Bedfordshire Regiment casualty lists issued on Tuesday, June 1st, 1915. (Subsequent information in brackets from Commonwealth War Graves Commission website).

KILLED

Pte William Allen (39), 3/7752, 1st Battalion, May 5th, 1915 (Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres).

Cpl William Atkinson, 8801, 8801, 1st Battalion, May 5th, 1915 (Bedford House Cemetery, Ypres).

Pte John Karl Austin, 13418, 1st Battalion, May 5th, 1915 (Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres).

Bedfordshire Regiment casualty lists issued on Monday, May 31st, 1915. (Subsequent information in brackets from Commonwealth War Graves Commission website).

WOUNDED AND MISSING

Pte Francis James Blake (19), 13406, 1st Battalion (reported killed on April 19th, 1915 - Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres).

Pte Charles Camp (29), 4/7262, 1st Battalion (reported killed on April 19th, 1915 - Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres).

Stories have come to hand of how young Lutonians have won fame in a great charge. But there are sad tidings for some homes, one or two names being among the list of killed and others wounded.

All of the young fellows enlisted last September in the 24th County of London Regiment ("The Queen's"). On their departure the above picture appeared in The Luton News.

Stories from the Beds & Herts Telegraph, May 29th, 1915.

It is a matter of regret that at the end of the first week of the 2/5th Battalion, Beds Regt, recruitment march the results are not so satisfactory as was anticipated, nor half so satisfactory as the regiment deserves.

[Picture: Men of the 2/5th Beds Regiment taking a well earned rest during their recruitment march]

While not the resounding success that had been hoped, the recruitment march around Bedfordshire by a recruiting party of the 2/5th Bedfords had resulted in 52 extra recruits through the Luton Corn Exchange office in the first few days.

The Beds Regiment casualty lists issued May 27th and 28th, 1915.

DIED FROM GAS POISONING

Pte Frederick Miller (38), 13951, 1st Battalion, May 2nd, 1915 (Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord)

DIED OF WOUNDS

L-Cpl Richard Cooksey, 8082, 1st Battalion, April 30th, 1915 (Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord)

WOUNDED

Cpl L. Trigg, 7500, 1st Battalion

Pte W. H. Arnold, 7174, 1st Battalion

Pte W. Smith, 7161, 1st Battalion

The story behind the Wardown gun captured by the Bedfordshire Regiment in Gaza was not as straightforward as stated on a plaque at the unveiling ceremony in September 1920.

The plaque bore the inscription: "Presented to the town of Luton by the 1/5th Batt, Bedfordshire Regt. This gun was taken by the Battalion at Gaza, 1918."

Stories from The Luton News, May 27th, 1915

The scene on the Dallow Road Recreation Ground on Sunday morning was of a most impressive character. The whole of the Notts and Derby Battalions locally paraded for divine service on the occasion of a special visit by the Bishop of Southwell, Dr Hoskyns, to whose diocese most of the men in the regiments belong.

The following casualties in the 1st Battalion Beds Regt were reported on Friday, May 21st, 1915.

DIED OF WOUNDS

Pte John James Baker, 4/7173, April 27th, 1915 (Boulogne Eastern Cemetery).

Pte Charles Jackson (29), 3/8605, April 27th, 1915 (Boulogne Eastern Cemetery).

Pte Cyril Meakins (20, of Eaton Bray), 3/7465, April 20th, 1915 (Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery).

Pte Henry William Webb, 8810, April 20th, 1915 (Poperinghe Old Military Cemetery).

Apprentices must not enlist. That was the fact stated at Luton Divisional Court on Tuesday [May 25th, 1915], when two young fellows named George Gibbons, of 57 Butlin Road, Luton, and Reginald Brandon, of 174 Dallow Road, Luton, appeared in court in khaki.

They were summoned for having broken their indentures with Clarke's Machine Tool Co, Dunstable Road, by enlisting. They were bound as apprentices in 1910.

The advent of Whitsuntide and the close of the straw hat season usually coincide. Trade will still be done, but the rush is over.

From the Beds & Herts Saturday Telegraph, May 22nd, 1915

The marching party of the 2/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment arrived in Luton today in the course of their recruiting tour through the county. They are out to get 500 men for a third line, and left the training quarters on Thursday.

Pictured above: Men who were to become known as the Yellow Devils marching near Luton on their way to Gallipoli.

With the loss of hundreds of thousands of potential customers - the men in the forces - Luton's boater trade was incensed by a new recruiting poster about to be released in the summer of 1915, showing a straw hat and a khaki service cap and the wording, "Which ought you to wear?"

Stories from The Luton News, May 20th, 1915

Mrs A. Payne, of 22 Essex Street, Luton, has learned that both her husband and her brother are prisoners of war in Germany.

Husband Pte Albert Payne was a reservist who was called up to serve the the 2nd Bedfords on the outbreak of war. He was twice wounded and had been a prisoner since November.