Luton's People 1914-1918

This page contains a list of soldiers/civilians from Luton and surroundings 1914-1918, and the ancestors of people who live in Luton today. It has been compiled from the 1918 Luton Absent Voters List, Rolls of Honour; and information researched and uploaded by project volunteers and members of the public.

If you find your ancestor here, and there is only basic information available, then feel free to use the comment box to add further information you may already know. The WWI Project Team, can then add this further information to the basic data we already hold.

The sources of this information can be found via the links below. Please feel free to download and use this information, but please please search for and upload your ancestor to the site if/when you find them:-

Absent Voters List


Luton Roll of honour


Before adding anybody to the site, it is always advisable to search for your ancestor first.

The award of the Military Cross to Luton-born Sec Lieut Walter William (Bill) Brown (Royal Field Artillery), who had originally enlisted in the Canadian Infantry when in North America in October 1914, was reported in the Tuesday Telegraph of January 14th, 1919.

Sidney Harold Smith

 

Memories of what my father told me

by Harold Smith, November 2014

Elizabeth was a Luton munitionette and is shown in a group photograph  from 1916 kindly supplied by a reader of this website. She is the fourth person from the left on the top row.

William applied to the army in 1917, after his two brothers Harry and George. In the Attestation form for general service in the NZ Army during WWI, a typical question provoked an interesting response from the young William Harris:

Pte Ernest Allin

Pte Ernest Allin, 2421, 24th Battalion County of London Regiment (The Queen's), died on May 1st, 1915, of wounds sustained in action near Bethune in France. He was aged 22, born on April 10th, 1893.

Pte Samuel Kilby

 

Pte Samuel Sydney Kilby, 47425, 15th Battalion Canadian Infantry, died on April 28th, 1915, from wounds received in action north of Ypres. He was aged 23 and the youngest son of Samuel and Emily Jane Kilby, of Hilldene, 102 Midland Road, Luton.

Pte Harold Abbott

 

Pte Harold Campbell Abbott, 10398, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action around Hill 60 on April 17th, 1915.

 

Pte Harry Stimson, G/6107, 3rd Battalion Middlesex Regiment, killed in action on April 16th, 1915.

He was aged 32 and the second son of Mr and Mrs James Stimson, of 23 Crawley Green Road, Luton. He enlisted on November 16th, 1914, and crossed to France on February 17th.

Pte Horace Meade

 

Rifleman Horace Ethelbert Meade, 2264, died on Sunday, May 9th, 1915, two days after being wounded in action. He was the first employee of George Kent Ltd, Biscot Road, to be killed at the front.

Sergeant Jim Dickman of 2/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment was born in Luton on 8th January 1895.

William Dickman was born in Houghton Regis in January 1901.

Harold William Charles Brightman was born in Luton in 1900. He came from a large family and was the eldest son of 7 children to William J & Emma.

Lusitania graves site

[Image: Lusitania graves - Wikimedia/Imperial War Museum collection, Q18816]

Luton-born Thomas Edward George Bodell, his wife Florence and toddler son Thomas were lost with the sinking of the liner RMS Lusitania by German submarine U20 on May 7th, 1915.

Pte Thomas James Holliman

 

Pte Thomas James Holliman, 18236, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on May 6th, 1915 (CWGC record, but chums at the time said May 5th). He lived at 404 Hitchin Road, Luton, and was aged 28.

Cpl Charles Smith

 

Cpl Charles Smith, 7655, 1st Battalion Beds Regt, died at Base Clearing Hospital on May 8th, 1915, from the effects of poison gas inhaled while fighting at Hill 60.

 

Pte Harry Hurst, 10449, 1st Battalion Beds Regiment, was killed in action on May 5th, 1915, during the German counter-attack on Hill 60 in which poison gas was used. He was born and lived in Luton.

 

 

Horace William Eales was born in 1888 in Hammersmith, London. 

Edwin Benjamin Eales was born in 1892 in Hammersmith, London.

Pte Alfred Joshua Brown

 

Pte Alfred Joshua Brown, 3/7316, 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action near Festubert on May 14th, 1915. He was aged 20.

Lieut-Col Edgar Brighten

 

The promotion of Major Edgar William Brighten, of the 5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel was announced in The London Gazette on Saturday night (May 15th, 1915).

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.

Harry Whinnett

 

L-Cpl* Harry Whinnett, 9289, 1st Rifle Brigade, was killed in action on April 26th, 1915. Prior to the war he was a police constable in Grimsby whose mother lived at 103 Frederic Street, Luton.

Pte Walter Lawrence headstone

Walter was born in 1895. He was 1 of 10 children born to Frederick and Ann Lawrence.

Cpl Ernest Butterfield

 

Cpl Ernest Butterfield, a Lutonian serving with the Australians in Gallipoli, died on May 4th, 1915, of wounds received in action.

 

Cpl Douglas Blake Brodie, 2433, 1/24th Battalion County of London Regiment ("The Queen's), was killed in action in a great charge on German trenches near Givenchy on May 26th, 1915. He was aged 23.

Pte Percy Darby

 

Pte Percy Francis Darby, 2676, 1/24th Battalion, County of London Regiment ("The Queen's"), was killed in action in a charge against German trenches near Givenchy on May 26th, 1915. He was aged 19.

Pte Francis James Blake

 

Pte Francis James Blake, 13406, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on April 19th, 1915. He was aged 19.

Pte Murray Walter Harrison

 

Pte Murray Walter Harrison, 2797, 2nd Battalion East Surrey Regiment, was killed in action on April 11th, 1915, about five weeks after going into the firing line. He was aged 22.

Rifleman Sidney Dorrington

 

Rifleman Sidney William Dorrington, 2630, 17th Battalion London Regiment, was killed while on lookout duty in the trenches on May 14th, 1915*, according to comrades. He was struck in the head by a dum-dum bullet.

Pte George Jarvis

 

Pte George Jarvis, 9344, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regimen, was killed in action near Hill 60 on May 28th, 1915. He was aged 28.

Pte Frederick Bingham

Pte Frederick Bingham, a native of Luton serving with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, was killed in action on April 24th, 1915.

Pte Charles Hyde

 

Pte Charles Frederick Hyde, 1/24th Battalion, London Regiment ("The Queen's"), was killed in action on May 28th*, 1915. He was a single man aged 20.

Pte Bert Euinton

 

Pte Bert (Bertie) Euinton, 2720, B Company, 24th Battalion County of London Regiment ("The Queen's"), died on May 29th, 1915, from wounds sustained in action three days earlier.

 

Pte Hedley Euinton, 2726, 1/24th London Regiment, was killed in action in a charge near Givenchy on May 26th, 1915.

Edwin Matthews was born in Kensworth, a village on the outskirts on Dunstable in about 1879.

John William Engeldow was born in July 1888 in Marylebone, London to Frederick Ross & Ruth Elizabeth.

Pte Albert Henry Clark

 

Pte Albert Henry Clark, 10245, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action at Hill 60 on June 10th, 1915. He was aged 22, according to a report at the time.

William Fensome was born on 23rd January 1883 in Luton to Henry & Matilda.

Pte Percy Impey

 

Pte Percy Impey, 9485, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed by a rifle grenade at Hill 60 on June 12th, 1915. He had been with the Bedfordshires for five years, returning from South Africa with them when war broke out.

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