Pte Percy Stanbridge, 19686, 8th Battalion Royal West Kent Regiment, was killed in action at Housey in France on October 16th, 1918. He had joined up about 20 months earlier from Vauxhall Motors, where he was working as a car builder.

A sergeant wrote to parents Albert and Emily Stanbridge at 78 Langley Street, Luton: “We were ordered to take a certain position, and it was while consolidating amidst a very hail of bullets that your boy fell, shot through the heart. Pte Stanbridge was not in my platoon, but had come forward to reinforce us, having lost his own officer, sergeant, corporal (wounded) and several old pals. Kindly accept our sincerest sympathy in this sad loss.”

Pte Stanbridge had originally joined the Suffolk Regiment (45359) and had undergone ten weeks of training before going to France and being transferred to the West Kents.

In 1911, Percy, his parents and six brothers and two sisters were living at 27 Queen Street, Luton, when Percy was described as a straw hat assistant.

He is commemorated on the Luton Roll of Honour/War Memorial and on the Vauxhall Motors War Memorial.

At the time of Percy's death, brother George William was a prisoner of war at Crossen in Germany, having been captured at Cormicy in France on May 27th, 1918.