Pte Archibald (Archer) Punter, 5604, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action on November 16th, 1914, in the First Battle of Ypres. He was a married man aged 33, whose wife lived at 24 Dane Road, Luton.

Pte Horace Alfred Ward, 7269, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action at the first Battle of Ypres on November 14th, 1914. He was aged 30 and the husband of Alice, of 219 Castle Street, Luton, whom he married in 1905.

Pte Ward was called up as a reservist at the outbreak of war - a fortnight before his time in the Reserve would have expired. He was employed by Luton Corporation at the Electricity Station, and before that by Mr C. J. Worsley, engineer, of Melson Street, for a long period.

Pte Frederick Charles Webb, 8136, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action at Ypres on November 9th, 1914.

Born at a cottage in Round Green, he was the youngest son of Thomas Webb, then living in Stopsley village. Pte Webb had served nine years with the colours, five of them in India and one in Aden.

On his return to Luton he was a drayman with the Midland Railway Company for around 10 months before being called up at the outbreak of war in August.

Pte James Brown, 3/6100, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was posted missing, believe killed in action, on November 5th, 1914. He was born in Lilley in 1889 and was living at 5 Chase Street, Luton, in 1911.

In the 1891 Census he was listed as one of seven children of farm labourer George Brown and his wife Elizabeth, a straw plaiter.

Pte Bert Spacey, 10281, A Company, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action at Ypres on November 7th, 1914. His age is recorded as 19.

Born in 1894, he lived with his mother Ellen and brother Percy, at 1 East Avenue, Park Street, Luton.

In the 1911 Census, Ellen, aged 38, is described as a straw hat machinist, Bert as a straw plait dyer, and Percy, then aged just 14, as a foundry worker.

Pte Sidney James Whittemore, 6710, of the 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action in the neighbourhood of Ypres on November 7th, 1914. He was aged 34.

Pte Whittemore, whose home address was 10 Park Way, High Town, Luton, left a widow, Edith, and three little children. His parents, Mr and Mrs George Whittemore, lived at Stopsley.

He was a reservist who prior to the war was working for Messrs T. Balmforth and Co, boilermakers, Pondwicks Road, Luton. After being called up at the outbreak of war he was for a short time with the 3rd Battalion, Beds Regt, at Felixstowe.

Pte George Bunyan, 8601, Highland Light Infantry, died on November 5th, 1914, from wounds received in action the previous day. He was aged 28.

Born at Aley Green, he served for 12 years with the colours and was on reserve when war broke out. He was recalled to his battalion on August 5th, before which he was a stiffener with hat manufacturer Mr T. Day, of High Town Road.

He lived at 157 High Town Road and left a widow and two children, aged seven and two. His pensioner parents lived in Cowper Street, Luton.

Lance-Corporal Percy Edward Woodcroft, 9353, 2nd Beds Regt, was killed in action on October 31st, 1914. He was aged 23 and son of Mr and Mrs Edwin Woodcroft, of 73 Ivy Road, Luton.

A native of Colchester, he came to Luton with his parents and, with his brothers and sister, went to Surrey Street School. After leaving school he joined the Volunteers as a bugler boy, and when old enough enlisted with the Bedfords, going to Aldershot and from there to South Africa.

Pte Sidney Cain, 3/7393, 2nd Battalion, Beds Regt, was killed in action on October 31st, 1914. He was 28 years old.

Parents Mr and Mrs Alfred Cain, who lived at 54 Duke Street, Luton, learned from Pte Bates, who had been serving with Pte Cain, that their son was killed instantly by a rifle bullet in one of the big engagements during which the 2nd Bedfords were in the thickest of the fighting and suffered heavy casualties.

Pte Alfred Hankin, 8143, B Company, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, died on October 30th, 1914, in the No. 6 Clearing Hospital, Bethune, France, from wounds received in action. He was aged 28.

He had served eight years with the colours and had 17 months to serve in the Reserve when war broke out. He was called up on August 5th.

His mother and invalid father lived at 64 Ivy Road, Luton. While on the Reserve list Pte Hankin, who formerly lived in Dunstable, had been working at the bleaching and dying works of Mr J. L. Frenay-Pirotte in Leagrave Road.

Stewart Butler Hubbard, the newest member of Luton Town Council following his election in North Ward on Monday, November 2nd, 1914, was described by The Luton News as a man whose business history would "rank among what may be termed the romances of the straw trade".

Pte Lewis Dyer, 8142, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, killed in action on October 26th, 1914. He was aged 31.

He was born in Eaton Bray and lived for a time in Totternhoe with his grandmother, and then Dunstable. Until called up he lived with his sister, Mrs Hughes, at 143 Wellington Street, Luton.

After serving abroad with the 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, he came out on the reserve and for about 16 months worked at Mr Frenay-Pirotte's dye works in Leagrave Road, Luton, until called up.

Pte Herbert Fensome, 8140, of the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regt, a reservist lately living at Maple Road, Luton, killed in action on September 15th, 1914.

Lance-Corporal William Albert Harfield, L/6446, a reservist serving with the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (City of London), died on September 21st, 1914, from wounds received in action.

Another reservist, Mr G. T. Denmark, of 78 Highbury Road, Luton, who was in the same hospital ward at Vailly, told Mrs Harfield that her 33-year-old husband had suffered terrible injuries, including the loss of both of his legs. Another friend was understood to have been by his side when he was wounded.

Pte Jack Weedon, 9840, 1st Battalion, Beds Regt, died from wounds sustained in action in France on October 27th, 1914.
The deceased soldier, who was only 21 years of age and the son of Mr and Mrs John Weedon, of 53 Wimbourne Road, Luton, joined the 1st Beds three years previously and went to the front with the first contingent of the British Expeditionary Force. He was in the firing line right from the beginning.