Arthur Walter Aylott, formerly a private in the Bedfordshire Regiment (22450) and later the Machine Gun Corps (5200), died at 67 Dumfries Street, Luton, on February 17, 1919, at the age of 21.

He had enlisted in August 1915 and served in the Army just over a year before being invalided out on September 10, 1916 as a result of being gassed. He never fully recovered and developed consumption.

Born in Luton in 1897, only son of the late Bransom and the late Elizabeth Aylott, he had before joining up worked in the bleaching and dyeing trade for Mr Stewart Hubbard.

Company Quartermaster Sergeant William John Rogers, 29424, 166th Protection Company, Royal Defence Corps, died suddenly from pneumonia while doing duty at a prisoner of war camp at Brocton in Staffordshire, on February 25th, 1919.

William was born in the Devonshire town of Eggbuckland, to parents Robert (chemist) and Carolina Rogers. He moved to Luton in time to appear on the 1911 Census and lived at 25 Wimbourne Road.

He was married to Mabel Victoria Maud Willis of Kensworth, on December 23rd, 1899, and they had two sons, William and Percy, and a daughter Gladys.

Jesse Mead enlisted in Luton, and died on August 31st, 1916, whilst on home service, and based at the Royal Engineers Signal Depot at Fenny Stratford.

He left behind his widow of 3 years, Minnie (nee Warren) whom he married in the 4th quarter of 1913. She was the daughter of Mr and Mrs J. T. Warren, of 28 Granville Road, Luton.

He was the son of William (bricklayer) and Eliza Mead, from Dunstable and Houghton Regis respectively. He had two older brothers, Harry and Leonard, and lived at 83 Spencer Road, Luton.

Pte Arthur Catlin, 46908, 660th Agricultural Company, Labour Corps (ex-Suffolk Regiment), died suddenly at Lakenham Hospital, Norwich, on February 14th, 1918, after contracting a serious illness. He was buried at Luton General Cemetery on February 19th, 1918, aged 36.

Bedford-born Arthur married Florence Maud Coleman in Luton in late 1909. The couple lived at 34 Malvern Road, Luton, and Arthur had worked at the English & Scottish Co-operative Society Society's cocoa and chocolate works in Dallow Road, Luton.

Many soldiers in WW1 perished and disappeared without trace. But for the Luton family of Private Harry Wilkinson there was a chance to lay his remains to rest 85 years later.

Harry was buried with full military honours and in the presence of the Duke of Kent at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Prowse Point Military Cemetery in Belgium in 2001. An archaeologist had uncovered Harry's remains in 1999 in a field near a farmhouse he had helped to capture from the Germans on November 10, 1914.

In late August 1917, munitions worker Violet Golding, aged “sweet 17,” became one of the youngest people named to receive the newly constituted Medal of the Order of the British Empire. The award followed an accident at George Kent's Chaul End munitions factory the previous June.

The accident, caused by a detonator exploding as the then 16-year-old leaned over to take it out of a press, resulted in a finger and thumb of her left hand having to be amputated and extensive burning to her arm.

From the Luton News dated 4th January 1917. LUTONIAN KILLED. Mrs A Brown of 2a Essex Street, Luton has received official information that her son, Pte Edward Brown, 19, who enlisted April 1st last year in the Northants Regiment, was killed in action on December 10th.

Prior to joining up he worked in the grocery department of the Bury Park branch of the Luton Co-operative Society and he has only been at the Front three months. Mrs Brown has also received a letter from Sec.Liet. A E Ward of the same regiment, who states

From the Luton News 22nd February 1917. SOLDIER'S WIFE'S SUICIDE. Young Mother Attempts to Strangle her Child. Sad Tragedy at Pepperstock. A particularly sad case of suicide following an attempt by a young mother - a soldier's wife - to strangle one of her two children, occurred at Pepperstock, within a couple of miles or so of Luton, during the weekend.  The unfortunate woman who took her own life was the wife of a soldier by name Ethel Margaret Field, 29 years of age, whose husband is a private in the R.A.M.C. and is stationed at Clacton.

Ernest W.T. Groom was a member of the 2nd Battallion The Bedfordshire Regiment, and was killed on the 11th July 1916 during the attack on Trones Wood.

The advance started at 3:10 AM, and the advance was not spotted until the men were 400 yards from the enemy. At this moment, machine guns opened fire on the men and the battle began. The woodlands were so dense and the night so dark, that it became impossible to see more than 5 yards ahead.

Private Groom died alongside 5 Officers and 239 Other ranks.

From the Luton News 13th July 1916.  DEATH OF PRIVATE CUSTANCE. Escaped in Battle - succumbed to Illness.   The sad news has just been received of the death in Egypt of Private Henry Custance, of the 1/5th Bedfords, aged 21 years, and son of Mr and Mrs Custance of 15 Kings Road. Luton.

FREE AT LAST. Cpl S Eads now in Holland.  The news that Cpl. Sydney Eads, a Lutonian, of the Australians, son of Mr W J R Eads of Rothesay Road and Dunstable Road, Luton, has been released from captivity has been a source of great relief to his relatives.  They live in the hope from day to day that he will soon be back home amongst them.  He was captured in the big push July 1916 and since then has been a prisoner of war in Germany,.  He has been interned in Holland since June this year. 

Pte Stanley Alfred Barton, 14196, 11th Battalion Essex Regiment, was reported missing during heavy fighting on the Somme in France on March 22nd, 1918. But it was not until the following February that parents Alfred and Victoria Elizabeth Barton at 2 Guildford Street, Luton, were informed officially that their son was killed or died of wounds on that date.

Second Lieut Frank Gilbert Hurrell Small, 47th Battalion Machine Gun Corps, died in hospital on June 9th, 1918, from blood poisoning following the amputation of his left leg in the Cassel internment camp in Germany. He had been taken prisoner on March 24th at Ypres in Belgium and was buried in the camp cemetery.

Following release as a prisoner of war at Mainz in 1919, Lieut Ernest Henry Taylor (Machine Gun Corps) sent a letter to widow Grace Short and told of the events of March 1918 that eventually led to her husband's death, also as a prisoner of war.

Lance Corporal George Wells, 725730, 24th Battalion London Regiment, is named on the Hitchin Road Boys School War Memorial as an Assistant Master who "fell in the First World War". He went to France in March 1915 with the London Regiment and early in 1917 had the distinction of being the first Luton Teacher to win a war decoration - the Military Medal. He was killed in action on July 16th, 1917, at the age of 29.