Stopsley

Private Arthur William Fensome

 

Pte Arthur William Fensome, 6485, 71st Company Machine Gun Corps, died on September 27th, 1916, from wounds sustained on the Somme.

Born in 1888, he was the eldest of ten children of Samuel Fensome and his wife Ellen (nee Summerfield), of Ramridge End Lane [now Ashcroft Road], Stopsley. He enlisted in 1915, having previously worked for Bracey Bros, dyers, of 28 John Street, Luton.

Private William Hawkes

 

Pte William Hawkes, 26095, 56th Protection Company, Royal Defence Corps, was killed by a bomb dropped from an airship at Willian, Herts, on October 1st-2nd, 1916. He was perhaps the only person from the Luton area known to have died as a direct result of a World War 1 air raid.

He was buried in the churchyard at St Thomas's Church, Stopsley on October 7th, leaving a widow, Elizabeth, and family living at Ramridge End. His gravestone says he was aged 56, but inquest reports give his age as 43.

Private Ernest William Furr

 

Pte Ernest William Furr, 3/7722, 7th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action on the Somme on September 27th, 1916.

Born in Stopsley in 1897, he was the son of Selina and the late Alfred Furr, who in 1911 were living at Ramridge End with the surviving 12 of their 16 children. Alfred died in 1913, after which Selina and family moved to Hitchin Road, Luton.

In a 1915 street directory Selina is shown as living at 440 Hitchin Road, and on the Luton Roll of Honour commemorating Ernest the address is given as 454 Hitchin Road.

 

Private Sidney George Peters

 

Pte Sidney George Peters, 26088, 9th Battalion The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, died on September 9th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action on the Somme.

The news about their eldest son reached his father George and mother Alice at their home in Bury Road [now St Thomas's Road], Stopsley, two weeks later through an army chaplain at the No 36 Casualty Clearing Station in France. The wounds Sidney had sustained were so grievous that moving him was an impossibility, they learned.

Private Horace Fensome

 

Pte Horace Fensome, 13261, 1st Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was presumed killed in action on the Somme on or after September 3rd, 1916.

Born in 1892, he was the son of Samuel and Ellen Fensome, of Ramridge End Lane (later Ashcroft Road), Stopsley. Prior to enlisting he was a farm labourer.

He is commemorated on Stopsley War Memorial.

 

 

Private Joseph Henry Woollard

 

Pte Joseph Henry Woollard, 14307, D Company, 6th Bedfordshire Regiment, died on June 26th, 1916, from wounds sustained in action the previous morning near Arras. He was aged 22.

The Stopsley-born son of Mr and Mrs Joseph Woollard, of 57 Lyndhurst Road, Luton, he had been employed as a clerk by Messrs Lye & Sons, New Bedford Road, for whom he had worked from the age of 14.

After enlisting, he went to France on August 11th, 1915, and came home on seven days leave in May 1916 before returning to his fate at the Front.

Stopsley War Memorial

 

Stopsley War Memorial, commemorating the 24 men of the village who fell in the Great War, was unveiled by Mr Ben Hartop on March 27th, 1921, in front of a crowd of several hundred people.

The memorial was placed on the site of the old Well House Green (now the junction of St Thomas' Road and Hitchin Road). The site was given by Lady Wernher, of Luton Hoo, who would have unveiled it had she not been away on the Continent at the time.

Private Frederick Charles Webb

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.

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