Pte Thomas Richards, 6684, 2nd Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action at Neuve Chapelle on March 12th, 1915. He was aged 33.
It was a double tragedy for his widow Emma (nee Worsley, born 1881), of 178 Park Street, Luton. Just days before she received the news about her husband, her only child (Stanley Charles Thomas), died on March 26th, aged just six months. The couple were married on October 4th, 1913.
Lance-Corporal Alfred Ward, 5697, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Wulvergem in Belgium on January 31st, 1915. He was aged 24.
Generally known as Samson, he was the son of Robert and Mary Ward, of 3 East Avenue, Park Street, Luton. His death had been mentioned in letters from friends at the front before the family received official news. They were not told by the War Office where he had been killed.
Pte Bert Spacey, 10281, A Company, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action at Ypres on November 7th, 1914. His age is recorded as 19.
Born in 1894, he lived with his mother Ellen and brother Percy, at 1 East Avenue, Park Street, Luton.
In the 1911 Census, Ellen, aged 38, is described as a straw hat machinist, Bert as a straw plait dyer, and Percy, then aged just 14, as a foundry worker.
