Stories from the Luton News: Thursday, November 4th, 1915.

Mr T. W. Hawksley, Secretary of the Luton Trades and Labour Council, wrote to call the attention of Luton Town Council to the fact that it was becoming a common practice in the town for landlords to raise the rents of the working classes, including those who had a severe struggle to meet expenses.

"We want men badly, and if the unit is to keep in the field at all we must have them," writes Lieut-Col E. W. Brighten, commanding the 1/5th Bedfords at the Dardanelles, to Capt Gerald P. Orr, adjutant of the 3/5th Bedfords, the draft supplying company for the 1/5th.

Stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: October 30th, 1915.

The announcement that the great meeting at Luton next Thursday to hear Mr Horatio Bottomley speak on the war has had to be postponed will be learned with general regret by Luton people who, it is no exaggeration to say, were keenly looking forward to the opportunity of listening to this remarkable man.

Some idea of the splendid work of the Royal Engineers is given in the following letters from local men serving with the East Anglian Divisional Engineers in the Dardanelles.

Cpl H. H. Foster, writing to his brother Mr Edgar W. Foster, 31 Park Street West, Luton, mentions the ravages occasioned by dysentery from which he has escaped with a comparatively slight attack.

Stories from The Luton News: Thursday, October 28th, 1915.

The Lighting Order which at a special meeting last week the Luton Town Council decided to apply for was obtained and put into effect on Saturday evening.

Stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: October 23rd, 1915.

Yesterday, shortly after noon, a tragic discovery was made at Wardown Park, where a girl's dead body was taken from the lake.

A poignant tragedy has come to light, the result of a young woman's infatuation for her soldier lover.

Stories from The Luton News: Thursday, October 21st, 1915.

When Pte Frederick Harold Wightman, 14761, 6th Bedfordshire Regiment, from Luton married his sweetheart Lily Draper in St Albans on October 18th, 1915, it may have been the last few moments they spent together.

Frederick wed Lily on the final day of an extended leave - she was brought from hospital in an ambulance following an operation and was married while lying on a stretcher on the floor. Then the couple had to go their separate ways.

Dysentery, due to poor quality water and little of it, was becoming the new killer on the Gallipoli peninsular, claiming an increasing number of lives of men serving there.

One of the latest victims was Pte Charles Whelpton Few, 1889, 1/1st Eastern Mounted Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, who died on a hospital ship on October 19th, 1915, after contracting dysentery. He was the son of the Great Northern Railway stationmaster at Luton and was just 21 years old.

Luton Town Council decided at a special meeting on Tuesday evening to apply immediately to the Home Office for an order under the Defence of the Realm Regulations for controlling public and private lighting in the town.

A resolution to this effect was passed, as an appeal made during the weekend had not been properly responded to.

Gunner Henry Charles Martin, Royal Garrison Artillery, whose wife died from a stab in the throat inflicted by her husband at 6 Queen Square, Luton, on October 4th, was at Bedfordshire Assized on Monday [October 18th, 1915] found not guilty of murder, for which he was arraigned, but guilty of manslaughter, the jury adding that when he committed the act which caused his wife's death he did so under very great provocation.

Stories from the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph: October 16th, 1915.

A Luton mother who had lost three sons in the war appealed direct to Queen Mary to ask that her only surviving fourth son should be kept at home for her.

And the appeal worked for Mrs Ellen Payne, of 2 Beech Road, Luton, when her son Pte Walter Payne (pictured), serving with the 2/5th Bedfords at Newmarket, was transferred to home service with the 3/5th Bedfords at Lowestoft.

Stories from The Luton News: Thursday, October 14th, 1915.

There was a large attendance at the funeral of [murder victim] Mrs Amy Martin on Monday. The body had been conveyed to the house of deceased's father, Mr Plummer in Blythe Place, Russell Street, and the cortege left there shortly after 2 pm.