William Alfred Carter was born in Luton in 1878, 1 of 11 children born to Alfred & Harriet.

In 1911 he is living with his 61 year old parents at 52 Dumfries Street he is 33 years old & William & his father are both working as general labourers.

On 6th July 1915 William joined the Army Service Corps as a horse driver. On 15th February 1916 William was posted, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, to France but shortly after arriving he became ill with an ulceration of the stomach.

Driver Frederick Albert Matthews, 35792, 136th Company Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) and ex-25541 Beds Regiment, died of gunshot wounds at Basra, Mesopotamia, on April 24th, 1917.

He would be the first of three brothers to died on the battlefield within six months - Harry in France on June 17th, 1917, while serving with the Royal Field Artillery, and John (a Military Medal winner) died in France with the Royal Engineers on October 4th, 1917.

George Rosson was born in 1882 in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. He was 1 of 5 children born to Richard & Laura.

In 1891 the family are living on Hockliffe Road, Leighton Buzzard. Richard is 64 & a carpenter, Laura is 44. Frank the eldest son is 14 years old & working as a parchment maker's boy, 10 year old Lily & 8 year old George are at school, whilst 5 year old Harry & 2 year old Laura are at home.

Driver Arthur Smith, 524236, 1/2nd East Anglian Division Royal Engineers, died suffering from pneumonia in the Government Hospital in Suez, Egypt, on August 28th, 1916.

It was just the day before that parents Joseph and Jane Smith, of 58 New Town Street, Luton, learned that Arthur was dangerously ill in hospital. He was the second of their sons to die during the war.

Driver Sidney John Indge, 52590, Royal Horse Artillery, was killed in action on the Somme on July 1st, 1916. He was at first reported missing.

The son of Harry George and Elizabeth Mary Indge, of 45 Ramridge Road, Round Green, he was born in late 1890.

Casualty lists gave his surname as Judge.

Driver Amos Charles Moody, 2720, 3/2nd Field Company, East Anglian Royal Engineers, died in the early hours of Saturday, December 10th, 1915, after being ill for two or three days with pleurisy and double pneumonia.

Before he enlisted on July 24th, 1915, he was a postman attached to the Luton Post Office, to which he came about three years earlier from Marlow, Bucks. His home was at Marlow and he had been a telegraph messenger there prior to his appointment at Luton. An ardent footballer, he was quartered at 11 Edward Street, Luton, and was 20 years of age.

Joseph Walter Wheeler was born in Harefield, Middlesex in 1896.

He was 1 of 5 children born to Herbert & Louisa.

His father was a carter for an asbestos works & died in July 1904 in Harefield, Middlesex, leaving a young family.

In 1911 widowed Louisa 40, a domestic servant, was living with her children at 94 Langley Road, Luton.  Joseph is 15 years old & working as a draper, 19 year old Herbert is an ironmonger & Rose 17, is a general servant for a coal merchant. Violet 12 & 9 year old Cissey are at school.

Son of the late Charles George Fowler. Born in London.

Buried in Luton Church Burial Ground (Crawley Green Road).

Charles Fowler tragically took his own life in the Waller Street Baths, Luton, in April 1916. The coroners report speculates that the stress of military service contributed to his decision.

There are many casulties in war, not all are directly caused by enemy action. We will remember them.

He was buried with full military honours.

Henry Isaac Pearson was born in Luton in October 1894 to Frederick & Sarah Minnie.

In 1911 he is 16 years old & listed on the census as an inmate at the Reformatory School, Chapmore End near Ware in Hertfordshire. It was a place that provided care & training for boys that were involved in criminal or anti-social behaviour. Henry would have learnt agricultural skills by working on the farm there as well an education by attending school for a few hours each day.

Memories of what my father told me

by Harold Smith, November 2014

Thomas Alfred Ernest Rickard was the eldest of 4 children born to Thomas Ernest an iron foundry labourer & Charlotte Eliza a straw hat machinist.

In 1911 he is living with his parents & siblings, Nellie Rose aged 10, Frederick Aubrey Cecil aged 5 & 9 month old Violet May at 34 North Street Luton.

On 12th March 1915 he attested at Bedford into the 2/1st East Anglian Division Signal Corps of the Royal Engineers as a driver. He was 19 years old & 5ft 7 1/2 inches tall, using Alfred as his first name.

Driver Alfred Shillcock was born in Liverpool in 1877.

His father Joseph died before 1891, which left his mother Isabella to bring Alfred & brother Albert up. In 1891 she was 49 years old & working as a tailoress. 19 year old Albert was a tiler's labourer & Alfred, 15, was a printer's assistant. They were living in Toxteth Park, Liverpool.

Alfred married Dorothy Ann Walker in 1905 & in the 1911 census they are living at 5 Elveston Street, Park Street, Derby with their 2 children William Alfred, 5 & 1 year old Constance.

Delete this text first, then replace it with more about who this person is, what is their story, what happened in their life.  You can include links to other web places, but not pictures or other files here.

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