The Luton News/Saturday Telegraph

Private James Hubert Mimms

 

Pte James Hubert Mimms, 14405, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 28th, 1916.

Born in Luton in 1892, he was the son of William Mimms and wife Sarah Ann (nee Hughes), of 11 Peach Street, Luton. In the 1911 Census James was described as a toolmaker living at home with his parents, four brothers and a sister.

A sergeant wrote that all the men at one gun had been knocked out, except Pte Mimms, who was ordered to another spot.He did not arrive.

Corporal William John Andrews

 

Cpl William John Andrews, 22020, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in an attack on the Schwaben Redoubt, near Thiepval on the Somme, on September 28th, 1916.

He was aged 17 and not legally compelled to have been on the battlefield. He was also wearing two stripes to indicate that he had previously been wounded.

Corporal Percy Bertram Stimson

 

Cpl Percy Bertram Stimson, 2723, 24th Battalion London Regiment (The Queen's) is recorded as dying of wounds on September 17th, 1916. But a sergeant who wrote to his parents said he had been seen by comrades to be wounded during a charge on September 18th but was not among the men picked up by his regiment's stretcher bearers.

Cpl Stimson, who had celebrated his 22nd birthday six weeks before his death, was the son of Frank and Annie Stimson, of 45 Alma Street, Luton. He had been employed in the warehouse of Messrs Vyse, Sons and Co.

Able Seaman Henry Shedrick Joseph Hill

 

Seaman Henry Shedrick Joseph Hill, 19, son of Henry and Mary Ann Hill, of 94 Cobden Street, Luton, was reported lost in the Battle of Jutland while serving on HMS Turbulent (sunk).

Naval records reveal, however, that he was wounded and taken as a prisoner of war before being repatriated in 1918 and invalided from the service. He married Gertrude Currie in Luton in 1919.

Private Ernest Morgan

 

Pte Ernest Morgan, 3/7366, 1st Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Arras on May 1st, 1916. He was aged 19.

Born in Dunstable in 1896, his home at the time of his death was 16 Wimbourne Road, Luton. He was the son of Agnes and the late Charles Morgan, who had died in 1910.

After arriving in Luton he was employed as a greengrocer's assistant at the Tuffnell grocery store in Dallow Road. He then worked at the Diamond Foundry and in late 1913 became a special reservist when he had just turned 17.

Rifleman Peter Murdoch

 

Rifleman Peter Murdoch, 2634, D Company, 17th Battalion London Regiment, died on September 27th, 1915, from wounds sustained in action in Flanders.

He was a member of a Scottish family that had come to Luton from Falkirk around 1906-7, and was the first member of his platoon to be killed. He was aged 20.

Private William George Ibbett

 

Pte William George Ibbett, 3073, 1/5th Bedfords, died of pneumonia on board the hospital ship Guildford Castle and was buried at sea on September 23rd, 1915. He was aged 18.

Christened George William Ibbett, he had switched his first names when he enlisted to avoid confusion with a comrade with exactly the same name. He was the eldest son of bricklayer John Thomas and Susan Ibbett, of 6 Warwick Road, Luton. The family had moved from Wollaston, Northamptonshire, their two youngest children, aged eight and five, having been born in Luton.

Private Cyril Snoxell

 

Pte Cyril Snoxell, 3099, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action on August 16th*, 1915, at Gallipoli. He was aged 18 and the son of Alfred Snoxell, of 84 Grange Road [now St Peter's Road], Luton.

He was a second son of Alfred and Annie Snoxell to perish on the battlefield. One year earlier, Driver Percy Glifford Snoxell, 59028, 68th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, was killed in action in France on August 26th, 1914.

Lance Sergeant Albert Payne

 

Lance-Sgt Albert Payne, 2289, 1/5th Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915 - on the same battlefield and same day that a younger brother, Cpl Nathan Payne, aged 21, also died.

A letter from the Territorial Records Office arrived at 2 Beech Road, Luton, on September 8th informing his widow, Emily Rose, and his mother, Ellen, that he was "missing, believed killed, as reported from Alexandria on 2nd September".

Lance Corporal Walter Dumpleton

 

L-Cpl Walter Dumpleton, 3715, 1/5th Beds Regt, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915. Newspaper reports said he was aged 23 and the son of Frederick and Thirza Dumpleton, of 33 Burr Street, Luton. Census and other records suggest he was born in early 1890 and was therefore aged 25.

Private Harry Berry

 

Pte Harry Berry, 4087, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action during a charge by his regiment on August 15th. He was reported missing the following day, but his body was afterwards recovered and he was buried the following Thursday night at the foot of the hill which his battalion captured at high cost.

It appeared he had been killed almost instantaneously by a shrapnel bullet which entered his heart after piercing his service pay book and a pocket diary that were in his breast pocket.

Private Edward Anderson

 

Pte Edward Anderson, 4386, A Company, 1/5th Beds Regiment, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915. He was aged 30. First reports had said he had been very badly wounded, both his legs having been smashed.

A married man with five children living at 27 Brache Street, Luton, was was employed by hat manufacturers Kershaw's in George Street, Luton, before enlisting.

Born in Round Green in 1885 to Edward and Eliza Anderson, he married Rose Maud Barton, known as Maud, early in 1905. His mother-in-law lived at 18 Brache Street in 1915.

Private Horace Arthur Goodship

Horace Arthur Goodship was the fifth son of George and Ann Goodship of Stopsley, who had three sons serving on the Western Front.

Horace was a Private in the 1/5th Bedfordshire Regiment, and prior to joining up worked as a straw hat polisher for Mr. Frenay Pirotte, on Leagrave Road. He was well known as a footballer for Stopsley and as a general good sportsman with an avid interest in cricket.

He was killed in action on August 16th during the Gallipoli Campaign.

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