Lance-Corporal Percy Edward Woodcroft, 9353, 2nd Beds Regt, was killed in action on October 31st, 1914. He was aged 23 and son of Mr and Mrs Edwin Woodcroft, of 73 Ivy Road, Luton.

A native of Colchester, he came to Luton with his parents and, with his brothers and sister, went to Surrey Street School. After leaving school he joined the Volunteers as a bugler boy, and when old enough enlisted with the Bedfords, going to Aldershot and from there to South Africa.

Pte Albert Smart, 9352, 2nd Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action on October 31st, 1914, near Festubert. Aged 22, he was the son of Mr and Mrs Henry Smart, of 92 Bury Park Road, Luton.

He had been in South Africa with the 2nd Beds for almost 3½ years before the battalion was recalled on the outbreak of war, arriving in England on September 19th. Pte Smart was home on leave for three days before rejoining his regiment and going to the front. He sent his parents a postcard from Zeebrugge in Belgium.