Pte Sidney Thomas Fleckney, 13164, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in the front line at Arras on June 4th, 1916. He had at first been reported missing by the War Office.

Born on April 4th, 1893, he was the son of the late George (died 1915) and Hannah (died 1906) Fleckney, of Mangrove Green, and he had been living with a married sister at Mangrove, near Luton.

First news of his probable death arrived from two of his chums, who said it was feared Pte Fleckney was buried in the debris of a dug-out during a fierce bombardment that followed on the mining of trenches by the Germans on June 4th.

Pte Fleckney joined the Army on August 27th, 1914, the first man from the Mangrove district to do so. He had been out at the Front since March 1915 and was home on a week's leave at Christmas.

He was a regular member of St Hugh's Mission Church, Cockernhoe, and had been employed as a blocker at Messrs Cree and Woodfield's straw hat factory in Guildford Street, Luton.

A younger brother, George, who was also serving with the Colours, was killed in action in France on March 21st, 1918. An older brother, Albert Arthur, had recently been discharged as medically unfit for service.