Pte Percy Walter Manton, 22846, 'D' Company, 4th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was taken as a prisoner of war at Beaucourt-sur-Ancre in France on February 11th, 1917, and was held captive in Germany until he was repatriated at the end of the war.
His prisoner of war records show he was held variously at the Limburg, Friedrichsfeld and Parchim camps. He was included on Luton's 1918 absent voters list but then spent most of his life residing at 14 Chobham Street.
It was at 14 Chobham Street that parents John and Agnes Manton learned of their son's captivity. They had received no letters from Percy, but a postcard from him reached Mr Foster, an employee of the J. W. Green brewery in Park Street West, saying he was a prisoner and seemed to be in good health. Percy had worked at the brewery before enlisting in the Beds Regiment in October 1915 under the Derby scheme.
Percy received nine months training at Ampthill before being sent to France on July 12th, 1916. He came through unscathed from fierce fighting during November 1916. But on February 11th, 1917, Mrs Manton received official notification from the War Office that her son was missing.
Percy Manton was born in Luton on December 9th, 1896, and attended Old Bedford Road School. It appears he did not marry, and died in Luton in 1984 at the age of 87.