been wounded, but later told in a letter from the captain of her son's company that he had been killed in action.

Councillor and former Mayor of Luton Albert Arthur Oakley died on June 24th, 1917, following an accident in which he was thrown from his pony and trap in Ash Road, Luton, three days previously.

He was aged 63, twice married, had five sons and a daughter and lived at Hillcroft, High Town Road, Luton. A Primitive Methodist in religion and a Radical in politics, he had co-founded the well-respected grocery and provisions business of Oakley Bros, of 6 Chapel Street and 85 High Town Road.

Rifleman Leonard Roland Donne, 37031, King's Royal Rifles, died at Dormstadt in Germany as a prisoner of war on June 23rd, 1917. He was captured after being wounded in action on April 23rd.

After twice being rejected, Rifleman Donne joined the KRR in November 1916, and went to France soon after Christmas following two months in training at Wimbledon.

Initial reports home said Rifleman Donne, aged 25, had been treated at a British dressing station, where his wounds were not considered to be serious. Trace of him had been lost after he left there.

Pte Frederick Goodman, 14840, 13th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment, died on June 20th, 1917, shortly after admission to a casualty clearing station with battlefield wounds. He was aged 22.

He enlisted soon after the outbreak of war and had been in France only 11 months when the news reached his mother Annie Goodman (nee Saunders) and grandmother, who were living at 9 Surrey Street, Luton. He had a brother, Sidney John, and sister, Clara Anne, living at 9 Wenlock Street, at the time.

Pte Joseph Summerfield, 15366, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 17th, 1917. He had enlisted at the outbreak of war and spent two years in France without leave.

Pte Henry (Harry) Kightley, 50167, 12th Battalion Suffolk Regiment, was killed in action in France on June 16th, 1917. He was aged 37. Press mention of his death appears to have been confined to a brief family announcement.

His name appears on the Luton Roll of Honour without an address, but the 1911 Census reveals that he was a house decorator then living with his widowed mother Charlotte at The Firs, Hazelbury Crescent, Luton, and that he was born in 1880.

Pte William Francis Daniel Everett, 202664, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, had been in France only nine weeks when he died on June 14th, 1917, from wounds sustained in action. He was aged 25.

Writing to widow Ethel Mabel Everett at 28 Ashton Street, Luton, chaplain the Rev C. O. R. Wormald said Pte Everett was brought into the 49th Casualty Clearing Station seriously wounded. Everything possible was done to save his life, but he passed away on June 14th. The writer had ministered to him in his last hours and he thought there was not much suffering.

L-Cpl Sidney Thomas Andrews, 33003, 8th Battalion Leicestershire Regiment, was listed killed in action in France on May 3rd, 1917, after at first being reported missing.

A letter from Capt J. Abbott to widow Alice at 93 Butlin Road, Luton, said nothing had been heard of her husband since he went into action on May 3rd. Several men of the platoon were cut off from the reminder of the company during the attack and were taken prisoner. The writer said he could only conclude at that stage that L-Cpl Andrews was also a prisoner in German hands.

Pte Arthur Carter, 203264, 1/4th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, was reported missing following a raid on June 11th, 1917, according to a letter writer at the Front. Officially his death is recorded as having happened on June 12th.

"I am very much afraid he is killed," said the writer, "as under the circumstances it is very unlikely he was taken prisoner. It was impossible to bring back our dead owing to the number of wounded."

For two-and-a-half anxious years, the family of Pte Reuben Joseph Wilmot, 10491, 2nd Battalion Border Regiment, knew nothing of his fate. Finally, in June 1917, his half-sister Ada Elizabeth, then living at 118 Chapel Street, Luton, learned that he had been taken as a prisoner of war by the Germans near Ypres on October 26th, 1914, and sadly had died from an old bullet wound while still in captivity on March 17th, 1917.