Pte Bertie Bleaney, 201383, 4th Essex Regiment, was reported missing, later killed in action, in Palestine on March 27th, 1917. Confirmation of his death was not received by his family until more than a year later.
Born in Houghton Regis in 1895, he had been working on a local farm until joining up with the Beds Regiment soon after the outbreak of war. He had been transferred to the Essex Regiment before he went to Egypt and Palestine.
Pte George James Hodge, 36994, 4th Battalion Essex Regiment, was killed in action on November 3rd, 1917, near Gaza during the Egypt-Palestine campaign. He had initially been reported wounded and missing on that date.
He had enlisted in the Army Service Corps in September 1916 and went to the Eastern Front at Easter 1917. There he was transferred to the Essex Regiment.
Pte Walter John Smith, 203211, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Palestine on October 7th, 1917. He was aged 22 and single.
Walter Smith, one of nine surviving children of William and Mary Ann Smith, of 1 Blyth Place, Russell Street, Luton, had before the war been employed by the Luton Co-operative Society at its High Town and Dunstable branches.
L-Cpl Robert John Cecil Moate, 200634, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in Palestine on July 20th, 1917, and has no known grave. He was aged 20 and the only son of widowed Lizzie Moate, of 23 Union Street, Luton.
Cecil Moate, as he was known, was under age for foreign service when he joined the Bedfords (No 4641) but went to Gallipoli in 1915. There he suffered from dysentery and was in hospital in Malta for six months before being posted to Egypt.
Friday, July 20th, 1917, was a day of double tragedy for widower William Hull, of 34 Buxton Road, Luton. Three weeks later he learned that on that day youngest son Lance-Sgt Charles Hull, 200294, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, had been killed in action in Egypt. And two weeks later still he was informed that eldest son Pte Frederick Hull (200592) was missing - presumed killed in the same battle on the same day, fighting with the same regiment. Two sons lost on one day.
Friday, July 20th, 1917, was a day of double tragedy for widower William Hull, of 34 Buxton Road, Luton. Three weeks later he learned that on that day youngest son Lance-Sgt Charles Hull, 200294, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, had been killed in action in Egypt. And two weeks later still he was informed that eldest son Pte Frederick Hull (200592) was missing - presumed killed in the same battle on the same day, fighting with the same regiment. Two sons lost on one day.
Pte Thomas Felks, 203179, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was confirmed killed in action in Palestine on July 20th, 1917, after initially being reported missing. He was aged 33.
He was the unmarried son of John and Mary Felks, of 23 John Street, Luton. He had joined up at the beginning of 1917 and, after a short period of training, was sent to Egypt.
A brief report in the Saturday Telegraph said that before enlistment Tom Felks was employed by fishmongers D. Hammett & Son, of 18-20 Hitchin Road, Luton.
L-Cpl Harry Snoxell, 200561, 1/5th Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment, was killed in action in the Second Battle of Gaza, Egypt, on April 19th, 1917. He was aged about 27.
The Luton section of the National Roll of the Great War reveals that Harry volunteered for service in September 1914, and in the following July, after training at Bury St Edmunds, St Albans, Norwich and Bedford, he proceeded overseas. He took part in various operations in Gallipoli, from the landing at Suvla Bay up to the evacuation of the peninsula, from where he was sent to Egypt.
Sapper Ernest Robinson, 522390, 486th Field Company Royal Engineers, was killed in action in Egypt on March 27th, 1917. Born in 1896, he was an orphan living with step-parents Joseph and Sarah Bent at 54 Boyle Street, Luton.
Ernest had joined up two months after the outbreak of war and was wounded in the leg in training when a trench was blown up. Subsequently he came unscathed through the Gallipoli campaign before being drafted to Egypt with his unit.
