Helles Memorial Gallipoli

Private George Hutchings

 

Pte George Hutchings, 4229, 1/5th Beds Regt, was killed in action on August 16th, 1915, aged 20, The son of William and Sarah Hutchings, of Canning Street, Bedford, he had come to the Luton area to be engaged on harvesting work at Eaton Green in 1914.

He enlisted in the Bedfords in Luton and struck up a close friendship with Pte Herbert Stanley Toyer, of 22 Duke Street, Luton. During the three months or so of drilling at Luton under Major (then Capt) Lathom, Pte Hutchings made his home with Pte Toyer's parents at 7 Burr Street.

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 William Fensome

 

Pte William Fensome, 4487, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915.

Born in Luton in 1883, he was a farm labourer living with his widowed straw hat maker mother Eliza at 14 Park Place, Park Street, Luton, at the time of the 1911 Census. His father, David, had died in 1905 at the age of 48.

 

Private Albert Edward Mitchell

 

Pte Alfred Edward Mitchell, 4401, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on September 3rd, 1915. He was aged 27 and had been married to Jane (nee Heath) only since October 1914.

He joined the 1/5th Bedfords a year earlier after working as a moulder at Messrs Brown and Green's, Windsor Street, Luton, for 11 years. He was also a popular sportsman, figuring in several local teams, including that of the firm he worked for.

Private Ewart William Clark

 

Pte Ewart William Clark, 82, Royal Army Medical Corps, 54th East Anglian Casualty Clearing Hospital, was lost when the troopship Royal Edward was torpedoed off the island of Kandeloussa in the Aegean Sea by German submarine UB-14 on August 13th, 1915.

The son of Daniel and Emma Jane Clark, of 7 Park Road West [now Strathmore Avenue], Luton, he joined the RAMC the previous April. He was aged 17 and lived in Summer Street, Slip End, as a child.

2nd Lieutenant Raymond Eric Deacon

 

Second-Lieut Raymond Eric Deacon, 10th North Staffordshire Regiment (attached 8th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers), was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 7th, 1915. He was aged 23.

Son of well known jeweller Mr Edwin Deacon and his wife Annie, of 11 Dunstable Road, Luton, he was educated at Ramsgate College and Bedford Grammar School. He took up engineering as a career, and soon after the outbreak of war he joined the Glasgow Light Infantry, from which regiment he was transferred to the 10th North Staffordshire Regiment.

Private Benjamin Tuffnell

 

Pte Benjamin Tuffnell, 4291, D Company, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th*, 1915. He was the fifth son of Mrs Ann Tuffnell, of 15 York Street, Luton, and the second of her boys to die on the battlefield.

Luton-born Benjamin was born in the summer of 1887, around the time his father William, a Staff Sergeant in the Army, died. William had married Ann Fuller at St Nicholas Church, Plumstead, on July 1st, 1869. He went through the Boer War without a scratch and received two medals. He saw considerable service abroad, chiefly at Gibraltar.

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 Corporal Rowland Abbott

 

L-Cpl Rowland Abbott, 4025, 1/5th Bedfords, died on August 21st, 1915, from wounds sustained at Gallipoli. Newspaper reports said he was aged 44.

On August 17th he wrote to his wife Lizzie Louisa at 77 Chase Street, Luton, saying he was quite well and that the regiment was gaining ground.

L-Cpl Abbott was born in Luton, the son of John William and Martha, who married in 1864. John William died in the early months of 1875, two years after Rowland was born. In 1881, Martha and her four children were living at 2 Brache Street, Luton, and later lived in Essex Street.

Private Harold Fred Puddephatt

 

Pte Harold Frederick Puddephatt, 3066, A Company, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action on August 15th*, 1915. He was aged 21.

The son of Frederick and Emily Puddephatt, of 50 Butlin Road, Luton, he was an old boy of Chapel Street School and worked at the Diamond Foundry before enlistment.

The Luton Reporter and the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph both said that official notification of the death of August 15th had been received by Mrs Puddephatt on September 8th.

Corporal Nathan Payne

 

Cpl Nathan Payne, 3457, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 15th, 1915 - one the same day that an older brother, L-Sgt Albert Payne, aged 27, also died.

On September 8th, his mother, Mrs Ellen Payne, received a letter from the Territorial Records Office, Warley, notifying that her son was "missing, believed killed" in the Dardanelles. There was also a second similar letter relating to L-Sgt Payne.

Cpl Payne was 21, single, and had been in the "Terriers" since before the war. He had worked for Mr George Powdrill, the contractor.

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".

Sergeant William Henry Foster

 

Sgt William Henry Foster, 2958, 1/5th Bedfords, was killed in action at Gallipoli on August 17th, 1915. He was the son of William Foster, who were living at 2 Bolton Road, Luton, at the time.

Born in late 1886 to William and Annie Foster, he had been employed by Blundell Bros (Luton) Ltd and had been in the Territorials for about two years before mobilisation. He was promoted sergeant while the battalion was at Norwich. He was in the gun section, and had qualified as a machine gun instructor.

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